>> ^raverman:

The whole Olympics is a stupid outdated nationalistic joke.
Nobody watches global individual sport championships but for a couple of weeks they go insane supporting "Their countries team".
Half the Athletes trained in other countries or by coaches from other countries, wearing sport tech researched and developed in other countries.


So? They're still representing their country.

The whole Olympics is a stupid outdated nationalistic joke.

Nobody watches global individual sport championships but for a couple of weeks they go insane supporting "Their countries team".

Half the Athletes trained in other countries or by coaches from other countries, wearing sport tech researched and developed in other countries.

I love Craig Ferguson. Seems like a very good man.

The Colorado thing was terrible. Dude opened fire on a large number of people in an enclosed theater, suffocated them with tear gas, and killed as many as he could. That is very terrible thing.

I wish we could actually discuss the issues, instead of instantly condemning them. The immediate reaction by any media representative is "I can't understand why this happened". I don't feel like you can say that while living in a country that continues multiple wars on many innocents around it, or lets extremely, albeit nonviolent, dangerous criminals walk off scot-free with half the countries money, or has nearly-daily events like this occur in the same week.

It's just stupid to think people have no reason to go insane while living here. It's wrong to take out that insanity on innocent people, but you can't say you don't understand why it exists while wearing your horse-blinders during so many other atrocities.

Some points:

* No sir, you are completely WRONG about vertical videos, they are hard to watch, and are ridiculous. You not being bothered to hold your phone horizontally is the problem, not people who don't want to watch something where the majority of visual information is in the direction our eyes are not.

* His gripes against Apple are largely correct. I mean, they do prescribe how you must use things and what you must have on your device, but that's not entirely unfair. I mean, it's kind of fair for an OS to be able to expect that certain components just will be there. The camera app, the email app and so on.

* Not being able to remove them from your 'home screens' because Apple doesn't differentiate between a 'desktop' and a list of all installed apps is kind of the problem here. Android has google apps that you can't get rid of unless you root your device and then risk it not working properly. But you don't have to really ever see those apps because you just don't put them on your homescreens.

But in general he's quite correct (except the vertical video thing, he's wrong on that), and it's why I just soooo dislike using apple products in general. I think their hardware is largely nice (although the original iPad lacking a camera at all, then the iPad 2 rocking an amazingly crap one, much in line with the iPhones' original crappy cameras), but when using software to interact with iOS devices I end up going insane. I HATE iTunes, it's insanely restrictive and locked down and... urgh... I dislike not being able to make an iPhone or iPad have nicely clutter free 'desktops' with what I want on them, but am restricted to just rows of icons and folders.

And people flock to them... and ooh and ahh as Apple announce features that have been around for years in other devices and crow about them like they're brand new and amazing. (Facetime anyone? Really, it's been around for yeeeeeaaaars in Australia over the mobile networks, no WiFi needed. And you know what? Pretty much no one uses them. It's as easy as just making a call, except you do it as a video call, but no-one cares, no-one uses it.

And yet Apple launch facetime and everyone goes nuts.

Do you know anyone at all who uses it?

Skype, sure... because when you're at home or office or in a hotel room, that's when you want to be able to talk to someone and see them, and it being on an object on a table works really well... when you're on a phone? Not that many applications.

Oh thank the gods. So we loungers are not totally going insane here. Thank you for the update, makes sense of it all now

[edit, you cannot see the nsfw tag when the video ended, my fault]
But @DerHasisttot what about all the country's where the possession of weapons is banned or put under very strict rules? Have you been to Europe lately, it's like a deathhole, everybody's going insane and shooting children with illegal guns they can get anywhere!!
Was buying milk at the corner store the other day and BAM got shot in the head - just like that.

>> ^LarsaruS:

Whomever becomes president in the US of A has an effect on world affairs. Just my 2 cents


Not really...if Obama wanted to suddenly stop funding Israel his party would go insane...and the government wouldn't allow it. Obama has some say that's true but not much because that wouldn't be smart for the masters who run the country.

I think things will get worse before they get better. Some of the poorer countries in South America and now the middle east are starting to reject the influence of the US and its puppets. I think this will spread to Europe and when it hits critical mass, we will be forced to change our ways. If some huge crisis (economic collapse, nuclear explosion, resource shortage, global warming related crisis) comes along before that, I think it will go one of two ways. 1) The people will take back their government 2) The powers that be will use the crisis to transform our country into a fascist nightmare, like 911 on steroids.

You and I taking a stand for what we believe in is important, despite the fact that it will probably have little or no effect on the big picture. There are very few in our society willing to speak up about the things we speak up about, and a comment or video on this site might get a few hundred views, which isn't too shabby. If a couple of those hundred people find wisdom in something we say and pass it along, then I think we've done something worthwhile. Also, I don't know about you, but my conscience forces me to speak out. My rants on this site serve as a pressure release valve, keeping me from going insane.

It's also important that we balance positive and happy experiences with our political frustrations. Living in mental misery all of the time is no way to live, but a little sturm and drang is healthy and human, if only because they make the happy days happier by contrast.

As far as our back and forth, we'd probably be better off just stating our position once and then moving on. You are never going to convince me that unfettered markets will self regulate, and I'm never going to convince you that democracy is a force for good. Then again, arguing with you is fun and challenging. It's probably good for the brain. We could also probably stand to be more intellectual and less insulting. We've both grown up in a country where we've been taught by the media that proper political discourse involves shouting and name calling. I'm trying to take a more zen approach to argument. More substance, less ego.

Chris Hedges says there is great virtue in fighting a fight you know you can't win. I agree.


In reply to this comment by blankfist:
Sometimes I think we're arguing different sides to an argument that cannot pan out in either of our favors. If energy is a finite resource, which it has to be, and oil is passing or has passed its peak, then we could be facing the most amazing transformation in human civilization, and all this talk of who builds the roads will be pointless.

Why did the Bush Administration take us into Iraq? Could it be because the neocons know that the world's oil reserve is entering a decline, which means the supply will not meet demand of the industrialized world.
What'll happen when the decline is truly known and felt and understood and accepted? For sure oil prices will skyrocket. $5 a gal. $10 a gal. $150 a gal. More? Maybe way more? Then what happens? Less energy will need to be used, so planes will stop flying, and maintenance will stop, and infrastructure will fail, and soon nations will go bankrupt, including the US.

Then what? Riots. People frustrated with the collapse of the system, and they'll riot. The world will turn dangerous. Peaceful neighborhoods will be places of despair and destruction. A great many people will die around the world. We'll no longer be 7 billion. Then what? Will it matter that I'm arguing against statism? Will socialism still work? Will captialism work? Of course not. Maybe all of this energy we spend arguing and debating will be lost as well.

I see hamsters doing that all the time at my pet store. Too funny.

>> ^rychan:

Probably not a wild animal (although perhaps it should be). I saw a chipmunk for sale in a pet store in Gotanda, Tokyo. The poor little thing was going insane in it's cage, repeatedly darting back and forth between the same two points.

Probably not a wild animal (although perhaps it should be). I saw a chipmunk for sale in a pet store in Gotanda, Tokyo. The poor little thing was going insane in it's cage, repeatedly darting back and forth between the same two points.

Yes, I would go insane if I had to put up with that braying jackass...

Oh, and Keenan & Kel are pretty bad too.

The Bees must be just above the water...going insane!

there's something weird on with bass on this track. my sub-woofer was going insane. i had to turn it down a lot otherwise it was shaking the whole wall and my desk.

i'd be more interested in this hearing Darkstep mix of this track

[Budzos is clearly going insane. Get a grip you fuckin monkey!]

My stepfather was in an 8" howitzer outfit on the Western Front in France in 1918. Before he died in 1985 at the age of 93, he told me a lot about being on the receiving end of a German artillery barrage.

He said that there was no way possible for anyone to understand what it was like unless you had been there yourself. He also stated that he had seen several BRAVE men go insane after having over 1,000 (that's right, one thousand!) rounds come down in just a few short hours.

Unfortunately for this good man, he was gassed with Mustard gas. He suffered from this for the rest of his life, and until about a year before he died, still had nightmares about being shelled.

Thank each and every one of you who have served!

From an ex-Staff Sargent, 379th Bomb Wing (Heavy), Strategic Air Command, USAF 1968-1972