If I owned a chainsaw company, I'd be giving this guy a sponsorship pretty darn quick. I suppose that ice sculptors work with chainsaws as well so maybe it's not that rare.

Apparently 15 people, two of them Kings, don't give a fuck about your sponsorship. Well, 14 people and one more who likes to push buttons.

Don't worry, Dag. I won't cry "free speech" or mention the fall of Western Civilization because of this post. It's just a shitty video on a decent website in the Macbook at which I am currently staring. I don't give a fuck what you do with the video, or with my account. Hobble me, temp ban me, stick me in a locked bathroom stall with blankfist and gwiz; it's your choice.

But please, won't somebody think of the sponsors? I mean...children?

Money talks, I know.

Maybe if I had sent a little dinero to your cause I wouldn't be in chains. Damn, I should have helped during that single fundraiser you had that one time. I could totally have a VS cotton poly blend tee, right?

I am not a crook.

^A couple of years ago one of the fighters, I don't remember which, said a championship fight often has 1 million USD on the line --once you factor in sponsorships.

That sounds in line with other sports... news articles say Tiger Woods' income is 10% from golf and 90% from sponsorships.

I was just looking at the salaries for UFC 106 and the lowest payout was $6,000 to Jacob Volkmann and that was for losing! At the other end of the spectrum is Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz who each got $250,000.

>> ^chilaxe:
>> ^gwiz665:
I'll never understand what gets people to participate in stuff like this, but it can be very entertaining to watch. Bloody mess by the end.

Kenny Florian probably took home in between 150,000 USD - 300,000 USD for this victory.
That's based on the numbers for his last comparable fight, which were 40k for base-pay and 40k for win bonus (source), and sponsorship deals are probably another couple 100k.

>> ^gwiz665:
I'll never understand what gets people to participate in stuff like this, but it can be very entertaining to watch. Bloody mess by the end.


Kenny Florian probably took home in between 150,000 USD - 300,000 USD for this victory.

That's based on the numbers for his last comparable fight, which were 40k for base-pay and 40k for win bonus (source), and sponsorship deals are probably another couple 100k.

>> ^dannym3141:
Dune is the most godawful, low quality, banal storied, craptastic piece of pseudo-epic shite that i have ever had the misfortune to sit through 1/4 of. That's all i could stomach, and i watch some real pieces of shit i can tell you. It should have been the death of everyone's career that got involved in this film, and their undying shame.
David Lynch should have been treated in a way which his name suggests.
The money put into the film (which by the look of the sets and effects could have only been about £30 and a sponsorship of sand from a DIY store) should have been put into more productive endeavours which more greatly enriched and benefitted human kind, such as fuelling a car whose sole purpose was to burn fuel, standing still and empty, polluting the atmosphere LESS than dune has polluted the earth with it's bad film making sneaking under the guise of cult success.
What an absolute embarassment of the highest order this film was. When we meet aliens, i want the whole history and any proof of the existence of this film to be obliterated lest we be laughed out of the universal council and sent home riding a giant fake looking worm, being forced to shout rediculous sounds pretending that we're duelling each other. Each of us trying to pull a more dramatic face than the last. And they'll give us all surgery to make us have kyle machlachlachlachlachlan's annoying facial features.
Meeting a person who enjoys that film is like stumbling into the inner order of the Nerd World Order. The people that get together to discuss the ethical implications of the latest doctor who episode. It's like meeting someone who enjoys "The Happening" and takes it for a modern great. You can't quite believe the words they're speaking, and you're almost certain they're playing a joke on you. A lot of them quote each other word for word "If you'd read the book before you saw the film..." - And i can only assume that the book was hypnotherapy which conditioned me to enjoy abominable films.
Alright, i feel better now.


You got me pegged.

Dune is the most godawful, low quality, banal storied, craptastic piece of pseudo-epic shite that i have ever had the misfortune to sit through 1/4 of. That's all i could stomach, and i watch some real pieces of shit i can tell you. It should have been the death of everyone's career that got involved in this film, and their undying shame.

David Lynch should have been treated in a way which his name suggests.

The money put into the film (which by the look of the sets and effects could have only been about £30 and a sponsorship of sand from a DIY store) should have been put into more productive endeavours which more greatly enriched and benefitted human kind, such as fuelling a car whose sole purpose was to burn fuel, standing still and empty, polluting the atmosphere LESS than dune has polluted the earth with it's bad film making sneaking under the guise of cult success.

What an absolute embarassment of the highest order this film was. When we meet aliens, i want the whole history and any proof of the existence of this film to be obliterated lest we be laughed out of the universal council and sent home riding a giant fake looking worm, being forced to shout rediculous sounds pretending that we're duelling each other. Each of us trying to pull a more dramatic face than the last. And they'll give us all surgery to make us have kyle machlachlachlachlachlan's annoying facial features.

Meeting a person who enjoys that film is like stumbling into the inner order of the Nerd World Order. The people that get together to discuss the ethical implications of the latest doctor who episode. It's like meeting someone who enjoys "The Happening" and takes it for a modern great. You can't quite believe the words they're speaking, and you're almost certain they're playing a joke on you. A lot of them quote each other word for word "If you'd read the book before you saw the film..." - And i can only assume that the book was hypnotherapy which conditioned me to enjoy abominable films.

Alright, i feel better now.

Excellent jab at the Morning Joe show's Starbucks sponsorship.

I think it's great that Kellogs didn't care that he was driving while intoxicated but smoking little weed with his friends is suddenly the most terrible thing in the world.

"Now operating a vehicle under the influence with the risk of seriously injuring others or yourself? That's okay.
But what's this MARI JUANA?! SITTING AROUND BEING HAPPY AND EATING CHEETOS? NO MORE SPONSORSHIP FOR YOU!"

To me, it's never been about "role models" or losing some sponsorship, it's that he's being punished for an unjust law. Laws and social norms exist for a reason, and they are not there to cater to our backwards beliefs and stigmatize a drug that has been scientifically proven to have no negative effects on the human body. Public opinion and laws need to change. I'd sooner ban alcohol than stop people from smoking pot.

Meh, I don't care about pot smoking, I really don't.

I personally don't do it, but I don't disapprove of it either.

However, people such as Michael Phelps, the "Role Models" are "Role Models" for a reason. People actually look up to them, and it's not so much that he's using a drug that has little to no harmful effects, it's the fact that it's still illegal in most/all of the states.

If you get caught walking down the street with pot, the bare minimum is a fine, and in some states (And i'm most likely WRONG about this, so if you correct me, please try not to be condescending as I'm admitting it) I believe there's jail time involved.

He got a slap on the wrist, and a sponsorship taken away. I would agree that taking away the sponsorship may have been a little harsh, but can you REALLY blame them?

He already was convicted of a D.U.I. in 2004, and gave essentially the same speech then too, "definitely let myself down and my family down...I think I let a lot of people in the country down."

So, I truly don't feel so bad for the guy.

Enh, I think the bunnies have kind of run their course. Now that they have sponsorship, I feel good for the creators that they get something for their work, but ultimately, the joke is kinda flat now.

>> ^MrConrads:
I fail to understand why if it is so imperative to have a free and unbiased press in order to have a healthy democracy why we do not fight, nay, DEMAND such a thing. If nothing else the last 8 years have proven this need. In my opinion it has been clearly shown that a country becomes more divided and obtuse rather than informed when living under a press that operates like it has here in America. We need to trust those who work in the field of journalism to uphold the ideals of the Constitution and do their duty just as much as any president or senator. So why does there seem to be this lack of oversight into one of the most important aspects of a democracy? Lawyers must swear an oath to the Constitution to uphold the law as it is written, and if they violate that oath they are disbarred. Presidents, Senators, Police, Doctors, and many other professions that are given the duty of upholding the common good must all live by similar ethics, so why not journalists and reporters? I believe that any and all who wish to work in such a profession should be sworn in to uphold the constitution, inform the public to the best of their abilities, and remain completely unbiased. If they cannot uphold these ideals they should be replaced by someone who can, that is if we want this grand experiment to work.


I agree with you in theory. However, I think it gets a bit touchy when private corporations are involved. All of these news outlets are privatized, so they all have their own agenda - their own spin on issues to target and reach a specific segment of the population. One of the main problems is that these private institutions see news as just another tv show/article/blog - it's all about ratings and corporate sponsorship (i.e. money). It's no surprise that the most unbiased news media out there is socialized (NPR) - they don't bow down to the mighty dollar coming from the fist of a corporation.

Notice also that your other examples of professions that are given the duty of upholding the common good are either government institutions or socialized (public officials and police officers). The doctor example is a touchy one, and in most industrialized nations, these would be socialized too - the reason they are held to such a high ethical standard in the US as opposed to journalists is that they're job is seen by the public as a more integral part of the human condition (protecting life). It's interesting though that most Americans support nationalizing health care in the US - in effect removing a majority of the greed, corporate motive, and lack of ethics out of the system.

Setting up any kind of ethical institution based on capitalistic principles is counter-intuitive. Ethics are only followed by corporations as long as it improves the bottom line.

If we're going to expect journalists and the private news media to hold themselves to an 'ethical standard', then we're going to have to:

a) reduce the privatization of the news media,
b) remove the rating system / corporate sponsorship from news programs,
c) realize that our society must start taking the news media as a serious ethical issue in the line of doctors/surgeons holding an ethical standard.

However, its a very fine line between preventing unethical behavior in an institution and upholding the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. Lawyers and government officials lie all the time and get away with it. So do journalists, reporters, and news corporations. Unfortunately, it's not illegal to be biased in these professions. That oath of which you speak seems to be less and less followed as privatization increases more and more.

</rant>

you know, recently i've been reading alot of naomi klein and chomsky thinking would obama really make that much of a difference? does it really matter who is in power anymore? and while i think the answer is (unforunately) probably not.. i just really don't want this person to have any sort of say in how i should live my life, or how my government should spend its money. seriously, i hate this stuff. it makes me so angry. i think the republicans are going to win again and martial law will prevail (by the way, did u know that martial law was reintroduced by the founder of Hewlitt Packard as deputy secretary of defense on the nixon administration?). under the guise of 'homeland security' you, as americans, will see further intrusion of your privacy by your government. your children will be fed lies on a daily basis at schools and their school will become mostly funded by corporate sponsorship. drilling for oil will continue and your national parks will get smaller. censorship will be slowly introduced into mainstream media.

"Mike have proven it's possible to power his house from the sun."

Well sure, but this is not a "solution". Note how he doesn't say how much he spent on it. The only numbers he gives is how much cheaper his monthly rate is.

I've looked into alternative energy solutions for my home. Solar components alone run at an amortized cost of about twice your utility rate over 8 years. Thus, with a 50% subsidy in California, a solar system will break even in about 8 years. I can't even begin to guess how much more expensive than a normal solar system all these extra components and specialized units are. Not to mention the "state of the art geothermal" unit. The announcer just said, "Its expensive, but with sponsorship, it all came together." Which is no answer at all.

Unfortunately, this is the energy "solution" a lot of liberals have -- spend $100,000 to $200,000 per house to get a "sustainable" solution. Of course, for $100k, I can invest the money into a CD, and get enough money back on the interest to cover my power bills and then some.

Not a solution at all.