To be fair, I don't see "check all hollow volumes for the presence of small stowaway mammals" in the pre-flight checklist:
http://flighttraining.aopa.org/students/presolo/skills/howtopreflight.html

A cat (or whatever) that doesn't want to be found probably isn't going to interfere with control surfaces working correctly, etc. This is exactly the kind of very infrequent, random event that human beings are likely to overlook when doing something like a routine check that comes back nominal 99.9% of the time.

So, I'd wager that the pilot probably did all of the checks correctly and they just failed to reveal the one-in-a-million chance of "cat in wing". And to swing the other direction a bit and praise him instead of admonishing, he was admirably cool as a cucumber while coming back in for a semi-emergency landing. So I guess I'd argue for "pilot win" instead of "pilot fail".

I must say, I wish it was alien to me as well. It is a disturbing thing to have to fear any interaction with those charged with my safety, but it's the only reasonable reaction when you have had the types of disrespectful interactions I've consistently had with police, no matter how compliant and respectful I was, invariably they are disrespectful, angry, and dishonest.

I grew up believing that cops were there to help citizens and that telling the truth to them is always the best thing to do. Personal and familial experience has dissuaded me of that belief thoroughly.

I'm also a middle-class, middle-aged, straight, white dude, but because I've lived in poor (largely black) areas I have been repeatedly targeted by police for 'sticking out'.

I've seen numerous close family members believe cop's lies, say too much trying to be helpful and/or truthful, and charged with crimes for what they revealed, or in some cases what the cop SAID they revealed. I've personally had cops lie on the stand about what I've said and/or done in their presence, and had them caught by the judge (lucky me) in the lies. Friends and family were not so lucky, and some of them did serious time for things they either did not do or things they were told would be ignored if they just told the nice friendly cops where the fireworks/pot/beer/anything they need to know about/etc. was, then when they tell the truth, officer friendly morphs into angry drill sergeant who charges them with any possible infraction he can think of and off to jail they go charged with the crimes they were promised would be ignored or crimes the officers created by lying.

When you see this behavior repeated time and time again, directed towards quite different people, one must conclude that it's an issue with those in the profession, not any personal issue by the victims. It's quite sad.

I've been shouted down in meetings for the depth of field thing so many times. So many people don't understand how inappropriate it is for an interactive experience. Film is about controlling the viewers experience, games are about allowing the player to experience on their own. Not only is depth of field a completely unnatural artifact, its presence in games is a misunderstanding and misuse of the medium. Drives me nuts.
Also, most of the things the talking head says during the demo are devoid of any meaning. There's truthfully not a great deal impressive about the demo itself; these guys are wowing people with great artwork and flawless technical execution, (which is still nice), but the hardware/software used isn't as important as they're going on about.

I'm impressed the First baseman had the presence of mind to drop his own glove rather than possibly error by having a glove-on-glove deflection...

True, but to cut him some slack he's young, on TV for probably the first time, and a bit nervous. Considering how much practice he's clearly put into the tricks themselves, I'm sure he'll develop the stage presence also.

Those tricks are awesome, but I feel like he needs to work on his stage presence a bit.

Hey kceaton1,

I'm sorry to hear about the narcolepsy and sleep paralysis. I remember watching a video someone put out recently (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PuvXpv0yDM) that sort of explained what it is like and it didn't seem like very much fun. I can't really imagine what you're going through. I have a friend who has narcolepsy but it must be a mild version because it seems like she kind of winds up to it and comes out of it pretty easy.

In regards to your question, I appreciate you not writing off my response as one thing or another. In regards to supernatural experiences, I can see why you have a lot of skepticism as well. You have experienced things on the order of what you've heard other people call supernatural experiences, but you have a natural explanation for them.

Having a supernatural experience can be hard to quantify, and usually when God is revealing something to you, it goes beyond sense impressions. You could perhaps write some of them off as one thing or another but three experiences in particular stand out to me as being undeniable. They aren't necessary what led me to Christ but they really defy any kind of naturalistic explanation.

The first was from before I was a Christian, when I was into the new age. At the time I was exploring a lot of eastern spiritual practices. There is one in particular, which I wont go into detail about, that for a few minutes allowed me to see with my eyes closed. When I was in the shower one day I closed my eyes to rinse my hair and when I did I was utterly shocked and amazed to be looking right at my feet and the water falling down upon them. It was real time and the only difference from normal vision was it had kind of an energetic haze over everything, kind of matrix looking. It was otherworldly but still completely in sync with my normal vision when I opened my eyes.

I wasn't hallucinating because I was able to test it in real time by opening and closing my eyes and looking at various things. It was all completely consistent and completely real. I could see what was going on to minute detail with my eyes closed and when I opened them everything matched perfectly, and vice versa. I wasn't dreaming because I immediately got out of the shower and told my then significant other who would vouch for that happening. It didn't last long but I did experience it and there isn't a naturalistic explanation.

The second thing that happened to me is that is undeniable is that I was physically healed by a Christian praying over me. My left leg used to be shorter than my right leg by a quarter inch. I know this because I measured it a few times and it caused me to walk somewhat unevenly. The man prayed for someone else who had the same problem except worse, and I saw their leg grow out and even up with the other. When I saw that I asked to be prayed for and the same thing happened to me. I know it did because I measured my legs and they are exactly the same length. I also had to learn how to walk correctly after this happened. Again, no naturalistic explanation.

The third thing happened at my baptism. I knew I needed to get baptized, although at the time I didn't really understand what it was all about. When I got baptized, it completely changed me. The easiest way to described it is, when I went into the water I was one person, and when I came back up I was a different person. Different in this sense, that I was cleansed on the inside. Emotionally and spiritually, it was like a thick black sludge had been removed from the walls of my heart. An emotional weight had been lifted, depression and anger and sadness disappeared; it was replaced with an incredible lightness, with true peace and joy. This wasn't superficial; I was utterly changed. I was a different and better (healed)person, and on top of that I could sense the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit, from that moment on until now.

People have given me different explanations; hallucinations, psychotic break, etc. I've have a lot of experience with people who have mental illness; the things that happen to them aren't positive, they're negative. When they think they have entered Nirvana, their behavior is completely off and often self-destructive. Delusional psychosis doesn't heal, it hurts. One way or another, the whole thing is going to unravel because it isn't real. What has happened to me is very real and I experience Gods love, care and guidance every day of my life. The Lord is good, and He is faithful; He cares even about the little things of my life.

I am a Christian not simply because I have seen miracles, it is because I believe the gospel. I know I am a sinner and that I need a Savior. I know that Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for my sins and was raised to life on the third day. The Lord has made that clear to me and I don't have any trouble agreeing with Him. He gave it all for me; why should I do any less? Before I knew the Lord I was resigned to a meaningless death. Today, I have a living hope. But I didn't come to be a Christian because I am afraid of death. I came to be a Christian because God revealed Himself to me, that He created me for a reason, and that my true fulfillment and purpose can only be found in Him. Since I have given my life to Jesus Christ, I have found that to be completely true, in ways I could never have imagined. My life affirms the truth of this scripture:

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Ephesians 3:21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, forever. Amen.

Is there only one bus at the stop? Does the dog know the bus by anything other than its presence at a specific place?

Because the Christian religion is based not on myth, but entirely on a historical claim, which is that Jesus was raised from the dead. I believe that He was, that there is good evidence to believe that He was, and it has been my personal experience that it is true. The central claim of the Christian religion is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul made this comment:

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
1 Corinthians 15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
1 Corinthians 15:19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

The bible tells us in John 3:3 that we must be born again. We are born again when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, when we believe that He paid the price for our sins on the cross and that He was raised from the dead. When that happens God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. The Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside out and makes us new people.

In my personal experience, this has happened to me. When I was baptized, I went into the water as one person and came out a different person. I had been transformed on the inside in an instant, losing a lot of baggage and depression and gaining a perpetual sense of Gods presence, and an inner peace and joy that was never there before. I didn't expect this, or anything, to happen. It is a fulfillment of the truth of what the scripture says happens when you are born again.

The simulated crystal elaborates
underneath an unconscious.
A passing attendant spends the presence.

http://watchout4snakes.com/wo4snakes/Random/RandomParagraph

I'm going to assume that this is the Lorentz force, because it's the principle that involves magnetic and electric fields. But there are setups that can use subtleties of magnetic and electric fields, it can be very complicated. Any physicist rather than astronomer might be able to explain this better... or spot subtleties.

If you notice, it only starts moving once the back magnet has touched the wire. Which i think means that the wire is used to carry the current from the battery, with the magnets providing the magnetic field for the Lorentz force to drive the train. Effectively the force is felt by the electrons travelling in the wire (F = q(E + v x B), x being vector product, cross product), but there is an equal and opposite force to be felt by the 'train'; so it travels along. If you watch, it does look like the wire is responding - i'm pretty sure the small track would have shot off to the right if he hadn't held it, and it moves as the train approaches in the longer track.

So, circuit is set up by the the wire contacting between battery terminals, current flows in a circular fashion (mostly, assuming adjacent loops don't short). Magnetic field will emanate out from the battery on average radially, i assume (this is a simplification but a reasonably safe one), so the resulting cross product - and therefore direction of the force - acts along the remaining perpendicular direction to those, ie. straight up or down the loop depending on which terminal is leading.

If you want to see how that works, you can use the right hand rule. First finger is the direction of the electron's velocity (which is traversing loops so constantly changing in a circular manner), middle finger the direction of magnetic field which always comes out radially from the middle of the coil or track, thumb F the resultant force always points along the loop - make your first finger point in all directions of a circle, keep your middle finger pointing radially out relative to your first finger, and you will notice your thumb always points the same way, no matter how v changes circularly.

It is reasonable to assume that other factors are involved, probably a current is induced into the coil as the battery moves - the battery carries a magnetic field cos of the magnets, so we then have a moving/changing magnetic field in the presence of a wire; it should induce a current which would create a magnetic field in opposition to the field of the magnets.. and so on. But i think the Lorentz force is what provides most of the motion.

*discard for dupes:

http://videosift.com/video/Christmas-Presence-Simons-Cat
http://videosift.com/video/Christmas-Presence-Part-2-Simons-Cat

@chicchorea, @youtubeyj is lying through his fucking teeth.

He's responsible for Senior Audience Development for the company who focuses on "SEO optimization" (which mean search engine optimization optimization) and tactical cross-promotion for their customers.

This garbage is the worst kind of self-link/spam for Rudimental, by someone who knows exactly how they're attempting to stealthily violate our posting guidelines and is trying hard to bend us over a barrel and violate our collective rectum.

It amazes me that these "reputable" companies still only try to improve their customers' online presence through fucking disgusting, deceitful spam like this bullshit.

*banwithavengeance

Congrats on reaching gold!

You are an outstanding pillar of sift and a much appreciated presence in the face of tyranny of evil men.

Thank you for pointing out the linked article.

Let me expand on my thoughts here.

I have no sympathy for the officer in this video after the actions shown. I imagine that the best defence he could muster would be to show what happened leading up to the video we see here. I also highly doubt that such a “best defence” would come anywhere close to justifying how he (mis)handled this recorded interaction. The suspension is absolutely warranted. And I hope it isn’t short.

In regards to police use of cameras, I don’t doubt that some will behave unprofessionally in spite of a camera being present. But knowing that a camera is recording does deter some bad poor behaviour. This jerk cop even says that if he knew he was being recorded that he would have acted differently.


I have been concerned about how many police officers view cameras in general as a threat. I’ve seen so many videos where an officer lashes out about being recorded...

Recording should be viewed favourably. Dashcams are already common on police cars in some areas. They provide evidence, which can and should be used to back up the story filed on any police report. Ideally this recording should show how well the situation was handled by the officer involved. (Gold star for Mr. Officer Good Cop!)

If an officer is uncomfortable getting recorded, or feels threatened by the presence of cameras, they probably shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing, and if they do much of it, they should probably find other work.

If a cop behaves atrociously on a police camera and gets away with it, then the corruption lies deeper than just a cop out of line. And the consequences of that should reach into the administration until anyone involved in such a coverup is removed from public duty. They are no longer fit for the role, if they ever were. There is no room for fraud in an organization that is founded on the principles of upholding the law and protecting the public.