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POPS Self models There is no such thing as a substantial self (as a distinct ontological entity, which could in principle exist by itself), but only a dynamic, ongoing process creating very specific representational and functional properties. Self-consciousness is a form of physically realized representational content
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POPSCultivating gratitude- interview Prof. Robert Emmons studies gratitude for a living as Professor of Psychology at UC Davis and is Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Positive Psychology. He has just published Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, an interdisciplinary book that provides a research-based synthesis of the topic as well as practical suggestions.
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POPSElements of Fascism Increasing in U.S. "They invoke an external and internal threat in order to convince the population to grant their rulers extraordinary powers." Repeat after me the neoconservative catechism: "The greatest threat to America is radical Islam fascists that want to kill us all...they hate our freedoms". Which of course is why the government wants to take our beloved freedoms away........
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POPSBuild Your Vocabulary - Feed The World More: Viral marketing, the compelling game, and the cause it supports are key to the site's success, WFP's Barton says. An ad is featured on the bottom of each page, and it is these advertisers who ultimately fund the checks Breen writes to the WFP. He is looking into Google ads and hiring an ad agency to run the site. Breen has specified that he wants the WFP to buy locally to support farmers in developing countries, rather than using imported food, which tends to depress local crop prices. Breen has already sent $113,000 to the WFP and will send more in increments of $10,000 to $15,000 as advertising dollars roll in, Barton says. Breen says he sends all profits to the WFP, and the site has no political or religious affiliation. He donates his time and pays the cost of leasing the site's servers himself. "Some people like to give money to their colleges or whatever," he writes by e-mail, "and this I what I prefer to do with it."
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POPSSocial Networking for Zebras Ecologists have turned to computer scientists to develop dynamic graphs of social behavior among Zebra populations, revealing why some are thriving while others are endangered: The difference showed that the Grevy's zebras tended to hang out in cliques, whereas the onagers spent time with different buddies on different days. The methods developed turn out to applicable to human networks, too: In the meantime, Berger-Wolf is testing her methods on other datasets, including the records of e-mails exchanged at Enron that became available after they were subpoenaed. She has found some surprising connections between the two kinds of networks. "We can see that our method to detect when a lion was in the area of zebras detects very well when the subpoena was issued at Enron," she says. When faced with a lion, the zebras flee and follow one lead zebra. Similarly, after the subpoena was issued, e-mail traffic to the lawyers increased dramatically.
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POPS"Operation Pliers": CIA Plots to Pull Chavez Your tax dollars at work to overthrow another country. This blueprint shows all the tactics they will use in their attempt. Just another "regime change" sponsored by your government that wants "democracy" and to "rid the world of tyranny" by interfering, destabilizing, and working to overthrow other governments, in stealth, and at your expense. THIS WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES ON THE PRICE OF OIL, AS CHAVEZ MADE KNOWN RECENTLY. But the more important question is this: Why should we not believe the same tactics (read them) are used for American elections? Read it.
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POPSGenocide Continues During Teddy Bear Riots Some news agencies reported thousands of people took part in the protest, but a BBC reporter at the scene said up to a thousand marchers turned out. According to some agencies, some of the protesters chanted: "Shame, shame on the UK", "No tolerance - execution" and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad". One demonstrator told reporters that it was unacceptable to take a toy and call it Muhammad. "We can't accept it from anybody. Even if they can do that in Europe, they cannot do it here in Sudan. We ask our rulers and judges to review what they have said. Fifteen days is not enough." Genocide, rape, no problem, just watch what you call a stuffed toy or we will call for your death! That is seriously F'd up! These people need to get their priorities straight.
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POPSNAFTA's Impact on Mexico If the current trend continues with the FTAA, at BEST, over a five year time period, 350,000 more jobs will be lost in Mexico's agricultural sector and that number could go up to 750,000. The Institute for Policy Studies says that NAFTA has taken a toll on Mexican jobs. It argues that NAFTA has destroyed Mexico's small farmers, bringing in an influx of subsidized U.S. food imports. Carnegie Endowment for International peace says that 1.3 million farm jobs have been lost since 1993. The Carnegie report also concluded that the pact has generated few new jobs in Mexico and might only be credited for a "very small net gain" in jobs in the U.S. "NAFTA has been a disaster for us," remarks pig farmer Julian Aguilera to Business Week.jobs.
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POPSEinstein's Biggest Blunder? Dark Energy May Be Consistent With Cosmological Constant From the article: Then, 12 years later, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is not static -- it is actually expanding. So Einstein scrapped his idea of a cosmological constant and dismissed it as his biggest blunder. In 1998, however, two teams of scientists, one of which Texas A&M researcher Suntzeff co-founded, discovered that the universe is not only expanding, but its expansion is actually accelerating -- going faster and faster. "So there had to be some other force that had overcome the force of gravity and is driving the universe into an exponential acceleration," Suntzeff said. This opposing force is what scientists now call dark energy, and it is believed to constitute roughly 74 percent of the universe. The other constituents of the universe are dark matter, which composes about 22 percent of the universe, and ordinary matter, which is about 4 percent.
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POPSAiring Out Your Laundry Some people want to legislate everything! Matt Reck is the kind of eco-conscious guy who feeds his trees with bathwater and recycles condensation drops from his air conditioners to water plants. His family also uses a clothesline. But on July 9, Otto Hagen, president of Reck's HOA in Wake Forest, N.C., notified him that a neighbor had complained about his line. The Recks ignored the warning and still dry their clothes on a rope that extends from their swing set to a pole across the yard. "Many people claim to be environmentally friendly but don't take matters into their own hands," says Reck, 37. HOA's Hagen has decided to hold off taking action. "I'm not going to go crazy," he says. "But if Matt keeps his line and more neighbors complain, I'll have to address it again."
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POPSStunning Science! Science is SO beautiful! Go to the site and enjoy more of these fantastic visualisations of wave functions, quantum resonances, classical collisions etc. It's absolutely breathtaking.
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POPSDouglas Adams: The Atheist interview People will then often say “But surely it’s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?” This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I’ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would chose not to worship him anyway.)
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