*promote

https://videosift.com/video/Thomas-Paine-Christopher-Hitchens-Lecture-Full
https://videosift.com/video/Christopher-Hitchens-On-NPR-discussing-Thomas-Paine-2007

I suppose, but as you say, they are table scraps of money for all the good they do.

Homeless people should be getting money from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (aka welfare) but that money has, in a bi-partisan way, been misappropriated and the broad language of the law signed in 96 basically let states do whatever the fuck they want with that cash. $16.5 billion is spent on stupid bullshit like dance parties to help out shitty marriages when it should be doing what that money is named for.

see: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/moneybox/2016/06/_welfare_money_often_isn_t_spent_on_welfare.html

Point being, $445 million < 16.5 billion And I argue there is spending happening that contributes a lot less to society than PBS, NPR, etc. do.

That TANF fund is just one example of a program that's pulling down billions and dumping it, unsurprisingly, into the pockets of for-profit companies that are more than happy to scoop up TANF dollars or any other funds the Federal Government throws at them.

Also, Big Bird.

I was about the reply to Bobknight - to say basically the same thing.

Unfortunately, a lot of us who are "liberal" can't understand this. There is truth to it, I'm not going to say that it isn't batshit crazy but for instance, I worked 5 days at a design temp job (before I quit and got the job of a lifetime a week later) and the owner was an older lady. She listened to FOX news ALL DAY long, totally in the box and in the zone for the alt-right mentality.

She, as a small business owner, who probably has other "conservative"(extremist) friends on the Chamber of Commerce (of which she was a part of) really believed that Trump as a "BUSINESS" person would be a great president in creating a better economy for"business"(tax loopholes everywhere, YES!!! No living wage or minimum wage increases, YESSS!!! fucking dicks the lot of em). I had to listen to this shit for those 5 days, but yeah - people really believe(d) it. There are business people out there, who aren't Bobknights eating doritoes in that wheel-less, rusted, mobile home in the trailer park waiting for the next tornado to plop down on tornado alley and give them the ultimate ride to the otherside, that believed in having a business person in the white house a good thing (fucking capitalists and terribly ignorant poor people IMO lol).

Media is in a real shithole these days. I mean, I still listen to Democracy Now! & NPR... but everything is slanted one-way or another...

@Sagemind - here's some T-Pain: http://videosift.com/video/T-Pain-NPR-Music-Tiny-Desk-Concert

Skinny Lister - This Is War has been added as a related post - related requested by Lilithia.

Skinny Lister: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert has been added as a related post - related requested by Lilithia.

Skinny Lister - Rollin' Over - CARDINAL SESSIONS has been added as a related post - related requested by Lilithia.

Skinny Lister & Beans On Toast - This Christmas has been added as a related post - related requested by Lilithia.

Planet Money is also did a podcast on this recently:

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/12/02/504155809/episode-739-finding-the-fake-news-king

Your video, Lianne La Havas NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Your video, Blue Man Group: Tiny Desk Concert : NPR, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Not to be missed http://videosift.com/video/Blue-Man-Group-Tiny-Desk-Concert-NPR

Best to be viewed here in full screen http://www.npr.org/2016/09/23/495193882/blue-man-group-tiny-desk-concert

*doublepromote

There are actually a couple of other happiness-increasing technique that is somewhat non-intuitive, is shown to increase happiness in repeated studies, and is fairly easy to implement and difficult to reverse: Having a dog or cat.

It appears that being needed by the animal makes the human feel as if they have intrinsic value which...I mean it would be nice if we had that without pets but, there it is. If you want the best bang for your buck, I would suggest a small dog or cat from the pound as it will eat significantly less food than a bigger animal.

Another life change that actually effectively increases long-term happiness on average is marriage. This seemed a little too hairy for this video though. Also, DEFINITELY NOT DOSE-DEPENDENT. One spouse...better for happiness. Two spouses USUALLY NOT.

So there you go...get a pet, get hitched, and shorten your commute. You need to get home anyway, so you can feed your dog!

SOURCES:
Homeownership doesn't increase happiness: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/realestate/homeownership-the-key-to-happiness.html?_r=0
Short Commute = $40,000 raise
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/19/141514467/small-changes-can-help-you-thrive-happily
Commuting Linked to Lower Life Satisfaction
https://uwaterloo.ca/recreation-and-l...

Commuting and Metabolic / Cardiovascular Health
https://uwaterloo.ca/recreation-and-leisure-studies/crunched-time-commuting-linked-lower-life-satisfaction

Commuting related to lower social activity and lower general trust
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4509867/

10 Things Commuting Does to your Body
http://time.com/9912/10-things-your-commute-does-to-your-body/

Gawd, the world just sucks sometimes. The guy who saved the baby died in August 2016 in Aleppo.

He was a father with two kids.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/13/489906652/the-volunteer-who-rescued-syrias-miracle-baby-is-killed-in-aleppo

It's still working it's way through the courts, Remington claims that they're protected under the Protection of Lawful Commerce and Arms Act. But some say there are exceptions for things like negligent entrustment, as the families are claiming that military style weapons should never have been sold to the public in the first place and therefore qualifies as negligence.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/22/467688334/ar-15-gun-maker-seeks-to-dismiss-lawsuit-filed-by-sandy-hook-parents

The reason many in the NRA are so against smart guns is because some places (New Jersey is one I think) have it written into law that when smart guns become technically and commercially viable then all arms dealers must switch to selling only smart guns within something like 3 years. Essentially making the sale of all other guns illegal I guess.
And the gun manufacturers pretty much already have immunity from being sued for how someone uses their products. There is no reasonable way that the makers of a firearm could possibly insure that someone they sell a gun to will not use it in either a criminal or just recklessly.
Personally I think smart guns are a great idea but I think lawmakers didn't consider how their own laws might wind up hindering the adoption of smart guns.
Here's the story I heard on NPR about it a week or two back.
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/07/473416699/how-an-idea-to-develop-a-safer-smart-gun-backfired

Might be lies but an fyi:

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/20/441457924/gulf-states-fend-off-criticism-about-doing-little-for-syrian-refugees


"The Saudi Foreign Ministry challenged the charges by issuing official numbers that are impossible to verify independently, saying "the Kingdom has received around 2.5 million Syrians since the beginning of the conflict." A Saudi scholar told the BBC that thousands of Syrians receive free health care and education in Saudi Arabia.

An op-ed in the New York Times by Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE's ambassador in Washington, contested the widely reported statistic of "zero" refugees in the Gulf. "Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, the U.A.E. has welcomed more than 100,000 Syrians, joining 140,000 already residing in the emirates," he wrote. "The Emirates' per capita commitment to the Syrian crisis exceeds virtually every other country's participation."