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POPSThe Assasination of Benazir Bhutto When in power, corruption hemmed in around her, and her visions were stalemated by the reality of bureaucratic government. She was at her best when she was disenfranchised, chiding those in control. In power she was a bureaucrat, but in opposition she was an icon. Now she has died as icons die, as opposition leaders die, in an explosive annihilation of waves of humanity. ...at the back gate of a park after a speech, on the eve of her comeback.
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POPSdogs.....just beautiful. sad story but what a dog..... too bad 25 yr old Jake couldn't have hung on another day, seems he had a lot of people (and animals) that loved him :(
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POPSWho are the REAL Christians around here? "We are living in the 21st century after all. Who would use the name of the Christian God to justify mass killing? A majority of modern day American Christians, that's who. Perhaps the argument used against Muslims should be applied to Christians instead. Their religion has been hijacked by fundamentalist fanatics while the non-fanatics remain silent. The term clash of civilizations is definitely a misnomer. There can be no clash unless both sides are in fact civilized. Any assertion of American civilization is clearly open to question." ... By Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report., AlterNet
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POPSThe Origin of the Crossword Puzzle Crossword Casualties Some folks were driven over the edge by the craze. In 1924, a Chicago woman sued her husband for divorce, claiming "he was so engrossed in solving crosswords that he didn’t have time to work." The judge ordered the man to "limit himself to 3 puzzles a day and devote the rest of his time to domestic duties." In 1925, a New York Telephone Co. employee shot his wife when she wouldn’t help with a crossword puzzle. And in 1926, a Budapest man committed suicide, leaving an explanation in the form of a crossword puzzle. (No one could solve it.) Eventually, the craze died down. It took The New York Times to revive it. Today, The New York Times crossword puzzle is considered the puzzle of choice for hardcore addicts, but that hasn’t always been true. Believe it or not, the Times resisted crosswords for more than two decades.Here’s the story of how the newspaper changed its mind...<<
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POPSREALITY CHECK! There is a frightening new global trend of denial... Europeans think that they don't need to limit fishing... Car companies don't think they need to improve fuel economy standards... Bush thinks he can increase spending and cut taxes at the same time... Jingoists think we are winning the war in Iraq... Democrats think Hillary Clinton has enough experience to win an election... Polluters think that Global Warming won't really happen... Evangelicals think Jesus is coming back soon... Fundamentalists think they can win the war against modernity... The truth is: we're stuck with this world. The rules DO apply. No free passes. You have to face the music sometime. We must choose realism over comfortable delusion. Unfortunately, for now, wistful thinking will rule the day until we let it all collapse around us. Then we'll stand there scratching our heads saying: How could this happen?
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POPSFamed Geneticist Creating Life Form That Turns CO2 to Fuel Scientists put "suicide genes" into their living creations so that if they escape the lab, they can be triggered to kill themselves. Venter said he is also working on organisms that make vaccines for the flu and other illnesses. Suicide genes and vaccines mentioned in the same breath, sort of creeps me out a little. :roll:
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POPSScramble To Curb Suicide Websites Hmm. I am all for protecting the vulnerable, but this smells a little too much like censorship, to me What else could or would governments decide to deem "harmful information"? Do I trust they always would have my best interests at heart, if they get to decide what we can read or not? In my opinion, the causes of suicide largely lie offline, not on. If we want to reduce suicide, look to answer the questions why first, now how. "Guns don't kill people", and neither do webpages.
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POPSScience of Search: How to Make Out, or Levitate How-to searches also reveal our aspirations. Comprising 12% of the instructional searches were those questions geared towards self improvement: how to "lose weight," "gain weight," "make money," and, for those truly in search of instant gratification, "make money fast." On the darker side, over 9.5% of the searches were for illicit or illegal activities, with marijuana use figuring high on the list ("how to grow marijuana," "grow pot," "grow weed") but also some very concerning questions: "how to commit suicide," "how to make meth," even "how to make a bomb." We apparently feel comfortable enough with our computers and the Internet to query just about anything. Search continues to grow in importance as we sift through the mountain of information available to us. As the growth of "how to" searches increases, its clear that we are turning to search engines as sources of knowledge and insight into getting things done.
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POPSUS Army: 'We don't want you now. Get lost' "Jon Soltz, an Iraq war combat veteran who founded the group VoteVets.org, said untreated psychological problems were contributing to the highest military suicide rate in a quarter-century and to growing homelessness among veterans, he said. If such widespread mental problems really existed before people joined the military and saw combat, they would have been uncovered when the recruits were enlisting, Soltz said." This latter point jumps out at me. Did they knowingly recruit those with pre-existing disorders. The army's attitude appears to be: "We didn't break you, you were already broken. You're not our responsibility."
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