Since we had great content by contributors, today, I decided to not enact your labor for you and make links. But I didn’t want to hear Rainman-style screeching when the afternoon links didn’t run on time, so here you are… talk and link amongst yourselves.
But hey, I got paid today.
The Pink Pirate was born of a combination of intolerance and boredom. The intolerance part comes from Mrs. Dean: there is a fairly short list of liquors that she can tolerate without headaches and just kinda weird side-effects. Tequila fell off of her short list a few months ago, so she’s basically down to rum, rye whiskey, and beer. Effin’ tragic, I tells ya.
Thus, the boredom: Her cocktail rotation was down to three or four drinks. I needed a new recipe, and for some reason was fixated on working cranberry juice into a cocktail. After surprisingly little experimentation, the Pink Pirate was born.
This is a summer drink for getting people hammered in a hurry – the dry of the cranberry juice, the tart of the lime juice, and the heat/sweet of the ginger beer syrup all work together to make a dangerously drinkable libation. Since we invented this one, we get to name it, and between the party-pink color of the final product and the rum, the Pink Pirate was born.
Pink Pirate
3 oz. white rum (Flor de Cana)
1 ¼ oz. cranberry juice (unsweetened, not the cranberry juice cocktail)
¾ ounce lime juice
Ginger beer (Maine Root or Cock and Bull preferred)
This one can also be made with 1 oz. Pickett’s No. 1 Medium Ginger Beer Syrup and club soda/seltzer instead of ginger beer.
Ginger Beer Recipe:
Pour the rum, cranberry juice, and lime juice over rocks in a highball glass. Top with @ 6 oz. ginger beer. Stir.
Ginger Beer Syrup Recipe:
Pour the rum, cranberry juice, ginger beer syrup, and lime juice into a mixing glass. Mix well – the syrup will need to be stirred or it will separate out. Top with club soda/seltzer to @ 11 oz. total. Pour over rocks in a highball glass.
You could probably throw a lime garnish on it if you want to dress it up a little. Hell, one of those little umbrellas would look right at home on this one.
The kind of white rum you use isn’t terribly important – the rum is backgrounded by the all the other flavors. I did try making this with dark rum, but it just wasn’t as crisp and refreshing.
As ever, cocktailing is all about proportions and balances – feel free to adjust any of the amounts to dial it in to your preference.
Sorry for the rushjob this week. We just moved into a new office with zero privacy, so I don’t have the luxury of polishing this off during downtime at work. I’m trying to get this written up before I leave for work.
As we approach the end of the first GlibFit challenge, I hope your goal is close to being attained. For me, I’m a creature of habit. If I can establish a habit, things will go really well. If not, I’m going to constantly struggle. I don’t know whether that’s a universal human thing or only for certain personality types.
I’ve had a really hard time adjusting to the zillion schedule changes that have happened during this challenge. I started out in a temporary office in a decent routine, but when we moved out of that office, things went to shit. One week Two weeks Three weeks Three and a half weeks of work from home later, the new office was finally opened yesterday. Of course, this new office was originally slated to be ready when I started this job over a year ago, but let’s ignore that.
To some extent, this is just an excuse. It doesn’t truly matter what your schedule is, you can eat a healthy diet and find an hour to pound out a couple miles on a treadmill. However, establishment of habits requires a bit of stability. The purpose of this challenge isn’t to be healthy for 10 weeks, it’s to give us a bite sized goal that is long enough in duration to cement healthy habits into place permanently.
Anyway, I’m gonna try to close out this last week on a positive note, and I encourage those of you who have also had trouble establishing the habit to end the challenge with a bang so that you’re in a good place to cement your habits into place when challenge #2 starts up in a few weeks. (Additional details to follow)
Links. Generic Links. You get them, on special today, because it is Friday…and frankly, the “use by” date is getting close.
Sports
Baseball? Baseball happened – I really don’t want to talk about it (#@$% White Sox bullpen). Golf – Masters underway, Spieth leading. NHL – Yeah, playoffs. Soon…for most of you.
Birthdays
Raphael Sanzio (1483), Anthony Fokker (1890), Lowell Thomas (1892), James Watson (1928), Billy Dee Williams (1937), Merle Haggard (1937), Zamfir (1941 – shout out to Pie), Udo Dirkshneider (1952), Janet Lynn (1953), Keith Hunter Jesperson (1955 – “Canadian-born serial killer”), Oliver Miller (1970),
Links
OK, that’s all folks. On to commenting.
I’m stuck in documentation hell. After I finish the design overview, I can start mapping data fields. Or I can go on hunt to figure out where all my reference hyperlinks should go. Oh, and then I can do a what-if analysis on technical risk for the PM. I already checked, none of my appendages will fit into the shredder, but I think the fan is sturdy enough to hold this noose I fashioned from old network cable… One thing I like to do is give the systems Laundry Files style codenames in my original draft so that it looks like “CORROSION RED MONDAY will feature a bi-directional, multi-entity integration with HOLYSTONE UMBER BORON mediated by AZURE LOGIC APPS”. Just… don’t forget to run find and replace before you circulate it. Trust me.
Cancel exercise ROMERO ORANGE ZULU, Patient Zero has been located.
Subject POLLUTANT GREEN CLEARCUT is under attack again. Will there even BE an environment to protect by the time he’s destroyed?
Case RAILROAD BROWN TIDE appears to be stuck. That stinks.
Too good to check: Operation PURPLE HEAD HYPOCRITE it a go. We’ll see “live boy/dead girl” is still the stay/go standard for pols.
50 years ago today this came out– I’m low on ideas.
Some Background
The Salton Sea was created in 1905 when engineers attempted to divert the Colorado River inland to irrigate the Imperial Valley. The flood engulfed the lower than sea level plain and created the Salton Sea over a period of two years. When the diversion was capped, it was thought that the lake would soon dry up, but nature and man said no…
The 50’s and 60’s brought the cream of Hollywood. This was, after all, the Riviera of the West Coast.
Fishing, boating and seaside leisure weren’t the realm of the rich, and everyone enjoyed life on the the great inland sea.
OK, TMI: the Salton Sea is dead, and so are all the surrounding towns, whether they know it or not. So on to Slab City…
From Wikipedia: “Camp Dunlap was a U.S. Marine Corps base activated on October 15, 1942, as a training facility during World War II. The camp was named for Brigadier General Robert H. Dunlap. It was used to train artillery and anti-aircraft units of the Fleet Marine Force. The base was located at the present-day location of Slab City (also known as The Slabs) in Imperial County, California. In October 1961, the United States Department of Defense conveyed the land on which Camp Dunlap was situated back to the State of California.” Let’s visit…
Salvation Mountain
I guess it’s a Christian thing, but a very colorful pile of dirt greets you at the entrance to The Slabs. And sadly, it’s become very touristy–a small scale Disneyland. So much so that they closed the yellow brick road to the top, which is still very cool.
East Jesus
From what I’m told by the overlords, this area is owned by an affiliate of the Burning Man group. It was originally created by Charles Russell as an art studio and creative space for artists to, well, create. According the docent I spoke to (a crazy old hipster dude), there are three rules of East Jesus:
The entire facility is a magical dream of a dystopian future: beautiful and haunting. I long to be there, even as I write this.
The Range
The Range is the outdoor theatre built by Builder Bill, and on the weekends it hosts many local and outside musical thing., I was told open mic ran from noon til ??? So when we drove by and saw people jamming we dropped in. I met Bill and introduced myself as Bob the Builder, and are we related? It was a good ice breaker, but Bill said Sunset til ??? Bummer because we brought our guitars, etc. While we had a good chat about the state of the Slabs with Bill, we offered food and drink and smoke, which made us many friends. Chuck chatted up Bob and Jinxie, who are a few of the more talented of the group, but everyone had something to offer. We have been offered a slot in two weeks to come and play, local friends!
The Coliseum
This place is a big reason I decided to come. The level of artwork in The Colosseum is astounding. Of course, someone has ruined part of it, but the portraits on the large tower are so big and so high, no graffiti artist can wreck them. And the Graffiti is astounding, as well. I guess if you’re gonna wreck something, do it right.
Impressions
When you first arrive, it seems like a video game, truly a vast wasteland of scrap metal and debris/trash. But then you notice an order to things, very twisted–yet it has a flow and an odd rhythm to it. I felt at peace, and didn’t carry any weapons. I felt no need. Every person I spoke to was quite adamant about the lack of violence and crime. They take care of their own, they tell me. OTOH, everyone I met seemed a bit… off. I took no pics of locals, and didn’t intrude on anyone, no video interviews, etc. It seems tacky to me to treat these people in their homes as zoo animals.
FUCK Snowbirds!
Whilst enjoying the peace of East Jesus a pack of six or so giant dune buggy things came up, spewing noise and tourists all over, ruining the experience for us. SAD!
Conclusion
We are going back in two weeks to overnight and play some songs. Here’s a link to the entire album, which has many more pics.
More info is out there, but I went for myself and for you guys. Glib reportage, as it were. It is a very free place, and you could feel the vibe everywhere. I’m going back, and spend more time there, I must.
Until part 2!
STEVE SMITH ANGRY! GRRR! HIM NOT LIKE FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE GO MISSING. HIM GET THEM BACK!
RAHHHHH!!!!!!!! HIM FIND CAPTORS! NOW TEACH LESSON! BY TEACH LESSON, MEAN RAPE.
YOU NO MESS WITH FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE!
STEVE SMITH FIND BOTH MISSING PEOPLE. LOOK OK TO STEVE SMITH, ONCE HIM GET ONE OUT STRAIGHT-JACKET AND ONE OUT EXAM TABLE STRAPS. BUT THEY NO GIVE LINKS YET. STEVE SMITH DO THAT, SO FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE CAN MAKE COMMENTS.
STEVE SMITH GO BACK TO WOODS NOW. SEE MORE ALIEN OR AGENT, HIT ON HEAD WITH BIG ROCK.
We’re not even halfway into 2018, and we already have our first female, vegan, Baha’i, animal rights activist, immigrant, who assaulted YouTube HQ in the name of ‘free speech’ as part of her larger grievance against their demonetization campaign just after YouTube banned a whole swath of channels focused on firearms.
All this while ticking off both the “crazy” and “hot” boxes on her census form as well!
The many forms of Huehuecoyotl are just manifestations of the one true God, and Charles Fort is his prophet.
¡Buenos nachos Gliberinos! You all want links?? You want them with red or green salsa? None? Weirdos.
El Trumpeñero floats the idea of using the military spending to pay for the Wall but also that the Baltic states couldn’t understand the situation, because Trump knows. It is known.
“El presidente también habló sobre la caravana de migrantes de Centroamérica que actualmente se desplazan a través de México y que planean entregarse y solicitar asilo una vez que lleguen a la frontera con Estados Unidos. Él ha exigido un alto a la caravana en una serie de tweets
“Si llega a nuestra frontera, nuestras leyes son tan débiles y patéticas, ustedes (los líderes bálticos) no entenderían esto porque sé que sus leyes son fuertes en la frontera, es como si no tuviéramos frontera”, dijo.
Trump dijo que le dijo a México “muy enérgicamente” que “vas a tener que hacer algo con respecto a estas caravanas”.
Aunque dijo que Estados Unidos está renegociando el acuerdo comercial del TLCAN con México y Canadá, enfatizó que la seguridad fronteriza tendría que ser parte del trato.”
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The president also spoke about the caravan of migrants from Central America who are currently moving through Mexico and who plan to surrender and seek asylum once they reach the border with the United States. He has demanded a halt to the caravan in a series of tweets
“If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and pathetic, you (the Baltic leaders) would not understand this because I know their laws are strong on the border, it’s like we have no border,” he said.
Trump said he told Mexico “very energetically” that “you’re going to have to do something about these caravans.”
Although he said the United States is renegotiating the NAFTA trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, he emphasized that border security would have to be part of the deal.
If you are a fan of Stella Artois, be careful as the beer may contain glass.
“La marca de cerveza Stella Artois, perteneciente a la empresa Anheuser-Busch Inbev, anunció este lunes que un lote de sus botellas que fue distribuido a Estados Unidos y Canadá podrían contener partículas de vidrio en su interior.
A través de un comunicado de prensa, Stella Artois anunció el retiro de esta mercadería. Asimismo, se precisó que se trata de botellas de 330 mililitros en paquetes de 6, 12, 18 y 24 unidades, además de los paquetes “Best of Belgium”.
¿Cuál fue el origen del problema?
La empresa aseguró que el retiro de estas unidades equivale a menos del 1% de las botellas distribuidas anualmente en América del Norte. Atribuyó, además, el origen de las botellas con partículas de vidrio en su interior a otra empresa que fabrica estos envases para Stella Artois.
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The brand of beer Stella Artois, belonging to the company Anheuser-Busch Inbev, announced on Monday that a batch of its bottles that was distributed to the United States and Canada could contain glass particles inside.
Through a press release, Stella Artois announced the withdrawal of this merchandise. Likewise, it was specified that they are bottles of 330 milliliters in packs of 6, 12, 18 and 24 units, in addition to the “Best of Belgium” packages.
What was the origin of the problem?
The company assured that the withdrawal of these units is equivalent to less than 1% of the bottles distributed annually in North America. He also attributed the origin of the bottles with glass particles inside to another company that manufactures these containers for Stella Artois
Apparently, the Spanish word for Nazi–is Nazi.
Jakiw Palij vive a sus 94 años en Nueva York y, al contrario que millones de indocumentados, tiene la seguridad de que -por ahora- no va a ser deportado, pese a tener incluso una orden de expulsión emitida hace unos 15 años. En 2004 una corte federal de la ciudad de los rascacielos le despojó de su ciudadanía por haber mentido en el formulario para naturalizarse.
Palij no reveló nunca durante todo su proceso migratorio que había trabajado como guardia en Treblinka, un campo de concentración en Polonia en el que en 1943 hasta 6,000 judíos murieron en un solo día y fueron enterrados en fosas.
El hombre, que nació en Polonia, llegó con 26 años como un refugiado de guerra a Estados Unidos en 1949, se hizo ciudadano en 1957 y vivió durante más de 50 años trabajando como dibujante hasta que finalmente se retiró.
Su pasado había quedado olvidado hasta que investigadores federales lo denunciaron por ser cómplice de algunos de los episodios más sórdidos del holocausto. Funcionarios del Departamento de Justicia también afirman que Palij también ofreció sus servicios en Trawinki, otro campo en el que se entrenaba a tropas secretas para llevar a cabo el exterminio de judíos polacos.
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Jakiw Palij lives to his 94 years in New York and, unlike millions of undocumented people, he is sure that -for now- he will not be deported, despite having even an expulsion order issued some 15 years ago. In 2004 a federal court in the city of skyscrapers stripped him of his citizenship for having lied on the form to become naturalized.
Palij never revealed during his immigration process that he had worked as a guard in Treblinka, a concentration camp in Poland in which in 1943 up to 6,000 Jews died in a single day and were buried in graves.
The man, who was born in Poland, arrived at the age of 26 as a war refugee to the United States in 1949, became a citizen in 1957 and lived for more than 50 years working as a cartoonist until he finally retired.
His past had been forgotten until federal investigators denounced him for being an accomplice of some of the most sordid episodes of the holocaust. Justice Department officials also claim that Palij also offered his services in Trawinki, another camp in which secret troops were trained to carry out the extermination of Polish Jews.
Good news everyone! The Colorado River is drying up. Either that or it was grossly misallocated for nearly a century by state and federal regulators.
De esta parte del río dependen hoy una de cada 10 personas en el suroeste del país (Baja California, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah y Colorado) y entre ellos a un tercio de los hispanos que viven en EEUU y se desempeñan en labores de producción agrícola o turismo y servicios a lo largo de la ribera.
La situación actual preocupa a las autoridades: el uso del agua del río, la población que la usa y las temperaturas globales van en aumento creciente y acelerado y como consecuencia de ello no solo se disminuye el caudal del río (por uso y evaporación) sino también hay menos lluvias y nieve para alimentarlo. En resumen: huele a peligro y no hay demasiadas (o suficientes) alternativas en proceso.
“El sistema del río Colorado enfrenta la peor sequía registrada. El nivel del agua del lago Mead, que sirve como el principal reservorio de agua del sur de Nevada (y que proviene del río), ha caído más de 130 pies desde enero de 2000”, explica a Univision Bronson Mack, portavoz de la Autoridad del Agua del Sur de Nevada.
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Of this part of the river today, one out of every 10 people in the southwestern part of the country (Baja California, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado) depend and among them one third of the Hispanics who live in the US and work in agricultural production or tourism and services along the riverbank.
The current situation worries the authorities: the use of river water, the population that uses it, and global temperatures are increasing and accelerating, and as a consequence, the flow of the river is not only reduced (by use and evaporation), but There is also less rain and snow to feed it. In short: it smells like danger and there are not too many (or sufficient) alternatives in the process.
“The Colorado River system faces the worst drought recorded. The water level of Lake Mead, which serves as the main reservoir of water in southern Nevada (and that comes from the river), has fallen more than 130 feet since January 2000, “Bronson Mack, spokesman for the Authority, told Univision. of Southern Nevada Water
Translation services available by the Alpha Beta Corporation, who now sends me ads in Spanish.
As many well know, I find property and land taxes to be the devil. Literally the worst form of taxation (I could be convinced that a capitation tax is worse). In thinking about why I feel that way, I realized that one of the big factors in my perception of a tax is escapability. How easy is it to get around paying that tax?
Consumption taxes (sales tax, etc) tend to be relatively easy to get around. Depending on the product, you can make it yourself, barter for it, pay for it under the table, or structure the sale so that tax isn’t applicable (online sales). Targeted consumption taxes (like the Fair Tax) are even easier to get around. Buy all but your essentials used, and you pay no tax.
Income taxes are harder to get around, but you have options depending on the circumstances. You can put your money into tax-advantaged investment accounts. You can take your income in creative ways that alters the type of tax you pay on it. You can offset your income with the various tax loopholes provided in the tax code.
Commerce taxes (corporate tax, VAT, etc) are even harder to get around because they’re already priced into your products when you purchase them. You’re reliant on another entity to minimize their tax burden so that you pay less taxes as passed through their products.
Existence taxes (property, land, capitation) are impossible to get around because you have to exist somewhere. Even if you rent instead of own, you’re paying property/land tax. Even if you take no government services, you exist so you owe a capitation tax. The only thing you can do is live somewhere that has a less onerous tax burden than your current locale.
