The Little Ice Age caused a shortage of wine in Germany and Great Britain. The inhabitants substituted beer. Only recently has England grown decent vinyards, producing quality wines.
I keep trying (and as far as I can tell failing) to convince people that climate is highly variable. Hadrian’s wall was built where it was because the Romans couldn’t cultivate grapes for their wine north of it.
Grape culture was only reintroduced to Britain in the last century.
So, was Roman grape culture possible only because of Roman industrial activity? Was the Medieval Warm Period caused by Viking industrial activity?
And why has the present spate of warming topped out while carbon dioxide levels continue to rise thanks to economic development in Asia?
Inquiring minds want to know!
P.S. Don’t mention this to an NPC. They only glitch.
My mother said my brother should be able to sew a button back on a shirt, make his own sandwiches and do his own laundry. Then he joined the Army and he was required to do all of that. Now his wife does it for him.
Which way? The Cooling Way. I wonder how going totally Carbon based fuel power generation Free will work here in Cali. Totally Solar based will shut this state down. The Grid can’t take it and there is minimal to none storage capacity. Imagine everyone driving electric cars trying to keep them fully charged. Or keeping Beer Cold.
Our boys and girls at the Skunk Works promised a prototype fusion power plant that could fit on a truck by next year and a production model five years later. I hope they make it. (Of course, knowing the Skunk Works, they may be two years ahead of schedule.)
If they succeed, all that investment in solar and wind will be for nothing. Every city of 50,000 or better will have its own independent power, and the entire nation can be blanketed with a Star Wars_type missile defense network if we want it.
I can’t wait.
October 29, 2018 at 6:11 pm
interventor
I’ve been rooting for this for a few years. Not only pollution free, but large scale grids no longer required. So, much less vulnerable.
October 29, 2018 at 6:31 am
eon
Beer has shown up in every civilization that practiced grain cultivation, and may predate the invention of wine, which requires a fruit to process. In-between the two are “strong beer” (sake’, chiu, and some ales) on the grain side, and “hard” fruit extracts (hard cider, etc.) on the “fruit” side.
Interestingly, most older recipes’ for beers don’t include yeast.
Beer was invented by Egyptian women baking bread. They soaked the wheat kernels to soften them, and the water fermented and turned into beer.** Modern wheat beer is based on that formula.
The next time you lift a glass of beer, thank the women of ancient Egypt who baked bread.
When Coke finishes the takeover it’ll be everywhere including stacked up on the front sidewalk of every c-store in every town…then of course it won’t be Moxie anymore.
October 29, 2018 at 2:41 pm
Henry
You know, I’ll have to try that. I must have some sort of genetic quirk á la cilantro — beer has always tasted like laundry water to me, but I *love* Moxie. I have a case of it in my pantry. If you don’t lie in New England, BevMo can order it for you by the case.
I find that children’s mispronunciations lead to some interesting twists for some words….My daughter’s pronunciation for windshield wipers was winch wipers….one I never understood was her calling trucks “fucks”at the age of 2…..I thought about it and figured she had come up with a genius plan to say the word without getting reprimanded….
On road trips, my oldest would get excited when he saw a “boosassoo.” Took us some time before we figured out that was a Volkswagen Bus.
October 29, 2018 at 3:32 pm
gruundehn
And do not forget the classic “Bisgetti”
October 29, 2018 at 5:01 pm
Old Codger
My daughter called that box & screen I was forever sitting at a “pooter”.
October 29, 2018 at 11:42 pm
TomZ
Frigidator – refrigerator
October 29, 2018 at 9:29 am
NorsePiper
The Grand Solar Minimum has begun and the 80+ year cold Sun could be worse than the Maunder Minimum when 40% of the population of Germany was gone by 1715. The subsequent poverty and desire to escape oppression meant a huge surge in immigration to the Crown colonies and brought a a hundred thousand Scots from N. Erin to the Carolinas.
Those are the lads that destroyed Major Ferguson at King’s Mt thus destroying Cornwallis’ campaign. The result … American Independence.
Climate Change. It is the Cold Cycles you need to worry about.
Honey, the Grand Solar Minimum really began in 2006 when NASA suddenly noticed that there hadn’t been sunspots for weeks. OOOPPPSSSies!
And while in the interval, we’ve had a couple of bouts of sunspots, the solar output overall, according to a solar physicist friend of mine, is well below normal, and does not appear to be bumping itself up. I guess the Sun needs a nap now and then.
So who’s taking bets on the Greenbeans and their ilk freezing to death because they don’t think we should be using carbon-based fuels for heat and cooking? Germany’s fantastic plans for wind and solar power have gone down the tubes, and Merkel (who is losing her grip on politics) has had to approve the building of coal-fired power plants so that people won’t freeze to death any more. Must have been embarrassing to her (if that’s possible).
Whatever else you do next week, please go and vote on Tuesday Nov. 6th.
I didn’t know that Fish had belly buttons and partied with Ants.
Beer makes me sick. Jack Daniels makes my legs hurt.
Fine Tequila kills the pain and makes me want to read erotic poetry aloud.
Though not Vogon poetry. Well maybe to the Left.
They’d appreciate the Third Worst Poetry in the Universe.
In Africa, without electricity, roads, and etc. you get the picture.
The little collection of huts that you had to hike to find, had beer.
Shortage of beer? I can grow lots of potatoes!
I’m such a beer snob that I only drink beer in Europe, where they still know how to make it without adding “food grains”(i.e., rice…) and over-carbonating it. Fortunately, my expatriate daughter lives in Germany. (Even the Brits and Italians make decent lagers and pilsners nowadays. Don’t drink beer in France…)
Wine showed up about 5400 BC in Persia and Sumeria. Beer came a bit later in Sumeria, most likely. Egyptians were later comers to beer. Which did contribute to fueling the builders of the pyramids.
Although proof of some kind is preferable, I tend to look at available circumstances. Thus, if someone in the ancient world was making bread I’d demand proof that the someone was _not_ making beer because A) It’s almost impossible not to ferment. and B) SOMEONE is going to try drinking the sludge.
So it is my contention that beer making is nearly as old as bread-making and agriculture itself (about 10,000 years).
You are correct, sir, and the oldest human-made food product is flatbread, which is a common food under many, many names in many, many cultures, from pita to tortillas to Moroccan M’smen and rghaif and Italian focaccia (and pizza crust!). It is a universal food.
Now I’m getting hungry.
October 29, 2018 at 8:22 pm
Presbypoet
Just reading a book on the subject: “The Rise of Yeast”. Explains how it works. Another improbable coincidence we observe. Yeast has doubled genes, with pruning to boost alcohol production. God the first genetic engineer.
Fermenting led to civilization. Your still must be still. The first settlements were places yeast made beer. Using yeast for bread is much later. Someone saw their flatbread rise, and baked it. Wonder Bread.
45 Comments
Jan, embrace the wisdom from Damon. Exhibit A is Javier.
Home schooling rules!
The Little Ice Age caused a shortage of wine in Germany and Great Britain. The inhabitants substituted beer. Only recently has England grown decent vinyards, producing quality wines.
I keep trying (and as far as I can tell failing) to convince people that climate is highly variable. Hadrian’s wall was built where it was because the Romans couldn’t cultivate grapes for their wine north of it.
Grape culture was only reintroduced to Britain in the last century.
So, was Roman grape culture possible only because of Roman industrial activity? Was the Medieval Warm Period caused by Viking industrial activity?
And why has the present spate of warming topped out while carbon dioxide levels continue to rise thanks to economic development in Asia?
Inquiring minds want to know!
P.S. Don’t mention this to an NPC. They only glitch.
Pretty Close. That’ll do.
My mother said my brother should be able to sew a button back on a shirt, make his own sandwiches and do his own laundry. Then he joined the Army and he was required to do all of that. Now his wife does it for him.
Huh, back to 10/27 again.
Counting backwards in time. Homeschooling is the only place to learn that.
And just like that it’s 10/29 again! Homeschooling is amazing! 😉
Give me Shiner Bock or give me death !
Bitte Ein Bit ™
It has been years since I had an export. Even longer since I had a domestic.
“Climate change”.
Which way? Cooling or warming? Either way, grain will survive, beer will continue to be made.
Which way? The Cooling Way. I wonder how going totally Carbon based fuel power generation Free will work here in Cali. Totally Solar based will shut this state down. The Grid can’t take it and there is minimal to none storage capacity. Imagine everyone driving electric cars trying to keep them fully charged. Or keeping Beer Cold.
Our boys and girls at the Skunk Works promised a prototype fusion power plant that could fit on a truck by next year and a production model five years later. I hope they make it. (Of course, knowing the Skunk Works, they may be two years ahead of schedule.)
If they succeed, all that investment in solar and wind will be for nothing. Every city of 50,000 or better will have its own independent power, and the entire nation can be blanketed with a Star Wars_type missile defense network if we want it.
I can’t wait.
I’ve been rooting for this for a few years. Not only pollution free, but large scale grids no longer required. So, much less vulnerable.
Beer has shown up in every civilization that practiced grain cultivation, and may predate the invention of wine, which requires a fruit to process. In-between the two are “strong beer” (sake’, chiu, and some ales) on the grain side, and “hard” fruit extracts (hard cider, etc.) on the “fruit” side.
Interestingly, most older recipes’ for beers don’t include yeast.
http://immaculatebrewery.com/the-original-american-homebrews-pt-1/
clear ether
eon
Beer was invented by Egyptian women baking bread. They soaked the wheat kernels to soften them, and the water fermented and turned into beer.** Modern wheat beer is based on that formula.
The next time you lift a glass of beer, thank the women of ancient Egypt who baked bread.
**Story compacted for the sake of space.
I’ve heard several origin stories for beer. I figure the story of beer is the story of civilization or near to such.
Pour one oz. rye into a respectable beer glass.
Add 12 oz. Moxie.
Beer.
I haven’t seen Moxie outside of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in a very long time. Thanks for reminding me to look again.
Saw some in Maine, Bar Harbor, last month.
When Coke finishes the takeover it’ll be everywhere including stacked up on the front sidewalk of every c-store in every town…then of course it won’t be Moxie anymore.
You know, I’ll have to try that. I must have some sort of genetic quirk á la cilantro — beer has always tasted like laundry water to me, but I *love* Moxie. I have a case of it in my pantry. If you don’t lie in New England, BevMo can order it for you by the case.
I find that children’s mispronunciations lead to some interesting twists for some words….My daughter’s pronunciation for windshield wipers was winch wipers….one I never understood was her calling trucks “fucks”at the age of 2…..I thought about it and figured she had come up with a genius plan to say the word without getting reprimanded….
Essentially every parent has had vocabulary changes induced by their kids.
“Pingles” <<== This used to be pronounced, "fingers".
"Fistenator" was "refrigerator".
"Puner" was "puny"
I'll stop here before CM's readers get "sturbded" by my "grummy" rhetoric.
On road trips, my oldest would get excited when he saw a “boosassoo.” Took us some time before we figured out that was a Volkswagen Bus.
And do not forget the classic “Bisgetti”
My daughter called that box & screen I was forever sitting at a “pooter”.
Frigidator – refrigerator
The Grand Solar Minimum has begun and the 80+ year cold Sun could be worse than the Maunder Minimum when 40% of the population of Germany was gone by 1715. The subsequent poverty and desire to escape oppression meant a huge surge in immigration to the Crown colonies and brought a a hundred thousand Scots from N. Erin to the Carolinas.
Those are the lads that destroyed Major Ferguson at King’s Mt thus destroying Cornwallis’ campaign. The result … American Independence.
Climate Change. It is the Cold Cycles you need to worry about.
Honey, the Grand Solar Minimum really began in 2006 when NASA suddenly noticed that there hadn’t been sunspots for weeks. OOOPPPSSSies!
And while in the interval, we’ve had a couple of bouts of sunspots, the solar output overall, according to a solar physicist friend of mine, is well below normal, and does not appear to be bumping itself up. I guess the Sun needs a nap now and then.
So who’s taking bets on the Greenbeans and their ilk freezing to death because they don’t think we should be using carbon-based fuels for heat and cooking? Germany’s fantastic plans for wind and solar power have gone down the tubes, and Merkel (who is losing her grip on politics) has had to approve the building of coal-fired power plants so that people won’t freeze to death any more. Must have been embarrassing to her (if that’s possible).
Whatever else you do next week, please go and vote on Tuesday Nov. 6th.
I didn’t know that Fish had belly buttons and partied with Ants.
Beer makes me sick. Jack Daniels makes my legs hurt.
Fine Tequila kills the pain and makes me want to read erotic poetry aloud.
Though not Vogon poetry. Well maybe to the Left.
They’d appreciate the Third Worst Poetry in the Universe.
Having invented both the second worst and the first worst (Gertrude Stein), they certainly would.
I’d bring you a couple of bottles just to hear (and see) that. 🙂
Sounds like a new verse of the Everclear song
Don Julio 1942 tends to produce all kinds of erotic behavior.
As long as you don’t sing Narn or Klingon opera.
In Africa, without electricity, roads, and etc. you get the picture.
The little collection of huts that you had to hike to find, had beer.
Shortage of beer? I can grow lots of potatoes!
I’m such a beer snob that I only drink beer in Europe, where they still know how to make it without adding “food grains”(i.e., rice…) and over-carbonating it. Fortunately, my expatriate daughter lives in Germany. (Even the Brits and Italians make decent lagers and pilsners nowadays. Don’t drink beer in France…)
Wine showed up about 5400 BC in Persia and Sumeria. Beer came a bit later in Sumeria, most likely. Egyptians were later comers to beer. Which did contribute to fueling the builders of the pyramids.
Although proof of some kind is preferable, I tend to look at available circumstances. Thus, if someone in the ancient world was making bread I’d demand proof that the someone was _not_ making beer because A) It’s almost impossible not to ferment. and B) SOMEONE is going to try drinking the sludge.
So it is my contention that beer making is nearly as old as bread-making and agriculture itself (about 10,000 years).
You are correct, sir, and the oldest human-made food product is flatbread, which is a common food under many, many names in many, many cultures, from pita to tortillas to Moroccan M’smen and rghaif and Italian focaccia (and pizza crust!). It is a universal food.
Now I’m getting hungry.
Just reading a book on the subject: “The Rise of Yeast”. Explains how it works. Another improbable coincidence we observe. Yeast has doubled genes, with pruning to boost alcohol production. God the first genetic engineer.
Fermenting led to civilization. Your still must be still. The first settlements were places yeast made beer. Using yeast for bread is much later. Someone saw their flatbread rise, and baked it. Wonder Bread.
As domestic media spins its lies, the rest of the world pays homage:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-far-to-the-right-could-brazil%E2%80%99s-new-leader-take-the-country/ar-BBP5dhS?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=mailsignout
And the socialists continue to crumble, as with Herr Merkel.
Lovely and beautiful decay. Faster. Faster.
No, Carmen, your aunt did not catch any fish.