Indy Behr Archives - Page 2 of 2

Beat the Heat

October 19, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Junior Indy Behr

In our quest to keep Firebirds healthy, we at thebirdonfire.org have discussed diet, eye care, and sleep habits. As the hottest months in the desert fade, we still experience 90-degree days. Indy has some tips for keeping cool.

It’s October, so it is measurably cooler. Most mornings now, I walk outside, and I am surprised by the cooler temperatures and the subtle breezes. “Is fall actually here?” I think to myself. But then, by noon, it ends up being 90 degrees. I tend to prefer cooler temperatures because if you’re cold, all you need is a sweater, some mittens, and perhaps some longer socks to get comfortable. However, when it’s hot, it is much harder to beat the heat. There are some ways to avoid overheating, however. Here are a few!

Stay Hydrated

Junior Audrey Guess keeps water close even when testing in English.

As some of you may know, sweating is designed to cool your body. If you are dehydrated, you will not sweat as much, and as a result, you will have trouble cooling down. Drink up. Room temperature or chilled–the objective is to keep water in your body. This is one of the best ways to cool down during excessive heat.

Sunscreen

When we are experiencing extreme heat, we are at a higher risk of sun damage, so sunscreen is a must. The added benefit of applying and reapplying spray sunscreens is a short-term cooling effect that is very nice when it’s very hot out.

Spend Your Mornings Outdoors

Though the afternoons are still very hot, the mornings have started to become mild and pleasant. As a result of this, I have been trying to spend more time outdoors in the morning to take advantage of these few hours of cooler temperatures. It has been hovering around the mid 70s in the mornings lately, and this is pretty much the only time to catch good temperatures while the sun is up. I already am somewhat of a morning person, so this is personally my favorite pick for beating the heat. This is definitely my favorite time to enjoy a cup of coffee in my backyard before heading to school.

So, now you know a few ways to stay cool in the afternoon until fall really kicks in. Stay hydrated; wear sunscreen; and take a walk in the morning while we’re still in these last few weeks of heat!

America Needs High-Speed Rail

October 19, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

An Indy Think Piece

*A digital rendering of California’s proposed high-speed rail system.* Source: hsr.ca.gov.

When we think of high-speed rail in America, we tend to think of Japan’s well-known bullet trains. Despite this, high-speed rail is actually increasingly common throughout the world, with multiple lines being found in Europe, Eastern and Central Asia, the Middle-East, and several other regions. Though high-speed rail does exist in America, it is much more sparse than it should be considering our country’s high GDP and infrastructure.

The environmental impact of public transit, including trains, is a major reason why I think creating a better rail system should be one of our top priorities when it comes to improving our country’s infrastructure. The scientific consensus is that carbon dioxide emissions harm the environment, and research shows that while cars emit 371 grams of carbon dioxide per mile, trains emit only 177. This is less than half the carbon dioxide!

Trains also take up significantly less space in cities throughout America and reduce traffic and street congestion. The traffic seen in many large cities not only has an environmental impact that affects our biosphere, it also affects peoples’ health. Children in places with higher amounts of traffic face higher rates of asthma, lung issues, and cardiovascular diseases due to the pollution caused by traffic. Additionally, more cars on the road means more car-related deaths. Pedestrian deaths are an often overlooked result of car congestion, but in 2020 over 6,000 pedestrians were killed by cars.

The reason that high-speed rail in particular is so needed is that many people will not use trains because of the inherent inconvenience of the current slow trains we primarily see in America. There are some high-speed lines in America, with Chicago being the main hub, but many states have no high-speed rail running through them whatsoever. For the states that do, they almost exclusively are seen in big cities. Though people in cities have limited access to high-speed rail, people in rural areas are completely and entirely neglected. I cannot blame people for choosing to fly as opposed to riding trains when our current system is so terrible. A nonstop flight from Los Angeles to New York is around five hours, but it takes three days to do the same by train, and you still need to change trains in Chicago and Texas.

Many people who oppose high-speed rail in our country argue that the cost is far too much, but I think it is more than worth it. The current estimate for California’s high-speed rail plan is 105 billion dollars, but I prefer that over our planet collapsing due to the effects of climate change while children experience asthma attacks due to horrific traffic clogging their cities. The initial investment is high, but it will pay for itself when it protects the people of our country’s safety, and the fees people pay for public transit also help cover these costs.

I hope you can see why I think that America is in such desperate need of high-speed rail and better public transit in general.

By Junior Indiana Behr

How to Always Win at Monopoly

October 11, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Junior Indy Behr

I asked the Blog Staff to share their special skills. Indy, unbeknownst to most of us, is a skilled Monopoly player and student of the game. If he pulls a Monopoly board out during Scarefest, think twice before accepting his challenge to play.
Blog Advisor Zachik

I am an avid fan of Monopoly. I have over 20 sets and have many strategies to help me win. Keep in mind that a lot of people use “house rules” when playing, but this article will go with the assumption that you will be playing by the true rules. This means no Free Parking Money, and no getting extra money for landing on Go. I am going to show you how to create a housing shortage, how to stay in jail for your own benefit, why railroads are not good, and why rolling a seven is so important.

The Housing Shortage Strategy

One of my favorite strategies for winning at Monopoly is the housing shortage strategy. Now you have to really nitpick the rules to discover this one, but it’s very effective. If you get two full-color sets of a property, I say that you should always buy four houses, and do not upgrade to a hotel. This is because in order to build a hotel, you need four houses, and those houses need to be physically present. As such, if you have two full-color sets, you can build 24 houses when only 32 come in the box. This means that no matter how many color sets another player gets, they can only build up to eight houses or one hotel. You’ve created a housing shortage, to your advantage.

The Jail Strategy

This one apparently is pretty popular among professional Monopoly players, but I figured this one out on my own. By letting other players go three times while you avoid ever having to hit any of their properties, you can both save and make a hefty amount of money. Though some house rules freeze imprisoned players’ assets, this is not actually a rule. This means that if you stay in jail, you can get potentially thousands of dollars from other players while you never even move. There is, however, one flaw to this method: you are forced to roll each time the dice come to you, and if you roll a double, you will be forced against your will to leave jail rather than paying $50 at the end of your sentence.

Utilities and Railroads

Many people don’t know this one, but utilities are pretty much never worth your time, and it’s often the same with railroads. A world Monopoly champion has stated that there is only a 3% chance that someone is actually going to make a profit off of these properties. After all, with utilities, the maximum you can get is $120 when it costs $300. With railroads, it is incredibly difficult to make a profit. If you only get one, you need someone to land on it eight times to break even. If you have two, you still need eight. And, you can’t build houses or hotels on them!

The Rule of Seven

I found this strategy probably five years ago, and though it only works in specific circumstances, this trick has easily become my favorite of them all. I am not a math expert by any means, but what I do know is that when rolling two six-sided dice, you are most likely to roll a seven. This is where this strategy comes into play. If someone is exactly seven spaces away from a property of yours with a color set, move every house to it immediately. You can switch it back right after, but this gives you a high probability of draining all of their money. You can also use this trick to your advantage in other ways, like not buying something significant if you are seven spaces away from a $200 tax.

So, now you know a few surefire ways to beat your opponents the next time you play a game of Monopoly.

Monopoly anyone?

Why Ethiopian Coffee Culture is So Fascinating

October 5, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

We know Indy digs coffee. He has his own Coffee Room, for goodness sake. So, when I asked the Blog group to explore the theme of CULTURE, Indy combined his love for coffee with his unquenchable curiosity and dove into the culture of Ethiopian Coffee.
Blog Advisor Zachik

By Junior Indy Behr

The idea of roasting and brewing the seeds of coffee plants was likely first thought of in the East African nation of Ethiopia. As a result, a fascinating coffee culture has developed over many centuries that is still present in Ethiopia today. Over 400 million pounds of coffee beans are harvested in Ethiopia annually, and the beverage created is enjoyed across the world.

The History of Ethiopian Coffee

Legend states that in 700 BCE, a man in Ethiopia one day approached his goats and found them to be doing something best described as dancing. He determined that this was a result of them consuming red fruits of the coffee arabica plants that are native to Africa. There is a divergence of opinion of what comes next in this legend, but most versions agree the man excitedly told a monk he had found a plant that would keep people awake.

One version states the monk was thrilled and that he ate the beans to pray longer and sleep less. The other story is that the monk dismissed the goatherder’s findings and threw the beans into a fire, accidentally creating the first instance of roasted coffee beans, which the man then ground and then boiled, creating the first ever cup of coffee. Coffee then made its way around the world, first with travelers going to Yemen through the Red Sea with coffee on board (coffee also grew well in Yemen), and it spread throughout the Middle East. It then made its way into Europe and Asia and eventually traveled throughout the entire world.

The Growing of Ethiopian Coffee

Coffee in Ethiopia is relatively easy to grow as it is native to Ethiopia. It is actually the fifth largest coffee-producing country in the world, and there are over 15 million farmers who spend all of winter plucking the fruits from trees by hand. With over 390 million pounds of coffee being exported from this country annually, this nation has had a massive impact on the coffee industry. Coffee is a significant supporter of Ethiopia’s economy as a result of this. Coffee production in Ethiopia has been severely damaged by climate change and government crises in recent years. However, many coffee companies from around the world have established cooperatives to help fund small coffee farms in Ethiopia.

Yirgacheffe is a subregion in Sidamo, Ethiopia. The region grows a large amount of the coffee made in Ethiopia, and many people call its product one of the world’s best varieties of coffee. Its flavor is chocolatey with notes of fruit. Harrar is another large coffee-producing region. Its product is unique in that the coffee is dry processed as opposed to wet, and its flavor is earthy. This region also grows peaberry coffee, which is a rare species where each cherry of coffee has one bean instead of two. Though I have only had the opportunity to taste this variety once, I enjoyed it a lot. It was very light and almost tasted like tea.

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremonies

Ethiopia’s culture is still very much influenced by coffee in the present day. The Ethiopian coffee ceremonies have been seen throughout the world as a way of bringing people together to have conversations over a cup of delicious coffee. The beans are roasted on an iron pan, and people often inhale and appreciate the smells that coffee gives off while it roasts. The coffee is then ground in a mortar before being put into a clay pot with very hot water to brew.

Ethiopian coffee is served with things like sugar or salt, and frankincense is lit to create smoke that some believe rids the room of bad spirits. People are expected to drink at least three cups of coffee, as they believe one’s spirit transforms after three cups are enjoyed. However, there is no limit to how much coffee one can have until all of it has been consumed.

We Need to Abolish the Electoral College

September 7, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

We’re concluding our look at causes. Indiana, who feels strongly about many things, expresses passion for the Electoral College–not for keeping it, but for abolishing it.
Blog Advisor Zachik

By Indy Behr, Junior

What is the Electoral College?

In the United States, Presidential elections are not actually decided by the people directly. They are decided by a compromise made between the Founding Fathers in the Constitution called the electoral college. A candidate wins the election by winning at least 270 of the 538 possible electoral votes. Voters decide how a group of electors vote, and these electoral votes are then certified every four years on a day you may recall, January 6, and the events that transpired on this day in 2021 have led to the Electoral Count Reform Act being introduced in Congress, which would make several changes to the electoral college certification process such as establishing the Vice President’s role in certifying the vote as ceremonial and raising the objection threshold to 20% of both the House and Senate, as opposed to the current system where only one member of each body is required to object.

The electoral college is an antidemocratic institution that allows a minority of voters to determine the future of our country, and it no longer has any use. I believe that America cannot truly be referred to as a democracy until the electoral college is abolished, and until then, serious reform is required.

*Supporters of former President Donald Trump* *storm the US Capitol* *as a Joint Session of Congress is counting the electoral votes of the 2020 Presidential election.*

Disproportionate Representation

If anyone should be upset about the electoral college, it should be us Californians. Wyoming, the least populated state in the US, has 581,000 citizens, according to the US Census Bureau. Due to its size, Wyoming has only one Representative in the House of Representatives and, like all states, two Senators. The amount of electoral votes a state receives is simply the amount of people in their Congressional delegation. This means that in Wyoming, one electoral vote represents 135,000 citizens. California has a population of 39,538,000, and has 55 electoral votes (this will change to 54 in the 2024 Presidential election). Therefore, one electoral vote represents 712,000 people. However, one electoral vote represents just 195,000 people in Wyoming. Yes, you heard that right, a voter in Wyoming has more than three times the voting power as someone in California. Some Republicans argue that Democratic voters concentrated in big cities choosing who wins in the end is unfair, but guess what? That is where the actual people live!

Forgotten States

Another issue with the electoral college means that during a Presidential election most states are not visited by candidates, and most states don’t even see candidates’ TV ads as there is no point. This is because some states are so partisan that it is near impossible for a candidate to win. The fact that candidates feel that trying to promote their candidacies to voters is a waste of time is incredibly problematic in my opinion, and unfortunately the candidates are indeed making a strategic decision in this case. The electoral college is for the most part a winner-takes-all system, meaning that regardless of how narrow or wide a statewide win is, all electoral votes go to the winner, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska. In 2020, six million Californians voted for Donald Trump, and two million Ohioans voted for Joe Biden. Despite this making up almost 10% of the total popular vote, these people never had their voice heard. Donald Trump never made a single visit to California because he knew that it was simply impossible to outright win the state, meaning winning swing votes would not benefit him. In this model presented by the New York Times, we can see that TV-ad buys in the 2020 Presidential election were concentrated in just a few states. California did not have a single ad! Trump and Republicans spent many millions on ads in Florida and won in the end, and yet he won one million more votes in California than in Florida. In spite of this, California’s winner-takes-all system gave all electoral votes to Biden, and Florida gave all electoral votes to Trump.

Faithless Electors

Though luckily in 2020 we did not see any, in 2016 we saw a massive uptick in what are known as faithless electors, likely due to both major party candidates being relatively unpopular. Many people do not realize this, but electors are actual individuals assigned to vote for one party in the event they win. These electors are selected by the state party of the winning candidate. However, in almost half of the states, electors are able to vote for another candidate regardless of the will of the voters. Trump was expected to win 306 electors, yet only won 304. Clinton won 227 instead of 232. Seven of the 538 total electors voted faithlessly. Do you know who Faith Spotted Eagle is? I didn’t, yet she won an electoral vote in 2016. The late Colin Powell, George W. Bush’s Secretary of State, won three electoral votes. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) won two electoral Vice Presidential votes, one being with Powell, one from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

In 2016, Hilary Clinton won the state of Washington over 500,000 votes, or 15.7%, yet a whopping 33% of the electors voted for candidates who did not appear on the ballot. Though some of these candidates received a small amount of write-in votes, Powell won three votes, or 25% of the total electors, with a grand total of zero votes. In 2004, John Edwards was Democrat John Kerry’s running mate, and yet in Minnesota he received both the Presidential and Vice Presidential nod from one elector. And, because these slates of electors are selected by the victor’s party, these electors are often relatives of politicians or retired lobbyists. Both former President Bill Clinton (D) and his wife Hillary Clinton (D) were Biden electors in New York, as were the New York City Comptroller and the Temporary President of NY’s State Senate. A Florida State Senator, Keith Perry (R), was a Trump elector in Florida. The only disqualifying factors for electors are being an incumbent US Senator or Representative, and since the Civil War, having engaged in rebellion or insurrection against the country.

Faithless Colorado elector Michael Baca casts his ballot in 2016. He chose to support a former Ohio Governor, Republican John Kasich, rather than Hillary Clinton.

Popular Vote Winners Losing

In 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016, the individual who won a plurality, or in 1876, an outright majority of the popular vote, lost the election. The electoral college gives so much more power to residents of smaller states that in 2016, despite winning the popular vote by 2.8 million or 2% in 2016, Hillary Clinton lost by 77 electors. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore defeated Republican George W. Bush by over 500,000 in the popular vote yet lost by five electoral votes in the end, or four if you do not recognize a faithless elector who did not vote at all. In the end, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court forced Florida to end an ongoing recount, and according to CNN, “The studies also show that Gore likely would have won a statewide recount of all undervotes and overvotes, which are ballots that included multiple votes for president and were thus not counted at all . . . . The studies also support the belief that more voters went to the polls in Florida on Election Day intending to vote for Gore than for Bush.”

Florida vote counters try to determine which candidate was selected on a ballot in 2000.

Conclusion

To me, it is very clear we need to abolish the electoral college. However, this would require a Constitutional amendment which has an approximately 0% chance of passing within my lifetime. It would require 67% of both the House and Senate to pass, which itself is completely impossible considering the Senate also has the issue of disproportionately representing smaller states, and it then would require 38 states to ratify it through their legislatures, even more unlikely. So, in the meantime, we are going to have to continue dealing with the electoral college. However, we can support reform so that we can scrap the winner-takes-all system like Nebraska and Maine have done, and we can also support banning faithless electors. But, if you really want your voice heard, your only option is to move to a swing state like Wisconsin.

Though support among Republicans has dropped, most people still support abolishing the electoral college as of 2018.

Why Making Coffee is My Favorite Part of the Day

August 30, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org 4 Comments

By Junior Indy Behr

The top shelf has my kettle, grinder, Chemex brewer, scale, and filters. On the bottom is my V60, moka pot, and a collection of single-origin coffee beans.
Indy Behr

I am a coffee fanatic. I believe making coffee is a form of art, and I think you might feel the same way by the end of this. The brewing of coffee is a blank canvas for creativity. There are so many variables that change the outcome of what ends up in your mug, including grind, roast level, and temperature. I think that when you get your coffee just right, there is no longer a need for additions like sugar, cream, or pumpkin-spice syrup.

There is a whole world to explore in the brewing of espresso–which is the base for things like lattes, cappuccinos, and flat whites,–but that is an incredibly expensive hobby for true purists. Classic drip coffee is a great starting point that requires a much smaller investment. Though some may prefer to stick with their electric brewers, I enjoy brewing by hand. There are many methods that I enjoy, but I have narrowed it down to two.

Why I Love Making Coffee

I first began enjoying coffee several years ago, and it has been one of my favorite hobbies since then. A lot of my motivation for making coffee at home was my observation that there were not any great coffee shops near my house, and making coffee at home was cheaper anyway. Over time, it has almost become a mindfulness technique for me. It is a time where I can focus simply on pouring technique or grind level, with no distractions from the outside world being present. It is undoubtedly one of the most peaceful parts of my day. It takes a little trial and error sometimes. Some days my grind is a little too fine and my coffee is a little bitter; or sometimes my water is too hot. However, once I mess with the variables a few times, I consistently end up with delicious coffee.

Bean Purchasing and Storage

When it comes to coffee beans, some good sources are Verve Coffee, Square Mile Coffee, Blue Bottle Coffee, or just visit your local coffee shops, almost all of them will sell you whole beans. I really enjoy single origins, meaning it is one type of bean from one region rather than a blend of multiple beans, and my preference tends to be lighter roasts so unique flavors won’t be masked by an ashy flavor. Personally, my favorite coffees are Ethiopian-grown coffees as they often have a very strong scent and flavor that resemble several types of berries. I always make sure to put my beans in an airtight container to maintain freshness. Roasted coffee can get very stale very quickly when exposed to air for long periods of time.

AeroPress

When it comes to brewing, one of my favorite brewers is the AeroPress. This device is incredibly fun to use. It is also very popular among people who camp regularly due to its portability and light weight; however, coffee enthusiasts who have dedicated their lives to this craft appreciate it as well, and in fact there is now a World AeroPress Championship that occurs annually, and all winning recipes are viewable online. There is also a whole world of third-party modifications that people use to make their AeroPress better for their needs, such as metal filters and devices that increase the brewing pressure. The only change I make is one that I found from several AeroPress Championship winning recipes, and that is using an Aesir brand paper filter, which is thicker and does a better job of catching fine grinds compared to the filters made by the manufacturer.

The recipe I often use is the AeroPress recipe by Square Mile Coffee owner James Hoffman, which I like because it does not use very much coffee. This was a major issue for those who wanted to deviate from the very basic recipe included in the user manual, as most specialty recipes used an obscene amount of grounds to increase the amount of coffee extracted from the water. This was so criticized in the coffee community that the AeroPress Championship recently capped the amount of coffee a recipe can use. For example, the 2019 winner used 35 grams of coffee, when most other methods use around 10g for a cup. This got very expensive for AeroPress fans as specialty coffee beans are not cheap. Hoffman uses 11g and 200 milliliters of water, almost a cup. A very simple recipe, all I have to do is add the water, add the plunger to create a seal, wait two minutes, stir the liquid, and then you press the plunger pushing the coffee through the filter directly into your cup. You get a delicious, smooth cup thanks to the Aesir filter, and it took almost no effort.

Hario V60

A Hario V60 in clear plastic is one of my favorite gadgets, and it costs only $9. This device is so simple yet so functional. It is my most commonly used brewer, and it has made some of my favorite coffee. It is one of the most iconic of what are known as pour-over brewers, likely because of its low price and simple cone shape. In short, this method involves the user manually pouring hot water on coffee grounds with a special type of kettle which then filters into a cup below.

I have tried many recipes for this method which can be found online. I have tried barista trainer Scott Rao’s method, James Hoffman’s method, and several others, yet my favorite remains YouTuber Sprometheus’s V60 recipe. Coffee brewing is often done in ratios, generally grams of coffee per liter of water. For ideal pour over brewing, a scale is needed, but these can be purchased for very little on Amazon or even at Target. Filters designed for this brewer are available on Amazon, and I have found that many small coffee filters in stores work almost as well. Sprometheus uses 18g of grounds and 288ml of water. When he puts the grounds in the filter he makes a spiral, a Japanese coffee method called kubomi, or depression/hole. This results in a more even extraction. First he adds 50ml of water for 30 seconds, to bloom the coffee, which releases any excess carbon dioxide from the beans. You will see the coffee bubble as you do this. Then, you pour 123ml of water over the next 45 seconds in a circular motion, and then pour 115ml of water directly into the center for just over a minute longer.

There you go, a perfect cup of coffee.