statistics, physical reality:
no matter how many times I flip a coin and get heads up the next toss is still an equal chance to come up heads or tails.

No matter how many stops a police officer makes, the results are 4 times more likely to end up in a dead civilian than in a dead cop at any one stop. in other words if stops result in 10 cops killed in a year the same number of stops resulted in 40 civilians killed. On a stop by stop basis the risk is 4 times greater for the civilian.

If a cop makes 100 stops in a year he may be more likely to end up dead in that year than a person who gets stopped once during that year but that doesn't change the odds at any one stop.

At any one traffic stop the risk is four times greater that the civilian will end up dead. Most stops end well but I don't find it reasonable for the person who is definitely armed and dangerous to always assume that the other person is the dangerous one by default. Especially since statistics show that cops are more likely to commit crimes than the general population and that each interaction with a police officer is more likely to end up badly for the civilian than for the cop.

It also seems to me that starting any interaction off with an attack and / or assumptions about the other person not based on any evidence will definitely make the situation more dangerous for all participants.

>> ^JiggaJonson:

@Sarzy YOU'RE NOT THINKING FOURTH DIMENSIONALLY!!!
Biff can't gradually return to a different future. Just like Doc says when they leave Jenifer behind "The change will be instantaneous!" I'm with Lucky on this one, if the past was modified, Biff should not have been returned to the original timeline, he would have gone to the future where Biff was a millionaire and built a casino in that shitty town.
And I for one think the second movie would have ended well with Doc and Marty sucked into a wormhole of nothingness, leaving no room for the pile of dead cheeseburger meat that was the third film.


Actually, there's a deleted scene on the DVD in which Old Biff, after breaking his cane and stumbling away from the Delorean, gradually disappears. You're supposed to infer that the alternate Biff didn't live to be that old, which made Old Biff disappear -- though that's pretty confusing (which is why they cut the scene).

That supports the fact that certain changes occur gradually, otherwise Old Biff would have disappeared the second he handed Young Biff the almanac.

@Sarzy YOU'RE NOT THINKING FOURTH DIMENSIONALLY!!!

Biff can't gradually return to a different future. Just like Doc says when they leave Jenifer behind "The change will be instantaneous!" I'm with Lucky on this one, if the past was modified, Biff should not have been returned to the original timeline, he would have gone to the future where Biff was a millionaire and built a casino in that shitty town.

And I for one think the second movie would have ended well with Doc and Marty sucked into a wormhole of nothingness, leaving no room for the pile of dead cheeseburger meat that was the third film.

Yeah, this is going to end well...

I used to spray the videosift logo in-game. Then there was this one server that accused me of "advertising".

Yeah, that ended well.

The validity of the law classifying memorials as "nonpublic" is potentially a legitimate question. However, there are legitimate ways to question it (say through representation) and illegitimate (say by picking fights with cops). If people showed up at the WH, in numbers, at midnight, you better damn well believe they'll get what's coming to them. You have to understand the nerves of a law enforcement official (particularly in DC). They can't know your intentions. There are times and places that other constitutional mandates, such as to provide for national security, trump the first amendment. If you don't believe me, see my sift here. Also, please don't shoot back with "deserve neither." Like you point out, it's more complicated than simple aphorisms.

That's why we have courts. The courts have repeatedly upheld the constitutionality of the law in question. Frankly, that the arrests were so physical had more to do with the attitude of the demonstrators than the cops. Refusing a lawful order repeatedly won't end well for you. They asked the demonstrators to leave nicely. The kids refused. When you disobey the law, as it is currently written, especially after being peacefully warned, reasonable states employ physical force. Saying that arrest is "violence" again over simplifies law enforcement. Those protesters knew what they were doing the whole time. Frankly, the force employed was the minimal force necessary to enforce the law. No weapons were used. Oscar Grant this wasn't.

As for Jefferson, if people flash mobbed his bed chambers, he'd most certainly ask them to leave. It's manners. If they refused, as these kids did, by yelling "you hate freedom, you hate the constitution" at him, you better believe there would be some Jeffersonian body-slams.
>> ^cosmovitelli:

Understood. The question is whether there should be such a law, and what a reasonable state would do if it were challenged. Presumably the same thing applies to thousands of spots, like the front of the White house. What if a couple of dozen people turned up there and silently flash mobbed it with a little peaceful jigging for 10 minutes? Do you want to see them violently attacked and arrested? Do you think the white house PR staff would ever dream of letting that happen? This is not as cut and dried as you guys would like to think. As for respecting Jefferson, does anyone really think the dude would have said anything other than let them get on with it?

I can't bring myself to watch it.. I teared up from the title and description

Glad to know it ended well, but still...

I read your comment about being uncomfortable about the jingoist mob at the White House. I felt the same way when I watched some raw video -- I ended up in tears.

People died today. Men died protecting a man they loved and honored. Those men had families. They were passionate about what they were doing. They were wrong, but they didn't know that.

There is nothing to celebrate - grim work was done today.

And we Americans are waving the flag and singing war songs. Just like we did after 9/11 -- we seem to be incapable of understanding that we come across as childish, vengeful bullies, who have everything and want more.

This isn't going to end well, I fear.

My retired military brother has a different fear -- he fears that Pakistan will be destabilized, the government will be overthrown because it allowed our mission inside their borders, and that the crazies will end up with nuclear weapons.

This REALLY isn't going to end well.

Yeah, this will end well. Extra points for the shitty animation (notice the tasteful use of clip art on the flatscreen).

I guess it just depends on how you expect to go about "eradicating Christianity" I certainly hope that some day far in the future, as we evolve, we're simply going to outgrow religion.

It's my sincere hope that as we grow and evolve, our ability to self-govern and get along with others will increase, thus making many existing laws and methods of reigning in the populace obsolete.

But if you're thinking that somehow Christianity can be eradicated simply by eventually garnering enough public support and passing a law. Something like that will not end well, if not in tears and bloodshed.

Because there are tons of things that are objectively bad for you, yet we don't outlaw them because laws like that tend to be hopelessly un-enforcable (even though we try anyway)

Quite simply, for good or for bad, Religion and Faith are going to be a part of humanity for a long ass time for the foreseeable future. I certainly hope you don't think you can eradicate it in our lifetimes or even our childrens' or grandchildrens' lifetimes. All we can do now is simply reign in the troublemakers who want to take religion too far.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Louis CK, puppy, dog, crying, tumor, good, end well' to 'Louis CK, puppy, dog, crying, tumor, good, end well, round head, not doing anything' - edited by calvados

I found this very disturbing. The uncle is yelling against violence as he beats the kid -- what message is the kid getting? I can't imagine this ends well. I hope and pray that kid ends up okay.

>> ^robbersdog49:

Is it just me or was that a really unprofessional way for the cop to deal with the situation? Surely he should have gone to the door with space between him and the robber, drawn his gun and told the guy to lie down? Put some space between him and the robber. Grabbing the guy like a gangsta was never going to end well.


How was he supposed to know the guy didn't have a weapon?

Here's what he should have done:

1. Tazer
2. ZAAAAPPPPPPPPP
3. ???????
4. PROFIT!

Is it just me or was that a really unprofessional way for the cop to deal with the situation? Surely he should have gone to the door with space between him and the robber, drawn his gun and told the guy to lie down? Put some space between him and the robber. Grabbing the guy like a gangsta was never going to end well.

Cheers for the promote. It doesn't always end well for Damien though... http://videosift.com/video/Urban-Gymnast-Damien-Walters-gets-his-ass-kicked

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
Love DW! *promote