Context for the weak.
(i.e. those, like me, who had no idea why it was called Cupcakes)

Haha shiny, 'Lack of belief' is the same as 'don't believe'. God you're as dumb as Big Willy.>> ^shinyblurry:

>> ^kir_mokum:
"You might as well say you like ponies" and "don't believe in god/gods" are opposite types of statements and have no relation to each other. if you can't differentiate between the two then you are unable to have any kind of meaningful conversation on the subject.

We can't have a meaningful conversation on the subject if you cherry pick my post. Saying you don't believe in a God is fine, because that is a concrete position that corresponds to the definition of atheism. Saying you lack belief in a God is an autobiographical statement on your psychology that has nothing to do with the question of whether God exists. That is why I contrasted it to liking ponies.

>> ^kir_mokum:
"You might as well say you like ponies" and "don't believe in god/gods" are opposite types of statements and have no relation to each other. if you can't differentiate between the two then you are unable to have any kind of meaningful conversation on the subject.


We can't have a meaningful conversation on the subject if you cherry pick my post. Saying you don't believe in a God is fine, because that is a concrete position that corresponds to the definition of atheism. Saying you lack belief in a God is an autobiographical statement on your psychology that has nothing to do with the question of whether God exists. That is why I contrasted it to liking ponies.

"You might as well say you like ponies" and "don't believe in god/gods" are opposite types of statements and have no relation to each other. if you can't differentiate between the two then you are unable to have any kind of meaningful conversation on the subject.

The point is, atheism becomes meaningless under this definition. It isn't a posirion, it isnt true or false, it isnt a view point, and even cats and babies could be atheists. You might as well say you like ponies.

To say you lack belief is simply an obfuscation of your true position on the question of God, which could either be yes, in which case you would be a theist, no in which case you would be an atheist, or i dont know in which case you would be an agnostic. If you consider it a meaningless question then you are a verificationist.

>> ^packo:

>> ^quantumushroom:
His Earness was never a conservative or "moderate". He's a leftist radical who was somewhat but not all-the-way stopped from furthering federal tyranny. Apparently no one learned from FDR's folly that no nation can spend its way out of a depression.
If POS obamacare is ruled "constitutional" expect further chaos.

he's been wanting to raise taxes... he was the first to say there was a revenue problem
the problem being the Republican keep stalling him because he wants to raise taxes on the wealthy/corporations... NOT your average citizen
he wanted an infrastructure bill, to create jobs, to stimulate the economy... again... denied by Republicans
then Republicans come around and say he's doing nothing about creating jobs, and that he should raise taxes... on who? not the corporations/wealthy... but the average citizen
who is really fighting unions? not the democrats... hard to have their support if they were doing that
who is passing/trying to pass bills (latest Arizona) that are trying to make illegal public sector collective bargaining?
give you a hint.... the party starts with a "R", and has their lips firmly planted on the Koch brother's corn holes


and btw, all this R vs D debate is bs... because whatever party gets into power, or is seen to be the popular party, gets corrupted by money/corporate interest

the differences the parties spout only matter to the people voting, not the parties themselves... its all a dog/pony show

you wanna fix the country, get corporate money outta politics...
the insanity of it just boggles the mind
treason should be redefined to include not just betraying your nation to foreign governments... but to corporations (MOST of whom really owe allegiance to no nation... even those that say they are American - why do they bank offshore then? why do they fire American workers and hire overseas? the economics of it aren't the issue... that they are allowed to pass this off as being PATRIOTIC is)

I agree with both @heropsycho and @Psychologic .

People comfortable with online sharing often refuse to acknowledge the cost of content creation. Since the cost of distribution is now seemingly free, there will always be an incentive to profit off of the costless distribution without being burdened by the cost of content creation. It's always cheaper to copy and sell than it is to create and sell. Therefore attempting to make money off some bits you strung together is a tough road. Someone can always sell those same bits and undercut your costs (barring any costs of overcoming technological or legal barriers to copying like they've been creating). In the long run, the continued status quo will almost certainly decrease the signal to noise ratio of content. Indeed, it already has. Fewer and fewer choose to make costly-to-produce content, and more and more are making lolcats and fart apps.

At the same time the industry refuses to acknowledge that the creation of many forms of content is forever democratized. The cost of recording what I'd consider a high quality album, for example, can now be borne by a dude in his mom's basement. He could even include some distribution and marketing. What service does the record industry really provide at that point? Editorial input? Yup... that's about it. In other words, the old media record industry could at this point be replaced by a handful of trustworthy blogs, and I don't know, something like Rhapsody? I subscribe because it's easier than pirating and managing a music library, I get nearly unlimited music, and I get to feel like I'm supporting artists. If I really like a band I find, I might even go to their show or buy their merchandise. I care about supporting the artists. Not dead tree media companies that were out innovated. If they had any sense they'd focus on their core business which is a reputation for suggesting high quality content. Further, they should focus on building that reputation with listeners, not retailers (something they abandoned long ago). They don't even need to worry about the rights to the content. Without an audience they have no product. They might as well close up shop.

Where I will agree, however, is in the realms where the cost of creating the content is substantially higher, for example big-budget film or video games. Still, I'd argue these industries aren't suffering to the same extent because as has been pointed out people still go to the movies, or game online. That is, they've still created a tiered distribution model that makes it an easier or a substantially better experience to pony up a few bucks to check it out. Even after a run in the theaters you can get napster or hit your local video store (not that anyone does that anymore, again, because they were out innovated).

I find this very astounding to watch... it really does seem like something out of a movie, and yet this is all real...

We live in interesting time... Ponies and anonymous: please don't like the 2010s be described by just these two...

The name of the piece is "Pony", and it's by Tim Lewis. There's a short blurb here - http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425478740/pony.html

I should've put "kinetic sculpture" into the tags.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'glove ostrich, wtf' to 'glove ostrich, tim lewis, pony, wtf' - edited by oritteropo

Tags for this video have been changed from 'skyrim, mod, pony, mlp, fluttershy' to 'skyrim, mod, pony, mlp, fluttershy, ughhhh, bronies' - edited by deathcow

Tags for this video have been changed from 'skyrim, mod, pony' to 'skyrim, mod, pony, mlp, fluttershy' - edited by atara

I can't *not* upvote the pony.

>> ^bareboards2:

My Little Pony clip not posted by @BoneRemake? I'll upvote anyway....


wait... so someone has been posting MLP clips already?

My God... The infection has already spread to videosift!