Good to see an art band make it big on the Sift many years after it's release, no buzz, just Sift.

Hope it makes a big splash *promote

There is a reason to go gender neutral but personally I advocate copying your brain and cloning yourself as both a man and a woman, and then a gender neutral cherub to follow your female and male selves around, shooting love arrows and playing a harp on a cloud with a My Little Pony that carries your personality back ups.

Of course, technologically we aren't there yet, but yeah that's the path to my heart's content.

And while I wait for that time, I'll spend the remainder of my life alternating between male, female, and neutral. Of course... it's hard to alternate sometimes when I have acrylic nails, threaded eyebrows, and henna up and down my arms. People are just confused by my appearance no matter how masculine I act.

The problem I have is that the effort to go through the process of feminizing makes the process of returning to a masculine state difficult. And often times I don't want to return to a masculine state. Though, being masculine is much easier aesthetically, it makes the return to a feminine state easier to achieve than going from my female self to male.

The thing is, I was never super masculine until around my midtwenties when I started hanging out in bars, drinking a lot, and basically mimicking alpha male behavior. I had to really put forth the effort to be a man's man, but once you learn to fake it long enough, you make it become part of your reality.

So in the reality that is my brain, although I am genderfluid, I lean more towards neutrality and femininity aesthetically, even if I also enjoy a good masculine diatribe every now and then. See, on the internet I can be anything I want to be at any time without the material requirements, which MEN do not fully realize (you ignorant pigs). So my genderfluidity is more natural and honest in this realm of 1s and 0s than "the desert of the real."

Edit: As an aside, I would like to point out that I'm not transgender or genderfluid because of Caitlin Jenner. It's not a fad or a trend, it's how I've always been, I just don't make a big fuss about it, unless it is appropriate to do so, such as now.

So I been avoiding layin' into the racists on the site for a bit.
Because it's like fighting with a brick wall with your forehead, stupid and bad for my health.

But this point - 1:36 - about how racists are much more politically correct than openly, unapologetically racist is true.

@lantern53
@bobknight33
@quantumushroom
@Trancecoach
And @shinyblurry if I remember correctly

Most of the comments these numbskulls post are inherently racist as fuck.

But they always use the excuse of some political or religion cop-out, like.

"If black people started voting Republican, instead of supporting Libtard Democrats who only want to keep them poor.."

I'm convinced they all think, on a daily basis:
"Well my white, middle-class life was tough. And I overcame!

I know! Better take to the interwebs and give those silly black folks some advice.

Yeah, some helpful, common sense advice like.. GET A JOB YOU LAZY VIOLENT SAVAGES!

Wow, ahem.. excuse me...

But really, your struggles are just imaginary black people.

Stop complaining about the VIOLENT THUGS erm.. questionably innocent people the police murder because they definitely deserved it.

Besides black people kill black people all the time, I heard on Fox News once.

So it's definitely not okay to make a big fuss when Law Enforcement Office very clearly unlawfully execute one of you coons.. er.. folks.

Just get up off your lazy asses and vote. It's always worked for me and my elder white voting block friends who are in no way disenfranchised by our current voting laws ."

*Crack knuckles, dusts shoulders*

"Yuuup. Good thing I helped those ignorant jiggaboos understand how the world REALLY is.

And that's why White Americans are god's SUPERIOR chosen people.

Oh yeah! and clearly no I said can be construed as racist because I'm not because Obama is the first black president.

..an UNTRUSTWORTHY, FOREIGNER who's really from KENYA or INDONESIA (you know, one of those icky brown countries) and that DOESN'T STAND FOR MURICA VALUES!!

But he's blackish and the president so, see.

Ding Dong! No racism here."

Anywho have fun jerk your collect bigot boners about how i'm wrong.

How blacks are just as equals as whites because you say so.

How your not racists even tho you say shit only racist say.. ugh.

One more thought that I had:

Before Tesla, electric cars were niche marketed as adequate. In the sense that if you were a person very highly motivated to be "green", you could get one, drive around short distances, and in general enjoy a small subset of the versatility of an internal combustion gas guzzling car. You could get by, but in general life with an electric car was a step back from life with a gas car.

The reason Tesla is amazing is that it flipped that on its head. You're not sacrificing anything, you don't need an attitude of "I can use a bit less and take one for the team" for a Tesla to appeal to you. Everything I watch about the Model S says it is a fast, high-performance, fun to drive, luxurious car -- objectively BETTER than a similarly priced gas-powered car to most users (who can afford one, but that will include more and more people over time).


Same thing goes for home solar and other "green energy". Adoption rates are NEVER going to soar when solar is "adequate". And then only adequate if you make very big lifestyle changes like cutting back on heating and cooling, using low-draw appliances, etc. etc.

But as Tesla is doing to cars, maybe this can do to energy. Musk is saying NO, you don't have to cut back. You don't have to settle for less. You don't have to take one for the team. Install some (currently fairly expensive) solar panels and 1, 2, or however many of our power packs, and you can have a BETTER experience than being on the grid, paying high bills every month and dealing with the occasional outage, etc.

I guarantee that pitch will do more to push the adoption of green energy than 10 years of Al Gore living in a mansion and flying around constantly on a private jet to give $100,000 lectures explaining why everybody else needs to cut back or we're all going to melt...

I'm obviously making a big leap in my assumptions, but they're based on the limited hard evidence presented to the court. I am assuming Lardass was not just "driving poorly," but using intentionally dangerous aggressive maneuvers and smiling while he did so.

It is not likely that a father would go so ballistic and try to reprimand someone over their simply not driving very well. If Fatfuck was putting people in danger, I would not consider it unacceptable to approach and question his driving behavior.

I've been on the receiving end many times of douchecocks intentionally swerving into me, slamming on brakes in front of me, etc., and it is definitely something that warrants some kind of response.

If, however, the douchecunt really was simply driving poorly (e.g., failed to signal a lane change, took a couple of seconds to go when the light turned green, wasn't wearing his seatbelt, etc.), then yes, the father is completely at fault and out of his mind.

But based on my Sherlock Holmes-like skills of deduction, my guess is Comicbookstoreguyfromthesimpsons was a huge prick and intentional instigator. With a smile.

At what point will 'white privilege' be considered over? How many years / decades / centuries must pass? How many affirmative action programs / laws must be enacted to consider all races/ women on equal footing?
When sentencing certain individuals in our Canadian courts here, judges here are required to take their ancestry into consideration.
Here in Canada, there's also a big move afoot for governments to apologize for historical injustices -- Japanese, Chinese, Sikhs, natives, Jews, etc.
My problem is that we are looking at history through a modern lens which is crazy. How far back are we going to go? 50 years? 100 years? A millennia? Should Christians today should apologize for the Crusades?
PS. Before somebody accuses me of a hidden agenda, I have no axe to grind. I am part native but don't make a big deal of it. I certainly don't look at a white guy and think, "Hey that guy owes ME something because of what his great-great-great-grandfather did."
I think Bill is right... at some point people have to stop leaning on laws and affirmative action movements as a crutch/excuse and get on with working things out for themselves.

I don't know what it's like in the states but here in the UK they make a big thing of not getting to the hospital too early. Labour usually takes a long time and being in labour isn't enough to be admitted to hospital. If you phoned 999 here and told them your wife was in labour they'd tell you to wait until the contractions were close and regular and then make your way to the hospital. You'd only get an ambulance if there was something wrong (lots of blood or something like that). Having a baby is not a medical emergency.

When my wife went into labour her contractions were almost immediately close and regular. When we phone the hospital they were dismissive at first but said we could come in if we wanted. They'd have a look and see how dilated she was but if she wasn't dilated enough we'd be sent home, so it was our choice. As it happened when we got there she was already 3cm dilated and was taken straight through to a delivery room. Start to finish labour for her was about 8hrs. But a friend of ours had a 36hour labour.

It's very hard to tell which it's going to be so they don't send ambulances out for every baby

@bareboards2 such withering scorn!

Why are you making a big deal of the fact a male sent you that cartoon? Did you expect that I would respond with something like "oh a MAN sent it? Well, if it wasn't some awful feminazi type, then it must be right!"?? I would have thought that our interactions on this site would be enough for you to realise I don't think that way. The originating gender is irrelevant.

As it happens, I fully agree with the video.

What I dislike is the idea that any group of humans does not have a place in a discussion around interactions between other humans. If this was a discussion about an all-male field (let's say a male pro sports team), are womens opinions not relevant? Sure, you should have some basic knowledge of any subject before you espouse an opinion on it, but I think gender relations is a topic that pretty much everyone has at least some experience of.

The solution to past exclusionary, discriminative or even downright abusive practices is not more exclusionary practices. When Joss Whedon said "feminists are just people who think women are people too" , is that not a useful contribution?

I agree that it's not about making men the subject, but surely a white hetero man's opinion on gender, race and sexuality is no less valid than a black lesbians?

@ChaosEngine

i guess i was not clear.
so let me clarify.

i was not defending an artists right to discriminate on the basis of:sexual orientation,gender,race,class etc etc.

i WAS,however,defending an artists right to refuse a commission on their own personal grounds (whatever those might be) and they could do it without making a big deal about it.no need to be specific WHY you refused the commission.just that you wont be able to do the job to the best of your ability and that maybe joe-artist down the street could serve you better.

so you may find darkhands analogy trite and contrived but the basic heart of his comment is true.if his heart aint in it you are gonna get crap as a result.

being an artist for hire is nothing like owning a bagel shop or selling t-shirts.

if i aint feeling it...
i aint doing it.

if you want to project that i refuse because you are gay,or because their is a vagina involved..well..thats on you.
my reasons are my own.
i may share those reasons with you,i may not but i have that right to refuse the commission.

and the artists who DOES share a reason of homophobia or sexism is just dumb and probably not worth hiring anyways.

as for calling out artists who "whore" themselves.
i wasnt thinking of artists who accept money for the work they do.we all have to eat brother and if i used your example,each and every one of us are whores in one capacity or another.

i was actually thinking of the artists who lend their pen,brush,camera and instrument to create propaganda videos,commercials etc etc.

basically anyone who would sell their integrity for a buck.

Presumably this guy has some authority over the car. So her telling him to get out if he doesn't like it is some pretty ballsy shit. I'd argue that if at any point he said "pull over you're not a safe driver", it's either theft when he gets out or kidnapping when she doesn't stop.

Hell I've seen people come into car lots dead of winter, car has snow all over it and obviously hasn't been started recently, they start it and red line the engine. Car lot employees tell em to stop, and they end up getting removed from the car lot for doing it again. There are things most people wouldn't do to their own vehicles, so doing it to other people's property is just asinine.

Oh and stories of people who've "test drove" big vehicles so they could make a big grocery run and/or move furniture. Which is why they put the car lot employee in the car to stop them from taking it to do whatever with it....and can revoke permission if needed.

Guy may be pushing her buttons, but obviously she has some sort of issue with having limitations put on her use of other people's property.

Not sure what I would do in a situation like that, I'd be highly reluctant to just let someone drive off with a vehicle because they were being unsafe. Calling the cops might make her lose her shit, she ain't acting right IMO.

My guess is she doesn't know she's being filmed.

As we can see in the Michael Schumacher case: wearing a helmet does not necessarily protect you from a bad injury, but can make a big difference in life or death accident-scenarios

He fell at slow speed right next to the groomed track, his head hit a rock and the impact broke his helmet. No indication of "reckless behaviour" at all there, just the worst possible place to fall at. He would be dead had he not worn one.

My apologies. I've been seriously swamped for the past few months. Hoping to be able to be caught up and start making some big changes around here before too long.

15 an hour is quite feasible. The only consequence it has is on the level of surplus value harvested by capitalists.

The working day is divided into two segments. The part that the person works to equate the cost of reproducing themselves. The other part is the portion not paid for by the capitalist: surplus labor, or, surplus value. This is the source of profit.

Raising the minimum wage to $15 increases variable capital (wages). The other part of capital is constant capital: machines, tech, etc.

The rise in variable capital will increase the necessary labor of the working day, taking away the portion that goes to surplus value.

The working class has fought and won a raise in wages throughout history, quite often. It is necessary politically when the wages (price for labor-power) does not equal the actual value of labor power (cost to reproduce oneself).

Capitalists can easily make do here. They will just devise new ways of getting more surplus value. The can raise the minimum wage no problem, they will just fire workers and buy more machines to replace the fired workers, and then make the workers that are left work really hard (condensation of labor).

And no, this wont make a big mac cost more money.

This fight is necessary, just and progressive for humanity. We shouldn't ask why workers at McDonalds should or shouldn't get $15 an hour. We should ask why we all can't have that much. Fuck, lets go farther. Down with the 1% and capitalism. Lets go for more then $15 an hour. Lets storm heaven itself!

Modern day, right wing Republicanism is fueled by religion, religion that has told it's practitioners that they are being persecuted and they are the ones to save them. Calvinism, Rousas John Rushdoony, Christian Reconstructionism and an honest belief that they are in the end times, and are actively pursuing the end times...
An intersting article showing just how messed up modern day Tea Party politics is, Ted Cruz’s Father Preaches That His Son Is An “Anointed King” Who Will Bring The “End Time Transfer Of Wealth”

The church leaders, Fox News and everyone else has them all messed up to such a degree that they ignore the fact Jesus said it was impossible for a rich man to enter heaven, that they have their rewards here on Earth; that they ware to help the needy and the poor; that they are to be stewards of the Earth; blessed are the peacmakers; to heal the sick; to pray in secret, not make a big show of it as many Republican leaders do; that only God knows the appointed time of Jesus' return... and that word appointed means something... it doesn't matter if all the signs are here, if it isn't that appointed time, then it isn't time. I've heard the argument made that things like climate change doesn't matter as God is returning soon anyhow... it doesn't even enter their minds that perhaps God's appointed time is 52,584 CE/AD, to them it has to be ending soon... The election of Obama proved it to them that we are in the end times (I've heard that too, or pray for the world to end soon)... this is the fatalism that is running rampant in the minds of those who are voting for the Tea Party right wing nut cases. They are denied special privileges, they claim they are being persecuted. They truly see themselves being in the end of days and they are doing all they can to self fulfill the prophesies (even if they don't realize they are doing so, though many do know)... even if it became undeniable tomorrow that not only was climate change real, but it was man made, they would just point to the Bible and find some prophesy that the Earth would be polluted in the end of days. They hear on Fox News and Rush and in the church, people they trust saying "if you really think about it...", "anybody with half a mind could clearly see..." or "if you think critically about it..." and then tell them what to think, so that they think they have logic on their side as well as God.

As VoodooV pointed out, they are willing to sacrifice their own plans and ideas if it is adopted by those they see as the opposition in order to continue their persecution complex and continue to sabotage things.