Earlier quoted context omitted.
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It doesn't have to be criminally illegal. Instead it could simply be civil. The apartment complex, which you do not own, would be the ones setting the rules here. And you, of your own free choice, would have the choice to either follow the rules or go live somewhere else. The person you are responding to doesn't have an issue with you smoking in your own purchased home. Instead this was about apartment complexes. And…
US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
231–240 of 369 posts
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
Until we start throwing cigar, pipe, and cigarette smokers in prison for smoking where I can smell it, I'm totally okay smelling some pot. The playing field needs to be leveled.
I don’t want my toddler exposed to secondhand pot smoke. Unfortunately it’s more common than secondhand cigarette smoke in my experience. I wouldn’t get upset on my own behalf but he’s too young to choose and it’s my responsibility to act in his behalf as much as I can.
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
First, Gen Alpha is in their teens, so it's kind of hard to say what is happening there or will happen. Second, there is a growing divide between gen Z males that are skewing conservative in some ways. Their church/religious attendance is up, but overall attendance is still down. Gen Z females that are the most liberal demographic in history. The split is both political/social. (US analysis)
>Their church/religious attendance is up This was debunked, at least in the UK. Not sure about the US but I'll bet it's the same sham (church sponsored) statistics. I think more of each generation is coming to realise that religion is an outmoded parasite.
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's only one of many ways to consume it, many people vape, have edibles or drinks and you just don't notice.
Even as a daily weed smoker myself though, it's hard not to acknowledge that a more liberal marijuana stance in a geographic location does lead to that smell being more commonly encountered when in public and out and about. Personally I don't mind, almost the opposite, but for people who don't like the smell, obviously they feel differently. Good thing we can have different policies in different places, and people ca…
But maybe I'm just a little jaded after having lived in a legalized area and almost being run down by hotboxed cars more than once.
Functionally in many places where the usage is unlawful, harmless use in people's private homes has very low risk of prosecution while dangerous or disruptive public use is still curtailed. I find it easy to sympathize with people who consider that a better tradeoff.
I strongly agree with de-federalizing any such decisions though-- your comment on freedom to move is a great one. I recently relocated to a place where it wasn't legal from one where it was, any when evaluating differential freedoms in making that decision the subject came up and I decided I probably actually preferred the restriction due to the collateral harms (although I strongly chaff at any restrictions on private activities or maintenance of your own body). I wouldn't say it was a major factor in the decision to move (other policy/economic/environmental/security matters were drivers) but for me it wasn't a reason to not make that move.
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#235Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The federal government cannot constitutionally regulate sex positions, because anything not explicitly covered in the Constitution is reserved to the states, or the people. That being said, there's probably not a constitutional way to enforce laws regulating sex positions. Even if you don't agree that such laws are clearly discriminatory in intent (let alone impact), the privacy violations necessary to prove guilt "…
> That being said, there's probably not a constitutional way to enforce laws regulating sex positions. Right, but until someone gets arrested for this, nobody has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the law itself. It is one of those unenforceable laws. Even biblical law required witnesses (never just one) before being able to prove adultery.
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#237It'll be interesting to see how many people get methanol poisoning from trying their hand at it without doing the research properly. That being said, so long as it's for private or non-profit use, I don't really see the harm here.
>It'll be interesting to see how many people get methanol poisoning from trying their hand at it without doing the research properly. If you're into home brewing or distilling, the first and only comment people completely unfamiliar with the process say is something about going blind because of methanol. It's disappointing because the process is so rich with history and really interesting problems to solve but the ze…
Methanol is only ever a tiny portion of the fermented output and that's only with grain fermentation. There's nowhere near enough to blind anyone. Fruit or sugar fermentation does not produce any methanol. In that case the unwanted contaminate is ethyl acetate, which is less harmful but still ruins the drink. It gives bad whiskey its burn and causes hangovers.
In both cases the procedure is the same: run the still very slowly at first to increase reflux, pulling off the "foreshots" until contaminants are gone. In the process the still head temps will stabilize as the various low boiling trace compounds are eliminated.
Then one runs the still at a normal rate, collecting heads, middle, and tails, and blending those according to one's skill to get the desired product.
The middle jars are the clearest and cleanest alcohol, but the heads and to an extent tails contain aspects of the flavor and lots of good alcohol. Whatever isn't used for final blending will be collected and recycled back through the still in the next batch.
Properly distilled moonshine is very clean and smooth, like drinking water. No burn and no hangover. If it burns the tongue or gives a hangover, that's because it was not distilled to the highest standards. Most commercially available alcohol isn't.
Badly distilled moonshine is 100% a product of prohibition and would not exist for long in a free market, because drinkers won't tolerate it.
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's possible that the government thought that if they did try to challenge the Commerce Clause analysis, then the Supreme Court could have struck down Filburn. They'd much rather lose narrowly on this specific case than have Filburn reversed entirely.
SCOTUS did a pretty hilarious soft "strike down" of Wickard where they basically determined the gun free school zone act (GFSZA) violated interstate commerce clause. So congress just added "in interstate commerce" to the GFSZA and now it does the exact same thing even if there was no interstate commerce involved, and nothing involved ever crossed state lines or actually entered interstate commerce. So SCOTUS basicall…
It also is not of no effect-- it's an element of defense and people have escaped GFSZ act because the government failed to satisfy interstate commerce (and internet search suggests the some courts have taken it to mean that the presence of the gun in the school zone itself must have impacted interstate commerce, rather than just the gun's past purchase did). Every element the prosecution must prove at any level increases the marginal cost of prosecution and makes it less likely to be imposed on more marginal cases.
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#239how...uh...explosive...are home stills?
Not explosive, but still a potential fire hazard, especially if a still gets way too hot (coolant system fails) and alcohol vapors escape. The risk becomes extremely minimal when using an electric still.
The ultimate alcohol boiler for small runs is an electric water heater. They have an inert glass coating on the inside, and as long as all plastic is removed and fittings are replaced with lead-free copper then it's safe.
You can match the heating element to the still head and always be assured of running it at exactly its maximum speed. Both heating elements can be used to speed up initial heating of the contents before dropping down to one element for the run.
Get a short, stubby water heater for best results. Then you can set your receiving pot and other stuff on top, like it's a table. Most painless and trouble free distilling experience ever.
Nixon and McCaw wrote a great book on distilling and they also sell a fine copper wool packed column that, at full length with extension, will support 1500W continuous boiler power. The stainless pot they sell as a boiler is good to get started with and works as a great receiving pot for the water heater boiler. If you upgrade the bottom water heater element to 6000W (normally 4500W in most heaters) and run it at 120V (half voltage), that drops it down to 1/4 power or 1500W, so a perfect match.
Re: US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
#240Bought and rigged up a 'hand sanitizer plant' about five months into COVID. Populated the thing with thermocouples, load cells and automation with nodered on raspberry pi and a bunch of esp32s flashed with tasmota doing sensing and control. Everything talked over mqtt. Great little architecture and having it highly automated allowed me to focus on the parts that were less easily controlled for. Dashboard: https://img…
I dont need to see stuff like this. I have too many hobbies already
I stopped messing with it right before starting to measure/vary water supply through the condenser coils so I could more directly manage reflux ratio. Also had planned a float/load cell to calculate specific gravity.
All sorts of little side quests and fun mix of art/science to get into.
You know, if any of those other hobbies start to lose their lustre. :)
(for real though, the nodered on pi controlling a squadron of esp32 workers over wifi/mqtt was really nice, in case you would have any use for such a thing in any domain)