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$ echo "Just _once_ in _every_ man's life he just _has_ to bust loose and '$ sudo rm -rf *'."
Just _once_ in _every_ man's life he just _has_ to bust loose and '$ sudo rm -rf *'.
$ sudo rm -rf *
Password:
$

|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
| * * * * * * * * *  :::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
| * * * * * * * * *  :::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
| * * * * * * * * *  :::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
|:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
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|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
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Today we celebrate a bunch of guys who privately owned not only guns but cannons and armed ships declaring they'd rather be dead than under the thumb of a tyrant. We've knocked a bit of the polish off the apple since then but it's still the only place in the world where actual liberty still has a fighting chance.

Amy Coney Barrett Is Allegedly a Member of a Religious Group That’s Been Called a “Cult”

The Supreme Temptation of Amy Coney Barrett

Trump should nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to save his presidency

The dogma lives loudly within you.

I told you all this shit a while back and you all brushed it off. Now even full on SJW academics admit that even blue-haired, SJW, feminazi bitches want real men (Azuma and her team excepted of course). It's built into their fucking genetic code to want someone who can protect and provide for the family. There would not be a human being left on the planet were this not an evolutionary trait we picked up along the way.

Poor lefties. Reality has a systemic bias towards the truth and not all the wishful lies in the world are going to change that.

Not for the first time, the thought has occurred to me that an empire, defined as any nation with an expansionist and/or colonialist system of existence, bears several striking resemblances to parasitic and parasitoid species. Beyond simple resource theft, I speak mostly of parallels to how these organisms often lose functions from their own genomes in favor of allowing the host to perform them instead...and their subsequent complete dependence on said host species. When the hosts either die out or move on, the parasite too withers and dies.

There has been a pattern throughout history of analogous processes taking place in imperialist nations. What chiefly concerns me here is the effective outsourcing of both manufacture and raw-material procurement, beyond what is necessary due to said resource not existing natively or lack of infrastructure at home. Rome, in its middle and latter days, relied on grain imports and slave labor. Britain's loss of India had much to do with its economic dependence on its colony, for textile manufacture for example. And I don't think I need to paint you a picture of the effects of globalization on the US's economy, specifically with regard to wage depression and overseas flight of production.

What all these have in common is that the people at the top are essentially trading the vitality and independent function of the nation they rule--and make no mistake, the golden rule, that the guys with the gold make the rules, is and has always been in full force--for their own personal enrichment. Whether it be kings or CEOs of multinational corporations with US headquarters, the end effect is the same, because the concentration of power is the same.

(Incidentally, this is why the Citizens United decision was such a complete disaster and why lobbying itself ought to be illegal: making money does not always coincide with the interests of the nation, and very often opposes them in a global society.)

So...where does this end? Eventually, the empire in question allocates more resources to maintaining its "interests" (read: colonies) overseas and across borders than it does internally. And the citizens of the empire, especially the poorer ones, suffer more and more over time. There grows, between the moneyed powers and the average citizen, a great, impassible chasm, a gap of not just material wealth but of anomie and hopelessness. The laws and law enforcement apparatus turn inward, protecting not citizens from criminals, but the haves from the have-nots. Long-term planning by the ruling class for the good of the nation becomes not just impossible, not just unthinkable, but outright mocked. The average citizen completely loses faith in the institutions of the nation, and with good reason, for they have become an enemy and they see the citizens as such.

Add to this that no empire ever truly got its power and resource base by above-board, honest, peaceful means--with the possible exception of the Marshall Plan, and even that struck me, all the way back in sixth grade, as a particularly cynical piece of international brinksmanship. Empires have terrible karma. They become ringed with enemies, many of whom may at one point have been allies. Foolish decisions regarding allies and trade and warfare are made. Eventually, the global order shifts...and the empire in question, overextended beyond endurance, demoralized from within, decadent and incompetent and decrepit from decades of internal misrule, is vulnerable and weak and *completely* unable even to see the coming seismic shift as it happens, let alone respond to it after the fact.

Time flows like a river. History does not repeat, but it does rhyme. Care to guess where the US is in this pattern?

Previously: Thermophilic vs. Mesophilic Yogurt Making

I boiled a gallon of milk in an Instant Pot. I let it cool to about 98°F, and then added the filmjölk yogurt drink "culture" and stirred it. I poured 1 quart of that mixture into a mason jar, sealed it, and left it out at room temperature (around 75-77°F). The remaining 3 quarts were heated back to ~115°F. Both yogurts fermented for about 16 hours before going in the fridge.

Both yogurts seemed to have about the same thickness, but the mesophilic yogurt seemed smoother with less lumps. The big difference is in the taste. The thermophilic yogurt has a clear sour/tangy taste as usual, but the mesophilic yogurt is very mild by comparison. That seems to conflict with what this page says about filmjölk (that it has a mild tartness, which I didn't really detect), but it seems clear that the thermophilic strains put out a lot more lactic acid. Increasing the fermentation time would probably have had an effect as well. My taste tester preferred the thermophilic yogurt, but enjoyed both. You could see the sour yogurt as having more uses (such as replacing sour cream or buttermilk in recipes).

I think the next step here would be to try using random storebought yogurt to make mesophilic yogurt. The stuff I used had 10 strains in it, while most yogurts have just 2-3. However, the safe bet is to just make it using the thermophilic process, since almost all of them should have Lactobacillus bulgaricus or Streptococcus thermophilus.

How cheap can you find a gallon of milk? I've seen whole milk at $1-2, and that's basically how much the yogurt costs (maybe with half of a $0.25 cup of yogurt if you aren't back-slopping). The time spent is minimal when using the Instant Pot. Maybe 5-10 minutes in total to pour milk in, hit a button, set the pot aside so it can cool faster, check the temperature with an instant thermometer, stir starter in, hit another button, pour into jars/containers for the fridge, and rinse the pot out. It just takes a day for it all to go down.

Some guy was waxing fundamentalist with a megaphone as he carried a sign upon which he delivered The Christ's once-thought-lost lessons as for example "Gays Deserve AIDS".

Inspired by the bagpiper who got right in this gent's face when he was so very filled with G-d's love that he set out to save a few souls at Portland's Starlight Parade - held after dark with lit up floats, musicians and dancers - I myself walked right up to a perfectly legal and nonviolent distance then with the volume turned all the way up to eleven belted out such timeless hits as The Star Spangled Banner, You Are My Sunshine and Somewhere Over The Rainbow as my quarry struggled in vain to hand out religious tracts at the TriMet Pioneer Courthouse Square MAX Yellow Line Station.

But to my quite cheerful dismay I ultimately conceded he was a better man than I and so demonstrated my good sportsmanship by conceding his victory then suggesting he google "Michael David Crawford Baritone".

What people are saying about Michael David Crawford, Baritone:

"I Love You."

This from a lady who shot an iPhone video of me following Jesus Freak around all over Creation. (I didn't think to request she post it to YouTube.)

When again I take up my tip jar I'll come equipped with URL-bearing handbills that I'll mass produce at NedSpace. We all have the freedom to print a "reasonable" number of pages on a two-sided laser printer as well as the free use of my very favorite musical instrument:

A guillotine paper cutter. I own this particular one that I also use for the case inserts for my instrumental piano EP Geometric Visions: The Rough Draft. I shall soon take up handing them out Free As In Freedom when I sing on the street as well as at Open Mics.

Civilly And Disobediently,

Michael David Crawford, Baritone

PS: Coming Fall 2018: Michael David Crawford LIVE! On Broadway.

(...and Morrison in Downtown Portland, Oregon.)

AMD Threadripper 2990X leak suggests it'll be much cheaper than Intel's i9-7980XE chip

AN OVERLY-KEEN German retailer has potentially revealed how much AMD's upcoming Threadripper 2990X will cost.

Videocardz spotted the since-removed listing at Cyperport, which listed the 32-core CPU with a €1,509 (around £1,300) price-tag, making it roughly €500 more expensive than AMD's 16-core Threadripper 1950X at launch.

However, it also makes the CPU almost €500 cheaper than Intel's Core i9-7980XE flagship, despite the fact that AMD's 32-core chip will likely offer close to double the performance of the lesser-spec, 18-core chip.

$1,500 USD?

Previously: Intel Teases 28 Core Chip, AMD Announces Threadripper 2 With Up to 32 Cores

Creep travels half the world to harass online teen gamer… and gets shot by her mom – cops

Inside Tunisia's Shams Rad - the Arab world's 'only gay radio station'

...and the shop owner got invited to speak at GOP rallies?

Remembering when a baker turned away Joe Biden and received praise from conservatives

The Red Hen isn’t the first Virginia business to bake up controversy by rejecting a political figure’s business.

The owner of a cookie shop turned down the opportunity to serve Vice President Joe Biden in 2012 — and the right embraced him as their small business hero.

He made the decision “because of conviction and principle,” the shop owner told CBS affiliate WDBJ 7 at the time. “I have a difference of opinion of the folks in that campaign, that’s what it was. Also, taking a stance for my faith, my faith in God.”

McMurray’s story was thrust into the national spotlight with the help of conservative news sites, blogs and the wide-reaching Drudge Report. It eventually caught the eye of Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s Vice Presidential nominee at the time, who requested that McMurray introduce him at rally in Roanoke a few weeks later.