I think its pretty clear, we need to invade South America for stealing all our gravity.

My list

1: Pharmaceutical Industry
2: Textile Industry
3. Religion Industry
4. Psychiatry Industry
5. Tobacco Industry
6. Alcohol Industry
7. Private Prison Industry
8. Gangs/Blackmarket drug industry
9. Military Industry/Neocons - by denying revenue to Anti-American forces in South America and The Middle East

Is ScaifeTV's list similar?

In reply to this comment by blankfist:
Hey butterbean, thought you might enjoy this from those corporatist scalawags at reason.tv:

http://videosift.com/video/Judge-Jim-Gray-Six-Groups-Who-Profit-From-Drug-Prohibition

Isn't "butterbean" just terribly southern sounding?

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.

Why is it extreme fiction to think that powerful, ambitious men would take advantage of a power vacuum? Free market intervention via the IMF has horror stories far, far worse than this. Real stories, not fiction. Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, Bolivia. Powerful people take advantage of the power vacuum in our country too. Deregulation of derivatives caused the current financial crisis. Deregulating the banks caused the mortgage fraud crisis. Deregulating energy caused the Enron crisis. Business has co-opted our relatively powerful government and led us into war and debt. Take away government and the hard fought laws of the last few centuries and the power of wealthy ambitious men would be unbound. Take away government and the hard fought laws of the last few centuries and what you consider to be oppression would be dwarfed.

When states fail, gangs and warlords always immediately rise up to take advantage of the system.

When I say anarchists and conservative libertarians are naive, I'm not trying to be mean. I think they are blind to the historical constant that powerful, ambitious men will always try and game political systems, and that anarchism, by design, would be completely impotent at stopping them. It is no small coincidence that these powerful, ambitious men support many of the institutions and think tanks that inform your politics. The same people that fund Cato and the Reason Institute also fund PNAC and Freedomworks. Does it not disturb you that Neo-Cons fund your institutions? Does it not disturb you that conservative libertarian heroes like Milton Friedman have backed violence and violent dictators in South America to further their cause? To further your cause?

Anyway, this is why I find conservative libertarianism and anarchism so objectionable. I don't think anarchism could ever happen, because of the paradox that in order to achieve and maintain an anti-state, you would need the power of a state. The reason I oppose a movement that could never get off the ground is that its principles (low taxes, deregulation) are being used as justification for the very tyranny it seeks to abolish.

(PS: check out the documentary: GASLAND. My fiction was based on real events.)

Thanks for all the John Pilger video's, the one on South America was particularly enlightening, but they are all fine examples of real journalism.

Ah..."Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish" -Euripides. It has been my personal experience that those who do not believe in evolution are not so much resistant to the idea as they are ignorant of it, as you said. You can explain to him that evolution is the product of math, and that's it. As one allele is favored in the environment, it increases in frequency. In fact, you could also explain that evolution may also occur through something as simple (and unarguable) as migration. If more individuals with blond hair enter a population, the population evolves because the frequency of the blond allele increases.

In regards to the age of the earth, you could discuss some geological facts that are in obvious support of an ancient earth:
1) Fossils (Previous types of organisms have existed. Extinction has occurred. We know the rate of extinction and the rate that speciation occurs - these all indicate an earth that is billions of years old)
2) Vestigial structures (Previous useful structures can lose their function through time - lots of it)
3) Modern Gemonics (The more closely related two organisms are the more similar their DNA is, the more genes they have in common and therefore the more morphologically similar they are. We know the rate of mutation, which means we know the rate of the formation of alleles in a population. For humans, the rate of mutation is about 0.0000001 mutations per base pair per generation (very slow - and this is for all mutations, not just for positive ones). The formation of new species usually takes millions of years due to this slow rate coupled with natural selection.
4) Biogeography (A single species separated by the movement of continents evolves at the same discussed rate. We know how fast continents move (theory of plate tectonics: 2 - 10 cm/year). We know many organisms were separated by continental drift (Many separate (but very similar-looking) species are found in currently separate geographical areas that were once together - primates in Africa / South America, for example or the flightless birds - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratite - for marsupials: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Courses/bio303/contdrift.htm)

I hope this helps!

Marc

In reply to this comment by Psychologic:
Hey, you seem to know your way around science so I have a question for you (asking several people actually):

I have a friend who is fairly intelligent and open-minded, but is also a young-earth creationist. While there is quite a bit of evidence showing the planet to be much older than 7000 years, I'm trying to find something that is fairly obvious and can't be dismissed as easily as, say, radiometric dating.

Needless to say, he doesn't "believe" in evolution, but I think many of his positions are the product of misinformation. I wouldn't believe in what he thinks evolution is either, but for now I just want a clear way of showing a skeptic that the earth is much older than the christian bible seems to indicate.

Any insight?

I didn't have enough information when I initially commented on this video (because the video didn't provide it), and I jumped to conclusions - my bad!! In any event, it would definitely have been helpful if the video had indicated if the otter was a sea otter, river otter, or ...

Here's some fun and interesting information about otters from the World Famous San Diego Zoo web site:
Class: Mammalia (Mammals)
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genera: 6
Species: 13
Length: largest—giant otter Pteronura brasiliensis, up to 7.8 feet (2.4 meters); smallest—Asian small-clawed otter Amblonyx cinereus, up to 3 feet (0.9 meters)
Weight: largest—sea otter Enhydra lutris, males up to 95 pounds (43 kilograms); smallest—Asian small-clawed otter, up to 11 pounds (5 kilograms)
Life span: 15 to 20 years
Gestation: from 2 months for smaller species to 5 months for sea otters
Number of young at birth: 1 to 5, usually 2
Size at birth: 4.5 ounces (128 grams) for smaller species to 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms) for sea otters
Age of maturity: 2 to 5 years
Conservation status: four species, including the sea otter, are endangered; three otter species are vulnerable.
Fun facts
• You can tell otter species apart by the shape and amount of fur on their noses.
• Unlike other marine mammals, sea otters do not have a layer of blubber to keep them warm; they rely on warm air trapped in their fur. Sea otters have the densest fur of any mammal, with about 100,000 hairs in a space about the size of a postage stamp!
• Most otter species capture prey with their mouths, but Asian small-clawed otters and sea otters have flexible fingers and grab with their hands.
• North American and European river otters have been known to share dens with beavers—but the beavers do all the building!

Mammals: Otter
Range: Africa, Asia, and parts of North America, Central America, and South America
Habitat: sea otters are found in the Pacific Ocean and along the coastline, but most otter species live in rivers, lakes, and marshes

Champion swimmers
Otters are the only serious swimmers in the weasel family. They spend most of their lives in the water, and they are made for it! Their sleek, streamlined bodies are perfect for diving and swimming. Otters also have long, slightly flattened tails that move sideways to propel them through the water while their back feet act like rudders to steer.

Almost all otters have webbed feet, some more webbed than others, and they can close off their ears and noses as they swim underwater. They can stay submerged for about five minutes, because their heart rate slows and they use less oxygen. They’re also good at floating on the water’s surface, because air trapped in their fur makes them more buoyant. Have you ever noticed that when an otter comes out of the water, its outer fur sticks together in wet spikes, while the underneath still seems dry? That’s because they have two layers of fur: a dense undercoat that traps air; and a topcoat of long, waterproof guard hairs. Keeping their fur in good condition is important, so otters spend a lot of time grooming. In fact, if their fur becomes matted with something like oil, it can damage their ability to hunt for food and stay warm.

Party animals
Otters are very energetic and playful. You might say they love to party! They are intelligent and curious, and they are usually busy hunting, investigating, or playing with something. They like to throw and bounce things, wrestle, twirl, and chase their tails. They also play games of "tag" and chase each other, both in the water and on the ground. River otters seem to like sliding down mud banks or in the snow—they’ll do it over and over again! Otters also make lots of different sounds, from whistles, growls, and screams to barks, chirps, and coos. All this activity is part of the otters’ courtship, social bonding, and communication, and since otter pups need practice, they tend to be even more playful than the adults.

Life as a pup
Most otters are born in a den, helpless and with their eyes closed. The mother takes care of them, often chasing the father away after their birth, although in some species the dad may come back after a couple of weeks to help raise them. The babies, called pups, open their eyes and start exploring the den at about one month, start swimming at two months, and stay with their mother and siblings until they are about one year old, when they head off on their own.

For sea otters in their ocean habitat it’s a little different—the pups are born with their eyes open, and they have a special coat of hair so they can float, even though they can’t swim yet. They are carried on their mother’s stomach until they are about two months old, when they start swimming and diving on their own.

For most otters, social groups are made up of a mother, her older offspring, and her newest pups; the males spend most of their time alone or with a few other males. During breeding time or where there’s lots of food, though, larger groups of otters may gather, especially among sea otters in kelp beds.

The seafood diet
Otter food may not all come from the ocean, but it is definitely fishy! River otters eat mostly fish, frogs, crayfish, crabs, and mollusks, with an occasional small mammal or bird. Sea otters eat many of the same things, but mostly sea urchins, abalone, crabs, mussels, and clams, which they crack open against rocks they hold on their stomachs. Otters have long, sensitive whiskers that help them find prey, even in murky water. Some species, like the Asian small-clawed otter Amblonyx cinereus, also use their hands to probe into mud or under rocks to find a tasty meal that might be hiding there. River otters use lots of energy and digest their food very fast, so they eat several times a day. Sea otters need to eat 20 to 25 percent of their body weight each day. That’s a lot of abalone!
The otters at the San Diego Zoo are fed carnivore diet, carrots, and either squid or trout. They also get small amounts of "treats" for enrichment, like crayfish, worms, potatoes, or yams.

>> ^direpickle:

>> ^shuac:
I'm getting a new passport ready just in case the 2012 election goes from "Entertaining as the 2008 Election" to "Holy Shit, I've got to leave this country now."
Can anyone make a good suggestion of where I can go? I don't really speak any other languages. I took some French in high school and I know a little German (he's sitting over there <- awesome Top Secret reference).
Seriously though. Any ideas?

Don't be one of those guys, man.
Also, you're probably fooling yourself if you think there's anywhere better. Corruption is a huge problem the world over. The UK is a nanny state, surveillance state, and general purpose Orwellian nightmare. It sounds like much of mainland Europe is being flooded with Fundie Muslims, and the governments are kowtowing before all of their demands (hence all of the anti-heresy laws). Oceania is going crazy with their Internet Filtering and whatnot. Canada's far too easily influenced by the US.
They're all bowing before the American Intellectual Property Juggernaut.
You will pretty much never be able to become a citizen in most of Europe. The Japanese government is corrupt, and the people will never accept you as one of them. I'd be leery of settling in in most of the rest of Asia. North Korea and South Korea could go to war again at any moment. China's not exactly the place I'd go to flee from an insane government. Maybe India, Nepal, something.
Maybe there's some amazing place in South America or Africa.


Bogus. UK is just as free as the USA, if not freer, with the exception of libel laws and traffic cameras. And you're not goinh to move to any other european country just because of the few percent Muslim minority that has emigrated there? Racist.

>> ^shuac:

I'm getting a new passport ready just in case the 2012 election goes from "Entertaining as the 2008 Election" to "Holy Shit, I've got to leave this country now."
Can anyone make a good suggestion of where I can go? I don't really speak any other languages. I took some French in high school and I know a little German (he's sitting over there <- awesome Top Secret reference).
Seriously though. Any ideas?


Don't be one of those guys, man.

Also, you're probably fooling yourself if you think there's anywhere better. Corruption is a huge problem the world over. The UK is a nanny state, surveillance state, and general purpose Orwellian nightmare. It sounds like much of mainland Europe is being flooded with Fundie Muslims, and the governments are kowtowing before all of their demands (hence all of the anti-heresy laws). Oceania is going crazy with their Internet Filtering and whatnot. Canada's far too easily influenced by the US.

They're all bowing before the American Intellectual Property Juggernaut.

You will pretty much never be able to become a citizen in most of Europe. The Japanese government is corrupt, and the people will never accept you as one of them. I'd be leery of settling in in most of the rest of Asia. North Korea and South Korea could go to war again at any moment. China's not exactly the place I'd go to flee from an insane government. Maybe India, Nepal, something.

Maybe there's some amazing place in South America or Africa.

I have a can of Corned Beef from a company called Hereford made in Brazil, seems most all canned Corned beef is from south America, that brought some form of suspicion to arise, the fact its meat in a tin, as well amplifies that and that it tells me to Chill it in the fridge for a hour or more to "firm up" for slicing.

I bought it when I was living in my car a couple months ago.. now I just look at it with a hint of exploration and a disdain for its being.

Still scared

to try it.

>> ^blankfist:

>> ^iL0VmyDr:
I sooo liked him, but I voted for Nader in 2000 {my bad} and that didn't work out. It ended up seeming to me that the best idea is to vote for the lesser of two evils that might have a chance.

I hope you don't feel that way. Your vote for Nader was very important for a number of reasons. 1. It put more focus to those outside the bipartisan machine. 2. Also it's very important to vote your conscience and not get persuaded by the bipartisan masses who claim you're throwing away your vote. This is nonsense.


No voting for Nader is just throwing your vote away. Just like it doesn't matter that much if you vote for Obama or McCain. Just one will be unapologetically war mongerlike...and the other will do it more covertly. It's just like Reagan when he couldn't do what he wanted he went underground and used proxy armies to fight his wars and rain terror down upon South America.

>> ^Gabe_b:

>> ^shuac:
After playing this game, I'd love to see a full sandbox game set in a prison. You are a new inmate and your goal is to escape and clear your name. Or somesuch. It would be comparatively easy to make because you'd only need just so many textures and models. Not like Shawshank...more like Escape From Alcatraz only more gritty and dark.
To quote Jerry Seinfeld about prison, "It is a fascinating lifestyle."

I'd play that. Could be pretty good too. You could work in different ways to escape. Sneak out, Thief style, build up a gang and take the place over and have a chopper get you out like in south america, or maybe an adventure game-y and dialog based route to get out legally. Close combat with improvised weapons, raiding the armory... sweet


So.... The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay but much more sandboxy. Sounds good. Prison Break the game if you will.

However, if they made and official Prison Break the game, I'm sure it would be horrible.

>> ^shuac:

After playing this game, I'd love to see a full sandbox game set in a prison. You are a new inmate and your goal is to escape and clear your name. Or somesuch. It would be comparatively easy to make because you'd only need just so many textures and models. Not like Shawshank...more like Escape From Alcatraz only more gritty and dark.
To quote Jerry Seinfeld about prison, "It is a fascinating lifestyle."

I'd play that. Could be pretty good too. You could work in different ways to escape. Sneak out, Thief style, build up a gang and take the place over and have a chopper get you out like in south america, or maybe an adventure game-y and dialog based route to get out legally. Close combat with improvised weapons, raiding the armory... sweet

When the Spanish conquistadors spread disease to conquer South America, they did so with all sorts of dirty tricks and plays they could ever think of, all developed from within their own warring times. They used it once more during the Napoleonic invasion, when Napoleon has sent his generals to conquer Spain. This is when the term 'guerrilla warfare' derives from. Since the Spanish weren't able to fend off the 'Le Grande Armee' in numbers, resources, as well as military technology, they refused to fight the French in open ground as it meant a massacre.

On the surface the Spanish towns welcomed their foreign occupants, giving the soldiers shelter and food. But then the shelters were 'accidentally' burnt in the middle of the night or a curious food poisoning quickly spread amongst the French ranks. Spaniards would also introduce a young, blossoming senorita with strikingly beautiful eyes to a battle wary French captain as they share a bed at night, only to find the captain dead next morning with a rope tied around his neck.

Strategy evolves as time goes on, and it is a matter of familiarizing yourself with these new tactics. Dirty or not, he won the game by tricking the opponent without using illegal means, such as using maphack or looking at his opponent's screen. He still played within the game's rule boundaries and successfully pulled off a good con.

Now, since this video has gotten out he won't be able to pull off this trick as often because everyone has familiarized with these tactics, and the community has learned to be more cautious against such tricks. Tactical evolution

IT'S TIME...Share
Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 9:32am
After five years, I’m THRILLED to announce that The Spirit Molecule will be released by October 2010. I strongly believe your support, patience, and belief in this film, allowed it to materialize through physical communities, the Internet, festivals/events, South America, etc. Thank you. I dreamt of this day many times, but never expected tears when announcing the release…I stand corrected. I’m truly excited to share this film with the world.

As we developed our distribution model, we continually felt more comfortable outside the box, especially considering the subject matter of the film. We went with the Trojan horse approach, the appearance of a traditional model (submit to as many festivals possible), but knew our audience was much wider. To that end, we decided to release as wide as possible, as quick as possible. So, when we physically premier this fall, we will simultaneously release the DVD/PPV for the world. As part of the physical premier, we also hope to have a live stream from the location (TBD) so the world can share in the premier. Additionally, we have an iPhone application (other devices soon) in the works, which features access to the entire collection of interview footage, roughly 100 hours. Finally, once we regroup from post-production, and screen some festivals, we plan to construct the DMT remix project, allowing anyone access to the collection of interview footage, original VFX, and original music to create their own Spirit Molecule film.

Although it has taken longer than anticipated, it has been integral in building our fan base. And due to that network, we have a rare opportunity to show the relevance, and potential, of this simple molecule, which seems to open the door to another reality. Over the last decade, I’ve witnessed a worldwide consciousness/psychedelic community reawaken and grow, and I need to access the potential of the community. As we prepare for the launch, we intend to reach as many people as possible, so I gracefully ask for your assistance. Considering the diversity, and size, of the community, we can make Google take notice. If you work in (or know someone) in PR, design/code for the web, create street art, or just want to help push this message forward, please use your talent, imagination, or knowhow to help us create buzz.

Thanks again for your support. More soon…

Regards,
Mitch Schultz
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