There is no particular reason why this essay came to be mainly about beer, not wine. It’s a result of my personal preference, and perhaps indirectly because I come from a chilly Scandinavian country where grapes are rarely grown and where people have historically had a closer relationship with beer than wine. Nevertheless, you cannot write about alcoholic beverages or about European culture in general and not say something about wine. Consequently, I will include a few words about wine traditions in Europe and beyond. Much of the following information is taken from The World Atlas of Wine, 6th edition, by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, a fine and richly illustrated work updated as of 2007.

This transcription is sketchy at best. I could not hear everything, and some of what I heard was not understandable. But the parts I did understand were worth noting and passing on to others who may not have had the pleasure of seeing this TV show when it first aired several months ago.

The discussion is about violence in French society, especially juvenile violence, in view of a recent school stabbing that is discussed mid-point in the 5-minute Daily Motion video. The speakers include a historian, an artist, a psychologist, and at least one young man who seems to be of foreign origin. The others all appear to be Europeans, but I really can't be certain of their origins.

During the Industrial Revolution, the development of hydrometers and thermometers allowed the brewer more control over the process and greater theoretical understanding of it. This marks the beginning of brewing science. One of the questions faced by natural scientists was the Aristotelian doctrine of “spontaneous generation,” or abiogenesis, which propounded that “life” was continually being created out of inanimate matter. The Italian physician Franceso Redi (1626-1679) around 1665, in a fine example of the proper use of the experimental method, placed clean linen cloths over jars containing fresh samples of meat. Flies, attracted to the meat, laid eggs on the cloth. Maggots could later be seen on the cloth, but not on the meat, which proved that maggots grow from eggs and do not develop spontaneously. Unfortunately, Redi failed to convince all of his contemporaries.

George Handlery about the week that was. Discount retrospective morality. More lies to protect illegality by those who get a cut. Good and bad history and future policy. Soviet glory and the present. CNN International and its surprising surprise. Inconvenient new facts about Hiroshima.

The porter of English brewers, first made in 1722, was a dark strong beer related to modern stouts. It cost less than ordinary beer, kept longer, was more robust and needed less care in handling. London porter breweries became industrialists of a type different from any seen before anywhere. In the 1820s, English brewers created beers designed to survive the long sea voyage to Britain's colonies in Asia, especially India, the “jewel of the crown” of the British Empire. These highly hopped ales were less bitter and paler in color compared to porter and become known as India Pale Ales.

Though she was never one of my instructors, I vividly recall Beate Ruhm von Oppen from my time as a graduate student at St. John’s College. Though the advance of years had slowed her gait and weakened her voice, I can attest – based on a few conversations – that age had left her mind keen. In retrospect I regret not having sought the benefit of that mind more often, when I had the chance: She died in 2004 at age 86, and her obituary proved something of an eye-opener for me and many of my classmates.

Alcohol-based hospitality has played a key role in the cultural fabric of Europe. As the English archaeologist Andrew Sherratt puts it, “Wine if the life-blood of the Mediterranean, and its proscription by a conquering Islam is eloquent testimony to its deep symbolic significance, both secular and religious.”
 
In his book The Story of Wine, Hugh Johnson calls Muhammad, the founder of Islam, “The man who was to have the most profound effect of any individual on the history of wine.” The Islamic ban on alcoholic drinks was not universally enforced; the ruling classes in particular took many liberties. Yet it discouraged the development of beer and wine witnessed in European monasteries. The Ottoman Empire finally chased wine out of some of its oldest-established strongholds in the Middle East. As the Ottomans swept through the Levant it almost ceased to be a useful source of wine for export, as it had been for many centuries.

George Handlery about the week that was. A package and pre-conditions for North Korea. Celebrating 68: Corrections. Imposed equality: Pushing up or sanding down? Reality, the first victim of idle fantasies. The victims got what they deserved.
 
1. North Korea needs to be dissuaded from clinging to its offensive nuclear weapons. These are more than simple instruments used in repeated shakedowns. These arms are directed against the fundaments of international order. By itself, disarmament is apparently not possible in a pure “bombs for bucks” arrangement. Only a package deal can achieve a non-violent solution. To be effective, the basket must include a convincing deployment of overwhelming military instruments that make Kim’s rattled bombs and missiles ineffective. A finally binding solution after repeated cheatings could begin with negotiating with Kim based on pre-conditions. The first one of these: the preconditions should not be Pyongyang’s.

 Below is the text of a speech which President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic gave last Sunday in Aix-en Provence (France). We thank President Klaus for his kind permission to republish his speech at this website.
 
Thank you for the invitation to come to Aix, for giving me a chance to address this reputable audience where I see many friends and, above all, thank you for continuing to organize the Summer University. I only don’t understand why you call it Summer University of the New Economics. Which one is the old one? We have only one, good, old economic theory and it is our adversaries who use the term “new economics” as an attack on our views.

It is hot in Brussels. Ramadan has begun. The faithful in the predominantly Muslim borough of Molenbeek are not allowed to eat or drink from sunrise until sunset. Non-Muslim policemen, patrolling the streets of Molenbeek in their sweltering cars, are not allowed to eat or drink either. As every year during Ramadan, they have been told by their superior, Philippe Moureaux, the Socialist mayor of Molenbeek, that they have to respect Muslim sensitivities and not to “provoke” Muslims by violating Islamic Ramadan restrictions in public. In effect, Islamic or Sharia law is already applied – for everyone – in the Muslim areas of Brussels.