[Orin Kerr, October 22, 2008 at 9:44pm] Trackbacks
More Proof That God Loves Us:
Via Slashdot, "University Researchers Developing Cancer-Fighting Beer." Apologies to Benjamin Franklin for the post title.
UW3L:
Ah, Rice. Some of the smartest drunks American academia has to offer. Finally, there may be health benefits to Beer Bike and College Night (notwithstanding the short-term effects such as compound fractures and mild concussions).

Orin, don't I owe you a cask-conditioned Saint Arnold's Amber?
10.22.2008 11:17pm
Allen G:
It's too bad Franklin didn't know that consumption of yeasty beer was probably a prime reason his gout was so bad (since I was diagnosed with gout, I've had to drastically cut back on homebrew, Belgian beer, &hefeweizen).

UW3L: cask-conditioned Saint Arnold's Christmas is FAR better (in moderation now, for me, sadly).
10.22.2008 11:53pm
Obvious (mail):
Cancer Largely Cured!

Designated Drivers Still Succumb!!

Cirrhosis Epidemic Grows!!!
10.23.2008 12:04am
Andrew Hyman (mail) (www):
Orin, have you abandoned originalism in favor of liberal cocktail activism?

It simply is not true that Benjamin Franklin said what you attribute to him. It is an urban legend.

Franklin was actually referring to wine, not beer. Here's the exact quote:

Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.


Franklin wrote this to André Morellet, a French economist, around 1779. Judge Bork warned us about activist batenders like you:

What counts in mixology is the "original understanding" of the martini's essence by those who first consumed it. The essence remains unaltered but allows proportions to evolve as circumstances change. Mr. Felten's "near-perfect martini" is the same in principle as the "original-understanding martini" and therefore its legitimate descendant. Such latter-day travesties as the chocolate martini and the raspberry martini, on the other hand, are the work of activist bartenders.


Please keep your beers, martinis, and wines separate from each other, just like your legislative, executive, and judicial. Thanks. :-)
10.23.2008 12:34am
NickM (mail) (www):
I'll drink to that.

Nick
10.23.2008 12:34am
one of many:
5 years or more in the future though. I guess I can take the time to develop a higher capacity. Hmm, cigarettes and cancer-fighting beer sounds like a winning combination though.
10.23.2008 12:38am
Hoosier:
We already knew that God loves us:

(1) He gave us Polish vodka; and (2) He gave Russian vodka to the Russians, making them considerably less threatening to us non-Russians than they would otherwise have been.

(Etymological note that EV can contest if I'm wrong: "Vodka" is a Russian diminutive for "water"--"vody." The fact that vodka is lexically a species of water in Russia is so damned cool! Even we Micks never managed to have whiskey declared "water.")
10.23.2008 12:40am
Hoosier:
Andrew Hyman

Let's not forget that the vodka martini is an abomination.

As is any gin that costs less than ca. $25 for 750ml.

Or that--despite the cult of vermouth-hatred that has poisoned our republic, the mix ratio is 4:1.
10.23.2008 12:43am
Lev:
Isn't whiskey a mispronunciation of the gaelic for water of life?
10.23.2008 12:45am
SMatthewStolte (mail):

Orin, have you abandoned originalism in favor of liberal cocktail activism?


It's a travesty that folks like Orin can even pass the bar exam.
10.23.2008 12:55am
Hoosier:
Lev--I always thought (well, not always--but for a long time) that "water of life" was brandy in the old Irish.

Live and learn.

Yay for us!
10.23.2008 12:56am
Stormy Dragon (mail) (www):
If God loves us so much, how do you explain this:

Coffee can make women's breasts smaller: Swedish study
10.23.2008 1:20am
Brandeis libertarian:
Lev is right--a more detailed explanation:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/whiskey

Word History: Many connoisseurs of fine whiskey wouldn't dream of contaminating their libations with water, but they really can't avoid it. Not only is water used in distilling whiskey, but the words whiskey and water share a common Indo-European root, *wed-, "water, wet." This root could appear in several guises, as *wed-, *wod-, or *ud-. Water is a native English word that goes back by way of prehistoric Common Germanic *watar to the Indo-European suffixed form *wod-ōr, with an o. Whiskey is a shortened form of usquebaugh, which English borrowed from Irish Gaelic uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha. This compound descends from Old Irish uisce, "water," and bethad, "of life," and meaning literally "water of life." (It thus meant the same thing as the name of another drink, aquavit, which comes from Latin aqua vītae, "water of life.") Uisce comes from the Indo-European suffixed form *ud-skio-. Finally, the name of another alcoholic drink, vodka, comes into English from Russian, where it means literally "little water," as it is a diminutive of voda, "water"—a euphemism if ever there was one. Voda comes from the same Indo-European form as English water, but is differently suffixed: *wod-ā. Whiskey, water, and vodka—etymology can mix a potent cocktail.
10.23.2008 2:50am
Syd Henderson (mail):
This is not that uncommon

French: Eau de vie, "Water of Life" for a kind of brandy

Latin: Aqua vitae "water of life" for spirits of wine (i.e distilled alcohol or brandy). The Scandinavian akvavit comes from this expression.
10.23.2008 3:02am
John M. Perkins (mail):
I was to leisurely to make the beer-bike race; speed in drinking and pedalling has never been a talent.

Will Rice '78X
10.23.2008 8:56am
Francis Marion (mail):

If God loves us so much, how do you explain this:

Coffee can make women's breasts smaller: Swedish study


Just buy the coffee drinking woman DD implants.
10.23.2008 10:25am
mkl:
Francis Marion: that would be Dunkin Donuts implants? They appear to have the directionally correct effect, but more on the hips...
10.23.2008 10:36am
Alan K. Henderson (mail) (www):
So all those med school frat keg parties were actually conducting life-saving research?
10.23.2008 1:28pm
Guntram:
Never since the t.w.i.n.k.i.e.s. project have I been more proud of my alma mater.. great minds, those rice nerds.
10.23.2008 2:41pm
Jaypher (mail):
As a beer-lover, it saddens me that Franklin was actually talking about wine when he wrote about the proof that God loves us.
10.23.2008 3:05pm
Michael Drake (mail) (www):
If we wanted more proof, it would have to come from something stronger than beer, wouldn't it?
10.23.2008 3:32pm
George Weiss (mail) (www):
cool post
10.23.2008 11:03pm
Hoosier:
If God loves us so much, how do you explain this:

Coffee can make women's breasts smaller: Swedish study




Now we finally have an explanation for the "structure" of French women.

Dr. Wife drinks tea. So that explains something. (A couple things, actually.)
10.24.2008 12:29am