Yeah I was thinking leidenfrost as well.

I love that people all over are doing random experiments for the hell of it, but it's videos like these that make me appreciate the education behind the more well known shows like Smarter Everyday, SciShow and whatnot, who approach curiosity with more than just a video camera and a "what if" attitude.

I didn't even notice they were butchering the camel until I read the comments. And then I watched it again and I was horrified.

But then I thought about why I was horrified and it really has more to do with the fact that we simply don't see where our meat comes from anymore in society. If I want some turkey for Christmas dinner, I can just head to the grocery store and buy one that's ready to cook (or already cooked). I don't have to go out in the backyard and chop one's head off, bleed it, pluck it, and pull its innards out with my bare hands.

So really, the horror comes from just not seeing it happen everyday (even though I'm guessing millions of animals are butchered for food worldwide every day).

The comments in YouTube suggest this camel was being killed in a Halal fashion (which would require the butchering to be done the way we see in the video--a swift cut to the carotid artery followed by a bleeding out). Turkeys are killed in the same way, I believe (though hung upside down first before having their throat slit).

So to the people who are against this video (or are actually downvoting it) I say: humans are omnivores. It's scientific fact. Most humans eat animals and that usually means killing them first. This video shouldn't be shocking and probably the reason it is to you is that 1) you never thought to eat a camel since you grew up in a country where that wasn't common and/or 2) you've forgotten that animals actually have to be butchered before showing up on your local grocery store shelf and/or 3) you've chosen to be vegetarian (good on you) but forgotten that a large number of other people have chosen to embrace their omnivorism.

(I know omnivorism isn't an actual dictionary word but if vegetarianism can be a word, why not?)

Your video, Everyday People React To Being Called Beautiful, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

figured i would take this discussion to your page.

in response to this post:kinda,you are close,in the ball park.

the main reason why i injected my opinion in that thread was to add a dynamic that was not being discussed.

i wasnt actually offering a counterpoint but rather adding to the already complicated dynamic.

so i do not think we disagree at all.
one of the reasons islam has not changed much is due to there not being a reformation.this lack of canonization and core central philosophical tenants has left islam to a wide array of problems,many of those problems we see play out everyday on the world stage.

if you going to read any book on islam.i highly recommend reza aslans "no god but god".the entire book is an argument FOR reformation and you may recognize some of the arguments in the book from my commentary.

as always my friend,
a pleasure engaging and discussing with you.
stay awesome.

All weapons can be used for assaulting another person. Do you mean semi-automatic rifles similar to AR15s? If so, the NZ example shows you don't need that. They are not the problem.

Many sports require high capacity magazines. In fact the overwhelming amount of bullets fired from firearms everyday is for sport. Why restrict these sports for security theatre? I write security theatre because a magazine change takes less than a second and you're shooting again. It's not going to change the outcome of an active (criminal) shooter who simply pockets multiple magazines. Plus once again the successful story of NZ who passed sensible laws - and didn't restrict semi-automatic rifles or high capacity magazines, yet have crime statistics that are enviable even from an Australian perspective.

I have my doubts as to whether any new laws would change anything in the USA. I don't actually think it's a good solution for them. And constitutionally speaking, more laws are never a good solution (since they restrict liberty).

I think the USA needs a long term societal change, involving fixing many aspects of their society to gradually make things better.

"A gun-control movement worthy of the name would insist that President Clinton move beyond his proposals for controls ... and immediately call on Congress to pass far-reaching industry regulation like the Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act ... [which] would give the Treasury Department health and safety authority over the gun industry, and any rational regulator with that authority would ban handguns."
- Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center

“If I had my way, sporting guns would be strictly regulated, the rest would be confiscated.”
– Nancy Pelosi, US Congresswoman

“US Senator, If I could have banned them all – ‘Mr. and Mrs. America turn in your guns’ – I would have!”
– Diane Feinstein, US Senator

"My view of guns is simple. I hate guns and I cannot imagine why anyone would want to own one. If I had my way, guns for sport would be registered, and all other guns would be banned."
- Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Dean of Harvard School of Public Health

"I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say 'Sorry.' it's 1999. We have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun I think you should go to prison."
- Rosie O'Donnell, Actress

“I don’t believe people should to be able to own guns.”
- Barack Obama (during conversation with economist and author John Lott Jr. at the University of Chicago Law School in the 1990s)

“We must get rid of all the guns.”
- Sarah Brady, Widow of James Brady

“I believe for example when Washington, D.C., passed a law that nobody could have a gun except law enforcement and it was struck down by the United States Supreme Court, that we should overrule the Supreme Court with a Constitutional amendment. I don’t believe that in our society that we should have guns.”
- Ed Koch, former NYC Mayor

“Confiscation could be an option…mandatory sale to the state could be an option.”
- Andrew Cuomo, NY Governor

“an assault weapons ban is just the beginning...a complete ban on handguns could be possible through state and local action.”
- Jan Schakowsky, llinois Congresswoman

“governments should start confiscating semi-automatic rifles and other firearms
- Dan Muhlbauer, Iowa state Rep.

Now, this was with a quick search on Google. I am sure there are more, but I just thought I would give a sample. Additionally, the really rabid activists have learned to rephrase statements to avoid the term ban. They aren't stupid, they know that they have to soften the phrasing to make it more palatable to the everyday citizen.

That guy was so awesome, but the woman behind him was way more so, with her "I have to listen to his shit all day, everyday" look on her face.

I didn't do medicine so I can't be certain, but a fair amount of my syllabus seemed to be a useful foundation for medicine. I didn't dissect any frogs, we did pigs hearts and rats mind. I also learned a lot of practical things from biology, in fact it was one of the more practical and "relevant to everyday life" subjects I took.

Oh, and I still think there is value to the purely academic stuff. I learned an awful lot of things which I have had no practical use for but are nonetheless precious to me. Truly I pity those who have no appetite for it. Perhaps I was always this way, I don't know, but I'm still a firm in my belief that all that inconsequential arcana has enriched my life and that school had a large part in nurturing it.

Okay, so.. To start *deeep breath* ..

#1 - Conflating frequency & social norms is the first flaw in your weak sauce argument/opinion/whatever.

Norms are essentially social boundaries.
They ensure a certain level of compliance & conformity in a group.

The frequency of a behavior doesn't determine a norm.
Social acceptance does.

If informal rules are accepted & practiced by enough of the group, it's a (the) norm.

So..

#2 - Because police brutality is practiced & accepted enough.. it's the (a) norm.

A fact proven by comments like this from @lucky760..

A comment that illustrates those exact informal, unwritten rules of compliance.

Completely accepting that "well, of course cops on a powertrip clearly can't control themselves. What did you expect?".

Or comments from jerkfaces like Lantern53 (who is a cop), usually:
"Most people who get shot by the police deserved it."

Because in his child-like brain, only "bad guys get in trouble"..

So if a cop is beating you half (usually all the way) to death.
You must have done some "bad guy stuff" to start.

Which brings us to..

#3 - Your disgustingly ignorant, disingenuous denialism.

"Let's *scoff* pretend that everyday, for every brutal beating you hear about..

There's another even more violent murder..

That's ONLY 365 excessive force murders a year!

That's NOT representative of all 1 million police officers."

...@_@.. just ..@_@... Because:

A) As an "angry black man" who is distinctly enraged by police brutality..

I certainly don't need or appreciate you - a racially illiterate white male - pullin' the fuckin' race card.

"What if I made these generalizations about black people? Hmm? *pouty face* Woodn't da make you a wittle upset?"

THAT SHIT HAPPENS CONSTANTLY. Especially on the internet.

In fact, @BoneRemake has accused me of sellin' out or whatever because..

Most of my recent activity on this site has been a very pointed, belligerent direct response to the stupid shitty cuntbag comments of Videosift's resident racist jingoists.. @bobknight33 & @lantern53.

The latter of which is a police officer of 30 years.

B) Of course not EVERY SINGLE police officer or police interaction is violently excessive.

The point is - it's fucked up that videos like this appear on a regular basis. With little to no punishment for the officers involved.

Sure there are lots of good people in the world..

{Main Point} That means absolutely nothing when you're specifically illustrating & discussing the shitty, bad people in the world. {Main Point}


So yeah, i definitely don't need you and your patronizing AS FUCK white privilege apologist rhetoric to tell me..

"You know, not ALL cops are bad."

Yeah.. i know. Would you also like to tell me about how:

"Every interaction I've had with Law Enforcement has been benign and/or pleasant."

"I've never been followed around a store for fear I might steal something."

..-_-

I was providing a more "technology tailored" way to fool us and how it might create a great magic trick. I also love magic tricks that make use of self-created "magical" devices (his vest counts towards what I'm talking about).

As I mentioned there are probably quite a few ways to do this trick and I wholeheartedly agree with you that the most likely way the majority of this was done was via misdirection and cues. As it is true with almost everything, the simplest answer usually is the truth.

I however, became interested with he kept moving his hands (and the "cards") to the same spots or moving them, repeating, the same movement over and over again right before the "change" or flip occurred (with other things as well like the smoke--and yes, I know it was more than likely misdirection--but, sometimes smoke is just smoke ).

That is what made me think of a scanner (mostly because I'm a computer/engineering/physics hippie and I have seen scanners that can be made to look exactly like that mat; but I also have learned a bit of magic, with that instead of becoming an amateur magician I instead learned about magic and it's history instead). But, like you said and I also said above in my comment, this all can/could be done through many various schemes. Using differing ways of that same scheme/idea, the same mechanics and/or devices, with sleight of hand and a lot of misdirection (very well done too, simply because there was so very much of it needed--which Penn & Teller commended him on in their own way).

His jacket for example is obviously HIS engineered creation. It has a lot of hidden and secret functionality; in fact it may have been the underlying foundation that allowed the whole trick to work so well (you never know just what exactly is the magician's biggest helper in many tricks). That is what I love, personally, about magic is the engineering and love--the workmanship--that can go into it. Every great magician definitely has that engineering facet to their personality; they all know how to create a device that gives them just what they need. I've seen so many magical devices and how they were used and how they're made as well and I must say, it is a terribly interesting thing to learn about and see done. Sometimes you have devices made just to perform one extremely small function, just to add that little bit of "panache" to a trick...

Every magician--good and average--however do have or need one thing in common no matter what, and this refers to what you talk about (and this magician may be leagues ahead of others, making all tricks completed in that same manner seem simple and mundane compared to what he can accomplish with the exact same, extremely fundamental, aspect to magic; pulling off tricks that almost all magicians would believe to be impossible using such a standard fare of abilities and methods): agility and sleight of hand. With this comes the uses for that "god-like" speed and manipulation. Use that with engineered tools (not necessarily what I mentioned--the scanner, printer, and ink method--but, things easier to craft and more likely to be used like his vest) and it can suddenly make any of the simplest tasks (or even tricks that other magicians perform) we do everyday, extraordinary if not miraculous.

I thought I'd add my idea, because I like to figure these tricks out as well; as I'm sure many of you are as well.

Overall, if I was Penn and Teller, I'd be most impressed with his ability to keep his showmanship intact while obviously needing great concentration on the trick at the same time--not to mention he keeps showing superb sleight of hand the whole time.

So many magicians are just amazing to watch. The tools they create (which can be so complicated that you'd never believe that someone would create such a thing or something fairly complicated to complete one very easy task) sometimes never let their presence be known--if done right. But in other cases you know there is "something" helping the magician, but you can't begin to imagine what exactly he has created or what exactly it is accomplishing for him.

I do wish they'd give us a general idea how these tricks are performed, without destroying the "magic" involved. Just tell us general things, like "misdirection and a magical device", etc... They don't need to explain it into it's minutiae.

I'll always love magic and the amazing use of the mind and the body to create illusions grand and small (or "magic" that just tests the limits OF the mind or the body; feats, as it were).

When the body and mind work together in perfect unison to create such wonderful uses of sleight of hand, feats, and "magical" devices...these are the type of people that will continue--hopefully for as long as humans exist--to create magic as real as it can get. Waking up the child inside us all!

/length

So, let's presume your statement that this happens everyday is true. In fact, let's double it, and say for every incident you hear about, there's another that goes unnoticed, and is worse. You're saying the egregious actions of 2 officers per day, is indicative of the type of day MOST cops lead on a daily basis, i.e. : the norm?

Speaking of things we never see... If, for every bad cop video posted I somehow unearthed and posted a video of a wholly unremarkable cop somewhere, clocking in, doing his thing , going against his nature and doing something that could be construed as benign, even good- would it change your opinion of cops?

I'm not the apologist you think I am by the way. I even agree with some of what you say. But I try not to blame the many for the actions of the few. Pretend that rather than cops we're talking about any race of your choosing and decide if I should change my ways.

Are you Egyptian? cause.. you're definitely in denial..

This behavior isn't the norm?
Then why does it take place literally everyday?

Like you and every other police sympathizer likes to point out..

"The incidents that make the news are just a small fraction of what ACTUALLY takes place!"

Precisely.

So considering there are multiple instances of police brutality 24/7/365..

..think about all the police violence that WE NEVER SEE.

Then think about all the "less severe" police misconduct: unlawful stops, unlawful seizure, evidence tempering, falsifying reports, etc.

Even if excessive force & brutality is just a fraction of the pie.. the entire pie is still corrupt.

How do we know this?
Because whistle-blowers are always stigmatized, demoted or fired..

While murders routinely get off with little or no punishment.

Clearly, the romanticized ideal of police "protecting & serving" is a fairytale.
And those idealist police officers are the true minority.

"Police Brutality isn't the norm! America is a post-racial society!"

Psh, gimme a break.

At some point, yes. But for the time being, increases in productivity (automation) are less of a job killer than your everyday policies and ideologies.

Speaking of my own country, the amount of work not being done is enormous, and the aggregate of work not having been done over the last decades is absolutely staggering. The current economic system not only unloaded a great number of burdens onto society, it also never found a way to come up with a way to integrate the aforementioned work. No one is willing to pay for it, so it doesn't get done, period. The most prominent examples would be infrastructure works of all kinds (energy, most of all), ecological restauration and care for the elderly. Our national railroad alone could hire 100,000 people and still be understaffed.

You can have full employment next year, but not if you expect the private sector to provide the jobs within the current system. The public sector could create them, if you use a sovereign, free-floating currency, but ideology doesn't allow for it.

As long as we focus on finding people for a given job, there'll be mass unemployment, no matter what. Reverse the process, create/find jobs for a given people and we might make some headway.

Again, ideology doesn't allow for it. And that's also what made me stop advocating for an unconditional basic income (UBI). The financial details of it can be a nightmare, yes, and it would be a break with a social welfare system that survived two world wars. But the deal breaker for me was politics.

A UBI would mean taking the boot of the peasants' necks. Liberty and (some) equality made real. Love it.
But look at how vicious the Greeks are attacked these days, not just by the elite, but by our fellow worker bees. They're not just burying the last bit of European solidarity in Greece, they're unloading all their frustrations onto the schmucks who had very little to begin with. It's despicable. And it indicates to me that any attempt to introduce a system that would take from people the need to work would unleash unimaginable hatred from the usual suspects. And significant portions of the public would go along with it, given how easy it already is to channel their frustrations towards "welfare queens" and "moochers".

So yeah, a UBI would be lovely. Finally some liberty, finally more negotiating power for the worker (can decline any job offer without repression). But the shit would need to hit the fan hard before there can be any room within the political sphere for it.

So OF COURSE you'd never critically-analyze yourself and admit to being a racist prick at times.. @lantern53

You're a disingenuous liar, who lies to yourself everyday..

"Don't worry, self.. We're still a good person"

"Ignore those naysayers, self.. That arrest was mostly lawful so it's okay to lie about it"

"Psh don't be silly, self.. Those black teens MUST have been doing something criminal.. why else would the police be harassing them?"



And the cycle of cognitively-dissonant, racist cuntbags continues..

Can't wait for THIS bullshit explanation of how you're..

"totally-not-a-liar"

..despite the comment where you openly gloat about doing so..


*grabs even more popcorn*