Beer. Real Beer.

Sophisticated, classy jokes submitted in a refined, tasteful and cultivated manner for your genteel and discriminating enjoyment.

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Four brewery presidents walk into a bar.  The guy from Corona sits down and says, "Hey, senor, I would like the world's best beer; give me a Corona!".  The bartender gives it to him.

The guy from Budweiser says, "I'd like the best beer the the world.  Give me 'The King of the Beers', a Budweiser."  The bartender handed it to him.

The guy from Coors says, "I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water.  Give me a Coors!"  He gets it.

The guy from Guinness sits down and says, "Give me a Dr Pepper."  The bartender is a slightly taken aback, but gives him what he ordered.

The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask, "Why didn't you order a Guinness?"

The Guinness president replied, "Well, I figured if you-all weren't going to be drinking beer, I wouldn't either."

More Help in Dismantling the Flossing Chicanery

Sheesh.  Sometimes it's difficult always being right about the things that really matter...

Take flossing your teeth for example.  I have maintained for years (seriously, YEARS) that flossing ones teeth adds no health benefits whatsoever and is a worthless activity.  It is a thinly veiled, intentional ruse put out there by the folks in the Teeth Industry to separate you from your money.  Nothing more than that.  I spoke about all that here on this blog back in August 2016, and then reposted it again at: I Knew it. Flossing Doesn't Do Diddly. 

Now, here again, comes out an excellent article helping dismantle the flossing canard at Epoch Times: 

Why You Might Want to Quit Flossing Your Teeth

Enjoy.  And just quit already.

I Knew it. Flossing Doesn't Do Diddly.

This is a repost from August 2016.  I noticed quite a number of hits lately on this post, and I thought I'd pull it out of the closet and give it a fresh coat of paint and set it out on the shelf for some of the new viewers who haven't been blessed with knowing the reality that flossing hasn't been shown to give any health benefits.  

Now, if you enjoy the feeling of swinging your hands on your teeth, well, just keep going at it. Rock on.  BUT if you're doing it because you've convinced yourself you're a goodie for obeying the "science", well, stop and read the linked article below.

One of my passions is to put the crony flossing industry out of business (only half joking..), and spread the liberating news of it's phony claims; therefore, I submit to you this post once again.

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I don't floss, haven't flossed, and don't plan on flossing my teeth/gums in the future. That's because I always thought the claims to be dubious and just another ploy to separate you from your money.

And today...   I found out I'm right.

Check it out:  Medical benefits of dental floss unproven

But here's a few highlights because they're jus' too delightful:

"When the federal government issued its latest dietary guidelines this year, the flossing recommendation had been removed, without notice. In a letter to the AP, the government acknowledged the effectiveness of flossing had never been researched, as required."

"The AP looked at the most rigorous research conducted over the past decade, focusing on 25 studies that generally compared the use of a toothbrush with the combination of toothbrushes and floss. The findings?  The evidence for flossing is “weak, very unreliable,” of “very low” quality, and carries “a moderate to large potential for bias.” "

Uh huh.  Yep.  They ain't wrong.

Hippy Lettuce

"Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could."

      -- P.J. O'Rourke
          As quoted in Busted: Stone Cowboys, Narco-lords, and Washington's War on Drugs                              (2002) edited by Mike Gray

I Knew it. Flossing Doesn't do Diddly.

I don't floss, haven't flossed, and don't plan on flossing my teeth/gums in the future. That's because I always thought the claims to be ridiculous and just another ploy to separate you from your money.

And today... I heard I'm right.




Check it out:  Medical benefits of dental floss unproven

Roasting Coffee (D.I.M. style)

D.I.M. stands for Doing It Myself and that's what I did recently with roasting my own coffee.  Quite easy, less cost and better beans.

I ordered my green beans through Sweet Maria's website.  I picked up their 4 lbs. sample set which came with four separate pounds from four separate coffee regions of the world.  Kinda cool.  There also is Coffee Bean Corral which has great prices and a large variety of coffee.

Anyway, I had thought for awhile now that surely it was possible to roast beans in a Whirly Pop popcorn popper, and I found that many folks roast their beans that way.  I've used a Whirly Pop for years to pop popcorn, thanks to my mother giving me one many moons ago (Here's a link in case you don't know what a Whirly Pop is.)  You'll want to have one Whirly Pop solely dedicated to coffee roasting because the smell never leaves.  Check out your local thrift store.  I see them all the time, and found one for $2.

You'll need to roast the beans outside on a gas BBQ side burner or a camp stove because the smell and smoke is strong and voluminous.

I roast 1/2 pound at a time with the heat on medium-high the whole time.  It takes around seven minutes to finish roasting and you need to be turning the Whirly Pop consistently throughout the roast.  I turn the handle a few rotations every 3-5 seconds and that seems to work fine.

At about three minutes you'll hear the first popping of the beans as they crack and release moisture, and then about three minutes later you'll begin to hear a second, lighter popping (kinda like Rice Crispy cereal in milk) as the sugars and oils are releasing and caramelizing the beans.  At that point you can stop and have a fine light roast or go for a minute or so more for a darker roast.

I then pour them out onto a baking sheet (again, one solely dedicated to coffee) and let them cool for several hours.  Then after that put them in an air tight container of some sort, and they're fine for several weeks (the sooner the better though.)  Enjoy.

Reasons Why Christians May Eat Pork

"The Sinaitic dietary laws were not given for reasons of health or hygiene, but were symbolic. They applied only to Israelites during the period between Moses and Christ. Noah and Abraham were not under these laws, Gentile God-fearers were not under these laws, and New Covenant Christians are not under them either. Deciding how much meat to eat, how often, and what kinds is a matter for Christians to determine for themselves in terms of sanctified common sense and the evidence of dietetic science.

Making these dietary rules a matter of faith in the New Covenant is demonic. Unquestionably this is not the intention of earnest Christians who believe that they have uncovered health secrets in the book of Leviticus. We have to remember, however, that Satan is a great deceiver, and he will mislead the very elect of God. By focusing attention on the Sinaitic dietary laws, Satan diverts attention from the one God-given food law of the New Covenant, which is to fellowship with Him at His table. God invites us to come to His house [which is His gathered People, not a building...CA] on His day and bring along some bread and wine. How many Churches serve His meal on His day (not monthly, not quarterly)? How many use bread (not wafers, not crackers, not doughnuts)? How many use wine (not grape juice, not soft drinks)? How many include the children, whom God invited in the Old Covenant, and who are surely invited today (1 Cor. 10: 1-4)? 

Too many pork-haters have a low view of the Church. They replace the sacramental interpretation of the Sinaitic dietary laws with an interpretation that is little more than “medicine man religion. ” They overlook the real health giving meal, the New Covenant love feast, and as a result, they mislead the people of God."

    -- James Jordan 
        Excerpt from his essay Pig Out? 25 Reasons Why Christians May Eat Pork

Going Wrong with Wine and Women

"Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused.  Men can go wrong with wine and women.  Shall we prohibit and abolish women?  The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped.  Shall we pluck them out of the sky?"

- Martin Luther

Woe to Drunkards

"Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness; but the abuse of drink if from Satan.  The wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil."

- Increase Mather, excerpt from Woe to Drunkards (1673)

How a Tonic Keeps the Parts Well Oiled

"A drink or two a day [of alcohol] provides the equivalent of a potent cholesterol medicine and a weak blood thinner, as well as a variety of other substances that may keep the body's metabolism tuned and its cells in good repair..."

Here's another great article on alcohol by Abigail Zuger in the New York Times: "How a Tonic Keeps the Parts Well Oiled"

A Case for Alcoholic Beverages

"The cardiac benefits of low-dose alcohol are evident in study after study. All over the world, moderate drinkers have healthier hearts than teetotalers..."

Here's an informative article in the New York Times by Abigail Zuger:
"The Case for Drinking"

A History of Alcohol in the Church

Great book.  Fun and interesting.

Drinking with Calvin and Luther:
A History of Alcohol in the Church
Oakdown Books

A Cocktail for Calvinists

The Presbyterian

The Presbyterian cocktail can be made in a couple of different ways, both though will undoubtedly cool and refresh any Calvinist throat!

Traditional

1.  Pour 2 ounces of scotch over ice into a Collins glass

2.  Top it off with half ginger ale and half club soda.

If desired, ginger ale alone can be used, or cola can be substituted for the club soda. That seems a bit too sweet, however. Some recipes also use bourbon, and other recipes use rye whiskey. It’s all up to your own taste.

OR

The Terry

Rye Whiskey, Ginger Beer, lemon and ice mixed in whatever proportions you desire. The trick is to use Goya Ginger Beer (in the Latin foods section of your local supermarket). Goya adds capsaicin to its brew, which warms your throat even as the ice is cooling it.

A Maplebar + 2 strips bacon = The Good Life

No, your eyes are not misleading you, these really

are maplebars with two strips of bacon on top. 

It goes for a mere $1.96 at DK Donuts (not the
national chain) in downtown Boise located
at State and 13th. They just recently started

selling these novelties, but beyond these they have,

in my opinion, the best doughnuts in the Valley.

I snapped this pic from my cellphone after securing

for myself a fine apple fritter for the morning rounds.