Experiments 3: Chess Master

When I was a boy, I was playing chess at a local chess club. We went to competitions. I was a fairly good player, but certainly not the best. At some point in time I quit playing chess (at the club and in general). I was just fed up with the overall organization of events.

And this is the story:
When we went to competitions we were usually playing 90min games (two players with 90mins, hence max. 1.5hrs per game). We went to different locations playing against other teams. Usually we got there with two cars. You were playing your games against the opposing team. After elimination from the competition there was nothing much to do. Usually the first of the cars left the location some time in the early afternoon taking the then eliminated players of our team with it. The second car had to stay until the competition was over.

As a fairly good player I usually survived the competition until after the first car left. And then there was Marius. Marius was not just a fairly good player. He was a real chess prodigy. Marius usually won a lot of these competitions. And Marius always made use of all the time he got. Due to me losing my last game right after the first car left, I spent endless hours waiting for Marius to win the competition. Those were the most boring days of my life. At some point in time I decided to not attend the meeting of the chess club anymore, because it was just too boring. And with not attending the meetings anymore, I basically quit all my chess playing ambition.

That is about 25 years ago. I rarely played chess during this time. Over the years the mobile revolution unfolded. I arrived in Argentina in early August. It was in the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep due to jet lag. I was just looking for some nightly deviations browsing the app store to find a proper game for my mobile. Frankly, all the games available are more or less bullshit (for my old-fashioned taste in games, that is). Then it crossed my mind, that I haven't been playing chess in quite a while. Had a look around and found the chess.com app. And it is... massive in terms of chess knowledge and learning opportunities. Lots of members allow you to play live chess at any given time of the day, opening databases, tactic trainers, daily puzzles, video sessions, lessons and study plans, automated computer analysis of finished games, conditional moves, etc. etc.

I am still not a very good player. Further down you see the analysis of my last game. I won, but still there are lots (!) of inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders in my chess playing. Have to learn a lot. But I am having so much fun playing chess since using the platform.

btw, the ELO ratings are a little bloated and do not actually reflect my real world ELO, but that is due to the nature of the ELO rating system itself.

[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2014.08.15"]
[White ""]
[Black ""]
[ECO "C45"]
[ChesscomGameID "94993300"]
[Annotator "Chess.com Computer Analysis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1287"]
[BlackElo "1313"]
[TimeControl "1 in 3 days"]
[Termination ""]
{Inaccuracies(?!): 7 = 30.4% of moves | Mistakes(?): 2 = 8.7% of moves | Blunders(??): 2 = 8.7% of moves}

1. e4 {(Book Move)}  e5 {(Book Move)}
2. Nf3 {(Book Move)}  Nc6 {(Book Move)}
3. d4 {(Book Move)}  exd4 {(Book Move)}
4. Nxd4 {(Book Move)}  Nxd4 {(Book Move)}
5. Be3 $4 {(-2.9) BLUNDER - Oh no - a blunder! You should have played 5. Qxd4}
({BEST MOVE (0.44)} 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Bc4 Be7 8. O-O O-O   $14)
({BLUNDER (-2.9)} 5. Be3 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Bb5 Bb4 8. O-O Bxc3   $19)
5... Nc6 {(-2.9)}
6. Bc4 {(-3.09) ALTERNATIVE - Your position is getting even worse - you are now losing. The best line was 6. f3}
({BEST MOVE (-3)} 6. f3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Qd2 d5 9. O-O-O dxe4   $19)
({ALTERNATIVE (-3.09)} 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. f3 O-O 9. Qe2 d6   $19)
6... Nf6 {(-3.09)}
7. Nc3 {(-3.09)}  g6 {(-2.98)}
8. O-O {(-2.97)}  Bg7 {(-2.96)}
9. Bd4 $6 {(-3.4) INACCURACY - Your position is getting even worse - you are now losing. The best line was 9. Bg5}
({BEST MOVE (-2.98)} 9. Bg5 d6 10. f3 O-O 11. Qd2 Be6 12. Bb3 Ne5   $19)
({INACCURACY (-3.4)} 9. Bd4 d6 10. Be3 Ng4 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Be2 Nge5   $19)
9... O-O {(-3.34)}
10. e5 {(-3.62)}  Nh5 {(-3.81)}
11. Bc5 {(-3.56)}  Re8 {(-4.19)}
12. Qf3 $2 {(-5.43) MISTAKE - That was a mistake. Much better was 12. f4}
({BEST MOVE (-4.05)} 12. f4 d6 13. g4 Qh4 14. gxh5 dxc5 15. hxg6 hxg6   $19)
({MISTAKE (-5.43)} 12. Qf3 Nxe5 13. Qe2 Nf4 14. Qe4 Nxc4 15. Qxf4 d5   $19)
12... h6 $4 {(-0.91) BLUNDER - Lucky you! Your opponent blundered! The best move was 12... Nxe5}
({BEST MOVE (-5.37)} 12... Nxe5 13. Qe2 Nf4 14. Qe4 Nxc4 15. Qxf4 d5 16. Rfe1   $19)
({BLUNDER (-0.91)} 12... h6 13. Bxf7+ Kh7 14. Bxe8 Qxe8 15. Nd5 b6 16. Ba3   $17)
13. Bxf7+ {(-1.2)}  Kh7 {(-1.2)}
14. Qe4 $6 {(-1.62) INACCURACY - Perhaps better was 14. Bxg6+}
({BEST MOVE (-1.11)} 14. Bxg6+ Kxg6 15. Qe4+ Kf7 16. Qd5+ Re6 17. f4 Nxf4   $17)
({INACCURACY (-1.62)} 14. Qe4 Rxe5 15. Qxg6+ Kh8 16. Be3 Ne7 17. Qd3 d6   $19)
14... Qg5 $4 {(2.72) BLUNDER - Lucky you! Your opponent blundered! The best move was 14... Rxe5}
({BEST MOVE (-1.47)} 14... Rxe5 15. Qxg6+ Kh8 16. Be3 Ne7 17. Qd3 Qf8 18. Bb3   $17)
({BLUNDER (2.72)} 14... Qg5 15. Bxe8 d5 16. f4 dxe4 17. fxg5 Nxe5 18. gxh6   $18)
15. Be3 $4 {(-1.31) BLUNDER - Oh no - a blunder! You should have played 15. Bxe8}
({BEST MOVE (2.72)} 15. Bxe8 d5 16. f4 dxe4 17. fxg5 Nxe5 18. gxh6 Kxh6   $18)
({BLUNDER (-1.31)} 15. Be3 Rxe5 16. Bxg5 Rxe4 17. Nxe4 hxg5 18. Nxg5+ Kh6   $17)
15... Rxe5 {(-1.31)}
16. Bxg5 {(-1.23)}  Rxe4 {(-1.35)}
17. Nxe4 {(-1.31)}  hxg5 {(-1.31)}
18. Rae1 $6 {(-1.88) INACCURACY - Perhaps better was 18. Nxg5+}
({BEST MOVE (-1.28)} 18. Nxg5+ Kh6 19. Nf3 d6 20. c3 Bg4 21. Nd2 Nf4   $17)
({INACCURACY (-1.88)} 18. Rae1 Kh6 19. Nc3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 d6 21. Bd5 Ne5   $19)
18... d6 $2 {(-0.59) MISTAKE - Your opponent made a mistake! Better was 18... Kh6}
({BEST MOVE (-1.88)} 18... Kh6 19. Nc3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 d6 21. Bd5 Ne5 22. g3   $19)
({MISTAKE (-0.59)} 18... d6 19. Nxg5+ Kh6 20. Ne6 Bxe6 21. Rxe6 Bf6 22. Re8   $15)
19. Nxg5+ {(-0.71)}  Kh6 {(-0.71)}
20. Nf3 $6 {(-1.52) INACCURACY - Perhaps better was 20. Ne6}
({BEST MOVE (-0.71)} 20. Ne6 Bxe6 21. Rxe6 Bf6 22. Re8 Rxe8 23. Bxe8 Ne5   $17)
({INACCURACY (-1.52)} 20. Nf3 Bxb2 21. Re8 Nf6 22. Re3 Kg7 23. Rb1 Kxf7   $19)
20... Bxb2 {(-1.74)}
21. Re8 $6 {(-1.99) INACCURACY - Perhaps better was 21. Bd5}
({BEST MOVE (-1.63)} 21. Bd5 Nf6 22. Be6 Ne5 23. Bxc8 Rxc8 24. Rb1 Nc4   $19)
({INACCURACY (-1.99)} 21. Re8 Nf6 22. Ree1 Ne5 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. f4 Bd4+   $19)
21... b6 {(-1.22)}
22. Rfe1 $2 {(-2.28) MISTAKE - That was a mistake. Much better was 22. Rb1}
({BEST MOVE (-1.22)} 22. Rb1 Bf6 23. Bd5 Bb7 24. Re4 Rf8 25. g4 Bg7   $17)
({MISTAKE (-2.28)} 22. Rfe1 Nf6 23. R8e3 Ne5 24. Bb3 Bd7 25. Nxe5 Bxe5   $19)
22... Bb7 {(-1.84)}
23. Rxa8 {(-1.74)}  Bxa8 {(-1.75)}
24. h4 $6 {(-2.01) INACCURACY - Perhaps better was 24. Re8}
({BEST MOVE (-1.64)} 24. Re8 Bb7 25. Bb3 Bg7 26. h4 Nf6 27. Re1 Ng4   $19)
({INACCURACY (-2.01)} 24. h4 Ne5 25. Nxe5 Bxe5 26. Bc4 Ng7 27. g3 Nf5   $19)
24... Bc3 {(-1.64)}
25. Re8 {(-1.5)}  Bb7 {(-1.65)}
26. g4 $6 {(-2.03) INACCURACY - Perhaps better was 26. Bb3}
({BEST MOVE (-1.24)} 26. Bb3 Nf6 27. Rf8 Ne4 28. Rf7 Nd4 29. Ng5 Nxg5   $17)
({INACCURACY (-2.03)} 26. g4 Kg7 27. gxh5 Kxf7 28. Re3 Bf6 29. h6 Ne5   $19)
26... Ng7 $2 {(+Mat01) MISTAKE - Your opponent made a mistake! Better was 26... Nf4}
({BEST MOVE (-2.25)} 26... Nf4 27. Bg8 a5 28. Bc4 Ne5 29. Nxe5 Bxe5 30. Re7   $19)
({MISTAKE (+Mat01)} 26... Ng7 27. Rh8#   $18)
27. Rh8# {(+Mat01) WHITE WINS - Play might have continued...}
({CONTINUATION (+Mat01)} 27. Rh8#   $18)
1-0

Experiments 2: Dog Whisperer

I have never been a dog kind of a person. We had a cat, when I was a little boy. I love cats. At some point in time my father developed a very strong allergy to cat proteins, so we had to give away all the pets we had. Years later my parents went for a dog. But that happened after I already left home and went to the university. I never had any kind of relationship to this dog. I just met him occasionally for only very short periods of time. I never liked dogs anyway... until I met

La Gina

La Gina's general behavior is usually an instantiation of one of the following three behavioral patterns:

• cutest cutie pie doggy and heartbreaker
• spoilt little brat
• utter terrorist

When I came to know her, she was in full control of everything: food, black little rubber bone, plastic chicken, the apartment, the leash. And she was ordering us around at her own will. At times I used walking Gina as a substitute for going to the gym. She was pulling the leash so hard, that I got a proper upper body workout every time we went out. It was pretty annoying.

Everything I knew about educating and training a dog was basically that you have to be a dominant leader ruling your dog's world. You have to actually dominate your dog. Always. I never liked the idea, because I do not want to dominate anyone. I hate people, who are treating their dogs (or rather any animals) in a bad way. But at times it happened, that I was so fed up with what Gina did, so annoyed with her, that I became exactly that: a person dominating a dog by physical means. No, I was not hitting her, I was not kicking her, I was not hurting her, I was not abusing her. Anyway, the things I did were not friendly. I tried to intimidate her. I yelled at her. At times I did, what so many dog owner's do: I threw her on her back and actively dominated her. Now I am more than sorry for that. I was extremely unfair.

At some point in time I realized, that I was constantly talking English to her. I furthermore realized, that as a German speaking guy I could just as well speak German to her. It is basically the same for her, because she does not understand any human language in all its complexity. She does not comprehend. She does not even comprehend single and simple words or commands (e.g. in Spanish). She just learned how to react to certain human behaviors so that all her doggy needs are satisfied in their best way. She actually just wants these needs to be satisfied.

It is actually common sense, but all "dominant" dog owners do not seem to properly grasp the meaning and consequences. Let me try to describe that in kind of a metaphorical way:
I am currently staying in a country, where I do not actually speak the local language. I am a German in a Spanish speaking country. Imagine I would live with a few Spanish speaking guys. I do not understand the meaning of anything they say. They are providing me with food, but they never let me leave the house alone. And sometimes - for whatever reason - they are coming at me, yelling at me, dominating me. They are throwing me to the ground grabbing my neck. They are tying me to a leash making me leave the safe apartment pulling me through an overwhelmingly stressful city with even more Spanish speaking people I for the life of me cannot understand. How intimidating is that? I as a human would be terrorized.

And I as a human am in a position to understand Gina. On the other hand Gina as a dog is not at all able to comprehend my human motives and behaviors. She is fully depending on me. It is my utmost responsibility to take the best care of her and try to understand her the best I can, not make her understand me. She will never be able to understand. Not in a human way. Hence it is my very own responsibility to learn and educate myself before trying to educate a dog.

So with this rationale I kinda changed my approach. I bought a couple of books to learn about proper dog education:

• Turid Rugaas: On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals
• Turid Rugaas: My Dog Pulls - What Do I Do?
• Owens, Eckroate: The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Approach to Dog Training 

Particularly the "calming signals" book is super interesting and you immediately get a better understanding of what your dog is communicating and how to properly react to it. There seem to be a lot of misconceptions, where humans try to take dog behavior for human behavior (dog is yawning => dog is tired; dog is flicking his tongue => dog is hungry). Furthermore I bought a clicker and read myself through numerous clicker websites, watched a large number of clicker youtube videos.

So here I am trying to teach Gina to always be a heartbreaker. I am running around with the high-pitched voice of a five year old, doing an over-exaggerated "muy bien, muy bien, MUUYYY BIEN!", whenever she is slightly turning her ears. The clicker is always with me. We are going through clicker sessions and she kinda learned, that positive actions will be positively sanctioned. She is able to 'Sit' and 'Touch' reliably (that is, inside the apartment without any further distractions). She is not pulling the leash anymore. And she is now doing sort of a sales job. She is getting a fixed daily salary (kibble once a day in the evening). She earns the rest as variable pay in treats, whenever she sells me behavior I like. Sounds like corruption? It is corruption. But it works. Sounds mean? It is not. She is getting the same amount of food. She is a very intelligent dog. It is a stimulus for her intelligence. She is actually playing and she is very excited about that.

One thing is still a little awkward: with clicker training you actually want to make use of natural behaviors of the animal and "shape" them (using positive reinforcement in small steps) to become complex actions. A prerequisite is... some behavior you can positively reinforce. With the negative sanctioning approach telling her what not to do, Gina apparently learned over time, that it is best to not do anything at all rather than sit and stare (which is the most non-natural behavior for a dog). So it is a tough job to animate her to do something more creative than just staring at me. But we'll come to that.

Animated GIF with 2hr footage of Gina's broad variety of behaviors

Thank you Monika. You are getting a lot of good karma here..

Whey too hot

(haha, get it, get it? nudge nudge... took me weeks to come up with this one...)

Yogurt production stuck at an overall level of 1kg produce. I do not have the slightest clue, what is wrong with the milk (or my starter culture) here. Was using a clinical thermometer (range 32°C - 43°C) to make sure, that my precious bacteria are alive and well when I feed them (and of course I sterilized the thermometer before using it for my experiments... ;) ...). Kept them at a constant 37°C for hours. Nothing. Tried the curd thingy again. This time even the coagulation did not work. I just blame the milk for it.

Rewind. Repeat.

Oh and btw, it is mid-Winter in Córdoba and today it was like 34°, sunny. So it actually is way too hot.

Experiments 1: Mass Murderer

I am of German origin. German cuisine is special (as is the cuisine of every other country as well). I am not talking about sausages. (Fried and grilled) sausages are part of the cuisine of many countries.

I am not talking about barbecue either. Germans think of themselves as the world champions of barbecue. They are not, not even close. They just deny of the mere existence of barbecues and grills outside of Germany. This makes Germans world champions of barbecue in their own perspective. And no, not even your ridiculous Weber Grill helps. Ever noticed, that "Weber" sounds German, but is an US American company? Go figure...

I am not talking about beer. It is true, Germans tend to drink a lot of beer and there is a large variety of beers, but look at the Belgian and you will find out, that there are other countries with a better choice of beers. Ever seen the average Argentine serving, if you order "para tomar una cerveza, por favor"? Germans would be very surprised to see, that there are countries, where the single serving of a beer is about two to three times the amount you get in Germany (if you order a beer in Argentina without specifying the size of it, you get a 1 liter bottle of beer; in Germany those do not even exist). Yes, the Germans have their infamous Oktoberfest in Munich, but have you ever noticed that about 90% of the visitors are US Americans, Japanese, British and Indian? The 10% of German visitors are usually staying at the Weinzelt not having beer at all...

I am not talking about bread. It is true, Germans do have specific types of bread, that you do not easily get somewhere else. Ever noticed, that the same applies to other countries (see Injera, Hallulla, Naan, Melonpan, Sac Ekmeği)?

I am more talking in terms of diet actually. The typical German diet includes lots of dairy products. There is a broad variety of dairy products available. And I have never seen such a rich variety of dairy products in any other country.

A major part of my personal daily diet in Germany consists of (non-flavored) yogurt and curd (particularly quark). I typically eat curd and fresh fruit as part of my Müesli in the morning (if I am having breakfast at all). I like yogurt to be part of my salad dressings and as a generic ingredient of my lunch. I adore a proper Ayran or Lassi for drinks. In the evening I typically eat at least 500 grams of non-flavored yogurt without anything else. Besides that I of course eat all kinds of cheese (yes, all of them) and all other kinds of processed (meaning soured, filtered, concentrated, coagulated) and non-processed varieties of milk. I die for fresh raw milk bought from a farmer directly (preferably with the slightly warm body temperature of a cow, i.e. freshest). No, I am not a pervert. I just like my food to be of a rich, natural (!) and pure flavor.

Why am I telling you all of that? Because it seems that most other cultures do not appreciate yogurt and curd as much as I personally do. Staying here in Argentina I can buy lots of yogurt. They have got huge coolers with yogurt, all artificially flavored. If I am lucky, they have got this one brand that provides non-flavored yogurt for a ridiculously high price (compared to the flavored varieties). So there is a huge shelf with what feels like 250 different types and brands of flavored yogurt. And somewhere in the darkest corner of this shelf, there is my precious: a single 190g (hilarious! I could inhale that in under two seconds!) pack of non-flavored yogurt for - believe it or not - 9 friggin' pesos (where you get the same amount of flavored yogurt for about 5 pesos right now). And I am like YAAYY! And it's close to the expiry date, but I don't care, because I've got my precious and I am running to the cashiers to save the final, the ultimate pack of 190g of non-flavored yogurt and I am the happiest man in the world...

...and... no curd! ... I repeat: no curd! ... They are not selling curd here. Nothing. Never. No supermarket provides curd. No deli shop provides curd. No health food shop provides curd. No curd!... It's like: NOOOOO, por faVORRR! And I feel my body craving for curd. I am like a man lost in the desert: curd! CURD! I NEED CURD!... but in this matter the Argentine are just utterly relentless...

So when I was back in Germany I planned to bring lots of non-flavored yogurt and curd with me. But then I figured, that it might not be the best idea to do so taking flight security regulations into account. Suddenly it hit me: I have to prepare my own yogurt and curd! Heureka! That is the solution of my curd dilemma.

So there I was, 39 going on 40 not having the slightest clue of what might be the actual difference in the production of yogurt and curd, but determined to finally overcome all obstacles and provide myself with a proper dairy diet in Argentina. I knew, that both yogurt and curd where kind of "sour milk" and I knew, that some kind of bacteria are involved in producing yogurt. I knew, that curd is often mistaken for yogurt, but it is really not the same. Nobody was able to provide answers to me (with the exception of my dearest sister, whose studies of food sciences sort of helped). I actually had to do some additional research to find out, that

• yogurt is basically milk soured and fermented with the help of lactobacillales without any further processing. Particularly Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are used as the starter cultures. These define the product "yogurt". Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus subsp. casei, and Bifido-bacteria may be added to yogurt as probiotic cultures.
• Curd is a very immature state of cheese production, which is made from fermented milk by coagulating (curdling) milk proteins with the use of enzymes/rennet, acid treatment (e.g. for Cottage cheese, Quark (!), and Cream cheese) or heat-acid treatment (e.g. Paneer, Ricotta and Queso Blanco) . The bacterial cultures used to start the fermenting process for curd includes (but is not limited to) the ones that are used for yogurt.

Lactobacillales

So what is the actual difference? Yogurt starter cultures by definition contain Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. The product "yogurt" is finished with the fermentation of milk with these specific bacteria reaching pH 4.5. Fermentation is stopped by cooling down the fermented milk to below 7°C. Curd on the other hand makes use of a broad variety of unspecified Lactobacillales. It is the result of both the fermentation and curdling process steps.

Fun Facts:

• The curdling automatically sets in at some point of the fermentation process due to the increasing acidity of the fermented (i.e. soured) milk.

• Neither curd nor yogurt are considered to be truely probiotic as per FAO/WHO regulations, although both contain living microorganisms. To be classified as a probiotic a product must be or must contain live microorganisms (generally numbering one billion) which are resistant to gastric acid, bile and pancreatic juices and reach the target site (small intestine/large intestine) in numbers sufficient enough to elicit a beneficial effect. The number of available live microorganisms for curd is not quantified. The yogurt producing bacteria are not considered probiotic. This in turn means, that probiotic yogurt is a product, where probiotic microorganisms have been added to the original yogurt in sufficient amounts and that the beneficial effect of the final product has been clinically tested.

• Curd produced by coagulating fermented milk via acid treatment is usually more fragile then rennet processed curd, because of the loss of calcium.

• Henceforth, curd produced by heat-acid treatment retains 90% of the protein available in the milk instead of only about 70% with rennet treatment. This is due to the fact that whey proteins usually are not affected by acid coagulation. If there is a heat treatment, the whey proteins become sensitive to acid coagulation. This in turn means, that a higher amount of protein can be retained.

All this knowledge could be gathered thanks to Cornell University (Yogurt, Cheese) and furthermore to the very detailed descriptions of The Dairy Science and Technology eBook of the University of Guelph, Canada.

So with all of this knowledge I tried two simple recipes:

 Homemade Yogurt

1. prepare milk by heating it up to 90°C max. (no cooking!)
2. let it cool down to 42°C max.
3. add living yogurt cultures (you just buy fresh natural yogurt and stir a spoon of it into the warm milk for inoculation)
4. keep the temperature for the inoculated milk between 30° and 42° for at least 4 to 7hrs and let the milk ferment
5. put the stuff in the fridge to stop fermentation

Homemade Curd

1. buy milk (1l)
2. pour the juice of one lemon (or lime) into the milk and stir
3. give the stuff 30mins to 1hr to coagulate
4. filter the whey (if you want to get rid of
5. put the stuff in the fridge

Trying out the yogurt-making for the first time was the ultimate success. In no time I had 1kg of proper yogurt. The taste of the yogurt was quite close to the original I bought. Everything seemed to be perfect. Problem through the process was, that I do not have a thermometer available. I basically had to guess temperatures. Apparently my guessing was pretty good.

When I went for the production of the second kilogram of homemade yogurt, the disaster happened. My temperature guessing was not very good. Apparently the milk was not cool enough as per step 2 of the recipe. I added the bacteria a little too early. And so I became a mass murderer. Millions of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus were burned to death in a second. And I did not even realize it. So I kept all the corpses cosy and warm for the next 7hrs, because I thought they would live the perfect bacterial life and prosper and ferment. But in the end: nothing, just 1 litre of sterile milk with millions of bacteria corpses. Single-handedly I killed a whole (yogurt) culture.

"I can see dead bacteria."

Tried to make curd from it by pouring the lemon juice into it. Coagulation kinda worked. In the end I had a "soup" of partly coagulated dead yogurt bacteria in sterile milk. Filtered it. The taste was... ... okay. The texture was not.

Rewind. Repeat.

Recently in Córdoba

I am back in Argentina. Have been here for the last about ten days. And in the tradition of my stays in Argentina I have been involved in lots of experiments and "firsts" again. I particularly experimented with

• food
• animals
• leisure activities.

Meanwhile we went to see Stravinsky's Sacre Du Printemp at Teatro San Martín, met friends (saludos a Neda, Ramiro, Sergio), had lots of empandas y malbec (y tiramisu).

I had a hard time not to write about the political and economical situation here. The whole discussion in context of fondos buitre is not only ridiculous. It is rather dangerous for the country and its people as a whole. And it makes me angry...

Condor; not in Córdoba though... :)

Anyway, yesterday there was an actual "flock" of condors over the city. Six apparently young condors circling only like one block away. These birds are just super impressive. Although I do not really understand, what they are looking for in the middle of a 1.5 million city, when they've got the sierras only like 50km from here. As they are vultures, they are usually not hunting for any living animals.

Argentina Part 2

After coming back from Switzerland I (unexpectedly) had two weeks without any particular goal. The bad weather conditions that forced me to discontinue my hike lasted for at least one more week after I left.  So in the end it was the best decision to leave.

During the two weeks "spare time" I visited a couple of friends and caught up with some administrative work I should have done a long while ago: taxes! I gathered the missing stuff for 2012 taxes, I prepared the 2013 taxes, I went through and sorted lots of documents, letters, invoices, I cancelled a couple of contracts for services I haven't used in a long time, had a look at my budget and the overall financial situation...

Now I am on my way to Argentina again. And I am very much looking forward to it.

The things I am looking forward to are:
First and foremost Pau y La Gina
Being with lots of warm-hearted people
Meeting friends
Empanadas y Malbec on the balcony
Bon-o-bons, Chipas o Criollos with my Mate
Running in the parque
Being with lots of people who don't give a shit about traffic lights and who are crossing the street,  whenever they like
Proper avocados

The things I am particularly not looking forward to:
Buying cheese and ham that comes in slices about two layers of atoms thick (yes, you can read the newspaper through these slices)
Complete denial of the existence of non-flavoured yoghurt and curd
Not being able to properly speak the local language
Having to think about security issues every time I open the apartment door