Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Something/Someone Old 222old.jpg

My Something Old this week is the world's oldest recipe. Well, maybe. It's from 6000 B.C., which is pretty damned old. It's definitely the oldest recipe from Britain!

https://www.openculture.com/2018/06/worlds-oldest-recipe-vegan-well-suit...

It's clearly a gatherer's recipe, rather than a farmer's, as most of these ingredients could be found by the roadside. If you can make something tasty out of weeds, that's true success in my book:

NETTLE PUDDING (an 8000 year old recipe!)

("Pudding" in this context does not imply dessert. In its older sense, "pudding" is apparently a word for anything mixed with some flour, bound together somehow--in this case, in a muslin bag--and then boiled or steamed). Researchers believe that originally, rather than cloth, the "pudding" was cooked in animal intestines. Makes sense that they wouldn't have muslin in 6000 B.C.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6994173.stm

Ingredients:

One bunch Rumex acetosa, or garden sorrel,

sorrel.jpg

One bunch Nasturtium officinale, or watercress,

watercress_0.jpg

One bunch Taraxacum officinale, or dandelion (use leaves only),

dandelion_0.jpg

Two bunches Urtica dioica, or nettles,

nettles.jpg

Some Allium schoenoprasum (chives),

chives.jpg

1 cup of barley flour

1 teaspoon of salt

Instructions

Chop the herbs finely and mix in the barley flour and salt.

Add enough water to bind it together and place in the center of a linen or muslin cloth.

Tie the cloth securely and add to a pot of simmering venison or wild boar (a pork joint will do just as well). Make sure the string is long enough to pull the pudding from the pot.

Cook the pudding until the meat is done (at least two hours).

Leave the pudding to cool slightly, remove the muslin, then cut the pudding into thick slices with a knife.

Serve the pudding with chunks of barley bread.

Let's hear it for Hordeum vulgare, the true star of this recipe--providing both flour and the side of bread:

barley.jpg

Speaking of barley, some of the oldest recipes around are apparently for making beer of one kind or another. Those ancient people had their priorities straight.

Something New
Try_Something_New_for_30_Days.jpg

This show was recommended to me weeks ago by Kate's daughter. I held back on watching it because it is set in a kind of post-apocalypse world--an apocalypse caused by plague--and, well, I wasn't sure I wanted to watch that for fun. But it turns out it's not like The Rain. It's not light, but it's a hell of a lot cheerier than your average post-apocalyptic tale.

"Sweet Tooth" is written for the screen by Jim Mickle, and based on Jeff Lamire's D.C. comic of the same name.

A virus wipes out much of human civilization. Coinciding with the virus, strange mutations occur among human babies. They start to develop (non-human) animal characteristics. Remember George W. Bush's "animal-human hybrids?" Well, here they are, except that here they seem to be a (possibly?) positive thing, a move made by Nature to try and reshape the biological world and deal with the problem of humanity.

I'm actually liking it way better than I thought I would. For one thing, the narration is kind. For another, the main characters hiked out into the middle of Yellowstone and set up camp there during the apocalypse, so we don't have to see much of it until things have settled down some. I would actually recommend it as a mild catharsis and an intriguing story (I don't know where it's going, except that I suspect that the hybrids probably contain some key to a cure for the virus. Not sure, though.)

Something Borrowed
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I have never heard of tardigrades before. They are apparently a microscopic organism that is legendarily tough:

They live everywhere, from the tallest mountains to the deepest oceans, and from hot springs to Antarctic ice. They can even tolerate New York. They cope with these inhospitable environments by transforming into a nigh-indestructible state. Their adorable shuffling gaits cease. Their eight legs curl inwards. Their rotund bodies shrivel up, expelling almost all of their water and becoming a dried barrel called a “tun.” Their metabolism dwindles to near-nothingness—they are practically dead. And in skirting the edge of death, they become incredibly hard to kill.

Now, evolutionarily speaking, I find that incredibly impressive. The article says that a tardigrade was actually exposed to the vacuum of space and managed to still lay viable eggs! But most intriguing of all, in their dried-out state, they are apparently capable of soaking up other species' genetic material like a sponge:

...these “horizontal gene transfers” (HGT) are supposedly rare among animals. For the longest time, scientists believed that they didn't happen at all, and reported cases of HGT were met with extreme skepticism. Recently, more and more examples have emerged. Ticks have antibiotic-making genes that came from bacteria. Aphids stole color genes from fungi...But Boothby found that foreign genes make up 17.5 percent of the tardigrade's genome—a full sixth. More than 90 percent of these come from bacteria, but others come from archaea (a distinct group of microbes), fungi, and even plants. “The number of them is pretty staggering,” he says.

So, how did these genes get into the tardigrade's genome in the first place? Boothby thinks that the answer lies in three quirks of tardigrade biology. First, they can dry themselves out, a process that naturally splits their DNA into small pieces. Second, they can stir back to life by rehydrating, during which their cells become leaky and able to take in molecules from the environment—including DNA. Finally, they are extremely good at repairing their DNA, sealing the damage that occurs when they dry out...“So we think tardigrades are drying out, and their DNA is fragmenting along with the DNA of bacteria and organisms in the environment,” explains Boothby. “That gets into their cells when they rehydrate. And when they stitch their own genomes together, they may accidentally put in a bacterial gene.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/tardigrades-worlds-t...

That's pretty darned cool, even if they do (to my eye) look a little creepy. Here's to the tardigrade!

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Something Blue
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I don't usually pick purely digital art for this section, for no particular reason except, I suppose, personal prejudice. But I really like this Balinese teenager's art. He says, "My name is Chan. I am 16 years old visual creator from Bali island, Indonesia. I create blue artwork because this color is stable, cool, and relaxing. I just want to inspire people with my blue works and I also just want to make people confident too."

So let's all chill out with Chan!

I wish we could all chill out with Chan on his home island of Bali.

chan art1.jpg

chan art2.jpg

chan art3.jpg

chan art5.jpg

I think some of these are remarkable. I love the one of the little girl. That was going to be the last one I posted, but then I saw this:

The little girl can be joined by a little boy who also wants to play...

chan art8.jpg

Here's a link to Chan's blue art:

https://www.boredpanda.com/blue-digital-artworks-ch44n/?utm_source=googl...

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Comments

Lookout's picture

Another wet one here. Will probably miss the cooler temps and rain next week as we move into a hotter drier pattern.

Tardigrades are neat little animals. They are common in lichens on trees. Had a friend that did their PhD on them. Takes an electron microscope to really "see" them.

Also loved the photo art creations. Nice.

Well have a good one everybody. Thanks for the OT.

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13 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Lookout

I guess I should have realized, when the article said they could live anywhere, that they pretty much live everywhere.

I'm sorry about moving into the hotter drier. We down here are also moving into the hotter drier. Of course, being Florida, we always have the chance of getting a massive storm to even things out!

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

How are you all faring this morning?

One more day navigating this crazy-ass empire.

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6 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Loved the art work of Chan from Bali. Bali is a magical place and the images are so wonderful especially the little girl. When I was there, the color for me was green and the terraced rice fields were mesmerizing.

Have made it back to Santa Fe and must now go and unload the car and get myself settled in before tackling some of the things that need to get done. Have a great day!

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Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@jakkalbessie

I'm terribly envious that you've been to Bali. I didn't know you had--but I should have. Smile

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7 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

if this is an appropriate place for this item--off topic--- but I just read it and in case you haven't it is Good News:

The Election in Peru has been called and Castillo, a Scialist won! defeating the RW woman who had thrown everthing she had at him.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/world/americas/peru-election-pedro-ca...

That trailer looks amazing and I will watch the film as soon as it shows up on my Netflix.

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12 users have voted.

NYCVG

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@NYCVG

And NOTHING is off-topic here.

Maybe I should do more non-specific Open Threads.

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7 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

as you say, nothing is off-topic
love the gondola in the clouds

Cheers!

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@QMS

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4 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal Plus---Wendy has a thread up about Peru.

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7 users have voted.

NYCVG

enhydra lutris's picture

@NYCVG

I love the art, and tardigrades are always cool; common nickname = waterbears, dunno exactly why. They are often used as experimental subjects with respect to questions of the form "what is the most (whatever) that multicellular life can survive, so you see things like "we fired some tardigrades out of a rifle ...". They can survive not only extremes of temperature, but also very high pressures, encapsulation in solids, absurd accelerational forces, etc.

IIRC, humans actually have bits of non-human genetic code, given enough time, I suspect that any organism winds up being a party to HGT to at least some minimal extent. Tardigrades ars simply masters at, I guess,

Crazy day here, temps are somewhat mild, 56-73, 58 at 6:37 am. We have houseguests, a rarity even in non-covid times, and I'm off to the local Kaiser Hospital for a battery of tests and the concomitant totally boring morning (except for the drive to and fro, which is always interesting).

Not sure exactly what "hotter drier" means in FL, nor whether it is truly a bad thing or not. If it is, then you have my condolences.

be well and have a good one

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9 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

usefewersyllables's picture

@enhydra lutris

that tardigrades were the ultimate form of life as intended by Gawd hisownself, and that we humans are just a momentary aberration and a temporary bunny trail on their gradual but inevitable ascension to mastery of the universe.

I can just see getting to the Pearly Gates, and having the greeter angel there click his little claws, open up his little sink-drainer face, and say "Jeez, what'd you expect? It was never about you...".

Boy, that'd confuse some folks, now wouldn't it?

Note for the humor-impaired: This Is Snark. Really. Standard disclaimers apply: no tardigrades were harmed in the making of this comment, post no bills, your mileage may vary, and so on.

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12 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@usefewersyllables

A different but still lovely idea. I love the way the South Park guys envision God:

https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/2839ro/south-park-god-s-a-buddhist

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5 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

enhydra lutris's picture

@usefewersyllables

I would certainly support the idea of tardigrades as the admissions angel, or maybe, all of the angels.

be well and have a good one

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8 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@enhydra lutris

but I think I misremembered the forecast. I guess technically it's still "drier" because we're not getting buckets daily. Just more normal rain, most days.

I'm really glad for you that you've got some milder weather.

Have the best day possible (given lots of waiting around, probably, given you're going to the doctor).

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6 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@enhydra lutris

are the actual Noah's Ark.

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5 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

enhydra lutris's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
species ever into some sort of cosmic blender and inject it into something damn near immortal. Who needs carpenters and blueprints written in cubits.

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6 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Dawn's Meta's picture

during lockdown. Just stumbled on it and almost didn't watch because 'post-apocalyptic'.

But not the 'Blade Runner' style at all.

Thanks for the OT, the blue art, and thoughts.

Stay comfortable and safe.

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A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

@Dawn's Meta

tried to follow the link you posted in another thread
but didn't get far?
pretty sure it is Real Democracy is Essential
policyspace.xyz

anyway
thanks!

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Dawn's Meta's picture

@QMS similar avatar. We both love Metasequoia. He was recently deplatformed from I think Common dreams. He writes on trade agreements and the effects on employment, jobs and related issues in that sector.

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7 users have voted.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Dawn's Meta

Here comes the second wave.

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4 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

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7 users have voted.
CB's picture

@humphrey
with death tolls of up to 4 million people.

Yellow River
...
Before modern dams appear in China, the Yellow River used to be extremely prone to flooding. In the 2,540 years from 595 BC to 1946 AD, the Yellow River has been reckoned to have flooded 1,593 times, shifting its course 26 times noticeably and nine times severely.[9] These floods include some of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Before modern disaster management, when floods occurred, some of the population might initially die from drowning but then many more would suffer from the ensuing famine and spread of diseases.[10]
...
Recent times

Between 1851 and 1855,[9][18][20] the Yellow River returned to the north amid the floods that provoked the Nien and Taiping Rebellions. The 1887 flood has been estimated to have killed between 900,000 and 2 million people,[23] and is the second-worst natural disaster in history (excluding famines and epidemics). The Yellow River more or less adopted its present course during the 1897 flood.[18][24]

The 1931 flood killed an estimated 1,000,000 to 4,000,000,[23] and is the worst natural disaster recorded (excluding famines and epidemics).
...

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@humphrey

Wishing the best to all in its path. Luck!

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7 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

CB's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUy3HdeV6uc]

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@CB apocalype indeed

sooner than we think

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NYCVG

CB's picture

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