Generation You Tube

Words I never thought would fall from my fathers lips:

"Google it Beryl"

"Are you using spotify?........ how do you stream your music?"

And a personal favourite of mine.........

"Have you seen this clip on You tube?"

My father is a 74 year old semi retired accountant.  When we discuss his school days, he talks of chalk and slate, pen and ink..... certainly, my father is a product of the hard rather than soft copy era.

Mater & Pater

It's therefore more remarkable that he has embraced this new technology and added it to his arsenal of communication and learning tools.  In fact, ever since my parents attended a "silver surfers course" (the internet made easy for the older generation) there has been no holding him back, in fact quite often, he demonstrably puts me to shame with his online prowess.   Always googling or "learning how to" with you tube videos.  Hold that thought,  learning "how to ......." by using you tube videos.  That is exactly what I intend to demonstrate in this Blog "Generation You Tube".  I will be investigating alcohol,  and by the end of this blog, you the reader will have a greater understanding of the following:

1.  How and why we decant alcohol? 

2.  Why do we fall over when drunk?

3.  How is alcohol made?

So let us look at decanting alcohol, specifically red wine, even the lambrinin classes of this world know that red wine needs to breathe and that it should be at room temperature before serving.  But what of decanting?  Why should we decant and why?  I hope that the video below will go some way to resolving all of these questions.

So in under 2 minutes,  we have succeeded in expertly showing you not only how to correctly decant but also as a result of the sediment integral to a bottle of red wine, why we decant over candle light.  A skill to add to your dinner party prowess perhaps?  Come Dine With Me eat your heart out!

In this next part, we move on to consumption instead of decanting.  I am sure that I am not alone when I say that I have suffered from wobbly leg syndrome following a little over indulgence and certainly the women amongst you will understand when I say that I have often regretted my choice of stiletto shoe.  Take a look at the next you tube which will better explain the symptoms indicative to being drunk. A squiffy chap is trying to make his way home and failing miserably after a skin full.




So we are all now visually clear about the affects of alcohol on the body,  but do we really know and understand why this happens?  why and how does alcohol affect our coordination and judgement?  A video, posted below for your perusal has been produced by "Drink Wise Australia" and goes some way to answering those questions:



A succinct 7 minute video, viewed 2, 146, 464 times that delivers the science behind our questions.  Alcohol or more accurately ethanol affects various parts of our brain resulting in changes to our biology and behaviour.  Let me quickly recap, the areas of the brain affected are listed below and along side which I have listed the physical affect on our bodies:

Frontal Lobes   -  Act without inhibition, lack of self control, act upon urges.
Cerebellum       -  Coordination affected, lack of balance, thinking skills impaired.
Hippocampus   -  Become forgetful, prone to blackouts, memory loss.
Hypothalmus    -  Increase in blood pressure, thirst, hunger and greater urge to 
                             urinate.
Medulla            -   Body temperature and heart rate affected can lead to hypothermia.

With questions 1 & 2 answered this leads me neatly on to 3.  How is alcohol made?  During my time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where alcohol is "Haram" (Arabic for forbidden), thankfully not for Diplomats, however those expats within the gated communities they called home were quite entrepreneurial in their approach to making home made hooch which they called "Sidiki" (Sid for short).  Based very loosely on the drink we know as gin, I often wondered how it was that these seemingly average Joes knew how to create hardcore liquor in their back rooms - it seems that you tube has the answer:



Let me start by saying how thankful I am that I can simply pop into a local store or supermarket to pick up a bottle of my favourite tipple rather than having to make my own moonshine!!!!!  I looked at quite a few you tube videos pertaining to explain in a few easy steps how to make your own alcohol and the above video was by far the easiest viewing with step by step instruction.

I am sure that I am not alone when I say that this all seemed very technical, took a lot of patience and prowess with very little gain.  Who knew that you could buy a still on amazon?  any takers?  no, I didn't think so.

The internet is truly a wonderful place where much learning can take place in abundance,  today I learnt that I would rather buy a bottle of chilled white than install a still in my back room.  Horses for courses as they say, thanks for watching.