Your video, The Oregon Standoff, Explained In 3 Minutes, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Your video, Who Owns Oregon? Some Historical Context, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Good video, I would like to offer a correction: Portland - not the capital of Oregon.

You can just sometimes get a lot done.

UK, Caversham Road:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9m00_OBrI

USA, Oregon 38 Elk Creek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dTZIZmLlWs

Canada, Carling Bridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wzTPpSxhNc

I'm starting to think he's creating a monster.

Anyway, Nintendo Headquarters! I got a tour of it in the early 90s. Fun story:

As a kid I used to take motor-home summer trips with my grandparents every year. At the beginning of the summer in 1992 (just prior to the SNES release of Street Fighter 2) my grandfather said that, through some contest via the Nintendo Power subscription they had been getting me for several years, I'd won a tour of the Nintendo Headquarters. So our trip that year became the drive up the coast of California, Oregon and Washington to visit them.
I hardly saw much, it was a pedestrian tour, but for me it was about as amazing as you'd expect for the time. I did however notice something odd about the experience, and through cousins and other family members I learned later that, most likely, my grandfather pulled a fast-one on everyone.
The likely reality that I was able to assemble myself over years later was that we just showed the fuck up! My grandfather went in and said "I just drove my grandson on a 4-day trip just to see you guys. You wouldn't deny us a tour after all that trouble, would you?"

CNNs Reporting Hypocrisy Of The Oregon Mass Shooting has been added as a related post - related requested by ChaosEngine on that post.

As Samuel Clemens said, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

This 3 minute and 47 sec video can't begin to tell the full story.

One reason so many people in the US go to prison is because there are so many recidivists. You don't go to jail in the US unless you have committed a major felony crime or you are a repeat offender.

That's why those in prison for "mere" drug possession actually have a higher arrest rate for violent crimes than those in prison for burglary, robbery or even drug trafficking, according to innumerable studies, including one in the Journal of the American Statistical Association.

We now have more diversionary programs available than ever before. If you commit a theft crime, you get the opportunity to make recompense and/or attend a program. Same with DUI, take a 3 day class or get locked up for 3 days.

Another reason many black men get locked up is because they commit a lot of violent crimes. Violent crimes will almost always get your ass locked up.

I know a fellow in Oregon who used to be the prayer leader for the Seattle Seahaws, a white man, who to my knowledge has never committed a violent crime, yet he is a repeat offender on DUI driving laws. He was recently committed to prison for 3 years.

And as for these 'get tough on crime' laws...the last one passed in Ohio did just the opposite, making repeat felony thefts a misdemeanor. The lawyers in your local legislators know how to title a crime bill...most of which are an effort to save money, not fight crime.

Also, prison guard unions don't send people to prison, judges do.

As for fewer prisoners in China...they just shoot their offenders in the head...saves quite a bit on housing prisoners.

Making crack cocaine a stiffer penalty crime...well, crack is more addictive than cocaine. So why doesn't Al Sharpton get behind the decriminalization of crack cocaine? Probably not enough money in it.

If you want to make a point about people in the US being incarcerated compared to other countries, I'm going to need to see some numbers on the recidivism rates in those countries, not just some surface facts that don't tell the full story.

it's rather like some countries that don't count neonatal deaths unless the child has survived for 30 days...you can't compare that to numbers from countries that count neonatal deaths at 2 hours.

I would share the knee-jerk outrage right on cue if it was the same cop in both situations. How do you know the first cop wouldn't treat the black man the same way, by walking up and talking to him? How do you know the second cop wouldn't pull his gun on the white guy in the first scene? How do you know whether there wasn't a report of a robbery in the vicinity of the 2nd scene? The first video apparently was taken in Oregon, I can’t tell what county is displayed on the police cars in the 2nd video, much less what state they are in. So I must assume there are logistical reasons why the creators of this video would not have been in the position to insert the black man into the original scenario, for it to actually qualify as a “social experiment”. I know these comments wouldn't easily fit on a picket sign, so that must mean I'm for racism (he said sarcastically).

Well THAT was pretty much the response I expected given this was Oregon, which (apart from Portland and Ashland) is pretty much the Texas of the West Coast.

This video was taken near the Central Oregon Cascades. Full story: http://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/3095112-151/lost-lake-shrinking-down-a-hole?referrer=carousel1

While I find it entertaining and hilarious, this is simply horrible strawmanning. The US has one of the simplest systems of inclusion of any major nation. He either is not understanding, or he's simply being a demagogue about it.

It's really, really simple.

Want full rights? Then join permanently. Become a state. It's literally the exact same thing that Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii did.

Guam, the Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands have the EXACT SAME OPTIONS as those states listed above had when those states were territories.

Samoa is different because they don't meet the minimum population requirement (60K) to be bumped up to qualify for statehood.

They're pretty close tho.

But yeah... it has nothing to do with race or bigotry or anything like that. If John Oliver can't understand that simple system, then how does he explain the different rights of citizens in the British Overseas Territories vs the British Crown Dependencies, or how Wales and Scotland are sort of countries and sort of not countries.

I'm assuming he can understand the wonky UK system, and if that's so, he should easily understand the simple US system (want full rights, vote to join permanently).

Just last year, there was a movement in Guam to call for a vote of statehood. Basically a glorified (but meaningful) petition. They didn't get the required % of people wanting to vote, so, in essence, Guam doesn't even care enough to vote for statehood.

They have every right that every other territory has had in terms of what category they fall under.

Basically, just look at states as permanent (and thusly more rights as well as more responsibilities) and territories as temporary until they decide what they want to be. Or territories can stay in limbo forever.

Guam, PR, and the rest can go the route of Hawaii (okay, that was naked imperialism but whatever) or the route of Cuba and the Philippines... or just stay how they are.

Same thing happens in N California because they can't pump their own gas in Oregon.

My thoughts on tipping...
I'll start off by saying that these come from a U.S. person.
It seems like older generations tip less or maybe it's as you get older you realize you need to hang onto your money more.
A piece of advice passed onto me that I believe in is that if you can't afford to tip then you shouldn't be going out.
I tend to tip 10% for fair / poor service, 15% for normal / expected, and 20% or more for good. Tip jar places, I'll give a buck most of the time and not a percentage and this is also true for pick up orders.
I'm not sure why, but even if I get shitty service, I still tip. I don't go back, but the message is that even without giving decent service you still get a tip and I don't agree with that so I need to stop tipping crap service.
The places I go to a lot, I tend to tip more because you get to know the people that work there and they are more apt to know what I want almost without asking.
I believe in tipping as an incentive system and don't think they should get rid of it.
Individual places set up how tips are distributed. I think it's old school places where the waitress (waiter) tips out the busboy and cook and whoever else helps them provide better service. This makes sense to me as incentive. Another method is the pooling of tips and splitting them out evenly. This doesn't make sense since someone may not carry their own weight and be rewarded for that. There are other methods to curb that behavior. Full Metal Jacket comes to mind. I think the business itself can take a cut of the tips which to me seems pretty lame unless the owners are actively providing service.
In Oregon, service people get minimum wage (no waiter wage) so with tips, you can actually make a really solid living.
I always thought the smartest people in this trade are the ones that work at high class joints. 20% of a 10$ tab is 2$, but 20% of a 100$ tab is 20$ and that's some payola for likely a comparable amount of service.
For the math challenged, an easy way to figure out ~20% is to take the first two digit of the tab, multiply by 2, and then move the decimal one to the left. So for a 56.78 bill... 56 * 2 = 112... 11.2 or 11.20 tip.

You talking about Ground Control? Went there recently when I was visiting friends in Oregon.

Stupid ducks.

That includes the Oregon Ducks, too!