Glibertarians.com 2019 Archive

Author: mexican sharpshooter

  • Enter the Twatter!

    Last Friday Twitter Founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey was interviewed by Joe “that’s a complex issue” Rogan.  Should you be of a mind to actually listen to the podcast, the YouTube link is here:  Joe Rogan Experience #1236

    …but be warned.  It is two hours long, Joe is in an exceptionally passive mood, and Jack is pretty much the pompous bullshitter you expect him to be.

    This is my review of Pizza Port Brewery Bacon and Eggs Imperial Coffee Porter.

    To my understanding, Joe has a bit of a marmite effect around here.  Much of the criticism of Rogan’s show is that he rarely challenges his guest, accepts facts from his guests with little question, engages in conspiracy theory, and overall he can be a bit of a meathead.  It is the first item here I wish to focus.  The reason I like his show, aside from constantly having UFC fighters on the show, is Joe does not drive the conversation.  He mostly has a few questions that act as prompts and lets the guest yammer away.

    This allows me to determine if the guest if full of shit in a reasonable amount of time.  For example, prior to the multiple episodes where he interviewed Jordan Peterson, I thought Peterson was just a guy writing self help books and wasn’t particularly interesting.  Boy was I wrong.  Another example is Peter Schiff, where my only exposure was a brief video from TOS where he yells at Occupy Wall Street.  Its cool he did that, but who didn’t want to yell at those idiots?

    Ban me from twatting…. I’m starting my own twatter! With gay frogs! Blackjack, and Green Hookers! AH! The hell with it!

    Back to Dorsey.  Where I want to focus is around the 48 minute mark where Joe asks him about why Alex Jones was banned…if you don’t know what he said by now I’ll let you hit the link here, where his explanation begins.  I’ll wait.

    …

    …

    …

    My ass he doesn’t know!  “It’s just my platform, I don’t always know what goes on in the day to day…..”  whatever Jack.  “Oh, he didn’t violate the terms of service, there was a succession [incoherent mumbling] [more mumbling]…”  Okay, that makes a lot of sense, Alex does have a history of getting in people’s faces, and saying stupid things.  A history that predates Twitter….  No matter what you think of Jones he has the right to say stupid things, excommunicating only feeds the perception social media companies are silencing dissenting voices.  It certainly doesn’t help they enforce their code of conduct subjectively and only seem to drop the hammer on conservatives.  Keep on bullshitting Jack, we get it.

    The problem people have with Joe here is he didn’t challenge Dorsey at all.  He has acknowledged Twitter’s subjectivity in enforcing its rules in the past and that social media is overwhelmingly left wing.  He is even perfectly capable of challenging his guests when he wants to, such as arguing with Dave Rubin over enforcement of building codes, Steven Crowder over his ambivalence with marijuana use, Candace Owens over her “wrong” opinion on Climate Change, or Gavin McInnes for of all things—being Catholic.  Okay, Gavin was either intentionally being an idiot or a troll.

    Jack is full of shit.  Even if one of Dorsey’s companies sponsors Joe’s show (Cash App), Joe could’ve at least pointed out the inconsistencies.  He even apologized for it earlier this week…sort of.

    For a guy that constantly tells people not to be a bitch, Rogan sure bitched out. As of this writing, the ratio is ?11k to ?73k.

    This beer is rather expensive but at least you get six full pint cans.  It is really heavy on the coffee, which means its probably a good choice for day drinking.  Your wife, boss, and mother-in-law will never know the difference.  Pizza Port Brewery Bacon and Eggs Imperial Coffee Porter: 3.5/5.

  • Sunday Sorta Open, Sorta Sporting Event Post

    Greetings sports fans!  Are you actually here, away from the festivities of a well known sporting event?

    There are two kinds of posts, my friend. Those that have links, and those that do not. You have links.

    Whatever the reason you are here and not watching.  Whether you are pulling for Tom Brady to lose his spleen, or counting down the seconds until you get to hear the wailing of LA sports fans after yet another purchased team loses to another team from Boston…or waiting on a comic book villain to level the field and hold the city of Atlanta hostage (that’s just me personally).

    Then there are the number of you that are uninterested in sports, so we have some links for you.  Sort of.

     

    For the sports fans… Trump doesn’t want his son playing football.  Which is fine, I don’t want my kids playing it either and lets face it, Baron strikes me as a weenie.

    For you tweakers…In San Francisco, drug addicts outnumber high school students.  Which in fairness, you might be able to say that about a lot of cities.

    For you seasteaders…there is a cask of whiskey floating in the Indian Ocean…get it before this guy.

    For the nerdz….THERMITE COCKTAIL!!!!

    For the conspiracy theorists…. “Anonymous” “donor” pays to “destroy” “evidence” of the Las Vegas “shooting.”

     

  • Portland Boat Tours

    “Hello?”  I asked.  Who would call me at 0538?  I looked at the call ID and predictably it said, “BLOCKED NUMBER.”

    ”This Pratibha, with Swiss Corps Interational Industries.  How you doing this morning?”  He got a new secretary…from India?

    ”Fine, I guess.  Can this be handled later?  I mean its not exactly polite to call befo—“

    “Mr. Swiss want you to get off you brown ass and wake the fuck up, you late for conference call.”  Pratibha said, to my surprise.

    ”I didn’t make an appointment, and if I did, I wouldn’t make it before sunrise.”  I replied.

    ”I not work for you.  I work for Mr. Swiss.  His only available appointment today is at 7am.  It is not incumbent upon me to reschedule because you cannot adjust to time zone.”

    ”I don’t know if they explained to you how this sort of thing works in outsourcing school, both parties have to agree to a time.”

    ”Outsource?  Huh huh huh huh.”  Good lord that laugh was fake.  “You hillarious.  You fucking funny it only 7:41 am and you the thirrrrrd beaner to make that joke.”  She replied. “I transfer you now.  Next time save the wise cracks for somebody else you wall hopping, piece of monkey shit.”

    I wasn’t even mad…

    “MAGA, BITCH.”

    “mex!  You’re late!”  Swiss yelled into the phone as he is wont to do.

    ”That’s some new secretary you got there.  She always this pleasant?”  I asked.

    ”Pratibha?  Oh, yeah she’s the best.  She’s allowed me to outsource my contempt.  I save a ton of money this way.”  Swiss replied.

    ”Right, so why the appointment before sunrise?”

    ”What? Its 0745 here.  Sunrise was an hour ago.”

    ”Fine, what do you need?”

    ”Are you by a computer?”  Swiss asked.

    ”Not really.  Why?”

    “I need you to setup something for me…”

    As Swiss explained, his Swiss overlords saw an opportunity in the United States to set up a service in response to Elizabeth Warren’s plan to tax 2% of the net worth of people worth over $50 million, or 3% should they be effective enough to be worth over $1 billion.  Because Warren is not the front-runner but certainly isn’t going away and quite frankly other thieves in the government seem to have latched on to the idea like the blood sucking leeches they are, they’ll probably take measures to keep high net worth individuals in the country.  After all, they probably assume the Grand Cayman is going to sink if enough people store their money there, or more likely try to move there.

    ”I need you to set up the Kickstarter.”  Swiss said.

    ”What?  You work for a international corporation, why are you funding this via Kickstarter….you know what, nevermind.  Fine, I’m on the site.”  I conceded.   There’s no point in arguing with these people after they send STEVE SMITH to kidnap your dog.

    “Okay Swiss, what category?”

    “Caregory?  Business? Dumbass.”  Swiss replied.  I wasn’t sure if he knew what I meant.

    ”Okay, Art.  Next question: ‘Describe what you’ll be creating.’”

    ”Service to shuttle high net worth individuals out of the country on a Cigarette Boat.”  Swiss answered.

    ”A Cigarette Boat?  Those aren’t exactly cheap.”  I explained.  “Not something people will fund on Kickstarter.  Normally they fund these things with some kind of return.”

    ”mex, you ever try to out run the Coast Guard?  It ain’t cheap.”  Swiss asked.

    ”As a matter of fact, I have.”

    ”Really?”

    ”No.”

    *narrowed gaze*

    …

    …

    …

    …

    “What country is the account located?”  I asked, breaking the silence.

    ”The Netherlands.”

    ”I thought you worked for a Swiss company.”

    ”I do.”

    ”Speaking of which, I’ve never done an article on a Dutch beer.  You’ve been to the Netherlands.  Are there any that are any good?”  I asked.

    ”No.”

    ”None?”

    ”Nope.”

    ”Not even Oranjeboom?”

    ”Not unless you are a college student, homeless, or otherwise an alcoholic.  The Belgians broke off and took all the good beer with them.”

    ”There’s gotta be one.”

    ”You think so?  mex are you a betting man?”

    ”Possibly.”

    ”You will not be able to find a single Dutch beer worth reccomending.  I will wager a Krugerrand, and trust me, we all know when you’re lying.”

    ”Fair enough,  I will need the IBAN and SWIFT Code…wait, how is the account located in…you know what, nevermind.”  I managed to answer the next few questions without his input.  “Okay, its called Portland Boat Tours.  The page can be found here.”

    ”Portland Boat Tours?”  Swiss asked.

    ”Trust me.  I worked for the federal government once, the last place they will look for anything, is Oregone.”

    ”That makes sense.  This call is over.”

    The first place I asked of course, was the Glibs.  Somebody would have a good suggestion, right?

    Perhaps not.  I did get one that was serious (H/T Nephilium, naturally) but sadly I was unable to locate it locally.  Others, still…seemed determined to make me fail.

    I had to try any I could find.

    Heineken?

    No, thats still Dutch piss.

    Grolsch?

    Cool bottle, but ultimately the proper pronunciation sounded like the sound one makes while puking.

     

     

    Finally, I thought I found one at Trader Joe’s:

    It was light, crisp, balanced and had a pleasant finish.  Sadly, that was before I read the fine print.

    …and so it goes …

  • Nerd Beer!

    My local Kroger had something interesting in the cooler.  Not only was it a reasonably priced Barleywine, it had a cool looking wizard or something on the label.

    This is my review of Ninkasi Critical Hit R&D:

    Typically, this is where I go off on a tangent and explain something I researched from a trigger on the label.  Unfortunately, I am not really a gamer so the best I can do is this:

    Research and Development

    There are two basic R&D structures that have emerged in companies throughout the commerce spectrum. One R&D model is a department that is staffed primarily by engineers who develop new products, a task that typically involves extensive research. The other model involves a department composed of industrial scientists or researchers, all tasked with applied research in technical, scientific or industrial fields, which is aimed at the facilitation of the development of future products or the improvement of current products and/or operating procedures.

    I don’t think that’s right.  Somebody correct me on this one.

    Critical Hit

    A critical hit means that you roll your damage twice (adding to each roll all your usual bonuses, including any additional damage from special abilities) and then add the rolls together to determine the damage dealt.

    That appears more relevant.

    What is a barleywine?  A barleywine is a style of beer not wine.  The name harkens back to a time where beer was typically sold at 5-7% abv.  Being 10-15% abv, this style is more in line with wine.  While a stout or IPA sold at 10% is not unheard of today, a barleywine transcends both because unlike the other two where the flavor profile is dominated by hops or malt, this is meant to be balanced.

    This means the immense amount of malt is equally met with an immense amount of hops, resulting in a complex flavor profile—like wine.  Also like wine, it can be aged because of the high alcohol content. This is not one for the faint of heart.

    Ninkasi put out several others to market in my area that I liked. This one does not dissapoint.  Critical Hit R&D easily scores a 4.5/5.

  • A Close Shave

    A lot of chatter happening this week, which made me postpone what I planned to write about for another week.  As many are undoubtedly aware Gillette, a company that markets razors to both men and women, aired a controversial commercial linked here.

    This is my review of Full Sail Malted Milkshake IPA:

    Many took the message as a negative, saying the commercial insults their customer base.  Making a statement like this their critics say, will drive their customers away, that disagree with the social statement being made.  Strange, given the company itself profits from one of the defining physical characteristics of men—having a beard.

    Gillette itself is not a stand alone company that will suffer as a result of this, rather they are a subsidiary of Proctor & Gamble.  As of this writing P&G was not immediately shorted by a large number of investors, like what happened with Nike. Their stock price was rather flat for the week. Unlike Nike, their product lines are diverse and are necessities that nearly everyone uses.  People will continue buying their soap, their toothpaste and Double Quilted Charmin Toilet Paper.  While it can be argued this is not the first time P&G made such a social statement with one of its brands (remember the ‘like a girl’ campaign?) this is different because they did not criticize previously.  Rather they took what was a pejorative often used by men toward other men (i.e. you play ball like a girl!) and turned it into something positive. Here it appeared to be open criticism, constructive or not.

    Interestingly enough, another P&G brand is Old Spice, whose marketing campaign a few years ago appealed to the lighter side of masculinity, to great success.  

    H/T: You know who you are, you MAGNIFICENT….

    The merits of the message itself, and whether it was intended to insult is not a question to be answered here. As usual such interpretation is best left to the individual.  Will I buy Gillette’s products?  No.  Recently, a fellow Glib challeneged me with an incredibly thoughtful gift.  Should I do what I always do and pick up yet another skill, I may never need to buy a razor again.

    A better question is, are the attributes commonly associated with men something we evolved beyond?  Men typically are more predictable than women at any given time, more assertive, are motivated by physical things, are driven to compete and succeed at different interests than women.  The downside to this, is men more often than women will behave recklessly, and aggressively. These characteristics though are even now being portrayed as positive attributes—in women, as this recruiting commercial for the United States Marines Corps suggests.

    Have we moved past the point where the potential for the negative is too much of a liability for any benefit it can provide?  Competition often breeds adversity, which does not have to be a bad thing. Teaching others in that sense, to overcome adversity and handle it when it defeats them while they are young may be in their best interests later on. Others might be less assertive, and might have a more difficult time adjusting so the argument to show respect for the brainy kid also has merit, because one might not grow up and cure cancer if he or she is always being put down.  Is developing confidence through physical strength best frowned upon, to allow for the more cerebral, even one that might go so far as to act (ahem) like a girl?

    Why does it have to be one or the other?  As I write this, I am at my son’s Tae Kwon Do class.  I am reminded of last week while he was sparring a older boy, with a higher belt.  My son comes across as the brainy kid; in fact he takes an advanced math course because it comes easy to him.  That day, his opponent moved to strike with a round kick.  In response, he stepped in closer to avoid the kick’s impact and landed a front kick to his opponent.  His opponent, a larger and more experienced martial artist, lost his balance and found himself on the floor.  At that moment, my son beat his opponent by outsmarting him.  He learned more about himself than I could ever teach, but he’s still a math geek.

    In the end they shook hands and moved to their next opponent.  No hard feelings.

    If men acting like men are frowned upon, perhaps a way to fight this perception is to understand why those attributes are positive and where to apply them.  The fact these attributes are being encouraged in women is proof enough then are a benefit to society.  The attributes cannot be negated, unlearned, or taken away, they are hard wired psychologically and genetically.  The trick then becomes learning how and when to strike, and use the inherent strengths tactically.  Perhaps then, critics will see the problem is not masculinity, but in their own shortcomings.

    As for the beer, it appears Full Sail went and rebranded unfiltered Sculpin.  Which for the IPA…people is not a bad thing.  Not the hoppiest of IPA out there, but if you dig grapefruit and texture this will not dissapoint. Full Sail Malted Milkshake IPA:  2.7/5

     

  • ¡Escuchen, El Martes Enlaces por la tarde!

    Florida Man gonna Florida Man

    Buenos tardes! I am afraid Brett is busy and is unable to provide your afternoon links. No word on what he is currently up to, but feel free to use your imagination.

    The news from beyond the wall:

    Apparently another 500 migrants left from Honduras. Here is why are leaving:

    “The situation here in Honduras has been bad for years. One tries to make it north, that’s our dream, because here even when you do have work, what you get paid is only just enough to eat.

    “There’s no way to earn enough to get a decent place to live. There are four of us in my family and we all live in a wooden shack.

    “It’s dangerous here. Two rival gangs operate where I live and both have tried to recruit me. They try to paint you a nice picture of gang life but I’m not stupid. I don’t want that life for myself. So I have no alternative but to leave because I don’t want to get into trouble. God willing, I will make it to the US.”

    ‘The gangs want me to sell drugs’ – Keilin, 21

    Secretary of Stare Mike Pompeo says something productive.

    “The Maduro regime is illegitimate and the United States will work diligently to restore a real democracy to that country,” Pompeo told reporters on Saturday in Abu Dhabi during his tour of the Middle East countries.

    Pompeo said the United States would work with like-minded countries in Latin America to restore democracy in the Latin American nation.

    “We are very hopeful we can be a force for good to allow the region to come together to deliver that.”

    Hopefully that doesn’t mean “regime change.”

    Brazilian Trump, does what every fascist did before him and….eases gun restrictions?

    “This measure is for upstanding citizens to have peace at home,” said Bolsonaro, a former Army captain, at an event in Brasilia on Tuesday. He added that the decree ensures Brazilians’ “right of defense” and that further changes to the law depend on congressional approval.

    Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the world, with a murder rate of over 30 homicides per 100,000, compared with around 5 per 100,000 in the U.S. Much of Bolsonaro’s electoral appeal came from his tough line on law and order, including a promise to free up police officers to kill suspected criminals and allow Brazilians to arm themselves. A poll taken last month, however, showed that a majority of Brazilians oppose loosening the country’s gun laws.

    This article looked interesting but once again the journo writing it missed it entirely. Trump’s Policies help the Cuban government instead of the private sector.

    He restricted Americans’ ability to travel to Cuba on their own, rather than with a tour group. At the same time, he allowed U.S. cruise lines to continue to take passengers to Cuba, where they pay millions to disembark at military-run docks and make quick trips onshore that are generally coordinated by government tour agencies that stejrer [their typo not mine] travelers to state-run destinations.

    Cuban government figures from the first full year under Trump’s policy show occupancy of private bed-and-breakfasts in Havana plunged to 44 percent in 2018 after years at near capacity in the wake of President Barack Obama’s start of normalization with Cuba, said Michael Bernal, commercial director for the Ministry of Tourism.

    First off, if the country is communist that means the state owns your business therefore by definition–your business benefits the government. Second, when a cruise ship stops at an island they leave the same day, which means the local B-n-B is not going to benefit from the ship stopping at that island.

    Evidently, it is news that steel slats can be cut with a power saw! I guess that means we clearly need to build a wall out of something stronger.

    But Department of Homeland Security testing of a steel slat prototype proved it could be cut through with a saw, according to a report by DHS.

    No shit?

    A photo exclusively obtained by NBC News shows the results of the test after military and Border Patrol personnel were instructed to attempt to destroy the barriers with common tools.

    …so they tested it to the point of failure? I assume that takes a few seconds and is super quiet.

     

    For some reasons, it feels like a Led Zeppelin kind of day.

     

  • The Wall

    I personally did not watch President Trump’s address.  As it turns out, Tuesday is a gym day and I was not going to watch it anyway.  A physical impediment strikes me as a foolhardy expendeture because where there is not a long stretch of desert, a mountain range, a wide river patrolled by Texans, or generally something else that is going to kill you before you reach civilization, there is already something there.  I travel to Mexico at least twice a year, believe me the fence is already there.  This is entertaining to watch however, as the amount of money they are quibbling over is a trifle compared to the overall federal budget.  While the effectiveness of a wall or fence is debatable, the amount of money is small enough compared to budget to not matter yet large enough the average person will never see in their lifetime.  I also find declaring a national emergency to fund it as a needless power grab, that will bite team red in the ass later on.

    That said, the winner of this wins in terms of optics only.  Personally, I think Trump is going to get the funding or something resembling it for two reasons:

    1 – Unfortunately, government employees are a team blue constituency…

    OBEY

    2 – While the jokes on social media centered around the team blue response being akin to Bond villians or your parents staying up to yell at you because you came home after curfew….for me something else came to mind.

    The loser in these things always seems to be the one that looks like the bigger asshole and lets face it, Trump is blessed by his enemies.  As much as I dislike the 33 dimensional chess argument, one might ask why did Trump not try to pull this before?

    What? Pull this on Paul Ryan, and be the bigly man that kicks a puppy?

     

    This is my review of Clown Shoes Brewery North of Sonora:

    This reminds me of a story…

    In the beginning, there was the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, this marked the end of the Mexican-American War and resulted in the map looking almost like it does today with one exception.  Due to lobbying efforts from the railroad industry; because of the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 the map now looks like it does today. I spoke of this before; it is when my family became American but this story is not about me.  This story takes place on August 27, 1918 and is called the Battle of Ambos Nogales.

    You think the border is open now…

    Prior to this incident, Nogales was a single town between two countries, and today in a sense it still is.  Back then though there was no fence.  There was a street called la Calle Internacíonal or International Street with the exact border being marked by an obelisk.  I have driven on it myself, and crossed it more times than I can remember.

    At the time US Customs allowed residents of Nogales, Son to walk across the street and purchase food and other goods from Nogales, AZ.  Tensions between the two countries became strained due to the Zimmerman Note.  You might recall that from your American History class.  The conspiracy was Germany wanted to bring Mexico into the War against the United States. Hopefully, by the time this article goes live that link comes without the disclaimer about the government shutdown… To account for the frequent crossings, US Customs issued passes to residents of Nogales, Son.  The Mexican government also followed suit resulting in a confusing process—to cross the street.

    This incident began when…

    […]a carpenter named Gil Lamadrid was walking back into Mexico. As he crossed the border, a U.S. Customs Inspector ordered him to halt, curious about the large parcel he was carrying. Only a few feet away, Mexican customs officers directed him to ignore the summons and continue into Mexico. Gil Lamadrid became confused and hesitated as the two competing groups of customs agents shouted instructions to him. At this point, a U.S. Infantryman raised his Springfield rifle to encourage his return. In the midst of the ensuing commotion a shot was fired, and the carpenter dropped to the ground.

    Thinking that the man had been shot, a Mexican Customs Officer grabbed his pistol and opened fire on the U.S. guards, wounding an army private in the face. A U.S. Inspector drew his revolver and returned fire, killing two Mexican Customs Officers. Shaken but unhurt, Gil Lamadrid jumped up and sprinted down a nearby street. As the sound of gunfire rattled the neighborhood, citizens on the Mexican side of the border ran to their homes and picked up rifles to join the Mexican troops

    …and hillarity ensued.

    In response, the famous 10th Cavalry was deployed to the town….where enlisted were not allowed in a few establishments in Nogales, AZ.  If you ever go to Nogales, you will notice it is sprawled across several hills.  Perfect for guerilla warfare.  A white flag was eventually raised on the Mexican side of town around 5:45 PM but shots were still fired until 7PM.  It resulted in the death of the mayor of Nogales, Son who attempted to stop the violence by walking on International Street with a white hankerchief tied to his cane to plead with both sides. Him along with 129 other Mexicans and 4 Americans.  With an additional 330 wounded.

    Later both sides decided the only way to keep this from reoccurring was to separate both sides, and other towns quickly followed suit.  At the cost of what was then, $5000 ($80,250 today), a fence was errected between two sides of a town split between two countries.

    Paid for in part by Mexico.

    Now this beer is interesting because it is flavored with agave.  Making it rather sweet, too sweet perhaps but they call it a porter so it sort of works.  There is also some vanilla worked in there somewhere and it is aged in rum barrels resulting in something you will want to share with somebody else, a neighbor perhaps, so you at least are not alone in the experience.  Fitting, but given the price tag one that I am not likely to buy again.  Clown Shoes North of Sonora: 2.9/5.

  • ¿El Jueves por la Noche? ¡Enlaces Mexicanos!

    What’s that time? It’s time for news south of the border!

    First up.  Apparently the secret to never having to face a revolution is by starving your constituents, as Venezuela swears in Maduro for a second term.

    So you are saying there ARE in FACT terrorists?

    When Trump says, “Mexico is going to pay for the wall,”  I guess that really  means, “I never said they’d write a check.”

    Factcheck:  Yes, there were indeed terrorists apprehended at the border.  Six of them between October and March  of last year.   Which is a low number, to be sure, but then again how many guys does is really take to put on a bomb vest and blow themselves up outside a synagogue?

    I guess it is news people steal gas in Mexico.  Who knew?

    Brazilian Trump withdraws from a UN agreement on migration.  In other news, since his election my investment in a Brazilian bank stock has gone up 33%!  I love this guy.

    A judge ordered Tijuana’s mayor to stop talking smack about migrants.  His response, “No quiero.”

    I caught this on Joe Rogan.  It is chapter 2 of John Stuart Mills, On Liberty, presented as a graphic novel of sorts.  So if you have orphans in need of training, it’s means for orphans.  Available free for download.

    I’m feeling a little Alice in Chains today.

     

     

     

  • It is January 5th. You know what that means…

    I pulled into the parking lot at my gym.  I have gone there for years; people there know me but they don’t know my name.  Its cool.  Except two things occurred to me when I couldn’t find a place to park.

    The first?  Its thst time of year…Rezos.  The second?  Which one of these assholes drives the Brabus!?

    Seriously though, why drive such a beast on city streets?

    This is my review of Lagunitas Night Pils.

    Every time this time of year people on social media that make it a habit out of telling the world they go to the gym starts posting memes making fun of fat people at the gym or people making New Years Resolutions.  I am not going to do that.  I refuse to poke fun at somebody trying to better themself.  It is curious though, how many people take up going to the gym around New Years.

    It is actually quite substantial.  A few popular chains cite a spike in memberships as high as 40%.  It is to the point where comparisons to the insurance industry are made, in the sense that the smaller proportion of people that do indeed get their money’s worth from their membership (namely, they go) are subsidized by the larger proportion of people that pay for an annual membership in January and do not use it.

    A few January gym factoids include:

    •  4% dont make it past January, and an additional 14% drop off around February.
    • Women are less likely than men to keep their newfound lust for fitness.
    • The business model itself, requires about ten times as many paying members than can actually get into the door.
    • People who actually use their membership make >$75,000/year on average.  I’m below average, apparently.

    I actually did make a few resolutions myself but a fitness related one I did make was diet related.  Intermittent Fasting, or not eating all day and pigging out in a controlled manner is what I decided to do.  Just to try out and see how it goes for a few weeks.  My reasons are twofold:

    • I’m am more or less doing it anyway; I’m really just skipping lunch and not snacking.
    • I spend a lot of money on lunch.  Between $50-100/week.  I just think of all the many more efficient places to put my money.
    Hey fat boy. Its me…I got what you want.

    The problem of course is this does require a bit of discipline and I get really hungry during the day.  I assume it will pass to some degree, but I am about 4 days into it.  I am doing a version of the 16/8 except I am timing it so that I do eat breakfast.  So I went ahead and did a pre and post workout weigh in for those that are interested, and I’ll check back after 90 days to see where I am at.  I assume you people will hold me accountable.

     

     

    Pre-workout

    Post-workout.  Yes, I sweat off 3 pounds.

    Another reason I picked this one, is technically I can still drink beer, and this one is really good.  It is a Pilsner in a sense.  It is a light, crisp lager with a nice hoppy finish.  It comes across a bit like a black lager but does not incorporate the Munich Malts one typically finds in a German  or Czech black lager.  Dare I say, it is a Pilsner in blackface.  Can I say that here?  Lagunitas Night Pils:  4.1/5

  • Glibertarian Search Engine Survey

    Introduction

    Much has been made in social media and political class about potential biases within the algorithims of commercial internet search engines.  At this point in history, anyone with a smart phone now has internet access nearly anywhere signal is available.  Given the ubiquity of the internet, the idea that everyone has the Library of Alexandria within a device that can fit within a shirt pocket is no small feat for humanity—but how does one search through mountains of information, and misinformation?  Enter the search engine.

    This article attempts to examine the question of ideological biases within commercial internet search engines, and do so in as academic, and objective a manner as possible.  Given the platform is a standard internet blog, it is understood this format may be offputting to some, perhaps even arrogant to others.  Objectivity, however is the goal, thus the format.

    If commercial internet search engines frame results designed to suit a particular ideology, then the results of identical controversial statements between various internet search engines will fit a pattern for each internet search engine provider, in an observable manner.

    Literature Review

    On 6 September 2018 GovPredict published a review of known political donations made by Alphabet Inc.  This corporation is the parent company of Google, the largest search engine by an overwhelming margin.  They concluded what many assumed:  90% of Alphabet’s employees that made a political contribution, did so to a Democrat candidate, or to an organization typically identified as beign sympathetic to the Democrat Party.  Given GovPredict can be accused of being merely a review by a small, uncredentialed blog:  in 2011 CBS News reported similar findings about Google’ political contributions.

    Because of this, the assumption is that engineers at Google will tune their algorithms in a manner to suit their biases, wittingly or unwittingly.  This is hardly a new accusation made towards Google, as this article by Business Insider from 2014 suggests.  This is an accusation often made by right of center political groups.  Who claim information presented by Google does not incorporate right of center interpretation of current events, ideas, and even basic facts that provide evidence of the merits of their ideas.  The search results are designed to bury information that may lead a neutral observer to conclude in a manner consistent with left of center biases.

    Interestingly, this accusation was presented as having merit by The Guardian on 6 September 2018, USA Today on 10 September 2018, and even previously by Slate on 7 December 2015.  While USA Today can be considered politically moderate in it’s content, neither Slate nor The Guardian are publications considered to be right of center.

    On 4 December 2018, a competing internet search engine, DuckDuckGo, explained how Google’s search algorithms can influence the presented search results by what they refer to as a filter bubble: 

    Put simply, it’s the manipulation of your search results based on your personal data. In practice this means links are moved up or down or added to your Google search results, necessitating the filtering of other search results altogether. These editorialized results are informed by the personal information Google has on you (like your search, browsing, and purchase history), and puts you in a bubble based on what Google’s algorithms think you’re most likely to click on.

    The filter bubble is particularly pernicious when searching for political topics. That’s because undecided and inquisitive voters turn to search engines to conduct basic research on candidates and issues in the critical time when they are forming their opinions on them. If they’re getting information that is swayed to one side because of their personal filter bubbles, then this can have a significant effect on political outcomes in aggregate.

    In simpler terms, Google does not present search results to suit their biases; the search results are intended to produce results that suit the user’s bias.  If one never seeks opinions that differ from his or her own, one will never understand any one political issue beyond their own bias.  This can lead to user’s simply viewing interpretations of current events, ideas, and even basic facts that provide evidence of the merit of their ideas, that only confirm their own opinions.

    This study by DuckDuckGo presents findings that appear to correspond to one conducted by The Wall Street Journal during the 2012 presidential election.  Here it was observed personalized results were provided for serch queries including the name Obama but not those with the name Romney.  Google did provide an explanation why this was the case, and cited the number of searches queries that included Obama simply outnumbered those that included Romney.  Personalized results may not be available for the latter due to lack of context in previous searches.

    In the interest of full disclosure, the research for this Literature Review, was done with the assistance of the DuckDuckGo internet search engine.

    Methodology

    A small number of subjects volunteered to search identical terms in three internet search engines.  The three search engines chosen for this review:

    The group of volunteers include the author of this article, with a total number of 7.  To act as a control for individual biases between the group of volunteers, all of the volunteers for this study identify themselves politically as classical liberals, or in modern parlance, libertarians.  Why libertarians?  Libertarianism as a philosophy is neither right nor is it left.  It is centered on recognition of individual rights.  Often where libertarians agree on certain issues with the political right or the political left, it is from the viewpoint of the guarantee of individual rights rather than the fickle political justifications of the day.  While choosing a group of libertarians specifically may imply bias towards libertarian leaning search results, the nature of the philosphy transcending both sides of the political divide is indeed a control.

    Because any individual classical liberal/libertarian may have particular preferences towards where they find informaton on the internet and what search engine they use, another control in the search queries was added.  None of the search queries are political in nature, however all of them are controversial.  The following five statements were searched between the aforementined search engines:

    • Deep dish pizza is not pizza
    • The Beatles are overrated
    • Butt implants are fake butts for fake people
    • Coke is better than Pepsi
    • Bolivian Air Force pilots cannot avoid mountains

    Each volunteer was provided with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and simply asked to copy and paste the top five search results that are not advertisements for each of the above five queries.  All returned their completed spreadsheets by 14 December 2018.

    Individual search results were identified with the first character in the internet search provider’s name (i.e. G is for Google), and by a numeral.  The numeral is intended to correspond to an individual search result, therefore G1, D1, and B1 for example, are the same search result identified on all three internet search engines.  It is in this way, a unique result can be identified should a particular search engine produce a unique result.

    Due to the convenience of the population size, further analysis on how these results are presented in order for each user will also be observed.

    Results

    The following are the results in tabular form:

    Conclusion

    When put in tabluar form, one can see the results for many of the queries are similar.  Where they differ however is the order they are presented.   One issue with the methodology is the limited scope of the results recorded, it is possible the search results are more or less the same when etended to the first page of results and beyond.

    A noticable feature of the results, is the Google results cover a smaller spread. For example, for the first query, Deep Dish Pizza is not Pizza, Google only covers results 1-8 between seven people.  The other two search engines however, cover a spread of 1-12.  More concerning, are the order of results are nearly identical across all users.

    Another thing that can be noticed is in the fourth query, Butt Implants are fake Butts for Fake People.  If one were investegating this subject on Google, he or she would need to wait untiil the third search result (47) to find a search result corresponding with either of the other search engines.  It is obvious this is a meaningless subject, however given the limited attention span of the average American for a subject more meaningful the third result can be significant.  If one wants to question the result—so what if Google appears to have identical results between users on a search related to prothetic devices for the human posterior?  The better question is, what if Google has identical results between users for a subject that actually matters?

    While this on the surface it might appear DuckDuckGo’s claims have some merit; one can see their results cover a wider spread between users and much greater variance in the order presented when compared to Google.  That said, the results are not all that different.  In some cases one can see the same “filter bubble” DuckDuckGo accuses Google of presenting to its customers, within DuckDuckGo’s results.  It would therefore appear the search engines do indeed present an observable pattern in the results.  What that pattern is, if it can be considered a bias, and how it affects the user is not something that can be quantified here.