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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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POPSWhat is "Ask-Philosophers"? "This site puts the talents and knowledge of philosophers at the service of the general public. Send in a question that you think might be related to philosophy and we will do our best to respond to it. To date, there have been 2362 questions posted and 3069 responses"
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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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POPSBorderline Personality Disorder "...What defines borderline personality disorder--and makes it so explosive--is the sufferers' inability to calibrate their feelings and behavior. When faced with an event that makes them depressed or angry, they often become inconsolable or enraged. Such problems may be exacerbated by impulsive behaviors: overeating or substance abuse; suicide attempts; intentional self-injury. (The methods of self-harm that borderlines choose can be gruesomely creative. One psychologist told me of a woman who used fingernail clippers to pull off slivers of her skin.""
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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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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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POPS"The Masada MYTH" by Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Israeli sociologist 
"In 73 AD, legend has it, 960 Jewish rebels under siege in the ancient desert fortress of Masada committed suicide (in conflict with Judaism’s teachings) rather than surrender to a Roman legion. Recorded in only one historical source, the story of Masada was obscure for centuries. Ben-Yehuda tracks the process by which Masada became an ideological symbol for the State of Israel, the dramatic subject of movies and miniseries, a shrine venerated by generations of Zionists and Israeli soldiers, and the most profitable tourist attraction in modern Israel. "Placing the story in a larger historical, sociological, and psychological context, Ben-Yehuda draws upon theories of collective memory and mythmaking to analyze Masada’s crucial role in the nation-building process of modern Israel and the formation of a new Jewish identity. An expert on deviance and social control, he looks in particular at how a military failure was fabricated as a heroic tale."
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POPSGitmo Detainees to Work as Wal-Mart Greeters The "Gitmo to Greet Mo'" program bypasses maximum-security federal penitentiaries located all over the United States and instead pays for jihadists' food and housing and provides them work. The thinking is that terrorists will not want to blow up America if they get to experience first-hand how nice and welcoming Americans are. However, this scenario will create a whole new set of terrorists: old ladies who lost their jobs to terrorists.
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POPS13 Doctors Demand Inquest Into Dr David Kelly's Death Mr Halpin said that he lost more than 6,000 pieces of correspondence - many relating to Dr Kelly - during his investigation, explaining that the mystery began when the 'firewall' on his computer, which all similar machines are fitted with as a security measure, became inactive without warning. His emails started disappearing as though they were being sifted remotely. 'I believe this will have been done by a state-sponsored agency and not by an amateur acting singly,' he said. Dr Kelly's death may have been linked to the secret world of germ warfare research. Until his death Dr Kelly was privy to some of the state's most sensitive information and worked closely with the intelligence services of all the major industrialised countries.
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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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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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