Hastur

Okay, I've been treating the forum a little too much like my personal brewing blog, which is probably not good. So, before I sign off on the brewing thread, I thought I'd share a couple more pics. One for Hurlshot, the rat bastard. You shamed me into buying the good honey. 32 bucks for a 6 pound bag! Never know, might be worth it. Next, I made a batch of beer and took a sip of it. Good God, it about knocked me on my ass. Waaaaaay too heavy. When I was at the brew shop for the honey, I picked up some pale malt extract and did about a two to one mix of pale to rye brew with dark malted grains. Steeped the grains for a half hour at 160 degrees and then added the extract and brought it to a boil for an hour. Used NZ cascade hops. I think the full ounce was probably a mistake, but this was already going to be a gutsy brew. I guess I'll taste how it turns out at the end of next month. Thanks for the good times! I'll pour out a little beer for you as libation!* *Into my glass, but I'll pour it!

Well, I read the posts and see the troll accusations thrown around. Just to clarify, I said don't judge people too harshly. I didn't say you couldn't lovingly bash them once in a while. Anyhow, I'm the new guy. Not my place to advise anyone about anything. I don't know if Trump is a nationalist or not. I've honestly thought the whole time that he didn't think he'd get this far and it all kind of ended up the way it did. Stranger things have happened. This election is really on its ear. I'm probably the most pessimistic about the future that I've ever been. Typically, we so called conservatives were always the optimists. Now the Democrats claim optimism, but they aren't really optimists. The only good line in Hillary's speech was that we were no longer Morning in America, but instead were Midnight, but her comment meant to point her finger at Trump, which is fine, but she should have been pointing at herself with her thumb at the same time. Aw well, time for a beer, methinks. Enough of this navel gazing crap. Time to get hammered and bet on something more rational the presidential election, like who's going to be the next Pope.

I'm way too boring to discuss in this thread. Seriously, and do not take this as a complaint, but I feel guilty distracting from folks' political debate. However, I will tell you that I don't think you're a troll, Bruce, and I wouldn't care if you were. You have a viewpoint and you express it. That's pretty much what we're all doing. If you aim to elicit a response, that's only natural. Why discuss things on a message board if you don't want to hear what other people have to say? If that's you're view, why post in a forum? Why not just blog about your views? As for Hillary, I think she's as corrupt as a three dollar bill. I believe her to be devoid of scruples and intent on her personal agenda. So, if she's elected president, I will respond by: Referring to her as President Clinton Praying for her good health Respecting her if ever I am to meet her by addressing her as Madame President and treating her with the dignity due her station and reminding conservative friends that, no matter how terrible she is, no good can come to us from harm to her. ...But don't hold harsh criticism of politicians against the people in this thread, either about Trump or Hillary. The fact is, this is the perfect place to vent steam. Forums like this are great safety valves to let out some crazy and retain your sanity. We're human beings, by God, and we need to have safe place to bitch about things. Write an angry post! Don't strap on a suicide vest! That would be my slogan were I to run for president.

I like a nice rye myself. In fact, I've got some rye malt extract sitting on my counter. However, I went with the cheapest 12 year old scotch I could find at Costco, which is probably what I'll enjoy over ice or maybe with water tonight.

nose needs to be bigger for that I just don't get it. Is it supposed to be flattering and simply falling short? Is it supposed to be insulting although it has a perfectly reasonable political quote on the back? Are those chopsticks protruding from his neck?

Thanks for the kind words, Bruce. I think humans are individually important, of course. I love my cats and, as living creatures, I believe they are important also. See, some of us Republicans are all soft and mushy inside. However, in terms of having long term notable significance in a broad population sense, we're not. I think that's good. The people who want to tweet can share what they want, as much and as little of their lives, and the people who want to refrain can take solace that they're not 'important' enough for people to intrude into their privacy in a meaningful way. Now, I have to say something about my ill advised bet, which also relates to privacy. First of all, I made the bet. I don't feel bad about it per se other than it was a bit childish. I'm pretty confident that the specific of my bet probably won't happen anyway. I doubt we go into the election with it being literally only 2% in the average of polls and if it does, I'd be so shocked if Trump doesn't win that wearing a dress and calling myself a bitch won't eve register. It's not even the most humiliating wound I will have inflicted on myself. ...And, hell, nothing to establish your cred like cashing out your loss after a bet. It was mostly ill advised because I'm somewhat of a nomad and I'm afraid I won't be around. However, November is so close, only a few months hence, I'll just make sure I keep poking my head in the door. Frankly, no one's taken me up on the bet, so it won't matter anyway.

And if they work for NSA- whose purpose is to subvert others/ protect US communications/ internet etc- then you'd be right to since their technical security is very good, and has to be very good. If on the other hand they work for Hillary Rodham Clinton or the DNC chances are they're grossly incompetent (but not grossly negligent) rather than elite and their security is very very bad to the extent it barely exists for the former case. This was guffaw out loud funny to me. Frankly, I think the Republicans and Democrats alike should be damned scared about what happened with the DNC. Politics can't work without secrets. That's simply true. There must be some way to discuss these issues without others hearing. We Republicans might enjoy the dilemma the Democrats face because of this email debacle, but the rosy feeling we get from their suffering will wilt straight away once the secrets in our party start showing up on the front page of newspapers. I frankly think the world has changed in ways that destroy personal privacy. That will undoubtedly be bad. Might be good. Probably a combination of both, but we live in a world where increasingly the only security we have in our privacy is the insignificance of our lives. Once you become a big enough target, people will start shooting at you. This is also the only real defense we little guys have against all manner of cyber crime. If someone really wanted to crack my personal router, they could do it. It's just not worth even a trivial amount of time for any of the people with resources to do it.

The Cambrians are in Wales friend. Yeah, I know. I was thinking of England as a stopping off place first. I've always wanted to go to Wales, but, having been as far north as Scotland and down south to the Channel, I've never gotten over to Wales. Sorry about the confusion.

If the she devil wins, I'll renounce my American citizenship, move to England, cast for the revote on Brexit, and become a hardened warlord chieftain in Tryfan range of the Cambrian mountains! ...Or I'll just brew more booze to drink while I bitch about American politics while soaking in a Jacuzzi with friends. Yeah, that's a lot more likely. I am curious about one thing, however, how many of the people in this thread have actually done any of these things: Voted in every election? Made cold calls for a candidate? Gone door to door to promote candidates and issues? Donated money to a national candidate or party? That's not meant to be judgmental. Frankly, you could be an idiot if you did any of those things. I don't know. You're definitely going to find it's a pain to do the last one because once you donate to... well... anyone, they hound you incessantly forever after. Political parties. Church. Blood banks. Charities. There's actually a story behind the donation thing, but frankly, it's easier for most folks to donate money to a cause than time, so while a lot of people will think it's idiotic to donate money, it's a lot more difficult and requires a lot more commitment to actually do campaign volunteer work. ...And, don't think making calls is easier. Going door to door, you can use a disarming smile or other non-verbal communication to deal with people and it's much harder for most folks to be rude to your face. Of course, that's harder with the occasional dog who doesn't give a crap if you're a Republican, a Democrat, or the Free Uranium for the People party. Dogs just see an intruder and want to bite you.

This was really cynical, but it made me laugh. *I'm Hastur, and I approve of this message.

No pressure, bud. I always like to see/hear about new brews. Not as much as I like to taste/imbibe them, but ya gotta be realistic. Usually mead doesn't go quite so gonzo on the foam, but between the blueberries and the yeast nutrient, the latest batch has gone crazy. For the beer, I need to get more malt extract. I'd thought I was getting traditional dark when I ordered the liquid extract and it's rye. I just don't have the stones to make a beer with 100% rye extract. I mean, I have the grain to steep also, so it might not be too much, but I think it'd be way too extreme. I might order more today or stop by the MoreBeer store this weekend if I get the chance. I need to get the beer fermenting soon so I can rack it and have the carboy ready to use as a secondary fermenter. This is the part I don't like. I enjoy the brewing part and bottling is fun if a lot of work. ...And I love the drinking part. Siphoning into secondary fermenters can be a pain, though.

"The Mexicans will pay for it." Couldn't help myself.

Literally taxing the air you breath. Yep, the beatles called it a long time ago.

I typically don't follow games before they're released. I might a little bit, but I like to preserve my enjoyment. I'm stopped smack dab in the middle of a Pillars game because I'd heard too much about the expansions. I'd finished it once and I was working on the path of the damned run when I stopped playing, but I look forward to finishing it after some of the basic plot twists have become lost to my aged mind. I'm seriously jonesing for Tyranny, and my curiosity got the better of me, but I figure it's early enough in the development that I needn't worry too much. I like what I see so far. It could be merely good or it could be absolutely awesome. I guess I'll go back to Way Off Topic and get the joy of discovery whenever they ship the game.

First of all, I agree about the cyser. I've got the same thing going on with my brother in law. I'm hoping to get that done at the end of summer. However to the point about beer and wine at the grocery, liquor store, or winery... it isn't that booze can't readily be found where I live. I'm using scotch in an airlock for mead I'm brewing. The point of brewing your own mead and beer is the same point of working on your own car or building your own computer. It's the feeling that you did it yourself. Yeah, I rely on manufactured stuff, so I don't pretend that I'm going to survive the zombie (or Hillump) apocalypse because I like to brew at home. I get satisfaction from it, though. To be sure, the sanitation is a pain, but I actually don't find it any more burdensome than standing in front of a hot stove for one to two hours boiling water, steeping gran, and boiling malt extract. Moving 120 ounces of blueberries from where it's been soaking in the must into the bottle neck of a 5 gallon carboy is a lot messier and a pain than sanitation. Look, Mr. Enoch, I'm not saying you don't have a point. You might have neither the time nor the inclination to homebrew, which is fine because you've got a buddy who likes to homebrew and you can enjoy one of his creations with him. He does what he does and I suspect that you have things you do that are closer to your heart and you enjoy. If I ever got to the point where the brewing was more of a chore than fun, I'd stop doing it, but I have to tell you, I've never opened a store bought bottle of beer or wine and had the satisfaction I felt on the day I tried the first beer I'd brewed and realized that it was actually good. Even now, with all of my super young bottles of beer and mead at home, I have to fight off the urge not to drink them even when I have other stuff in the house. That and, while I might not be the zombie apocalypse survivor I'd like to be, the things I do as hobbies certainly would be useful in the end times. Hell, the Scorpions catch me outside of New Vegas and I'll at least be able to barter for my life what with fixing broken down crap and brewing stuff and whatnot.