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POPSIf they die, they die. Just don't hurt profits!! Are you kidding me!!!??? The United States government chose to withhold information about airline security because if people knew just how risky it was they may not buy tickets??? OMG...i think we really are living in the United Corporations of America!
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POPSPower and the Illusion of Control "We conducted four experiments exploring the relationship between power and illusory control - the belief that one has the ability to influence outcomes that are largely determined by chance," said Galinksy, "In each experiment, whether the participant recalled power by an experience of holding power or it was manipulated by randomly assigning participants to Manager-Subordinate roles, it led to perceived control over outcomes that were beyond the reach of the individual. Furthermore, the notion of being able to control a 'chance' result led to unrealistic optimism and inflated self-esteem."
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POPSThe Problem Is Capitalism, Not Just the Banks This article is based on the Deutscher Lecture which Rick Kuhn, Reader in Political Science at the ANU, will deliver in London on 7 November. Dr. Kuhn's book Henryk Grossman and the Recovery of Marxism won the 2007 Deutscher prize.
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POPSThe Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields In 2001 Ariel Sharon stated unequivocally that "Israel would never buy gas from Palestine" intimating that Gaza's offshore gas reserves belong to Israel. In May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority." The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians. Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.
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POPSA Study of Women Inventors, Part 1 The social appeal for women to become inventors at that time was best expressed when Scientific American tried to assure them “that there was nothing inherently unladylike about the process of invention. Like novel writing, it could be done in the parlor at home, and did not require traffic in the factory or marketplace.” Follow to Part 2
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POPSWhen Your Insurer Says You're No Longer Covered
"We do not rescind a policyholder's coverage because someone on the policy gets sick," said a spokeswoman for Anthem Blue Cross, a subsidiary of WellPoint. "We have put in place a thorough process with multiple steps to ensure that we are as fair and as accurate as we can be in making these difficult decisions." In a pending case, Blue Shield searched in vain for an inconsistency in the health records of the wife of a dairy farmer after she filed a claim for emergency gallbladder surgery, according to attorneys for the family. Turning to her husband's questionnaire, the company discovered he had not mentioned his high cholesterol and dropped them both. Yvette Thomassian of Glendale, Calif., lost her Blue Cross policy because she did not declare a deviated septum. She questioned why a common misalignment of the nostrils would disqualify anyone. They cancelled her healthcare over a crooked nose bone! Shocking this is tolerated, in a supposedly civilized nation.
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POPSWAR is a racket. This is a free book, and one of the best ever written. Please take the time to at least look at it.
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POPSThe Pope is Absolutely Right Publicity from anywhere on this is good. It rarely makes the headlines but deep in the heart of the financial system is this legalised fraud whereby greedy rich people (and, of course, not all rich people are greedy) evade taxes, enhance profits, and destablise the global economy. In the UK alone it is estimated that individuals and companies legally syphon off £20 billion annually.
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POPSSupermarkets Throwing Away 2 Million Tons Of Food A Year We visited a dozen stores over several nights last week to check what was being thrown away and discovered hundreds of pounds worth of food dumped. At a Sainsbury’s superstore next to the Dome in Greenwich, South East London – the chain’s flagship “environmentally-friendly” shop with its own wind turbines – staff said it was standard practice to throw away food before its sell-by date. And they’re not even allowed to take it home. One said: “Someone just stands there and throws it into the skip. We wish we could buy it – but we’re not allowed.” Pointing to meat on the “reduced” shelf, he added: “Come midnight, anything that hasn’t been sold will get taken off the shelf... if it’s out of date it will be logged on the computer, put against our losses, then in the skip.” Four-pint bottles of milk with nine days still to run had been thrown out, along with nine cans of cola with a date stamp of April 2009.
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POPSEthanol isn't such a green fuel after all At least not the way we make it here in the U.S., from corn. I know some countries in South America make it from sugar cane and that may be more efficient, but making it from corn isn't green.
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POPSTrading Algorithms Profit from Mood Swings If other traders are being aggressive – for example, by attempting to undercut others – it raises its game to trade even more aggressively. If trading is less competitive, the software acts less aggressively and calmly aims for the biggest profits available. Secondly, the software can also use past market trends to try to forecast future conditions. If a period of volatility seems likely, the software changes its behaviour more frequently, meaning it is more likely to be ready to exploit any sudden switches in conditions. "The majority of share trading in Europe is now handled by algorithms," says Richard Balarkas, CEO of Instinet Europe a leading algorithmic trading firm. Trading software that is able to read and respond to market behaviour like a human is very desirable, he says
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POPSExperimental philosophy
In this study, we examined the status of side-effects — effects that the agent foresaw but wasn't specifically trying to bring about. A key question in the existing literature on the concept of intentional action is whether or not people consider side-effects to have been brought about intentionally. the answer seems to be somewhat more complicated. People's judgements seem to depend on what the particular side-effect happens to be. More specifically, it seems that people are more willing to consider a side-effect intentional if the side-effect is something bad than they are if it is something good. Why do we obtain these results? When we switch the effect from good to bad, why do people suddenly have different intuitions about whether or not it was brought about intentionally? Now, data from the study indicate that people blame the agent if his behavior has a bad side-effect but that they don't praise the agent if his behavior has a good side-effect. interesting question.
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POPSAll there in my parallel universe another example from the article: "China, which is planning a series of different virtual worlds able to host not tens but hundreds of millions of avatars. The idea is to attract people (as avatars) from around the world to come and buy Chinese goods more cheaply from source. In this way they plan to capture the value added to a shirt that leaves a Chinese factory for a dollar but is sold in London for $20."
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POPSThere are more Slaves Today Than at Any Time in Human History
During the four years that Benjamin Skinner researched modern-day slavery, he posed as a buyer at illegal brothels on several continents, interviewed convicted human traffickers in a Romanian prison and endured giardia, malaria, and dengue. But Skinner is most haunted by his experience in a brothel in Bucharest, Romania, where he was offered a young woman with Down syndrome in exchange for a used car. We in America are not affected by this, right? On average, every half-hour, one more person will have been trafficked to the US into slavery. About 14,000-17,000 are trafficked into the U.S. each year and forced to work within U.S. borders under threat of violence for no pay beyond subsistence. Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking and Free the Slaves both work to bring attention to this modern day horror. Barack Obama is still setting his foreign policy agenda. He needs to hear from all of us that the true abolition of slavery needs to be a part of his legacy.
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POPSAmerica's Hidden Nightmare for its Sick Poor It is part of the paradox that while, for instance, the USA is light years ahead of Europe in research into and treatment of cancers, its basic services lag far behind. The interest in universal healthcare is motivated surely by a response to what is available for the most vulnerable. Whatever, the 'interest' is surely worthwhile, and should be inflected by morality rather thanm rigid political dogma.
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POPSlooking for Kafka in Tel-Aviv ?!! Hoffe died this year, leaving the inheritance to her two daughters. Researchers are hoping they will now be given access to the materials, which will help shed light on Kafka's biography and will likely spark new interest in the author in the academic and literary worlds.
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POPSSwiss Company Promises Chocolate Revolution Too Good to Be True? Chocolate That Doesn't Melt and Is Low in Calories "The bar's creators want to use it to tackle a growing problem: In Western Europe and North America, chocolate consumption has leveled off and, in some cases, begun to decline. In the past year, consumers in the eight largest western European countries consumed 2 percent less chocolate. In the US, consumption decreased by 8 percent. Under these circumstances, manufacturers are forced to rely on emerging markets for future profits. The calorie-reduced "Vulcano" will be made available in both bar and cookie form."
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POPSWall Street: Hurry Up and Die, So We Can Make a Profit Mr. Doherty says that in reaction to widespread securitization, insurers most likely would have to raise the premiums on new life policies. “It’s bittersweet,” said James D. Cox, a professor of corporate and securities law at Duke University. “The sweet part is there are investors interested in exotic products created by underwriters who make large fees and rating agencies who then get paid to confer ratings. The bitter part is it’s a return to the good old days.”
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