I stumbled across an article in Slate which makes the point: beer makers, especially the trendy micro brewers, are addicted to hops:

So when a homebrewer friend recently decided to visit my husband and me from Tennessee, I was excited to spend time with a kindred spirit, someone with whom I could share my favorite brews without having to make a hard sell. The first brewery I took him to was Hopworks Urban Brewery, where I ordered us a pitcher of the Velvet English session beer.

After a few sips, I noticed that he had pushed away his glass. “I’m sorry, guys,” he said when he noticed our puzzled expressions. “This is just way too hoppy for me.”

I was floored. Session beer is light and drinkable—it’s called session beer because you’re supposed to be able to drink several over the course of a drinking session without ruining your palate. If one of my favorite session beers was too hoppy and bitter for an avid beer drinker—for a homebrewer who is currently brewing beer to serve at his own wedding—what would he think of the famed Pacific Northwest IPAs? Do friends let friends drink only pilsners?

That’s when I realized that I had a problem. In fact, everyone I know in the craft beer industry has a problem: We’re so addicted to hops that we don’t even notice them anymore.

The problem is endemic. And I think the last sentence reveals the problem: suds-heads have become desensitized to the bitterness of hops.

We can see the problem of desensitization everywhere in society, actually. We see it in the currently flourishing IRS scandal, where a corrosive Democrat-Media complex demonized Tea Party groups and people whose only crime is to actually think that the Constitution should perhaps be read for comprehension rather than "interpreted as a living document," and that progressive (pun intended) desensitization soaked into the fertile ground of the IRS.

This doesn't excuse the oppression coming from the IRS. Far from it. It simply highlights once again that this kind of political power is just too dangerous to hand to anybody.

Anybody.

Because it's far, FAR too easy to go down the path of thinking you're the "good guy" while you're happily suppressing your neighbors and friends. For their own good, you see.

Stabbing injures several on Lone Star College Cy-Fair campus



Knives don't slash people. People slash people.

Inanimate objects are tools. They don't do anything. They don't think, don't feel, don't care. It is the purpose to which people use the tools which is the issue, despite the incessant partisan ideological shrieking of the control-freak media and their pet politicians.

Story headline stolen from a line by Ace of Spades

Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism

Ratios of commentary/opinion to news content on "news" networks:

MSNBC: 85% commentary/opinion, 15% news;

Fox News: 55% commentary/opinion, 45% news;

CNN: 46% commentary/opinion, 54% news.

Note that MSNBC's commentary/opinion consists overwhelmingly of leftist propaganda, tropes, and groupthink, while Fox presents a range of leftist, conservative, and libertarian viewpoints. (I never watch CNN so I have no idea what their ideological mix is.)

The 2012 14-Day Alaskan Explorer, Holland America ms Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Three

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

July 7 (Saturday, Day 10, Homer) –

Kilts in Homer. Why? Who knows?

Snookums, Filbert and Matt left the ship and looked for the rental car woman on the dock. We didn’t see anyone and asked a local to call the rental car number. We then found the woman in the big maroon van that was to be our rental car. She took us to the airport for us to do the paperwork and then we were off on our adventure.

The 2012 14-Day Alaskan Explorer, Holland America ms Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Two

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

July 3 (Tuesday, Day 6, Juneau) -

Mendenhall Glacier

Filbert and Snookums walked to Juneau Car Rental Company, about a mile from the ship, for our 8-passenger rental van. We picked up everyone else back at the ship and drove to Mendenhall Glacier. Mom and Dad stayed in the visitor’s center while the rest of us “hiked” to Nugget Falls which is a waterfall near the glacier. The weather was nice and it was an easy walk. Pat spotted a mountain goat that all of us were able to see. Snookums still wants to see a bear and a moose, though!

The 2012 14-Day Alaskan Explorer, Holland America ms Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part One

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

June 28 (Thursday, Day 1, Flying to Seattle) -

Flying over Yellowstone

Note – Snookums, four of her siblings, her parents and her husband Filbert are on this cruise.

Our shuttle minivan to the airport showed up on time. Unfortunately, the driver didn’t know how to stow the seat in the floor and after 15 minutes, Filbert was the one that figured it out. In the meantime, Snookums called the shuttle’s office and requested another (complimentary) shuttle minivan be dispatched to Mom and Dad’s house. Our shuttle made it to Mom and Dad’s house and five minutes after we arrived there, the other shuttle arrived. The five of us (Mom, Dad, Judy, Snookums and Filbert) piled into the two minivans and took off for the airport. Jean and Matt (Snookums’s siblings) were there, too.

The heartless abuse of a victim of a horrible crime, in order to advance a cynical, ideological agenda.

Follow the link.

Remembered one evening, sitting around in my sister's living room:

Great green globs of greasy, grimy gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey meat,
French fried parakeet;
Lukewarm vomit floating in my orange juice,
That's what we're having today!

The 2012 35-Day Hong Kong-Athens Cruise, Oceania ms Nautica, 6 of 6

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Six

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

May 11 (Friday, Day 36, Haifa, Israel; 1 ILS = $0.26; $1 = 3.79 ILS) -

Baha'i Gardens

At 8 AM the six of us met Omri to start our day seeing the Christian highlights. We started off by driving to the top of Haifa’s Carmel Mountain for a panoramic view over Haifa bay and the famous Baha'i Gardens. Haifa is Israel’s largest port and third-largest city. The most striking landmark on the mountainside is the gleaming golden dome of the Baha’i Shrine, set amid utterly beautiful circular grass terraces that fill the slopes from top to bottom. Haifa is the world center for the Baha’i faith.

The 2012 35-Day Hong Kong-Athens Cruise, Oceania ms Nautica, 5 of 6

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Five

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

May 7 (Monday, Day 32, Safaga, Egypt continued) -

Crossing the Nile

We drove to an air-conditioned alabaster shop in order to drop Donna off since she decided she was kind of done for the day due to the heat and the need for two knee replacements. The rest of us continued on to the Valley of the Kings ($13.25 per person). This is a valley that contains a lot of tombs that were built for the pharaohs and noble from the 16th to 11th centuries BC. It is most famous for the tomb of Tutankhaman. We saw the tombs of Ramses 1, 9 and 4. Of the three, Ramses 1 was buried the farthest underground and there were quite a few steps and then a ramp to navigate to get to it. The ticket puncher at the entrance gave Filbert a flashlight and helped Barbara down all the steps and ramp. Then he pointed at various paintings/figures on the tomb and told us about them. We were pretty glazed over by that time. We started up the stairs and he expected a tip. We walked by him and ignored him. We didn’t ask for the flashlight or the help down the stairs! We forgot that in Egypt just about everyone expects a tip (or baksheesh). Cameras weren’t allowed in the tombs (all underground, but still hot and stuffy) since the colors could be damaged by flash photography. Barbara went back and waited in the visitors’ center after going to the first tomb but Filbert and Snookums saw all three. (A ticket allowed entrance to three tombs.) There are many tombs and our guide chose these three for us to see. Other tourists were seeing other tombs.

The 2012 35-Day Hong Kong-Athens Cruise, Oceania ms Nautica, 4 of 6

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Four

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

May 6 (Sunday, Day 31, Aqaba, Jordan; continued) -

We're ships of the desert, you know.

Another major site was the Theatre. It is carved into solid rock and can seat 7,000. Although it looks Roman, the Nabataeans built it in the 1st century AD and each seat has a seat number carved into it. (It was, however, apparently impossible to photograph -- Filbert.)

The 2012 35-Day Hong Kong-Athens Cruise, Oceania ms Nautica, 3 of 6

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Three

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

April 28 (Saturday, Day 23, Mumbai, India; 1 INR = $0.02; $1 = 51.66 INR) -

Indian Navy submarine, out for a weekend cruise around Mumbai Harbor

Since we are not that fond of India, we didn’t get off the ship. The ship left Mumbai at 5 PM.

The 2012 35-Day Hong Kong-Athens Cruise, Oceania ms Nautica, 2 of 6

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Two

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

April 21 (Saturday, Day 16, Phuket, Thailand; 1 THB = $0.03; $1 = 30.81 THB) -

Shrine

Snookums woke up, showered and almost fainted. She had to sit on the toilet until the bright white lights dimmed. Snookums returned to the doctor at 8 AM for another temperature check and her temperature was normal but her blood pressure was 85/62 which is very low for her. She still didn’t feel well, either, and decided not to go on the Phuket tour. Filbert and Snookums had booked a Phuket tour with six other people and Filbert went since it needed to be paid for and there was nothing he could do for Snookums. Snookums stayed behind and watched movies. (This was the one tour that Snookums really wanted to do on the cruise since it involved riding an elephant.)

The 2012 35-Day Hong Kong-Athens Cruise, Oceania Nautica

April 6 – May 14, 2012

Text by Snookums, Pictures and Webification by Filbert

This is the table of contents for the online version of our trip journal. Here are the chapters:

Part One - Home to Hong Kong and on to Singapore

Part Two - Phuket, Thailand to Mumbai, Egypt

Part Three - Mumbai, Egypt to Aqaba/Petra, Jordan

Part Four - Aqaba, Jordan to Safaga/Luxor, Egypt

Part Five - Safaga, Egypt to Haifa, Israel

Part Six - Haifa, Israel and home.

The 2012 35-Day Hong Kong-Athens Cruise, Oceania ms Nautica, 1 of 6

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part One

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

April 6 (Friday, Day 1, Flying to Hong Kong) -

Snookums woke up feeling better than yesterday when she had a temperature of 99.5°, felt nauseous and had a headache for most of the day. Super Shuttle picked us up around 9 AM and we got to the airport and enjoyed sitting in the American Airlines lounge for a few minutes before boarding the flight to Chicago. We ate our Target salads that we brought with us and the flight went by quickly. We had to clear security again at O’Hare since our Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong was flying out of the international terminal. We spent about one hour in the Swiss Air Lounge since we were flying business class. We used American Airlines miles for our one-way tickets from Kansas City to Hong Kong. Economy class was going to require 40,000 miles per person and business class was 55,000 so we went with the 55,000 mile option (plus $30 per person for taxes). Had we purchased the ticket, it would have cost $3756.90 per person. Flying business class also meant we had lounge access. It was too bad we ate on the flight to Chicago since the spread in the Swiss Air Lounge included oven fried chicken, hot pasta, salad, fresh fruit and packets of Oreos and Fig Newtons.

Item: Democratic Assemblyman Arrested After Allegedly Threatening to Shoot Fellow State Representative

Item: Va. lawmaker who brandished AK-47 during legislative session was disbarred following assault, death threat

These are not your average Democrat-in-the-street. These are elected representatives, for whom your average Democrat-in-the-street voted for and put into positions of power and authority.

The fact is that everything the Democrats and "progressives" think about Republicans and "conservatives" is the result of psychological projection. This is a core cause of the Democrat's excessive, paranoid fear of guns, and their unthinking terror when considering economic freedom in general.

In fact, "conservatives" are more able to understand the motivations of "progressives" than "progressives" are able to understand "conservative's" motivations. This is the plain implication of Jon Haidt's research

If Democrats and "progressives" (which, by the way, includes the overwhelming majority of people working in journalism) want to find the greater part of the problem with political discord today, they need to consult the closest mirror.

Hat tip: Freedom is Just Another Word transitive via IMAO.

First, David Zurawick in the Baltimore Sun:

ON MSNBC, the ratio of negative to positive stories on GOP candidate Mitt Romney was 71 to 3.

That's not a news channel. That's a propaganda machine, and owner Comcast should probably change Phil Griffin's title from president to high minister of information, or something equally befitting the work of a party propaganist hack in a totalitarian regime. You wonder how mainstream news organizations allow their reporters and correspondents to appear in such a cauldron of bias.

I thought show host Sean Hannity of Fox News defined party propagandist. But while his channel was bad, it wasn't as bad-boy biased as MSNBC.

The ratio of negative to positive stories in Fox's coverage of President Obama was 46 to 6.

Next the Pew Research Center release:

From the conventions until the first debate, a period of improving polls for Obama, Romney suffered his period of the most negative coverage; just 4% of stories about him were positive while 52% were negative. Coverage of Obama during this period was fairly evenly split (20% positive vs. 24% negative). That narrative reversed sharply with the first debate. For the next two weeks, Romney saw the mixed treatment (23% positive vs. 23% negative) while Obama was caught in the critical loop, with 12% positive and 37% negative. After the second debate, coverage returned to its more general pattern, with an edge for Obama.

In other words, the media attempted to cover itself from the charge of bias after the first debate which showed Obama to be completely unfit for the office, but returned to cheerleading for him after he performed adequately after the second debate--admitted to by Pew by the phrase "coverage returned to its more general lpattern, with an edge for Obama."

Now, I heartily dislike Hannity's program on Fox News, as being a bad combination of talking-points recitation and shouting matches. But MSNBC at almost any time of day or night is utterly unwatchable by anyone who actually seeks to fairly hear both sides of pretty much any issue. As Zurawick notes, MSNBC is not a news channel, it is a propaganda channel promoting the Democratic Party and socialist "progressive" causes.

And almost all professional journalists share that "progressive" worldview with the MSNBC Ministry of Misinformation, making it almost impossible to actually have a real and honest discussion of any issue of public interest. The professional media is all too often focused on belittling and shouting down any non-socialist, non-Keynesian viewpoint. That's not journalism. That's an ongoing, relentless apologia for the Left.

We'll start on a light note. It'll go downhill fast from there.

Six game road trip starts at Montana -- Go Rabbits!