Assimilation - Chapter 9 (Spoilers)

[dellstart]

Subjugation works if humanity is oppressed, Trillane are unspeakably evil, and the rest of the Imperium are too self centered to notice or care. But change any part of that and you get some rather large plot holes.

Replace "Humanity" with "Palestinians", "Trillane" with "Israel," and "Imperium" with the "Rest of the World" and you have a situation which many Arabs would agree with.

Almost all speculative fiction requires a limit of suspension of disbelief. Most successful SF/fantasy films / series / books have just as significant plot holes. In LoTR, why didn't they use the giant eagles to get closer to Mordor? In Star Trek, why didn't Kirk get the C**p beaten out of him in any fight? In Hairy Potter, he can battle demons, why can't he fix his astigmatism? In the "Matrix" why did they have to use humans as batteries, why not cows? I read it because I enjoy it, in spite of the flaws. Sometimes the flaws in logic make me laugh.

As for people being too self centered, Most people are more interested in maintaining their lifestyle and having the goodies coming in than in social reform. That cake or biscuit from the shop is made with Palm oil, which is grown on plantations cleared from rainforest and is responsible for Sumatran Tigers and Orangutans being on the brink of extinction. That cheap chocolate in your snack? There is a high probability that it was picked by child slaves in west Africa, even if it is fair-trade. (Over twice as much fair trade chocolate is sold as is produced - do the maths)

Read up about what happens to people who rock the boat in China, I would assume that similar things happen to people in the Imperium. People generally don't want to know, unfortunately that is Human and Faey nature. And people will defend their system, even if it is corrupt or wrong, because it is THEIR system. Like Irish Americans defending the IRA in the 80's, Jews defending Israeli atrocities, and Muslims defending Al-quaida, or Palestinian bombers. In fact, on many forums, any criticism of American policies will have you labeled a Communist, criticism of Israeli policies will have you labeled a Nazi or Fascist, and criticism of suicide bombers will get you labeled a Zionist. Generally nobody cares if you criticize British policies, but if you support any then you are an Imperialist.

well ,we Aussies like to knock your system so there ! Anyone who drinks their beer warm , deserves ridicule!!!

[Mad Monk]

well ,we Aussies like to knock your system so there ! Anyone who drinks their beer warm , deserves ridicule!!!

This coming from a nation that calls "Fosters" beer? At least "XXXX" has the decency to not call itself beer! VB is OK, but its a long way behind a decent pint of prober bitter.

[dellstart]

well ,we Aussies like to knock your system so there ! Anyone who drinks their beer warm , deserves ridicule!!!

This coming from a nation that calls "Fosters" beer? At least "XXXX" has the decency to not call itself beer! VB is OK, but its a long way behind a decent pint of prober bitter.

Well excuse me , every Nation is allowed its fallacies. Ours is Fosters, yours is Charles Prince of Wales.All in all i think we are doing better.

[Mad Monk]

well ,we Aussies like to knock your system so there ! Anyone who drinks their beer warm , deserves ridicule!!!

This coming from a nation that calls "Fosters" beer? At least "XXXX" has the decency to not call itself beer! VB is OK, but its a long way behind a decent pint of prober bitter.

Well excuse me , every Nation is allowed its fallacies. Ours is Fosters, yours is Charles Prince of Wales.All in all i think we are doing better.

Charlie boy was born into the position. You actually choose to drink Fosters and XXXX. The prosecution rests.

Besides, proper beer and ale are served at room temperature because that actually releases the aromatic compounds which give flavour. Its why fine wines, brandies and whiskys are served at room temperature.

You freeze vodka and Australian beers because they have no actual flavour

[dellstart]

Strange in a list of the best beers in the world , aint too many English brews are there now?! mmmmm mm must be not only do they not know how to make it , dont know how to drink it either. The facts bare this out .

http://spakatak.com/beer/topbeers.php

http://highlyhopped.wordpress.com/2009/ ... ing-beers/


Plus the real sad thing is that Charlie boy would be our king as well. Shudders the thought . Long live her Majesty!!

[nicolai]

As an American, I chose to stop drinking commercial beers a couple decades ago. Up until my medications forced me to stop drinking, I brewed my own beer and ale. So much better, and I could make what I liked to drink.

Also made some mead, which is now about 17 years old. Wish I could have some.

Nicolai

[dellstart]

As an American, I chose to stop drinking commercial beers a couple decades ago. Up until my medications forced me to stop drinking, I brewed my own beer and ale. So much better, and I could make what I liked to drink.

Also made some mead, which is now about 17 years old. Wish I could have some.

Nicolai

Doffs his hat to the master! wow, just amazing

[Mad Monk]

Strange in a list of the best beers in the world , aint too many English brews are there now?! mmmmm mm must be not only do they not know how to make it , dont know how to drink it either. The facts bare this out .

http://spakatak.com/beer/topbeers.php

http://highlyhopped.wordpress.com/2009/ ... ing-beers/


Plus the real sad thing is that Charlie boy would be our king as well. Shudders the thought . Long live her Majesty!!

Wow, You are really desperate to use a couple of Australian sites to list the top beers from.

Not a single Belgian beer on your first site!!! But then only two beers on the first site have any rating (10/10, the rest are 0/10)

And only Leffe Belgian beer on the second list ?!? They have MUCH better beers than that. I know from experience http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_beer

In blind taste tests, Belgian beers often come out best. Trouble is, most of the best beers come from micro-breweries, so lack the large numbers of people to try them and score them on internet polls. The local place I know does batches of 100 gallons. Not even enough for a decent beer festival, but some of the best beer you'll ever taste.

Try http://www.tastingbeers.com/awards/wba/2009/ for a more realistic set of results. It at least has beers from different countries and continents, and If you look closely, you'll even find some Australian beer mentioned.

[Mad Monk]

As an American, I chose to stop drinking commercial beers a couple decades ago. Up until my medications forced me to stop drinking, I brewed my own beer and ale. So much better, and I could make what I liked to drink.

Also made some mead, which is now about 17 years old. Wish I could have some.

Nicolai

I've brewed beer in the past. I now make Spiced Honey Vodka. Think of it as mead with attitude.

The Fruit meads and Metheglin (spice meads) I've tasted are amongst the best drinks I've had.

And for those who think mead is sweet - only really crap mead is sweet. Good mead is nice and dry.

[nicolai]

As an American, I chose to stop drinking commercial beers a couple decades ago. Up until my medications forced me to stop drinking, I brewed my own beer and ale. So much better, and I could make what I liked to drink.

Also made some mead, which is now about 17 years old. Wish I could have some.

Nicolai

I've brewed beer in the past. I now make Spiced Honey Vodka. Think of it as mead with attitude.

The Fruit meads and Metheglin (spice meads) I've tasted are amongst the best drinks I've had.

And for those who think mead is sweet - only really crap mead is sweet. Good mead is nice and dry.

All of my meads are quite dry, and vary between 17-23% alcohol. They're also all still meads (non-carbonated).

My cyser (apple mead) has been rated very highly by some rather knowledgeable friends. My favorites are the prickley pear fruit/mesquite honey melomel (fruit mead) and the yule spice metheglin I made with allspice/cinnamon/cloves and, iirc, mesquite honey. The cyser is also rather sneaky, it'll smack you on the back of your head if you drink too much.

Sweet meads are frequently low alcohol and aren't usually that high in quality, although some of Jewish mead makers are quite skilled. Jewish mead is, traditionally, sweet.

If anyone here is really interested, I'll be happy to share recipes. And I'm willing to give a beginner a bit of an assist. Warning: If you want to brew good mead the way I do, figure about six months of fermentation and a minimum of three years aging after bottling before it's really worth trying to drink. Five years would be better.

Nicolai

[Mad Monk]

I must admit to never trying Jewish meads. I will look out for them in future. Most of the Sweet meads I've tried were mass produced for the tourist market, because for most people mead = honey = sweet. I know that it shouldn't be so.

The meads my friends make tend to be 3 - 5 years old, with some 10 year old. Some really improves with age, some dosen't. They all should be treated with respect.

I also like the old style ales, which pre-date hops. One flavoured with bog-myrtle and honey (14th Century recipe) is my favourite beer of all time.

Also worth trying is Hypocras, a spiced honey wine. A Belgian friend makes an award winning one - its even won awards in France against local competition. Given how nationalistic French judges are, that was quite an achievement.

[dellstart]

mad monk . in keeping with our Faey theme style story , which beers do you think would make it big in the Impirium?

sure as hell,wouldn't be a room temperature weak larger from England!

[Mad Monk]

mad monk . in keeping with our Faey theme style story , which beers do you think would make it big in the Impirium?

sure as hell,wouldn't be a room temperature weak larger from England!

To be honest, I wouldn't be so sure. From Fel's description of the Imperium, there is little innovation, and most business is dominated by the Noble houses. Food is not abundant, so I suspect that the big houses dominate the drinks market with mass produced industrial beverages, rather like the big drinks companies on Earth. Unlike on Earth, I don't think that mid-sized companies could survive, partly because of difficulties in sourcing reliable and consistent supplies.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are good micro-breweries and wineries, making relatively small batches for local consumption on a local or planetary scale.

I would assume that smaller breweries on Earth would struggle to get funding to expand their capacity significantly, so it would be beer from the large commercial brewers which would head for the stars, including Budweiser, Millers, Fosters, Guinness, Heiniken, Stella Artois and John Smiths. It leaves the good stuff for us Terrans

It generally takes time to develop a palate to appreciate the nuances of fine wines and whiskys, so I suspect that they would remain mostly on Earth, (unless the Empress Dahnai starts drinking them.)

Faey tourists would mostly drink exciting things like fruit cocktails and liqueurs, like tourists do on holiday, so I wouldn't be surprised if Rum and coke and Margaritas of various kinds became popular amongst richer Faey.

I would also suspect that the demand for Earth products due to interest in Jason in the post-subjugation/rebellion period would lead to shortages of some things locally.

This is how Dellstart and I work - part insults, part speculation on how the Faey would affect aspects of Earth life. Some of it ends up in our story.

[dellstart]

mad monk . in keeping with our Faey theme style story , which beers do you think would make it big in the Impirium?

sure as hell,wouldn't be a room temperature weak larger from England!

To be honest, I wouldn't be so sure. From Fel's description of the Imperium, there is little innovation, and most business is dominated by the Noble houses. Food is not abundant, so I suspect that the big houses dominate the drinks market with mass produced industrial beverages, rather like the big drinks companies on Earth. Unlike on Earth, I don't think that mid-sized companies could survive, partly because of difficulties in sourcing reliable and consistent supplies.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are good micro-breweries and wineries, making relatively small batches for local consumption on a local or planetary scale.

I would assume that smaller breweries on Earth would struggle to get funding to expand their capacity significantly, so it would be beer from the large commercial brewers which would head for the stars, including Budweiser, Millers, Fosters, Guinness, Heiniken, Stella Artois and John Smiths. It leaves the good stuff for us Terrans

It generally takes time to develop a palate to appreciate the nuances of fine wines and whiskys, so I suspect that they would remain mostly on Earth, (unless the Empress Dahnai starts drinking them.)

Faey tourists would mostly drink exciting things like fruit cocktails and liqueurs, like tourists do on holiday, so I wouldn't be surprised if Rum and coke and Margaritas of various kinds became popular amongst richer Faey.

I would also suspect that the demand for Earth products due to interest in Jason in the post-subjugation/rebellion period would lead to shortages of some things locally.

This is how Dellstart and I work - part insults, part speculation on how the Faey would affect aspects of Earth life. Some of it ends up in our story.

shit ! According to this you could have a VB in Dracora itself ! Pax Australianus!

[Mad Monk]

shit ! According to this you could have a VB in Dracora itself ! Pax Australianus!

Highly unlikely. Although it is produced by Foster's Group, few people outside Australia have even heard of it, and relative to global markets, Australia is not significant. The population is just not big enough.

Fosters Lager is much more likely to be sold abroad, even though it isn't significantly marketed in Australia.