Congratulations!

I now present back to you the bucket of A$$ Gr@v33 I received at my gold100-celebration. I have prepared it carefully, to the better in my humble opinion. I started by letting it ferment for 6 days, adding caraway seeds and anise on day 4. I then skimmed away the top layer of greenish yeast, and poured the rest into used sherry casks. It was then stored in my basement for one and a half month, before being tapped back into the bucket and lidded.

This process has really brought out the texture, and also accentuated what I believe to be the heart of the famous A$$ Gr@v33 aroma. Save it for a special occasion.

Psychologic, you are correct in saying that individuals with split, merged, extra, or in other ways funky chromosomes (aneuploid) are usually not viable, and are often sterile. However, if the individual is viable and fertile, finding a mate with the same issue is not always necessary. A beneficial aneuploidy can be passed on much as any other beneficial trait. And, with a terrific amount of luck, can increase in frequency within a population.

For instance, in humans with Down's syndrome, although fertility is severely reduced, many females can have children. You can imagine, that if this trisomy were in some way adaptive, it could eventually sweep the population. The rest of the genome would then likely evolve to accommodate the trisomy/new chromosome, and fertility would increase.

Here is a really neat paper where yeast evolve via aneuploidy to overcome the problems that occur when researchers delete an important gene:
http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(08)01196-3

As for needing to find a mate with a similar chromosomal aberration, you may be thinking of evolution through polyploidy, when the the entire chromosomal compliment is doubled (like you see evidence of in many plants and salamanders). That really screws things up, but because of the way in which plants reproduce, 'gametes' with double sets of chromosomes are common. Combine that with self fertilization and you have reproductive isolation and a new species in one generation.

>> ^kronosposeidon:
This is just one more reason I'm glad I'm not a doctor, nurse, physician's assistant, etc. Sure, they make good money, but they have to deal with gross shit like this. And think of all the other nasty things they see: hemorrhoids, infected wounds dripping pus, genital warts, yeast infections, and so on. And then they have to probe rectums, urethras, etc.
Still, I'm thankful that there are people who are willing to do this stuff. Let them have the nightmares.

...sounds like just another saturday night to me.

This is just one more reason I'm glad I'm not a doctor, nurse, physician's assistant, etc. Sure, they make good money, but they have to deal with gross shit like this. And think of all the other nasty things they see: hemorrhoids, infected wounds dripping pus, genital warts, yeast infections, and so on. And then they have to probe rectums, urethras, etc.

Still, I'm thankful that there are people who are willing to do this stuff. Let them have the nightmares.

Going off the topic of an injured reporter for a moment, I must say that this tradition is one of the most disgusting food preparation practices in existence. It's enough that it's basically rotten fruit juice and yeast crap; also throw in some toe cheese and foot fungus for measure? WTF were people thinking?

Harmless strains of E Coli are part of the normal, beneficial flora of the human gut, so it seems plausible that they're also present in the normal, beneficial flora of the human vagina.

Harmless strains [of E Coli] are part of the normal flora of the gut, and can benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K2,[3] or by preventing the establishment of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine.[4][5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_coli

Since a healthy vagina is colonized by a mutually symbiotic flora of microorganisms that protect its host from disease-causing microbes, any attempt to upset this balance [soap, douching, feminine hygiene products] may cause many undesirable outcomes, including but not limited to abnormal discharge and yeast infection. The acidity of a healthy vagina due to lactic acid secreted by symbiotic microorganisms retards the growth of many strains of dangerous microbes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina#Sexual_health_and_hygiene

That is a recipe for Wrong. Frankly I think yeast borders on indulgence.

Pointless controversy!

^

1. X = X is mathematically equivalent, and does not conjure up images of absurdist objectivist utopias. I am suggesting a change in nomenclature, not arguing the validity of equivalence as an axiom.
   
   
2. You use a very broad argument to make a very specific point. Your real argument is hard, maybe impossible, to state in a concrete, non-self contradictory way. This weakens your argument substantially. If your argument, as stated, requires that we have no right to kill yeast, then you have a serious problem.
   
   
3. It still seems that you start with a phrase "Right to life" declare it axiomatic, and then, arbitrarily define it in a way which implicitly declares a number of new axioms. If you want to stick with your single axiom then you need to state, not that "Right to life" means X,Y,Z but show HOW it means these things. If you don't/can't show How they are derived, if you write it like a definition, then you are not deriving, but stating extra axioms non-explicitly. Not stating your axioms explicitly makes it look like you are hiding something.
   
   
4. see my comments on blog post I

>> ^dag:
The argument is framed wrong. Of course a 50-cell blastocyst is alive, so are yeast cells and paramecium. Better to ask when is a developing fetus a human being.
And also yes the amazing dichotomy of a "culture of life" that promotes bombing countries and the death penalty is a huge mental disconnect.


No, your argument is framed wrong. There's a big difference between defenseless unborn children and terrorist organizations and axe murderers. Or is that so difficult to see?

>> ^dag:
The argument is framed wrong. Of course a 50-cell blastocyst is alive, so are yeast cells and paramecium. Better to ask when is a developing fetus a human being.
And also yes the amazing dichotomy of a "culture of life" that promotes bombing countries and the death penalty is a huge mental disconnect.


Thanks Dag, that was my point but you said it way better than I ever could. Science can't determine when a developing fetus becomes a human being. At its core the question is a philosophical one, not a scientific one.

My own 2 cents... if you analyze the DNA of a zygote you will find that it neither that of the mother nor the father but that of a unique, unborn human being. As far as I'm concerned it's human at that point and should have all the rights we attribute to humans.

I am not persuaded by the "it can't feel anything" argument. Neither can someone deep in a coma or under anesthesia, but we would consider it murder if we snuffed out their life.

I am also not persuaded by the "it would be horrid to have someone carry around their rapists' baby" argument. I agree, it would be horrid. But the baby didn't rape the woman. Despite the violent nature of its conception, it deserves the same chances for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as the rest of us. That said, if we're going to force women to give birth to a constant reminder of such a traumatic incident we should also be fully willing to support the mother with both free health care and help with giving the baby away for adoption after it is born.

And before I get the "you'd change your mind if a loved one was raped"-argument let me just say my girlfriend in college was raped. I had a front-side seat to the trauma and anguish of such an attack and I know it takes a lifetime of healing to recover from it. It doesn't change the fact that the unborn baby is innocent. You want to burn your clothes after the attack? Fine. I'll get the lighter fluid. But don't take out your pain on someone who isn't the culprit.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

The argument is framed wrong. Of course a 50-cell blastocyst is alive, so are yeast cells and paramecium. Better to ask when is a developing fetus a human being.

And also yes the amazing dichotomy of a "culture of life" that promotes bombing countries and the death penalty is a huge mental disconnect.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'How its made, bread, loaf, hotdog' to 'How its made, bread, loaf, hotdog, factory, dough, industry, grain, flour, yeast, bake' - edited by Eklek

We Canadians have a standard joke about American Beer.

What does Budweiser have in common with making love in a Canoe?
They're both fucking close to water.

In reply to this comment by jimnms:
Did you know Budweiser isn't considered beer in Germany because the Beer Purity Law of 1516 limits the ingredients of beer to yeast, barley, hops and water, and Budweiser uses rice as a main ingredient. Germans also call Budweiser (and other American beers) "dishwater."

>> ^jimnms:
Did you know Budweiser isn't considered beer in Germany because the Beer Purity Law of 1516 limits the ingredients of beer to yeast, barley, hops and water, and Budweiser uses rice as a main ingredient. Germans also call Budweiser (and other American beers) "dishwater."


We Canadians have a standard joke about American Beer.

What does Budweiser have in common with making love in a Canoe?
They're both fucking close to water.

Did you know Budweiser isn't considered beer in Germany because the Beer Purity Law of 1516 limits the ingredients of beer to yeast, barley, hops and water, and Budweiser uses rice as a main ingredient. Germans also call Budweiser (and other American beers) "dishwater."