A strange time in our history...

I found myself digging through the Annals of Congress last night (haha), and just basically search through what seemed like interesting topics... One, linked to above, was the slave trade. You should definitely go to that link and read through it a few pages. The way they described the "negro property" and its possibly "increasing or decreasing value" due to government action is, well, I don't know what it is. Just check it out, and look through for mint/currency/banking stuff as well. There's a rich historical background to find there...

Also, anyone interested in taking some stake in a Belgian Golden Strong Ale recipe that I've conjured up? I put it together using three other good-looking recipes as loose guidelines, but the total cost of ingredients will be something like $60, which I'd like to avoid having to spend. So, we can split it between a few folks and of course split the ensuing beerage! A 5-gallon batch like we'd be brewing equals about (50) 12-ounce brewskis (actually more like 48 once you use some of it for gravity testing,etc.), so maybe 3 can get a stake in it? That means $15 a piece for 12 AWESOME homebrews! And you can of course help with the brew and all other related processes and get some knowledge/experience. It's really a pretty easy thing to do, which you'll see... So yea, let me know you're committed with a reply comment or something and I'll place the ingredient order...

Edit:
By the way this Belgian Golden Strongs will achieve approximately 8-10% ABV (a good thing) and will not have the strong alcohol burn as some "high gravs" do. We use straight Belgian candi sugar to achieve the portion of that alcohol above say 6%, so it's a little more dry and light than if we had used grains to get there. If you want to try something of the style, shoot for a Duvel or Hoegaarden Grand Cru, which are NOT quite the same, but similar to the taste we should be achieving... Another crucial note here is that if you wanted to get the same beer at the store, you'll doubtlessly pay between 4 and 5 times more than the $1.25ish per beer when homebrewing this style. (which you'll definitely find out if you go and get something at the grosh.)
Ok that's it for me, I'm gonna crack open one of the last bottles from my first brew ever, a pilsner that has now been aging for about 5 months, it should be damn fine...