39
POPSThe 10 Weirdest Facts about American Presidents 7. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, was reported to be a very interesting character. When not having his head massaged with Vaseline during breakfasts in bed or riding his own mechanical bull, he was ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide. 8. So far, all American presidents have claimed ancestry limited to one or more of just seven nationalities: Dutch, English, German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss, and Welsh. 9. Grover Cleveland was the only president to openly admit that he had fathered an illegitimate child. 10. There were four presidents who were not actual presidents of the United States: Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Anson Jones were all presidents of the Republic of Texas. Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate States of America.
33
POPSthe top 10 least religious countries The survey concluded that "high levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. In some societies, particularly Europe, atheism is growing. However, throughout much of the world -- particularly nations with high birth rates -- atheism is barely discernable."
27
POPSHow We Got Stuck With George W. Bush P.S. Don't be too surprised if McCain and Palin "win" next week. No matter how unlikely the outcome, the US news media stands ready to pump out a plausible "cover story" to explain the results. - Brasscheck I'll bet they do! Be forewarned. We all know it happened the last two elections and it could very well happen again. In fact, I think it's highly likely, they'll try. They've had eight years to rig the setup even more and I do not see the republicans having any intentions of playing fair, as their campaigning methods and the last eight years have shown. If it should happen, don't let them get away with it. Fool you once, shame on them, fool you twice...okay, there's shame enough to go around.... but three times?? You're either a democratic republic. Or you're not. It's that simple.
25
POPSAmelia Earhart's Final Resting Place Believed Found According to Gillespie, who is set to embark on a new $500,000 Nikumaroro expedition next summer, the two became castaways and eventually died there. "We know that in 1940 British Colonial Service officer Gerald Gallagher recovered a partial skeleton of a castaway on Nikumaroro. Unfortunately, those bones have now been lost," Gillespie said. The archival record by Gallagher suggests that the bones were found in a remote area of the island, in a place that was unlikely to have been seen during an aerial search. A woman's shoe, an empty bottle and a sextant box whose serial numbers are consistent with a type known to have been carried by Noonan were all found near the site where the bones were discovered. "The reason why they found a partial skeleton is that many of the bones had been carried off by giant coconut crabs. There is a remote chance that some of the bones might still survive deep in crab burrows," Gillespie said.
21
POPSRoman Cat Sanctuary Whether the cats rule themselves via Republic or recognize a cat Emperor is, as of yet, undetermined. More on Torre Argentina here.
21
POPSIt Looks Like Heaven but Feels Like Hell So why not a whisper of military intervention to bring democracy and peace to this ravaged nation where millions have died as the world grew fat? Probably because Africa does not exist.
20
POPSWe Can't Handle The Truth "They don’t mention that we spend almost a trillion dollars a year on a protracted war in Iraq, money that we must borrow from China and Japan. We spend 51% of our discretionary budget on our military. No nation on the globe spends more than 6%. Maybe this could be a reason our economy is faltering?"
20
POPSRussian professor predicts disintigration of United States I strongly recommend reading the entire article. While it's hard to imagine his prediction coming true; given that our banks have become dependent on the government for survival and the government seems dependent on China for survival, it doesn't seem impossible. Further, this idea can't be taken lightly given the tense, extremely divisive nature of U.S. politics (look at the uproar between the different factions in the auto bailout as an example).
20
POPS16 Of The World's Best Squares: Think About The Details From Mexico to Italy to Iran, these remarkable squares can inspire us all. What stands out most is that design is only a small fraction of what goes into making a great square: small details add up to great places. Historically, squares were the center of communities, and they traditionally helped shape the identity of entire cities. Like the tentacles of an octopus extending into the surrounding neighborhood, the influence of a good square (such as Union Square in New York) starts at least a block away. Any great square has a variety of smaller "places" within it to appeal to various people. The use of a square changes during the course of the day, week, and year. The streets and sidewalks around a square greatly affect its accessibility and use, as do the buildings that surround it. Any community where people want to discover the rewards of public life can make a square its centerpiece.
19
POPSWildlife in the DMZ: Vanishing rainforest of the Congo basin 1, The demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating South and North Korea is home to over 1,000 plant species and rare animals. The DMZ Forum is a lobby group promoting the idea of turning the area into a nature reserve. 2. The forest is the world's biggest after the Amazon. Now Britain and Norway have created a £108m fund to help protect it from logging and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The Congo basin forest is home to around 50 million people in six countries including Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Congo-Brazzaville. The Congo basin forest is twice the size of France and exceeded in size only by the Amazon. It is estimated that logging - much of it illegal - destroys an area the size of 25,000 football pitches every week. The UN estimates that at present rates two-thirds of the forest will have vanished by the year 2040.
19
POPSCreating insignificant events -Futuristic art Vincent Callebaut 'work was lately exhibited in Paris ; ;" To believe in the world means to create events, even insignificant ones, that gets out of control, or create new space-times, even in reduced surfaces or volumes"
19
POPSSwamp Gorillas Perform Hand Clapping Ritual more (at source): "The sound was always two rapidly consecutive beats and the sound does carry within the rainforest, much like a gorilla chest beat," added Kalan, a researcher in the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Oxford Brookes University.
18
POPSWe Are At War!...and don't you forget it!....clipable A summation of Bush's "State Of The Union" address that gives a well thought out critique of the deeper meaning of his words and statements. One thing that I didn't notice was his refusal to use the word "Democratic" instead of "Democrat"...may sound trivial, but this is exactly how this administration operates.
18
POPSStudy Of Countries I do not claim that sites such as this are the be all and end all of research regarding any given country. But still they are fairly comprehensive. If any given country or nation intrigues you then I recommend further research. If this site creates a even greater thirst for knowledge then I will have done something useful.
Most Pops
see Most Pops
19
Clips
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update