FYI December 31, 2019

On This Day

1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
Guinness (/ˈɡɪnɪs/) is a dark Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James’s Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120.[1][2] Sales in 2011 amounted to 850 million litres (220,000,000 US gal).[1] It is popular with the Irish, both in Ireland and abroad. In spite of declining consumption since 2001,[3] it is still the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland[4] where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth of beer annually.

The Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over 20 million visitors.

Guinness’s flavour derives from malted barley and roasted unmalted barley, a relatively modern development, not becoming part of the grist until the mid-20th century. For many years, a portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp lactic acid flavour. Although Guinness’s palate still features a characteristic “tang”, the company has refused to confirm whether this type of blending still occurs. The draught beer’s thick, creamy head comes from mixing the beer with nitrogen and carbon dioxide.[5]

The company moved its headquarters to London at the beginning of the Anglo-Irish Trade War in 1932. In 1997, Guinness Plc merged with Grand Metropolitan to form the British multinational alcoholic-drinks producer Diageo plc, based in London.

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Born On This Day

1914 – Mary Logan Reddick, American neuroembryologist (d. 1966)
Mary Logan Reddick (31 December 1914 – 1 October 1966) was a neuroembryologist who earned her PhD from Radcliffe College, Harvard University in 1944. She was a full professor, first at Morehouse College, and then at the University of Atlanta from 1953 to her death. Her doctoral dissertation was on the study of chick embryos,[1] and she went on to do research with time-lapse microscopy (then called motion picture microphotography) in tissue cultures.[2]

In 1952, Reddick received a Ford science fellowship to study at Cambridge University.[3] Reddick was possibly the first African-American woman scientist to receive this fellowship for study abroad, and she was the first female biology instructor at Morehouse College.[1]

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FYI

Vector’s World: New driver, Home grown fence and more ->
 
 
 
 
Jalopnik:Syd Mead, The Man Who Showed Us What The Future Looked Like, Has Died; How A Stranger’s Old Chevy Pickup Got Me Over The Snowy Rockies To The ‘Holy Grail’ Jeep Grand Cherokee; These Are The Worst Cars Of The Decade and more ->
 
 
 
 
Gizmodo Science: Prehistoric Stone Monument in Scotland May Have Been Intentionally Built to Attract Lightning and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Rocky Parker, Beyond Bylines: Blogger Conferences: Top Events to Attend in January & February 2020
 
 
 
 
By Jeanna Bryner – Live Science Editor-in-Chief: The 100 Best Science Photos of 2019
 
 
 
 
By Andrew Griffin, Vincent Wood, The Independent: New Year’s Eve 2019 – live: Revellers descend on London to welcome new decade, as Sydney fireworks display prompts fury amid wildfires
 
 
 
 
The Rural Blog: American Press Institute president says journalists know less than they used to about the people they’re covering; S.C. lawmaker proposes mandatory news literacy classes and more ->

 
 
 
 

By Rick Paulas, City Lab: What It’s Like to Live in a California Ghost Town To be an off-season caretaker of Bodie, California (winter population: 5), you need a high tolerance for cold, solitude, and two-hour grocery runs.
 
 
 
 
Open Culture: The History of the Fisheye Photo Album Cover; A Recently-Discovered 44,000-Year-Old Cave Painting Tells the Oldest Known Story and more ->

 
 
 
 
Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings: The Best of Brain Pickings 2019

 
 
 
 
That’s What She Read: Books Read in December
 
 
 
 

Today’s email was written by Stevie Borrello, edited by Whet Moser, and produced by Tori Smith. Quartz Obsession: Red sauce Italian: Authentically American
 
 
 
 

The Passive Voice: Why Big Data Has Been (Mostly) Good for Music; Scott Adams Has Some Ideas for a Calmer Internet and more ->
 
 
 
 

Recipes

By Auroris: Homemade Flavoured Butters
 
 
The Food Network: Hangover Breakfast Sandwiches
 
 
The Food Network: Over 100 Healthy Dinners to Kick Off the New Year