Got Mead?

Liquor store conversation:

"Do you guys sell mead?"

"Why yes, we do.  Let me show you what we have."  We walk together to the dessert and specialty wines aisle.

"I recommend this one -- Chaucer's Mead"

"Oh really? What about that one? I like the packaging." 

"That one calls itself Meade but it's not real mead; it's a white wine flavored with honey."

"That sounds kinda fake...so what is mead?"

"Mead is fermented honey/water.  It's an ancient drink...older than wine actually...in Europe at least. The Germans call it Honigwein which means 'honey wine.'"

"I'll take the real one...fewer characters but more character...and for less money. Thank you, you've been most helpful."

The Real Endless War

We are at perpetual war with bacteria -- not with all of them but with some. And by "we" I mean everybody, regardless of nation, color, and faith.

Drug-resistant bacteria have been in the news recently and I was struck by the nightmarish features of some strains:

Extended-spectrum β-lactamase

Neisseria gonorrhoeae

The new heightened risk has many reasons. Bacteria gain drug resistance partially due to their rapid mutation, and partly due to people not following courses of antibiotics. Lesson: if you have the resources to kill the enemy, do not give up until every last one is dead. The strongest are always the last to die and when they reproduce, they create new generations of even stronger enemy.