>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

I had a similar interaction with a particular videosifter, except that it was about denying poor people the right to vote instead of killing them. When I expressed shock and outrage, he used the blue sky defense.


You're hardly one to talk about suspicious argument techniques.. In the past you've attempted to make me appear to be racist, homophobic, probably some other stuff too. For some reason, i get the impression @GeeSussFreeK has an entirely different (and probably more accurate) story to tell on this one.

Edit:
I'd say it's the one flaw in an otherwise intelligent person that you feel the need to intentionally misconstrue (and then advertise the result) of anyone that doesn't fully agree with you.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
I had a similar interaction with a particular videosifter, except that it was about denying poor people the right to vote instead of killing them. When I expressed shock and outrage, he used the blue sky defense.

On average, less that 50% of people vote with no restrictions. And you can only vote for people on the ballet in most cases. Nor was it solely poor people, but go ahead and keep fucken that chicken.


Why would you deny the poor the right to vote? That's really fucked up.

I am not really sure, I think he is talking about the fallacy of explanation. This is an informal fallacy were the scope of the question is too small both in explanation of the scope and depth of the phenomena. The jist of the conversation was I suggested that voting might be a bad thing to include as a birth right, that some right of passage might make for a better system for all. You would value you vote more, and it would make sure that the most vested in doing the leg work on being a good citizen would have a say in how things went on. There are pit falls, as in all systems, to avoid. And I wasn't even proposing it as an end all solution, but he labeled me a fascist and so I ended the conversation and any desire to participate with conversations with him anymore.

I can handle ideas outside my way of thinking, I rather enjoy it...iron sharpens iron and all. But I don't like dogmatic attacks against any idea that isn't considered normal. DYS has the same unreasonable "faith" in pure democracy as he criticizes in people with the same faith in market economics; both misplaced imo. I find a systemic problem with democracy, and I strive to find a solution for its inherit flaws. I might come back and conclude that it is the best solution given that weaknesses of man, but I won't give up thinking outside the box because of dogma.


In reply to this comment by lampishthing:
@GeeSuss what's the blue sky defence?

@DFT why are you fucking chickens? That's not cool man, you can seriously harm them psychologically.>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
I had a similar interaction with a particular videosifter, except that it was about denying poor people the right to vote instead of killing them. When I expressed shock and outrage, he used the blue sky defense.

On average, less that 50% of people vote with no restrictions. And you can only vote for people on the ballet in most cases. Nor was it solely poor people, but go ahead and keep fucken that chicken.

@GeeSuss what's the blue sky defence?

@DFT why are you fucking chickens? That's not cool man, you can seriously harm them psychologically.>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
I had a similar interaction with a particular videosifter, except that it was about denying poor people the right to vote instead of killing them. When I expressed shock and outrage, he used the blue sky defense.

On average, less that 50% of people vote with no restrictions. And you can only vote for people on the ballet in most cases. Nor was it solely poor people, but go ahead and keep fucken that chicken.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

I had a similar interaction with a particular videosifter, except that it was about denying poor people the right to vote instead of killing them. When I expressed shock and outrage, he used the blue sky defense.

On average, less that 50% of people vote with no restrictions. And you can only vote for people on the ballet in most cases. Nor was it solely poor people, but go ahead and keep fucken that chicken.

I had a similar interaction with a particular videosifter, except that it was about denying poor people the right to vote instead of killing them. When I expressed shock and outrage, he used the blue sky defense.

"Blue skies on Mars, that's a new one!"

>> ^Deano:

You must miss certain things. What about the beer and the weather? (yes I like our varied weather)
In reply to this comment by Gallowflak:
>> ^Hybrid:
I'm so proud to be British right now.

I'm so proud to have fled the island completely. Just when I start getting a bit homesick, the sift fixes me right up.


Well, I've moved to Australia (on account of my wife being a citizen) so the beer is pretty great, and the weather is a mixture of clear blue skies, humid and overcast days and tropical storms. Actually, Winter is very much like Summer in England. It's not too hard to get used to.

I do still get nostalgic, though, and there are things about the place that I appreciate in a new light, viewing the UK from a distance.

Well, clearly Winstonfield_Pennypacker is an intelligent boy and articulate. Unfortunately it seems like some people have been filling Winstonfield_Pennypacker's skull full of mush with their own agenda.

It is more than difficult to accept the details of Winstonfield_Pennypacker's story. A 30 year old has 'a lot of friends' none of which who are gay? Who is Winstonfield_Pennypacker referring to? Is it common for 30 year olds like Winstonfield_Pennypacker to have a lot of friends - let alone not even one that is gay? And this Winstonfield_Pennypacker with his "adult" friends just out of nowhere he decides to plant a flag against gay rights as a violation of the secular definition of marriage? AND he's willing to ignore thousands of other kinds of liberty & justice issues in the US legal system that take place every day!

Nope. Some other person has been shoveling an agenda into this Winstonfield_Pennypacker's head for a while now.... a long long while... Winstonfield_Pennypacker seems like he agrees with it. If Winstonfield_Pennypacker's mature/smart enough for a freakin' 30 year old in his mother's basement to maintain the position for his own reasons then fine & dandy, but he shouldn't impose his religious beliefs on a secular society. There is just no way this Winstonfield_Pennypacker out of the clear blue sky arrived at this. Winstonfield_Pennypacker is the result of inculcation.

Well, clearly the kid is an intelligent boy and articulate. Unfortunately it seems like some people have been filling his skull full of mush with their own agenda.

It is more than difficult to accept the details of his story. A 10 year old has 'a lot of friends' who are gay when his age group doesn't even hit puberty for 2-3 years? Is he referring to adults? What adults? Is it common for 10 year olds to have a lot of adult friends - let alone gay ones? And this kid with his many adult gay friends just out of nowhere he decides to plant a flag on gay rights as a violation of 'liberty & justice'? But he's willing to ignore thousands of other kinds of liberty & justice issues in the US legal system that take place every day?

Nope. Some other person has been shovelling an agenda into this kid's head for a while now. He seems like he agrees with it, and if he's mature/smart enough for his age to maintain the position for his own reasons then fine & dandy. But there is no way this kid just out of the clear blue sky arrived at this pass. This was the result of inculcation.

Can you imagine the feeling of seeing the black of space recede to eventually become a blue sky as you fall??

I'm glad there are people out there that still break our jaded view of the world with these achievements.

Thanks to JTZ, great sift.

Damn one album per artist is harsh



No particular order:

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire
Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb
Thrice - Vheissu
Yndi Halda - Enjoy Eternal Bliss
3 - Wake Pig
Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
Blue Sky Black Death - Late Night Cinema
Converge - Jane Doe
Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery
Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Protest the Hero - Fortress
Pure Reason Revolution - The Dark Third
Riverside - Second Life Syndrome
The Flashbulb - Soundtrack to a Vacant Life
The Who - Quadrophenia
Wintersun - Wintersun
X Japan - Art Of Life
Between the Buried and Me - Colors
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# ∞
Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment
Chiaki Ishikawa - Boku wa Mada Nanimo Shiranai
Damien Rice - O
Refused - Shape of Punk to Come
Edge Of Sanity - Crimson
Ulver - Bergtatt
Radiohead - OK Computer
Laura - Radio Swan is Down
In Mourning - Shrouded Divine
Bill Bruford - One of a Kind
Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Naked City - Naked City
Death - Symbolic
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
Camel - Mirage
Yes - Close to the Edge

For the moment anyway, lots of new stuff I will probably get over in a few months.

Fun.

SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
So This Is Love

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
I Fucked Your Wife

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Calling from Hell

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Summer's Gone

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Everybody's Talkin'

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
The Shortest Straw

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Feel Good Hit of the Summer

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
No Love Lost

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Ice Queen

WHAT IS 2+2?
Away From The Numbers

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Burn

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Creature of the Wheel

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Unto Others

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Bombtrack

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Locked and Loaded

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Hate Kill Destroy

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
He Who Sought the Fire

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Reaping Stone

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Benighted

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Restless

WHATS THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Anything

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Day Tripper

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Darts

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Goodbye Blue Sky

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Pushit

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
In Winter

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Call of the Zombie

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Allegro Assai

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Vengeance is Mine

>> ^gwiz665:
"So, likely tomorrow we'll already see sparks fly as Democrats seek to block the seating of one of their own for ethical reasons, while the Republicans seek to block a legally elected member of the opposing party for their usual self-serving reasons."
This is so partisan that it could be straight out of Simpsons..

Perhaps, but reality has a well-known liberal bias.

You could argue that Dems are blocking Burris for self-serving political reasons too, since they're just worried about the public concern over the ethical questions about seating him...but I'm thinking that's a pretty partisan viewpoint. They're doing it because of ethical concern, and whether it's heartfelt, or just because they're worried about the public's reaction isn't something you could ever prove or disprove.

The Franken case, is entirely different. There has been an exhaustive, bipartisan effort in Minnesota to conduct this recount fairly. Nearly all the key decisions that led to the result we have today were done by unanimous decision by a bipartisan elections board, or with unanimous decisions from the state's supreme court. Coleman's own lawyer says that it is unlikely they would be able to overturn the current results, and non-partisan analysis of his claims (all of which have already been struck down by the MN Supremes or the election board by unanimous decision) make it unlikely that a court would settle the case in a way that would be beneficial enough to Coleman to overtake Franken's final 225 vote lead.

As it turns out, we were relatively spark free today, Franken didn't show up at all, and Burris was turned away with only minor incident.

I still expect sparks on both of these in the near future, though.

>> ^rottenseed:
I don't think large majority is ever a good thing.


I agree, that's why I spend all my non-sift time campaigning to get more people to realize the sky is really yellow.

We've gotta put an end to this blue-sky majority.

And don't get me started on the radical Round-Earth agenda. They're almost as bad as the Heliocentrists.

EDIT - Actually, instead of just listing it, I'll copy out my descriptions of them too since I already wrote this up for another forum:


1. The Flashbulb - Soundtrack to a Vacant Life | Instrumental | 4.5/5

Simply put, a seamless, sweeping epic of genres that dabbles in everything from sombre piano ballads, to upbeat flamenco, caustic electronica, serene ambience, rhythmic percussive tribal drum sections and haunting string sections, imposing every possible emotion on the listener. If anything, the sole weakness is that the rough 2-3 minute length of each of the 31 songs means they don't work so effectively as standalone compositions but as verses in a protracted poem, making the idea of listening to the entirety of it a tad daunting.


2. Protest The Hero - Fortress | Progressive Metal | 4.5/5

Metal that while relatively intricate yet melodic enough and hell, catchy enough to avoid divulging into incomprehensible technical wankery. Lyrics abound with references to goddesses and dethroned kings but it's decidedly tongue in cheek. Perhaps the biggest weaknesses resides in a lack of coherence, a tendency for the album to mesh together as a string of riffs, with little sense of a recurring chorus or verses within songs, but then you can take that as a plus depending on how you look at it. Besides that and a couple of immensely obnoxious vocal lines it's a pretty solid effort all around.


3. Blue Sky Black Death - Late Night Cinema | Instrumental Trip-hop | 4.5/5

One of the least expected surprises this year for me, partly because I generally despise anything that relates in any way to hip-hop or remixes yet I was sold on first listen. It’s just such a supremely chilled out but simultaneously melodically multilayered album which weaves hip-hop/trip-hop styling with a fairly significant utilisation of violins, trumpets, keyboards and an organ, capping it off with a distinct jazz tinge.


4. In Mourning - Shrowded Divine | Melodic Death Metal | 4/5

Genre-wise they’re probably best described as melodic death metal based but with progressive and doom influenced sections, reminiscent of Opeth, but not exactly the same. I initially junked this when I first picked it up but it’s grown on me immensely since then. There’s nothing immediately about them that sticks out as particularly impressive, the riffs aren’t all too complex, the melody isn’t overly diverse. If anything the drumming is quite good and both the harsh and clean vocals are solid. Nevertheless they clearly have a knack for creating memorable melody lines, and many minor touches such as the use juxtaposed clean and harsh vocals of essentially the same lines, coupled with a number of sexy breakdowns and a consistently bleak and permeating tone really make this album memorable in some indescribable way.


5. Transcending Bizarre? - The Serpent's Manifolds | Avant-Garde Black Metal | 4/5

Typical black metal brain mashing, but nicely broken up by violin sections to prevent migraines! Again it really feels like this band just clicks, but that not to say they can’t put out some impressively melodic riffs, and solos or bring it intensity-wise. In terms of criticism, there’s probably too much reliance on violin for a metal album, but that’s a very subjective disparagement, also a select few sections drag a bit ... oh and the intro is obnoxious and highly skipable. Oh and keyboards, oh the humanity! Run for the hills!


6. Thrice - The Alchemy Index - Vol.3 & 4 Air & Earth | Experimental Rock | 4/5

Partially successful but suffers from issues strangely distinct from the first two volumes. Whereas the first two could perhaps be argued to have taken the element concepts too literally both melodically and lyric-wise, this time around there are fairly tentative connections to the elements. With Air there’s simply a heavy use of reverb and echo to create the impression of an expansive soundscape, among a number of other tricks; whereas Earth is merely embodied by heavy use of stripped back and stark acoustic guitar with an American folk grounding. In all, neither really captures the concept as effectively as the haphazard, chaotic, distorting Fire; and if anything the biggest weakness of Air is it doesn’t distance it enough from the seeping smoothness that characterised Water to offer anything particularly distinctive. All in all it still remains an intriguing unconventional attempt with a number of standout songs, particularly the sonnets that outro each of the volumes oddly enough, led by consistently strong vocals.


7. Bar Kokhba Sextet - Lucifer The Book of Angels - Vol. 10 | Jazz | 4/5

I'm not really qualified to comment on or critique jazz as I'm very much a neophyte to it, but this is some excellent stuff.


8. Lights Out Asia - Eyes Like Brontide | Post Rock | 4/5

To me the main element any post rock effort needs to really be effective is a pervasive, consistent atmosphere, which this album abounds with. It doesn't fall into clichés such as blasting you into submission by badgering you with volume changes, or an over reliance on monotonous arpeggios, but builds upon subtle layers of sound to create a vast, rich soundscape of echoing guitars, staccato electronica beats and fleeting vocals.


9. Opeth - Watershed | Progressive Death Metal | 4/5

Disappointingly inconsistent by their standards, but still a pretty solid album all around. Some songs definitely drag massively, and certain parts sound technically overindulging and tiresome particularly the outro to Burden. On the other hand in my humble opinion it also has some of the best songs they have written, the way the progressive acoustic guitar section fades in and out in Porcelain Heart for example is seamlessly mesmerising, Hessian Peel is almost equally memorable. Regardless this is no Blackwater Park unfortunately.


10. Mutyumu - Ilya | Post Rock | 4/5

Post rock doesn't really give this band justice. It's like an odd mix of opera and hardcore Japanese vocals, with heavily piano reliant post rock grounding. Awesome? Somewhat. Half the time its carried by stirring complex but seemingly effortless piano and string sections unfolding at a blistering pace coupled with occasional strangely effective hushed murmurs, yet the other half of the time it cascades into almost unbearable droning repetition. Now given that, Prayer is damn well one of the best post rock songs I have ever heard and it really is a pity that the rest of the album wasn’t equally brilliant. I probably overrate this a tad too but well ... goshdarnit it’s all gotta be about job creation and shoring up our economy.