suggs

Agreed. I legitimately thought I might die when I ate one I grew last year.

I'll leave this to you all to determine if this is the best or worst... (somewhat NSFW, but I've kept it PG-ish) About six years ago my girlfriend at the time and I decided we wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day. We hadn't been together that long (only about three months) and neither of us really seemed to care all that much about the whole fuss of Valentine's Day. Despite the latter, I decided to go all-out in the "I'll actually do something nice for this person because I genuinely like them" kinda way...not in the Hallmark card way. She loves Mexican food, so great (!)...I like to cook...I'll make fajitas and flan, which for me means making as many of the components from scratch as I can (tortillas, the caramel for the flan, etc.). After all, I really liked this girl...and hey, I want to show off. So the day arrives, and she's supposed to come over to my place for dinner. I start cooking everything. I make the tortillas, chop up the onions, peppers (she really liked jalapeños), etc...while the flan is in the oven. I've got a lot of stuff to do, so there's a good bit of chaos...but I manage to pull everything off just in time. She shows up and is instantly and really pleasantly surprised by how much I'm putting into making this a nice night...which is good, right? Yes...it's good, because we eat and things...ahem..."progress" rather quickly from the kitchen to the bedroom. Kisses happen, clothes are removed, prophylactics worn (safety first!)...and "the deed" commences. This is great right? Yeah, until... Her: "Wait...wait...stop!" Me: "What's the matter, are you okay?" Her: "NO, I'm burning!" Me: "Huh?" She scampers out of the bedroom, runs to the shower, flips on the water, and begins scrubbing herself with a force I thought was only possible for heavy machinery. Me: "Are you okay?!?! What's happening?" Her: "NO! This really hurts!! It feels like someone's lit a fire in there!" Well dear reader, now that the blood had gotten back to my brain, I was able to put two and two together. Me: "HOLY COW, IT'S THE PEPPERS!" (Like I said, I had enough time to cook...but apparently not enough time to wash my hands.) Now I was prepared for the worst; call the cops, go to the bomb shelter...this is gonna be bad, when I hear from the bathroom: Her: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Wait....this is FUNNY to her? She's in there putting out a "fire"...but hey, who am I to give the gunman a second shot if I've already dodged one bullet? She comes out of the bathroom still laughing, naked, and bright red from the waist down. She looks at me, and says: "So are we still gonna do this? Cause I'm game!" And we did. The moral of the story: spicy food makes for spicy loins...in more ways than one.

The irony of these sentences, given the context of the OP, is not lost.

Someone sounds triggered...

Cello on or off?

Cheers! I can get behind all of that!

Two points here: capitalism and communism don't produce wealth, labor does. Capitalism and communism determine who control the means of production and, therefore, who reaps the rewards. Just so we're clear, how are your "true" free markets not fairy tales in the same sense you're criticizing others for?

I must be. Your argument is air-tight.

Painting with broad strokes is also a fraud. The system is working exactly the way it is intended to. There is no "true" free enterprise, which is also a fraud because it ignores historical and current international power dynamics, and only serves to maintain the status quo.

Welcome, comrade! We'll get you your copy of the Communist Manifesto and Gap-made Che Guevara t-shirt mailed to you!

From someone in the opposite boat, thank you for pointing this out!

Seconded the pour-over process, although you'll need to get yourself a scale (which everyone should have for consistent results), a good grinder (again, everyone should have), and a kettle with a gooseneck for better pouring. IMHO I'd advise against using a Chemex, for a couple of reasons, if you're starting to up your game. 1.) Chemex requires something of a learning curve that can vary depending on the origin, roast level, and processing method of the beans. At worst, that's more complicated than it sounds...but suffice to say, there's a learning curve that might put some beginners off (though it's really not that difficult once you get used to it). 2.) The paper filters the Chemex uses are thicker than other canonical or basket-style filters. This means two things: you'll have to rinse it more, unless you *really* like the taste of paper; and, more importantly, it takes a *lot* of the body out of the coffee--though it can certainly bring out more of the subtle brightness/acidity of lighter roasts. 3.) The Chemex itself, and the filters it uses, are too expensive for what they are...though the thing certainly is pretty. This second point is why I don't personally use the Chemex. I'm a huge fan of light roasts (especially a good dry-processed Ethiopian), but I'd prefer to have a pour-over that's much more accommodating of other roasts and origins. For this reason, I use the Beehouse dripper (Link: https://www.amazon.com/Bee-House-Ceramic-Coffee-Dripper/dp/B0047VUNVE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496939661&sr=8-1&keywords=beehouse+dripper) It's a very versatile and forgiving dripper with almost no learning curve, and it uses standard Melitta cone filters that are much more widely available than the Chemex. Just my two cents.

I teach these people everyday. You should what passes for an "argument" in the stacks of papers I grade. Sadly, I think this is intergenerational because I've seen the issue arise in 20, 30, and 40+ year olds. At the beginning of every semester, I'll usually go on a rant similar to the one in this article: http://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978 There's only so much we can do, though, when "opinion" and "argument" are apparently synonymous.

Now if only we could figure out the same with kudzu...

Here we go...