Baby-Sitting the BOMB
In which Jim finds out 30 years later what made his Physical Chemistry teacher Prof. Donald F. Hornig, so nervous. It was because of Hornig’s stressful and hazardous duty helping create the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico, during WWII.
Sicily in Five Minutes
In which Jim and Gillian in 2018 make their first trip to northern Sicily, where they discover history, architecture, food, music, friendly people, and scenic beauty. For busy viewers like you, we poured the most scenic parts of our 10-day trip into this 5-minute highlight video.
The Death of Bombay Beach, California: Harbinger of Global Collapse
This ghost town on the Salton Sea, once known as the “Salton Riviera,” is shrinking, full of salt and pollution, reeks of dead fish, and seems headed for a dry lake. That could lead to the death of millions more fish and birds, toxic dust choking Los Angeles, and the end to winter fruits and vegetables growing in the Imperial Valley. With drought conditions and the ever-increasing demand for water, an environmental and public health disaster is looming. See if you can find a way to help prevent it?
Dudes Visit New Mexico
In which Jim and Jilly go four-wheeling on Bill and Carol’s 20,000 acre elk ranch, search for ancient artifacts, and Jim tries to drive the “Ho-Ho” (giant excavator); They ride the world’s 2nd longest tramway up Sandia Peak near Albuquerque and visit the chicken restaurant filmed in the hit TV series “Breaking Bad;” They visit the Very Large Array (VLA) deep space radio telescope in the desert; They are surrounded by thousands of flying sandhill cranes and snow geese wintering in the Bernardo Wildlife area; and they absorb the art, statuary, architecture, and jewelry marketplace of beautiful Santa Fe.
For a Future Time Capsule:
Do Not Open Until the Year 2200
The Chinese Monopoly on Rare Earth Metals
In the photo there are the oxide salts of 6 of the 17 rare earths. Without certain rare earths we would not be able to build a modern electric automobile or wind turbine. Nor would we be able to build color TV screens, computers, cell phones, drones, or heat-seeking missiles. We have no choice but to purchase them from China at whatever price it charges. In the 1950’s America had a monopoly on the purification of these essential metals, which it lost in about 1990.
During the summer of 1958 Jim had an interesting experience working in an Atomic Energy Commission Lab in Ames, Iowa helping to produce some of these metals.
I, Wedding Wrecker
In which Jim attends one of the most beautiful weddings of his life in Marin County, California, overlooking San Francisco Bay. And then he wrecks it.
Boundary Waters Canoe Guide
In which 19 year old Jim spends three months working for a YMCA camp in No. Minnesota, taking groups of 8 to 20 teenagers and their adult leaders on wilderness trips lasting a week or two. His job was to train everybody, pack the food, chop the wood, cook the meals, and find the route. It was the best summer of his life.
A Tribute to My Mentors
For a boy growing up without a father, Jim has been blessed by father-substitutes, role models, heroes, and friends who have at times rescued him, patiently taught him, inspired him, guided his career, given him identity, and shaped his character.
Let It Snow
In which Jim and Jill show what life was like in Northwest Wisconsin during 2013-14, the coldest and snowiest winter in over 100 years. We X-country ski on our golf course and we downhill ski at Trollhaugen ski area. We visit the Birkebeiner, America’s premiere X-country ski race with an international field. We take you to the magical ice caves on Lake Superior. Finally, we do a nighttime 10K ski race across a bay of Lake Superior with 4,000 other happy, crazy people. Then we make maple syrup.
Adventures with a Concealed Blackjack Computer
In which Jim in 1977 with help from a friend designs and builds a microprocessor about the size of a cigarette pack to facilitate blackjack card-counting. With switches in his cowboy boots and an audio tone in his ear, Jim tries his luck in Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe. It works without detection, and he wins enough money to cover expenses, but it is pretty stressful.
Skiing Aspen on $55 a Week
Yes, it happened in 1957, when Jim and two other ski bums from Minnesota drove out to Colorado in a blizzard, went off the road three times, slept on hotel floors, and skied. Jim took a skiing lesson, encountered his Austrian ski idols who wore the new Bogner stretch pants, and stayed within his $55 budget, including transportation.
Mountaineering 101: Matterhorn Dreams
In which Jim builds a scale model of the Matterhorn using modeling clay in his dormitory room. Then in 1964 he travels to Zermatt, Switzerland in hopes of climbing the Matterhorn.
In which Jim ski bums in Vermont over Christmas break in 1960 at Tom and Rita’s ski lodge. He encounters Bobby and Teddy Kennedy on the mountain, plays guitar in an after-ski bar, and breaks one of his legs skiing, putting him in a long-leg cast for seven months.
Golf Instruction: The Recovery Shot
In which Jim shows how to recover from the worst shot in your life.
The Secret of John F Kennedy’s Special Magic
A deeply sun-tanned Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts meeting the crowds in his Pennsylvania campaign, Fall, 1960
In which Jim and friend Al Hoffman go to Philadelphia on October 29, 1960 to attend one of JFK’s final rallies before his victorious election Nov. 8. The motorcade is late, and the crowd is whipped into a frenzy. During the speech, Jim and Al independently witness a surprising response in the audience.
Mountaineering 101: California Sierra Club Training
In which Jim and wife, Lilian, take an easy hike up Strawberry Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains just north of Pasadena, California, with 3 month old baby Karen. This was the beginning of a rigorous 12 month course given by the Sierra Club called “Basic Mountaineering.” It involved equipment, first aid, route finding, desert survival, ice axe practice, rock climbing, etc., with many field trips led by experts. Baby Karen is now an active climber and skier living in the French Alps.
Biological Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Pioneer
Supercon NMR System courtesy of the Bruker Company. Console not shown.
Until he was a graduate student at age 21, Jim had never even heard of NMR. That was one reason he was attracted to it, the other was a strong background in electronics. For more than 50 years he made steady contributions to the field as it evolved from iron to superconducting magnets, from scanned spectral acquisition to pulsed Fourier Transform, and from 1 dimensional spectra to 3D and beyond. He built and purchased NMR spectrometers and probes, and maintained and improved both NMR hardware and software.
My Motorcycle Diaries
This photo is a fake – simply to get attention.
In which Jim rides a Harley-Davidson 1,250 miles from New Jersey to Minnesota in a rainstorm. For the return trip he rides a Triumph Tiger Cub of doubtful condition, which fails after 150 miles and had to be hauled back to the East Coast and rebuilt.
Mountaineering 101: Some Tougher Climbs
In which Jim and other climbing friends, such as Bernard Hallet, branch out on their own to climb more difficult mountains in California’s Sierra Nevada. Friend Jim Powers takes Jim rock-climbing at Taquitz Rock in Palm Springs, California, where it took 7 hours, staring off into space from the vertical slab for 3 roped climbers to reach the top.
Improving Faculty-Student Relations at UC Riverside
Jim getting feedback from one of his chemistry students.
In which Jim and fellow chemistry faculty and graduate students engage in scholarly activities against undergraduate students, including beer chugging tricycle and trash can relay races, and a tug-of-war, topped off with a drag queen contest. The “Pierce Relays” were a springtime ritual for improving the quality of research and education.
Mountaineering 101: My Last Sierra Climbs
In which Jim and Bernard climb additional challenging Sierra peaks, and Jim leads several groups climbing in the Sierras. There was a successful warm-up climb by a party of four, including Jim, of Clyde Peak in the Sierras. A few weeks later, three of the four, Bernard, Toby, and Ed Lane, went on to Canada for an attempt on Mt. Logan, the 2nd highest peak in No. America, ending in tragedy.
My 500 Days on Skis
Come Fly With Me
In which Jim and Jilly go nuts with a green screen, Frank Sinatra’s classic song, Jilly wearing a chicken suit, and help from good friend Connie.
GRANDMA’S APPLE TREE, a poem
Getty Images
My Father, Carl H. Sudmeier
21 year-old Carl Sudmeier at Minneapolis’ 30m Theodore Wirth Park ski jump in 1932 (still frame from 16mm movie)
In which 31-year-old daredevil Carl is killed in a duck hunting accident, leaving a widow and three children.
4-1/2 year old Jimmy goes to the funeral and feels no sorrow. In later years he comes to realize what he missed, and is able to grieve his loss.
Problem Child
In which this Hell-raising demon, Jimmy, at age 7 stinks up his mother’s kitchen with rotten egg gas from his chemistry set, and at age 10 infests the house with his escaped hamsters. At age 12 he commandeers a corner of the basement to build his darkroom, and gets kicked out of the Boy Scouts for spray-fighting Coca Cola. Do not be fooled by his innocent looks. Will it be Reform School or Military School?