…and this is a 
It is time for the first big challenge of the week: getting my circadian rhythms straightened around. It feels like about 11:30 in the evening, my biological time, but it's actually 6:30am Lindau time. Today is actually tomorrow.
My strategy was actually planned. Yesterday was mostly travel through the night, and I got no sleep. I noticed as I was flying east and getting very, very tired that, as the sun came up at what was an unnatural time for me and started zapping my photoreceptors, I woke up very nicely…and then kept going through the agonizing day of missed flights and boring waits. Then last night (local time) I finally got to Lindau in time for some of the social events and just kept my brain going through the evening. I finally went to bed about 10:30 Lindau, and slept wonderfully.
I had set an alarm, but didn't need it — again, the first rosy light of dawn comes in through my window, and I was up and feeling pretty good. I think I'll take the next step in completing my adjustment to this 7 hour shift in time, and I suspect it's one the circadian researchers haven't contemplated (I shall have to ask Bora): a fine breakfast of German pastries. That should keep me going through the morning talks.
By the way, this is the Lindau Nobel conference, and the topic this year is chemistry. I am not a chemist, which means I may not have a clue what anyone is talking about. However, I've got one angle that may help: I am a microscopist. This morning, I'm looking forward to Neher talking about caged compounds — there's also some juicy stuff on protein degradation and renewable energy. Later this week, of course, it's Shimomura, Chalfie, and Tsien on bioluminescence, which is all grist for the microscopist mill. I might just come out of this with some new understanding.
Und Bier! Tonight I must find a good dunkel — last night the conference only provided a so-so bottled Pils. Then this evening I shall try to post some summaries of the day's science while under the influence. It should be entertaining!
Comments
Posted by: Gavin McBride | June 30, 2009 1:11 AM
I am about 4 hours from you near Frankfurt and Frankfurt Airport. If anything else should befall you then just look me up at gavin.mcbride@gmail.com
If you want some nice beer experiences the Dunkel is the way to go indeed, but also try and find yourself a good Rauchbier. (Essentially this is a smoked beer, very good indeed but possibly an acquired taste)
Posted by: Abber | June 30, 2009 1:12 AM
Keep it down PZ, some of us are trying to sleep.
Posted by: Raiko | June 30, 2009 1:24 AM
As I'm currently preparing a talk on light in the neurosciences (caged compounds, channelrhodopsins, GFP, etc.) I can't help a little envy there about wanting to hear that talk - from a Nobel Prize Laureate, even.
Posted by: Gorogh | June 30, 2009 1:41 AM
Good morning, then! 250 kilometers (by car) to the north-west, I am just having my morning coffee, enjoying the early sunlight.
As to "not having a clue what anyone is talking about": Ask some hard skeptical freely invented interdisciplinary questions, speakers love that!
Wünsche jedenfalls einen guten und interessanten Tag.
Posted by: djlactin | June 30, 2009 1:57 AM
I commiserate on the frame shift disorientation. I do a similar trip (Korea - Canada and back) twice a year and I know the pain of adjusting. The clock-reset process after the West to East leg can take a week or more, but the reset after the East to West leg takes only a couple of days (just sleep late).
Posted by: OurSally | June 30, 2009 2:00 AM
Hi PZ, I was in Lindau on Sunday, I live just down the road. Aren't we having lovely weather? I expect you ordered it specially. You wanna pop by for a barbecue?
The jet lag flying east is much worse, somehow. I always need a few days to get over it.
Posted by: Katrina
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June 30, 2009 2:02 AM
Welcome to Europe from sunny southern Italy!
Posted by: Zeno | June 30, 2009 2:12 AM
Perhaps some of my students are on European time. This morning more than half of my students were missing at the start of class. They trickled in during the next fifty minutes. It's definitely time to increase the frequency of little quizzes during the first five minutes of class. Ha!
Perhaps that'll shake them up and get them back on California time.
Posted by: MadScientist | June 30, 2009 2:33 AM
So long as "bier" is in German and not English.
I'd like to know what the story is on caged compounds - and the "renewables" stuff too. This ought to be funny - a pickled biologist talking about chemistry.
@Katrina: Where in southern Italy? Ah, voglio tornare - I sure miss the food. :)
Posted by: Mozglubov | June 30, 2009 2:37 AM
There is some surprisingly cool stuff in microscopy. I saw a talk last week by a guy from Paris Universite Descarte who is using holography to selectively activate specifically targeted regions of light-sensitive caged neurotransmitters. It was a pretty clever system.
Also, I comiserate with the jet-lag... When I got to Germany at the beginning of the month, I did the exhausting all night travel only to discover my suitcases didn't arrive. Dealing with lost luggage on no sleep was not fun...
Posted by: Maren | June 30, 2009 3:32 AM
I live just a few km away, so I can recommend a few local beers.
If you have the chance, get a Leibinger Edel Spezial. If it has to be a Dunkles, Leibinger also has a Dunkles Hefeweizen.
Beer from the Königsegger Brauerei is also good ( http://www.koenigsegger.de/bier-sortiment.htm )
Posted by: Pascalle
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June 30, 2009 3:46 AM
Welcome to my timezone PZ :)
If you ever get to visit the Netherlands, give us Dutchies a heads up so we can attend somewhere.
Posted by: Chris
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June 30, 2009 4:04 AM
Rule no 1 when travelling to Germany: NEVER EVER touch bottled beer. Unless it's Czech beer or what is colloquially referred to as "Flens."
Rule no 2 would be to always try the local flavour / brands. Think "micro brewery." The less known the better.
Then again, the Bodensee area is noted for its quality wine. So you should give that a try as well. If you're into wine, that is. Though in that case I would recommend a trip to the "Kaiserstuhl" area northwest of Freiburg.
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
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June 30, 2009 4:10 AM
mmmm..... Dunkel.... another one of those rare good things from south of the Harz ;-)
Posted by: Richard Harris
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June 30, 2009 4:43 AM
PZ, try weissbier, (white beer, brewed from malted wheat), if you get the chance. It's an ale rather than a lager.
I'd also recommend German wines; they produce some really good whites.
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
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June 30, 2009 4:56 AM
tsk tsk tsk. Mr. Harris doesn't know that a "dunkles" is short for "dunkles weissbier", which is an improvement on the original ;-)
and on a side note, I attribute the linguistic fuckup in my previous post to being overworked :-p
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | June 30, 2009 5:19 AM
Which sounds like a contradiction ("dark white"), but isn't, because it's not actually derived from weiß ("white"), but from Weizen ("wheat"). Someone must have thought that "Weizbier" (with [ts]) sounded too silly.
Posted by: Mozglubov | June 30, 2009 5:49 AM
@ #17
Thank you for clearing up that minor linguistic mystery. I have often wondered why Weissbier was called weiss...
Posted by: Sili
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June 30, 2009 6:01 AM
Oh, Zeno.
I joked for years that I lived on New York time.
Of course, had I lived in NY, I'd be working as if in Hawai'i (too lazy to find the 'okina).
Guess that's part of the reason it was so easy to fail the ph.d.
Anyone looking to hire an M.Sc.?
Posted by: David | June 30, 2009 6:52 AM
Hey PZ, I have found exercise, outdoors, at sunrise seems to hasten the resetting of the old body clock.
Posted by: Seokso | June 30, 2009 7:09 AM
I have to repeat my suggestion of the Weihenstephan Brauerei in Freising. It's a world class beer from what claims to be the "älteste Brauerei der Welt, zeit 1040". This is real beer for savoring and easily one of the best I have ever tasted.
Posted by: Chris
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June 30, 2009 7:29 AM
The words "Weizen" and "weiss" share the same etymological origin.
"Dunkel" doesn't necessarily refer to 'Weissbier' -- it depends on the area you're visiting. The expression ususally refers to the darkest available beer in the area.
Posted by: Zeno | June 30, 2009 8:17 AM
I washed out of my own doctoral program the first time around, but one can contrive second chances (even if decades later). [Link]
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | June 30, 2009 9:02 AM
Sili, have you published anything? If so, find a supervisor, put the papers together, pretend there's some overarching topic to them all, at least method-wise (which should be feasible, because even you are not interested in literally everything), write some kind of introduction and maybe some transitions between the papers, and call that a thesis. I've seen such theses in the university library in Vienna.
Posted by: JBlilie | June 30, 2009 9:17 AM
PZ: You are in the land of great beers, southern Germany, (along with Belgium; sorry Brits and Irish). If you get the chance, go to one of the local monastery breweries. Those naughty monks know their beer! And it indicates what monastic life was really life: Loads of heavy drinking!
If you get the chance, get up to the state of Franken and go to any small, local brewery (actually, go to several and enjoy the diverstiy). Every one has its local yeasts which give the beer a unqiue and wonderful flavor. These breweries are one of the peak beer experiences in the world. Franken has the highest density of breweries in the world. Beer heaven (if you'll pardon the expression.)
Posted by: Mu | June 30, 2009 9:54 AM
One thing not to be surprised about in Germany is the sheer number of different beers. I'd call them small or local, not micro (since that, at least to the US, indicates quality) breweries, which usually produce the local cheap brand (unlike the US where the national brands are cheap). And since pubs usually are getting kick-backs from the brewery (typically cheap loans for equipment, paid back with a nickel per glass sold), the "house" brand of beer is typically very cheap, cheaper than water or soda in most cases.
So do the walking tour of Lindau, I'm sure you find a different beer every night.
Posted by: JBlilie | June 30, 2009 10:05 AM
"Weizen" means wheat(en); "weiss" means white. Both are used variously to refer to lightly colored beers made from a large percentage of wheat (usually unmalted); these require malted barley for full starch conversion (typically). Often, the wheat beers use different yeasts as well (and less hops), for a different flavor profile.
"Dunkel" simply means dark and refers to darker colored beers made with a percentage of darker malted barley. This can be applied to any style (lager, pilsner, weiss/Weizen, bock, etc.)
Bocks and doppel bocks are simply beers (almost always brewed in the lager style) made from extra strong (dense with sugars) worts and are hence higher in alcohol and typically contain higher percentages of "higher" alcohols (think mouth feel and hangovers). Forget any nonsense you've heard about bottoms of barrels, etc. Bocks are a classic German style and, quite the opposite of barrel-scrapings, are one of the more celebrated styles.
Maibocks (Mai = May) may still be around now. These are strong beers brewed for late spring (festival) consumption.
Oktoberfest beers are also strong beers brewed in late summer for Sept/Oct consumption during harvest festivals. (If you are in S. Germany in September or October, be sure to try the part-fermented wine: Federweisser.)
Germany also produces a fair amount of beers brewed with ale yeasts ("top-fermenting") made without the lagering process. These are often called "alt" (old) which probably refers to the facts that they are of the style brewed prior to use of the lagering process.
One other great thing about these beers is a great diversity of local hops and yeast strains, giving a wonderful range of flavors. If you are a Bud' or Miller drinker, you will likely be (pleasantly we hope) shocked by Bavarian (and Belgian) beers.
I can also recommend the wines of southern Germany. Franken wines (usually Muller-Thurgau and/or Sylvaner grapes) in particular are herd to find in the US and are very nice. Franken wines often come in the squat flattened bottle familiar to many Americans from the (quite bad) Mateus wines from Portugal that were sold in similar bottles in the US.
Posted by: Chris
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June 30, 2009 10:12 AM
Uhm, there is no state called "Franken" -- "Franken" is still part of Bavaria, much to the dismay of the Franken (people).
@Mu:
Usually the small/local brewery beers taste much better than national brands.
Then again, real Czech beer (no, I'm not referring to the Anheuser-Busch Budweiser -- you can keep that sorry excuse of horse pee) beats them all hands down.
Posted by: JBlilie | June 30, 2009 10:17 AM
Seokso @21:
Total agreement. Weihenstephan is a true classic and not to be missed. I think it is the oldest continuously-operated brewery in the world.
One of the many things I love about beers in Germany, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Netherlands, and even France and Italy (they do make some fine beers!) is: They have never even heard of the Cascades hop.
Posted by: JBlilie | June 30, 2009 10:25 AM
Chris @28:
Ah yes. My friends over there always referred to it as der/ein Staat. I stand corrected on the political jurisdiction. Danke schön.
Posted by: Equisetum | June 30, 2009 10:34 AM
Andechser Doppelbock. That is all.
Posted by: JBlilie | June 30, 2009 10:37 AM
Chris @28
Wellllllllll ...
I can't go there. Great beer in Czech, no doubt. I've enjoyed many a magnificent Plzeň style beer (incredibly cheap) from the keg in Czech.
However, I've had better in: Belgium, Poland, Franken.
I guess it depends on the style you're after.
The Plzeň style beers taste completely different in Czech than they do here (as do beers from all other countries that are shipped here, if they are worth drinking.) They are wonderful. But, the best ("beats them all")? The best for what?
Vive la difference! That's why they make chocolate and vanilla!
Total agreement on that bad excuse for beer called "Budweiser" in the US. I've had real Budweiser Budvar in České Budějovice. It's a wonderful beer and not in the same universe with American "Bud."
Posted by: JJR | June 30, 2009 11:37 AM
I liked Schwabenbräu Dunkles Export; there have to be lots and lots of Dunkles Hefeweizen you can sample in Bavaria--it is summertime, after all.
If you want REALLY dark bier, try Köstritzer Schwarzbier (from Thüringen, former E. Germany) or a Diebels Alt (I personally love Altbier, especially Diebels).
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
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June 30, 2009 11:54 AM
where I come from, the darkest available is called Schwarzbier!
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
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June 30, 2009 12:03 PM
and speaking of Schwarzbier... since I already gave away one of my kidneys in another thread, I'd have to find some other organ to donate in exchange for a bunch of these
*is homesick now*
Posted by: Ryan | June 30, 2009 12:33 PM
My own circadian rhythms reset every 2 - 3 weeks. No travel required. Makes it kind of hard to plan anything in advance though because people always want a time to meet and I have no idea if I'll be awake or not.
Posted by: Mu | June 30, 2009 3:34 PM
Must have lived in happier towns than I did. I'd go for a Flens or a Andechs any day over Hochstift/Will/Lauterbacher that dominated my home area.Posted by: Coturnix
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June 30, 2009 7:20 PM
There is no better Zeitgeber known to science than German pastries, of course!
Posted by: Gorogh | July 1, 2009 12:07 PM
Equisetum @ 31
/signed
Posted by: Dann Walde | January 1, 2010 2:34 PM
W jst cldnt lv yr wbst bfr syng tht w rlly njyd th qlty nfrmtn y ffr t yr vstrs... Wll b bck ftn t chck p n nw stff y pst!