Wasn't there a thing just like the harlem shake not that long ago that was pretty much the exact same meme with a different shitty song? It really doesn't seem like anything new or anything that should be popular.
WTF Microsoft? You send me a one month gold extension to make up for the cloud storage outage last month but I can't use the extension because I have a family pack account????
Wasn't there a thing just like the harlem shake not that long ago that was pretty much the exact same meme with a different shitty song? It really doesn't seem like anything new or anything that should be popular.
Usually memes start in small internet circles and then seep out into the wider internet at large before breaking into the mainstream. What's weird about the Harlem Shake to me is that it seemed to start in the mainstream, which is perhaps why it pretty much was already "over" as soon as it started.
Wasn't there a thing just like the harlem shake not that long ago that was pretty much the exact same meme with a different shitty song? It really doesn't seem like anything new or anything that should be popular.
Usually memes start in small internet circles and then seep out into the wider internet at large before breaking into the mainstream. What's weird about the Harlem Shake to me is that it seemed to start in the mainstream, which is perhaps why it pretty much was already "over" as soon as it started.
That is pretty weird. I first heard about it on TwiT but even Leo was like "So apparently this is a thing" and it does seem like only "normal" people seem to be into it. It just seems like the basic forumla of "music playing and then everyone starts dancing when the base drops" has been done before, and it wasn't anything special then either.
After thinking a bit I think I've come up with a panel I might try and start writing. Something that I think about a decent amount and at one point worked as a developer for is user interfaces. Not sure if anyone has done a panel on this before but doing one for video game UIs and how it affects your playing experience.
You're not going to get more than a tiny topical glance at that in a 40-60 minute panel, so you might want to either realize that up-front or get more specific.
You're not going to get more than a tiny topical glance at that in a 40-60 minute panel, so you might want to either realize that up-front or get more specific.
That may be so, but if I kept it to a few strong polar examples I think it would work. Either way I'm not sure that I'll ever be at a convention that I can actually run it since I really have no desire to go to any place other than PAX and maybe one day MAGFest. If it's any good maybe someone else could run it.
After months of poking at ancient Roman texts in pursuit of brewing knowledge, I'm beginning to be able to read Latin.
Ahahah you never learn Latin, ever at all. I have friends who are doing PHDs and still get fucked over by that godless stupid language.
Edit; Also what areas are you looking at? I would have thought that the Gaulish tribes would have been more of an ale or beer culture rather than the Mediterranean, Greek influenced Romans.
Well, the concept of "beer" in the ancient world is more complicated and nuanced than I'd thought.
Tacitus does indeed document a liquor of boiled wheat or barley among the Gaulish tribes. The Celtic tribes had "korma" or "corma," a "wine" made of boiled emmer, oats, or barley.
The Greeks had documented "zythos" ("zythum" or "zythorum" in Latin), which is an ancient Egyptian cereal beverage. The Greeks extolled the virtues of this as a food and medicine, and had a method for preparing the grains to make the stuff.
"Zythos" is also attested to in the Talmud, where one rabbi (Rav Yosef) give its formulation as "equal parts barley, salt, and wild saffron." The ingredients are steeped together in water, dried out over an oven, ground, and boiled into a porridge.
This method is documented by a 4th century Greek alchemist as well. In many places, the herbs vary considerably. Pliny says to use flax and coriander, for example. Salt and barley are consistent.
Various methods of using the grain in that way exist. Some add honey, some add it to wine (documented by Apicius), some document adding it to milk and honey. In all cases, the grain is mashed into liquid, and sometimes heated. No matter what, it is strained from the solids and only the liquid is used.
Basically, most ancient "ales" seem to have been medicinal/nutritional beverages made of grain, herbs, and salt. Other things may have been added, but those ingredients are constant. The drink could be cooked or not, but it seems to have been consumed fairly fresh no matter what.
It's conceptually related to the "Hymn to Ninkasi" beer, which likely contained aromatic herbs.
Just a note, though - "delicious" may be jumping the gun. Sure, I bet you like saffron or coriander - but a mixture of 33%? Even using Pliny's proportions (2% coriander, 2% salt, 12% flax seed, 84% barley) would make a strong-tasting beverage. Use about 4 parts water to 1 part stuff? That's still a lot of damn coriander.
As for carbonation? It was probably always carbonated. I have a current hyoothesis that yeast was a major nutritional component of such beverages, and since they were drunk within a couple of days of brewing, there'd still be a lot of active fermentation making gas. Takes a couple of weeks to go flat.
Products were packaged up very early in fermentation; it's quite probable that there was residual carbonation in packaged beverages throughout history.
Comments
Way higher-quality use of this meme than any others I've seen. They actually tried.
Edit; Also what areas are you looking at? I would have thought that the Gaulish tribes would have been more of an ale or beer culture rather than the Mediterranean, Greek influenced Romans.
Tacitus does indeed document a liquor of boiled wheat or barley among the Gaulish tribes. The Celtic tribes had "korma" or "corma," a "wine" made of boiled emmer, oats, or barley.
The Greeks had documented "zythos" ("zythum" or "zythorum" in Latin), which is an ancient Egyptian cereal beverage. The Greeks extolled the virtues of this as a food and medicine, and had a method for preparing the grains to make the stuff.
"Zythos" is also attested to in the Talmud, where one rabbi (Rav Yosef) give its formulation as "equal parts barley, salt, and wild saffron." The ingredients are steeped together in water, dried out over an oven, ground, and boiled into a porridge.
This method is documented by a 4th century Greek alchemist as well. In many places, the herbs vary considerably. Pliny says to use flax and coriander, for example. Salt and barley are consistent.
Various methods of using the grain in that way exist. Some add honey, some add it to wine (documented by Apicius), some document adding it to milk and honey. In all cases, the grain is mashed into liquid, and sometimes heated. No matter what, it is strained from the solids and only the liquid is used.
Basically, most ancient "ales" seem to have been medicinal/nutritional beverages made of grain, herbs, and salt. Other things may have been added, but those ingredients are constant. The drink could be cooked or not, but it seems to have been consumed fairly fresh no matter what.
Just a note, though - "delicious" may be jumping the gun. Sure, I bet you like saffron or coriander - but a mixture of 33%? Even using Pliny's proportions (2% coriander, 2% salt, 12% flax seed, 84% barley) would make a strong-tasting beverage. Use about 4 parts water to 1 part stuff? That's still a lot of damn coriander.
As for carbonation? It was probably always carbonated. I have a current hyoothesis that yeast was a major nutritional component of such beverages, and since they were drunk within a couple of days of brewing, there'd still be a lot of active fermentation making gas. Takes a couple of weeks to go flat.
Products were packaged up very early in fermentation; it's quite probable that there was residual carbonation in packaged beverages throughout history.