I completely agree. Islam sets pits various liberal principals against one another - respect and tolerance for other cultures, and sympathy for the massive loss of life Muslims have suffered at the hands of the west on the one hand - disgust at the brutality and misogyny of segments of Islam on the other.

Complicating matters is that most westerners are fairly ignorant of Islam, and most representations of Muslims in the media (both news and entertainment) are usually fairly racist.

I think the double standard between criticizing Christianity and Islam is because we feel more comfortable criticizing the well known religion of our own culture than we do a foreign and exotic religion of another culture.

I also think there is some subtle liberal racism mixed in as well, seeing Muslims as primatives not subject to the same moral and ethical codes that we sophisticated westerners are.

There is an interesting debate that touches on some of these issues here: http://videosift.com/video/Religion-Politics-and-the-End-of-the-World

*quality writing.

>> ^Ornthoron:

I felt a lot of the same as @<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/Morganth" title="member since March 25th, 2008" class="profilelink">Morganth watching this video. The story is supposedly set 3500 years before the events of the original movies, yet everything looks almost exactly the same. I will admit that I know very little Star Wars lore, but were the culture of the Old Republic really that similar? Among the things that looked almost exactly alike in this video were
-Stormtroopers
-Star Destroyers
-Tie Fighters
-smuggler ships
-door control panels
When I think of the Old Republic I want something old-fashioned and exotic, not the same stuff that I've seen hundreds of times before.


Yep, basically all content is ancesteral to Ep 4/5/6. Same schtick Lucas did with Ep 1, 2 and 3.

The thing that bothers me is that they keep trotting the exact same scenarios out.

-cocky smuggler a carbon copy of Han, check
-standard "enemy can't hit for shit" when a main character is striding in to combat with them
-freighter is 'fastest in sector' and 'looks like junk'
-ppl in the gun turrets ala New Hope
-Asteroid chase ala Empire
-Flying up the belly of a SD ala Jedi
-Flying through superstructure ala New Hope/Jedi

as if it's something new and fresh... The characters in this are infinitely more likeable than Ep 1/2/3 (although the smuggler character just annoys me) but the whole thing is so damn derivative it's like they're going down a checklist of homages they have to hit... I didn't hear a Wilhelm but I'm guesssing there's probably one of those in there somewhere as well.

I'm honestly surprised the hyperdrive didn't conk out and the smuggler started up "It's not my fault!"

I felt a lot of the same as @Morganth watching this video. The story is supposedly set 3500 years before the events of the original movies, yet everything looks almost exactly the same. I will admit that I know very little Star Wars lore, but were the culture of the Old Republic really that similar? Among the things that looked almost exactly alike in this video were

-Stormtroopers
-Star Destroyers
-Tie Fighters
-smuggler ships
-door control panels

When I think of the Old Republic I want something old-fashioned and exotic, not the same stuff that I've seen hundreds of times before.

Netrunner don't know if you read sci-fi but there is a great book co-authored by Arthur C Clarke about this concept. It's called The Light of Other Days and is all about wormholes. Highly recommend if you've any interest.

>> ^NetRunner:

>> ^rottenseed:
Well we're playing with radio waves which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Now, I don't know what makes radio waves so special when it comes to transferring data. I mean aside from the fact that they're harmless to us (large wavelength, low frequency, low energy) there's nothing inherent about tuning into those frequencies. Imagine too, that radio waves travel at light speed. That's the fastest we know ANYTHING to travel. If were to pick up a transmission that was sent a thousand years ago, that solar system could be as good as gone by now.
well maybe not a 1000 years...unless it was their last cry for help.

Right, that's why I'm thinking radio isn't the ultimate communication medium. Maybe there's something else more exotic that doesn't get weaker at a geometric rate, and is less susceptible to noise, and who knows, maybe even breaks the speed of light.
Drake's equation sorta assumes that there's some basic level of communications technology that civilizations develop relatively early in their lifespan, and then use continuously for the remaining duration of their existence.
I think that's a bad assumption. I doubt we'll still be broadcasting radio waves in a thousand years, let alone a million.

>> ^rottenseed:

Well we're playing with radio waves which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Now, I don't know what makes radio waves so special when it comes to transferring data. I mean aside from the fact that they're harmless to us (large wavelength, low frequency, low energy) there's nothing inherent about tuning into those frequencies. Imagine too, that radio waves travel at light speed. That's the fastest we know ANYTHING to travel. If were to pick up a transmission that was sent a thousand years ago, that solar system could be as good as gone by now.
well maybe not a 1000 years...unless it was their last cry for help.


Right, that's why I'm thinking radio isn't the ultimate communication medium. Maybe there's something else more exotic that doesn't get weaker at a geometric rate, and is less susceptible to noise, and who knows, maybe even breaks the speed of light.

Drake's equation sorta assumes that there's some basic level of communications technology that civilizations develop relatively early in their lifespan, and then use continuously for the remaining duration of their existence.

I think that's a bad assumption. I doubt we'll still be broadcasting radio waves in a thousand years, let alone a million.

If I am not mistaken, these are effects shots from the original series.

That looked like it could have been easily fatal for a bystander (or one of the masked heroes) with just about any variation in the situation. A miniature Batmobile is certainly one of the more exotic items to be killed with. It is rich material for the one tasked with eulogizing.

"Responsible Exotic Pet Ownership" Ha! I love the irony presented here.

>> ^Crosswords:

...Or that a bunch of butthurt culturally isolated ignorami, that think parsley flecks in mashed potatoes is an exotic abomination that will surely lead to the steps of damnation, have latched onto a red herring that's being trolled behind the USS GOP...


Dear God, I'm stealing the mashed potatoes line. It's frakin epic.

Unfortunately I don't think any amount of truth or logic will ever convince the moron masses otherwise. He's got a Muslim name, he's black and he didn't have an upbringing that was as culturally isolated as 85% of Americans. The portion of the American population that believes this horse crap will continue to believe it because it validates their view that Obama isn't American.

I don't know whether 'The Donald' actually believes it or not. He's trying to pursue an option, true or not, that he thinks will destroy his competitor's image, something trump finds very important as he's built a financial empire out of image.

So when I sit and think what's more believable, that Obama has been involved in a decades long conspiracy that spans across several state and federal agencies for the sole purpose of lying his way into the American presidency. Or that a bunch of butthurt culturally isolated ignorami, that think parsley flecks in mashed potatoes is an exotic abomination that will surely lead to the steps of damnation, have latched onto a red herring that's being trolled behind the USS GOP. I'll go with the latter option.

That dentist seems pretty biased. He was willfully misrepresenting the state of scientific literature on the topic. The scientific consensus is clearly that Fluoride reduces cavities, especially among children and the poor.

He says the CDC has "already" recommended Fluoride be removed from baby water, as if this is the first recommendation in a progression towards banning Fluoride. But the CDC also calls water fluoridation "one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th century".

Also, Fluoride in water is hardly exotic. Most groundwater naturally contains Fluoride, often in the concentrations that are recommended for public consumption.

Here's a more balanced set of information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation

>> ^dannym3141:

>> ^Gallowflak:
Why are they imitating racecars?

They're different to you and make different noises when they're scared for their lives and the lives of all of their loved ones when something unstoppable hangs over their heads.
LOL DAT FUNNY!?!?


Well, when I'm scared for my life I imitate rare, exotic tropical birds. I just figured that was the norm.

siftbot can't do 2 things at once, which is very instructive, having just come off of some exotic vacation in a foreign land, in a foreign tongue, without a box spring or a Brisbane turkeybaster (and that's a lot of turkeybaster).

3 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

*isdupe
>> ^Stingray:

dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Bellydancer-accident-and-a-funny-one-at-that

There's this thing called Rain.. which likes to fill up big empty holes in the earth.

I'll give you a few seconds - well - better make that a few minutes - to wipe the rabid foam from your mouth so you can think again, which you obviously didn't bother doing previously.

Look at the Panama canal. No - really - look at it. Look at the pictures they took while they were building it. There are places they trenched over 20 meters deep and wide in dirt and rock. Dig a huge trench like that, and put a 20ft wall with razor-wire on the other side.

Guardsmen do things called "patrols". I know perhaps you may not have heard of these complex military manuevers - being a neolib and all - but rest assured they happen. They are efficient things, where a single soldier or a small group conducts a "patrol" over a large area and if they find unusual activity they do another brilliant thing called "reporting". At that point the unit can call for an exotic thing called "reinforcements". Again - I know I'm getting really technical, but try to keep up. Oh - and to really blow your mind - there are these other things called "sensors" and "cameras" which make very small numbers of people able to monitor extremely large areas. Really wild stuff.

And there's no need for you to flash your racism against brown skin here. No one was doing that until you started in on it. When will neolibs stop judging people by the color of their skin, and start judging based on the content of character? It's a distant dream - I know - but I still hope for it. Racism is such an ugly thing. It is truly sad to see the neolib left perpetuate it so freely.