@RedSky

20 billion was just an arbitrarily large number I chose to demonstrate that I think that the world would survive significant population growth beyond what we'll be dealing with in the near future.

The point of no return I was referring to is simply a point where we won't be able to get back to a place where we can sustain human population levels without significant environmental degradation and territorial disputes, among other challenges I'd prefer not to experience.

I do consider things like global warming, the fact that China is buying up land in Africa to feed its population, US foreign policy's competitive focus on securing cheap oil and the large scale destruction of rainforest to make way for single crop agriculture in Brasil to be symptoms of an imbalance in population vs. resources.

I'm not drawing the line at "everyone and stock up at the grocery store/pumps" type destruction before I take notice and preach caution. I think that defining that as a deadline would be irresponsible.

Again, I agree that we could theoretically mechanize the whole world in a way that grows the supply of resources and shares them equitably amongst an enormous human population, but that goes against the type of world I'd want to live in (excessive mechanization of natural resources) and the way human social systems typically work (equitable sharing).

There are various estimates on how much longer exponential human population growth will last, but it has certainly happened on a scale of centuries or decades - blips like baby boomers are just expected outliers within that trend.

But what's more important is that even if population levels peter off, it is consumption - which is the only statistic that really matters because it is the only negative effect of population increase - that will continue to increase exponentially as a greater proportion of the world's population begins to achieve first world living standards.

This is why free trade alone is not enough to solve problems. While it is likely to bring people out of poverty, raise education levels and increase human rights (all very good things), it will also continue to push our overall imprint on the planet in a more exponential direction than I'm comfortable with (one reason being the argument detailed in this video).

But of course I'm also uncomfortable with the prospect of any sort of forced population reduction mechanism, and I'm also uncomfortable with the notion of not raising people out of poverty.

So as I see it the only thing left to mitigate my fears is to place a primary emphasis on Education.

There's a million and one ways to do this: Everything from broad, effectual efforts like getting the Pope to get with the program and endorse contraceptives, to nearly insignificant efforts like arguing with people on the internet in hopes that you contribute some small part to a culture that places some significant emphasis on educating people about the importance of self control and restraint in every type of consumption - family size included.

newtboy says...

In reply to Chingalera:
And more ranting, insistence that you control others, insistence that YOUR issues are others issues, not yours, and completely ignoring of the fact that it is Ching that is the unwanted, vulgar, insulting, and always angry poster here, that instigates fights with anyone not in lock step with his insanity, and constantly and vulgarly insults all those that won't capitulate to his outrageousness. Too bad buddy, it's still not working for you, and it pushing others towards actual ACTION rather than simple cajoling. Is it not true you've been banned 5 times already Choggie?
Is there anyone NOT on the ching shit list? Sounds like a badge of honor from where I sit.
It's astonishing that your lack of self examination allows you to spout such insanity as " It is YOUR actions against me and the entire site's users," which was not an English sentence, and the sentiment you were attempting to state is 100% backwards. It's YOU who is outrageous, vulgar, insulting at every turn, and completely lacking respect or honor. I have never had trouble with another user on this site...you have trouble with at least 3 right now that you've listed by name, and far more that I know of right now, and at least 10 more in the past if you've really been banned 5 times (as I think you have). D'oh!
Really, were you really trying to lure a 13 year old girl alone from over seas to your home for 'vocal training'?!? Just plain OMG! That's what your post seemed to have said you wanted, I went way back to read it. D'oh!

For the sift, and perhaps @dag, is it time for at least hobbling here?
I have tried to ignore this user, to no avail. We agreed together to no longer 'private message' each other on our profile page long ago, an agreement Ching was wholly unable to fulfill, as he constantly posts outrageous, insulting, vulgarity filled private messages to my profile (and in public in response to most of my comments, which he seems pathologically incapable of not insulting or degrading with outrageous vulgarity and vitriol). Sometimes he realizes he has gone way too far and tries to edit away the vulgar insults before they're immortalized, which is at least in part what hobbling is about right? Ching is unable to not personally insult, personally attack, or to be reasonable or respectful for more than one short post at a time (followed by at least a day of ranting insults, attacks, and vulgarity).
I often do comment about Ching's behavior/posts, but not his person. I don't know him, I only know his actions here.
I've also been a sifter since near the onset of the site, and I've never been banned! I just didn't sign up for a membership for years while I 'lurked'. I don't see how that makes a difference, this is about behavior. Ching's behavior is far beyond site guidelines....until now I've let that slide with only my words to him in response. Because he is now ramping it up again, any further "private" message, or trolling my comments will have me begin a push for actual action against Ching. He's just getting out of control and his vitriol is building. He alone is making the sift a far less pleasant place for many.
Consider this, I or others may be on the autism spectrum, is ridiculing the mentally challenged with vulgarity and personal insult proper or respectful?
I'm still really wondering how on earth Ching was allowed back on the site after being banned 5(?) times!?! Second chance...OK, 5th chance and still doing his best to be annoying and vulgar to all, WTF?!?
I made a promise to no longer private message Ching...I am a man of my word, and I intend to never allow his rantings on my profile to remain private....you, ching, are well aware of this, it was at your request, and you've been reminded repeatedly, so your whining about it is called out as the completely fabricated BS that it is. If he doesn't want to hear from me about his insanity laden cursing fit's of posts, publicly, he could just as easily stop making them directly to or about me and he would be ignored by me, but that is not happening.


chingalera said:

FOR CHICCHOREA, NEWTBOY, AND BONEREMAKE (TO A LESSER EXTENT):

"IF THERE'S ONE THING I'VE LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF FROM MY TIME HERE AT THE VIDEOSIFT since the place was about 4 months old, for anyone who hasn't that fact plugged the fuck into their meat yet (THE HARD WAY), it is this:"

I AM NOT ONE TO LET PEOPLE WHOSE AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER LEANS TOWARDS THE FAR RIGHT END OF THE SCALE TAKE THEIR COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND SHOVE IT UP MY ASS WITH A FREE PASS IF IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THEIR GOAL BE TO FUCK ME UP OR DISCOUNT MY 'RAMBLINGS' AS SOME FORM OF EVIL OR PERSONALITY MALFUNCTION.

Take that fellas, to yer private little shat-parties, and play with yourselves all-day-long, and if you can stand to admit your own failings, we may very well get along some day.

Until then you are all on the standard choggie shit-list. That fucking clear enough for the sycophantically bewildered whose best-interest if it be in mind would be to get a clue??

I'd also reiterate for the slow and cumbersome, that I do not ignore rather, I engage. It is YOUR actions against me and the entire site's users, that I remind the accused of these facts.

This is the LAST public statement on the matter I will post here, and again, I'd ask these users to respect my wishes that any future comments y'all feel so compelled to make in response to my interaction with you be marked "PRIVATE" on my personal profile, as I extend to ALL the same courtesy as a matter of course. These users have gone the opposite direction to their own detriment and embarrassment, and it is for this that I am the most empathetic towards them, and where my sympathy and heartfelt desire for their healing resides.

(Coprolite Preservation Managed)

chingalera says...(Chingalera Profile Page)
Below is an example of 'baiting'. I made the public announcement that I would be taking a hiatus from the site to draw-out the quarry: A person who would use his time spraying graffiti on a user's private personal area with a view to no resolution or truth, no self-awareness with the hope of a mutual understanding, rather than engaging in a civil and private discussion about his particular beef with me, chicco now comes with Krylon in-hand.

Unable to defend the indefensible, he degrades into personal-attacks and provocation with a single goal in mind-To attempt to compromise my integrity and provoke some public outburst.

Ain't gonna happen this time sir. I call bullshit when I see it, always have, always will.
5 hours 24 minutes ago up0downflag spam (0)ignore

chingalera says...
As I have asked civilly of you many times chicco, I would appreciate you not making comments to my profile page anything but a private matter. Again, and as have others I have asked (as I extend the courtesy to all, up-front) you simply ignore my requests of decorum because you understand that it is perhaps a type of balm for your self-injury this pestering me and poking at me personally. You rudely disregard this civil request made several times.

Ok, if you think it's a clever trap then that's what it is...a simpler explanation may very well be that once again one or a team of sophomoric pricks have a personal hard-on to see someone burn so they come to shit all over their profile page in that user's absence. This has been perpetrated before by other pricks with the same m.o. and those all tend to remain long-gone, but the flavor after the waft of their of shit continues to linger.

Again, no respect for my privacy.

(To the community-at-large, I continually ask chichorrea whom I have rubbed the wrong way by exposing his unilateral weakness to having his lying and cruelty exposed to remain private in spewing bile upon my profile page an in my absence, he instead litters it like some billboard advertisement announcing 'horseshit for sale')

If you are bound and determined with your unilateral project chicco and you know I'll bite to defend my integrity, why not wait until I come back to participate on this site with the community in-mind before throwing pebbles at my back door?

Who is actually displaying the cowardice here? Really?!

chicchorea said:
...oh, and here too....

There have been a number of posts whereby your conspicuous and transparent absence of response amply confirms all of my, and others' long before me, assertions about your dishonesty and cowardice. Further, your uncharacteristic cleaning house via deleting your profile pages of comments and most notably mine but retaining those of Newtboy whom you think you have bettered is telling as well.

...jailbaited you with this rat trap and you were all over it though. Weak minded and predictable you are.

You cannot refute that which I have repeatedly and amply purported and you dare not challenge me to evidentially support what I have lain down so you run and hide just occasionally sticking your head up to spew your drivel only to duck and cover again.

Run,,,run 'little...thing"...run.

I will be waiting. As you said where you should have not, "ain't done bruhh..."
6 hours 42 minutes ago up0downflag spam (0)ignore

A latex balloon bio-degrades about as fast as an oak leaf. A birds' most-likely smart enough not to swallow one whole.
No lady, you are passionately mistaken. It takes less time for the latex to degrade in salt water the temperature being a non-issue. Admittedly though, it's a waste of helium and a balloon for the sake of video game software and it might choke a few seagulls, none of which will be missed, as San Fran has seen such an explosive rise in their numbers since being placed on the over-protected list, that they are encroaching on the habitats of less fortunate and more endangered species.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/san-francisco-seagulls_n_3672793.html

Fucking Californians. Heads-shoved-up-one's-own-ass-disorder seems to flourish there like barnacles on a ship's hull.

how ironic that i was reading THIS article today:
http://truth-out.org/news/item/22483-a-world-of-environmental-degradation-all-in-just-one-month

stay awesome dag!

Mostly answered in private along with the response to the private message, despite the claim that I ignore and discount private messages.
These appear to be ignored because private messages may be apologetic or reasonable, but continuing public messages are anything but. In that situation, I'll always consider the insulting public messages to trump the reasonable private ones.
MY attacks are all about your vitriolic insulting degrading denigrating style. I disagree with many of your points, but I'm never the one to start infantile name calling, even about a position. I may be disrespectful of it, but I don't start the silly, infantile name calling ridiculousness (as a rule, I may not always succeed in this). I don't know you well enough to insult you personally, except when you contradict yourself between private and public posts. I can be insulting of your positions, especially so when they are insultingly given.
I do hate people being smarmy and vulgarly insulting, especially when they then cry foul and throw tantrums if the tables are turned. Distinguish between the hate for a behavior you display and hate OF YOU and you'll be happier and feel less attacked....at least by me.
For that reason, I'm also publicly warning you that any 'private' message to me will be considered fair game from this point on, to use publicly to contradict your public stances when you are being hypocritical and/or disingenuous. That doesn't mean private personal information, unless it directly contradicts what you say in public. Fair warning.
Maned-up enough fo ya?

If this is all due to political affiliation, why are other democratic 'strongholds' not in the same position?
It seems to me like you simply want this to be 100% the democrats fault so you can degrade them some more.

Chick isn't dancing very well. It's the truth, not degradation or hate. Why the hyperbolic reaction? Jesus. I think anyone who records themself dancing, edits the footage, and uploads it for all to see is doing two things:
1. Implying the dancing is worth watching.
2. Inviting comment/appraisal

Edit: The VS post also frames the dancing as "groovier" than the well-known groovy dancing girl. That girl's dancing was overrated to start with but that framing also invites comment/appraisal.

Thumbs up for 2:25 though.

That's your interpretation of a comment that has no basis in the personal observation or critique. No hate. No cry of "piece of shit'. She looks like she's having fun, her dancing is mediocre, and she'd be hired on-the-spot at a mediocre strip joint, as she seems to exude sexuality and enjoy flaunting it on camera for the world. She seems to appreciate, as does Zawash, her own ass quite a bit. Didn't say she wasn't comely, only critiquing her moves compared to what?? It's an opinion Yogi, based on a personal preference.
What is , 'professional' anyway Yogi? What IS Dancing? Where's the degradation beyond your perception of my comparative analysis and perhaps a personal preference for red-heads from Ireland??

The chicks' having fun with her pal, who is in my estimation, is a much groovier dancer. Feeeeel better now Nancy??

She seems like a fine dancer, does everyone have to be professional or else they're a piece of shit that deserves nothing be degradation and hate?

I don't recall the moment in Videosift history that you're referencing.

You could probably write a Videosift web crawler that determines the moment that cat videos and boobs became popular, but I think it will likely determine that they have always been popular.

10 votes to determine quality control is too small of a value, UNLESS downvoting were used less sparingly.

But no one really downvotes as a form gating, they mainly downvote as an extreme action towards something they strongly disagree with. For example, ant downvoting things that are verbally vulgar. Well, what if you and everyone who felt that cat videos and boobs were poor quality, what if you guys downvoted as a rule to maintain quality control?

If you guys did that, you'd see something closer to the utopia of quality you think somehow magically occurs. It would then follow that, if sifters followed this method for maintaining quality, the Sift would have higher standards for Top 15.

Unless that is already happening, and people of value (to be defined) actually believe this is a video that is worthy. Clearly, by the rules and inputs available, even you agree that this video is worthy. Otherwise there would be AT LEAST one downvote.

You complained but failed a call to action. Figured I'd help you better understand how democratic systems work, and how lack of appropriate participation degrades quality of that democratic system over time, as potential voters cease to vote as needed to maintain quality.

"The world is infested by armed gangs that call themselves governments. These people presume that they have a right to order us around, to take our money and other property as they please, and to make our lives as miserable as their interest and caprice dictate. Their numerous victims, unfortunately, often accept these preposterous presumptions as natural and proper. The development of this absurd situation goes back for millennia, and along the way many philosophers and others have offered various rationales for what is, on its face, a stupid and destructive arrangement of human affairs. Whatever the proffered explanations and rationales, however, most people accept the situation out of nothing but habit: it existed when they came into the world, and they never stumbled across any pressing reason to question or challenge it. Yet, very little serious thought is required to grasp its many absurdities and to become perplexed that human beings ever allowed themselves to submit so meekly to their own degradation and exploitation by the minority political class that composes the governments, their cronies, and their accomplices."

The right wing rarely 'thinks' about anything...instead they usually 'believe', which requires no proof and never requires defense of their stance and allows them to degrade, debase, and dehumanize anyone that doesn't 'believe' what they do. Asshattery.

A word to Ant...and other "Christians"...
Please note that, if you take your rules for life from the old testament while ignoring the absolving statements of the new testament, you are a Jew, and not a Christian.
If that's the case...please note also that you should be stoned to death if you have ever done ANYTHING besides worship on the Sabbath (and also note that the Sabbath you are supposed to be doing that on is the JEWISH Sabbath, as the commandments were given to the Jews and obviously would be referencing THEIR culture in it's edicts, not the (non-existent at the time) 'Christian Sabbath'.) That includes mowing your lawn, making food, cleaning your home, driving, phone calls, any business at all, any banking at all, etc. It also includes hiring someone to do it for you (as in 'man servant'). If you've ever done anything on the Sabbath besides worship, you're bible said we should stone you to death...if you don't read the second part where Jebus absolves you of that and all other religious 'crime'...in perpetuity and for everyone.
I'm always bothered by 'Christians' spouting Jewish (old testament) religious law and not even understanding that's what they are doing. Real Christians should read the old testament as history to explain the mindset of those in the new testament, not as a set of rules they must follow, that's what Jebus allegedly said and did, he absolved you of the ALL the sins listed in the old testament and told you to respect and love each other and live the golden rule, not to degrade and denigrate those not following the rules they pick and choose from the wrong book.
Please do some self examination before telling others how to live, or what 'God' said, and remember that your rule book says clearly that anyone claiming to know the mind of God (or claiming to hear 'God's' voice/word) is either a liar or insane, either way not to be listened to.

Unlike normal human beings trolls do not seek the approval of others, rather they thrive on condemnation. That's what feeding the trolls is.

And that's why the conventional wisdom is not to engage trolls. But, she has made me rethink that. By engaging trolls you at the very least give some solidarity and support to the victim. And by ignoring them there's the risk of giving the impression that we find their degrading sexual harassment acceptable.

Hard to know what to do. I think all you can do is give up on the hopelessly toxic social environments like youtube comment sections.