Rare Vos, presumably... [rquoter]Survival of the Sudsiest By George F. Will Thursday, July 10, 2008; A15 Perhaps, like many sensible citizens, you read Investor's Business Daily for its sturdy common sense in defending free markets and other rational arrangements. If so, you too may have been startled recently by an astonishing statement on that newspaper's front page. It was in a report on the intention of the world's second-largest brewer, Belgium's InBev, to buy control of the third-largest, Anheuser-Busch, for $46.3 billion. The story asserted: "The [alcoholic beverage] industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer." "Non wh at"? Do not try to peddle that proposition in the bleachers or at the beaches in July. It is closer to the truth to say: No beer, no civilization. The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer. To understand why, consult Steven Johnson's marvelous 2006 book, "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World." It is a great scientific detective story about how a horrific cholera outbreak was traced to a particular neighborhood pump for drinking water. And Johnson begins a mind-opening excursion into a related topic this way: "The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol." Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol -- in beer and, later, wine -- which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process. Johnson notes that historians interested in genetics believe that the roughly simultaneous emergence of urban living and the manufacturing of alcohol set the stage for a survival-of-the-fittest sorting-out among the people who abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and, literally and figuratively speaking, went to town. To avoid dangerous water, people had to drink large quantities of, say, beer. But to digest that beer, individuals needed a genetic advantage that not everyone had -- what Johnson describes as the body's ability to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases. This ability is controlled by certain genes on chromosome four in human DNA, genes not evenly distributed to everyone. Those who lacked this trait could not, as the saying goes, "hold their liquor." So, many died early and childless, either of alcohol's toxicity or from waterborne diseases. The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors -- by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol." Johnson suggests, not unreasonably, that this explains why certain of the world's population groups, such as Native Americans and Australian Aborigines, have had disproportionately high levels of alcoholism: These groups never endured the cruel culling of the genetically unfortunate that town dwellers endured. If so, the high alcoholism rates among Native Americans are not, or at least not entirely, ascribable to the humiliations and deprivations of the reservation system. Rather, the explanation is that not enough of their ancestors lived in towns. But that is a potential stew of racial or ethnic sensitivities that we need not stir in this correction of Investor's Business Daily. Suffice it to say that the good news is really good: Beer is a health food. And you do not need to buy it from those wan, unhealthy-looking people who, peering disapprovingly at you through rimless Trotsky-style spectacles, seem to run all the health food stores. So let there be no more loose talk -- especially not now, with summer arriving -- about beer not being essential. Benjamin Franklin was, as usual, on to something when he said, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Or, less judgmentally, and for secular people who favor a wall of separation between church and tavern, beer is evidence that nature wants us to be.[/rquoter]
Bless, O Lord, this creature beer, that Thou hast been pleased to bring forth from the sweetness of the grain: that it might be a salutary remedy for the human race: and grant by the invocation of Thy holy name, that, whosoever drinks of it may obtain health of body and a sure safeguard for the soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Rituale Romanum (no. 58)
"He was a wise man who invented beer." - Plato "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin "Wrong forum." - Me
I read a book whose name I can't recall about the history of the great drinks of the world -- beer, wine, liquor, coffee, tea, coca-cola. His epilogue predicted the next great drink: water. His argument is that we've gone through all these drinks in an attempt to get hydrated without getting sick. And, now finally, we have widespread, safe, potable water.
i was at a bar sunday night, in my state of mind in that moment I theorized that wine was as old as religion.
That's funny....I'm going to a wine bar tonight. Might have to use that as a possible icebreaking pickup line.....
I know the only place in Houston you can get Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel, and I'm not telling. GOOD DAY
One thing I have never understood, why are Baptists and others so against drinking? You should see the huge debates and debacles in my hometown that go down because an eating establishment applies for a liquor license.
there's stuff in the bible about not drinking too much...and there's stuff about people like john the baptist not drinking at all, and it being a credit to him. but there's also a letter from paul to a young church leader named timothy saying, "you should really have some wine sometimes." (i'm loosely paraphrasing that...he was saying it was for a health condition) Jesus' first miracle was to turn water to wine at a wedding celebration.
You should see how that gets twisted up here though. The religious folk up here, many of them anyway, say Jesus did no such thing. He turned water into non-alcoholic grape juice. I'm serious. I've also heard some say that wine and alcohol were necessary during those times to make hydrating more safe. Not sure if it is true or not but it kind of makes sense.
dude, you have to get out of arkansas! just an outright lie. the greek doesn't translate to grape juice. the second argument is a better one...in that it's not an outright lie. enjoy your wine. don't drink too much. if it causes you struggle, give it up. if drinking it around someone else causes them to struggle, don't drink in front of them.
Of course civilization was built on beer. What's the drink brewed from barley and hops that has everybody licking their chops Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Lets give three cheers for the drink of the year Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer's been around for a long long time the Egyptians and Incas even brewed a pint of Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Lets give three cheers for the drink of the year Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer's the answer to all of life's woes just down a pint and soon everything's gold like Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Lets give three cheers for the drink of the year Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Lager, ale or stout its all good especially if aged in cask of wood full of Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Lets give three cheers for the drink of the year Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Whiskey and wine are good sometimes even a daquiri or a martini or three but for a drink that's good everyweek nothing beats the nectar of Milwaukee Ein! Swie! Dry! BEER! Six pack or twelve pack or couple of tall boys Beer's the fuel that drives life's joys to Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Lets give three cheers for the drink of the year Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Lets give three cheers for the drink of the year Its Beer! Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer Beer <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/K3C0b_lJXps&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/K3C0b_lJXps&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Well, since we're postin tubes Asylum Street Spankers - "Beer" <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YvJGs6MhZM0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YvJGs6MhZM0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> BTW basso Aren't you more of a vino man?
So let your light so shine before men Let your light so shine So that they might know some kindness again We all need help to feel fine - let's have some wine!
