Did you see the soldiers carrying 200 pound loads with this thing, safely? And the money went to Berkeley, not a defence contractor. The commercialization for civilians followed later, and is encouraged by the DoD.

You have to understand that college football is part of the college experience in America, especially if you go to a school with a great team. And some families only have a kid in college because of football. I work with, am friends with, and live with people who went to Berkeley, USC, and UCLA so it can get real ugly real fast during college football season. The rest of the world has their football, we have American football -- and it's way more epic, even if it's only us.

Wherever I am in the world I have to buy and burn CDs with artists who started out in the surrounding area. So last time I was up in Oakland (for a wedding) I drove to Berkeley, picked up this album from Rasputin Music (right near Amoeba Records), and listened to it the entire week. High velocity, verbal atrocities are welcome in my car.

He should be able to whatever the fuck he wants. LaRouche is a piece of shit lunatic but still. I remember seeing these guys on 16th Street / Mission with a banner of Obama with a nazi mustache and I almost said something but then I thought about all the bouncers, BART cops, Berkeley academics, bums, crackheads, crusty punks, drunks, junkies, bike "hipsters", prostitutes, gigolos and legitimately angered citizens and mamasitas they were going to have to deal with all day long; instantly felt better and just walked on by without a glance. And all of those people know much more about the world than LaRouche.

What your describing is pretty neat, and also known as occasionalism. It is a REAL problem for scientists because it eliminates causation. It eliminates the universe from explaining itself because causes for things aren't related to any other state. There is the mind experiment where you set up a bunch of clocks to all go off one second after each other. To those around, when the clocks go off they seem to cause a chain reaction that causes the others to go off, but nothing is further from the truth. What is really happening is one state is leading into another completely unrelated state setup by some unrelated source. You don't even need the positive side of the argument (that someone set it up), but the negative of the argument; that causation is destroyed and causal links are mearly creations of minds and not the true metaphysics is maintained. It is on the same level of destruction to empirical knowledge that Hume caused until Kant quazi restoration (but Kant destroyed sciences ability to talk about the universe we live in, and relegate it only to the universe we experience. So he let us use reason, but science reasons in a box that is the human mind).

If you ever have some reading time to spare, I think George Berkeley is one of the more interesting metaphysisits of his day. He gets a lot of flack because his religious background, but his mind...his mind is awesome!

Ah yes--The Oil Pollution Act-- that's it.

here is some of the transcript from the above link:

Steve Yerrid is a trial lawyer who was appointed as a special counselor to the state of Florida last week by Governor Charlie Crist. He will advise the governor about legal issues related to the spill. And Daniel Farber is director of the environmental law program at the University of California, Berkeley's Law School.

Steve Yerrid, let me start with you. Can the government, under current law, compel BP to start an escrow fund?

STEVE YERRID, special counsel, State of Florida: Well, Ray, we're clearly on new land right now, a frontier that was created after the Valdez oil spell -- spill -- excuse me.

And what I think they're going to do is premise it upon the -- the responsible party connotation and the Oil Pollution Act, which was packed -- passed in 1990, which makes a responsible party liable for all the damages and the cleanup.

What they want to do now is front-end that and put it in a trust fund to get away from BP looking like an oversight entity and put it on the government, a government we can trust a lot better than we can trust an oil company..................

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
>> ^longde:
Congress passed a law in the early 90s giving the President the authority to do what he has, with respect to oil companies in this situation. I can't remember the name of that legislation, but what Obama did is perfectly legal.

Dunno about that, it seems to fall squarely on the shoulders of the MMS regulatory body, and then the courts...but I could be completely mistaken. linky.
It seems the MMS actually encourages people to get deep sea leases (all deep water is owned by the federal government). The MMS and the federal government get huge sums of money from these leases. This seems like an institutional failure in addition to all the other aspects. The MMS encouraged leases of offshore drilling. It now accounts for over a quarter of all domestic natural gas and crude oil. At this point, saying "lets shut it all down" would basically destroy us.
Interesting side note, the department of energy was founded in 1977 by Carter to try and purse an end to reliance of foreign oil. However, MMS falls under the department of the interior, not energy. Which is doubly insulting in their dubious leasing habits, as the DPI chief concern is the conservation of natural icons of the US. The fact that they get money, and encourage risky practices and glide over regulation points them out to be a blaring failure of a regulation body.
The legislation you are talking about is the President's role in moratorium. He has the ability to susped activities and such. He does not have direct arbiter, nor enforcer of penalties. Both he and congress have an annual moratoria responsibility. States also hold a veto power to a certain extent over the activities of off shore drilling. No where does there seem to be a piece of legislation that says the president can do what he has done. And as such, there is also no way in which to appeal to a different power, there simply isn't a system setup to handle this action.
The president has taken an unprecedented action at present (zing!)
(o and by the by, I could be completely wrong about this and the president may have some obscure power to do it, and while that is "good" in a certain way, it also seems bad to me to have the president involved with affairs that should be left to the courts...that is why we have them! We may trust this president with that power, but what happens when our "Nero" comes to power?)

After this video was released, scientists at Purdue University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and UC Berkeley working independently came up with estimates between 50,000 and 100,000 barrels per day, 10-20 times BP's official estimate of 5,000 barrels per day. A spokesman for BP responded "We've said all along that there's no way to estimate the flow coming out of the pipe accurately".

If those scientists were right, it would mean that the amount of oil released exceeded the Exxon Valdez spill in the first week. We're now about a month in.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525

Invocations (dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Richard-Dawkins-lecture-at-UC-Berkeley-March-08) cannot be called by xxovercastxx because xxovercastxx is not privileged - sorry.

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Richard-Dawkins-lecture-at-UC-Berkeley-March-08

Around the 33 minute mark

>> ^thinker247:
I'm offended by people who clap after every statement.


*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*

>> ^demon_ix:
I'm offended by people who tell me I can't offend other people when they offend me.


*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*

>> ^Sagemind:
>> ^demon_ix:
I'm offended by people who tell me I can't offend other people when they offend me.

Should I be offended by that?


*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*

>> ^choggie:
The best offense, is a good fencepost.
If Dawkins got paid for this appearance, one might see the similarities of his salary for the show having been payed by the students or school at Berkeley, and that of the the tithes that members of a church pay for physical plant and the pastor's salary.
Atheists are so preachy nowadays.
Most people don't discuss with others their voting record or personal income, why bother to bring any God into the argument against throw-back practices like stoning, preaching eternal hellfire,etc. Simply take their children from them those that would pollute their minds with blasphemy against common sense and humanity....and free them from their idiot parents.
Licensing for couples who want to reproduce is essential in the choggie paradigm.


*CL-......... hmm.

The best offense, is a good fencepost.

If Dawkins got paid for this appearance, one might see the similarities of his salary for the show having been payed by the students or school at Berkeley, and that of the the tithes that members of a church pay for physical plant and the pastor's salary.

Atheists are so preachy nowadays.

Most people don't discuss with others their voting record or personal income, why bother to bring any God into the argument against throw-back practices like stoning, preaching eternal hellfire,etc. Simply take their children from them those that would pollute their minds with blasphemy against common sense and humanity....and free them from their idiot parents.

Licensing for couples who want to reproduce is essential in the choggie paradigm.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Allison, Stokke, pole, vaulting' to 'Allison Stokke, pole vault, interview, berkeley, track and field, pretty people' - edited by lucky760

What you really mean when you say "I believe everyone should have access to equal healthcare" is that you want someone else to cure your disease. You want someone to pay for your X-rays, someone to extend your lifespan. "Equal healthcare," as you are describing, means we both walk in with a disease and we both walk out without it. It means we all live to be the same age regardless of our condition or lifestyle.

Yet you don't care about people with Xeroderma Pigmentosum. Do you even know what it is? Why not? Why aren't you trying to cure it? Why aren't you donating as much money to the Xeroderma Pigmentosum society (http://www.xps.org) as you are to the American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org)? Kids with Xeroderma Pigmentosum rarely live past the age of 20.

Xeroderma pigmentosa, for those not in the know, is caused by an autosomal recessive genetic disorder, aka you are born with it. The symptoms are instant and immediate burning and malignant skin cancer upon even brief exposure to sunlight. Yes, you have all the drawbacks of being a vampire and none of the perks - you die if you go outside, even for an hour.

http://ds9.ssl.berkeley.edu/lws_gems/4/images_4/xp_lg.jpg

http://www.tidsskriftet.no/lts-img/2001/fig200101023.jpg

http://www.metastaticlivercancer.org/dark-skin-girl.jpg

Without genetically modifying your DNA, you cannot cure this disease. This is just one of millions of examples of ways in which people will never be equal. Equality was never about everyone being identical...same height, same DNA, same lifespan, same income, same musical talent, same level of attractiveness...it was about people being treated equally, despite being different.

IMHO, Martin Luther King Jr. would spit on your vision of "equality" and "morality."

You want to make an argument for universal healthcare? You better use logic because you do not have morality or pity on your side.

You are lucky to live in a time where you even have access to a 60 year lifespan or diagnostic X-rays, because as far as I can tell, you haven't done a single thing to enable either. You think human progress is allocated by the government, 2.5% at a time? How many millions of people suffered through all types of diseases, plagues, wars, long hours, deprived social lives, rocky marriages, and short lifespans to create the technologies you are not only demanding as "rights" but complaining about the cost there of?

You resent those who inherit the fortunes of their fathers, yet you yourself have inherited the wealth of all of humanity - language, mathematics, engineering, art, music, literature, agriculture, architecture, and all the lessons of history - a sum far greater than any pile of gold. You are living your entire life off of the sweat, blood, and tears of your ancestors - and you have the gall to complain about what you've been given?

The billions of people who died before you weren't nearly as lucky, and I bet they didn't complain half as much.

>> ^blackjackshellac:
I wouldn't trust this publication with any medical advice ever


Internet tip for beginners: google before you speak.
http://www.google.com/search?q=swine+flu+nerve+disease
http://www.google.com/search?q=swine+flu+guillain+barre

www.telegraph.co.uk
uk.news.yahoo.com
articles.latimes.com
www.cdc.gov
www.stat.berkeley.edu

Any of those wacky publications (who are reporting the same story) trusted enough for you?

I know of a few good indie bands out here, but most of them are a bit more to the south (LA and stuff). I'll ask some friends to see what they recommend, I suppose. We'll see how things turn out, lol. I'm always on the lookout for good music though, so I'm sure I'll find something.

In reply to this comment by rottenseed:
WELL MAYBE YOU'RE JUST A MEAN MUSIC NAZI!!! hahaha jk. Well, I don't know what to tell you. Hopefully you'll find something you like out there. If not, you might have to do as the Romans. Step one is finding a venue. Which might be a painstaking process, especially if you're picky about music.

In reply to this comment by JAPR:
It's not that I don't try out other people's recommendations, it's just that I end up not liking them more often than not, so it's just that I end up being disappointed most of the time.

In reply to this comment by rottenseed:
We all have our guilty pleasures. As much as I swore I'd never be "that guy", I find myself at the Wavehouse every Sunday listening to electro-house. I used to be hardcore about the music I thought was good, and the stuff I thought was crappy/trendy/trivial, of which much of the music I like now fits. Over the years though, I've found it's better to just go with the music, than to fight it. Take a chance on somebody else's taste in music. Try to view it as they view it. Hell, if you hadn't done that in the first place, you would've never developed the unique taste you have for music today.

In reply to this comment by JAPR:
Thanks, now I'm motivated to get Pinback back on my computer again (lost it all on my old comp). YOU FEED MY BAD HABITS.

I'll ask a few friends here if they know of anything good, but I don't trust most people's musical tastes since I generally look for something beyond just "catchy" and/or "can play in tune" when I'm looking for music.

In reply to this comment by rottenseed:
I liked that a lot. It hand Pinback's sound but in a different way.

Here's my favorite Pinback song...it's mellow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycdlGRGIwSo
(the video is dumb it's a demo for some mirror text software).

I don't know of anything bay area other than hip hop. I'm sure there is plenty, you just gotta find out where to go.

In reply to this comment by JAPR:
The song is written by Japanese artist Aida Shigekazu of the bands FOE and El-Malo. He also does solo work and writes music for Kimura Kaela, a rather famous pop/rock artist. Rob Crow on guest vox? Hells yes. Really tight song, you'll like it I'm sure. I'd sift it if there were a video for it, but alas, such is life.

I'm actually in Berkeley for the next several months, and I'd like to find some good local bands other than the scant few I know of in the bay area, any leads?