No I was not aware they were capable of breaking unemployment rates down by race. I looked up how they actually determine unemployment rates. It is by a finding a pool of people they feel represent demographics the census shows them and calling them to ask if they are working or not.....basically. Then they use that to state the overall unemployment rates. I read that they don't use the number of people drawing unemployment benefits, I mention this because I suspected the unemployment fluctuations were because lots of people were being dropped from the counting when they exhausted their benefits. However I now believe that the way they sample could account for a pretty big fluctuation considering they might get a sampling that isn't true to reality.... I couldn't determine any other kind of metric they employ that even sounds remotely like they verify anything they claim as fact.

My experiences with their department is that they just routinely gave me wrong information or sent me documents in error. Causing me to have to contact them to find out what was going on....and having to call them 2-3 times to actually get in contact with someone who would take the time to answer my questions. And then those answers were 50/50 on their accuracy as well. It's one thing to be overburdened, it's another to create more work and hassle for yourself and everyone else involved.....it may have been a stalling tactic but it ain't fun to be denied by letter, then told on the phone you were eligible....filling out your weekly form to find out you were actually denied. Spending the week getting that straightened out, waiting a week because they say it'll take a week. Then find out your denied again.....spending another week straightening it out and a month has gone by before you get forward progress.

Didn't go to a college that had frat houses that I was aware of, and I commuted so I didn't spend a lot of time on campus as it more of a commuter heavy college. They certainly didn't have anything greek "official" within sight of campus. Didn't care if I was in a frat, club, or group. I'm just saying it was announced on the college radio that these clubs were around for these folks....not based on interests such as chess or even a greek/frat system.

And I don't really care what races Im around as long as they are on an even footing with me and have the common courtesy to take showers, wear deodorant, and try to control their breath or at least not get up in my face with stank mouth. Oh and if they must speak a foreign language at least try to include others in the conversation if we're working on a group project or having a group conversation. I've been trying to pick up other languages, but man...native speakers when they get going I can't tell what the hell they are saying.

And....what is "white culture" if everyone is included? Like.....country clubs? I figured they were more "rich culture".

>> ^longde:

@<Porksandwich I can sympathize; but did you know that the black unemployment rate is twice that of whites? I think the demographics of this shitty government agency reflect the fact that, before the downturn, whites who have better options in the workforce chose not to take those jobs. And during the downturn, the public agency you saw just happened to be one which didn't have much turnover. I bet they laid people off though, and the inefficiency you witnessed is due to individual employees doing jobs meant for 2 or 3 people. As far as college groups, there are indeed white groups that exclude others. Just take a walk down frat row for instance, where you may see the occasional token in some of the houses. The asian/black/latino groups you saw cannot exclude white people, and in my college experience, some white people did join those groups to get exposure to other cultures. But most whites didn't; they either ignored or complained about the groups.
Also, it seemed like every year, there were whites who started a Whites Club----but these organizations never lasted, because what's the point? The damn campus is majority white, and everything is tailored towards white people and white culture. And, as I said above, if you really want to be around whites only, there are plenty of options on campus to do so, not limited to frats. This truth, incidently, extends to greater society.

Well, remember how we were talking about taxes? If we're going to play the fashionable game and tack dollar values of benefits onto people's salaries to pad the number for demagogic effect, then my effective tax rate is even smaller, more like 8% if you add the value of my health & retirement benefits to my income. You really need to consider doing your taxes yourself, clearly your CPA is doing something wrong.

So here's the thing, you say firefighters have such a sweet deal because of unions. I have an idea, how about instead of taking away unions from firefighters, why not get unions for everyone?

As for why you get flack from liberals for being a selfish fascist when you bitch about taxes, it's because you never give anyone a reason to think you're somehow being treated unfairly. There's one set of Federal tax laws, and most of us can fill out our 1040 or 1040EZ, grumble, and go on with life. You aren't running your business as a charity to help the unemployed, you're trying to make a buck. There's no blankfist tax, or anti-entrepreneurial tax. On the contrary, there are tax subsidies for small business all over the place, to the point where little middle class worker bees like me get fucking tired of hearing about it.

GE somehow paid zero taxes, and got a 3.2 billion dollar check from Uncle Sam. Instead of bitching about the insanity of that, all you want to do is fuck over all public sector employees all across the nation because you think they might be getting a slightly better deal than you.

Surely by now you've seen this:

A CEO, a tea party member, and a union worker are all sitting at a table when a plate with a dozen cookies arrives. Before anyone else can make a move, the CEO reaches out to rake in eleven of the cookies. When the other two look at him in surprise, the CEO locks eyes with the tea party member. “You better watch him,” the executive says with a nod toward the union worker. “He wants a piece of your cookie.”

That's what you're doing.

Oh, and by the way, student loans are subsidized by tax dollars. As was your K-12 education, I suspect. I bet you've also taken advantage of the services of countless thousands or millions of people who had their education paid for or subsidized by tax dollars. I bet the navy taught you some marketable job skills even (beyond the right way to use a glory hole). You were probably born in a hospital that was subsidized by tax dollars, and delivered by a doctor whose education was subsidized by tax dollars, and received vaccinations for childhood illness that were developed by research subsidized or wholly funded by tax dollars. You might even occasionally use this thing called the Internet, which is based on technology developed at DARPA as part of the defense budget.

Look, I have sympathy for anyone who's struggling to make ends meet, and I know running your own business is tough -- that's why I haven't tried it. But it's your philosophy that says people have to own their failures even if it's not really their fault. If you were working for, say, Blockbuster the last 15 years, did an excellent job, but then got laid off because traditional rentals got destroyed by Netflix, that's your fucking problem, and nobody else should have to help you out with your plight. That includes bailouts in the form of tax cuts.

Me, I want a safety net so that if you seriously fall flat on your face, you won't have to worry about having a place to sleep, and food to eat, and will still be able to go see a doctor for the STD you picked up from fucking farm animals. I think all life is precious, and that the markets are a fickle and harsh mistress, while the nanny state should always welcome you into her large, welcoming bosom.

In reply to this comment by blankfist:
Yes, LA is really fucked up. So is California in general. And so are my apocryphal firefighters and policemen.

The average pay for firefighters you linked me to doesn't account for benefits and pension, does it? That's just base salary. So, if the average pay for firefighters is just under $44k, then that's pretty much their taxable income because I cannot image what possible expenses they'd deduct, because they have zero financial risk being an employee. And I'd imagine his benefits alone would equal around $15k to $20k. And then of course their pension which is available when they retire at 55.

That's a pretty good deal. And they get women fawning over them and the vox populi calling them heros. Then there's the guy in the private sector, who's painted to look selfish and evil. People like me. But we don't have unions to protect us, give us great pensions and benefits, and we actually create jobs. I created two last year myself. That aside, the real problems with LA and CA are the unions. They were one thing when they protected proletariats from the bourgeoisie in Charles Dickens' England, but they're something entirely different today, especially when allowed to collude with government and legislators.

I grew up in a milltown in the South. You can't get more working class than that. I'm almost 40 and I'm still paying off my college loans, so suffice it to say no one helped me out. Being happy? I know what makes me happy. The same things you mentioned: not having to worry about rent, not having to worry about food, etc. But without getting too personal here, I can safely say some of that worries me right now because of what I owe to the taxman. And probably nine to eight years back I was in a really, really bad place, yet the taxman cometh. I tried to cash a honkey check, but apparently those don't exist. I guess being white only goes so far contrary to modern lib rhetoric.

What I find interesting is if someone like me bitches that the tax is too high, which it is, then some of you complain I'm selfish and refusing to pay my fair share. But isn't it you, the statists who believe in stealing my money to give to others, that are actually being selfish by laying the tax burden so heavy on the middle class? Specifically income tax.

The timeline they plotted fills out like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAF1Tg-FGyI
For some reason the embed wouldn't work...

I think you're on to something there. Just a guess, but I bet you deleted all of the "</em>" at the end of the quoted text. That might screw up how the resulting html is interpreted by the system. That's a pretty significant bug that @lucky760 should be aware of. I think a few test cases should figure that out. I unchecked private so lucky might see this. I'm too tired (and loaded) at the moment to verify, but I'll follow up this weekend.

In reply to this comment by Truckchase:
Would it have anything to do with having deleted the latter embed code (my original quote) in the quote HTML that came up? Perhaps that could cause the post target to get screwed up somehow? I'm pretty sure I posted by clicking "Profile Reply" under your post on my profile, which if I'm understanding right that should still be posted to your profile correct?

In reply to this comment by jonny:
ummm.... that's your own profile you replied to.
In all seriousness, I think we need to do something about that. It's really amazing how many members reply to comments on their own profile. There is clearly something counter-intuitive about it.

As for dupe finding, I wouldn't ever rely on the possible dupes provided after filling out the submit video form. It's always best to do one or two quick searches with a significant word or phrase first. You'll still hit a dupe every once in a while, because the original was never tagged or titled intelligently, but it will happen a lot less often.

In reply to this comment by Truckchase:
>> ^jonny:

The five "possible dupes" on the confirm submission page are generated strictly from tags, I think. Your submission didn't have any tags in common with the original.
Ahh that makes sense, I'll be more careful. /me thanks you sir!

ummm.... that's your own profile you replied to.
In all seriousness, I think we need to do something about that. It's really amazing how many members reply to comments on their own profile. There is clearly something counter-intuitive about it.

As for dupe finding, I wouldn't ever rely on the possible dupes provided after filling out the submit video form. It's always best to do one or two quick searches with a significant word or phrase first. You'll still hit a dupe every once in a while, because the original was never tagged or titled intelligently, but it will happen a lot less often.

In reply to this comment by Truckchase:
>> ^jonny:

The five "possible dupes" on the confirm submission page are generated strictly from tags, I think. Your submission didn't have any tags in common with the original.
Ahh that makes sense, I'll be more careful. /me thanks you sir!

You know that tax laws are bullshit when the only place ignorance is an excuse is tax law. When I say bullshit I mean complicated and needlessly so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorantia_juris_non_excusat

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100377301

The US tax code is 67,204 pages long and it is all written in lawyer speak.

I've always held the same stance on taxes. Send me a bill stating what I owe and do not owe. I shouldn't have to fill out any paperwork at, all, whatsoever.

They take the money then they should be the ones figuring out who owes what and based on what laws that are simply written; in simple English. The type of English that people use in common speaking.

>> ^ipfreely:

Mel Guzman could have purchased it from a pawn shop, flea market or by any other legitimate means, for all we know. Yet some of you here and on youtube are passing judgement on this person. And I "love" how the speaker makes a snarky remark about having an unemployment form.
How many of you have not had to fill out an unemployment form?
Maybe this person couldn't afford the latest machine because he's, I don't know... unemployed? Maybe he didn't know how to reformat the drives on this machine? Since all the anecdotal information tells us is that Mel got the computer recently and just turned it on.
And before you people jump on my ass... lets read upon the law of Possession of Stolen Goods.
If the individual didn't know the goods were stolen, then the goods are returned to the owner and the individual is not prosecuted. Innocent possession is not a crime.. If Mel was the original thief, why would he still have the computer? Wouldn't a thief sell it quickly as possible to make money... Not hold on to it for 2 years then use it himself?
So it's okay to virtually lynch Mel Guzman... Vigilante Justice in a form of a Hacker Hipster is acceptable in Videosift world?
Videosift is liberal minded, yet there are 98 of you who just assume Mel Guzman stole this computer. You fuckers don't believe in due process before passing judgment?
And yes, it is true it's not the court of law. Yet this video has been viewed by over half of million people... What if one of these people were someone who wanted to hire Mel Guzman. Now because of some smug smart-ass douche bag, Mel Guzman will continued to be unemployed.
You know what would be true justice... If the authorities finds mp3's downloaded from Limewire and RIAA sue the speaker, because we all know Mel does not have the password to install any applications on this machine.
You bunch of phony liberal fuckers. I consider myself a center-right, yet even I know this is wrong.
Merry Fucking Christmas and Happy New Years Assholes.

>> ^ipfreely:

Mel Guzman could have purchased it from a pawn shop, flea market or by any other legitimate means, for all we know. Yet some of you here and on youtube are passing judgement on this person. And I "love" how the speaker makes a snarky remark about having an unemployment form.
How many of you have not had to fill out an unemployment form?
Maybe this person couldn't afford the latest machine because he's, I don't know... unemployed? Maybe he didn't know how to reformat the drives on this machine? Since all the anecdotal information tells us is that Mel got the computer recently and just turned it on.
And before you people jump on my ass... lets read upon the law of Possession of Stolen Goods.
If the individual didn't know the goods were stolen, then the goods are returned to the owner and the individual is not prosecuted. Innocent possession is not a crime.. If Mel was the original thief, why would he still have the computer? Wouldn't a thief sell it quickly as possible to make money... Not hold on to it for 2 years then use it himself?
So it's okay to virtually lynch Mel Guzman... Vigilante Justice in a form of a Hacker Hipster is acceptable in Videosift world?
Videosift is liberal minded, yet there are 98 of you who just assume Mel Guzman stole this computer. You fuckers don't believe in due process before passing judgment?
And yes, it is true it's not the court of law. Yet this video has been viewed by over half of million people... What if one of these people were someone who wanted to hire Mel Guzman. Now because of some smug smart-ass douche bag, Mel Guzman will continued to be unemployed.
You know what would be true justice... If the authorities finds mp3's downloaded from Limewire and RIAA sue the speaker, because we all know Mel does not have the password to install any applications on this machine.
You bunch of phony liberal fuckers. I consider myself a center-right, yet even I know this is wrong.
Merry Fucking Christmas and Happy New Years Assholes.


I'm not sure anyone would hire someone who can't spell their own name.

But basically you're right unless Mel had already been proven to be the thief. And I imagine that would be hard to do once he denied it.

As has already been said this is the sort of conference where anything goes - but I'm surprised the organisers did not seek to anonymise much of the material.

You'd think they'd have a shovel somewhere on that tow truck, or could borrow one from somebody...


I've dug out my share of tires (and made tire paths) before... not fun, but better than filling out paperwork.

Mel Guzman could have purchased it from a pawn shop, flea market or by any other legitimate means, for all we know. Yet some of you here and on youtube are passing judgement on this person. And I "love" how the speaker makes a snarky remark about having an unemployment form.

How many of you have not had to fill out an unemployment form?

Maybe this person couldn't afford the latest machine because he's, I don't know... unemployed? Maybe he didn't know how to reformat the drives on this machine? Since all the anecdotal information tells us is that Mel got the computer recently and just turned it on.

And before you people jump on my ass... lets read upon the law of Possession of Stolen Goods.

If the individual didn't know the goods were stolen, then the goods are returned to the owner and the individual is not prosecuted. Innocent possession is not a crime.. If Mel was the original thief, why would he still have the computer? Wouldn't a thief sell it quickly as possible to make money... Not hold on to it for 2 years then use it himself?

So it's okay to virtually lynch Mel Guzman... Vigilante Justice in a form of a Hacker Hipster is acceptable in Videosift world?

Videosift is liberal minded, yet there are 98 of you who just assume Mel Guzman stole this computer. You fuckers don't believe in due process before passing judgment?

And yes, it is true it's not the court of law. Yet this video has been viewed by over half of million people... What if one of these people were someone who wanted to hire Mel Guzman. Now because of some smug smart-ass douche bag, Mel Guzman will continued to be unemployed.

You know what would be true justice... If the authorities finds mp3's downloaded from Limewire and RIAA sue the speaker, because we all know Mel does not have the password to install any applications on this machine.

You bunch of phony liberal fuckers. I consider myself a center-right, yet even I know this is wrong.

Merry Fucking Christmas and Happy New Years Assholes.

>> ^Stingray:

@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://lucky760.videosift.com" title="member since May 2nd, 2006" class="profilelink"><strong style="color: rgb(0, 68, 255);">lucky760: I went to update the thumbnail of a video that has none, but when I fill out the page and hit save changes, it just brings me right back to the same page (to pick the thumbnail and upload it) and it never updates it.
I need to hurry up and get level 325,584,597,456 for thumbnail fixer!


Same here, nothing to do with caching or the cdn afaikt. It just doesn't seem to work. Works fine when changing them on your own video, although someone seems to keep changing them to yet a different thumb on my videos.

@lucky760: I went to update the thumbnail of a video that has none, but when I fill out the page and hit save changes, it just brings me right back to the same page (to pick the thumbnail and upload it) and it never updates it.

I need to hurry up and get level 325,584,597,456 for thumbnail fixer!

>> ^xxovercastxx:

>> ^ForgedReality:
Just to show you guys this shit is not as impossible as you seem to want to believe, I mocked this puzzle up in Photoshop real quick and animated it. In my model, there are VERY slight gaps between some of the pieces. This is due to the fact that the shapes have to be very precise because of the importance of their proportions in relation to each other. The horizontal and vertical parts of the L-pieces get their widths and heights from the differences in width and height between the two larger pieces. It's pretty logical, but hard to execute, which could account for the person in the video having apparent difficulty making the pieces fit together right.
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/9252/puzzle1.gif

Nobody said it was impossible, only that it doesn't seem like it should work. If you've got 12 sq ft of carpet in a 12 sq ft room, the carpet should cover the floor no matter how you arrange it, as long as there are no overlaps.
What I'd like to understand better is why it works. I've seen several plausible but contradictory explanations.


It only works BECAUSE those L-shaped pieces exist. For example, if they had been just two flat slabs, one on top of the other, obviously, it would not work without squishing them both in one or the other configuration. But because they have the shape that they do, and that their proportions are (in the ideal situation) exact and precise, they are able to shift without leaving gaps between the other pieces, but creating the hole between them while still filling out the same area.

They don't COVER the same area because of their shape, but shifting them in this way is creating the same type of result that you would have in the first example I gave, of two flat slabs squishing or distorting--instead of physically changing their shape, since they have those overhangs, you can just shift their positioning, and it has the same effect. Had they been squares, they would have simply overlapped a little instead of creating a hole.

the truth is always better than the fiction i make up in my head.

In reply to this comment by chicchorea:
You are very welcome, my pleasure.

Profile...perhaps...interesting....

Have I not provided a basis by which to be known by my videos, comments, and dealings thus far? Is there something specific that you would like to know?

In reply to this comment by marinara:
Thx buddy!

hey fill out your profile. I wanna know what you are like.

In reply to this comment by chicchorea:
*quality

You are very welcome, my pleasure.

Profile...perhaps...interesting....

Have I not provided a basis by which to be known by my videos, comments, and dealings thus far? Is there something specific that you would like to know?

In reply to this comment by marinara:
Thx buddy!

hey fill out your profile. I wanna know what you are like.

In reply to this comment by chicchorea:
*quality