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POPSI'll Kick The Shit Out Of You! Every once in a while I meet someone who actually brings transformation instead of doctrine, and why that matters. You rock on Mas; you are clearly and inspiration for us all.
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POPSWhy We Get Lost in Books "Part of the reason we get lost in these imaginary worlds might be because our brains effectively simulate the events of the book in the same way they process events in the real world, a new study suggests".
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POPSPaper Bags or Plastic Bags? Everything You Need to Know So, while it's good to have the alternative (and to recognize the innovation it represents), bioplastics aren't quite ready to save us from the paper or plastic debate. Paper bags or plastic bags: the conclusion Both paper and plastic bags require lots and lots of resources and energy, and proper recycling requires due diligence from both consumer and municipal waste collector or private recycling company, so there are a lot of variables that can lead to low recycling rates. Ultimately, neither paper nor plastic bags are the best choice; we think choosing reusable canvas bags instead is the way to go. From an energy standpoint, according to this Australian study, canvas bags are 14 times better than plastic bags and 39 times better than paper bags, assuming that canvas bags get a good workout and are used 500 times during their life cycle. Happy shopping!
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POPSUSS Liberty Conspiracy Unravelling, at last!
"The documents also suggest that the US government, anxious to spare Israel's reputation and preserve its alliance with the US., closed the case with what even some of its participants now say was a hasty and seriously flawed investigation. "In declassifying the most recent and largest batch of materials last June 8, the 40th anniversary of the attack, the NSA, this country's chief US electronic-intelligence-gatherer and code-breaker, acknowledged that the attack had "become the center of considerable controversy and debate." It was not the agency's intention, it said, "to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material," available athttp://www.nsa.gov/liberty . "An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman called the attack a tragic and terrible accident, a case of mistaken identity, for which Israel has officially apologized." Israel also paid reparations of $6.7 million to the injured survivors and the families of those
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POPSTeleportation Milestone Achieved - AMAZING! Teleportation works because of a remarkable quantum phenomenon called entanglement which only occurs on the atomic and subatomic scale. Once two objects are put in an entangled state, their properties are inextricably entwined. Although those properties are inherently unknowable until a measurement is made, measuring either one of the objects instantly determines the characteristics of the other, no matter how far apart they are.
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POPSEnglish Speaker Kicked Off Bus The driver, apparently alarmed by her "aggressive" Muslim passenger, called the cops, cleared the bus, and warned the bus behind her not to pick up any of her stranded passengers. Although he is investigating the incident, Michel Labrecque, the head of the Société de transport de Montréal, defended the driver's action because "French is the language of work" in Québec. Labrecque acknowledged that many bus drivers are bilingual, and that bilingual drivers tend to be placed on routes covering tourist areas and the English-speaking suburbs. But he also insisted that it would be against the law to require any of the drivers to actually speak English even if they can, "Ça, c'est interdite."
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POPSA Robomedic for the Battlefield Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are developing technology to give battlefield medics a helping hand--literally. Howie Choset, an associate professor of robotics at CMU, has engineered a snakelike robotic arm equipped with various sensors that can monitor a soldier's condition. The robot can be wirelessly controlled via a joystick, so that a doctor at a remote clinic may move the robot to any point on a soldier's body to assess his injuries as he's being carried to a safe location. The robot's serpentine flexibility allows it to maneuver within tight confines, so that, in case a casualty can't be extracted from the battlefield immediately, the robot can perform an initial medical assessment in the field.
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POPSWorld's First PoW Camp? more: Ben Robinson, an archaeologist at Peterborough Museum, has been working with the Channel 4 Time Team programme to uncover the site’s history. He said: “This is a fascinating and unique site because the concept of a ‘prisoner of war camp’ did not exist before Norman Cross was built in 1797. It was an inspired experiment in taking huge numbers of enemy troops out of action, but also keeping them in as humane conditions as possible.” Although the prisoners were generally treated well, more than 1,000 inmates died from typhoid in 1800 and 1801 and a total of 1,770 died during the camp’s 17-year history. The buildings were dismantled and the site cleared after Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
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POPSOne virtual step for man, one real leap for mankind Combining the CityEngine with CyberWalk will allow people to go beyond strolling through the streets of ancient Pompeii and Rome. Architects, for example, could transport customers into the future, and allow them to walk through buildings even before they have been built.
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POPSThings To Make You Go Hmmm? If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be? Why do you press harder on a remote-control when you know the battery is dead? Why do people without a watch look at their wrist when you ask them what time it is? Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient funds fee" on money they already know you don't have? Why do they call it the Department of Interior when they are in charge of everything outdoors? What do little birdies see when they get knocked unconscious? I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman where the self-help section was. She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose. Isn't it scary that doctors call what they do "practice?" How is it possible to have a civil war?
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POPSFirst Underwater Hotel to Open in Dubai Amazing and interesting. Hydropolis reproduces the human organism in an architectural design. There is a direct analogy between the physiology of man and the architecture. The geometrical element is a figure eight lying on its side and inscribed in a circle. The spaces created in the basin will contain function areas, such as restaurants, bars, meeting rooms and theme suites. These can be compared to the components of the human organism: the motor functions and the nervous and cardiovascular systems, with the central sinus knot representing the pulse of all life.
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POPSWhy Humans Can't Navigate Out of a Paper Bag That these skills are so easily lost could explain why the average westerner struggles to navigate without help. Most people now live in a world that has been made navigable by maps, street signs, transport networks and GPS. There is no need to understand the environment to get around. Losing our relationship with physical space, coupled with the unique human ability to imagine ourselves in another location, may have given us the freedom to create a reality of our own. What other species could comprehend the World Wide Web or contemplate exploring new worlds? And while we may struggle to find our way back to the car after a shopping trip, we can take heart in the knowledge that, as a species, we have managed to find our way to the moon and back, and have sent satellites to just the right orbit so that we no longer need to think about where we are going. Show me a hamster that can do that.
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POPSLet's get real about alternative energy The public discussion of energy options tends to be emotional, polarized, mistrustful and destructive. I hope that focusing attention on the numbers may make it possible to develop honest and constructive conversations about energy.
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POPSU.S. Developing Robots to Carry Troops to safety. Absolutley wonderful. Everyday there is a technology story absolutley thrilling me. Along with its bear like looks it has a bear like name (Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot (BEAR)) The BEAR can move on tracts, wheels or it can walk.
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POPSWild rabbit befriends orphaned deer – real-life Bambi & Thumper (with photos!) More: As planned, Finchen was transported to a wildlife release station to be prepared for life in the wild. This station specializes in deer and has great experience with the process. This was Finchen’s best chance to return to the wild. The wild rabbit ending up staying here. After giving it a lot of thought, we decided against the idea of catching it and bringing it to the wildlife station with the deer. It would have been its certain death if we had released the wild rabbit into a strange environment. The first fox or other predator to come along would have been able to catch the frightened animal. Finchen has made the transition to living in the wild and is now sharing a nature preserve with other deer. This area keeps the released animals safe from hunters and traffic. A small population of wild rabbits lives near our garden. The little rabbit joined that group after Finchen left the garden.