Et tu, Plumbum? Then Fall, Caesar’s IQ!

Lead is a very, very bad thing to be exposed to. Children poisoned by lead suffer permanent negative health impacts, particularly with regards to development of the central nervous system, while lead exposure in adults can lead to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and kidney damage. Leaded gasoline blighted an entire generation of children in the 1960s and 1970s, costing those born during those years an average 6 or 7 IQ points. Fortunately, with the banning of leaded gasoline in 1996, children now only have microplastics to stunt their intellectual development.

One might imagine that lead poisoning is a modern-day problem, a result of the Industrial Revolution and internal combustion engines. But that’s not the case. Despite physicians of the era recognizing lead as a poison and documenting cases of lead poisoning, it was very prevalent during the age of both the Roman Republic and Empire. A popular theory in the 1980s even posited that Rome’s fall could be directly linked to lead exposure.  

That hypothesis has been largely debunked, but ancient Romans were undeniably exposed to large amounts of lead, and a recent study published in PNAS has been able to quantify both how much lead the Roman civilization poured out and what the cognitive effects of so much lead pollution were. To do this, they analyzed cores of ice from places like Greenland and Antarctica, where atmospheric lead has settled among the slowly building glaciers. These cores, some as long as 11,000 feet, contain records of atmospheric anomalies stretching back eons. 

For a pre-industrial civilization, the Romans were exceptionally skilled at pouring lead over the course of their thousand-year history, mostly as a byproduct of large-scale silver mining all over the empire. Galena, the mineral the Romans pulled silver from, also contains lead, so much so that for every ounce of silver they extracted, a thousand ounces of lead were released into the atmosphere. 

While the atmospheric lead concentrations during Roman times were a fortieth of what was reached during the 1970s, the Romans still managed to release over 500 kilotons of lead into the atmosphere during the 200-year Pax Romana at the start of the first millennium AD. This was enough to raise childhood blood lead levels by 2.4 mcg/dL — today, 3.5 mcg/dL is enough to necessitate medical intervention — and reduce the average IQ of the European population at the time by 2-3 points. 

That “doesn't sound like much, but when you apply that to essentially the entire European population, it's kind of a big deal,” study coauthor Nathan Chellman of the Desert Research Institute in Nevada said in a press release. Indeed, with a bit less lead in the air, perhaps Caesar could have had the foresight to see that knife coming.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Phrased #22

The brewery: Idiom Brewing Company, Frederick, Maryland 

Description (from Untappd): "A juicy and hazy Double New England IPA loaded with tropical intensity. Brewed with Citra, Meridian and Lotus hops, this 7.6% ABV brew delivers vibrant notes of mango, orange creamsicle, and fresh berries, all wrapped in a pillowy-soft mouthfeel and smooth finish."

Would I buy it again? It isn't very often at all that I get in the mood for an IPA. I haven't reviewed one in 8 months, if my reckoning is correct. Considering how many IPAs there are, going that long takes work. But I was out, it was a nice day, and it felt right. Luckily, my decision to purchase a hazy double NEIPA worked just as I hoped, and I got something nice, juicy, and refreshing rather than a over-hopped monstrosity. I'm never going to rush to buy an IPA again, but I'll give this as much of an endorsement as I can. It has its place.

Review: The Architects Golf Club (Part 2)

It's time to take a look at the back nine at Architects, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is a shortish 375-yard par 4 done in the style of George Thomas. Since I am not a southern Californian, my experience with Mr. Thomas's work is second-hand at best, so I can't really say for certain how well this captures his design essence. It is a solid-enough hole, strategically speaking: Challenge and carry the large, sprawling fairway bunker to the upper fairway, and you'll have just a simple pitch into the green. Bail out left, and you'll have a longer second over a second large bunker. The hole's intent would have worked better if it hadn't been playing straight downwind, making the carry over the fairway bunker almost trivial, but I definitely think this hole would work well the majority of the time.

The tenth hole.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is a 540-yard par 5 that became a bit of a backbreaker for our round, as it was pointed straight into the teeth of the wind. The hole is an homage to William Flynn and features a sea of bunkers and fescue in the corner of the fairway as it sweeps from left to right up a big hill. The bunkering is a fairly obvious nod to Shinnecock Hills, though it's much more artistically done there, not to mention more coherent, design-wise. The bunkers here kind of stick out. 

If you can carry the bunker sea, the green does come into range with the second shot, and since it's bunkerless, the reward for a bold carry on the drive is great. If you can't or don't carry the sand, the second shot needs to be threaded between three fairway bunkers guarding the lay-up zone; do that and third will be a pretty easy pitch to a small but straightforward green. The Architects website notes that William Flynn wasn't a big fan of wild greens, which does track with the single Flynn course that I've played.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole, if nothing else, certainly possesses a fine view of the hills lining the Delaware River valley. The hole, a 190-yard par 3, is an ode to Charles Banks, the lesser-known member of the MacRaynor trio, and on the surface appears to be a Redan. It's got the bunker scheme and the green is tilted in the appropriate left-to-right fashion, but the green surface lacks the signature front left to back right tilt that encourages a running draw. The green is more subtly bowl shaped, which acts to catch slightly wayward shots and keep them on the green.

Personally, I think they should have shortened this hole by 30 yards, made the green large and wild, and made it a Short. The land is great for an Eden, but since we've already had one and I'm not sure what sort of template hole would work in that spot, we can keep the Macdonald tribute the same. But I will defend my opinion from last week; the eighth should be the Redan and this should be something else.

The twelfth hole.

I don't think there's an architect out there who's been misrepresented more thoroughly by his most well-known golf course than Alister Mackenzie. Mackenzie is far, far more than Augusta National. But that's what we've got here, an homage to Augusta rather than Mackenzie, and it's a terrible homage at that. For one thing, there's nowhere to hit the drive; with a pond left and a large bunker right, the drive is incredibly tight unless you want to hit a long iron. Mackenzie espoused space more than anything, he wanted every golfer to find a way to play his courses. This is not that.

Anyway, if you do thread the needle on this shortish 525-yard par 5, you can go for the green in two, which is a mishmash of the 12th and 13th greens at Augusta. It's got the twelfth's narrowness and the numerous back bunkers and fronting creek of the thirteenth. Unless you have a shortish iron in hand, hitting this green in two is just not feasible, the target is just too small. So, to summarize, this is a terrible attempt at Mackenzie and easily the worst homage Architects has to offer.

The thirteenth hole.

Approaching the thirteenth green.

The thirteenth green.

The fourteenth hole is a very long, if not particularly complex, par 4, playing over 480 yards from all the way back to a rolling fairway with a single bunker right. This is a ode to Perry Maxwell, who I am completely unfamiliar with beyond knowledge of his greens, so I don't know if a wildly undulating fairway with no flat stances to be found checks out. We'll just go with it and turn our attention to the green, which is what Maxwell was known for. The green favors a running approach from the left, fading around the greenside bunker and taking the downslope in toward the middle of the green. As for the famous Maxwell rolls, there was at least an attempt to get them right. I've never experienced them myself, so I don't know how accurate this attempt was, but the fourteenth green is at least not an easy one to putt.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green.

The fourteenth green.

So prolific was Donald Ross as a designer that Architects deigned to give him a second homage. It's an odd choice to give him a second long par 4, but honestly, I think this hole does the best job of capturing the essence of any architect. The tee shot plays uphill to a plateau fairway where the landing area is blind. From there, the second shot plays down to a medium-size green with a small ridge running in from the back. There are two bunkers short, though they're not actually greenside and thus not too in play if you've hit a solid drive. Ross loved the up-down-up or down-up-down par 4, so this tracks pretty well. It's simple, fun, and more interesting that you'd think. There's a reason Ross got so much work.

The fifteenth hole.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

As the round comes to a close, we actually leave the Golden Age with an homage to Dick Wilson, one of the most prolific architects of the post-WWII era. The sixteenth hole suits his style well, being a long and tough par 4. The hole is a slight dogleg left, with a cluster of bunkers guarding the straight line to the green. From there, the second shot is to a green slightly built up and elevated, and surrounded by six bunkers. It's tough and demanding, which is exactly the sort of hole that became popular in the late 40s and 50s. 

The sixteenth hole.

Approaching the sixteenth green.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole jumps back to the 20s for an homage to Stanley Thompson, Canada's most well-known golf course designer. Since this is New Jersey, not the Canadian Rockies, this par 3 lacks a certain wow factor that Thompson's most well-known work possesses in spades. No walls of spruce lining the fairway or skyscraping granite peaks in the background here. Still, Thompson was known for his sprawling, complex bunkers, and this 200-yard par 3 certainly has plenty of those. The green here is narrow and angled, making it a tough target in amongst all the sand; it's even tougher considering how open to the wind the hole is. The green itself is not complicated, but I do still think this is a decent hole.

The seventeenth hole.

The seventeenth green.

The eighteenth hole, of course, represents the most well-known golf course architect of them all: Robert Trent Jones. I don't think even Donald Ross can quite compare. Oddly enough, for a man whose work could be notoriously challenging, the eighteenth hole at Architects isn't a back-breaker. The tee shot is tough, with four bunkers pinching in the fairway right at the landing area, but this hole is only 400 yards. You don't need to hit driver. The green is quite large but very undulating, and is protected on all sides by sand. All in all, I actually really like this as a finishing hole; it's tough and demands precision, but since the hole isn't ridiculously long it feels manageable. At least it isn't a 480-yard par 4 with water in play.

The eighteenth hole.

The eighteenth green.

If nothing else, Architects is set upon some very attractive land. This isn't quite the realm of the Delaware Water Gap, which is a bit further north, but still, the front nine in particular has some amazing mountain views.

But of course, Architects came in with an ambition, to provide tribute to the great golf course designers of the Golden Age. Does it do that? Uh, sort of. I can see the intent on a few holes, particularly toward the end of the round, but sometimes the intent and execution are very far apart. The eighth is nothing like a Raynor hole, and while Alister Mackenzie is already rolling in his grave over what's happened to Augusta, the godawful tribute here is surely not easing his pain. Also, and this was a problem with the other tribute course in New Jersey, the greens lacked ambition. This should be a fun concept, and the greens should be wild and wacky to go along with that. The Golden Age architects were almost never ones to shy away from wild greens, Architects shouldn't either.

Also, while conditions were solid, the round definitely cost more than it should; Architects may be physically kind of close to New York City, but the shining center of the universe this is not. The course is fine and fun in places, and I'd definitely call it above average, but it isn't worth the steep price of entry. Also, they make you take carts, which is an immediate red flag. The course is plenty walkable and the cart paths are poorly designed, I promise you my brothers and I spent more time driving our carts out of the way and walking back to our golf balls than we would have if we'd been able to just walk to our shots in the first place. Cut the price in half and let us walk, and maybe I'd think about coming back. But for a hundred dollars plus, absolutely not. 

Beer of the Week

The beer: Scallywag

Brewed by: Thick-N-Thin Brewing Company, Hagerstown, Maryland

Description (from Untappd): "Light, refreshing golden ale with blood orange, key lime and sea salt."

Would I buy it again? When I bought this beer, I knew nothing about it other then that it was a shandy, and since it was a warm day, it felt like a great choice. I was expecting this to have a strong lemon flavor, not orange. I know they're both citrus, but lemon works better for beer when it's a dominant flavor. The orange in this just didn't really work for me. I would not buy this again.

Review: The Architects Golf Club (Part 1)

Nearly 8 years ago, I did a review of McCullough's Emerald Golf Links, a collection of replica holes based on the best golf holes from across the pond in Great Britain. It was a solid enough golf course, if a bit underwhelming. Little did I know, though, that New Jersey was hiding a second tribute golf course, one with a concept equally as intriguing, at Architects Golf Club, located just across the border from Pennsylvania.

As the name implies, rather than each hole being a replica of another, more famous hole, each hole at Architects pays homage to the style of a famous Golden Age architect (mostly, there are a few exceptions). So, there's a hole in the style of C.B. Macdonald, a hole in the style of William Flynn, and so on. At least, that's the idea. Whether or not the execution is there is another story, as some of the selected architects have notoriously difficult styles to pin down. But hopefully Architects will provide some fun, since it at least has some ambition behind it.

The first hole is in the style of Old Tom Morris, which right off the bat represents a challenge. While Old Tom is considered one of the first true golf course architects, to say he had a design style is really pushing it. He had no complex tools and worked with what the land offered in the most sincere expression of that phrase. Also, you know, he only worked with British linksland, not an old farm in northern New Jersey. So, interpreting his design into a single hole could really take any form.

What we have is a shortish par 5, playing 510 yards gently downhill to a wide fairway with several bunkers scattered around the edges. I will give it this; there are plenty of points where the green is blind, which is honest to Old Tom's style. He had to work around blindness, and so does this hole. For those laying up, there's a left-side fairway bunker about 75 yards short of the green to think about, and for those going for the green in two, there a small pot bunker with sod walls (naturally) right in front with another more traditional bunker right. The green itself isn't too interesting, though it isn't dead flat either.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is a par 3 in the style of C.B. Macdonald, and the homage is a pretty obvious Eden. The hole is 195 yards but plays uphill, with deep bunkers left and front right, along with a hidden bunker behind. The green is sloped severely from back to front, making putts from above the hole very treacherous. Of course, the back of the green is the safe place to play, as the two bunkers in front make a more aggressive tee shot much more hazardous. No complaints about this hole, this is an honest and pretty solid interpretation of a Macdonald staple.

The second hole.

The third hole is another par 5, this one 520 yards and inspired by Hugh Wilson, who doesn't have many golf course credits to his name, but of those few, one obviously stands out: Merion. I've never played Merion (duh), so I'll just have to judge this hole on its own merits, and it's solid enough. To bring the green into reach on the second, a pair of bunkers must be cleared on the drive; bail out right and you'll have a terrible angle at the green, not to mention the small clump of trees guarding the right side of the fairway up in the lay-up zone. That isn't the only difficulty presented for those laying up, as there's another bunker left and two right extending from about 75 yards short most of the way to the green. The green isn't spectacular, but there's a greenside bunker left and a big falloff long and right, so accuracy is important.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is a long par 4 at 440 yards, and it's in the style of Devereux Emmet, which of course got my brothers and I very interested. Of all the Golden Age architects, Emmet is the one we know best. So, does this feel like an Emmet? Sort of, I'll say. The big cross-bunker is reminiscent of hazards on other Emmet courses, particularly the 13th at Leatherstocking. The green is a different story. On the surface, yes, Emmet courses often did have mounding around their greens, and this green does have slightly interesting contours. But I just don't know, it isn't quite right to me. It's close, but not completely there.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is an homage to Walter Travis, who did the Country Club of Troy and Cape Arundel. Not his most famous work (that would likely be Garden City, which of course was originally by Devereux Emmet), but two very well-respected golf courses, particularly Cape Arundel and its wild greens. That, more than the heavy bunker scheme, is what Travis was known for, and while the heavy bunkering and mounding around the fairway of this 355-yard par 4 is solid and fun, there are plenty of non-Travis examples of similar holes. In particular, this hole reminds me of the last hole at Bedford Springs. Same length, same preponderance of bunkers, roughly similar green. It's a solid hole, honestly, but without a wild green it has to fail as a tribute to Walter Travis.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is a tiny little par 3, playing under 150 yards from the tips. It's downhill as well, so you really don't need much on the tee shot here. However, the green is small and surrounded by deep bunkers, with a steep falloff behind leading into forest. It's supposed to be a tribute to H.S. Colt and C.H. Alison, but since I'm completely unfamiliar with either of them (Colt never did work in the US, and unless Timber Point gets restored, Alison's surviving work in this country is pretty much all private), I can pretty much only judge this as a fun little short par 3. It's a likeable hole and honestly one of the best on the course.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is the A.W. Tillinghast tribute hole, and if you know anything about Tillinghast's work, you'll know that distilling him down to a single hole is an effort in futility. A Tillinghast course can look like pretty much anything; he had no distinct style or calling card. But Architects tried to copy him anyway.

What they came up with is a mid-length par 4 with a tee shot playing through a chute of trees to an initially wide fairway below. A 3 wood or long iron will find the wide part of the fairway, but if you're feeling aggressive, you can try to thread a faded driver into a narrow gap guarded by bunkers on both sides. Do that, and the second will be a wedge; the safe play on the tee shot will leave a short or mid iron into the green, which is elevated and protected by two bunkers. Each bunker on this hole is supposed to refer to the bunkers from a different Tillinghast course, but they kind of just look like bunkers to me. Not every replica can be a winner. 

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

Speaking of not capturing the spirit of the architect, the eighth hole is pretty clearly the worst attempt Architects has to offer. This is supposed to be the homage to Seth Raynor, student of C.B. Macdonald and template hole extraordinaire. This would seem to be the easiest architect to copy for Architects' entire gimmick and yet, they screwed it up. 

The eighth hole is a mid-length par 3 playing uphill to a two-tiered green with several bunkers left. I suppose the bunkers are kind of geometric and hard-edged, but in no way does this resemble a hole Seth Raynor would have built. It just doesn't. A Redan would have worked; the tee shot approached the hillside in the appropriate diagonal fashion, and an uphill Redan would capture the traditional lower angle of approach that marked the original. That would have been a cool hole. Instead, we got something kind of boring and not related to Seth Raynor in any meaningful way.

The eighth hole.

The eighth hole.

The ninth hole is a long par 4, playing an uphill 450 yards, and is an homage to Donald Ross. Ross is another tricky one to try and emulate; he certainly had a style, unlike Tillinghast, but it was generally subtle and conservative, fitting the land. Which makes sense, considering how many courses he's responsible for. So basically, as long as you don't do anything really flashy, you can make pretty much anything a tribute to Donald Ross.

The tee shot here has to go past a pair of top-shot bunkers (which is a very Ross feature, to be fair) and needs to be hit with driver to get to the top of the hill. From there, the second shot appeared to be quite difficult, with a bunker right of the green and a pond short and left. However, while left is pretty clearly dead, there is a bit of visual deception at play with the pond short of the green; there's actually 10-20 yards of space between the water of the green. Not a huge amount of space, but far from nothing. And the green itself is actually kind of interesting, with a trench sort of cutting across the green diagonally. The front left and back portions are elevated, making hole locations on those sections quite tricky. It's apparently based on drawing from Mr. Ross, which explains why it's so much more interesting than the greens we've seen before. Overall, I think this hole is a decent facsimile of a Ross design.

The ninth hole.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

That's it for this week, next week we'll check out the back nine.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Patagonia Provisions Kernza® Lager

The brewery: Tröegs Brewing Company, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Description (from the website): "This is the start of a new brewing project in our small-batch beers. In partnership with Patagonia Provisions, a portion of select beer’s malt bills will use the regenerative perennial grain Kernza®. The plant’s deep roots, high yield and long life are positively impacting both agriculture and the environment. The clothing company’s side focus on cuisine has a goal to benefit soil and a sustainable food chain. 

Our first-ever time using the wheatgrass grain is in a Helles lager. As 15% of the grain bill, Kernza® combines with organic Pilsner malt to build a crisp backbone. Lightly hopped with organic Perle hops, this wildly drinkable lager has notes of rustic crackers, bright wildflowers and a touch of grassiness."

Would I buy it again? Doesn't everyone love a beer with a copyright symbol in the name? Yeah, yeah, reserved, I know. The point stands. 

This is still Troegs, though, a brewery who is extremely good at making both beer and lagers specifically. It's a good light beer, pleasant and easy to drink. The only issue is that they have so many beers in that niche that this one sort of falls through the cracks. I wouldn't say no to getting it again, but there are more interesting choices.

A Viking of Infinite Morbidity, of Most Severe Sinus Infection

In life, the Vikings had a reputation as fearsome warriors. A reputation perhaps only partially warranted, considering their extensive trade network that spread across the entirety of Europe, but there is no denying that for hundreds of years, the prospect of Viking attack put a chill into the hearts of millions of medieval Europeans.

In death, however, the multitude of Vikings buried at Varnhem Abbey in Sweden are much the same as any other thousand-year-old skeleton: frail and brittle. This presents a challenge to scientists who wish to study the bodies, as most methods of analysis are incredibly invasive, and the methods that aren’t, such as a strictly visual analysis, are very limited. It’s difficult to tell how a thousand-year-old Viking lived and died simply by looking at their bones.

A team from the University of Gothenburg may have a middle ground — a way to look deeply into the heart of a Viking skeleton without dragging it into the lab and dissecting it. In a study published in British Dental Journal Open, the researchers examined a set of skulls from fifteen individuals buried at Varnhem using computed tomography, or CT scans. The CT machine takes a series of x-rays and forms a 3D image, allowing the researchers to dive deep into the skeletal remains without actually disturbing them in any physical way.

“While we can't study the damage in the soft tissue because it's no longer there, we can see the traces left in the skeletal structures,” study coauthor Carolina Bertilsson said in a press release.

And what did the Swedish researchers find specifically in the remains they analyzed? Quite a lot, actually. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a group of people living hundreds of years before the advent of modern medicine, the Vikings of Varnhem had quite a few medical problems. Far more than anticipated. Through CT scans, the researchers were able to identify osteoarthritis, various oral diseases, cysts, and even sinus and ear infections in almost all the individuals they examined.

Of course, while the work of archaeologists has undeniably become easier, there is a crucial downside to the new research: Somehow, Hamlet delivering his famed soliloquy to a 3D model of Yorick’s skull on a computer screen lacks the je nais se quois that Shakespeare intended. And somehow it seems unlikely that the local theater company will be able to rent out a CT machine every time they want to perform Hamlet. It’s either that or hospitals will have to start doubling as playhouses.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Baby Bear Oatmeal Stout

The brewery: Hub City Brewery, Hagerstown, Maryland

Description (from Untappd): "Our oatmeal stout is loaded with flavor. An addition of oats to the mash leads to a silky and smooth mouthfeel and full-bodied beer. The dark roasted grain bill is reminiscent of coffee and dark chocolate."

Would I buy it again? There are definitely strong hints of coffee to this beer. Not overwhelming, but very noticeable. Overall, I found this to be a nice beer to drink. I don't know how often I'll get it in the coming months, since it's not exactly the beer you want on a hot summer afternoon, but I would buy it again.