ladies of honour looking for dancers

a serendipitous find possibly of interest to the Krefeld Clan.

On a tumblr blog that posts lots of old postcards I discovered this group photo of young women from Krefeld, who in 1906 served as ladies of honour to welcome the emperor Wilhelm II to the city:

Die Ehrendamen beim Besuch Kaiser Wilhelm II in Krefeld, 2. April 1906. Source.

When I tried to find out who they were (seeing that our Krefeld Clan relatives had plenty of eligible daughters around that time), I discovered another group photo from an earlier imperial visit, and an amusing story to connect these two.

A few years earlier, the Kaiser had visited Krefeld on to celebrate the city's 200th anniversary of being part of the Kingdom of Prussia. (NB people in the Rhineland had rather mixed feelings about being ruled by faraway Prussia, but I guess by the time the 200th anniversary arrived they had gotten used to it.) On this visit, 20 young women of the city, all dressed in white, lined the stairs of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum (built in 1894-97 as a memorial to Wilhelm I and still standing today) to welcome the monarch. Reportedly, he was quite impressed by this welcome and asked for their group photo to be taken:

Die Krefelder Ehrendamen beim Empfang der Kaiserl. Majestäten am 20. Juni 1902. Verkleinerung der von seiner Majestät gewünschten Original-Photographie. Source.

Various copies of this postcard are available for sale online (eg here and here). I'm dreaming of finding one with the inscription "hey look that's me" or at least with a useful name.

Legend has it (see eg here) that in subsequent smalltalk with the ladies, Wilhelm inquired whether they went out to dance quite regularly. He heard complaints that the young men of the city only had their textile businesses in mind so there wasn't all that much dancing happening. On the spot, the emperor promised to send some officers to Krefeld for the ladies to dance with. Chances are that the plans were already being hatched beforehand, but he did indeed order the 11th regiment of Hussars to be moved from Düsseldorf to Krefeld. That move happened on April 2 1906, and the emperor underlined his role in the deal by personally leading the regiment on the last mile into the city. The painter Carl Röhling immortalised the scene:

Source

Obviously, ladies dressed in white were lined up and photographed again on this occasion, hence the postcard photo dated 1906 shown at the top.

The soldiers were known as the Tanzhusaren in reference to the story:

Source: Wikipedia

Of course the residence of the regiment in the city only lasted eight years until the hussars were sent to France for a fight in which their role as dashing horsemen soon proved to be obsolete. Much like the monarchy and the ladies of honour, so those pictures are a bit like a last hurrah of that world about to vanish.

a new capital in the jungle

This August, Indonesia is due to inaugurate its new capital, Nusantara, located in a remote site surrounded by the rainforest of Borneo. I took this as an opportunity to look more closely at the conservation and climate challenges the country is facing. The resulting feature is out today:

From Jakarta to the jungle

Current Biology Volume 34, Issue 14, 22 July 2024, Pages R663-R665

Restricted access to full text and PDF download
(will become open access one year after publication)

Magic link for free access
(first seven weeks only)

See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features.

Last year's thread is here .

President Joko Widodo and others planting meranti tembaga (Shorea leprosula) trees in the new capital city of Indonesia, Nusantara. (Photo: BPMI President’s Secretariat/Muchlis Jr.)

oceans on the brink

In the last 12,000 years, while humans were busy replacing the terrestrial ecosystems with agriculture and infrastructure, the oceans had a reprieve due to their inaccessibility. Only since the 19th century did the oceans begin to suffer the consequences of humanity's world domination, beginning with industrial scale whaling and not ending with climate change killing off coral reefs and the rush towards deep-sea mining endangering even the remoter parts of the sea floor.

This could make for a rather depressing story of a paradise lost, but with their book At every depths, Tessa Hill and Eric Simons manage to make it more interesting by emphasising the things we are only beginning to understand and also the traditional knowledge of coastal and seafaring populations that has been ignored by modern science and almost been forgotten. This angle, covering things like the clam gardens of Hawaii and the long-distance journeys of the polynesian voyagers who settled everything from New Zealand to Hawaii, makes for the most surprising and fascinating stories here.

More about all this in my essay review which is out now:

Exploration vs exploitation

Chemistry & Industry Volume 88, Issue 7-8, July/August 2024, Page 34

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled PDF of the whole review section)

SCI (premium content, ie members only)

As always, I'm happy to send a PDF on request.

upstream journey

Some thoughts on

The Danube: A Journey Upriver from the Black Sea to the Black Forest
Nick Thorpe
Yale University Press 2014

I have spent 6.5 years living at Regensburg less than 250 metres from the banks of the Danube. For the first three years, it was so close that its waters came up to our front door once. And yet, much of its watershed still feels exotic to me - as my family history typically drains into the North Sea or rarely into the Baltic. I can think of only two Danubian links, the Black Sea migrants and an elusive Austrian soldier who came to Baden in the 1790s, but his past remains obscure. I have visited Vienna and Budapest but not much else.

Anyhow, as a balance to obsessing about the river Rhine, I felt obliged to read this Danubian travelogue when I discovered it. In the process, I learned a lot about the complex history of the Balkans and the Ottoman influences travelling upstream into Europe, including coffee, tobacco and paprika. I guess this cultural drift from East to West (along with the movement of modern day migrants) was what motivated the author to travel against the flow. Otherwise, most travellers, especially if they use bikes or boats, will prefer to go downstream, from Donaueschingen to the Black Sea, like my ancestors did back in 1806.

The author is a BBC journalist who has been based at Budapest for several decades, so the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires and Eastern Bloc histories are his strength. Upstream of Passau he loses interest a bit - for instance he misses out completely on everything that makes Regensburg special (much like Alexander McCall Smith whose novels allegedly set there have no sense of place whatsoever). And some of the information on German things appears to be confused. For instance he mentions Ingolstadt as a car manufacturing city and then goes on about Opel which is based elsewhere. The famous Ingolstadt car manufacturer is of course Audi.

Also, at the very end, he discusses the work of German adventure writer Karl May (1842-1912), dwelling on his Old Shatterhand persona in the Wild West (with absolutely no connection to the Danube), but forgetting to mention the book "In den Schluchten des Balkan" (1892), which describes an itinerary probably not all that far from the Danube.

So I guess I would recommend it for the stretch of Belgrade to Vienna. For the Black Sea, I prefer Neal Ascherson's eponymous book, and Germany is much more vividly represented in Simon Winder's Germania (incidentally, Winder also has a book about the Danube region which I haven't got yet). Still, it might become handy for a feature on Danubian ecosystems one day. Watch this space.

Blackwells

we're drugging the biosphere

During the plague years I have often mentioned that things like virus fragments can be readily detected in wastewater, and that with the same methodology researchers can also describe the distribution of drug use, eg for cocaine. This is quite routine now, but what amazingly hasn't been done very often is to look at the impact our drugs - including the legal as well as the illegal kind - have on ecosystems when they escape into the water systems. The first global survey attempting to estimate the impacts of drug pollution in the environment only happened two years ago. So I thought this endeavour could do with a bit of a shout-out, which is why it is the subject of my latest feature, out now:

Drugging the biosphere

Current Biology Volume 34, Issue 13, 8 July 2024, Pages R605-R607

Restricted access to full text and PDF download
(will become open access one year after publication)

Magic link for free access
(first seven weeks only)

See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features.

Last year's thread is here .

A wide variety of drugs is helping us to stay healthy for longer, but the effects the active ingredients may have on other species after our use are too little understood. (Photo: Myriam Zilles/Unsplash.)

ecology book coming soon

New book alert!

Over the last 13 years, as I have been writing a feature for (almost) every issue of Current Biology, the focus of my writing work gravitated towards topics that could be described as ecology in the broadest sense, ranging from microbial interactions to global nutrient cycles and also including the fringes of ecology such as human interference in nature, soundscape ecology, behavioural ecology etc.

True to my ancient motto "Only connect!" I was often attracted to these topics by the satisfaction of uncovering how everything is connected to everything else. Over time, more than 300 features have piled up and grown into a heavily connected and crosslinked body of texts. Even though the vast majority of these (everything older than 12 months) are openly accessible to all, I fear that not many people will click their way through these.

Therefore, I attempted to remix some of the lessons I have learned in these years into book format. The resulting 400 page doorstopper is now on track to be published on October 15 by Johns Hopkins University Press (who have also published Astrobiology in 3 editions over the last 18 years). So expect more plugs, excerpts, blatant advertising, as the date approches. Here, as a teaser, I'll just share a glimpse of the lovely cover (and thereby also reveal the title):

Cover of
Intertwined
From Insects to Icebergs
by Michael Gross
Johns Hopkins University Press October 2024

a potted history

Ceramics are amazing in that they record human history more comprehensively and more deeply than any other human-made artifacts, and yet they are still at the cutting edge of technology, being used as advanced materials in many of today's marvels.

So a book about the uses of ceramics eg in catalysis could be really exciting - which is why I agreed to review one such that was suggested to me. Sadly, it is one of the many monographs published these days with zero editorial effort. Thus, there is no general introduction to the field, and it is left to the authors of each of the chapters separately to tell the readers (again) why ceramics are both culturally fundamental and technologically important.

I do wonder why these books are still published at all - the papers could have very well been published as an online collection, a special issue of a journal or some such. If there's no effort to tie them together editorially to produce something that you might want to read in sequence, why tie them together with cardboard and glue?

Anyhow, after sampling too many of the chapters, I pulled together my own potted history of ceramics, as it were, and this is now out in the June issue of C&I:

Ceramic history

Chemistry & Industry Volume 88, Issue 6, June 2024, Page 34

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled PDF of the whole review section)

SCI (premium content, ie members only)

As always, I'm happy to send a PDF on request.

Corded-Ware culture pottery from 2500 BC Source: Wikipedia

care about caracaras

Reading up on the neglected group of raptors, the caracaras, I was rather shocked to find a major skeleton in ornithology's closet. A collector of museum specimens who has several species named after him likely killed the last ten or so individuals of the Guadalupe caracara (Caracara lutosa). So here we have a species not just killed off by humans in general, but by one human specifically. Make that two species, as the bird also carried a parasite not known to use any other hosts.

The important point here is of course the lack of information - Rollo Beck had assumed that the species was still abundant, simply because he very quickly found the group which he then slaughtered. Lack of knowledge and understanding of the important ecosystem function of the caracaras and other raptors and scavengers is also what previously drove that species to the brink of extinction and is still endangering many others today.

So the feature is mainly a call to all humans to support and appreciate their local raptors, including those that have a shady reputation, like vultures and caracaras.

When raptors soar no more

Current Biology Volume 34, Issue 12, 17 June 2024, Pages R553-R555

Restricted access to full text and PDF download
(will become open access one year after publication)

Magic link for free access
(first seven weeks only)

See also my new Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features.

Last year's thread is here .

The striated caracara (Phalcoboenus australis) has been described as inquisitive and fearless by Charles Darwin and other visitors to the islands of the South Atlantic. (Photo: kuhnmi/Flickr (CC BY 2.0 Deed).)

films not shown - part 3

My first list of films we're not allowed to see in UK cinemas included films released until 2012, the second one from 2012 to 2020, and I was tempted to let matters rest, but in the post-pandemic harvest of films there were a couple of no-shows that shocked me into launching a third instalment, and a trawl through my tumblr "french cinema" tag brought up enough material to launch a new, post-plague list.

As in the second instalment, there will be just one list of films running chronologically forward, so starting with the earliest ones. I’ll start with films produced in 2021. Within each year, the films that I actually managed to see are listed first. Oh, and female directors are now also highlighted in bold font.

So, here we go again:

Les meilleures (Besties) - France 2021, Marion Desseigne-Ravel, starring Lina El Arabi and lots of unknown young talents. A bit like Westside Story in the Paris banlieue, oh and the rival gangs are all girls. Much as I object to the gang stupidity turbocharged by smartphones, the forbidden love story is really engaging.

Ma nuit (My night) - France 2021, Antoinette Boulat, starring Lou Lampros. A random night-time walk through the city, what's not to like. Don't go looking for a plot though. Caught this one on TV5 Monde

Une histoire d'amour et de désir - France 2021, Leyla Bouzid, starring Sami Outalbali, Zbeida Belhajamor - lovely little boy meets girl story driven by the very energetic girl, although the boy's hangups and tribulations are arguably the main topic. I was lucky to catch it on TV5 Monde. It was also shown at the BFI London Film Festival, apparently.

Vous ne désirez que moi (I want to talk about Duras) - France 2021, Claire Simon, starring Emmanuelle Devos. Film about the writer Marguerite Duras.

Divertimento - France 2022, Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, starring Lina El Arabi
Un beau matin (one fine morning) - France 2022, Mia Hansen-Love starring Lea Seydoux.
Une jeune fille qui va bien (A radiant girl) - France 2022, Sandrine Kiberlain, starring Rebecca Marder.

Coup de chance - France 2023, Woody Allen, starring Lou de Laage - managed to catch this in Dusseldorf in a (rare for Germany) subtitled screening. May yet write up some thoughts about it.
Le théorème de Marguerite - France 2023, Anna Novion, starring Ella Rumpf.
Le ravissement (The rapture) - France 2023, Iris Kaltenbäck starring Hafsia Herzi.
Je verrai toujours vos visages (All your faces) - France, 2023, Jeanne Herry, starring Leila Bekhti.

Die Herrlichkeit des Lebens - Germany 2024, Judith Kaufmann, starring Henriette Konfurius. Released in Germany ahead of the centenary of Kafka's death, this film covers the last year of his life and his relationship with Dora Diamant.

---

to be continued ... - last updated 14.7.2024

One of our lovely independent cinemas here, not their fault that they're not getting all these films. (Own photo) I used this photo in the second instalment already, so will replace it here as soon as I have a better idea.

a family business

Some thoughts on

Sten Nadolny
Ullsteinroman
Ullstein 2004

Some family histories are so rich in material that one struggles where to start and how to relate it - a memoir, a group biography, a novel? Sten Nadolny (famous in the last century for The discovery of slowness, a novel about polar explorer John Franklin) has chosen to gently novelise the history of the Ullstein family, the descendents of a Jewish paper factory owner in provincial Fürth, who set up a successful newspaper and later book publishing business in Berlin.

Leopold Ullstein (1826-1899), who made the crucial step from producing blank paper to selling printed paper as well as the move from Fürth to Berlin, had ten children from two wives, and all five sons took on senior roles in the company. After the patriarch's death, and when the generation of his grandchildren also developed ambitions in this direction, it led to some family drama during the Weimar years, and after 1933 the Nazis evicted the Ullsteins from their family business. The book publisher and several of the newspapers still exist today, but not in the hands of the eponymous family.

Nadolny moves smoothly between novel writing (presumably leaning on letters and diaries as well as making up plausible dialogues) and straight history writing, filling us in on family events and the broader historical context. Twelve characters get a potted biography of several pages each. Supporting cast includes basically everybody who was anybody in Germany between 1871 and 1933, from Lorenz Adlon (of hotel fame) to Graf Zeppelin.

Cover of the Ullstein paperback edition, which I found in one of the street libraries in Düsseldorf - they have an amazing ability to provide me with the books I never knew I wanted to read. The lovely cover photo shows all 7 children from Leopold Ullstein's first marriage. Their mother, Matilda Berend (1830-1871), died a few days after the birth of the youngest.

In terms of parallels with my family history (which I'm not going to novelise any time soon) the large family and spirit of enterprise reminded me of the (economically less successful) Krefeld Clan and Imig clan, where we had similar numbers of children in the mid-19th century and also some businesses. Although, crucially, we don't have an example of more than two brothers piled up in the same business. Maybe the businesses weren't big enough to accommodate more family members. Neither of them has a Jewish ancestor yet, but the Kauer clan has one here.

some very old molecules

Belated horn-tooting for my latest feature on molecular paleontology which is out in the May issue of C&I:

Molecules of lost time

Chemistry & Industry Volume 88, Issue 5, May 2024, Pages 22-25

access via:

Wiley Online Library (paywalled PDF)

SCI SCI members only.

As always, I'm happy to send a PDF on request.

Mammoths are only a small part of the story but I am loving the one that fills the first page of the article:

a "ladies' violin"

Pirate luthier adventures continued ...

I won't be going on about every single violin that passes through my pirate workshop, but this one is a bit unusual and I already promised I would present it. It's the second of the pair of skylarks I found on gumtree, and it is a tiny bit smaller than the one I presented here. Precise measurements revealed that it is a 7/8 size, and so is the bow and the case. A website on violin sizes helpfully explains:

“A ⅞ size violin is 57 centimeters (or 22 inches) long and is geared towards those with an arm length of 57.5 centimeters (or 22 inches). ⅞ violins are sometimes referred to as the “ladies violin” because they are just ever so slightly smaller than the full size and therefore thought to be more suited towards women (but men can use them too!). Adults may choose to try a ⅞ size instrument if they experience any pain or discomfort when playing a full size, and children who are too big for a ¾ but not quite ready for a full size may also benefit from using a ⅞. ⅞ violins are not very common, so you may have to look a little harder to find one.”

source

Apart from the size it is very similar to the other skylark, has the same label with a different model number, and the varnish is a little bit cheaper but otherwise it looks and sounds ok.

The bridge is very clearly not Chinese, as it is marked "BAUSCH" which is a famous name in the bow-making world, but I'm not sure if that reflects on the quality of bridges or anything else.

In any case, this bridge was also a little bit warped, not as badly as that on the full-sized skylark:

... and I wouldn't have minded playing it in that state for a while, but as I included this one in the bunch of violins I rehomed via freegle, I cut a new bridge for it too. (The warped bridges of both skylarks were very much on the small side, so I'm wondering if somebody went overboard in removing too much material and thus made them vulnerable to bending.) As it happened, one of the respondents to my offer was looking for a violin for a small sized teenage player who had her 3/4 violin stolen, so this "ladies' violin" may actually be just the right size for her.

The four violins I included in my offer have now all left the premises, plus a half-sized Lark which I didn't include because it sounds quite bad and probably can't be improved, but it too found a new family. As I mentioned in the previous entry, the offer led to another violin being donated, for which I also found a new home, so all sorted for now.

Previously in the pirate luthier series:

violin 1) is the one my late aunt had since the 1930s, which got me started. After restoring it in November 2022, I played it almost every day for 14 months, until number 5) showed up.

violin 2) is a Stentor student 1 (a very widely used brand of cheap fiddles available everywhere and still being produced). It has a fault that is probably not worth repairing, see the blog entry on number 3) below. After stripping it of some accessories and spares, I am now inclined to keep it in a semi-functional state to try out experimental repairs, i.e. use it as a wooden guinea pig of sorts.

violin 3) came from a folkie friend who moved away. I put the soundpost back in its place and it has now found a new home.

violin 4) is a modern Chinese one which I bought from one musical friend and sold to another, no work needed.

violin 5) (donated by a friendly freegler) is my new favourite and the one I currently play in folk sessions.

violin 6) is the half-sized Lark which has now found a new home.

violin 7) is a skylark from 1991 which I bought on gumtree for £ 10 and fitted with a new bridge. Good enough for folk I would say. It has now found a new home.

violin 8) is the 7/8 skylark described above

violin 9) is the one which needed a new bridge and a tailgut and turned out to sound quite lovely on the E string. It has now found a new home.

violin 10) is the broken one with traces of multiple repair attempts. I'm still gathering courage to try and fix that one.

violin 11) is the 3/4 sold by JP Guivier & Co Ltd. in the 1950s but may actually be older than that. It has now found a new home.

violin 12) is a full-size Lark which a freegle user kindly donated and delivered after seeing my offer.