(...)In many places, local government does provide subsidies for phone lines to the poor(...)I think we can both agree that the government's free cellphone plan hasn't made cellphone prices go up.

That's awful. I'm sure you can figure out why I think that's a waste of money, even though it's a considerably smaller amount when a program is local as opposed to state-wide or federal.

We might not agree that prices haven't gone up as a result of them, we can agree, at least, that nationalizing the whole industry would be a terrible idea.

Cell phones did once cost thousands of dollars and their supply used to be very limited not too long ago. It's interesting how, with technology, things became more accessible, same with computers or the Internet. Through the years, it was the combination of technology and market forces that basically made it possible for cell phones to be as cheap and accessible as they are today. That would've most likely never happened if production or distribution of cell phones were the mandate of some federal agency to begin with.

Even with the aid of technology, things tend to become less accessible and quality of service worsens when govt steps into a sector of the economy. Just look at healthcare, despite all the incredible medical advances and research, so many things in healthcare cost a lot more than they used to 20-50 years ago. Market forces that would've stimulated price and quality competition this whole time were and still are repressed by excessive regulation and a system mostly clogged down by bureaucrats with noble goals and their laws.

I don't see why providing taxpayer-funded food stamps to the poor would prevent market forces from making food as cheap and available as it can.

Funny how creative critics can be when conjuring all sorts of irreparable problems arising from the free market, yet are terribly incapable of foreseeing any of those that result from govt interference.

When you grant money to poor people for food, you're not subsidizing nourishment, you're subsidizing poverty.

People who are poor and not productive enough to buy food, they get free food paid by those people who are productive enough to buy their own food and pay taxes. The money that is being given to poor people for food, is being used less productively because a) it's money that was not earned and is therefore spent less responsibly (crap food, food you don't need), b) it's money spent to satisfy a need that would otherwise encourage the poor to be more productive, c) the money acts as incentive for the poor to stay unproductive for as long as it qualifies them for free food, and d) those who are productive have less of their earned money to spend.

Productivity is our answer to the everlasting problem of survival. In life, you have to be productive (or live off of someone who is) or die. So instead of helping people be productive or allowing an environment where productivity is rewarded, the govt wants productivity to be taxed to reward those who are unproductive.

That's bad for society.

I'd have to say it was my parents, who listened to Linda Rondstadt, the Eagles, and the Beatles. Except that they also listened to Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, and Conway Twitty, so maybe I'm just so awesome I figured out the whole rock and roll thing on my own. That and I have been in love with the idea of the musician alone on stage with his/her guitar. There's something really romantic in the image that I've always liked. A few of my family members play guitar and some of my favorite childhood memories are of them playing guitar while various others took turns singing.

After getting over my horrendous Debbie Gibson/Tiffany phase, I picked up Queen, Guns and Roses, REO Speedwagon, The Motels and Joe Cocker from an uncle who had them lying around. Talking Heads and then, later, 90s grunge was the first rock I got into that felt like it was not inherited from someone else, and now I'm inclined to pretty much give a listen to anything at least once, because who knows what might be out there...

Current favorites at the moment: Death Cab for Cutie, System of a Down, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (though most of the new CD is kind of a drag), Weezer, Silverchair, etc.

^VideoSift is a home for everything:)

Also see this clip
http://www.videosift.com/video/System-of-Vila-Chaves-Suey-by-PorCobain
and you know why System of a Down called their album Toxicity..
it has been Seu Madruga all along..

Tags for this video have been changed from 'SOAD, system of a down, video remix' to 'SOAD, system of a down, video remix, buhnana buhnana buhnana' - edited by calvados

>> ^NetRunner:
Aging death was created through natural selection amongst the original immortal organisms, IMO.

Aging death was not likely an evolutionary selection. DNA has improved its ability to replicate without error and to self-repair, not the other way around. But of course, there are still things that muck up DNA beyond its capabilities (e.g., excessive UV radiation). So biological systems still break down frequently.


Maybe the key is for us all to get very, very small. That or lots of space travel. Or Dyson Spheres. I think based on our society right now, we're more likely to digitize and shrink down, since it's cheaper, and we're all about cost effectiveness.
Eventually we'll do the Dyson Sphere, but probably not until we've hit some unimaginably high population, like 100 trillion people maybe.

I think you've got the answer in the first part there. By the time we have the technology to build a Dyson sphere, we won't need it.

tyvm, and by all means do!

playlists go way underutilized around here anyway, and that's one of my favorites.
i wish everyone had a music list too.

great way to get to know other sifters, and gets a few more eyeballs for some surprisingly under-voted tunes, such as these perhaps?

In reply to this comment by mauz15:
http://www.videosift.com/playlists/my15minutes/damn-you
Great idea. I am stealing it.

Your video, System Of A Down - War (Live), has made it into your personal Highest Rated Videos listing. Congratulations on a job well done. For you contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

If they were gonna pick a song by System of a Down....why didnt they pick "Deer Dance"...so much more fitting.

i was going to promote this one last night, but saved it for the impending occasion.

sheik yerbouti, edm.

Here's my vote, because they gave a good show when i saw them opening for System of a Down almost 8 years ago.

I would love 3rd parties to be viable, but the fact of the matter is that in our winner takes all system they just aren't. In a parliamentary system like they have in England, the 5-6% of the vote that the greens or libertarians get would mean that they also get 5-6% representation in the government. In America, your vote is in essence a political statement (which is fine and good) but at the end of the day, amounts to nothing more. Other Californians will pick up your slack anyway, so by all means, give your vote to anyone you like.

Beyond that, these tiny parties are disorganized and poorly run, because they just don't have the funding, experience, staff and organizational skills to get their act together. It's not their fault, the system keeps them down. They also often pick candidates based on name recognition rather than ideology. For instance, the libertarians are going with Republican Bob Barr this election, just like the greens went with consumer advocate Nader (rather than an environmentalist) for the last two elections and Democrat Cynthia McKinney this election.

The best strategy, IMO, is to infiltrate one of the 2 parties and co-opt it. That way you can use the infrastructure already in place, rather than have to build it from the ground up. This is happening in the Democratic party right now, which started with the election of Howard Dean to the DNC chair and now the candidacy of Obama. We are seeing a push to get rid of corporate Democrats and make the party into what it should be.

I'd love to see Ron Paul, who was the Howard Dean of this election, become the RNC chair and clean house. I'd love to see both parties live up to their own ideology and send the corporate fluffers home. Wouldn't it be nice if both parties had integrity and could get along?

Lastly, we've heard the 3rd party domino theory (2%, 8%, 20%, etc.) before from the greens, and it is pure fantasy. Third parties get very little brand loyalty. Their popularity is directly linked to the name recognition of their presidential candidate. Bob Barr will do much better than Baderink because everyone knows who he is, just as Nader did well in the last two elections. The greens will do worse this year because Cynthia McKinney does not have the name recognition of Nader. So, it's still a myopic popularity contest, just with smaller guest list.

If you want to be true to your conscience, why not write in Ron Paul? I assume he's the dude you'd like to be President. He's a great guy and there are no questions about his integrity. Why be a chicken little and vote for the 'officially sanctioned' non-libertarian, libertarian, celebrity candidate, rather than vote for the man who inspires you the most?

S'pose I'll join in on the randomized fun.

1. System of a Down - Fuck The System
2. Mos Def - New World Water
3. Serart - If You Can Catch Me
4. Jurassic 5 - I Am Somebody
5. Rilo Kiley - Salute My Shorts!
6. Aesop Rock - Float
7. Aesop Rock - Spare A Match
8. The Decemberists - Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)
9. Rogue Wave - Own Your Own Home
10. System of a Down - This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song

I'm shocked that neither Elliott Smith or Nirvana made an appearance, but not a half-bad representation - I'll take it!

1. Alanis Morissette - Wake Up
2. Nobou Uematsu - Symphonic Suite FFI (Final Fantasy S Generation soundtrack)
3. Metallica - Harvester of Sorrow
4. Linkin Park - Hit the Floor
5. System of a Down - Prison Song
6. Metallica - Wherever I May Roam
7. Live - The Dam at Otter Creek
8. Smashing Pumpkins - 17
9. Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight
10. Foo Fighters - Walking After You

1. Valkyries Rising - Ian Livingstone (OST from Boom Boom Rocket video game)
2. Rocku Bankurawase - Maximum the Hormone
3. Sad but true - Metallica
4. Falling Away From Me - Korn
5. Shadoogie - The Shadows
6. The Pick of Destiny - Tenacious D
7. Forest - System of a Down
8. Voodoo people [pendulum remix] - The prodigy
9. Ego Brain - System of a Down
10. Gently - Slipknot

I was actually expecting more variety in this myself.

System of a Down gets sifted, but not this. Curse you people for making me *beg again.