I wish this conflict were as simple as the courageous young woman reporter in this video portrays it but it doesn't take much research to discover that the FSA is increasingly being co-opted by anything BUT pro-democracy elements, namely Islamic jihadists allied with al-Qaeda.

For example:

"Hundreds of fighters under the command of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) have reportedly switched allegiance to al-Qaeda-aligned groups, in a move described as a huge blow to moderate rebel forces.

Activists and military sources have told Al Jazeera that the 11th Division - one of the biggest FSA brigades - has switched allegiance to the al-Nusra Front in Raqqah province, a border province with Turkey.

A video was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday purporting to show members of the 11th Division parading through Raqqah with Nusra fighters.

In the video clip, a voice can be heard saying in Arabic, "Raqqah ... September 19, 2013 ... The convoy of Nusra ... God is great ... Nusra in Raqqah province."

The switch, if confirmed, tightens Nusra's control of Raqqah just days after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) attacked members of the Free Syrian Army in Azaz, on the border with Turkey.

The Reuters news agency, citing sources inside Syria, also reported that entire units of the FSA had joined Nusra and the ISIS in recent days.

The Raqqah Revolutionaries - which is part of the 11th Division - has about 750 fighters in total, according to a source close to al-Qaeda linked forces.

Abdulhamid Zakarya, military spokesman of Chiefs of Staff of the FSA, denied that Division 11 had joined Nusra. However, he said it had signed an agreement to collaborate in military operations.

In a separate statement, the FSA also condemned the ISIS for its actions in Azaz, saying it was going against the principles of the Syrian revolution.

“ISIS no longer fights the Assad regime. Rather, it is strengthening its positions in liberated areas at the expense of the safety of civilians. ISIS is inflicting on the people the same suppression of the Baath party and the Assad regime.”

Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Antakya in neighbouring Turkey, said that if proved true, the switches of allegiance would be a serious blow to the FSA's strength, and could have significant implications outside of Syria.

The US State Department designated Al Nusrah Front a terrorist organisation on 11 December 2012. There are financial sanctions in place.

"This means that the FSA has suddenly lost serious amounts of loyal fighters ... it's basically being swallowed up by Nusra," she said, adding that it would be very difficult for the West to support a rebel army dominated and commanded by al-Qaeda linked groups."

This is such bullshit. Guy should have been shouted down from the stage within the first few minutes.
He contradicts himself by saying "We are not collecting the content of your communication", and then goes on to describe how many levels of security someone at the NSA has to go through in order to access the database which.... you guessed it! Contains the content of your communications!
Fucking liars. We're in this situation because people and policies like this created terrorists, and programs like this will just create more.
Imagine if we put this much effort and resources toward distilling hate and collaborating with people the US has pissed off.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'collaboration, entrepreneurship, DIY, community, Michigan, ReMake Detroit' to 'collaboration, entrepreneurship, DIY, community, Michigan, ReMake Detroit, maker space' - edited by brycewi19

While "they hate us for a freedoms" is obviously ludicrous, I think you can't just blankly repeat Al Qaeda's statements without putting them in context.

Yes, US actions whether through military action, sanctions or otherwise have resulted in numerous deaths, however you can't state that without highlighting the overwhelming hypocrisy of Al Qaeda, who's terrorism overwhelmingly murders Muslims over the US or anyone else in the West for purported crimes such as a heresy and collaboration with the West.

Interference in Saudi Arabia, again in the context of Al Qaeda's intent, what they're really opposed to is military might that threatens their own insurgency or better equips the authoritarian government in Saudi Arabia to fight them with modern arms.

The Collaborators - Nile Rodgers

It's curious how opponents of "free market capitalism" lend so much of their imagination conjuring twisted fantasies of its cruelty, yet spare none of it for all the likely productive solutions that would thrive in such an unrestrained collaborative environment.

Freedom is so scary...

tesla was a super introvert, but he also drove himself nuts

but i think the point of this vid speaks to the dominance of the ego in society, while not quite acknowledging that science is an utter collaboration

I agree. Fun video, but maybe it's because that I am fundamentally an introvert no matter how well I try to disguise it, but the whole thing felt like a huge DUH! to me.

So you're telling me that collaboration isn't always good? Sometimes you have to work alone? No shit sherlock! What's that? striking some sort of balance between collaboration and independent work is preferable to mindlessly succumbing to group think? Common sense much?

problem is, certain people will see this and take it too far and use it as a justification for Ayn Rand's philosophies and legitimize selfishness

A balance has to be struck. There is value in individualism and there is value in collaboration. just have to find the right mix and it's not always going to be the same mix.

It's an interesting video, and honestly, I'm not sure whether I agree with it or not.

I suppose I'd segregate it into art and engineering

On the one hand, having a single creative vision can result in some great art.

On the other hand, almost all modern engineering of any kind is a collaborative effort. Systems are simply too big and complex for one person to exercise an auteur-like control over.

The problem to me is not collaboration. The problem is getting the right kind of collaboration. The "design by committee" argument is a result of bike shedding.

Henry Ford famously said “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Pretty good argument for single creative vision, right? Clearly the "people" didn't understand the paradigm shift.

But no great invention occurs in a vacuum, and no great invention was ever perfect on the first iteration. It's an incredibly hard problem. Feedback from users is undeniably important, but a good engineer must be able to differentiate between useful feedback and people who don't understand the problem domain.

Personally, I work collaboratively 90% of the time. The 10% is the interesting bit though

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

Interesting. I was thinking about VideoSift when watching this. Was really glad he gave online collaboration a thumbs up.

What you really need to be afraid of is when they start collaborating.

http://youtu.be/xbLFVx7KGbc

Jesus that was terrible. But to be fair, even without her I don't think this is a great collaboration. The sum is somehow less than the parts.

Yoko RUINS a Chuck Berry/John Lennon collaboration has been added as a related post - related requested by bareboards2.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Yoko-RUINS-a-Chuck-Berry-John-Lennon-collaboration

So the link will show up on the other video too....

>> ^Murgy:

>> ^shinyblurry:
Lilith was never in scripture and was written about over 1000 years after genesis. It was written as Jewish folklore, and developed mostly in the middle ages. Today it is particularly embraced by pagans, gnostics and radical femenists. It's yet another lie, out of millions, that tries to derail the Creation story and that people buy into without doing any research. There is no lilith conspiracy..she never existed.
>> ^xxovercastxx:
@0:34 "Ever since the earth's first woman..."
bzzt! Eve was the earth's second woman.


The very concept of Pagans and Agnostics including a story, altered or otherwise, from a book collaboratively written by groups of Judo-Christians in their religious beliefs is truly laughable. That's before even considering the fact that both spiritual ideologies existed prior to Abrahamic religion. Furthermore, your "Lilith was never in scripture and was written about over 1000 years after genesis." statement is completely invalid. A figure pulled from your metaphorical nether-regions, if you will. Your later complaint of "people buy into without doing any research" truly cements your spot on my "Wall of Hypocritical Nonsense."
I could go into further detail about your closing comment "It's yet another lie, out of millions, that tries to derail the Creation story. There is no lilith conspiracy..she never existed" in regards to your views about the integrity of a tale claiming all of humanity is descendent from two humans who sprung up, fully formed, out of the earth. Instead, however, I think I'll let your previous misinformation speak for itself.


A fallacious argument from incredulity does not provide a refutation of anything I've said; indeed, what I've said is well supported:

"In Jewish folklore, from the 8th–10th centuries Alphabet of Ben Sira onwards, Lilith becomes Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. This contrasts with Eve, who was created from one of Adam's ribs. The legend was greatly developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism.[3] In the 13th Century writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, for example, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael.[4] The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy, and horror."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith

With all your scoffing you are alluding to an intimate knowledge of the subject, certainly enough to call my arguments "laughable" and "Hypocritical Nonsense". So I'm all ears to hear the research you have uncovered with disproves my argument so succinctly.