That is quite possibly one of the stupidest projects I've ever seen undertaken.

And then to stroke their own egos after accomplishing nothing of value - astonishing.

Looks to me like their egos collided. Nasty.

The only thing this guy is "working out" is his ego.

I learned most of it from my mother, who was a well respected dissident of the quantum physics world until she died in 2006. I'm not nearly clever enough to follow in her footsteps, but I learned enough to know that the reality of science is full of human failings. Often egos, headlines and research grants get in the way of real science. Nothing like a claim to allow the possibility of time travel to get yourself in the papers and help get the funding in.

Unfortunately the maths has assumptions built in that cannot yet be tested and that has made it become totally detached from reality, the maths becoming proof in of itself, even if it makes no logical sense. In any reasonable time, the idea would have been dropped and we'd just have to say we don't know yet. They need to take step back, go back to the real fundamentals and nail those first, otherwise they go sprinting off in all sorts of directions not knowing if the basis on which they are working is sound.

It sells books and makes good headlines but it isn't good science.

@newtboy
i totally understand my friend and i dont necessarily disagree,but what do you think makes a greater impact?
banning an intelligent person,who may cause some controversy from time to time but is VITAL to human discourse.
OR...
as we are seeing here,a community coming together to admonish that person for breaking the rules?

which is the point i was trying to make.i want trance to acknowledge that what he did was out of an emotional,ego-driven response,but i dont want his voice silenced just because we may disagree from time to time.

and i am willing to bet that trance gets the point.he is no fool and understands full well the implications.the community is telling him:
bad trance..baaaaaad....

shunning is a FAR more powerful tool than clicking a button to silence someone.
just ask the amish.

not everybody fits into this category.there have been some who were deliberate in their offensiveness.those people SHOULD be banned from civil discourse but trance has something to say.we may not always agree but to silence him over an emotional over-reaction is a tad harsh..in my opinion.

and thats all it really is..my opinion.

i also dont think it fair to drag dag into becoming supreme overlord to pass judgement.i dont think he created this site with that in mind.i think he wanted a community driven enterprise that self-regulated without the need for moderators.

which is exactly what we are doing here..yes?

remember siftquistions?
good times my friends..good times.

When I first started volunteering to serve at a homeless shelter, many years ago, I didn't know exactly why I was doing it. Certainly it felt like the "right" thing to do. I was at least confident that I wasn't doing it for personal gain because I didn't wear it on my sleave, didn't brag about it or hang my ego on my personal identity of being a good person. When dissillusionment set in, when I realized just how many of the people I was serving were homeless by choice, I pushed through and carried on...and I still didn't know why. I just trusted that I would get it one day.

Eventually I made a connection to the time I spent living in Sweden. In the town I lived in, every night a group of vagrants assembled in the market square. Every bit as dirty and drunken as the worst homeless person that most people imagine them all to be. Fighting, having sex in the public restroom, vomiting and carrying on loudly all night. But this was socialism, so they went home every night to their government payed for apartments. I realized that no matter what you do, there will always be a segment of society that just doesn't give a Fuck and is happy to take and never give back. We've all known these people. Family members, friends, acquaintances, who use up the good will of everyone they meet until they've got no one left to use and it falls to the larger community to support them. No economy, government or community planning will ever compell them to support themselves. We loathe them and shun them. Politicians with ulterior motives tell us that ALL homeless and disadvantaged ARE them. But it's a lie. There are the mentally and physically ill who have no support structure, who NEED their communities to help them. Most of these people were once functioning members of their communities who no longer have the ability to survive on their own.
And so I came to understand that it's better to feed a hundred leaches to serve a single helpless individual.

Boy was I proud of myself for realizing that.

And then I was layed off and my job shipped to India, followed closely by my wife spending a year in and out of the hospital, with no insurance. A careers worth of hard work, reduced to a data point on a corporate profit sheet. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, when the medical debt comes for me and everything I've built in my life is taken, to become a line in someone else's ledger. Betrayed by the greed in the system. Because I upheld my end of the social contract. I worked hard in school, excelled in my career, had two kids and bought a house in a neighborhood with good schools. But the system is run by the greediest and most power hungry. Politics and business is the domain of the high functioning sociopath. And to a sociopath, you're not a real person like them. You're a data point, a line in the ledger.

Then I came to respect the other segment of the homeless. The ones who rejected the social contract, who don't feel societal pressure to give more than they take. Because they got it right. It's all a lie. You don't earn anything in America. You don't deserve the fruits of your labor. You subsist at the whim of the people with money and power. And when it serves them, you get nothing.

We are all standing in line for food, hoping there's a room for the night.

thanks for reminding me i live in white trash central with a sprinkling of over-aged over-inflated egos who play golf all day.

my cat just had to talk me out of slitting my wrists....
good kitty.

sighs..i miss lauderdale.
got so much attention from the gay community.
makes a man feel sexy and desirable when another man thinks he looks great in guess jeans.

damn it..now im depressed.
damn you newt!!
/shakes fists

these are the instances where harris always shines in my opinion.everyone should experience psychedelics at least once in their life,and as harris pointed out,there are caveats but it is so worth it.

the dissolving of the ego can be frightening for some but it can bring you to a truth,about yourself and others,that is quite hard to accomplish without assistance.

i find it interesting that this video is going to be sifted while trances video on the healing nature of psychedelics has been downvoted.

ah sift...you are a fickle mistress.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/This-is-Life-with-Lisa-Ling-Jungle-Fix-Ayahuasca

If a state family court can't vacate state fees levied on account of family matters (child support), then the process is broken.

Courts have the authority they do because of the results of generations of ego driven turf wars between departments.

The rules exist for a reason : because people decided.
Nothing in court or law is based on physics or nature. It's all made up by people.

Properly would be using empirical evidence and a logical ruleset that doesn't require people to argue personal opinions - but rather strictly solve the inputs for an output.

Judges and prosecutors are people. They grimace just like anyone else.
The courts are not 'higher' or 'enlightened'. They are simply the sum of generations of personal bickering.
They don't "work properly". They simply "work as they do - whatever that may be".

Like I said, the 9 to5ers don't give a crap. It's just a time code.

-scheherazade

This was absolutely incredible! Many late bloomers have an incredibly important 'coming out of their shell' experience, and it's often when they role play as a person with higher confidence. It's a transforming experience that imbues high self-confidence and esteem onto the individual, when these were typically dwindling traits beforehand. I've known several (self included) who experienced this by either internet games or old fashioned role playing games. It's very interesting that she found this role play experience by creating an alter ego as a porn star. She even found solace for her previous sexual baggage. I learned a hell of a lot from this, and won't be viewing the porn industry the same way again. Despite many of the evils in the industry that she hinted at in this series, this is an incredibly great thing that she pulled from it, and is obviously even more valuable than the ostracizing she's experiencing because of it.

I also hope that she knows a bachelor's in sociology qualifies her for no skilled labor jobs. She better either go to grad school, or get some real skills...otherwise, porn really is her career, and it only lasts as long as her looks. It's good that she's not going into debt for that degree.

It is with disappointment that I find your comments. ...belittling, condescending, and insulting. After the many comments privately exchanged up to this point that this one is not proffered so is indicative of a lack of respect I can only find interesting and telling.

As to the video, its merits or lack thereof and for the various opinions about same, it may be that in the fullness of time consensus will change...or not. As to my investment in the matter, I presently have none. To knee jerk, in your vernacular, comments or opinions garnered from snippets, headlines, media articles, predilection of personal beliefs,etc,. I have little to no respect to offer.

I do find the subject of this video interesting and have done enough research to find merit in further evaluation and a skeptical eye towards purported findings. But, that is neither here nor there. I posted it primarily for my own archival purposes fully expecting the reaction received with no concern about it. This practice will be repeated exercised if not often so. I will admit surprise at the development precipitating this exchange. Oh well.

I do not need to agree with others, as is often the case, to respect and even like and care for them. I do, however, have a disdain for apparent character deficiencies as is evidenced by behavior. Also, oh well. Neither do I suffer the defect of ego that I must defend a point of view or opinion or engage in any allied exercise of futility and certainly not in this environ as the honored civilized pursuit of intelligent discourse is so oft shunned in favor of banal, insipid and vitriolic attacks.

Enjoy and thank you for the many civil, kind and pleasant exchanges this one notwithstanding, of course.

Sad man doesn't understand the problem... There are plenty of ways to save ink and use less packaging, but it doesn't matter because the ink/printer companies would just put less in the cartridge. He'd be far better off telling people about toner sensor hacks and refills than creating a hard to read font that strokes his own ego.

@VoodooV

do i sound angry to you?
you are injecting an emotional component that quite frankly is non-existent.

"an emotional rant that has been boiling for months"

um..what?
and just how did you discern these supposed pent up emotions?
what evidence have i presented that my accusing you of being a hypocrite and bully is somehow derived from some emotional cauldron of hate?

what device did you use to come to these conclusions?
was it magic?
a crystal ball?
did you fall into a vat of nuclear waste and somehow gained super powers to peer into another humans intentions?

again...you are projecting.

do you think i hate or dislike you?
do you think i am angry with you?
i dislike the hypocrisy.i dislike the bullying but those are only small aspects of a greater whole.
which is why i was pointing those aspects out.in my opinion you are better than those aspects and maybe i presume too much to feel that you are better than that.

once again i am truly saddened by your lack of understanding.
you seem to feel this is some personal vendetta,based on absolutely zero evidence.you also seem to be under the impression that i am using words to appeal to other sifters.never even considering that my usage may possibly be accurate and succinct.

has it even occurred to you that me pointing out that you are behaving badly may actually come from a standpoint of friendship?or is that a foreign concept to you?you seem to be so certain of your assumptions,yet i see no basis for them.

if you think that just because i point to your poor attitude in regards to certain people somehow translates to me hating or disliking you,you are so incredibly and concretely wrong.

i am truly sorry you do not understand.
my apologies for using words and terms that confuse you.i was not trying to be "cool" or gain the admiration of those who may be following our discussion.

"you proceed from a false assumption.i have no ego to bruise.of course..the ship is yours"

@VoodooV

two dimensional thinking at its finest.

just because i point out that your commentary is tantamount to harassment does not automatically equal my condoning lantern or bobs oftentimes ridiculous commentary.

just because i am pointing out your hypocrisy does not mean i disagree with your actual comments.

if my fly was open or i had a huge booger hanging from my nose i hope you would pull me aside and point that out to me not stand from the bleachers,point and laugh.

your obsession with always being right has clouded your judgement in regards to what i am trying to point out to you.

is your ego so massive that the words of another should be so easily dismissed?each consecutive comment towards me is becoming more and more irrational and paranoid.

you mentioned calling me out on another thread.
yes you did.
which was a response to ME calling YOU out first.
and i smacked you down pretty handily.mainly due to the fact that you base your commentary towards me rife with presumption and conjecture.

which is exactly what you are doing here...again.

instead of hearing my words,you marginalize me in order to dismiss and ignore them.which is what all weak-minded people do in order to hold onto their own misconceptions.

bob does it.
lantern does it.
and so do you.

but never for a second deceive yourself into thinking i do not have the stones to say what needs to be said.your commentary reveals such an ignorance about who i am that i am literally laughing while i type this to you.

stop projecting voodoo.this persona you write about is not i,but rather you.

one last thing for your consideration (since we have totally hi-jacked this thread.sorry OP,please forgive).one of the main reasons i called you out was due to multiple private emails i received in regards to your current..and i quote one.."douchey attitude".

so the silence you hear is NOT due to agreement or consensus but rather many sifters fear confrontation.

i hold no such fear.

I've been into Rocksmith for about a year now, but I do the bass side. I'm not awesome or anything, but it definitely has improved my skills a LOT, and it is so much fun. Fully recommend Rocksmith 2014 for anyone who either plays guitar/bass OR who has ever thought about trying them.

I discovered this girl's YouTube channel along with Rocksmith -- she's really quite good at guitar parts and bass also. Kind of an ego blow to watch a kid that age shred way better than I can...