These guys are always fun, it just feels more like entertainment than news...
Why do they need to make the news feel fun and trendy?

I'll not mention the Scamulus and our new communist PresiTeleprompter's endless Unconstitutional power grabs in unrelated threads if select left-wringers here will stop desperately referencing Black people and slavery to somehow make a point about gay marriage. Remember, it was Blacks as a voting bloc who helped vote down legalized gay marriage in Commiefornia, resulting in many, many uses of the N-word over at Daily Komatose and other liberal web meccas.

A property arrangement in which a father sells his daughter to an unrelated man in exchange for the social gain associated with the familial connection, and dependent on the culture and status of those involved, sometimes including other property such as a dowry or a bride price.

As archaic (or not, since there are still child brides in some Muslim countries) as arranged marriages were/are for power , they were still between a man and a woman (or women). Even societies that either were indifferent to homosexuality or--in the weakest form of approval--looked the other way, never condoned gay marriage.

Men and women are not interchangeable, there are real differences between the sexes.

And for the trendy religion-bashers, Christianity has given more good to the world than it has taken, and done far less evil than communism, socialism and fascism.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I agree with Warren Buffet that in investing you should stick to what you know - the same goes for a side job. I have notions of starting a trendy cafe or something similar but have abstained because I know very little about the business - and I know it always looks more romantic/easy from the outside.

Beyond sticking to what you know, it's good if it's something you're really passionate about.

>> ^dag:
What's the deal with all the fedoras? It's like a MadMen street scene out there.


Today's political crowds are trendy.

We do have a major problem with radio here in Southern California. All the good stuff isn't trendy enough to stick around. Only the corporate giants have enough presence to be able to shove what's "good" down your throat. On top of that, they have to sneak dance music in at the wee hours. I've given up all hope for some entertainment over the radio. I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Whenever you start getting homesick for Chicago, remember it's like fucking -30 degrees there right now.

This entire conversation thread is horrid. When did nationalist sensationalism become so trendy?

wow I gotta get me one of those cameras too. That vancouver sift-up link seems dead. nerdy is the new trendy!

Lulz at the cheating pull-up marketed to marketing victims as a "more effective pull-up." More effective at straining your writs elbows and shoulders perhaps.

"transferring horizontal momentum into vertical momentum" IS CHEATING WHEN YOU'RE DOING PULL-UPS.

What a load of trendy bullshit. "The kipping pullup is BRAND X's official pull-up." OH SIGN ME UP THEN PLEASE LET ME HAVE TWO MEMBERSHIPS I'LL BE TWICE AS FIT!!!!111! I bet "lady push-ups" are their official push-up.

If you want core and hip strength from pull-ups, incorporate L-sits and torso rotations into your pull-ups.

but it's trendy and cool so it must be good.

pffffff foreclosing on your home is so yesterday. I was foreclosing on my home WAY before it became trendy.

Here's the deal - and before I tell you, let it be known that I think you are a super cool dude, one of my favorite people on the sift and well intentioned with your libertarian philosophy - but the push for 'school choice' and vouchers is uninformed hysteria.

-There isn't any meaningful research or evidence to suggest that vouchers are even a vaguely good idea.
-There are no countries of note that use vouchers.
-There are practical suggestions for how this could or would be done.
-There is no need for deregulated schools in the first place.
(let the frantic googling commence)

Support for vouchers comes from the unlikely triumvirate of creationists, libertarians - who will sign on to anything that's vaguely anti-government - and opportunist businessmen (God, Fear and Money with all due respect to MeShell Ndegeocello). Do you believe in this? Well, then justify it. Slogans and Orwell quotes don't aren't enough. Just like proponents of 'intelligent design', the voucher folks have no science to support their hypothesis. Just empty sanctimonious slogans.

It's trendy to bash public schools, but think of the shear volume of students that are educated every year. (over 76 million) A large majority do well, pass their classes and go on to live decent lives. Unlike private schools, public schools accept everyone, including poor students, handicapped students, non-english speaking students,mentally challenged students, emotionally disturbed students, etc.

Libertarians look at private schools and wonder why public schools can't be the same. Here's why:
1) Private schools generally limit their attendance to smarter, well behaved students.
2) Private schools can flush students they don't like out of the system.
3) Pay to play (parents who spend money on private school are going to be damned sure their money isn't wasted).
4) Wealth. Wealthy kids get private tutoring sessions while poor kids flip burgers.

Expert in business that you are, have you begun to think of the implications of subjecting education to the dark side of business? What do students do when their school goes out of business mid year, or declares bankruptcy, or has to fire the custodial staff in order to stay afloat. School systems need to be stable and reliable. To think that some rag tag band of plucky entrepreneurs could even begin to tackle this system better than people who have been doing it for decades is beyond naive.

Here is how we fix education:

-Cancel all the expensive gimmicky shit and let the teachers teach.
-Teacher assessment, not school assessment. Weed out the bad ones, but don't punish the ENTIRE SCHOOL.
-Free up teachers to teach how they like. Allow them to pick their own texts and change up their approach according to student needs.
-Disband the textbook commission. (read Lies My Teacher Taught Me for more on this one)
-Competitive pay for teachers, you get what you pay for.
-Build enough schools. Have enough materials, don't skimp on students.
-The Option of skill/trade programs for any student who desires it.
-Limit the higher grades to students who meet a certain grade/dedication threshold (controversial, yes, but it is done in many parts of Europe).
-Less testing, more learning.
-Reading, reading, reading. Along with the classics, include fun books like Harry Potter, Goosebumps, etc. Developing a love for reading is IMPORTANT.


There is no need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to build on what we already have. We need more ideas and more than just lip service from our politicians about education.

Why the fuck did I spend all this time arguing against a fringe concept that will never even come close to getting off the ground you ask?

Well, I've never argued this position in any depth before and had to finally let it all out. Arguing with you, blankfist, is fun. You are a smart, funny, passionate guy and no one in town gives a better rim job.

Considering how long this is, I know that blankfist, Netrunner and kronos are the only people still reading. Thanks guys.

"I'll fix it, because revisionist history is sooooooo neocon marxist."

Newsspeak, labels, and trendy buzzwords is simply another head of the same hydra-solutions are not arrived at by discussions ad-infinitum, but by actions. Civil Disobedience is the power that all the ranting people are dickless to initiate.

You want change? Stop playing a broken game. Stop paying your taxes.Stop buying fuel to play with. Stop shopping. Stop going to WalMart. Stop watching Hollowwood, or any news media, or radio. Knock the corporate dick out from under itself, and watch the true roaches who run the State hotels for political implants, scatter. Then kill them, and their families.

Then, make yer own paradigm.

Oh, I have not said fuck Obama yet today, what better place than on his greatest fan's post.
Fuck Obama.

>> ^iloseatlife:
It's trendy right now to "dislike" America and Religion. At one time maybe it was independent thought,

Oh, really, we're just doing it to be trendy?

Ok, here are some reasons:

USA: I think what most of us can agree on is that we don't dislike the USA as such, just what the current government is doing, and the voting majority who brought the same moron back into power a second time. With some of the populous actually getting behind bullcrap like 'Freedom Fries' when the French refused to join in on the lie of a war that was/is Iraq. With the ridiculous 'you're either with us or you're against us' attitude towards your own populous by many... Your insane love of humoungous gas guzzling SUVs that has leached over to other countries (sadly Austrlaia is afflicted with this too), the general impression that you lot seem to think that the USA is the be all and end all of what a country should be. That is spends such an ungodly amount of money on war when just a fraction of that being spent on your failing education system would create a new generation of elightened kids who could help steer the US of A back on course.

These things and more are what annoys a lot of us about the US, and the fact that it is the largest, and the strongest country in the world and does these things affects ALL of us.

Religion: Oh this so isn't badnwagon jumping on the anti religion crowd, this is those of us who don't believe in religion getting to a point of deciding enough is enough and having to speak up. When religion starts forcing its way into politics, when schools start having their SCIENCE classes changed to teach 'INTELLIGENT DESIGN'... COME ON, how can we not get angry, you are creating children who think it's ok to believe in something jut because a book colaboratively written by a bunch of guys a long time ago and then altered inumerable times thereafter says so.

We have more than enough reason to be really shitty at religion and the US at present.

BUT.

I know a number of people in the states personally, and they're great people who also hate the direction the country is headed, I know there are millions more of the same mindset. If you can just get the country to start going in the right direction there is still hope and the US can become a beacon once again, rather than a demonstration of how NOT to do things.

And religion... in the right context can be great, when you don't try and force said beliefs on others, don't try to teach 'gospel' in our classrooms as scientific fact, don't persecute people because they don't believe in what you do... then it's fine. Live by those 10 commandments (actually live by them, especially 'do unto others') and we'd all be happier I think.

Don't try and belittle people who have valid concerns by trying to suggest we're just 'bandwagon' jumpers, that's just small minded and cheap.

Of course, we know this video is all about the cheap shots... doesn't mean we don't find it funny... Find me a similar one on Australia, and I'll upvote that too... we have a sense of humour about our country, we don't get all antsy at the smallest whiff on 'non patriotic' behavior.

edit: Actually, The Simpsons take on Australia I remember I got a bit shitty about this way back when, took it to heart a bit. But these days I find it piss funny. You have to know with these things that people don't think they're REAL, they know it's all a JOKE... Lighten up.

It's trendy right now to "dislike" America and Religion. At one time maybe it was independent thought, but now it's just trendy. Most people can't even come up with good reasons "I just have problems with religion. I just have problems with the way the US handles things."
QM why do you even feel the need to defend anything? The only time that people need to defend the US is when the people who complain actually do something. But right now, it's like someone who refuses to get a new job because they are having too much fun bitching and moaning about their current one.
And find me someone who's never accidentally tried a door that didn't work or was locked because that man is a god.
Oh, and OJ Simpson is black, no one would ever consider him a novelist... duh.
He's our athlete, cause americans have the most unreasonably violent athletes and sports fans in the world, oh wait... damn I can't even type it with a straight face.

You can follow the probes progress on twitter here http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix, trendy. I love the first person posts - i cant believe they get cell coverage on mars when i cant get it in the elevator at work