Wednesday, August 29, 2007

ENLIGHTENMENT,
THE BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

Lately I have been thinking about geographic luck, 1642, and pancake batter.


In Jared Diamond's book Guns, Germs, & Steel,
he attempts to explain agricultural diffusion as a series of events precipitated by geographical luck.
The fertile crescent of Mesopotamia contained nutritional storable wild grains and herbivorous mammals with the right temperaments to jumpstart the Agricultural Revolution and the birth of Civilzation.
These lucky finds were also transportable to similar latitudinal destinations and Civilization was propelled forward. It was pure luck that the hunter gatherers stumbled upon these essential elements. Other people around the world were equally intelligent and adaptable but they were surrounded by less nutritional crops and fewer, in some instances zero, animals that could be domesticated.

He also pointd out that these prized discoveries were carried forward from the Fertile Crescent because the people had overexploited the resources and climate change.
1642 was the year that Galileo died and Newton was born.
It was a brave new world. By then Erasmus , Guttenberg, More, Luther and others had struck a fatal blow to the Catholic Church and it's Millenial reign over Europe. The Renaissance was coming to fruition and the Middle Ages were mercifully put to rest. Bacon had argued that practical knowledge was power and shook up the the scholastic world by suggesting that perhaps people should be learning in order to improve the humand condition instead of just wanking around trying to maintain the status quo.

I am always struck by how long it has taken the collective 'us' to get past tradition and start examining the world as it is instead of how the Ancients imagined it to be. There are still elements of this struggle being fought. How can we be so smart and so stupid at the same time.

And finally why is the essence of pancake batter so similar to that of seminal fluid? This peculiar fact of life has troubled me for years and I am yet to make heads or tails of this phenomenon.
I am not alone, if you google semen smells like pancake batter prepare to be enlightened.
What am I missing about linking Hanky Panky & Pancakes, Babies & Batter, Flapjacks & Ejaculate? Is this some sort of Cosmic Prank?
Apparently none of the great Scientists were inspired to tackle this great mystery.
Naturally there will be some formulaic, chemical, explanation but meh whatever!What say you of this bizarre coinky-dink?
Please feel free to 'Enlighten' me?

17 comments:

  1. I WOULD LIKE TO USE SWEAR WORDS TO ANSWER THIS.
    BUT FEEL THATS NO RIGHT TO DO SO.
    WELL FOR ONE MAN TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE SMELL ,
    BOTH DEEDS ie TO MAKE SEMEN OR BATTER ; REQUIRE SOME WRIST ACTION

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have no idea, really, about the pancake batter and semen analogy, except for they're both roughly the same colour and...oh, never mind.

    I realize that's this post's shock-value end-around diversionary statement for the true question here, which is:

    "How can we be so smart and stupid at the same time?"

    This is proven and lived out every day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OK, I don't think I'll ever eat pancakes again.
    As to the universal combination of cleverness and stupidity...my feeling is that it will be another planetary lifetime before some of us are smart enough to work out that one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. **And finally why is the essence of pancake batter so similar to that of seminal fluid?

    My love of pancakes just died a sudden death and is now RIPing in a lonely grave.

    Keshi.

    ReplyDelete
  5. fotoface,
    You speak the truth..actually you are YELLING IN CAPS!
    Thank you for commenting and for not swearing.


    without battering an eye,
    You have never noticed that? Hello.
    Anyway in response to my supposed real question the answer is that we are still combatting the same forces in the 21st Century. For a while it looked as though reason might prevail but look at the turmoil in the world today and what is at the root cause of it.
    Bingo.

    dianhmow,
    I apologise for exposing an inconvenient truth about a certain breakfast item. As for your prognosis about our chances of overcoming our natural instincts...planetary lifetime is definitely in the ballpark.

    keshiroo,
    C'mon now let's not overeact to a little oddity of the natural world. It is just one of those things and everybody knows it.

    Since Time immemorial, or whenever Pancakes were first invented, someone in the kitchen whipping up a batch had one of those WHAT THE moments and thought to themselves;
    What is that smell?

    This is usually followed by an awkward pause,a puzzled expression, a wrinkled nose, and a that's weird raising of an eyebrow.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah...Le Croissant Fertile! Takes me back to all those tedious Histoire-Geo classes...

    Semen and Pancakes:
    *The wrist action can be similar.
    *The end result is a fat belly.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous5:56 am

    ...yeeeesss....

    This is why I worship you HE.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh my... I'm speechless.

    ReplyDelete
  9. And yet it doesn't taste like pancake batter.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous9:53 am

    you don't run a hedge fund by any chance, do you, HE? they're forever correlating odd factoids...

    i'd guess that both substances have similar special handling instructions, to avoid untimely spattering (similar spattering coefficients? a bit outside of my areas of research. ditto any known olfactory perceptions)

    note keshi - add a smidgen of that which you hold dear, to overcome any batterphobia (be they raisins, blueberries, nuts, gummy bears, or whatever). batter deprivation is a
    modern malady, to be nipped in the bud, whenever/wherever it comes up.
    you need never be hungry, but as with anything else, moderate consumption is key...

    ReplyDelete
  11. well I've made pancakes myself but it never occurred to me...LOL i must be sex-starved.

    btw HE, do take part in my current post when u can...I'd like to know ur thoughts.

    Keshi.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous1:23 am

    I read your comment on
    "Because paul is a nice name". Who the fuck are you? And who in this world can understand what you are saying? You play on written history and hope it sounds like your real life. Have you ever been to Chilliwack?

    I doubt it. You sound like a typical, self-promoting intellect, stuck in Winterpeg.

    Talk real sometimes. cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  13. cream,
    Tedious Histoire-Geo classes! Would you have enjoyed them more if the Teacher threw in some seminal facts?

    fathorse,
    You have made my perpendicular posting all worthwhile. Thank You.

    christine,
    Really? That's a first.

    mj,
    You are a true Cosmopolitan Woman. Where are the rest of your species?

    grumblefish,
    You are a kind soul to whisk away Keshi's apprehension about eating pancakes with your kind words.
    I am afraid that we must agree to disagree about the moderation aspect.

    keshi,
    My Word! Don't say sex starved. The politically correct term is lust fulfillment deficiency.

    anonymouse,
    WTFAY? If you could possibly muster the courage to produce an identifiable persona I would be more than happy to answer your questions.
    As a matter of fact I have driven throughout BC on several occasions.
    I would add that attempting to compare my life with those of dead historical figures is not some vain attempt at vicarious existentialsim.

    I only "talk real" in the rw.
    cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm surprised that a few of your female readers are now turned off by pancake batter. Your post had the opposite effect on me. I think I'll appreciate it more than ever now.

    By the way, I've never noticed any similarities between semen and pancake batter. Is it because I make my pancake batter from scratch? Hmmm... maybe I should try the other stuff and see if I notice a difference. It seems to me that semen smells a little like bleach. Have you ever noticed that? And my pancake batter seems a little more viscous than semen.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dominus Vo-bisque 'em
    Et come spear a tu-tu,
    Oh!
    Won't you eat my sleazy pancakes
    Just for Saintly Alfonzo
    They're so light 'n fluffy-white
    We'll raise a fortune by tonite
    They're so light 'n fluffy-white
    We'll raise a fortune by tonite
    They're so light 'n fluffy-brown
    They're the finest in the town
    They're so light 'n fluffy-brown
    They're the finest in the town

    - From Father O'Blivion, Frank Zappa, Apostrophe

    ReplyDelete
  16. anna,
    I think that bleach was the numero uno response on the subject. Maybe Aunt Jemima has a little inside joke goin on?

    breakerslion,
    Bless your heart. I should have known that you were a fan of the Zap! Fantastic. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. mwaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaaaaa... what a freaky collection of thoughts dude!

    ReplyDelete

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