The foreign policy of both Russia and the US is far more motivated by domestic policy than "imperialism" or "cold war tactics".

Putin just needs to appear to be winning. Winning wars, media arguments, just winning anything. Crossword competitions, ice hockey games, fishing, push-ups, literally anything. With not much to be gained in Ukraine quickly, he can switch to helping Assad to quash rebels and appear to fight the IS. Russian air support and logistics will have small losses and big PR gains. Putin is clever so he will avoid direct confrontation with the IS leading to a long stalemate and much destruction, in Iraq mainly.

Obama needs to do stupid unworkable things like "spread democracy", "help Israel no matter what", "broker peace in the middle east" and "support 'friends' of the US, some of them as bad as Assad" - its nearly impossible for him to have a sane middle east policy. There is nothing Obama can do in the short term in Syria. He probably cant reconsider his position on Assad and there is no reasonable path to topple Assad gracefully. Also no direct path to fight IS - Turkey will fight Kurds before fighting IS, Israel has to be careful.

Is Iran the key then? Iran is definitely not to be trusted http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/11903290/Eight-of-Irans-womens-football-team-are-men.html

It's totally a science video with only a small part of the video dedicated to explaining Harper's science policies. You might have a little bit of confirmation bias going on...

It definitely focusses partially on Canada's current scientific political climate but because of that is highly topical, considering what will happen over the next eight days. To dismiss it is to give power to Harper and the Conservatives.

Nothing creepier than a little live eight legged protein! shudder

158,000. That's how many kindergarten teachers are in the US. One Hundred and Fifty Eight Thousand.

There is some dispute about the copyright status of "Happy birthday". World's most popular song is not under copyright, according to lawsuit http://gu.com/p/4b38k/stw

Attorneys have found a songbook from 1927 containing Happy Birthday, with no copyright notice – predating Warner Chappell’s copyright by eight years.

For me, the primary thing was that I use vaping as a means to alleviate withdrawal and to break the routine of smoking cigarettes. Smoking was just an automatic thing I did at certain times (after a meal, after a cup of coffee, work breaks, etc.). I used to always carry a pack of cigarettes around with me, but now I leave my vaping equipment at home (unless I'm going to be gone more than eight hours or so). Really, I think getting over just the routine of pulling out a cigarette and smoking it is the biggest hurdle. It's always good to keep in mind that between emotional dependence and physical dependence on a drug, it's the emotional dependence that is by *far* the more powerful.

Granted, I could have painlessly weened myself off cigarettes in a couple weeks with vaping (or gum or whatever), but I think it's probably better to stretch it out a little longer, and the instant hit you don't get with inhalation is important. Six months was my goal, and I'm at about four now.

It's pretty great really. I can smell things again and food tastes better and generally breath easier. I quit smoking once before cold turkey, but that only lasted a year. When I finally put this down, if I do relapse (which seems much less likely), it will be back to vaping rather than smoking.

Glad Tarantino changed his mind - it was originally cancelled after a script leak:
http://deadline.com/2014/01/quentin-tarantino-hateful-eight-leak-novel-669066/

Quentin Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' Official Trailer has been added as a related post - related requested by RFlagg.

The official trailer is now out *related=http://videosift.com/video/Quentin-Tarantinos-The-Hateful-Eight-Official-Trailer

The Hateful Eight - Teaser Trailer (Remake HQ 1080p) has been added as a related post - related requested by RFlagg on that post.

With an eight-stringed one, no less!

Today, some eight months after the fact, I noticed that someone uploaded a fairly high quality version of one of my all time favorite videos.

Nearly twenty years of dependence on a VHS rip have finally come to an end.

Wouldn't it make more sense to ban eight-year old girls?

[author flagged as a spammer - redacted]