This is not going to be an easy post for me to make, because I have never really talked about this stuff with anyone before ever.
Like Thylan, I am a survivor of cancer, although I was much younger (three years old) when I had it. Possibly as a result, it was never conclusive, I also suffered from Kidney failure. As a result I will never be 100% healthy again in my life. Overall this has made me a fairly bitter and unhappy individual, which is when I watched the video KP posted I reacted negatively. I do consider the problems those in the video experienced to be rather insignificant in the scheme of things. It's very easy to say suffering is subjective, but my knee-jerk reaction is not sympathy it's apathy, and it's not a reaction I reject. It's hard for me to feel sympathy for the occasional negative experience in an overall happy life when my life is in such contrast.
However I would never use my life experience to be an arsehole to anyone. If anything it's taught me to be tolerant and understanding of suffering. Empathy is an extremely important quality to me. And I do find the negative experiences of women upsetting. I have two younger sisters, both of whom are gorgeous, and both have experiences negative attention from men. The worst of which was when a man once approached my sister at a bus stop and tried to get her to go home with him, when she was 15. She ran home in tears and stayed home from school. So I have seen first had the affect of negative attention.
Both of them are very academically gifted and are looking forward to University, but I've never heard either describe their good looks as a hindrance to any kind of academic success, in fact thy both have the same self-esteem and body issues ALL teenagers have.
As a older university student I am surrounded by younger better looking individuals, in fact in most of my classes the women outnumber the men now, so it certainly isn't as big a problem as it used to be.

If this has seemed muddled I apologise. This is a difficult issue for me to discuss. But my overall feeling is that everyone has negative experiences to varying degrees and everyone has a right to complain about them. But by the same token I reserve the right to feel those complaints are trivial.
I am definitely not saying that the experiences in this thread are trivial, quite the opposite. But I don't think a persons looks should be held responsible. Standards of beauty change over time and society (in particular the media) puts unrealistic expectations on how we are supposed to react to it. Because of the way women are portrayed many men feel it's ok to act like a total prick and ALL women will get attention from these men at some time or another.
Watching the video again, the people in it don't complain about any problem coming close to what has been described in this topic and by Persephone in her entry. So they're worried that some people may have negative opinions of them based on a first impression of them being attractive? Something makes me think they haven't given a lot of thought to the alternative. Empathy again being the key issue. The Buddha taught that life is suffereing, and suffering is caused by desire. What do the people in the video desire? to have people treat them with respect and friendship regardless of their physical appearance?
This is something we all want, I don't see what makes them so special.

I'm not sure about the ZZ Top tag - referencing the first song. My brain is pretty muddled today.

"This doesnt fall under the criteria of "evidence""

says who?

you realise you are using words, not pure expressions of truth?
i don't just BELIEVE god exists, i have felt him. this experiment is totally repeatable, just open your mind and look at the stars, you will think "wow".... and that's it. That's your evidence. Have another go at the definition of evidence, because nobody gave you or anyone else the authority to define it. Just consider other possibilities, that's all.

So go ahead and take down the gods of "muddling in personal revelations" because i agree. I think bible bashers and suicide bombers are tragically delusional. But the god i am talking about exists, we have all felt him/her/it, and you persist in supressing that fact because you support the scientific method which cannot accommodate these "feelings"...

just give in, (submit, islam) and support both, the spiritual and the scientific. Recognise that they are not yet fused, but both are threads of the same discovery. Realise that science can't define love, and acknowledge the possibility that love is beyond definition. That's all you have to do.

But if you believe in a universal supernatural force, sooner or later the science guys will catch up, work out how to measure and define the supernatural, and THEN i want a video of you eating your hat, posted on videosift. (but don't self link).

I'm taking the bet, and will keep the hat ready.

Oh and don't forget, I have evidence, I feel God, i just can't show that evidence to you. So, it's proven to myself, and all I can do is tell you that if you look for him, you'll find him. Sounds a bit Christian? Well they're not far off.

This doesnt fall under the criteria of "evidence", because its not evident to anyone but presumably you. Evidence is universal, demonstrative to everyone, and there is a reason we keep insisting on it, its because personal conviction doesnt hold water. just google "I was abducted by aliens", or visit one of the David Icke sites to hear testimonies from people who have seen our shape-shifting reptile illuminati overlords. Those people will tell you the same things, "look inside" or "look beyond the narrow worldview they pull over your head" and youll see space aliens too.. You might not like the idea of being compared to these loons, but the theistic arguments are all the same, personal revelation, wishful thinking, pick your description.

Observable, common, universal evidence, where I can see and hear the same thing you can, where repeatable experiments can be performed and a consistent explanation can be found, is the only thing that works. its the only reason we are having this discussion on a website instead of clubbing it into eachothers head. Science has helped us cured diseases, explore space and understand our origins. Its the only method that has ever worked. Muddling around in personal revelations gets you as far as Islam when its practised enthusiastically . It degrades and insults the human mind, and drives our species into misery

Combating douchiness with double-douchiness.

This just muddles up the discussion. Why don't we all just stop paying attention and talking about him?

proof of evolution by natural selection? well, if genetics, proteomics, or cell biology are too abstract, fossils are freakin' everywhere!

A cool fossil showed up recently, which awesomely muddles up the simplicity of the dinosaur-to-modern-bird fossil lineage; http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200706/s1951744.htm

Rotty:

I think you might be slightly muddled over which clip I was referring to at any one time and what those clips themselves actually show. Just to clarify, my first paragraph referred to this one, my second to this one and my third to this one (which features a discussion of the "pulling" of World Trade Center 6 and not World Trade Center 7).

Further, if you'll notice, I didn't simply claim that "It's fairly clear that by 'pull it,' Silverstein meant 'pull the team of fire fighters back to a safe distance'" and leave it at that. I gave a number of reasons as to why it's clear that that's what he meant; the belief that he meant "blow it up" results in a number of absurd consequences. The most notable of which is that it implies that the Fire Department are both complicit in and keeping quiet about a conspiracy that claimed the lives of approximately three hundred of their colleagues and a further three thousand innocent American citizens.

"if you don't belive me, here's the code.. SCHHHHWIIIING!". Why can't my code reviews be like that !?

Some of the evolved designs look quite 'tidy' and others look like a complete buggers muddle. I wonder why the results were so polarized. I also wonder which type are we (mammals)?

Writing is a construct, much like all me experience here on Earth.
I do not write for the cheap seats, i.e....I don't do simply diagrams or instructions-I don't use "I" much either, tends to muddle shit-(extravagant jargon...I kinda like that)

"intellectual deficiency of his argument." Thank God. Intelligence is overrated, and abused, like a Thai teen these days, I seriously abhor placing that above all else, as a gauge of credibility-
"the one about the construction of the World Trade Center in which you made a rather cryptic comment".....a reference to a child's rhyme, to commemorate and recall, Guy Fawkes wonderful day, when he tried to diss a King, back in 05'.......1605,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes
how easy to forget history.....which is 2 why the adage of it "Repeating Itself"...is so appropriate here.

Crazy? when you don't understand how? Crazy, when all data is not available, but one comes to a conclusion anyway??

Yes, we live in a world of crazy people....what else is new.
Knowledge is power, not conjecture,and taking someone's world as law....To me, that is the ultimate insanity....

The fact that 5 years after this event, that the monkeys in th U.S. are not demanding answers like I am tells me that we are truly sheep, cattle, whatever you want to cal it....

a par or a spoco2 on in my life raft, would most likely one or the other be used as chum for some dinner, -a fat, juicy, raw tunie or shark.

Does anyone tire of hack celebrities opinions and politics???
Is Jane Fonda a Slut???
Is there any meaning beyond the use of her as an old-school whore for the sake of ratings and inciting feuds between two, equally pathetic sides of the same coin??? Jesus,Mary and fist-fucking apostles, get a grip!!

You are being used, abused, and entertained, the doggy-waggers got ya muddled.....Back off far enough to find the Wizard, behind the curtain....Wanna change the world???? Try everybody going without Mc.Donald's, alcohol, Walmarts and public school for a week, and see how fast your true powers of influence can be exercised....Viva la Rev, time for another......

don't count on the truth being stranger than non-fiction, secretive government?? No shit!..... yer dealing with apes.....The conspiracy community has many levels of member....your own doubts regarding the government, speak to that well, and are healthy....to be despised are folks who go on and on about unsubstantiated blah blah, but gravitate towards the thinking, feeling, robots, who leave room for doubt, without screaming heretic......


The shit happened, under nefarious circumstances and with dip-wicked, sketchy players, you all have heard the evidence and facts.......


The very Idea, that some asshole would want to put an end, "once and for all" to the questioning of the event until resolved , is the very reason choggie will drag this son-of-a-crab-up-yer-ass-bitch up from the depths, as long as there is a "reasonable doubt", to use the abused words of every lawyer, ever born.....


and it really does not matter who did it, the fact that it happened and the truth will be muddled forever, is reason enough to suspect, the absolute worse....and that ain't the Ghihad .....you , brainless, witless, self-satisfied primates....knucle-draggers all!!!!!

(said in mirror, 200 x prior to typing)

The real problem is who is actually muddling the argument on climate change. The line of diction coming from the fringe and the corporate sponsored media has been of the following nature, that global warming is not caused by man, it's natural and doing anything about it will only mean famine and death for the American economy. Suddenly global warming is up to debate, the most recent data figures and scientific consensus become 'debatable'?

Who exactly has to lose from environmental laws? The American corporations that have for years swinged by on deregulation and stringent fights against goverment legislation and control when it comes to the safety of the society. Examples? Oh seat belts until Ralph Nader, cigarettes until the late 90s practically, these companies don't want to suddenly change overnight, they will fight environmental legislation with tooth and nail because it cuts into profitability, because they know it will take them alot of reinvestment to modernize instead of actually giving away large bonuses the size of small goverment budgets to their departing CEOs.

To say that global warming doesn't happen is to have a lack of basic common understanding about the world, that what effects occur in micro scale occur in macro scale as well, ask anyone who has been to L.A. about the smog that covers the city so much so that it's nearly impossible to see the famous Hollywood sign from most locations of the city, California tried to institute stricter emission laws, you can find out for yourself what happened with that. Ask anyone who has seen an oil tanker spill its guts all over a pristine bay and basically poison life there. Visit the cities in America built on expanses of flat concrete that just burn daily because there is nothing to take the heat of the sun away, the concrete just absorbs it and radiates it right back pushing the temperatures higher then they should normally be.

Now ask yourself what will happen in 50 to 100 years time, how will life be when population will be larger, there will be less fuel to power our nice sleek SUVs of today, and more reliance on dirty fuels like coal as seen in China at the moment, no more oil to burn for energy supplies. The blame now is being laid at the 3rd world, the 3rd world has said that time and time again that it is willing to adopt modern technologies. So obviously the solution is just to give up and burn the furnace for a bit longer. The cities will need to expand, suburbia will press further and further out into the lands. Drive around any US state today, almost row after row of nearly identical neighborhoods, with their own complexes of cinemas, fast food and Starbucks. All they need. Civilizations end because the means to sustain them end. We are reaching the end of our oil economy, lots of alternatives are being thrown about but really they don't understand that most alternatives actually really on a oil based economy to sustain them. Such that investment needs to be now, instead of later when resources will be tighter and harder to attain. Most probably by then there will be small scale energy wars over control of oil wells and other sources of energy.

Frankly why do I bother. Nothing will really happen until shit starts really hitting the fan and our complacency in the current comforts will give way to urgent need for assuring survival. The free people sleep.

(Vintage" or “Classic” is cool)

(alla' farhad’s suggestions for icons got the vibe, very stylish, he knows, watch his style)
(joedirts’ got the spin, short and sweet,.................................----
{My final categories
Science & Nature, Viral, Sports & Action, Toons, checkbox on submission page for "Long"})
...The long suggestion is not innocuous to insult, -something else, episodes perhaps-SCHLONGER….
-Sports is yes-this is history., and as for that,
-History
-Spirituality
-Dig plastique, watch for subtleties...look and look again-
-Science is mundane, how-bout, oatmeal….Nah science good, oatmeal bad.
Whittle it down though, it needs to stay compact…..bells and whistles tend to muddle and dilute.
Here it goes, another morph....

D A R W I N- gotta be a must!!?? The universal language of stupid and not long for the world (at least at that particular moment), is a universal language....it'll keep the christians away, too....wait, nevermind.

Wouldn't be pleased to have churchy there in my squad, though, all that prayin' out loud would serve to distract and muddle the situation-

"There must be a ton of stuff that we all wouldn't know about our own countries. It can be embarrassing but unless you're being tested what's the point unless you have an interest? "

and

"this is an outrage. Not a day goes by at my job where I don't have to apply my knowledge of early presidential trivia. How do these people get by?"

are perhaps the two scariest comments I have seen in quite a while. I can only hope the first comment is a joke, and the second is somehow not being sarcastic.

What is the purpose of American children knowing some American history? Many reasons.

Let us begin with the purely utilitarian, for most Americans (and Westerners for that matter) are no longer able to conceive of education having any value beyond the economic, i.e go to college so you can get a good job. Any serious study of history and the humanities necessitates reading great, challenging books. Reading challenging texts hones the mind in a way most people do not contemplate. Most individuals assume we are naturally able to think and speak clearly, but then those same individuals try to give an argument for why they think that and reveal how muddled and unintelligible their thinking really is. Language is the medium through which we communicate our thoughts, and it is only through repeated exposure to the rigourously precise language that is in good writing that we are able to improve our faculty with language. As one's ability to read and think improve, so does one's ability to write and speak intelligently. A person who sounds intelligent when they speak is far more likely to be hired and promoted than someone who sounds stupid and confused.

We live, for a better or worse, in a democracy where the only requirement for the franchise is 18 years of age and a pulse. An individual who's mind has been honed through a liberal education, as described in the previous paragraph, is able to actually think about politics (rather than parrot back the talking head who said something they subjectively agree with) and act accordingly; such an individual is also much less vulnerable to propaganda. More than that however, the educated person will understand the culture, values and character of the society he lives in. Such a person will scoff at the fundamentalists who try to argue that "this country was founded on God" because she will know that the Constitution is an entirely secular document, the ideals of the Declaration of Independence are based on enlightenment and classical liberal philosophy (not Biblical ideals), and that many of the more prominent Founding Fathers were Deists. By having such a firm understanding of the political character of the US, this person will be far more likely to take their civic responsibilities seriously; in short she will be a better citizen. This is critical, because in a democracy the only bulwark against a demagogue is good citizenry.

Finally, a liberal education improves peoples lives in ways that cannot be measured purely in utilitarian terms: a liberally educated people have a strong sense of community and have a yearning to be the best, and most noble people. What links modern Americans together is no longer something high or lofty, rather it is cesspool of human expression known as popular culture. We are no longer linked by national values (most Americans would be hard pressed to articulate them) or a common Western intellectual heritage (how many Americans could ever be bothered to read some Homer, Virgil, Augustine, Dante, Shakespeare or Kant?) but instead by the TV shows we watch, the (crappy) music we listen to, and the (pathetic) lives of the celebrities we follow with religious devotion. Our national community is, unfortunately, intellectually bankrupt. A well educated people will have a national community and character that is composed of not the least common denominator but the very best mankind has to offer.

The American public seems to want education to be merely about practical skills that can get one a good job. Money is certainly important but it is only a means to an end, wealth is not in and of itself an indicator of a nations greatness. A rich society therefore is a society that only has the potential to do great thing. Unfortunately, American minds are being closed off to any and all examples of greatness. I suspect in another millenia, historians will look back at the US and say "Americans, they knew how to make a buck but not much else". Greece has never been a rich nation, but it's intellectual life during the classical age has left an immortal legacy. I don't believe America will ever have such a legacy.

Wow, this turned out to be a lot longer than I expected.