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Wow! The NSA has deleted 685 million phone calls and text messages. Privacy violations? They blame technical irregularities. Such a disgrace. The Witch Hunt continues. First they came for the Salemites. Then they came for the communists. Now they're coming for me!

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?

For a developer, for a prostitute, for a lawyer -- for so many professional folks -- the client must always come first. Before yourself, before your family, before anything. And sometimes you take a bullet for a client. Or your family takes some bullets. Could be A LOT. It's called being a professional. It's called LOYALTY. It's what you do if you're any good. If you're worth anything!!!

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.

Editor @janrinok asked me to put this in my journal. Because he thinks it's "satire." It's not, believe me, it's news. It's not news, it was news on Monday. It's old news. But it happened. 100%!

Tremendous thing for Turkey, the Turkish people re-elected their terrific President -- overwhelmingly. And gave him A LOT more power. The folks at the Associated Press call it "one-man rule." President Erdogan says it's a victory for democracy. And for national will! foxnews.com/world/2018/06/24/erdogan-proclaimed-winner-in-turkey-presidential-election.html foxnews.com/world/2018/06/25/turkeys-victorious-erdogan-set-to-assume-sweeping-powers.html foxnews.com/world/2018/06/25/whats-next-for-turkey-after-vote-grants-erdogan-vast-powers.html

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

Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders. Together, we are MAKING AMERICA SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN!

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'

Tonight i had a breakthrough with my son!

His norm is to ask for a drink by handing you his cup, or by pointing or by saying 'rink'.
Tonight, i was back at forcing words from him, but this time when getting him to say "I. Want. A. Drink", i moved my arm down and up with every word. Did this a couple times, then used his arm.
Each time i moved his arm down and up again, i said "I. want. a. rink." Then did it again without saying anything but the starting "I."
He then proceeded to finish with "I. want. a. drink."

BIG BREAKTHROUGH, as he usually has to have sentences dragged out of him slowly and prefers the one word answer (so do i: while i admit he gets through to you what he wants when he says "rink", getting him to repeat words and sentences is the next step in removing the tech we have to haul around).
So, it was nice to see this from him. Or...

It.
was.
nice.

(Problem is, as it was with him saying "Butterfly" once and only once no matter how much I praised him and tried to get him to say it again, this may be a one time thing and he may never do it again...

...but will attempt it again tomorrow after he has time to sleep on it, lol.

...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.