^ Well, who is a better judge when it comes to using the money you earned? You, or someone who takes that money from you effortlessly?

If I handed you US$10,000 for free, no strings attached, would you value that money as much as US$10,000 you worked hard to earn? What if you accidentally lose that money somehow, would you feel as bad as if you lost the 10k you dedicated PRECIOUS TIME out of your life for?

I feel silly having to explain to you that government doesn't value your money as much as you do. They'll waste even more of it if you want Washington to run the healthcare insurance business.

It's pretty naive to assume that politicians are somehow endowed with some special knowledge or skill that allows them to be more productive to society with the effortless sum of a lot of other people's money than the individual spendings every person would have done with their own money otherwise.

If that were the case, the US government wouldn't have a multi-trillion dollar deficit, it would have a surplus, like a profitable business.

Setting working conditions and minimum wages is the art of benefiting the hired at the expense of the employers and the unemployed. Pretty soon a black market for illegal hiring will grow as businesses and people try to survive in tough times despite such ill-considered regulations. So you actually end up with 3rd world salaries that way.

Just FYI, almost 70% of America's GDP accounts for consumer spending, its not reliable as an indicator of a nation's productivity. Over the years, a lot of that spending is just people borrowing with their home equity extractions and mostly credit card debt. Now that we're in a credit crunch, GDP will probably fall (unless statisticians come up with a more hedonistic interpretation for it).

In a recession like we're having, in the private sector you need more productivity and you need to flush out the malinvestments and money wasting businesses. In the public sector, you need less govt so it can be less of a burden on the private sector.

How can that possibly happen if govt borrows/taxes/prints a stimulus into existence (adding to the burden of debt), then proceeds to use all that taxpayer money to expand govt programs and spending (more burden), bails out the inefficient businesses that should've failed otherwise (more burden) and poorly hands that money out to businesses via govt contracts instead of letting consumers make better choices with their money themselves (burden burden burden)?

Seriously, if you're counting on govt to do anything productively, you probably got the wrong person for the job. People are far better at making choices with their own money than the govt is with money that they effortlessly take from others.

Blaming mostly investment banks for this recession is like force-feeding alcohol to a bus driver and blaming him for killing all the passengers in the resulting crash. Don't you have any idea of the Fed and other federal institutions' role in causing the market distortions that led to this recession? How can you give them a free pass as the major culprits?

AFAIK, creative destruction in economics is an often misunderstood sophism that doesn't apply to what I'm advocating. If an economy is moving towards a recession, the recession is not the problem, the artificial *boom* was the problem that the market is trying to correct with a recession. It is a kind of selection, just not as brutal as you described, because its not the end of the world: people get fired, businesses go bankrupt, the assets of incompetent people are transfered to the competent people, people are hired again somewhere else and eventually the economy resumes growth.

The market is not an omnipotent unstoppable force, its complexity just eludes the narrow-mindedness of the fools that try to plan it, specially when they're the same fools that screwed it up in the first place. A market is already planned by those in it, and they have the best incentives in place to make the best plans, because they are usually the first ones to pay for their mistakes. Politicians and bureaucrats, on the other hand, are exempt from responsability and are seldom punished when they waste huge amounts of money. They are the ones who commited the worst sins.

The terrible mistake in your criticism of the market is that you constantly blame its "emergent" irrationality as an excuse for thinking on its behalf. What you correlate to auto-immunity on an otherwise healthy body I would compare to a heavily medicated pacient that undergoes daily surgeries after years of treatment for what started out as a sore throat.

>> ^djsunkid:
faaake!


faaaaake fake call.

effortlessly brilliant. love little boots.

*promote

Presumably those fences were designed to keep sheep in, and the way this one effortlessly vaults the gates would seem to me to indicate an above-average jumping ability.  But I'm no expert on sheep jumping.  Or sheep girlfriends for that matter.

Raven, Choggie, Rembar & Gluonium, karaidl (one effortlessly hilarious hombre), Woland, Pyrex, Theo, Eden, Silvercord, Firefly, and of course the infamous dude whose discussions...err..rants (along with Choggie's out-there postings) initially piqued my interest enough to lurk the Sift to see what it's all about before eventually joining, Snake Plissken. There are a few others of whom I can only recall by their neat avatars atm...sorry whoever you are, wherever you are. I wish I could remember how I first came across this place.

The lot of them are OK in my book; I know I sorta keep to myself but I've learned much (about myself and the wider world)from this eclectic group of people called Videosift...for that I'm thankful. Because the real world can be so homogenous sometimes.

I find it so amazing that a bird of that size and wingspan can fly so effortlessly through the trees, truly graceful.

In the end it doesn't matter how much the "government" wants or needs marijuana to be illegal, it will be legalized when a large majority of people want it to be legal.

Most of those resisting legalization are members of the older generations... as they are replaced with members of the younger generations the percentage of people who do not support prohibition will increase. The government won't be able to keep it illegal when 75%+ of people disagree with the prohibition (eventually).

Sure, the government can try a campaign of propaganda, but the reason that was successful in the past is because the population didn't have effortless access to information at the time. Now when people see a claim about how something is dangerous then all they have to do is look around the net to see if medical literature confirms or refutes the claim.

Marijuana will eventually be legal in the USA. People may think that the DEA or law enforcement have too much at stake to allow that, but they won't be the ones controlling it... it will be the voters who will eventually overturn the current norm.

ROFL that was HILARIOUS!

But here's to the hydraulic exo-skeleton suit being developed for the US military that can allow a person to effortlessly lift hundreds of pounds.

In theory, with some special huge backpack full of ammo, you could maybe mount a gattling gun on each arm and walk around in that thing.

Seriously. lol

Well, we've got the Sybian and a plethora of fuck machines. Surely we can hook that up. That would be some internets, serious business.

As for materials, we've got LittleRed dealing dildos. Maybe we can get a Sift discount.

>> ^laura:
>> ^UsesProzac:
Anything that gets me closer to an effortless orgasm is quality

Not you, deary...unless you also have a penis. Doesn't it make you jealous, though?

>> ^UsesProzac:
Anything that gets me closer to an effortless orgasm is quality


Not you, deary...unless you also have a penis. Doesn't it make you jealous, though?

Anything that gets me closer to an effortless orgasm is *quality

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.

OK, as noted! Robin likes to pilfer other comedians punchlines!
Duely noted!

So I guess it is his delivery and persona as a funyman that comes off original.
I've never noticed that he copies other jokes, but I don't care because he is funny. He makes us laugh. I don't think he ever claimed to be a Joke "Writer" as much as it is his ability to "Clown the Crowd".

As the comedian, he is original in his personality, with his ability to jump from one persona to another quickly and effortlessly. ADHD best describes his comedy. It is a great outlet for him and it's working. He moves around and talks so fast, you sometimes even miss what he is saying - A total bundle of energy, he fuels us by passing on the energy. It is all in his delivery.

But hey, that's just my opinion and I don't care who's jokes he tells.

lol..

Some of us submit good videos that are entertaining or of some quality or at least unique and interesting.

Other people just submit the same stuff ad naseaum. (See: GI JOE PSA from years ago) (See: endless parade of kitty doggie videos)

Some people try to be the first to submit regular type series that are the kind on the top10 of digg and most of the internet (See: Zero Punctuation) (see: chad vader)

Some people just like their own unique tastes to be posted everywhere, this is usually certain types of music videos.

A lot of the top people just see a video from whatever means the use to aggregate videos and recognize those destined for top honors and submit those.

A better question is where do people cull videos from the internet from. Most people do not watch 1000s of newly submitted 10 view YT videos, so there is already some major sifting before they get submitted to aggregation sifting/voting sites like this one.

Occasionally, people will just try to fill out a niche that is otherwise ignored on the internet, like cooking videos or horrorshow videos back when a contest is run or halloween time. This site is unique in that there are not really hard core channel fans, like a video gaming forum might see only those videos, etc.

Anyways, this site started with a certain relatively small group of users and the types of videos that others like were reinforced, so people that enjoyed that blend of videos came back because it was useful for delivering certain content. Eventually those that value the content make an account and add their own, usually somewhat similar tastes, or if it was not it would be ignored.

This site is really not that much different than the digg top10 list, but it does have to opportunity to provide more unique finds. There used to be great japanese and korean content, which has mostly died down, partly because of the massive YT purges of jtv content. Same goes with adultswim content that was once submitted, but pretty much useless now because those videos will soon be dead, so copyright holders can actually stifle the distrubution to larger audiences.. dee doo doo

For instance, for awhile it was all Colbert stuff, but that died off either as a fad, or the YT embed being killed by copyright holders, and then the annoying US only ability to play Comedy Central embeds. So much content is ignored from corporations trying to control their content.

I think in general the answer you are looking for from at least this collective of users if providing a place to be able to quickly and effortlessly watch good videos and avoid a bunch of useless crap. In some ways I think people submit videos to return the favor and keep the house of cards afloat, so there is a communal aspect to it, and many of the videos are a you-have-to-see-this. For the record, this site is not that much different than a fark submission, or at least the early days on this site had that appeal, but fark is a also almost a decade past jumping the shark.

You should visit GodTube as another concept of the secluded pockets of the internets where it used to be fun sport to submit some classic godtube content.