Scientific consensus is not a coalescing of mere opinions, but of careful analysis and experimentation by peer review. It is not the same thing as a bunch of people getting together in a room and saying "yeah I guess that's how it is".

You think scientists feel good about coming to the conclusion that the world is warming? Of course they don't, but it's the conclusion they have drawn. And we should listen to them, because they know much more about it than you or I ever will.

Ok, well I don't think I would be able to convince you otherwise. He's quite the love him or hate him type and he certainly seems to revel in playing this arsehole, up himself character, almost begging for people to take him that way. I think beneath that there is a lot more going on. I could be wrong, but who cares anyway

You know, if this data was just being used to hunt terrorists (or 'enemies of the state') that would be one thing, a horrendous thing, but still in some realms defensible.

But they're not even trying to use the data exclusively to hunt bad guys. Brazilian ministers had their e-mail hacked and leaked to companies competing in a bidding process to give those companies an inside track. The NSA and other first world surveillance agencies are giving away corporate espionage to friends of their respective governments.

The concern used to be whether the system could be abused. Then it was whether it would be abused. Now we know it's being abused, but nobody cares because it's Black Friday.

Buy Buy Buy!

@bareboards2

"The talk" that White, Latino, and Asian parents have with their children goes like this:

1. 90% of violent interracial crime involves a Black perpetrator and a White victim... but nobody cares.

2. Black teenagers die 1000% more from fellow Blacks than from Whites... but nobody cares.

Let's see...

Everything Disney (obviously)(and that's quite a lot, I must say)
Lucasfilm
The Muppets Studio
Marvel
Nightmare Before Christmas
Pixar
Touchstone Pictures
ESPN
A+E Networks
ABC Entertainment
Silver Creek Pictures, Inc.
Hollywood Records
Hulu
Club Penguin
Pirates of the Caribbean
Hyperion Books
Baby Einstein
And they sold off Power Rangers (but who cares anymore)

A more complete list is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Disney

I definitely would not call this emo. It seems to be more influenced by minimalism and seventies german space rock. It may not require amazing talent, but who cares about talent when they have a vision and a desire and passion to make it come alive? This is the sound of universal life.

>> ^chingalera:

promote
...because I would enjoy an enlightening discussion on the subject of anyone's innate ability to produce soothing or otherwise beneficial tones on objects at hand, be they electronic, percussive, etc.
This video is like watching a camera on at some folks place that have a variety of musical apparatus around. They probably have distilled spirits or were at the very least, inspired by the same.
It's probably cold outside.
Not much to do but shiver.
Suns gone for weeks at a time.
This dirge transmits and set the mood. I'm cold. Time to make popcorn and ribs.

@rbar np, take your time, I'm quite busy as well.

Did East Germany have a great economy? Like you said, it faired well in some sectors, highly subsidized sectors I might add, at the huge expense of the rest of its economy which was miserable compared to West Germany (or to what it could be if it were capitalistic). Think of all the "luxuries" enjoyed right outside the Berlin Wall that were denied to east germans. Can you see purchasing or providing those products and services as economic activity being denied, and, therefore, less cooperation?

You have to question your assumption that capitalism universally strives for competition, or that it always should, or that it's the philosophy of free markets to make everyone compete. There are forces *for* and *against* competition everywhere in capitalism, from those who benefit and lose from it, respectively. I think that's what you mean by "near perfect competition", the perfection being the balance between competing and not competing as required.

Why are labor unions formed? So workers can compete less with each other and cooperate for better employment terms. Does that favor companies? No, but who cares, it's meant to favor the workers. Why are cartels formed? So companies can compete less with each other and cooperate for better profits. Is that good for the consumers? Usually not, but it's good for the companies in the cartel. Why are consumer groups formed... you get the point. These institutions operate against competition, but that doesn't make them any less capitalistic or contrary to the incentives of free markets, assuming they're formed without the use of force, criminal or lawful. A lawful association between individuals or companies to cooperate instead of compete with each other is capitalism at work too.

When you talk about situations where there is less or no competition, you're not considering the competition that arises on the other side of the demand-supply relation!

If there is large demand and little supply, you correctly point out that there is little competition *among suppliers*, right? However, aren't you overlooking the increased competition among the *demanders*? Like I said, competition is increasing as supply and demand differ. Who is competing with whom is beside the point.

You might argue, "well, how is competition among the demand going to help??", because it sucks to be in the demand for something in low supply, that unmet demand represents an incentive for more supply. Supplying something in high demand is a coveted position. Resources from elsewhere will tend to be allocated towards that coveted position, supplying that demand, and increasing competition in what started out as a less or non-competitive environment.

So, I don't follow your "markets universally tend towards monopolies" argument. As much as companies like monopolies, they like it because it profits from the clients/consumers' desperate demand for it, but these people are not ok with fighting each other for something in low supply. THAT is the incentive towards competition, towards destabilizing any monopoly that abuses its position.

The derivatives market is a complex example, but you're blaming the "free market", when the banking system is far from a free market if there's a central bank. Banks should be allowed to make risky investments and, if these investments don't pan out, they should pay the price with loss and bankruptcy, like it happens with any business that makes bad decisions. That is one of the best incentives to make good decisions! If the whole banking system is to blame for that, then it would collapse, which would be disastrous, but it would expose the disaster that is central banking.

Would the government want society to realize that central banking is terrible? Of course not, they're the ones who profit from it the most, which is why it stepped in with a massive taxpayer-funded bailout. None of what I just described is allowed in a free market.

Just like people realized the Church and State should be separate centuries ago, it will take a while for people to realize the State and Banks should be separate as well. The evidence is unravelling right before us.

*quality music and message.



_{And thanks to @UsesProzac whose queendom of loungelizardland brought me to her profile to congratulate her thus exposing me to @berticus' comment to this video which was a response to @toferyu calling a soldier a kid but who cares Kate Bush okayneedtocatchmybreathnow}

>> ^Jolth:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=21204011&nid=148&title=flds-faithful-blamed-for-concrete-cat-torture-caught-on-camera&s_cid=featured
-3
It actually was a break off sect of the Mormon faith run by Warren Jeffs. Who was the polygamist leader that was over that small city that was raided in Texas a few years ago. So this wasn't from the LDS faith, it was from the FLDS sect that believes rather strange and disgusting things that have no affiliation with the Mormon faith other than that they think that polygamy should still be practiced and in very nasty gross ways. I have many friends that are mormon and they are very torn apart by the news of this story, that is not a way to treat any of God's creatures.
So I'd say we all shouldn't be just throwing accusations out at any religion until you know all of the facts. It's something I need to work on myself actually, but yeah, this is terrible that something like this has happened. I do not want to see something like this happen again!


Totally not religious, or arguing for or against anything here but being careful and certain, but that headline reads:
FLDS faithful blamed for concrete cat torture caught on camera
However the article has NO mention of anyone associated with any group being caught on camera. It says what we already know: they assume it was this group, and someone video taped the cat, no perpetrators or evidence.

This seems entirely misleading. So no, it wasn't "actually a break off sect of the Mormom faith". That is still an assumption by the people who found the cat, who's only other evidence is that they say this group threw dead animals on the guys property over the years.

If the details about the other preceding dead animals turn out to be true, then it definitely lends more weight to the accusation of this being caused by really terrible people from this FLDS group, but it's beyond rational comprehension why people are throwing that around, when it seems to me to be just as likely that a cat fell into an open pit in the middle of the night by circumstance.

C'mon internet, use your collective reasoning!

I say, embrace it. Kids will still snicker the first few times they hear the name, but who cares?

That's right kids -- it is planet YER' ANUS. Enjoy your moments of juvenile mirth every time you hear it. YERANUS YERANUS YERANUS.

Perhaps we can mitigate this problem by dumping the kids into a sort of unfortunate name "sensory overload"?:

We are planning to ERECT a PENAL colony on URANUS. The first prisoners can be birds like blue footed BOOBIES and great TITS. Maybe we'll leave some PUSSY cats there to keep the bird population from exploding.

I propose that every 3rd grade science teacher recite the preceding paragraph (adding any more unfortunate words they deem worthy) to their classes every day until the novelty wears off and the kids stop giggling.

And if he also knew proper bread - coarse, freshly baked norwegian style bread*) made from whole-grain flour. Mmmh.

And no - it is nothing like the pre-sliced "grain" toast you may have tasted.


And - David Mitchell => Instant upvote


*) Actually the recipe originated from Germany, but who cares?

It's not a catch. It's called a mark. A MARK!

And you kick goals and behinds. That's right. You can kick a behind. While that might sound bad, scoring a behind often wins games. Though naturally you'd rather kick a goal than kick a behind but be careful not to handball a goal because it will only count for a behind. Same goes for running in a goal. Running in a goal is only running in a behind. Often the rover will be in the play when this occurs so be careful that the rover doesn't tap your attempt at goal else it will be only be a behind. So, you can kick a goal but it will only count as a behind if the rover has touched the ball on the way through.

Now that I've cleared that up, I can go solve the Israel/Palestine conflict.

In regards to Stephen Freind, xxovercastxx's recent talk post seems apropos - #2 on the list.

Stephen Freind hasn't been a state legislator since 1993. And the district he represented is fairly small (< 100,000 at the time).

But who cares about relevance? Let's find some nutjob from 20 years ago to hold up as the voice of mainstream conservatism.

/smh

naw, this is a fake, but a really good one - there is this dude who is writing an EVE Online blog who sounds oddly familiar... but who cares- writing this stuff takes some serious metal brah :-p

My mum works with the eldery a lot. I get to meet them. The ones who struggle to remember their room numbers or that they're staying in a care home light up and talk at great length when you can hit whatever it was that they focused on in their lives.

I'm not a medical person, i'm not claiming it's true of all, i'm just saying.. sometimes, if someone was really passionate about something, it's amazing to see them get so emotive about it. Sometimes they get stuck in loops but who cares? And if you probe a bit you can stumble into new stuff from time to time.