>Sisko hit Q

He did? Man, that must've been right before Q's shift directing air traffic over ABQ.

Agreed. Mod Parent up!

My brother and law and I are both geek-types and we love baking (as well as homebrewing). In fact, homebrewing isn't all that far different of a process than baking, when you get down to the fundamentals. Bread - and grains, in general - is a wonderful, wonderful thing, and there's nothing more satisfying...you're right, it's surprising that more people don't geek out on it, because, what with the yeast, the gluten formation, balancing pH, there's plenty to geek out on.

Oh, and by the way, the further along you get with homebrewing, the wider the window of catastrophe for bad beer...there's some pretty bad funk that can occur if some rogue bacteria gets in...then again, some people like that.

Ok God...let me have it!!

Google "Monsanto Soybean Patent Monopoly" - there's a host of credible articles.

Wait, exactly how is my view "warped"? Because it doesn't jibe with your own opinion? Please, cite examples.

Oh, and they don't WANT to patent them...that's the whole point. In a society where we own very little, very few things are unique and 'ours', and we're surrounded by people who don't even think twice about what they consume throughout the day, this is one thing that is THEIRS. They don't want to put it into the system. Sure, the average person will color that as being paranoid, laughing it off as being a typical stoner. However, this is their community and they don't want corporations coming in and destroying it.

Oh, by the way, I love your comment: "Some will want to go to small shops and delude themselves it's better." I really have no idea what the fuck you think that you mean. Are you that brainwashed by Big Money or just stupid?

Monsanto can and does. Sure, they patent their own strains, but they also go and buy strains from 'small potatoes' and then invoke strict policies on usage. Check out Food, Inc.

Yes, you certainly can buy artisan bread at the store, but tell me something - have you ever had a "real" loaf of bread? I'm not talking about something that your local mega-supermarket's bakery slapped an "artisan" label on. Hell, how about even baking your own bread? There's a huge difference. And sure, there are some who still make their own bread nowadays, but it's the overall degredation of standards that is the most disconcerting. Most people go and buy their pre-packaged loaves without even thinking about what's in them, how it tastes, or that they're made up of mostly air so that the manufacturer can get away with using less ingredients per loaf.

Well, your ham-fisted, highly-biased opinion is half-right. Yes, the 'stoner' community was against it but not for the reasons that you mentioned...aside from competition. And even then, the competition that you mention isn't a benefit. That, from my understanding, was the biggest point of dissention within the community. They don't want corporations coming, getting access to all of the strains, patenting them (a la Monsanto), forcing out everyone from using seeds without paying royalties, and then ultimately turning the wonderful loaf of artisan bread that you got at the local bakery into a package of Wonder-crap.

So yeah, get to know the community before you start bashing them, ok? We don't all sit around watching Beevis and Butthead, eating Cheetos.

Agreed - I wouldn't read Dora the Explorer to my kids, let alone admit that that's the sort of guilty pleasure that I would pay to indulge in. If you want to turn your brain off, take a nap - it's free, easy, and better for you.

Yeah, I'm going to chime in with you here. I have *never* encountered any sort of problem with Netflix on either my MBP or my iMac. What, specifically, is being referred to with "it's been crashing so much that..."?

Other than "How's it hangin', Grandma?", I thought that Fins don't even listen to their own music.

Gadgets (technology) have the ability to do two things in relation to society - take over the lives of those who can't/won't think for themselves or enhance the lives of those who do.