Hastur

The only thing I've thought wasn't properly random was evaded cards, but the sample size was too small to really get a feel for. That, and I can't arse myself to do the math.

That's awesome. The brother in law from my previous comment does hard ginger ale, root beer, and apple cider. I'm hoping to convince him to make a Cyser with me. Not really because I'd rather have cider in my mead, but because it's a project we could do together and it's supposed to be one of the best combinations. I'm going to make a blueberry mead tomorrow for the wife. She likes a little bit fruitier and I will own that my mead is fermented really dry. Don't let the fact that it's mead fool you. It's pretty potent stuff. Anyhow, depending on whether I have everything for the ale tomorrow, I'll probably post pics of the beer brewing. It's probably a little more interesting to see, I think, although not as pretty in the bottle. I don't want to go overboard with pics just because I don't want to be a pest about it, but one of the joys of homebrewing is getting to share it with folks and talk about it. I'm hoping that other folks (looking at you, Zoraptor), will share recipes they've enjoyed. Bruce, feel free to share about great BBQ. I could do that too, since I smoke a lot of meats, especially in the summer when it's hot, but I'd better keep myself disciplined about the brewing stuff here.

I would summarize myself as: + Boring + Blessed + Brewing I live in Southern California and I could also add that I like to BBQ. Most of my friends are quite liberal and this is probably the most divisive and angriest year politics-wise that we've ever had. I have a couple friends who love Hillary and my neighbors love Trump. Otherwise, pretty much everyone hates both candidates.

That's the sort of statistical analysis that I reject, though. Not because there isn't some possiblity of one being a cause or indirect cause of the other, but because it argues over minor subsets. There are many disaffected and/or depressed people who turn to religions that don't become suicide bomber. Undoubtedly some of them turn to Islam, never kills themselves nor kill others. We're putting too many variables in the mix. I guess we could establish the specific confidence level of our liking and then test the hypothesis, but I would simply point out that, much like the car analogy I used above, it won't matter. What matters is the car manufacturer putting out unsafe models for our purposes, not the entire set of car fatalities. This is like risk assessment parity arguments that say, "you worry about terrorism, you fool?! You're more likely to die by [x]." Sure, but in world war 2, you were more likely to die of infection than the initial wound, but only a fool would jump in front of a bullet because he was sure there happened to be a new supply of antiseptics and antibiotics on hand. Statistics can help explain things, but the world is not so clinical a setting. On the other hand, I'm maybe playing both sides just a bit. What I'd like is for the government to give us its best assessment after going over the facts and not trying to hide or confuse the results. That's all I'm saying. If it turns out an attack is Islamic terrorism, neo-Nazi terrorism, or simply some nutter going gonzo, we can debate what that means and what we should do after the fact.

Damn, it takes a third out of power party to get away with an ad like that! The Republicans would get hammered for that ad, but then again, the Republican lack the will and intestinal fortitude to level with people anyway. I got a kick out of George Will suggesting that the reason the Big T won't divulge taxes is because it would show he's got ties to "Russian Oligarchs." lol Comedy. It might actually be true, which is the scary thing. Not much for conspiracy theories. The real scandal is that he won't come out with the damned things, not any specific speculation. It could be any number of things, but whatever it might be, it most certainly is that he's hiding his taxes.

Keep at it, brother! Clever ad.

Mead in the secondary fermenter. Must. Resist. Drinking!

I'd air drop in a case of beer for some of the good stuff from your still. :D It's illegal to distill here in CA also. My brother in law and I have been joking about hiding a still out in the mountains near here. I'm just glad they don't come after us for brewing. Anyhow, I'm going to start a five gallon batch of mead and a one gallon batch of beer tomorrow or Friday. The beer is more of a pain because you have to keep the temperature steady for steeping the grain and then try not to make a mess when you add the malt extract. I'm using liquid extract this next time in the hopes that it's less messy. Going to be a dark ale. I might actually post a pic of the ale and then post one of the recipes. The ale one is pretty simple compared to the mead, but I think you should never have too many competing flavors in beer. Better to have a few you can appreciate than a bunch that struggle to blend.

So the problem is the quo pro quid rather than quid pro quo? hehe It doesn't matter the case 'what' is in, damn it, nor the which hand washed the other first! lol Comedy. I get a real kick out of that.

Yeah, suicide, as I understand it, is far more often a cause of death than homicide. I think the generalization and conflation of the two issues is thin, but it's a complicated issue. Suicide involving only the individual or people involved with the individual in some way is different than out and out insanity which is itself different from someone who follows a doctrine of murder and suicide. To diminish the Islamic jihadist's organization, motives, and methods because of generalized violence is something akin to diminishing the liability of a car manufacturer knowingly allowed an unsafe design because the total number of car related deaths dwarfs the number of death associated with that design. Moreover, what if the car manufacturer increased production of that design and came up with more unsafe designs to release on the streets? What if the total number of deaths continued to dwarf the design related deaths, but number of design related deaths nevertheless rose quickly over the course of several years? I think the governments (and I use plural on purpose) have done themselves a great disservice by trying to depict these acts in a certain way that is not always consistent with the motives. That was true for the Spanish government back when it tried to pass an Islamic terrorist act as Basque some years ago. That's true when the Obama administration uses the term 'man caused disaster' in lieu of terrorism or claims that the Fort Hood shootings were of the type and kind of 'work place violence.' The police in Germany, in trying to avoid a theoretical backlash against Muslims have created some amount of distrust with the public. If that's true because they make assertions before the facts are known, then it's incompetence. If they make claims in order to confuse or mislead the public, then it's malfeasance. I don't think we should jump the gun and attribute Islamic terrorist motives to every shooting. I do think the government should do its damned job and level with the public so the public can trust them one way or the other. Right now, conspiracy theories sound a little less like the tin hat variety and more like president's men variety when public officials speak, which doesn't serve the public or faith in government at all.

The problem with saying that the media is biased and lies as a blanket statement is that it leads to nowhere. We can pretend that the internet makes us all experts, but it doesn't. At some point, if we're to have a rational discussion, we have to rely on something we get from somewhere. So, we have to rely on some sort of media, but the media clearly has biases. You can spread out your sources, but what if every source is wrong or if every source goes back to one source? The media doesn't get a lot of respect, and I don't think it deserves it, but some media cannot outright lie without destroying themselves as an institution. No, the media isn't entirely Satan. They deal in half truths instead of lies and promote the stories they want to promote. Also, while some is undoubtedly intentional, I think most of it is run of the mill prejudicial mindsets regarding the news, and good luck finding anyone who doesn't suffer from that. Of course, you can do your own digging. Good luck with trusting the internet to make you an expert on all things. ...And if the media is biased or mistaken, then can't the books you read or the other sources you find be biased just as easily? Are you going to do your own research on subjects ranging from nuclear physics, the state of Baltic manufacturing, the quality and disposition of OPEC versus North American oil deposits? I hate the media as much as the next guy and I odn't doubt they're corrupt or incompetent a lot of the time, but I don't see how we can do without them or someone so much like them that the difference lacks any real distincion.

Actually, I tend to agree with Bruce. Most outlets, from Fox to MSNBC and CNN to BBC, can't afford to out and out lie. Commentary is commentary, and so you get opinion, and various stories will get more or less airtime depending on the source, but none of them will lie. It would completely destroy them. I personally get news from a variety of sources. Because I'm more conservative, I like Fox reporting, but I regularly read other outlets, from CNN, BBC, the Huffington Rag, and even facebook. If it's an important story, I tend to check at least a few outlets. I think Fox does tend to be a little more entertaining, but even they irritate me sometimes, both on the conservative and liberal angle. Anyone who thinks Fox is all conservative should watch Sheppard Smith reports sometime. ...But, yeah, they're a lot more conservative than CNN and way the hell more conservative than MSNBC. (And simply a better news organization than MSNBC too, although I did used to enjoy Olbermann (sp?) when he was on air. lol Countdown!) I canceled my cable TV, though, so I don't actually watch anything live anymore for the most part.

Hello, I'm an Mediocre Middle-aged One, God of benevolence and brewing. Hastur by name, brewer by habit. I didn't want to boggart ShadySand's thread, although if it's okay with him I'm happy to merge this thread into the drinking one. I just didn't want to turn it into a homebrew thread lest I step on toes. I'm going to share my latest recipe for mead. The mead came out better, although it still has to age. I racked about three gallons after about a month and put two gallons of the batch in two one gallon secondary fermenters. I racked one of the gallons a few days ago. One gallon is still in the carboy. I've had some already and I can really taste the lemon, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stuff has been fermented to the max, so it'll hit you like a jackhammer if you throw it down fast. A little dry for the wife, but that will get better as it ages. Probably let the last gallon sit for another few months and then add bentonite if it's isn't completely clear. The lees (yeast and other cloudy particulates) don't hurt anything, but they can have a specific taste (which isn't always bad) and, even worse to some folks, it's considered a flaw in the batch regardless of taste. 13lbs honey juice from 5 lemons zest from one lemon ~2.5 tbsp. nutmeg 5 cinnamon sticks ~five gallons of purified water Red Star champagne yeast Boil water and honey, skimming foam off the top put juice, nutmeg, and cinnamon in the boil. When no longer foaming, remove from heat and let cool. Pitch yeast and set aside until the must cools sufficiently to add. After must cools, siphon into 5 gallon glass carboy. Add yeast. Cork top with bung and airlock. Ferment 2-3 weeks or until the mead is clear. Bottle and cork. Set bottles on their sides in a cool dark place for several weeks or months before drinking. (I decided to let some stay in secondary fermenters as I've said.) I was thinking of adding a picture, but this is a big post already.

It's probably easy to be urbane, intelligent, and wise about the demise of the media, but it had a central hand in eroding the public's trust. There are still some outlets that do rather well even as others have been diminished. This has always been the case. Well, I would say always, but in the grand scheme of human history, the media as we know it is rather young. An infant, some might say. As for the voters acting against their interest, that's been going forever. Ask the Athenians about that splendid expedition to Sicily! Either you believe in the Republic or you don't. If you do, be prepared to go down with the ship. Then again, earthly things rise and fall, so might as well take the poison of your choosing. Also, one must note the difference between short term interests and long term interests and of course the odd fool who sees that he might not achieve riches long or short term but who believes a small amount of sacrifice of self interest might be the best thing for the community as a whole. Moreover, the majority of states won't see a difference. It's actually far more reasonable for someone like me to vote for a third party candidate if I want to promote one. After all, you can come up with theoretical arguments that my vote here will swing things, but if Hillary Clinton wins this state because I didn't vote for Trump, or if Trump could've won here with my vote, then Hillary lost the election hours earlier. I will agree with an earlier comment about likeability not being the best or even a good indicator of ability in office. That's actually a vote for Trump. Of course, my short term interest is not served by having to see and hear the guy since I can't stand him. On the other hand, my satisfaction from seeing people get bent out of shape when I tell them I'm going to vote for Trump is immense. I typically hate to deceive people even on trivial stuff, so I'll probably tell them I'm voting for Trump even though I'm casting for the Libertarian ticket, but the temptation is great! :D All that said, I like the two party system. I just wish it got back to working again. The two parties are supposed to be big tents, but I think they've had some serious problems along these lines increasingly over time. That's not just everyone's favorite 'Hitler' party (ha!), but also the party of 'Stalin.'

Don't anybody off himself. Relieve your frustration by coming here to bitch about it. Oh, and don't strap on a vest and off anyone else either.

Wow, thanks man. I'm kind of an internet nomad, but I appreciate the warm welcome. I might not ever get you to vote Republican, but if I ply you with enough mead I might get you to sing Kumbaya with me. We'll probably be off-key, but we'll be sauced so we won't care.

It used to be that I could sympathize with the exasperated "How can you vote for Trump!?!" question. I mean, I try not to be overbearing about my politics, but, just like my faith, I'm not going to hide it. So I would try to explain that a lot of Republicans are not at all happy with Trump but we can't support the Democratic agenda and we're hoping that Trump's policy outlook won't be entirely bad but we're certain that Hillary's will be worse at any rate. Of course, when my ignorant liberal friends complain about how conservative Trump is and how he wants to set up a Christian theocracy or whatever nonsense, I try to explain, with utmost patience, that Trump is not a 'conservative.' He's not even really a Republican. He's a Trumpian demagogue. Now, however, I don't see how Democrats can point the finger at us. I mean, this is finally a "yeah, but so are you!" argument I can actually understand. I respect that some people support the Democratic ticket, and I know part of supporting the Clinton candidacy is pretending that she's great and that she's the victim of a vast right wing conspiracy and other non-sense, but do yourselves a favor and don't believe your own press releases. It's one thing to say, as a friend recently did, that's she's just "an old grandma that doesn't understand technology" before all of the facts came out. It's entirely different now. I respect that some people want to make Trump into the ultimate boogeyman, but I just don't get it. Trump is considerably less frightening than Hillary. His corruption is personal and incidental. Her corruption is systemic and focused. Trump will undoubtedly do foolish things out of whim and incontinence. Clinton will do corrupt things out of malice and machination. With that said, while in real life I will continue to tell folks that I'm voting for Trump, I will confide in you, being strangers, that I have decided to vote for Johnson. I am not a 'conservative.' I am a 'liberal' in the correct sense of the term and while I don't agree with all of the Libertarian platform, I could certainly stomach it better than what we've been getting lately from both parties. I'll see what happens in four years, but for right now I'm not voting the Republican Presidential ticket for the first time in my adult life.

I start to feel guilty about bogarting this thread into a homebrew discussion. I like trying new stuff from the store also and that's what this thread was, I think. I might look into the link Chilloutman posted, though. Instersting stuff.

I don't know you Bruce, but I might as well like you too. However, while I respect your devotion and love of the flavor of cool aid that the liberal establishment is serving, it just doesn't pass the smell test to turn this issue into an indictment of Trump, Assange, or the Russians. No amount of slight of hand or mental gymnastics will change the fact that the emails depict shady activities in the Democratic party. Sure, there's probably some of the same going on with Republicans, but that's the problem. If people are just now realizing the fix is in, at least they're finally seeing things as they are. Turns out the tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists really did uncover a conspiracy. Most of the stuff in the emails depict a dog bites man sort of news event. Some of it is remarkable, though.

I've been indulging in my own brew tonight and I've learned not to post too much at that point unless I want to make crazy assed bets that I'm honor bound to fulfill. Let me just say before I approach this in a more lucid manner tomorrow, don't go overboard with hydrometer readings. If you're doing beer, I wouldn't worry at all. Sample a bit after your airlock goes about a minute a bubble release or less and if it tastes good (considering it's flat at that time), you're probably good. Beer is probably the easiest to do for first time brewing, but it's a lot messier and you'll have to use a jar and tubing for air lock since it bubbles like a madman. Also, you'll have to carbonate it. Mad (and I think this is true of cider as well) tends to carbonate if you 'rack' it (why not just say bottle?) while it's still fermenting, so you'll make bottles of mead bombs if you bottle it too soon. You can chemically stabilize it or refrigerate it, however, or even ferment it to the max for high ABV and then add honey (or whatever you want to add to make your brew a little sweeter)) with some potassium sorbate. Ugh, before I just spout out with advice, let me come at this fresh tomorrow or some other time. However, I will tell you one thing from experience, there's nothing like opening your fridge and cracking open your own brew or even better sharing one of your own personal brews with a friend. It really is great and worth, in my personal and humble opinion, the work.

You commie bastard, that made me laugh out loud!

That's true. Another name for that is sell out. I sympathize with Sander's predicament, but he always said his movement is more than him. The Sanders supporters need to ask themselves, "Do we hate Trump so much that we're willing to back the candidate who embodies the political machinery we've stated we hate in politics today." Sure, most of them will. Perhaps a huge number, but I think Hillary will fall short of the 90% stated support she had before this whole thing broke out. It's hard for folks to deny the essential flaw in her character, namely corruption. Sanders is clearly settling for what concessions he can get on the front end in lieu of the chance for real long term organizational change.

Never been much of a shandy fan. I just deleted the rest of my post because it shamelessly talks about homebrew stuff. Please, dear God, are there any other homebrew enthusiasts here?!? ...But, yeah, I'm pretty sad in that if I have any of my own stuff around, I drink that first, but I like beer and pretty much drink what's on hand even if I 'don't like it.' hehe

What he said. Seriously, crazy assed times right now. Of course, when I was a kid we were all convinced we were going to end up in nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It's still appalling to think that so many people got stabbed to death. I guess being disabled doesn't make it easy to defend yourself. The guy apparently said that he thought there should be no disabled people or some such.

Trump is Barney Fife and Clinton is Mr. Burns. Looks like Dems are calling on Bernie to cool the Bern.