The Cats of Arecibo Observatory

Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is home to the second-largest radio telescope in the world. It's also home to quite an impressive collection of cats. Yes, this is an astronomy story with a twist.

Cats have called Arecibo home for a long time. But after Hurricane Maria struck the island last year, many people moved off the island, leaving their pets behind. Some of those cats have made their way up to Arecibo. This is when we start getting into problem territory. While it certainly wasn't a problem for the observatory staff to have all these cats around, the concern was that these cats would eventually start breeding. A few cats weren't a problem for local wildlife, but an exploding population would definitely cause problems. The cats would hunt the wildlife, the wildlife would disappear, the cats would go hungry... obviously this isn't an ideal scenario.

So, to handle this, the observatory staff have set up a fundraising page so that people can donate money to handle the catching, spaying, and neutering of these cats. That is a neat cause. And yes, several of the cats do have astronomically themed names. Of course they do.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Del's Shandy

Brewed by: Narragansett Brewing Company, Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Description (from the website): "A thirst-quenching summer classic. Narragansett Del's Shandy is a collaboration between two iconic Rhode Island brands. The first Del's Frozen Lemonade stand opened in RI in 1948 using an old family recipe brought over from Italy. Since then, both 'Gansett and Del's Lemonade have refreshed beachgoers around Rhode Island and beyond. The Del's Shandy brings all natural meon concentrate, our award winning Lager, and just a touch of sugar together for a shandy that tastes as refreshingly different as a New England Summer."

Would I buy it again?: No. This beer is essentially alcoholic lemonade. Now, if you like lemonade, that's just fine. However, I do not particularly like lemonade, and I did not particularly like this beer. A bit of lemon taste is fine, but this was more than a little.

Review: Royal Manchester Golf Links (Part 2)

It's time for the back nine at Royal Manchester, here's the front if you haven't seen it yet.

The tenth hole is another medium-length par 4, and it presents the player with the classic strategic dilemma. The closer you get to the fairway bunker on the right, the better angle you'll have to attack the green, which is guarded by a bunker to the left. Do it right and you'll have a good chance at a birdie. All in all, a very solid hole, if not a particularly revolutionary one.

The tenth hole.

This is a good place to approach the tenth green.

The eleventh hole is a medium-length par 3 playing over a shallow valley to a green defended on three sides by bunkers. If you can be below the hole, that is a big advantage, this green slopes pretty sharply from back to front.

The eleventh hole.

The twelfth hole is, if you're playing the blue/white tees, the longest hole on the golf course at 540 yards. If you're going to miss this fairway, miss it right, the mounding is very significant and the grass is cut short enough that golf balls are pretty findable. Thick jungle runs the entire way down the left side of the hole. If you're going for the green in two, a fade is going to be the better shot, and lay-ups are best hit from the left side of the fairway. The green is best approached from the left side.

The twelfth hole.

Don't go too far left on the second.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is the shortest par 4 at Royal Manchester at 350 yards. It's also the most well-bunkered hole here, with sand running down the right third of the hole up to the green. Those bunkers gradually eat away at the fairway, so the further you hit your drive, the less space you'll have to work with. You can lay back behind the sand, but you'll have a longer second shot than you'd probably want to have on such a short hole.

The thirteenth hole. Lots of sand to the right.

The thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green, with the eleventh in the background.

The fourteenth hole is a medium-length par 4 that doglegs pretty sharply to the left around a big fairway bunker. This is a narrow hole, so using a 3 wood or long iron is probably a good idea. The green is big and multitiered, and when the hole is on the back tier like it was when we played there, it's very difficult to get an approach all the way back, considering the proximity of both the tall fescue and thick forest beyond the green.

The rightmost stack is a pretty good place to aim your drive on 14.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is a medium-length par 3 to a green with small bunkers in front and behind. As you can see from the picture, there are a fair number of trees around the green, and while they don't come into play, it's a noticeably different aesthetic at work here. This is the only hole on the course that doesn't have the tall fescue along the sides, and while there's nothing wrong with the hole itself, it feels very out of place.

The fifteenth hole, with its out-of-place trees.

The sixteenth hole is a 520 yard par 5, and this month's exciting addition to our running series: "Oh crap, we've run out of room on our golf course". You wouldn't expect it from a par 5, but that's how Royal Manchester does things. After you finish 15 you are taken down a long path through the woods to the sixteenth tee. A very long walk. We're talking several hundred yards. And guess what? The hole plays in the exact opposite direction we just walked, and the green is actually right next to the fifteenth tee. I took a look at the satellite view, and I'm very confident that this irritation could have been avoided if a par of 72 had been sacrificed. Keep 15 where it is, have 16 as a long par 4 running in the opposite direction as this 16 but keep it on the same corridor, extend 18 a bit to make it a short par 5, and connect 16 and 18 with a par 3. This is the only time the course is distinctly walker unfriendly, but it comes at the end of the round, so it really sticks in my mind.

Anyway, that's enough about hypothetical routing changes, let's look at the hole we actually got. Left is quite obviously a bad place to be, thought if you can get close to it, you will have a shorter second shot. Otherwise, it's a reachable par 5 with some significant greenside bunkering. I'm not sure if this green is actually the smallest one on the course, but it feels like it.

The sixteenth hole.

This is the last time you get to see the electric station.

The sixteenth green, small and flanked by bunkers.

Looking back down the sixteenth hole

The seventeenth hole is the longest par 4 on the golf course if you're playing from the tips, but is a more mild 391 yards from the blue/white tees. This is an interesting change of scenery. We haven't exactly been in the trees the past few holes, but trees have been in view, and even almost in play on a couple of occasions. And then you come to this hole, and there is literally nothing sticking up above the horizon. All you can see is this hole, set in a little bowl, framed by brown fescue. It's almost desolate in a way, though that's more unkind than I'd like it to be. There's one bunker, a fairway bunker that is quite easily avoided, and the entire hole plays uphill. The green is big and very undulating. It's tough, but not in an annoying sort of way.

The seventeenth hole. It's a very spartan view.

This picture looks like I was almost lying on the ground, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't.

The eighteenth hole is the longest par 4 on the golf course from the blue/white tees, and unfortunately, it is tough in an annoying sort of way. There's nothing too wrong with the drive, but much like the ninth, the second shot plays over a pond. Much like P.B. Dye, Royal Manchester suffers from lackluster conclusions to both nines, and at both courses, the reason is egregious and unnecessary water. It was bad at P.B. Dye, but it's even worse here. The ponds are in front of the green on both holes, and the ponds clash even more with the overall course aesthetic. At least P.B. Dye had ponds elsewhere on the course, Royal Manchester doesn't. As a hole itself, it's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but it doesn't fit with most of the course, and it's a terribly cliched way to end a round of golf.

The eighteenth hole.

The pond even has a fountain.

We may have ended on a harsh note here, but let there be no question: Royal Manchester is the best course I've played this year. By a wide margin. There was strategy and thought on a few holes, the greens were interesting, it was walkable, there were no trees or narrow fairways, it was a generally very solid golf course. And I will say, the course conditions were excellent. The course was running pretty well, and despite the large amounts of rain the Mid-Atlantic has gotten in the past few months, it was pretty dry and firm out there, and the long fescue was nice and brown.

I haven't even gotten to Royal Manchester's little secret: The value of a round is extremely good. To play at 12:30 PM on a Saturday, I paid $40 per person. That is extremely reasonable, and much less than I would expect to pay for a golf course of this caliber. This is a full-length, very well maintained "championship" golf course about halfway in between two reasonably large Pennsylvania towns, one of which is the state capital. The closest analogue I have to Royal Manchester that I've played is the Iron Forge course at Penn National. They're in similar environments, both aspire to be linkslike, both are similarly upscale, and both are in rural southern Pennsylvania. I won't get into a detailed analysis, but Royal Manchester is essentially always the cheaper option. Royal Manchester is a better course than the Iron Forge course, and it's more convenient to play for a larger number of people.

So, is Royal Manchester the 11th best public golf course in the country? Does it stand up to the hype Golf Advisor has given it? Uh, no. So if you do go there, don't expect anything spectacular. That's not necessarily a bad thing, like I said, up to this point it's the best course I've played this year. It was well-maintained and well-priced, interesting in a few spots, and the round took less than 4 hours. I'd definitely considering driving an hour and a half to play it again. Can't ask for more than that, right?

Beer of the Week

The beer: 120 Minute IPA

Brewed by: Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, Delaware

Description (from the website): "Clocking in at 15-20% ABV, 120 Minute IPA is continuously hopped with a copious amount of high-alpha American hops throughout the boil and whirlpool, and then dry-hopped with another pallet of hops. Unfiltered and abundently hoppy, it's the Holy Grail for hopheads!"

Would I buy it again?: Definitely not. Now, I am definitely not a hop fanatic, but I was still eager to finally try out this beer. It's very well known, and my friends have had nothing but good things to say about it. Maybe I was expecting too much. But when I tasted it, I was thoroughly underwhelmed. To be honest, it didn't really taste like much of anything. It was extremely subtle and understated. Now, that's not a bad thing, per se, but this is a $10 bottle of beer we're talking about here. When I bought it, I wanted something spectacular. Something to make the insane price tag even remotely worthwhile. But I didn't. I was bored the whole time drinking this beer.

To be clear, the 120 Minute isn't a bad beer, but when a single 12 ounce bottle costs as much as a six pack of normal craft beer, it had better be beyond amazing. And it wasn't.

Review: Royal Manchester Golf Links (Part 1)

We're taking a step up in the golf world today.

Welcome to Royal Manchester Golf Links, located about halfway between York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. According to user reviews on Golf Advisor, it is the 11th best public golf course in the United States. Oh sure, this is the internet, and the people leaving these reviews may not be the most knowledgeable golfers in the world (Some examples: the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is No. 1; Pebble Beach is fifth, behind Sawgrass, Wyncote Golf Club, Ballyowen Golf Club, and Rams Hill Golf Club; Royal Manchester is ahead of Streamsong Red and Blue as well as Harbour Town), but hey, an award's an award, right? This place has got to be doing something very right to please the fickle denizens of the internet.

I didn't realize the course was so close to Three Mile Island.

My mission here was not necessarily to find faults, I mean, that's a terrible way to approach a round of golf, but let's just say I was highly skeptical that this was the 11th best public golf course in Pennsylvania, let alone the United States. I'm certainly willing to give credit where credit is due, but I look for more than good conditioning from my golf courses. So, let's see if Royal Manchester can possibly stand up to the hype the good people of Golf Advisor have given it.

The first hole is the classic opener: A medium length par 4. This one is just under 400 yards, but plays uphill. The hole, along with basically all the holes here, is framed by fescue-covered mounding to evoke the British links. Hey, it's Royal Manchester Golf Links, after all. The course specifically lists St. Andrews and Royal Lytham as inspiration, which I thought was a bit strange. The way the course generally plays through valleys is more reminiscent of Royal Birkdale, but I digress. This is a pretty simple hole, although you'll have a better angle to the green if you approach from the left side. The green is guarded by a bunker short right, and is angled so that you have more green to work with you're coming at it from the left. The green itself is quite big, and has a noticeable amount of break to it.

The first hole is relatively simple.

The first green. It was a perfect day for golf, 80 degrees, not too humid, a nice breeze... Couldn't ask for better weather.

The second hole is a medium length par 3 at just under 180 yards. The ability to hit a fade is highly recommended on this hole. You also do not want to be long, as that will leave you a very, very tough chip to a green sloping away from you towards a very big greenside bunker. Guess what I did. Go ahead, guess.

The second hole.

This isn't the last time you'll be seeing those stacks in the background.

The third hole is a par 5 that's 590 yards from the very back tee, but a significantly more manageable 526 from the next set up. Actually, Royal Manchester has an interesting system on the scorecard where they have the blue tees, which are the back, the white tees, which are the next set, and the blue/white tees, which are a mix of the two. The course is nearly 7,000 yards from the back, which is a bit too long for my taste, and 6,300 yards from the white tees, which is a bit too short. The blue/white tees are just over 6,600 yards, and that's just right. Call them the Goldilocks tees, I guess.

Anyway, the third hole presents the classic "cut off some of the dogleg to get a shorter second shot" challenge, with a native area right acting as the hazard to avoid. There's plenty of room left if you're not feeling bold. The second shot is blind no matter if you're laying up or not, and the third shot, if you have laid up, is up to a big, undulating green flanked by two greenside bunkers.

The third hole. Don't go too far right.

The third green, visible once you get over the hill.

The fourth hole is another mid-length par 4, slightly longer than the first at 410 yards. It is downhill, but it was playing into the wind the day we played. The wind is significant here, since there are no trees around to block it. It may not be a constant sea breeze, but if it's a windy day, you'll know about it. Clearly, you don't want to hit your drive in the fairway bunker right. The second shot is to a fairly shallow two-tiered green. As with most tiered greens, you're much better off if you end up on the same level as the hole.

The fourth hole. The stacks of the electric station are to the left.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is a 430 yard par 4 from the back tee, but is a more manageable 370 yards from the blue/white tee. The golfer has a decision to make on the tee, either lay up to the right of the fairway bunkers, and leave a longer approach, or challenge the bunkers, and the constantly narrowing fairway, to leave a shorter approach. Hook the drive and you're probably on the road that bisects the property. The green is big and unprotected by bunkers, but there is O.B. long and to the left. With the flag in the back of the green, it's tough to get the ball all the way to the hole on the second.

Do you try carrying the bunkers off the fifth tee?

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is the shortest hole on the golf course at 164 yards. It plays slightly downhill and is guarded by a single bunker in front. Not much to it, it's a pretty straightforward and easy hole.

The sixth hole.

The seventh hole is another mid-length par 4. The tee shot is best hit to the crest of the hill, so you can give yourself a flat lie for your second. The second shot will probably only be a wedge or short iron to a bunkerless green, but this isn't exactly a birdie opportunity. Why? Well, for one thing the green slopes from front to back. I mentioned way back in my Little Bennett review that this is an instant yet oddly overlooked way to make a hole more difficult and interesting. Simply put, golf balls don't instantly stop if you throw a high shot at them. This is also a shallow green, so if you want to get the ball close, you gotta hit a run-up shot. That is made even more difficult with the little swale that runs right in front of the green. It's a good hole, difficult without throwing any hazards at the golfer, and of a modest length as well.

The electric station returns on the seventh tee.

The seventh green.

You can get a better view of the front to back slope from behind.

The eighth hole plays somewhat similarly to the first. It's uphill and doglegs gently to the right, though at 416 yards, it is noticeably longer than the first. The green is more interesting though, with a noticeable back tier. The hole was back there too, so if you didn't get your shot up to the proper level, you're in for a very long, difficult putt.

Looking up at the eighth fairway.

The eighth green. The back tier is visible from well back in the fairway.

The ninth hole is a short par 5, playing just under 500 yards. The tee shot to hit here is a draw which threads between the fairway bunkers into the narrow little valley the fairway sits in. So far, so good, but then we get a little bit of a stumble at the green. For some reason, there's a pond in front of the green. Now, I'm generally okay with ponds as hazards, even on "links-like" golf courses. But putting a pond in front of the green on a short par 5 is a terrible, terrible idea. There's a simple reason, fronting hazards take all the fun out of a hole. Especially a hole where the idea is to gamble. Unless I'm in perfect position, I'm always going to lay up on a hole like this to take the water out of play as much as possible. If the pond was to the side of the green, I'd be much more likely to go for the green, even from iffy positions, and as a result, I'd be more likely to find the water. Golfers, in general, want to be dumb. But this hole doesn't encourage dumb play, and I don't appreciate that.

Now, there is an additional bit of information I wasn't aware of on the fairway, and that is that there's a bailout area long and left of the green. However, if you go over there you're honestly not in much better shape than if you lay up 100 yards short of the hole. Sure, you're over the water, but the pitch shot you're left with is not easy. The green slopes away, and it's entirely possible you won't have much room to work with. Not to mention what would happen to a thinned shot.

The ninth fairway.

The ninth green, over the pond. We caught up to the group ahead of us here.

The bailout area I mentioned.

That's it for the front nine, next week we'll see the back nine.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Town Beach Day Pass IPA

Brewed by: Narragansett Brewing Company, Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Description (from the website): "An easy drinking IPA that's perfect for a day in the sun. With notes of grape, lemon, and a touch of pine, this beer is practically summer in a can. It's bright, crisp, packs a light citrus kick from the balance of hops, and with a lower ABV you can have a couple and still play volleyball. The Town Beach Day Pass IPA is brewed with two-row, Carapils, Caramel 20 and Wheat malts, and Citra hops. It is then dry-hopped with Citra to really drive home aromas of passionfruit and grapefruit."

Would I buy it again?: This is a close one for me, but I have to say no. I'm just not that big an IPA guy, though I thought this was not too bad. Definitely one of the better IPAs I've had, and definitely not my least favorite beer I've had since I started doing this.

Underground Lake Discovered on Mars

So, this was really big news a couple weeks ago, and I was going to write about it last week. But then I found the German beer bottle fiasco and thought it was too good to pass up writing about. Hey, that Martian lake's lasted this long, it can wait a couple weeks.

Anyway, we've found a lake. Filled with liquid water. On Mars. It's a mile underneath the southern ice cap, so we won't be visiting it any time soon, but still, liquid water. A significant body of liquid water on Mars, roughly analogous to Lake Vostok in Antarctica. The Red Planet seems to be sending us mixed signals here, on the one hand, we've confirmed that Mars simply doesn't have enough carbon dioxide left to be terraformed, but on the other hand, we've got this. A lake, about 12 miles across and at minimum 3 feet deep. That's a decent amount of water, and considering what we know, if there's liquid water, there's a good chance there's life.

This is still science we're talking about here, and the discovery still needs to be confirmed. But if it is a lake, it seems like it could be an excellent warm-up for when we explore Europa and Enceladus. Mars is much closer, after all, and I think it's likely we'll get there sometime this century. The water isn't that far underneath the surface, and if there is life floating around in this lake, surely that would boost the odds of life existing under the ice of those moons. All we need to do first is get to Mars. No problem, right?

Beer of the Week

The beer: Thru Hiker Summer Wheat

Brewed by: Long Trail Brewing Company, Bridgewater, Vermont

Description (from the website): "Continue down the trail with this refreshing wheat ale.Thru Hiker Summer Wheat is slightly sweet with a hazy body and notes of citrus, spice and fruity hops.

Would I buy it again?: Yes, I would. It had a very pleasant taste that I enjoyed a lot. And I do generally like wheat beers.

Germany Is Running Out Of Beer Bottles

Talk about a strange problem.

It's been a hot summer in Europe this year. Well, hot for them. A 90 degree day there is like a 100 degree day here in Maryland. Those Europeans are just less tolerant of the heat, so they've been fighting against it by drinking lots of beer. I can think of worse reasons to drink. But there's a problem in Germany with the heavy drinking: They're running out of beer bottles.

There is a good explanation for this issue. Well, there is an explanation. Germans don't do canned beer (I don't care much for cans either, so I can sympathize). They prefer bottled beer (again I can sympathize, I even prefer bottled to beer from a glass). Germans also like recycling their beer, but they have a very specific system to handling beer bottle recycling, which I won't describe. The point is, there are a limited number of bottles in the country, and most of them are sitting in people's homes. Smaller breweries are starting to beg people to return their bottles so they can be reused.

Now, I don't want to criticize the German commitment to recycling, there is certainly a very good argument for being environmentally friendly. But, guys, this is a really dumb problem to be having.