April 13 [Fermented Cabbage]
April 13
It was actually feeling properly spring-like outside, finally. I know Michigan is in the north, which is probably why spring is delayed, but they ought to have their first day of spring scheduled better to account for that.
I flew northwest, past the dirt mines and into the farmland. There were little wispy cumulus clouds way up high, higher than a pegasus could fly even if she had permission, and a bunch of long narrow airplane clouds. As I watched, I could see another one making a trail: the airplane itself nothing more than a glint in the sunlight.
I wound up going a bit further than I had intended to and found a long strip of land that had big metal towers carrying wires off into the distance. That was how electricity got from one city to another.
Humans had a lot of different ways of making it. There were factories that turned fuel into electricity, and there were also glass panels that made sunlight into electricity and big windmills that did it, too. I knew about them because all of them were on the list of places I wasn't supposed to go, especially the places that used nuclear fuel to make electricity. There was one of those called Palisades not all that far from Kalamazoo, and I wondered if that was where the wires came from.
I flew along above them for a little while, until I got to a big cement lot where there was an electricity switching yard that had all kinds of wires coming and going. Humans build a lot of really big things and it must be hard to keep track of it all.
One of the sets of wires curved around and went back south to Kalamazoo, so I followed it just because I was curious. They were a better path to follow than railroad tracks, because the tops of the towers were above the trees, and they had a much wider path where everything had been trimmed down.
I took a little detour when I got to a runway, and I checked all around to make sure that there weren't any airplanes nearby. I didn't see any, but I called the airplane directors to make sure. I knew what it was called, because the roof of the building said Walker on it.
When I was taking my shower, I got to thinking how much better it had been to take a shower with Meghan, and I decided I should ask her if I could come over on Thursday night and watch another Harry Potter movie and then maybe share the shower in the morning.
We got to do group work in math, which was really fun. There were a couple of students who grumbled about it, but I always thought that you learned better when you did something together. So Keith and Sean and me all formed into a little group and Professor Sir Doctor Banerjee gave us our math problem and we set to work figuring it out. I got out my weather wheel and both Keith and Sean got out their graphing calculators, and then we discussed what kind of equation we would need to solve each point, and then took turns calculating the answer.
They were really impressed with my weather wheel, because they'd never seen anything like it used before. But it wasn't all that complicated when you knew how, and it certainly wasn't as smart as their calculators, which could even draw graphs and stuff on the screen. I guess sometimes people (and ponies) are amazed by something that they've never seen before, no matter how complicated the inner workings are.
Plus their calculators were more precise than my weather wheel, which I thought might be an important factor later. So I guess I ought to get one and figure out how to use it. It would be really humiliating to fail math class because my calculations weren't precise enough.
We had a really boring lunch meal, which probably meant something special for dinner. Christine said that she thought they were going to do another ethnic meal, and I said that it wasn't fair that they didn't do any pony ethnic meals. Sean said that was because humans couldn't eat hay, and Christine punched him in the shoulder.
When we were done eating, I went over to Meghan's table and asked her if I could come over tomorrow night and watch Harry Potter and she said that would be nice.
Professor Amy had us watch a documentary film about snake-handling, which was where people who were Christians would play with poison snakes because they believed that if they were faithful enough, God would keep them safe from snakebites. So far in the Bible, there hadn't been anything about handling snakes. I supposed if God told them to then they ought to, but when we were discussing the film after it was over, nobody in class thought that the Bible said anything about it.
I reminded myself that I wasn't supposed to judge, just observe, so I kept my hoof down even though I had a lot of questions. And I didn't have enough knowledge to participate in the discussion of what a normal Christian service looked like, because I'd only ever been to the Easter service, and I didn't know how normal that was. But I paid attention, and the class together decided that drinking poison was not part of a normal church service, nor was healing.
Then she said that culture gives meaning to what we do; that nothing by itself has meaning except what the culture teaches us. She said that as we grow up, we have to decide whether to follow along with what we learned as children, or taking our own paths. And she said that she didn't want to speak for anyone in the class, but she was sure that some people in the classroom were having their childhood experiences validated, while others of us were making our own path.
That gave me something to think about after class. Nothing in my foalhood had prepared me for being an exchange student on Earth, 'cause we didn't even know it was there then. So I guess I was making my own path.
And that kind of bothered me a little bit, because it felt like I was showing that what I'd learned as a filly was wrong, and I didn't think that was so. Then I thought about it a bit more and decided that sometimes there's stuff that comes up that you couldn't anticipate or plan for before, and that didn't mean you were rejecting your culture. You were just adapting to the new situation.
When my Mom went to the weather conference, she wasn't expecting to come back pregnant with me. And when I decided that I wanted to go to college to be a weather supervisor, I didn't expect that I'd get the chance to go to Earth, but both of those things happened.
Dinner was German, and I was thankful that even when they had special meals they kept some of the basics the same, including the salad table. The main hot food line had various different kind of sausage and fermented cabbage, which didn't smell appealing at all. Everyone else at the table liked it, though.
They did have German-themed dessert, though, and that was a nice change from the usual cookies and pies.
After dinner, I read through some of Samuel. I learned how Samuel was favored in God's sight, and Eli's sons had been bad, so God punished them. And the Ark was captured, but it brought a curse wherever it was, so they sent it back with a peace offering. Then the Philistines attacked but the Israelites had learned their lesson and did what God had told them to and won the battle.
Then Samuel got old and decided to crown Saul (who was looking for donkeys) as the new king. And he fought in wars for all the time he was king, so Samuel decided to make David king instead.
I probably should have finished it, but Peggy came home and we talked for a little bit and she told me that she was going to be gone tomorrow night and Friday and all of the weekend because she was going on a little trip with her boyfriend. I asked if she was worried about missing her Friday classes, and she said that she wasn't; she could make it up later.
That didn't seem right to me, but then I'd skipped one of Conrad's classes to go on a road trip, so I couldn't really say anything about that.
So I packed up my flight gear and went off to Aric's house, even though it was a bit early. He was watching a movie with David and Angela, and it was a really weird movie that had bees in it. David said it was called Wax and I had no idea what was going on at all. After it was over and we were in the bedroom together, I asked Aric what it had been about, and he didn't know either. He said that David had really weird taste in movies.
Then he told me that he was going to be gone for the weekend, because David had sold a radio console on E bay, and when they'd tried to ship it they had discovered that it was too big to be mailed, so they were going to drive it down there in Winston.
That was disappointing; now I didn't know what I was going to do for the weekend, but surely something would come up.
I didn't let it get me down, though. I'd been the one to desert him last weekend, so I couldn't be upset that he’d made plans without me. I told him I'd miss him and to be careful and then I climbed on top of him and pretty soon we weren't thinking about anything beyond the moment.
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It feels like I've read this before.
Silver is insatiable
Aw no Aric or Roomie :c
I know what Silver Glow is going to do for the weekend.
Meghan.
Yeah, the last thing we need is for Silver to get arrested on terrorism charges arising from flying too close to a nuclear reactor (let alone having her DNA twisted like a kitten with a ball of yarn by getting so close).
Fox News would find a way to blame Obama for it, somehow.
I'll bet you weren't thinking of anything beyond the moment, Silver. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Say no moah.
yeah, Sourcrout is horrible
7296405 that's (almost) what I said!*
And then the author replied**
Which got me thinking about how insatiable I wasn't as a teenager.
Also about jailbait. Did that get covered?
*7259488
**7260662
IIRC the justification for snake handling is a Biblical quote about those in a state of grace not fearing the venom of serpents.
Going by the show, some ponies are terrified of snakes but Pegasi are less than others.
Sauerkraut isn't fermented but it is an acquired taste. Maybe some Earth Pony communities use it.
7296388 Christine punches Sean in the shoulder a lot.
7296479 You said it, not me.
Okay, either I haven't been paying attention, or he's suddenly earned like three new titles.
Really? I hear people sell things on eBay.
7296572 Sauerkraut is fermented just not by yeast bacteria. It is from lactic acid bacteria. Pretty close to pickling though. My mother likes the stuff and ohh man does that ever stink up the whole house.
As to ponies know about the stuff it is a toss up. Alcohol is a thing in Equestria so they could have discovered other fermenting processes. Just don't know if they needed to discover it since there is magic to help preserve crops and controlled seasons for excellent growing.
7260662
I've asked it before of people who see a lot of literalism in ancient human activity, and I'll probably have to keep asking it. "Hey, when exactly did humans develop the ability to just make s**t up?"
7296547
Sauerkraut, Dummkopf.
7296681 My favorite is all the "for ritual purposes" stuff. Like we find some artifact and we're like, "well this looks useless but also like someone put some effort into it. Eh, ritual I guess." Whereas of course lots of people these days put tons of effort into stuff just because they like it, like fan fiction or making giant LEGO things or whatever. So what's the difference between "for ritual purposes" and "because they thought it was cool"? I'm sure some of the stuff was religious or had a specific use, but it seems no better as a theory than just being some kind of creative expression.
7296572 sauerkraut is explicitly fermented.
Good idea, we don't want Pegasus-puree.
Major deja-vu.
Edit:
7296388
See also: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/317740/11/silver-glows-journal/january-7-socrates
I might be paranoid but I find it strange that we never meet or find out the name of Peggy's boyfriend. There's no real reason for it but I keep puncturing him as much older, and maybe married.
Aric being away at the same time as Peggy could be considered suspicious but unless that boy is superhuman I don't think he could keep up with silver and another girl.
7296542
Nuclear power plants don't leak that much radiation, shed be fine flying over one. The terrorism thing might be an issue though.
I'm a fan of sauerkraut. It's an excellent topping for bratwurst, but I'll eat it by itself. As for its use in Equestria, it seems reasonable that it exists. I imagine that without refrigeration and cargo planes of crops from warmer locales, canning and preserving are a necessary fact of life.
7297054
I bet pegasai would love surströmming on caraway bread with some kimchi and jarlsberg.
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmsy8w8pB41qkwnhyo1_500.png
It took me some digging to find "Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees", mainly because it's not just called "Wax". It's one of those avante-garde films that, in order to be experienced the way it was intended requires a then-nonexistent technology. In its case, that technology was YouTube with annotations.
Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees
Incidentally, you can watch the film on its official Vimeo channel on Vimeo.
You can also try the hypermedia markup version at http://waxweb.org but Chrome apparently no longer supports Quicktime.
7296547 There's an Austrian place in State College that serves a sauerkraut that is almost edible, which is good because they serve it with almost everything on the menu, and they keep a knout hanging by the register that they use to threaten patrons who don't clean their plates. But yeah, sauerkraut is kind of nasty.
7296758 Ritual is a kind of regimented channeling of creativity. It's how conservative societies deal with the disruption of creativity.
7297054 Fanon theory holds that one of the aspects of earth pony magic is some sort of perfected preservation of food. Why would they need to pickle or ferment?
The histories in the old testament make for weird reading fromantic a republican background. What will Silver and her experience of growing up under an immortal philosopher-princess make of the generally terrible kings of Israel and Judah? I guess Celestia is a sort of Solomon, without the vast harem.
How much does she weigh?
7297186
Around 100 pounds, or 45Kg.
EDIT: actually, maybe a little bit less than that, 'cause she's a pegasus.
That's one thing that's bothered me. The dearth of German restaurants in San Antonio. There is one though. Schilo's. It downtown and parking is provided by a parking garage. The coffee is awesome.
IMO, if there is no alcohol involved,it isn't REALLY fermented + using facts to prevail in an argument is a dirty trick.
Don't eat straight sauerkraut. Put a little in canned soup or stew to pep it up.
7296612 well, it migth be a mistake, but it isn't that big of a stretch of mind to add professor to that list. And I am very tempted to call him that from now on.
Whoa there filly! Overdramatizing much, aren't we?
Growing up in central Wisconsin, my moms side of the family is German and my dads side is Norwegian. So at reunions it was either sauerkraut or lutefisk. I really don't know which is worse.
7297550 No, that's exactly what sheltered kidsthink when they're exposed to the wider world outside their community. It sometimes takes them a while to learn that something new doesn't mean their way of life or beliefs are wrong, just incomplete.
Has anyone explained the equinoxes and solstices to her yet?
The pony tendency to go with the crowd is showing up again. The idea that someone would teach ideas that are wrong doesn't really occur to her.
Actually, the problem was that he disobeyed God and A. made a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel and B. didn't do what he was supposed to do with the spoils.
7297577
Silence, blasphemer.
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Mmm, sauerkraut. Avoided the stuff for years, then I finally tried it and immediately regretted not doing so earlier. Of course, I'm a sucker for anything pickled or fermented... except booze. That just tastes like poison to me.
Yeah, I had a rather lackluster college experience.
In any case, nice to see Silver's horizons broaden, even if she's struggling with the experience at times. Still, there's a difference between judging and filling in the gaps in one's knowledge. I hope she asks more questions in the future.
I'm in the ecav zone for a nuclear power plant, yay.
Still muttering about calculators in math class. Precusion woukdnt be an issue. A lot of the math I've done is typically left as symbolic or unsimplified. Then engibeering and science trends to get limited by significant figures way before a calculator isn't precise enough.
Sauerkraut... One of the few winter-time sources of vitamin C available in the preindustrial world, preserved by the action of bacteria that naturally lives on humans. Also active in kimchi, pickles, sourdough bread, yogurt, and vinegar. Ever wonder why some cheeses smell a little like unwashed feet? Those little critters followed humankind throughout history.
If you take a probiotic, they're in those, too.
Quick! Somebody tell Rarity that humans exist--and that we're covered with bacteria!
i like sauerkraut with bratwurst or kassler ! yummy
also what kind of german dessert ?
What the hell is going on in Wax?
7297162
*cough*
Cabbage?
7296388
Heh, oops. At least it was a different person who told her that this time (and now she probably knows that people don't eat hay).
7296405
Yes, she is.
7296479
...almost
7296542
"Ooh, I bet that glowy pool is fun to swim in."
Yeah, that wouldn't end very well at all.
7296547
I love the stuff.
7296562
My college experience was somewhat different.
Possibly not as well as it ought to have. That potentially thorny legal issue isn't going to come up in the story.
7296572
That sounds right. I think that was supposed to be a metaphor, though, not a suggestion. Those three dudes got tossed in a furnace and came out fine, but I wouldn't recommend trying that.
7296580
It's because he's a boy, and therefore dumb.
7296612
She's been calling him that since her first class with him.
I debated back and forth on that, but I don't think that she would have ever used the site, and therefore probably wouldn't know how its name was properly spelled.
7296663
I would assume that they know. They have cheese, some of which is traditionally fermented. Also pickles are fermented (although I don't remember if pickles are canon).
7296681
Probably the first time Mrs. Neandertal asked Mr. Neandertal what he was doing with that Homo Sapiens last night.
7296758
I don't know anyone who would do something like that.
7296918
During the day, she'd probably be okay, since the blades turn pretty slow. At night, though, she could fly into a field of them without even knowing, and then . . . yeah. Best to be avoided.
7296947
He could be, couldn't he? (Also 'puncturing?' Best typo ever)
Yeah, Aric's and Peggy aren't a thing at all.
Unless she goes into the moonpool, then she might have issues. And the terrorism thing--that would be a big issue.
7297054
Yeah, we already know that they make jams and jellies, have cheeses (and probably other things I'm not thinking of), and fermented cabbage isn't a stretch.
7297131
I don't know what most of those things are, but if it turns pegasi into vikings I would say that they would approve of it. I approve of it.
EDIT: I looked it up and maybe some of them would. Their roommates would probably hate them afterwards, though.
7297154
I should have looked up the full title, although my friend only ever called it 'Wax.'
7297162
Long sea voyages? I don't personally think it's perfect--there are many other examples of them making some kind of preserved food--but I think it's better than we can do without excessive technology.
I assume that on a lower level, ponies have had their share of lousy leaders. Also, Sombra.
7297239
There used to be a really good German restaurant in my little tiny hometown, but it closed down a while back.
7297436
Are you a politician IRL? Or a lawyer?
7297538
Professor Sir Doctor Banerjee approves.
7297577
We've just got 'Midwestern' on my Mom's side, and Baltimore on my Dad's, unless you go back a few hundred years.
7297583
I felt a lot of that in college, and I wasn't all that sheltered.
7297603
She knows what they are, but still hasn't quite grasped that the seasons might not line up with them correctly.
There is safety in the herd.
I should have included that, because I did know that.
7297892
My elementary school was across the road from a pickle factory, and my dad hails from that part of the US where sauerkraut is part of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, so I presume I got exposed to it fairly young.
Booze is poison. Tasty, tasty poison. I can drink your share for you.
Yeah, I had a rather lackluster college experience.
Sometimes that's a challenging tightrope to walk.
7297930
I suspect she'll hardly need it for this class, to be honest. But I'm not sure: I'm only a few lectures in.
7297969
I have a sudden craving for proper sourdough bread. I haven't had any in a really long time; more's the pity.
It's actually pretty amazing when you think of how many ways we figured out to preserve food for later.
7298244
Black Forest Cake.
7298897
I have no idea whatsoever, and I've watched the whole movie. Granted, it was years ago, but I didn't get it then, either.
7298926
Are you implying that she just keeps all those Royal Guards around for purposes other than fighting battles?
(Actually, I hope she keeps them for something else.)
7299948
Not my cabbages!
7305290
I thought Silver Glow was an adult/sorta older than most of her 'peers' at the university.
Also I would be very skeptical if ponies didn't know what alcohol was, given how long it's been around with humans.
Also: Cider.
Reminds me of what I said to someone else when they commented on Gusty's wearing of clothes and "going native." The above is pretty close to my thoughts on the matter.
I wonder if in the future, a Pegasi will ignore or forget the warnings and fly a bit too close to one of those stations... Considering human or pony nature, very likely.
Indeed. It's amazing how much people get amazed by even the simplest of things, as long as they don't know the inner workings.
What would a pony ethnic meal consist of anyways? I suppose it would also vary between pony races as well.
I agree with you Silver. We all need to adapt to this ever-changing world. We cannot always plan ahead for everything.
Remember to always carry protection folks.
Well, now we know how Silver was conceived, and why she doesn't know her biological father. I wonder if this same scenario happened with Silver's younger sister. Seriously, what goes on at a weather conference? Other than the weather talks of course.
Accurate description of many (stereotypical) Pegasi. I guess Silver partly inherited this from her parents...
One would think that the students would know about circular sliderulers. Its uses Equestrial Numerals and Duodecimal (Base12), so it must look real neat. I would like to see it.
Duodecimal is better than Decimal, but not as good as Sexagesimal (Base60). I wonder which other bases the sapient beings of Equus uses.
7305508
I tend to leave that kind of thing vague in stories, but my general headcanon is that ponies 'mature'* quicker than we do, and therefore are generally younger than us at any given milestone in life.
Of course they do.
7361831
It's one thing to think it, and it's another to see one of your friends doing it. But yeah, Gusty feels like she fits in better if she wears clothes on Earth, but that doesn't mean that she's rejected her pony heritage (although it's probably going to be weird for her at first when she's back in Equestria).
7375563
Maybe? I think that ponies in general tend to follow rules, when there are rules to follow. So while in Equestria the sky is free for them, on Earth it is not, and most of them are likely to follow the rules.
There would be a lot of hay
Probably lots of raw fruits and vegetables, pasture grasses, and flowers; other foods might depend on tribe. Traditionally, the pegasi aren't likely to have much if any cooked/hot food.
Unless part of your plan for the conference was to find a handsome stallion and come back with a foal.
Silver's little sister was probably conceived in the same way. As for what goes on at the conference, talking during the day, ponies showing new tools and technology at the trade show, and lots of drinking and f
ing after hours . . . pretty much the same as any Earth conference.
7451407
When I was in college, most students didn't know what a slide rule was, never mind a circular one . . . and that was twenty years ago. These days I would imagine that not one in twenty students knows what a slide rule is.