Not descending into a dystopian police surveillance state is also an alternative. We could just keep that option on the table. It’s a thought.

It’s like the new version of the “If a tree falls in a forest” quote. “If market manipulation is happening in plain sight but nobody cares, does it still generate profit?” Yes, yes it does.

If you consider food a weapon, you have lost your humanity, and you will get no sympathy or support from me.

For economic reasons, home soda makers have mostly standardized on a very concentrated range of 20:1-25:1 syrups where most of the water comes from the tap and as much as 24/25ths of the bottle is carbonated tap water, the syrup is strong enough that only a small amount is needed for flavor. Commercial syrups are typically 5:1, meaning you only fill the bottle 4/5ths of the way with water because the rest will be syrup. That’s an awful lot of syrup used for each drink.

The problem is it’s very hard to concentrate sugar-only syrups to that level without triggering crystallization of the sugar. So they mix artificial sweeteners to make it sweet enough without using so much sugar. Commercial sugar-only syrups like Coca-Cola are far more diluted (ie, they contain significantly more water) which means they are larger and heavier for shipping and stocking and get used up much faster since they require more syrup mixed into each drink.

There’s nothing technically preventing you from using a commercial 5:1 syrup, other than that it’s less convenient. The main problem is it’s very difficult to find since there’s relatively little demand and the commercial soda companies keep it pretty tightly controlled through their distributors.

Charlie is a legend. He’s Canada’s Bernie Sanders, a man of the people.

Of course he will. Soon the Myanmar Junta is going to be the first and only non-US operator of the domestic policing variants of the F-22 and B-21.

I can accept that the inverse exists. I can’t accept that they’re running things. Not just running some things either, apparently pretty much ALL things.

I don’t think I will ever forgive humanity for this lack of humanity. Words are insufficient to express my the depth of my feelings. Words are the problem. Words are all these atrocities ever get. Soft empty words for hard genocidal things. There is no action, never action. There are only words, and death, and more words, and more death. I hate it.