But what if your entire planet is shut down, along with its only industry? What will your retirement years be like *then*?!

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

Reading and comprehending posts isn't your thing is it? You just like to skim and then jump to conclusions to try and support your narrow world view.

I noted that my sister has no trouble, she has a generous grant (a scholarship if you like, but it works a little different) and her expenses are handled. However I have a full understanding of what those expenses are, and that they not paid for all students.

So maybe more reading, less jumping to conclusions.

If you like Ubiquiti you could look at their Edgerouter Lite. I'm real happy with mine. $100 and it'll outperform monowall and pfsense on way more expensive hardware. With a basic NAT setup, plus SPI firewall (the basic "permit established and related, drop others" rules) I've measured it at over 500mbps throughput. It probably would do faster, it's CPU wasn't fully loaded, that is just as fast a test server as I could easily get to.

Now of course it is more on the routing, less on the firewall n' such so if you need powerful firewall config, it isn't as much your thing (and won't get as good performance). If you load it down with too much stuff it'll slow way down, particularly since part of its speed is derived from hardware acceleration on its chip, so if tons of stuff is hitting the software it won't be as fast.

Just another option to look at.

In terms of the realtek chips, ya it sucks but it is what you get for the price. Intel NICs are expensive, because Intel knows they are worth it. They charge more for their chips than other vendors by a good bit, so you don't see them in cheap solutions.

In a lot of the EU, students from other EU countries don't have to pay tuition fees. Foreign students? Not so lucky, and language doesn't matter. If you aren't from the EU you pay increased fees. For example in Sweden you pay about 15,000 EUR/year for a science degree. In terms of language, you have to already demonstrate a proficiency in English and Swedish just to be able to get in.

Also all of this assumes you can get a visa and get admitted. People from other EU nations, no problem, you can live and work anywhere in the EU, that is a big part of what the treaty means. Non-EU individuals have to get a student visa, the requirements of which vary.

And of course none of that deals with the cost of food, housing, transport, etc. You are on your own for that, barring a scholarship.

This is a subject I have more than a passing familiarity with, as my sister is currently working on her PhD in Europe (at two universities, one in the EU one outside of it). She got a generous grant that pays all her tuition, living expenses, and even some extra but that isn't what all students get. It wasn't as though she just walked in and said "I'd like to go to school here," and they said "Certainly, please come for free!"

Also she even had an easier in than many: She and I hold Canadian citizenships. Canada is a commonwealth country and England is in the EU so that makes a lot of the visa shit way easier than it would be for an American, not that it wasn't still a big production.

It is exceedingly narrow-minded to suggest that an American should just "Emigrate to an actual civilized country instead of a pretend one," for school, as though such a thing were trivial to do and people only did not out of ignorance (not to mention the misplaced cultural supremacy of the statement). No, it turns out that you can't just graduate from an American highschool and say "Well screw the US, I'm off to Europe!" and walk in and go to school for free.

That's not from contaminated grain, that's possibly related to the use of leftover CORN (not barley) fed to PIGS (not cows) from ethanol producers. Meanwhile, it isn't a human health issue and they found a way to mitigate it. All without any input from the FDA.

Grain products cannot carry mad cow. That comes from feeding beef byproducts to cows. You won't find e-coli there either, if there had been any, it would be killed in the process of making the wort.

As for the fungal issue, that actually was a problem and it killed hundreds, you apparently know about it, yet you deny it was an issue?!?

So perhaps they should focus on something that is PROVEN to be a problem rather than something that has never been over several decades. They were free to inspect the compounding pharmacies at any time, they just didn't do it. NECC was already in violation of existing law, there was no need for ex post facto anything to punish them, just enforcement of existing law.

When you can show me how a few tons ton of contaminated grain not destined for human consumption can damage a large area of the U.S. beyond repair, I will reconsider.

*I* am? *MY* guy?

Obama was better than Romney mostly because if I'm on the road to hell, I'd like to go slowly. Unfortunately, he hasn't managed to accomplish what he was supposed to, but it's still better than if Romney had achieved what he was supposed to.

But as a whole, the Democrats are more a moderate right than they are left, and both parties are too high on the authoritarian axis for my tastes (and the R's BTW are more authoritarian than the Ds, just about different things).

In some cases, we need less regulation, in others more. Most of all we need better and more sensible regulation that wasn't bought by the regulated.

Feel free to queue up the DOD and NSA for curbing. DOJ and FBI just need paddling.

Grad school was historically and is supposed to be the sort of thing not everyone does. It is for people who are really interested in a field, who want to start doing some original research (under the umbrella of a professor's overall research) and so on. The sort of thing only for those that are truly interested in pursuing the subject more deeply and pushing the boundaries.

Also most fields don't require graduate degrees. There are some that do (like lawyers), though usually they require a PhD or other advanced degree after it (like professors, medical doctors, etc). However for most an undergraduate degree is all they are after.

However where I work, I see a ton of students that go in to grad school that are hoop jumpers. They see it as the next thing, that will get them a better job. They aren't that interested in the work, and don't have a particularly good understanding of it. They take comprehensive exams instead of doing a thesis, and so on. They try and use more time in school to make up for a lack of talent.

So, if you are thinking of grad school, and it'll be any kind of financial hardship ask yourself: Why am I going? If it is because your field requires it, then ok no problem. Gotta do what you gotta do. If it is because you really love the field and you want to go to a higher level, that's good too, but just understand it'll be a pain financially. If it is "because I'll get a better job," then no, stop right there. That's not a reason to go to grad school, particularly if it is going to be a problem financially. It probably will NOT get you a better job, and will just give you more debt.

So if I just show up in a European country, they'll let me go to university for free? Hint: No they won't.

My sister went to Europe for her PhD. She didn't end up paying... because she got a generous scholarship. That also was what allowed her to get the visa to go. She didn't just show up and walk in to a university for free.

Same way it would have worked in the US or Canada, actually. If she had been accepted to a program with a generous scholarship, well it would have been free.