Putin came to my part of town today, and since you are a fellow aficionado of boobage™, I feel a need to share this with you.

New favorite band: The Supreme Genius of King Khan and His Sensational Shrines.
Thank you VERY much.
In reply to this comment by oritteropo:
I quite liked these guys, too - King Khan & The Shrines, Khan is a Berlin based Canadian so it's a German band. Obviously. I'm sure you could tell... even if I had trouble picking it ;
In reply to this comment by luxury_pie:
Thanks for the little concert. Did improve my work day by an order of magnitude :

Never would have guessed it. Seriously German accent can be very easy to confuse with french, scandinavian or even russian. Not the "typical" accent. Vere it zounds laik zey arr speeking tscherman aktschually. But the "hard" pronounciation of some words.
In reply to this comment by oritteropo:
I quite liked these guys, too - King Khan & The Shrines, Khan is a Berlin based Canadian so it's a German band. Obviously. I'm sure you could tell... even if I had trouble picking it ;
In reply to this comment by luxury_pie:
Thanks for the little concert. Did improve my work day by an order of magnitude :

Yep, he's known for being a bit over the top. He's Canadian, but based in Berlin with the band.
>> ^PlayhousePals:

Fancy Dancy feather duster King Kahn is sportin' =o)

I quite liked these guys, too - King Khan & The Shrines, Khan is a Berlin based Canadian so it's a German band. Obviously. I'm sure you could tell... even if I had trouble picking it
In reply to this comment by luxury_pie:
Thanks for the little concert. Did improve my work day by an order of magnitude :

@rbar np, take your time, I'm quite busy as well.

Did East Germany have a great economy? Like you said, it faired well in some sectors, highly subsidized sectors I might add, at the huge expense of the rest of its economy which was miserable compared to West Germany (or to what it could be if it were capitalistic). Think of all the "luxuries" enjoyed right outside the Berlin Wall that were denied to east germans. Can you see purchasing or providing those products and services as economic activity being denied, and, therefore, less cooperation?

You have to question your assumption that capitalism universally strives for competition, or that it always should, or that it's the philosophy of free markets to make everyone compete. There are forces *for* and *against* competition everywhere in capitalism, from those who benefit and lose from it, respectively. I think that's what you mean by "near perfect competition", the perfection being the balance between competing and not competing as required.

Why are labor unions formed? So workers can compete less with each other and cooperate for better employment terms. Does that favor companies? No, but who cares, it's meant to favor the workers. Why are cartels formed? So companies can compete less with each other and cooperate for better profits. Is that good for the consumers? Usually not, but it's good for the companies in the cartel. Why are consumer groups formed... you get the point. These institutions operate against competition, but that doesn't make them any less capitalistic or contrary to the incentives of free markets, assuming they're formed without the use of force, criminal or lawful. A lawful association between individuals or companies to cooperate instead of compete with each other is capitalism at work too.

When you talk about situations where there is less or no competition, you're not considering the competition that arises on the other side of the demand-supply relation!

If there is large demand and little supply, you correctly point out that there is little competition *among suppliers*, right? However, aren't you overlooking the increased competition among the *demanders*? Like I said, competition is increasing as supply and demand differ. Who is competing with whom is beside the point.

You might argue, "well, how is competition among the demand going to help??", because it sucks to be in the demand for something in low supply, that unmet demand represents an incentive for more supply. Supplying something in high demand is a coveted position. Resources from elsewhere will tend to be allocated towards that coveted position, supplying that demand, and increasing competition in what started out as a less or non-competitive environment.

So, I don't follow your "markets universally tend towards monopolies" argument. As much as companies like monopolies, they like it because it profits from the clients/consumers' desperate demand for it, but these people are not ok with fighting each other for something in low supply. THAT is the incentive towards competition, towards destabilizing any monopoly that abuses its position.

The derivatives market is a complex example, but you're blaming the "free market", when the banking system is far from a free market if there's a central bank. Banks should be allowed to make risky investments and, if these investments don't pan out, they should pay the price with loss and bankruptcy, like it happens with any business that makes bad decisions. That is one of the best incentives to make good decisions! If the whole banking system is to blame for that, then it would collapse, which would be disastrous, but it would expose the disaster that is central banking.

Would the government want society to realize that central banking is terrible? Of course not, they're the ones who profit from it the most, which is why it stepped in with a massive taxpayer-funded bailout. None of what I just described is allowed in a free market.

Just like people realized the Church and State should be separate centuries ago, it will take a while for people to realize the State and Banks should be separate as well. The evidence is unravelling right before us.

>> ^ponceleon:

So is it illegal? I'm not in any way defending her, just curious if it is somehow illegal... I mean, how would it be legally different than a street performer pretending to be a robot? Just to be clear: she's an incredible douche.


This also isn't fucking news. If you've ever been to a major city, Paris, Berlin, New York, LA, this is how it works! No ones forcing you to give money to people.

Do all the haters here not understand the Olympics is not about idolatry it's not about making money it's not even about the sports. It's about the ENTIRE world coming together every 2 years and regardless of our differences, regardless of the petty wars we have started, and regardless of our prejudice. That for the span of time during the games we as a planet engage in a single combined cooperative effort to have fair competition in the spirit of peace and goodwill and not to bicker, fight, and kill each until it ends. The Olympics even got Hitler to stop fighting during the Berlin games. ANY symbolic event that can stop an entire world war is something we should cherish and uphold till the end of time. And if supporting and believing in a symbol of PEACE like the Olympic Flame is idolatry than mark me a pagan and God have mercy on the soul of any moron who would extinguish one of the few true symbols of peace this world as a whole still holds dear. I for one hope they take that moron to the Hague and charge him with treason against the world. I mean really people how can you seriously hate the Olympics unless you hate peace. Are you all war mongers?!

I felt the same way at first...but they one me back with the ending. I felt overall it was sift worthy...but agree the 1 min dixieland version could have been left out. From what I understand all the numbers performed by these guys are done with the idea of having fun with the piece and with a sense of humor.>> ^jqpublick:

Here are my thoughts for the first 6 minutes and three seconds of this video:
"Wow, this is actually pretty good, the band's not bad... a few flubs but not too bad, but it's a difficult piece... hey nice! soprano sax... now the band's all here, are they -- oh God, no oh shit no, nonononononono... "
So. No upvote from me, unless I can colour it hubris.

I don't see anything too special except for the name value 'Paris' carries. It just seems like a person was testing out the slowmo featuer on his/her new HD camera. Nothing interesting is really happening or being shown.

You could have the same video of Rome, NYC, Berlin, London etc etc and it would pretty much be the same. Meh.

Debut in Berlin? How is this movie not illegal under German law?

@Hybrid: No apostrophe necessary.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Rave, Thor, Viking, Berlin, Germany, Fuckparade, Technoviking, techno, viking' to 'Rave, Thor, Viking, Berlin, Germany, Fuckparade, Technoviking, techno viking' - edited by SlipperyPete

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Rave, Thor, Viking, Berlin, Germany, Fuckparade, Technoviking' to 'Rave, Thor, Viking, Berlin, Germany, Fuckparade, Technoviking, techno, viking' - edited by SlipperyPete

It's true that pure capitalism works for some, it's very popular in Mogadishu and amongst warring species of coral.

As for Europe, were you thinking of Berlin, Athens, Oslo or Copenhagen? Because those last 2 are the closest thing to a non-vampiric success story in human social construction.

>> ^quantumushroom:


That's not my viewpoint, however I am extremely skeptical of the so-called "Third Way". Socialism always fails, and capitalism fails when oversaturated with socialism. Look at Europe.

Hey thanks for the link. Though the song didn't exactly hit my taste... hairs? (you know, in the ear)
I don't like most of the electronica / d'n'b songs with vocals in it. Very often it just doesn't add anything to the experience I am looking for. Although this song was quite ambient and "easy listening".

But I'm always looking for a good electronical tune (no matter what subgenre), preferably with all kinds of influences. I would open a big bucket of power points for somebody who can give me a really good electronica - klezmer sound.

Here's a set that describes my taste most accurately at the moment: http://soundcloud.com/berlin-kreuzberg-institut/bki-21-robosonic-dj-mix-fusion-festival-2010

In reply to this comment by oritteropo:
Do you like electronica, and particularly d'n'b?

This one's on 9 and I quite liked it:
http://videosift.com/video/seba-Paradox-feat-Robert-Manos-move-on

Perhaps not quite as much as the violin one that you found in Beggar's canyon, but 1000 times more than the death metal one :