|
Post by stoner on Sept 24, 2006 10:54:58 GMT -5
Do you ever wonder who and how someone came up with a product or figured out what's good to eat and what's not good to eat? I was mashing some potatoes and started thinking about the first person who took some perfectly good solid potatoes and decided that mashing them would be a good idea. And an example of a product would be Shellac. Shellac is derived from the dried secretions of the Lac beetle(I'm not making this up) which are disolved in alcohol and is used as a finish for furniture. Shellac has been used for centuries, so it just boogles my mind to think of who and how it was discovered. I thought it would be fun for people to either answer these type of questions or ask one that they were wondering about. Got any?
|
|
|
Post by sandsman1 on Sept 24, 2006 11:59:49 GMT -5
yea i do what made the first cave man throw some meat in the fire --- and then take a bite when it was chared haha --- whoever he was i wanna thank him cause nuttin like a grilled steak hahaha
|
|
|
Post by LCARS on Sept 24, 2006 14:43:22 GMT -5
I remember that old caveman movie with Ringo Starr in it where their Pteradactyl egg broke on top of a hot spring volcano and cooked it. ;D
|
|
|
Post by LCARS on Sept 24, 2006 14:45:27 GMT -5
Being a mushroom picker, I also have to wonder sometimes who first had to eat each kind of mushroom in order to find out which ones were poisonous and which ones were edible...
|
|
|
Post by Bikerrandy on Sept 24, 2006 18:47:46 GMT -5
There were apparently hundreds of mushroom testers, and one note taker that wrote down which ones not to eat.
|
|
earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
|
Post by earthdog on Sept 24, 2006 19:12:25 GMT -5
I think about that all the time. Who and how ever thought that marijuanna was gonna get you high? Did they sit around and smoke everything in sight till something made them high? I would like to thank the person that invented air conditioning!
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
|
Post by Sabre52 on Sept 24, 2006 19:26:29 GMT -5
It is neat how aboriginal cultures come up with all these things. Probably the mashed potato thingee came up as a normal tuber utilization process. Almost every culture had a flour or meal-like basic starch item usually from a grain or tuber. Some of them like Buckeye or acorns have to be ground to flour or meal and leached in a stream for a period to remove toxicity. Also the grinding or mashing made it easier for all of them to be processed into paddies or soft food (lots of tubers etc are tough!) that could be consumed by toothless folks which were in abundance due to chewing hides and eating gritty foods. So the whole grinding-mashing thing would just kind of come naturally. Now the whole mushroom thing. Wow! Not the squad I'd volunteer for!..mel
|
|
|
Post by docone31 on Sept 24, 2006 20:53:00 GMT -5
I had written a complete treatise on how things came to be. Muffy jumped off the 'puter and hit some key and the entire script went somewhere never to be found again. Let me try to recap. We used to know where the ideas originally came from. We were trained to relearn them and have to learn something else. It happened a long time ago. A ship found this place. It was empty. The people in the ship were more sentient life forms rather than like us. They were also refugees. They had created labour saving devices that ultimately made life so comfortable, they were crippled by diseases that recquired Welbutrin, Prozac, Cialis, and all manner of crippling agents. They had even created a social system based on collecting economic values from people who collected them in exchange for using their labour saving devices. They also developed a social order based on not losing their gains by accomplishments. They eventually lived in self contained pods that were temperature controlled, self feeding, even creating a world they could live without leaving their pods. The now, creatures, even learned to use their minds to enter telephone cords to travel. The mechanical labour saving devices ultimately became the Apex sentient form. The sentient life forms who created them tried to revolt back at them, but they had lost their legs, arms, and couldn't even go to the bathroom by themselves. Some schmoke developed a red pill. When the self imprisoned sentient life forms took the red pill, they fell out of the pod and bounced around a bit untill they landed into an underground submarine. The mechanical labour saving devices chased the submarine with metal octopusses and tried to eat the metal. The sentient life forms were vulnerable only when they sat in a chair which became a telephone and they traveled outside their submarine to be with others who suddenly had legs, arms, and did not need Cialis. They liked that. They even made latex suits and used Groom and Clean a lot on their hair. They got into their latex suits, looked at each other, and were pleased. Real pleased. They went wow! They had forgotten they originally did not need Cialis. Well, as time went by, they escaped the industrialized mess they had made. They had poisoned the water with all kind of things, mostly zinc. Lots of zinc. Zinc was good untill it was not. They found an area code for another place where they could travel without a phone line. The only problem was they did not like what they saw without the phone line. They now needed Cialis, Prozac, Welbutrin. Way go so far to arrive here? As time went by, they recreated mechanical labour saving devices, this time not for convience, but for need. They had no arms, legs, and needed a lot of Cialis. That actually became their currency, in our contemporary terms. Their social order or nonproductivity had become their prison. They went back into the phone lines and talked to the labour saving devices. As time went by, a lot of time, they made a large vessel to travel back to some place where they could breath, walk, and make tools. They thought of all kinds of things. Frisbees, ATVs, things that vibrated. Lots of things. They were pleased. The vessel came to a planet kind of thing that was empty. They made the machines make the large bodies of water. They made the machines that made dirt. They had a lot of crud on the vessel, so they added that to the whole thing. They made the mechanical labour saving devices make bipedal sentient life forms that had one large arm, one small arm, and called them Motes. They were pleased. The only problem was the Motes reproduced at a prodigious rate. That was a concern. They could only advance technologically up to a point and they were overpopulated and started a major war. Poof! the Motes start over. Again, and again, and again. The sentient life forms decided it was too dark. They started a large fire on a ball of rock, and it became self replicating. The water was full of dead Motes, so they made critters that ate Motes. The critters that ate Motes got too big for the water so they crawled up on land. Without any Motes on land, they ate each other. Things got out of hand. The sentient life form made lots of snow. Things slowed down for a bit. The sentient life forms sent the labour saving devices down to the now chaotic event down here. The sentient life forms created things using the mitochondria and other stuff from the dead Motes, and debris from the sentient life forms up there. Soon, things started growing. Lots of things. The sentient life forms could only travel by telephone wire, so they made sentient life forms in their previous image. These life forms did not need Cialis, Prozac, Welbutrin. They bapped each other in the head a lot. Now to the point. The original sentient life forms sent the mechanical labour saving devices to find stuff to eat. Since they had no teeth, and ate through a tube, they had the mechanical labour saving devices make the new sentient life forms who really did not need Cialis, try to find stuff to eat. That was easy. Take one of the sentient life forms who did not need Cialis for anything, and that sentient life form ate something different. The sentient life forms had developed a social order, and the anomoly, usually the one who asked why? a lot was the one who tried different foods. They even tried cannabilism. That was when they found out about mashed potatoes. Studly was about to be tried for culinary excitement and he threw potatoes at the attackers. He got covered with the mast and when they ate him, they were pleased. He even fell into the fire, and they discovered protein was easier to eat and store after it had been carred a bit. So, here we are today. The original sentient life forms had evolved into Electrical impulses, we are still their entertainment, and our labour saving mechanical devices are really a latent plot to enslave us. The Electricals created Drs. They made Dentists. The denstist are under the control of the Electricals, and they plant chips in our molars so they can track us with their satellites. The Electricals ship crashed in New Mexico. The place where they crashed had some telephone wires there, and they travelled out. Very important, they travel through the electrical wires in our homes and exit the outlets at night to recharge themselves. We need to put bandaids on the outlets, and put 9volt batteries in our mouths to short out the chips. This is good. We can keep them from recharging and they will be finally eliminated. The Electricals created Politicians, Liberals, and Hurricanes. They have always been there, we have always known. The Electricals made us forget so they stayed in power over our free thoughts. They Electricals rewrote our past, so in reality they know and control our future. It is time to take over. Don the tinfoil hat, chomp on the battery, bandaid the outlets, use your arms, legs, eliminate the labour saving devices, and retrain your body to not need Cialis. The Electricals even created fossils. They made everything we think happened. Pizza is really health food, sugar is good for you, turn on, tune in, drop out. Take the streets! We can do it. We must stand together. We must have an happening. We have to have strength, united we stand, divided we fall! Down with Electricals! Wash the dishes by hand, Perk coffee. I feel victory at hand.
|
|
|
Post by cpdad on Sept 24, 2006 21:15:51 GMT -5
super cool thread.
just to way in on the mashed tater thing.....it was the aztecs that grew taters first...science project highlights coming back here.
i beleive that they boiled meat...and at some point starting dropping things into the water....taters being 1 of them...that may explain taters getting soft...and some future uses.
this is straight from my son....i have no way to back it up ...i havent looked it up...he is the military expert ;D.....he said there was a british or french military general that was captured during the 7 year war....and was captured by germany.
this guy was feed tater soup...and stayed alive...then went back to his homeland when released....and opened up food lines using tater soup....to help the poor...which helped thousands of people avoid starvation...doesnt answer your question...but thought it was cool that he knew about tater soup.
|
|
|
Post by BAZ on Sept 24, 2006 21:17:22 GMT -5
I was going to say something about the vulcanization of rubber but Doc blew me away.
|
|
|
Post by rockyraccoon on Sept 24, 2006 21:48:48 GMT -5
that's why the women always let the men sit around and eat first while they worked on some bone buttons for that new caveman suit. the cavemen thought they were being submissive and really they wanted to see who was going to keel over from those new dishes they created. i can hear them now while the meat gatherers were out for the day "i have this new food i've been wanting to test and ubu was rude this morning so we'll sprinkle some on his supper and see what happens". kim
|
|
desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
|
Post by desertdweller on Sept 24, 2006 21:59:46 GMT -5
Ummm, Doc? Could you please repeat that?
What about popcorn? how did they discover that? Or who?
|
|
181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
|
Post by 181lizard on Sept 24, 2006 22:15:07 GMT -5
Right Arm Kim! See...that's what I've been tryin to teach the spore child, errr, daughter! My husbands happy as a clam cause he thinks he rules the roost! HHHAAAAAHAHAHAHA!
As for popcorn...I seem to have heard another tale about the Aztecs there too. Something about how the cobs dried out...they threw it on the fire cause it was no good any more and voila'...popcorn...Taaa Daaah! I'm serious, that's what I heard!
|
|
|
Post by docone31 on Sept 24, 2006 22:26:17 GMT -5
One of the real turning points was when the Electricals convinced their new slurry of cells, now bipedal sentient life form, that there was an origin of communication. They already had communication, it was complex, simplistic in nature, and contained a total experience in total communication. It wasn't untill the Electricals created politicians that we negotiated. In the beginning, there was an order. We intuitively knew eating cyanide was not good for our species, or drinking sodium hypochlorate. That was a definate bummer. Untill the Electricals re released our ability to commercialize the concept of baby food, drinking sodium hypochlorate was a detriment to our health. Our "cleansed" digestive tract was so cleansed we could not process foods with intact cell walls. When we drank sodium hypochlorate, that was it. We knew that back then. Baz mentioned vulcanizing rubber. That really was an experiment to make a new spice. Mr. Armstrong was cooking dinner. The bipedal sentient life forms had developed discernment on organic consumption. They got bored, lacking free time they experimented at dinner. The unit of DNA attached life forms would discuss "things". Mr. Armstrong had dreamed the night before of Latex suits with Groom and clean hair. Not realizing he had stumbled on a latent memory, he thought he had concieved a dimensional world not like what he had lived in. He collected tree sap, and boiled it. He had a "wife". She did not wear a latex suit yet, and he was kinda interested. They Electricals had not let us discover silicone yet as we did not need Cialis. Cooking dinner, and covertly cooking tree sap, he was distracted by his "wife'. He left the stove and when he returned, the heat and pressure of the lid had produced a substance unlike anything else. He made a ball out of it, and when it was thrown, it was really bouncy. He called it a superball. It would bounce and bounce and when it got cold, it shattered and the pieces bounced and bounced. It was great. He spoke to Henry Ford, who was trying to make a process where he could move to Floriduh and let his children keep him in luxury. He later moved to Ft. Myers and he and Mr Edison had great parties, but that is another legacy. Mr Edison discovered the Electricals highways into our minds. Mr. Watson was the first one to see an actual Electrical. He created great machines to capture the Electricals once he knew of the latent danger they presented. He built great dams and machines to attack the Electricals, but the politicians created a regulating body to keep everyone from knowing about them. They won once again. The Manhattan Project was actually our final attempt to eliminate the Electricals. We missed their main location by one valley. The rest is the history for today. Tomorrow it will be different. The Electricals created historical records for us to "discover". Actually Carl Sagen was one of their operatives. He controlled everything. He created the Aztecs so we could think things then were so. Actually, they were landing pads for other relatives of the Electricals. They came out with glowing eyes, and fish in their stomaches and wore clothes so we could think they were ancient Egyptians. We created an entire culture around that one. Carl Sagen was the ring leader of that one also. There were actual sentient life forms, but they went underground with lots of white hair, large eyes, and they looked like an albino Yeti. Since we already had Motes, we should call them Morlocks. They were descendants of the Neanderthols. More like the Piltdown man. That is where they went. It is slippery out there. We must always be vigilant. Down with the Electricals. Take the streets!
|
|
|
Post by parfive on Sept 24, 2006 22:28:01 GMT -5
What about the first guy to eat snails? Musta been one hungry son of a bitch.
|
|
|
Post by rockyraccoon on Sept 24, 2006 23:19:38 GMT -5
i don't think that was hunger rich. it was either early cave bullies stuffing them in the wimp caveboys mouths and they acted like it was great so the bullies tried it too or one of the cave women started a rumor that it saved ubu and improved his sex life lol.
kim
|
|
|
Post by LCARS on Sept 25, 2006 1:17:26 GMT -5
Just think, at some point someone had to figure "hey, i'm going to eat what just came out of that chicken's ass and see if it tastes good..." ;D
|
|
|
Post by Tweetiepy on Sept 25, 2006 6:56:45 GMT -5
LMAO LCARS!
What about cheese, who thought about letting it mold & then trying to eat it?
|
|
|
Post by Cher on Sept 25, 2006 8:41:01 GMT -5
The cooking meat on fire thing came from one of the cavemen accidently dropping his raw meat in the fire and by the time he got it out it was nicely grilled. He tried to open a sidepath stand to sell charred meat but by then everyone had their own fire and was copying him.
|
|
|
Post by Cher on Sept 25, 2006 8:56:08 GMT -5
Oh yeah, one thing I always wondered about ... Who was the first to eat "rocky mountain oysters" and WHY? There's got to be a good story with that one. I figure it was some old cowboy caveman riding a bull dinosaur that threw him so he lost the championship and didn't win a beltbuckle spearhead. He got really ticked and said, I'll have that dino's balls for lunch" so the other cowboy cavemen caught the dino, killed it and made him eat them.
|
|