Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Death of Evidence

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  • Peter Ashby,

    Yes ok Islander if you mash your honey up with enough other stuff (ie dilute it enough) you can make it ferment, at least to beer strength. However where do you propose Maori got the honey from? I was not aware that the Native bee lived in big enough colonies to be noticeable. The honey bee is an import. Emptying a swampful of flax flowers would seem to me a fool's errand unlikely to be chanced upon.

    I do however wonder how hard those first canoe descendants must have searched for a kava equivalent and how many aching bellies resulted before they gave up and took up aggressive stoicism instead.

    BTW did you ever hear the possibly apocryphal story of how the Russians became christian? An early ruler of the Kievan Rus realised that to be taken seriously they needed a proper religion. So he invited the representatives of christianity (in the form of Greek Orthodoxy), Islam and Judaism to persuade him. Judaism was rejected on grounds of not fancying circumcision and judging inheritance down the female line so it came down to islam and christianity and they considered long on it. Finally they chose christianity because the prospect of facing the Russian winter without the water of life* was just too much.

    *Which the firewater is called all the way from Gallway through Scandinavia and into Russia. The words and languages change, but it is always the water of life.

    Dundee, Scotland • Since May 2007 • 425 posts Report

  • Islander,

    Peter, I was talking about fermented honey in general - we both know there werent honey bees in ANZ.
    There was an old tradition of 'kai tamariki' - let the kids go sort it out.
    Because hungry kids will try all sorts of things, and mostly survive. 'Kai tamariki' now refers to the picky kind of stuff only hungry kids could be bothered with...

    Kava- I've wondered about that too- kawakawa was so named because it looked like a good substitue for kava - the doubling indicates it was 'little kava' and not worth bothering about.

    Ahh, uisque beagh! (My Nana's recollection.) I love the stuff - but the first settlers here called *all* alcohol they encountered 'wai pirau' = stinking water...

    now (she says, taking a sip) this rather nice 15yrold Bowmore is redolent of seas & times gone - but recollected-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    firewater

    aqua vitae - water of life
    acqua alta - high water
    aqua alter - even "higher" water?

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report

  • Josh Helpful,

    National Geographic also made a docu in 2014 about marijuana history. It is an absolute must see. And I was amazed that I had'nt come across. Here is a link, I believe it to be rights free, well someone put it on YT and it is still there, LOL

    It really makes you want to start growing your own medicine!
    Enjoy!

    Colorado • Since Mar 2015 • 3 posts Report

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