WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:04.080 Oh hey, it's your grandfatherly neighbor who secretly waters your 2 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:08.039 plants for you. Ali Ward back with a fresh, hot, steamy, 3 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:12.039 yeasty episode of Ologies. We're all staying in and without 4 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:14.080 hitting up the store for fresh bread. A lot of 5 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.320 y'all have been rising the occasion and baking at home, 6 00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:19.960 So this past week I hunted down an ologist who 7 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:22.600 can help make your bread troubles toast. I think you're 8 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:24.800 going to low fit, But before that, thank you to 9 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:27.359 all the patrons at patreon dot com slash Ologies for 10 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:30.559 supporting the show right now. Podcasters are lucky to work 11 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:34.159 from their closets, but recording remotely is a giant pain 12 00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:36.320 in the hot buns and it costs more to deal 13 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:39.640 with in post, So thank you for supporting. Patron's Happy 14 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:42.799 birthday on April seventeenth to Stephen Ray Morris. Everyone wish 15 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:45.039 him a happy one on Friday. Thank you to everyone 16 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.920 wearing items from Ologiesmarch dot com, every person telling a 17 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:51.799 friend or sending an episode around, rating, subscribing, all of 18 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:54.280 those are life changers, and of course reviewing on iTunes 19 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.679 and to honor and embarrass someone each week, I pick 20 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.479 a fresh one this week. Thank you, AKP, who says 21 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:03.000 that they bought an iPad just so they can finally 22 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:06.120 give me a review that was way too kind. Also, 23 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:08.879 I hope that you use it for pinteresting some bread 24 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.560 recipes because you're gonna want them. Also, thank you to Lutnorse, 25 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.000 who left a review four stars saying crude language. This 26 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:18.719 would be a fabulous podcast, but the crude language by 27 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:20.560 the host is a stopper for kids hearing it. 28 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:21.280 Clean it up. 29 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:24.879 Thanks Lutnorse, I hear you. And surprise, there are free 30 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:28.719 bleeped episodes safe for kids. They've been up there for years. 31 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.640 There at Alleyward dot com on the ologies extra page. 32 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:32.959 It's linked in the show notes. 33 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:34.400 Have at it. I'm sorry. 34 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.719 Heads up, there are some very enthusiastic curses in this episode. 35 00:01:37.879 --> 00:01:38.840 It's a hell of a ride. 36 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:41.400 You have no idea what you're in for. Okay, First off, 37 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.719 gastro Egyptology. Is this a real word? It is now 38 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:47.480 so as of July twenty eighth, twenty nineteen. More on 39 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:49.959 that story in a bit, But gastro comes from the 40 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.159 Greek for stomach and Egypt is it duh? So eating Egypt, 41 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:58.480 getting Egypt in our bellies? So this self proclaimed amateur 42 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:03.840 gastro egyptologist made global headlines last summer. He tweeted about 43 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:07.920 his experiments resurrecting a four thousand year old Egyptian yeast 44 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:12.080 captured from ancient pottery. Is he a professional baker, Nope, 45 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:18.879 This wacky genius is a true polymath. His accomplishments are varied, 46 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:22.039 they're all astounding. He studied particle physics. He's been a 47 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.879 video game producer. He's widely known as the father of 48 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:28.960 the Xbox. That's right, he made the Xbox. He was 49 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.120 a Hollywood agent at CIA, representing video game artists, and 50 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:35.120 he's now a tech CEO. He also loves to bake, 51 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:37.639 and I'm going to let him tell the tales of 52 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:41.159 his international triumphs in the world of yeast starters. So 53 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:44.039 we were introduced via Twitter, and we're only a few 54 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:47.199 towns away, but we socially distanced. We spoke remotely as 55 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:51.000 the La rain drizzled, and I got hungrier every minute. Now, 56 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:53.879 the first half of this episode will make you appreciate 57 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.560 bread in ways you never have before, in ways Oprah 58 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:01.360 never has before. It's chewy with him, history and culture 59 00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:06.599 and context and a meditative appreciation just for life, no 60 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:09.439 matter how whack it feels. That is the why. And 61 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:11.560 then the last half of the episode is the how 62 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:15.759 the very delicious diy of bread, How to culture yeast 63 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:19.039 from thin air, naming a starter, how long it takes 64 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:20.919 to make bread, what kind of flower. 65 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:23.159 To use, what to do if you kill a starter. 66 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:26.680 How to be a yeast daddy, and the analog chill 67 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:31.120 of taking a grain and letting it fuel you with physicist, 68 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:55.680 video game godfather and amateur gastro egyptologist Seamus Blackley. And 69 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.479 when I clicked over to your Twitter profile and saw 70 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:01.520 that you were an amateur gastro egyptologist, I was like, 71 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:02.159 that's an ology. 72 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:02.840 We're doing this. 73 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.000 So how did you come to call yourself that? By 74 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.439 the way, how long have you been owning that as 75 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:07.879 the title? 76 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.800 Well, that was actually suggested by somebody on Twitter who said, 77 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:15.919 you know, gastro egyptology, And so we sort of very 78 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:19.639 politely asked him could we use that to describe this 79 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:24.240 and he said, as long as you make sure as 80 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:31.720 a disclaimer to say that it was suggested sarcastically. So okay, 81 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:35.560 So yes, it was sarcastically suggested. One should never take 82 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:39.839 it seriously and there you have it. So, you know, 83 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:44.800 I'm an amateur gastro egyptologist, and it may be that 84 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:50.439 there actually are no professional egyptologists yet, but you know, 85 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.839 I'm hoping in the future that a huge army of them. 86 00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:55.519 Well I kind. 87 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.560 Of disagree, because you call yourself an amateur, but I 88 00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:59.480 feel like if you're the only person in the world 89 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:01.959 who I was doing it at a pretty high level, Like, 90 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:03.199 are you an amateur? 91 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:06.519 Really? You know, I mean I'm not getting paid for it, 92 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.199 that's for sure. So you know, really, if I could 93 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:13.199 get like, you know, a grant or something, I suppose 94 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:16.399 that then I could remove that. But you know, I mean, look, 95 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:19.800 I have a day job. I'm the CEO of this 96 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.000 you know, very stealthy text startup, and that's more than 97 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:24.839 a full time job. And so this is the thing 98 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:28.800 I used to do on Sunday mornings. That's grown like 99 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.920 the you know, like the monster out of some nineteen 100 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.040 fifties like science fiction movie into you know, a city 101 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:39.279 destroying monster. And you know, I still am not quite 102 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:42.560 sure myself what exactly the hell is going on? 103 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:44.839 So well, that was my first question for you. In 104 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:46.160 my notes. It just says your. 105 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.240 Backstory, what the fuck, Like, Okay, you're a physicist, but 106 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:53.399 you're also a video game engineer. You're the father of 107 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:57.639 the Xbox, you were an agent at CAAA, Like, what 108 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.160 your life? How did you do all of these things? 109 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:03.759 What were you always interested in growing up? 110 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:08.000 One way to think of it is as you know, 111 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:11.279 a kind of a profound lack of a career, oh, 112 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:16.759 or you know, a profound lack of direction in one's life. 113 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:22.639 That would be the sort of stern uncle way to 114 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:25.480 talk about it. But I think, you know, the other 115 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.000 hand of that is just that I'm really interested in 116 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:33.199 basically everything, and so there's some aspect of like doing 117 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:35.360 whatever is in front of you that looks cool. 118 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:38.120 Do you just when you get into something, are you 119 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:39.839 just so passionate about it you just kind of go 120 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:40.560 down a wormhole? 121 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:48.279 Yeah? You know, I think that the universe is so 122 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:57.439 magnificently interesting and beautiful and profound, and even the smallest things, 123 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:02.399 there's so much complexity in beauty, and it seems like 124 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:08.199 a crime to ignore it or to walk by it. 125 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:10.519 It really does to me, and so I have this 126 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:15.680 kind of fear of missing out of like everything, and 127 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:19.480 I think that really is a powerful thing for me, 128 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:23.240 you know, just walking around and noticing things. There's just 129 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:28.000 so much beauty. I mean, it's remarkable to me. 130 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:30.879 Oh you thought this episode was just about bread. 131 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:34.959 No, buckle up, prepare for some real heartfelt shit. And 132 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:39.639 do you think that partly why you started baking? Was 133 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:43.000 that something where you kind of were slowing down and 134 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.519 working with your hands since you work digitally a lot 135 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:49.680 or in tech or when did you kind of get 136 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.399 into that that. 137 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:55.439 Was kind of the idea, right, And that's part of 138 00:07:55.560 --> 00:08:01.000 why it's so weird to think, or it was so 139 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:07.480 strange to find myself, you know, you know at Harvard, 140 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:16.079 you know, doing biological sampling of really ancient, like priceless artifacts, 141 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:19.680 when it was supposed to be the relaxing thing I 142 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.920 was going to do to get away from research on 143 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:27.519 you know, Sunday morning. So what does it mean? But 144 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:30.360 I think that that, you know, realistically, and I think 145 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:37.679 it's probably true for everyone that to really reset your mind, 146 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:43.519 to kind of clear your conceptual palate, you have to 147 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:45.559 distract your brain with something else. 148 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.039 I asked if he knew when he first started baking. 149 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:55.600 Yeah, I can't. I can't remember. My mother was this 150 00:08:55.679 --> 00:09:04.600 sort of perennially amateur kind of chef, and she loved 151 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:13.360 cooking and sometimes it was even good, but know, her 152 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:19.039 heart was really in it, and I I started to 153 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:24.000 be interested for reasons I couldn't understand in the baking 154 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:28.639 of bread. And in college and then a graduate school, 155 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:31.240 I would occasionally go through phases where i'd, you know, 156 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:32.840 get it in my mind that I was going to 157 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:37.120 bake some bread and it came out variously good and bad. 158 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.120 Seamus says that he ended up working with someone on 159 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.519 an optics job who inherited a wheat field, and the 160 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:47.519 folks on their engineering team would bake sourdough from the 161 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:49.919 family farm grains, and I. 162 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:54.519 Thought, God, you know, in terms of nerdiness, that's pretty good, 163 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:57.879 and maybe I should learn how to do that. And 164 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.000 you know, because it's like it's like, you know what 165 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:04.879 your physics or math or engineering brain does with anything, 166 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:07.200 you know, you look at it and you dissect it, 167 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:09.240 and you want to find its purest part, in its 168 00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:12.399 purest form, and you want to find challenge in it 169 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:17.200 and find ways to challenge yourself, you know, I think. 170 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:21.279 And so a lot of engineers and scientists end up 171 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:25.519 making sourdough because I think a few things. First of all, 172 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:29.240 it's really interesting technically. You know, you have this kind 173 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:33.720 of somewhat random biological sample and it does an amazing thing. 174 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:40.679 You know, it transforms powdered grass seed into the foundation 175 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:45.960 of civilization. Yeah, okay, and that's incredible. But it does 176 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:51.080 it in a really kind of wistful, uncontrollable, kind of 177 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:54.360 knotty way. You know, it's not predictable. You don't know 178 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:55.600 what's in it. You don't know how it's going to 179 00:10:55.639 --> 00:10:59.120 take based on you know, the humidity in the air 180 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.240 and the temperature and a million other things that maybe 181 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.240 you can control and maybe you can't. The behavior of 182 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:08.080 this stuff is different. But it turns out, and I 183 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.720 think this is really lucky for like our species. It 184 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:15.279 turns out that almost any screw up or or half 185 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:20.200 right way to bake natural bread like this, you know, 186 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:23.000 is delicious and nourishing. So your village will survive no 187 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.360 matter how bad you are at it. You might have 188 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:27.960 a lot to do with human beings like being you know, 189 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.600 being here, because you can grow this grass which grows easily, okay, 190 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:36.279 and you get the seeds off it, and you can 191 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:39.080 make this food and the grain lasts a long time. 192 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:42.000 You can store the seeds and it lasts for a 193 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.159 really long time, and then when you need it, you 194 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:46.559 can kind of grind it up and make this stuff 195 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:49.799 with it that feeds everybody and people don't die. Like 196 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:52.279 the it turns out to have enough protein and enough 197 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:57.000 amino acids in it, and enough micronutrients and starches and sugar, 198 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:58.960 is all these things that human beings seed. It just 199 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:02.480 turns out to have that. It's kind of miraculous. And 200 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:05.080 you know, when you think about is their life on 201 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:09.919 other planets and in the universe and all that, You know, 202 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:13.519 how lucky do you have to be to find something 203 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:17.679 like that. And it's got all of additional benefits too, 204 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.240 Like I have come to firmly believe that the fact 205 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.559 that you can make beer at the same time as 206 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:30.440 making bread is also hugely important in human civilization because 207 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:32.919 all of the people who need to go to all 208 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:36.679 this heavy labor, you know, to farm and to harvest 209 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:39.759 and to winnow and all of that, you can tell them, hey, 210 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:42.799 if you go to all this work so the village survives, 211 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:49.200 will also make some beer. And so it's like the 212 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.240 lubricant that makes all the other hard work happens. So 213 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:55.159 it's really lucky that you can collect out of the 214 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:57.519 air that even if you just leave you know, some 215 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:00.759 of this grass seed around and mix with water, it's 216 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:03.159 going to start bubbling up. And if you kind of 217 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.679 you know, freeze those bubbles by putting it in an 218 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:10.960 oven or getting it hot, you get this satisfying, yemmy 219 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:16.159 stuff that stops your kids from dying. You really super lucky. 220 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:19.200 I'm a really lucky And so I got I started 221 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:21.360 to think about all of that, and I thought, gosh, 222 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:24.960 you know, like a really good interesting challenge would be 223 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:28.240 to figure out if I was, you know, as smart 224 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:31.720 as you know, your average twelve year old in the 225 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:35.240 fourteen hundreds, and I could make you know, bread out 226 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.519 of just grass seed or what the new would be. 227 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.759 And so I started screwing on with that and collecting yeast, 228 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.480 and it turns out that it was really delicious. 229 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:47.240 He realized that maybe ancient foods weren't gross, Maybe we 230 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:51.000 just lost the skill of cooking the ingredients right. And 231 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:55.279 agrarian society's just side note emerged about ten thousand years ago, 232 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:58.440 and being able to stay in one place and have 233 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:01.759 more reliable food sources is cited as a huge advancement 234 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:07.039 toward the current industrial age. It all because fermented, more 235 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:12.320 aerated bread was fluffier, tastier, and more nutritious. So how 236 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:15.200 do yeasts elevate it? If you will, like. 237 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:21.279 That the microorganisms that cause bread to rise, that make 238 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:24.080 CO two and also make the alcohols that give it 239 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:28.799 its flavor. You know, they're natural animals. They live on 240 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:32.759 the grain. You know, it's like yeast exists because we 241 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:36.360 started making bread. No, I mean, the yeast has been 242 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:40.759 there for a really long time and it eats the grain. 243 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:47.679 And when we started to make gruel out of this stuff, 244 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:50.279 the theory goes, the grule started to bubble if you 245 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.600 left it out long enough, and if you left it 246 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:55.000 out long enough and you heated it, you would make bread. 247 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:58.360 And if you left out long enough covered the yeast 248 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:03.919 would start to run out of air. And yeast can 249 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:08.960 respiate and feed both aerobically and aerobically, meaning with or 250 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.120 without oxygen. And when it respiates aerobically, it makes CO two, 251 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:15.519 which is the farts that make bubbles and bread and 252 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:16.720 make bread soft. 253 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:18.840 Smells so good. 254 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:23.279 When it respiates or when it eats anaerobically it poops 255 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:26.279 out alcohol, which is spear, and so if you leave 256 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.399 it covered, then you get a boozy kind of a thing, 257 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.720 and that's pretty good. I mean, people definitely would have 258 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:34.240 taken notice of that. I'm drunk. You know, this relationship 259 00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:38.720 between humans and fermentation starts, and it's hard to know 260 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.840 what those primitive people's thought of it, but they certainly 261 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:44.600 kept the tradition going. And by the time that cultures 262 00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:49.039 like the you know, Egyptian Sumerian cultures show up, they're 263 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:53.320 already from the start experts at brewing and baking. And 264 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.440 did you already know a lot of this stuff earlier? 265 00:15:56.679 --> 00:16:01.080 Did you always like Egyptology? And how did you partner. 266 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.240 Up with like doctor Serena Loves She's the Egyptologist that 267 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.879 helped you actually nab this yeast? Like were you already 268 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:09.720 in the Egyptology scene? Were you like in the group chats, 269 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:11.840 were you hanging out on the Reddit forums? 270 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.200 Oh god, No, all of this replaced like useful knowledge 271 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:18.000 that I used to have that I don't have any Well, 272 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:22.000 I've always been a fan of Egyptology, I mean, like anyone, 273 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:24.279 I mean, how can you not be. It's like dinosaurs, 274 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.919 you know, if you don't like it, then something's wrong 275 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.120 and we need to take you to see the nice 276 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.320 man who's going to ask you questions about your emotions. 277 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:31.639 Right. 278 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:34.080 The thing that happened to me was that when I 279 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:37.759 was in college, I had to take a distribution requirement. 280 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:41.159 One of the options that was available was actually Egyptian hieroglyphics, 281 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:47.320 and yeah, it was cool. And the teacher was actually 282 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:50.720 an gypologist at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, 283 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:54.320 which is where I ended up doing some sampling last summer. 284 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:57.799 And the final exam for this class was actually going 285 00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:00.960 to the museum and translating stuff off of actual objects, 286 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:02.159 which was so cool. 287 00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:03.399 Oh my god. 288 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.559 Well and even cooler than that, And I think this 289 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:10.960 is lost on a lot of people. You can read 290 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:13.640 those words, and you can you can know what's in 291 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:17.000 the minds of our ancestors thousands of years ago. 292 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:20.480 So what kind of mysteries do you inferral when you 293 00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:26.880 translate hieroglyphics? I bet mysterious deep ones, right, Seamus explains. 294 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:29.799 And the other thing that I think people miss out 295 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:33.319 on is that it's not some sort of weird formal 296 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:35.960 thing like you see in movies. You know, it's a 297 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:40.079 lot of like, hey, so you know, send more set. 298 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:43.960 Sister is dating that the overseer on the work crew, 299 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.480 and we know her crew is getting fifty percent more 300 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:48.799 than we are, and we demand that you change that. 301 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.799 Like it's it's stuff like that, or like, you know, 302 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:53.599 so and So's wife is sleeping with like so and 303 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:57.359 so and so I made a wax crocodile in the 304 00:17:57.400 --> 00:17:59.400 hope that it would come to life under his bed. 305 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:02.799 You know, like this is and these stories are tremendous 306 00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:05.680 and that you suddenly get to know these people. And 307 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:09.440 they were hilarious, and their language is written down in 308 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:12.680 these hieroglyphs, and some of them are are pictures of things, 309 00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:14.519 and so they made puns with them, and they had 310 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:17.839 a certain kind of humor, and they were so smart 311 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:23.720 and so successful. And you know, their civilization lasted five 312 00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:26.400 thousand years. I mean, it lasted longer than it's been 313 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:31.519 since it ended. Oh my god, you know, they were extraordinary. 314 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:35.920 And I came to realize what an extraordinary civilization this wasn't, 315 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:38.799 and yet how close to them we are and how 316 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:39.720 much we owe them. 317 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:42.599 So Seamus says, he started to realize what a debt 318 00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:46.680 we owe to the ancient Egyptians, not just for carbs, 319 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:50.960 but the way that they understood medicine and architecture, and 320 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:54.920 how essentially the Greeks revered them and bit their style, 321 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:58.359 and then the Romans copied the Greeks. So the Egyptians 322 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:01.720 are like your smart friends paper you copied. They were 323 00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:05.200 the nerds as well as the hotties and the ones 324 00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:07.079 that you should not challenge to a fight. 325 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:11.039 Ancient Egypt was called Kemy to the Egyptians, and Wassit 326 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.680 was the capital, and Wassit is actually the name of 327 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:18.759 the ceremonial mace that the pharaoh would brain his enemy with. Okay, 328 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.480 so that's the name of the capital. And you'd go 329 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:26.279 you'd go to Wassit, and the pyramids were there, and 330 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.599 they were smooth and white because they were covered in 331 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:33.119 very precisely cut limestone that was actually taken off of 332 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:36.559 them by the Arab invaders who are the modern Egyptians 333 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:44.559 and used to build Cairo. And so it was fantastically intimidating, 334 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:49.680 and the pharaoh was the ruler of the known world. 335 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:50.880 I feel like. 336 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.160 Egyptians were like the first Instagram influencers, Like everyone looked 337 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.240 up to them, and now that's just you just being 338 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.160 so extra, so extra and bread banking. 339 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:04.680 No, it is totally true. They were. You know that 340 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:07.480 you can look at the temples at Karnak in places 341 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.319 and that you see the pharaohs, and it was total instagram. 342 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:13.279 They'd like have huge pictures of themselves and then descriptions 343 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:16.720 of all the stuff that they had done. And this 344 00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:20.359 is this famous one. Actually Ramsey's the second, Ramsey's the Great, 345 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:24.640 who is probably the pharaoh from the Bible, and he 346 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:28.000 had he had this big military expedition early in his 347 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.039 reign and he got his ass kicked and handed to him. 348 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:31.279 Right. 349 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:33.559 But if you look at it, if you look at 350 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:36.799 the the inscription of the picture of this in Karnak, 351 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:40.799 this huge temple complex, like his advertising for himself, what 352 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.000 it shows is a series of epic victories, each one 353 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:47.640 just a little bit closer to home. So great, so great. 354 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.720 I love that being a petty bitch has just been like, 355 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:55.279 it's in our DNA, it's who we are. So Seamus 356 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:58.039 got into all this history and a hunger. 357 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:01.240 Arose learning all of this, which was really news to 358 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:05.640 me because you know, the programmer physicist guy was really 359 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.119 powerful and one day a few years ago. I guess 360 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.440 less than that. Maybe two years ago. A friend of mine, 361 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.640 who I know from the video game industry is a 362 00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:18.200 famous beer brewer, sent me a sample of some brewing 363 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:24.200 yeast that had that was purportedly, you know, scraped from 364 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:28.559 some ancient Egyptian pots and various companies brewing companies had 365 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:31.480 made you know, ancient Egyptian beer with this stuff. 366 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:35.200 But what if you tried baking with it? Wait, stupid question. 367 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:36.720 Can you bake with beer YaST? Oh? 368 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:38.920 Yeah, it's all the same, it's all the same stuff. Yeah. No, 369 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:41.160 that beer and bread are really the right and left 370 00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:45.799 hand of the same thing. Okay, they really are. Like 371 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.279 I said before, you know, just in one case, you know, 372 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:53.359 in bread, you introduced a lot of air into the 373 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:57.400 dough and it doesn't You don't and you don't take 374 00:21:57.480 --> 00:21:59.720 that long. You take maybe you know, half a day 375 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:02.319 or eighteen hours if you're really crazy and trying to 376 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:07.279 get really sour sourda. So you don't give the yeast 377 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:11.039 really a lot of time to respiate anaerobically. So that 378 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:12.559 doesn't make a lot of alcohol, but it makes a 379 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:14.200 lot of CO two, which is what you want to 380 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:18.200 leaven the bread, right, when you make beer, you seal 381 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:22.279 it up and you get the yeast to make alcohol. 382 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:24.559 Okay, and just a quick side note if you missed 383 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:28.680 the Zimology episode on fermentation and beer. Yeasts are a 384 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:31.519 fungus and they're single celled, and humans have been using 385 00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:34.839 them in food and drinks for thousands of years, starting 386 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.359 in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. So you 387 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:40.240 can see them under a microscope under four hundred times 388 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.160 the power. But it wasn't until eighteen fifty seven when 389 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:47.839 microbiologist and Frenchman and father of the rabies vaccine, Louis 390 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:51.119 Pastor figured out that it was yeast and not just 391 00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:54.880 chemistry that made bread rise and beer bubble up. 392 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:57.400 Eighteen fifty seven, that's when they figured it out. 393 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:01.119 Now there's pretty much one common yeast used in baking 394 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:04.319 and brewing with a ton of different strains, although there 395 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:06.559 are a handful of other yeasts that do that work too. 396 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:09.880 For thousands of years, bread was just made with whatever 397 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:13.920 yeasts were naturally present, and these little critters had more 398 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:16.920 time to break down the grains and then rise up 399 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:17.359 the dough. 400 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:22.319 There wasn't any Fleischman's yeast in the Old Kingdom you know, 401 00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:24.640