Yeast is omnipresent, you can brew or brake bread with the yeast on your skin (as seen here [1]). The other part is getting a container and sugars to ferment, see /r/prisonhooch [2] for some creative and horrifying concoctions.
The Wikipedia entry's section in the long s's decline is interesting. Once it started falling out of use, it fell hard and fast. I guess everyone was fed up.
As a kid, I thought "SOS" officially stood for "save our souls", later learning that this was only a mnemonic. It was only in adulthood that I learned "SOS" itself was a mnemonic, since:
"SOS" (literal) = ... / --- / ...
S̅O̅S̅ (distress code) = ...---...
Where "/" is a longer gap. S̅O̅S̅ is a "prosign", and thus a symbol in its own right. From Wikipedia [1]:
> Although the well-known calling prosign for emergency messages SOS is always represented by the three letters "SOS", it could just as well be written VZE ( ...- + --.. + . ), VGI ( ...- + --. + .. ), or even 3B ( ...-- + -... ); all of these render the same single code ...---...
I had to look that up and found some pretty cool articles. I like that the vapourwave trend from the 2010s created a lot of focus on the different aesthetics of software and everyday things on the internet.
The latter two links are from a dedicated "aesthetics wiki". I tend to like the detailed user-created content on fandom.com wikis, but I loathe the site itself. At least a lot of the fan wikis have moved to wiki.gg, which has a much less intrusive design (speaking of aesthetics).
The movie Beetlejuice (1988) contains within it a sort of aesthetic manifesto from Tim Burton, in which he rails against the passing of traditional architecture under the wave of Memphis modernity.
Before they die, the Maitlands lovingly restore their Connecticut Victorian home and even keep a model of the whole town up in their attic, as if capturing for themselves a bit of the town's bucolic New England charm. When they die, the Dietzes move in, and Delia declares psychotically, "I'll go crazy if you don't let me remodel this house!" With help from the obnoxious Otho she strips away the traditional Victorian trappings and turns the house into a modernist, Memphis-inspired nightmare, forcing the Maitlands to watch in horror as their hard work is destroyed (that is until they summon the title character). In keeping with the movie's structure as a "reverse ghost story" in which the ghosts are nice and the living humans are the horror.
Personally I find Memphis fascinating (though I wouldn't want to live there). I especially appreciate its influence on the design language of Sonic the Hedgehog games, as a complement to the greater variety of slopes, gradients, and curved ramps the early games afforded, to showcase the greater capabilities of the Sega Genesis. (That's really entirely why Sonic exists; some guys at Sega played Mario 3 and figured that they could "do Mario, but better".)
I don't tend to be great at finishing (or starting) books, and this is a big one. I've also never had any interest in Medieval or Renaissance history, for me it's been a black hole between the fall of Rome and the modern age.
But recently I saw some Youtube videos of Ada, and her enthusiasm is totally infectious [2]. She's fun and paints these vivid pictures of Florence and renaissance Europe that are incredible, absurd, and relatable, which makes sense since given she's also an accomplished sci-fi writer. She also reminds me of one of my favourite high school teachers. So I ordered the book right away.
The book is in the same tone as her videos, so it won't be for everyone, but I've really been enjoying it and now I'm fascinated by Renaissance Italy, Machiavelli, merchant republics, etc.
I'm considering checking it out despite not really being a science-fiction reader. Though I've been reading this terrifying slow-burn about superintelligent autonomous swarms breaking containment and stopping at nothing to complete the impossible tasks given by their feckless masters.
No problem, I've been talking about her work to everyone I know in real life.
On Youtube, you'll probably come across a lot of her podcast appearances like Dwarkesh Patel's (which is how I first came across her), but she also just started her own podcast 3 weeks ago that might not pop up in the results yet [1]. The latest episode [2] where she's talking about the church bells of Florence, which still ring today, was so cool to listen to. The way their schedule carried (and carries) the rhythm of life, the blood of tradition, and when something wasn't right in the city, the call-to-action (defence or riot, for example). So neat, it made me want to live there for a few years (something she did during her studies, in a tower that the medieval Florentines had ripped the upper levels off so noblemen couldn't garrison it and burn the city around them).
A few years ago I came across a HN comment by a guy who wrote "The 2-Hour Cocktail Party". I read his comments and then got the book, and it seemed fantastic, smoothing over all the painful issues that happen when you host.
I really wanted to try it out, but moved from the city just after reading it and haven't yet.
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvrJu9dLmtA
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/prisonhooch/
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