Trouble from religion seems to be associated more with dosage level than theology. Once a week seems to be a safe dose for most people, while several times a day is an overdose. The nuttier religions tend towards the overdose end of the scale. Islam and the haredi branch of Judaism go for All Religion All the Time. Scientology goes in that direction, but more through intermittent intense experiences rather than constant daily obsession.

Fortunately, Scientology is stuck, by policy, with Hubbard's 1930s technology and their skin-resistance meter. If they were keeping up with technology, they'd have mobile apps tied to wristband sensors reporting to HQ in Clearwater, FL, auditing using functional MRI machines, and big data systems analyzing all member communications.

The world wide inequality R/P 10% rate is 12. World wide Gini index is 39 (USA 45, Europe 25-30).

An "international" R/P rate is quite moot since I can't earn my money in country A where income is high while living in country B where cost of living is cheap. One could now start to put something like the Big mac index against it to see what purchasing power actually means and how "poor" poor actually is.

It doesn't really improve the US position vs. European countries if you ask me.

Agreed. 3D printing is a lousy way to make a gun. This guy is doing this to get attention.

(Google result for "gun dealers": "About 44,300,000 results.")

College degrees have been too expensive to the point where not getting one meant that you earned more money during your lifetime without one than with one for a while now. What I mean is that we're getting towards the point where you will die in debt from your college education.

But the scam is being perpetuated. By the same people that suffer from it. Because if I needed a college education that broke my back to get this job here, why should I hire you if you don't have one? You should suffer just as much as I did, for I would envy you your "free pass" if you didn't.

The problem is that we're not standing on those shoulders. We've hooked up our hammocks up there so we can twitter comfortably.

True forward anonymity is a useful thing and it served the myriad dissidents escaping opression which is good. Being involved in it also meant facilitating the use of others involved in slavery, abuse of minors, and so on. On balance I decided that I could not justify facilitating the downside, no matter how important the upside was. There has to be a better way than dancing with the devil. If you dance with the devil, you will pay his fee.

Here's Frank-Lin's list of products. It's alcohol, deionized water, and flavoring. That's what Frank-Lin does. These are just the brands Frank-Lin owns. They also do contract bottling for another 2,000 products. "With an annual production capability of 15 million cases and on-premise tank storage capacity in excess of 1,500,000 gallons, Frank-Lin has the facilities and expertise to efficiently handle any project".

Frank-Lin is noted for having one of the most flexible automated packaging lines in the world. They can switch from one bottle/ingredients combo to another without stopping the production line. Every product can have a unique bottle. They're next door to the bottle factory. This is what the booze industry is really like, minus the advertising hype.

  Brandy - American
        A R Morrow, Lejon, Potter's Finest Brand, Montanac Brandy

Calvados
        Busnel Calvados - www.halbymarketing.com
        Menorval - www.halbymarketing.com

Cognac
        1st Cru Collection
        Francious Voyer Napoleon - www.1stcru.com
        Maison Prunier
        Marthe Sepia - www.1stcru.com
        Menuet - www.1stcru.com
        Aubade & Cie.
        Francois De Lyon
        Jules Domet
        Maison Prunier

Condiments
        Frank-Lin Farms

Cordials
        Cafe Del Amor, Curacao Liqueur, Destinee Liqueur, Gran Citron, Grand Marquette, Holly Toddy, Jules Domet Orange Liqueur, Kona Gold Coffee Liqueur, Maraska Cherry & Pear Liqueurs, Potter's, Potter's Long Island Iced Tea, Potter's Sour Splash, Vice Rei - Portugal Passion Fruit

Cream Liqueur
        Duggan's Irish Cream, Laddy's Country Cream

Energy Drinks (Non Alcoholic)
      Tornado

Gin
        Barrett's London Dry, Bellringer (England), Cossack, Martini London Dry, Potter's London Dry

Grappa
        Classik Grappa

Liqueurs - French
        Jules Domet Grand Orange

Liqueurs - Herbal
        Agwa, Arak Razzouk - Anise Liqueur, Par-D-Schatz

Liqueurs - Italian
        Ramazotti - www.hgcimports.com

Liqueurs - Lebanon
        Arak Razzouk - www.hgcimports.com

Mezcal
        Don Antonio Aguilar

Mixes
(Non Alcoholic)
        Jero Cocktail mix, Puerto Vallarta, Vinnie's Bloody Mary Mix

Produce
        Pietra Santa Olive Oil - www.pietrasantawinery.com

RTD
(Ready to Drink)
        Pocket Shots - www.pocketshot.net
        John Daly Cocktails - www.johndalycocktail.com
        Puerto Vallarta Margarita

Rum
        Diamond Head, Hammock Bay, Havana Bay, Moraga Cay
        Potter's Specialty Rums, Potter's West Indies
        Prichard's - www.prichardsdistillery.com
        Tanduay - www.tanduay.net

Sambuca
        Ramazotti

Sauval
Scotch Whiskey - Single Malts
        Glenalmond, Glen Ranoch, Muirheads Speyside

Scotch Whiskey - Pure Malt
        Angus Dundee, Tambowie

Scotch Whisky
        Blackburn's, Duggan's Dew, Lloyd & Haig, Potter's

Slivovitz
        Maraska Kosher, Subovorska

Schnapps
        Defrost Schnapps - http://defrostschnapps.com/

Tequila
        Baja
        Baja Tequila Liqueur
        Don Diego Santa - www.dondiegosanta.com.mx
        El Tirador - www.mexcor.com
        Orendain Ollitas - www.tequila-orendain.com
        Gran Orendain - www.tequila-orendain.com
        Potter's
        Puente Grande Tequila
        Puerto Vallarta - www.puertovallartatequila.com
        Quito
        Señor Rio - www.senorrio.com
        Sol De Mexico - www.uaimports.com

Triple Sec Liqueur
        Potter's, Puerto Vallarta, Jules Perchard

Vodka
        Baronoff
        Beyond - www.beyondvodka.com
        Charodei-Russia
        Cossack
        Crown Czar
        Crown Superior
        Ed Hardy-France - www.edhardyvodka.com
        Haamonii-Schochu
        Maggy-Russsia
        Monnema - www.agjab.com
        Monopolowa
        Monopolowa-Austria
        Potter's
        Purity-Sweden - www.purityvodka.com
        Royal Czar
        Spirit of Santa-Finland - www.atlantico-beverages.com
        Tamiroff
        Vampyre-Transylvania - www.vampire.com
        White Wolf

Whiskey - Bourbon
        Black Saddle
        Bourbon Age - Ky
        Bourbon Club
        Buck Bourbon
        Clyde Mays Conecuh Ridge Whisky - www.crwhiskey.com
        Joshua Brook
        Medley Bros.
        Old Medley
        Potter's
        Wathen's

Whiskey - Blended
        Barret's Blend
        Glenwood Blend
        Potter's

Whiskey - Canadian
        8 Seconds - http://8secondswhisky.com/
        C.E.O.
        Campbell & Cooper
        Canadian Crown
        Potter's Crown

I am a natural born US citizen of Colombian heritage. My first degree was a double major of Information Systems/General Business and a minor in Philosophy. I got it in the US, at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana in 1992. My tuition, meal ticket, apartment, insurance, and spending money was 4,000 us a semester. 1500 hundred was covered by grants, and the rest was me waiting tables and bartending. My second degree was in economics in Colombia at a private university. 2000 was the year and my tuition was about 1200 USD a semester. Just for tuition. I worked for the university in the computer science department and was a sub ESL teacher, and so my tuition was waived. I also had a wild hair and studied law for a bit a public university but al fin no me llamo la atencion. I have worked in Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico. The company I worked for specialized in letting computer science majors do their internships and then hired the best of the best. In the US students tend to work while in school. In Latin America some do, but the majority do not. It is almost a insult to suggest to a Latin American student that they have an after school job. Not too mention the 18-20 year old grown men not being able to cook, wash clothes, and basically take care of themselves without being under their mothers skirts. Sure some of the best unis in Latin America, are state run. In Colombia only the best of the best get into them. In the US many people can go to a community college, then to a public uni etc. But people like to get grants, loans, stay in school forever, live beyond their means, and accumulate debt. It is not the school systems fault but the individual students. You can go to an inexpensive school, work full or part time, or you can ride the government teat and run up huge loans. No one signs the papers but you.

Tell her to transfer to Austria if money is that big an issue.

Potatoes and cottage cheese actually make wonderful dinners. And rice and beans go splendid together, if you find some kind of grease to glue them you're golden.

And if you're contrary to expectations still hungry after that Lucullan crapulency, you can always dissolve some stale bread in a cup of water. You can actually kinda bake that if you like, gives it a nice toast-y touch.

What did work out incredibly well for me was moving in with other students. Not only do you get to have some kind of company without "wasting time" on it (and no matter what you might think, you need people to talk to or you go nuts), it also means that you can much more easily stretch the food money. Cooking for 3 is more efficient than cooking for 1. And more fun too (unless you have a weirdo like one of my former roomies who has a ... let's say rather special taste. I still say he only did it 'cause he wanted to avoid cooking duty). It also takes less time if you split the housework.

We still come together every other week, one of us cooks and we chat. It's a nice little reminder of our university years, despite us splitting up and moving apart (still within driving distance, fortunately), one of us having a family now, the others engaged or divorced... it's nice to see people you know develop and it's interesting to see how things turn out.

Seriously, unless you absolutely cannot stand people near you, share an apartment with two or three others. Life gets a LOT cheaper that way and you actually get to stay in touch with humanity despite studying.

Well, that's the difference between universities in the US and around here in Europe. There, you have to be rich to get through. Over here, you have to be smart, because universities can afford dropout rates around 90-95%.

Tuition is cheap (and if you're halfway intelligent, free) around here. So, as one may assume, the auditorium is packed in the first semesters. I mean literally. Get there early or you won't even get to stand on the stairs (to get a seat, you should be in at least an hour before it gets going). If you want to get into a seminar, camping in front of the place where you get to register might be a good idea. It's not exaggerating too much when I say, the best friend of a new student is his sleeping bag.

That in turn means that tests are brutal for the first few semesters. I do not exaggerate, at least 9 out of 10 students will not even get past the first semesters.

But that also means that everyone, literally EVERYONE who holds a degree from my university is one of the top 5% of the people in the field. Else, he would not have that sheet of paper.

But that's the freedom of choice! Nobody forces you to choose either or. Some like it warm, others like to eat. You can make that choice individually! That's free market, in a socialist world they'd probably make you eat and turn on the heating. Without even caring whether you want that!

We're far from that. Let's take a look at the Income equality by country.

Let's just take the richest/poorest 10% comparison. The US has a factor of 15.9. Meaning that the richest 10% make about 16 times what the poorest 10% make. With this, they're in the great company of splendid equality paradises like Uganda, Georgia (the country, not the state...) and Iran.

There is not a SINGLE European country with a worse ratio than the US. Granted, the aforementioned Georgia along with Portugal and the UK are coming close to it, but none of them is actually WORSE. Most central European (and let's also lump in the Scandinavian) countries revolve around a disparity factor of about 5-8.

That means that we're looking at about three times more equality in Europe than the US.

Btw, the 20% rich/poor ratio doesn't get much better for the US. It goes down to a "mere" 8.9 times more money in the 20% rich than the 20% poor, but it's still more than twice the ratio of Finland and Sweden.

A look at the Gini map also tells a lot (ok, if you know what the Gini coefficient is), with Europe lighting up in green and the US being in a group with such equal rights beacons like China, Argentina or Iran.

Erh... yes, it is. There are still a few countries where "poor" just means "only has a place to live and food, but no luxury stuff". Of course, rich also only means that you have more than you can spend, not more than some small nations can spend.