Twigs and branches

does ‘Australia’ still exist?
I mean – nobody can go to Australia anymore.
(not even my Australian friends who live in Zürich)

So if you can’t go to Australia anymore – what’s the point of pretending that it still…
exists?
(or any ‘Australians’?)

@MPAVictoria, I have a DeLonghi KG79. It’s a great value grinder that although is not designed as an espresso grinder, you can turn it into one in five minutes using just a philips-head screwdriver and a YouTube video to instruct you.

Highly recommend.

“Defunding” (and “deplatforming”) is the modern western equivalent of sending enemies of the people to the guillotine (or the Gulag or re-education camp). If you’re a journo, or a college professor, and you at some point in your life made an unacceptable joke or expressed an unacceptable opinion, then you’re fired: ‘defunded’. Politicians unacceptably questioning the 2020 election or supporting the unacceptable Georgia election law are literally defunded by Coca Cola, AT&T, etc. The police is probably the least woke non-political institution, and thus: defund the police!

@The Sophist – thanks for sharing – that’s a very interesting description, “Rationality blog” – not sure what it means, but let’s just take it as a complement :)
But this raises an interesting question: What would be the best description of this blog? As one of its writers, I experience it as giving me ultimate intellectual freedom – there is literally no-one telling us what to write or what not to write (or indeed whether to write). Whatever it is we ultimately write about, I think that is a very important thing that we should protect.

I think not what was requested, but: I have a Jura E8 espresso machine. It grinds and brews. Tells you when to add water, add beans, and to clean. US retail is about $1,000 or $1,200. Lasts decades. Turn it on and press the button, first rate espresso, machiatto, capucino, etc.

@9
Some of my best friends are Australiens too –
that’s why it’s so… so difficult? – to… deal with the situation – that… it seems to be… that Australia doesn’t exist anymore?! – which could… could bring US to @6 and the funny idea that: “Defunding” (and “deplatforming”) is the modern western equivalent of sending enemies of the people to the guillotine (or the Gulag or re-education camp).

Don’t worry guys – as I have proof that “Defunding” and “deplatforming” are two completely different things – and when some platform doesn’t want to publish anymore some Right-Wing Racist Science Denying Misinformation anymore – there are always all these other Right-Wing Racist platforms who will publish anything you want to have published Petrovna.

So NOBODY ever can ‘deplatform’ you Petrovna –
(which is something completely different than ‘defunding’ the police –
or not)

Right?
(Wing-Winky-Winky…)

Unfortunately Espresso depends on an accurate grind. I have a Baratza Preciso which is now replaced by Baratza Sette 30. They are horribly expensive, but very good. Cheap hand grinders make good coffee but take ages. I use them camping, and on holidays, because I am an addict.

This must be an area where this is an opportunity for a cheaper product.

Once coffee is ground there are many cheap options from Aeropress, StoveTop to Gaggia Classic.

Thank you everyone for the reply’s! I think I am going down a real rabbit hole on this one….

Reading NYT ‘The Biggest Crisis of Biden’s Presidency’ etc.

It is amazing how quickly a crisis arose out of the end of the US’s longest and possibly most futile war. If followed by greater military disentanglement it makes handling other crises much more possible.

But the more things change, etc.

I was wondering if Americans–and maybe people in other countries–have close to supernatural beliefs about their leaders.

Do we believe they create good or bad eras though their vibes and we must hope that Biden’s vibes are good?

For the media, this means the economy is good, the country has ‘confidence,’ and it’s morning in America. Generally things the president has minimal effect over like most things the government does.

Is something primitive underneath ‘the country’s mood’ like a tacit belief in the astrological effects of a president on highly complex causal systems his actions affect indirectly or not at all?

Or this is just self-fulfilling prophecy media baloney?

Hasn’t it just been resoundingly proved that the capacity to handle an actual crisis and preventing crises in the future after president is out of office is maybe a better bet than never making people feel like there is a crisis.

Does he make us feel ‘confident’ or ‘unconfident’?

Oh no now there is a terrible crisis. How will I feel after this commercial for increased military spending?

The pessimist would say shall keep doing this over and over again I suppose until humanity is altogether subsumed by crises.

In the meantime, now is the moment for every American to exorcise their discomfort with the forever wars until they fall down the memory hole again.

@MPAVictoria: oh, the rabbit-hole goes so much deeper… Assuming you stick with the espresso plan, rather than Aeropress or stove-top Moka, you’ll have to decide if you want a manual machine (you control the steam going into the ground coffee and everything else), semi-automatic (you do the grind and tamping, it controls pressure) or automatic (it does everything). The first two need practice but you can produce much better coffee by the end, the latter is reliably mediocre.

You can spend stupid amounts of money – but you can also get a very good espresso from quite reasonably-priced equipment, with practice. My home set-up is a manual Elektra, a magnificent bit of kit that enhances any kitchen, with a Rancilio Rocky grinder; my office machine is a cheapish DeLonghi Dedica that came bundled with a grinder (the KG79 mentioned above) for less than 20% of the price, and it reliably produces excellent espresso. It’s not up to the standard of the Elektra, but it’s vastly better than the espresso I’d get in most professional establishments.

Definitely worth trying lots of different beans to find ones that are your taste; it took me a while at the beginning to realise that a rather bitter espresso was not me grinding it wrongly or getting the pressure wrong but just the way the beans had been roasted.

There is a strict MSM convention that US foreign policy, although sometimes inept and routinely unappreciated by the benighted locals, is always well-intentioned.

The US debacle in Afghanistan is attributed to an ‘intelligence failure’.

Apparently, the spooks failed to inform the policy-makers that the government which Uncle Sam had been supporting for two decades was thoroughly corrupt and widely hated.

One hopes that these incompetent intelligence professionals will be named and shamed, and that their advice will not be followed going forward.

@19
But if you still think going to Australia is a good idea’:

and it’s not that I not enjoyed the video –
BUT there is a certain Austrian Bakery in Sydney and some really cool places for surfing…
AND who has said something about ‘flying’?

Nescafe Gold Blend is well worth the extra imo.

@27,
Yes, definitely. Conceptualized via my humble attempt at holistic analysis, designating a property of cognitive informational content transmitted through linguistic expressions.

MPAVictoria,

Previous posters gave you wonderful suggestions on grinders.

As for espresso machines … if you are merely curious and not sure how automated you want your espresso experience to be … an excellent starter machine is the De’Longhi EC155. You can use it to learn any of the techniques you’re interested in.

After that … John’s suggestion of the Jura Ena 8 is a perfect next step.

And then … you’ll know enough on how to proceed.

Good luck!

Claim: If you’re a journo, or a college professor, and you at some point in your life made an unacceptable joke or expressed an unacceptable opinion, then you’re fired: ‘defunded’.

Evidence: “The spokesman for a major evangelical nonprofit was fired for promoting vaccines on the MSNBC “Morning Joe” cable news show, Religion News Service has learned.
Daniel Darling, senior vice president of communications for the National Religious Broadcasters, was fired Friday (Aug. 27) after refusing to back down from his pro-vaccine statements, according to a source authorized to speak for Darling.”
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/08/cancel-culture-is-out-of-control-2

Fact check rating: partially true, insofar as it applies to Russia and the US right wing universe.

(Friends, I’m not feeding the troll ok? I’m not! And neither should you!)

There is a strict MSM convention that US foreign policy, although sometimes inept and routinely unappreciated by the benighted locals, is always well-intentioned.

How often do mainstream national media in any country ask ‘Are we the bad guys?’?

One hopes that these incompetent intelligence professionals will be named and shamed, and that their advice will not be followed going forward.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

It does seem to me, though, that this question merits serious reflection: why is this not a thing that happens? I feel as if I could speculate about the outlines of an answer, but there must be better informed people than me with more insightful observations to make.

@34
(Friends, I’m not feeding the troll ok? I’m not! And neither should you!)

that’s impossible if your friends start to believe that they are –
‘a horse’
and as I just read that in my homeland the US more than 88000 prescriptions were written for a ‘Pferdekur’ in the week ending August 13, an increase of 2400% over the weekly average prior –
WE HAVE –
to ask Petrovna if she thinks too – that she is ‘a horse’?

Engels, thanks for reminding me of this:
The luwak, as far as I could see, is a small, fluffy, pissed-off-looking doglike animal, which spends its days in a small cage consuming coffee beans and shitting. This reminded me uncomfortably of my civil service career.

https://crookedtimber.org/2015/01/12/the-world-is-squared-part-5-balinese-interlude/

@37 “Sometimes people being fired for things they have said is exactly what should happen”

And who said it should not? Certainly not me. Also, sometimes, perhaps under different circumstances, they should be sent to prison, or treated from sluggish schizophrenia. Or even sent to Afghanistan. When they are Enemies of the People, Crazy Right-Wing Racists Science Denying Idiots.

Most Americans now think the government and/or tech companies should protect us from false online information. Sounds great to keep all those falsehoods suppressed, but those who think that such censorship will never stop speech they agree with are likely to be bitterly disappointed.

From thefire.org, many incidents of speech punished at colleges; some points:

Over the past five and a half years, a total of 426 targeting incidents have occurred. Almost three-quarters of them (314 out of 426; 74%) have resulted in some form of sanction.

The number of targeting incidents has risen dramatically, from 24 in 2015 to 113 in 2020. As of mid-2021, 61 targeting incidents have already occurred.

Scholars were targeted most often for speech involving race (e.g., racial inequality, historic racism, racial slurs, BLM, DEI).

In addition to race, targeting incidents tended to involve hot-button issues such as partisanship, gender, and institutional policy.

In almost two-thirds (269; 63%) of the incidents, scholars were targeted for expressing a personal view or opinion on a controversial social issue.

Half of the targeting incidents have occurred because of a scholar’s scientific inquiry (106 incidents; 25%) or teaching practices (107 incidents; 25%).

Targeting incidents have occurred most often in the disciplines that are at the core of a liberal arts education: law, political science, English, history, and philosophy.

Targeting incidents have come from individuals and groups to the political left of the scholar more often than the political right; these targetings have come more often from those on campus, have been more organized (i.e., the online petitions have considerably more signatures), and have typically been aimed at scholars who are tenured, White, and male.

Campuses where the most targeting incidents have occurred tend to also have severely speech-restrictive policies, and are unlikely to have adopted the Chicago Principles guaranteeing the preeminence of free speech.

From The Atlantic, a discussion of a variety of mob justice incidents.

And another list of incidents.

J-D:

The first is that if this is a claim about what always happens then it is, straightforwardly, a lie. The second is that if this is a claim about what sometimes happens, then it’s true, but so what? Sometimes people being fired for things they have said is exactly what should happen; the proposition that nobody should ever be fired for saying things is indefensible.

Another fine logical parsing. I imagine J-D could similarly note that to say that “black people are shot by the police” is always true would be a lie, and if it happens sometimes, so what? Sometimes black people being shot by the police is exactly what should happen; the proposition that black people should never be shot by the police is indefensible. Right? That’s the nuanced, every-logical-arm-stated perspective?

J-D 37: “I guess it was written by one of the people whose comments I don’t read, which makes me feel that I was probably right to decide not to read that person’s comments.”

That is a reasonable inference.