>> ^MilkmanDan:

Not loading for me in Thailand, which is a shame because I get a major kick out of After Hours. I checked YouTube and there is no upload from Cracked to the After Hours show list -- have they moved elsewhere? Anyone have another link besides whatever is the embed here?
edit Solved my own problem by trying the original at http://www.cracked.com/video_18317_why-mario-secretly-douchebag.html -- which usually doesn't work for me (and that is probably the embed here so it makes no sense!). But hey, gift horse, mouth...


They finally uploaded it to YouTube and I changed the embed to that version.

Not loading for me in Thailand, which is a shame because I get a major kick out of After Hours. I checked YouTube and there is no upload from Cracked to the After Hours show list -- have they moved elsewhere? Anyone have another link besides whatever is the embed here?

**edit** Solved my own problem by trying the original at http://www.cracked.com/video_18317_why-mario-secretly-douchebag.html -- which usually doesn't work for me (and that is probably the embed here so it makes no sense!). But hey, gift horse, mouth...

Good, I'm glad I was wrong about this video.


>> ^Lilithia:


It's a new season of 'After Hours', the video was posted on Cracked.com today, and I didn't find it on here through the search. If it's already on Videosift, then its title neither mentions "After Hours" nor "Why Mario is Secretly a Douchebag"...

>> ^mizila:


Cracked just posted this today, I doubt it's a dupe. I just think these same arguments have been made previously in similar videos.

>> ^Boise_Lib:

Funny, but I'm afraid this seems dupey to me.
I think I've seen this here before.


Cracked just posted this today, I doubt it's a dupe. I just think these same arguments have been made previously in similar videos.

>> ^Boise_Lib:

Funny, but I'm afraid this seems dupey to me.
I think I've seen this here before.


It's a new season of 'After Hours', the video was posted on Cracked.com today, and I didn't find it on here through the search. If it's already on Videosift, then its title neither mentions "After Hours" nor "Why Mario is Secretly a Douchebag"...

Strange:

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I love these After Hours bits.

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Dude, is it so hard to believe a public employee makes $12,000 a month? That's only $144,000 a year, not $1.4 million. It's possible. Especially since so many groups are unionized in this state.

Remember this video with Councilman Bernard Parks banning fast food in South LA? Well, according to this article from LA Times (you know how right wing they can be), Parks makes $178,789 a year plus "$22,000 a month in city retirement benefits". Plus a police pension of $265,050 being the highest paid police chief in US history. But that's just one councilman and retired police chief in LA.

The entire Los Angeles general fund budget is $6.7billion, and they're projecting a deficit. The police budget's over 1 billion. And check this article out:

Los Angeles could face nearly a $1-billion shortfall by 2010 because of a mammoth bailout needed for the city's employee pension funds, which have seen investments tank in the spiraling national recession, according to a city budget report released Friday.

Sure, they're cutting some jobs, but look at all the new spending and hiring they're doing. On the news right now they're reporting about LA City Council voting to fund a $1.2 billion-development project to build a luxury hotel. And what about the high speed railsystem from San Diego to San Fran? The point is, LA and California spend a lot of money, so why is the $12,000 monthly salary for a fireman too big for you to swallow? Usually there's nothing too big for you to swallow.

Hell, a quick google search could've easily proven my "apocryphal firefighter" is in fact not so questionable. According to this article, "overtime pay for the Los Angeles Fire Department soared 60 percent over the last decade", and "the department's top earner racked up a total of $570,276 in overtime in the last three years, including $206,685 in 2006." And that's just overtime. How are they able to earn so much? Is it because the number of fires magically leapt to historical highs over the last couple of years? Well, according to the article, that sounds unlikely:

Recruits earn overtime for after-hours remedial training "if they feel the need for more time to grasp the skills," a department spokeswoman said.

So, do you now still call bullshit on me, my CPA, and your mom the two of us were fucking when we told each other that story? Or does it seem possible (nay probable!) that maybe the city workers in unions here in LA (and all over California for that matter) are making a very good (and at times great) salary on our tax dollars?

My CPA also told me a story of an architect who got tired of struggling as a small business and having to pay so much in taxes, so he quit the private sector to make more money working for the city. You wanna call BS on my apocryphal architect?

And I do care about the taxes I have to pay. I envy you that you don't. You must've had a great life as a lawyer's son. Always having more than you owe. I wish we all could come from there so we could also take the same sanctimonious positions you do. Only people of privilege seem to say things like, "money isn't everything." As if they scowl at the rest of us for wanting better for ourselves. Now excuse me while I go back to that mom of yours I was fucking when I told you this story.

In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
I'm not accusing you of lying, I'm just expressing skepticism since it doesn't line up with either my personal experience, nor with objective analyses of the changes in tax law from 2009 to 2010. Since you don't seem to have any firsthand knowledge about why your taxes might be higher, there's not really any way for us to get to the bottom of the discrepancy in our viewpoints.

I can't say the same about your secondhand hearsay about a supposed fireman who's making six figures. I call bullshit on you, your CPA, and the pig the two of you were fucking when you told each other that story. It's either a total fabrication, or the guy's primary source of income has nothing to do with firefighting.

As for Ireland, Greece, Spain and the UK, they're not in the same boat as the US. They're all engaged in much sterner deficit-reduction policy than the US has adopted or is likely to adopt in the near future. And to answer the question I posed to you, the net result is that they're just making things worse. What on paper should have reduced the budget didn't since it depressed the economy so much, and as a result they're no better off in terms of government debt, and much worse off when it comes to their general economies. Countries who took the liberal path like Canada and Sweeden are in pretty good shape. The US is pretty much splitting the difference, and while we're not getting worse anymore, we're not really recovering either.

I kinda feel sorry for you if you really think taxes are the only thing standing between you and a happy, satisfying life. A 35% raise wouldn't give that to me, nor would even a 350% raise. It'd be nice to have to be sure, but I feel like I've passed the point where even large increases in my income would have a qualitative impact on my overall quality of life. I don't really make all that much in the grand scheme of things either -- far less than your apocryphal firefighter.

I appreciate your candor in admitting that you don't care about wars, or humanitarian crises that happen to other people, just about how much taxes you have to pay and whether people you know make fun of you or not. Most people who feel that way don't have the guts to come right out and say so.

Just a word of advice, but money isn't everything. It can feel like it if you're not able to put food on the table, a roof over your head, or pay your medical bills, but beyond that happiness and satisfaction has a lot more to do with your emotional needs and the relationships you have with the people in your life than much of anything else.

In reply to this comment by blankfist:
Well, I'm certainly not lying. And it was 35% on my adjusted income, or what they call taxable income, I think. And it was in no way over or even in the same ballpark as $373k. Not even close.

I don't own. I rent. It is LA, after all. Buying a home in the city is tough. But I shouldn't be penalized for that, should I? We didn't get married last year, but we're certainly doing it this year. That may help next year, but why punish people who are single? Does that seem fair to you? And why punish those who don't want to work in the public sector or for a corporation? You know, I did employ two freelancers, so I create jobs this year. Shouldn't I be rewarded for that? It just makes zero sense to me.

I don't know why my tax is so high, to be honest. I have a CPA that deals with all of that. I just give him my itemized deductions and the amount I made, and he does the rest.

Yes, Ireland, Greece, Spain and the UK are exactly the same as the US. Bravo. Their EU is part of their problem, but that's an entirely different conversation, isn't it? I like how you bipartisan types take someone's real problems and make a political statement out of them. You know, taxation of this magnitude is not a partisan issue. This affects real people with real lives. Right now in my life, the only thing that stands in the way of me building a better life and the ability for me to pursue my happiness is the government. I owe them every year, and every year it goes up, and every year the Democrats call me a liar. I don't understand that.

Meanwhile, my CPA tells me of some of his clients. The firemen and policemen in LA. One fireman, a captain for a firehouse, makes $12,000 a month, and he'll retire when he's 55, and he'll take home 90% of that for the rest of his life. Good for him. A police captain makes enough to buy a home in Malibu overlooking the water. According to my CPA, he's got one helluva beautiful manicured backyard, too. Good for him. Glad I can pay for it. And you wonder why some of us hate public unions. Because I have to pay for them to retire at the age of 55 and take home a pension for the rest of their lives, yet the small businessmen can't catch a break because we're just middle class. I hear it's a helluva lot easier to just get on welfare and ride that out for a while.

So, you can comeback all you want with "Spain! UK! Greece!" but it means little to people like me, because I don't give a damn about your partisan bullshit, and it's not worth my effort to sit here and point out the many flaws in that argument. I care about how this affects me. The wars, the world affairs, the humanitarian efforts, and whatever else to me is just a distraction. What's important is I shouldn't be raked over the coals, and then have a gaggle of confused statists scratching their heads and point fingers at me as if there was some taxation glitch in the system.

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Oh, I really don't know about turning off tvs for good. I have an issue with any knee-jerk, "get rid of 'X' entirely" responses.

There is a lot of good on TV. There are wonderful documentaries of the wonders of our planet, there are fantastic shows full of imagination and joy.

And, yes, there is an AWFUL LOT of utter, utter, utter dross.

Pick and chose and watch a little TV and you'll be ok. Watch the mainstream brain numbing rubbish hour after hour and you will indeed become part of the problem rather than the solution.

I limit the amount of TV my kids watch and encourage imaginative play, and active play, and my wife and I watch, on average, about 1 hour of tv a night, and that's pre taped or downloaded shows that we have discovered or sourced... and that hour or so is a great escape after the kids have gone to bed and before we get stuff ready for school the following day. Sure, we could play board games, or read, or learn a musical instrument etc. But the energy just isn't there (plus I do read on the way in and out of work on the train).

If we all do our part by making conscientious choices about what we buy and use and do with waste, then we're being part of the solution, not problem. But, as you said, you have to give yourself some slack and know that sometimes the things you use/buy/do will have adverse affects on others, whether you intentionally mean them to or not.
>> ^peggedbea:

i think i mostly agree with the sentiment of this comment. being a former traveling, vegan, animal rights, social justice hippie that i was...i tended to get too wrapped up in caring about shit. i tried hard not to be a zealot, but it's just like... if i cared about the way we treat and exploit livestock, then also have to care about the environmental impacts of livestock production, and also the impacts of globalization on 3rd world countries, and then poverty and hunger and disease, and then how every single product i use daily exploits someone or something somewhere etc etc etc on and on and on. i'd spin myself into a tizzy of caring about everything until my heart was broken and i couldn't go anywhere or do anything.
so, we can't do everything. and no, there's not enough left after taking care of ourselves and our families to care about everything. but i do think we'd all be a hell of a lot better off if we just turned off our televisions. and for good.

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

I heard that interview with Pollack- and was thinking of checking his podcast out too - as the interview was funny. The only thing that put me off is that he literally used "literally" to mean figuratively about 7 times in the interview- I'm not sure I could take that. >> ^lucky760:

I'm right there with you. I enjoy the things they discuss on Nerdist (e.g., the conversation with Drew Carey), but it feels sort of impotent because it's delivered like you're just eavesdropping on a conversation rather than being presented a production. I'm really surprised it's #6 among all podcasts and #1 in the comedy category above Ricky Gervais and Adam Carolla, but he does have a bit of a built-in podcast-centric geek audience.
ACP is always my first podcast of the day. The Bob Zmuda interview was great, but was cut too short due to the double booking.
Have you listened to Kevin Pollak's Chat Show? I discovered it thanks to his interview on Carolla. He has some really quality stuff. I also listen to the Parent Experiment, Frosty Heidi and Frank, After Hours with Heidi and Frank, the Pretty Good Podcast, and Loveline.
I haven't heard of the Marketplace of Ideas, but I'll give them a go.

I'm right there with you. I enjoy the things they discuss on Nerdist (e.g., the conversation with Drew Carey), but it feels sort of impotent because it's delivered like you're just eavesdropping on a conversation rather than being presented a production. I'm really surprised it's #6 among all podcasts and #1 in the comedy category above Ricky Gervais and Adam Carolla, but he does have a bit of a built-in podcast-centric geek audience.

ACP is always my first podcast of the day. The Bob Zmuda interview was great, but was cut too short due to the double booking.

Have you listened to Kevin Pollak's Chat Show? I discovered it thanks to his interview on Carolla. He has some really quality stuff. I also listen to the Parent Experiment, Frosty Heidi and Frank, After Hours with Heidi and Frank, the Pretty Good Podcast, and Loveline.

I haven't heard of the Marketplace of Ideas, but I'll give them a go.