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POPSChildhood "ending sooner", survey finds A survey finds that today's children stop believing in imaginary creatures much earlier than their parents did, and that many children are pressured by parents to perform well in school and extracurricular activities (this is new?).
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POPSHYPERPOLITICS (AMERICAN STYLE) A Talk By Mark Pesce The power redistributions of the 21st century have dealt representative democracies out. Representative democracies are a poor fit to the challenges ahead, and 'rebooting' them is not enough. The future looks nothing like democracy, because democracy, which sought to empower the individual, is being obsolesced by a social order which hyperempowers him.
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POPSWhat percent of US budget goes to foreign aid? Most Americans drastically over-estimate it. Despite laudable recent increases in US giving to poverty, US aid as a percent of personal income is second to last among wealthy nations; most of that doesn't go to the poorest countries. We give about 25 cents per American per day ] day in foreign aid; with private giving, another dime. It's a lot, because there are a lot of us. But it's far behind the level of sacrifice made by people in most developed nations.
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POPSSex and Gender
In fact, behind your question is the fundamental problem of the degree to which behaviour is innate and to which it is acquired – an essential question that philosophers and scientists have been debating for centuries. This remains an ideologically-charged subject, which the media adore. Absolutely. The media often echo works that argue that cerebral specialisation differs between male and female. They say, for example, that language functions are undertaken by both hemispheres only in women’s brains. What do you say? The theories on the hemispheric differences between the sexes in language appeared over thirty years ago. They have not been confirmed by recent brain imaging studies which allow us to see the living brain at work. These theories are often based on observations carried out on very small samples – often a dozen people. People continue to quote these studies whereas contemporary scientific reality is very different. Meta-analyses, which draw conclusions from all the exp
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POPSTo Trust or Not to Trust? It has been hypothesized that oxytocin, a hormone recognized for its role in social attachment and facilitation of social interactions, is also important in the formation of trust. For instance, application of oxytocin to “investors” in experimental games increases their tendency to engage in social risks and trust someone else with their money (see this and this). The study by Baumgartner and his colleagues highlights the neural mechanisms through which oxytocin acts to facilitate trust behavior by investigating what happens in the brain when trust breaks down.
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POPSQuotes to Happiness When I read these quotes I just agreed with them so much and thought how profound many were and people need to follow the advice as most of it has a realm of truth
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POPSUnsupervised children are more sociable and more active Professor Mackett goes on to say: “Fears over road safety and ‘stranger danger’ need to be balanced against soaring levels of childhood obesity and poor health. Letting a child out to play is one of the best things a parent can do for their child’s physical health and personal development.
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POPSWitchcraft not wicked "The overall finding was that teenage witches are engaging in witchcraft for positive life affirming reasons. (It) helps them make sense of the issues they are experiencing," Professor Ezzy said. "They are not fighting demons, as is sometimes displayed in popular media. Really there is nothing to be afraid of. The amount of witches is now roughly the same size as Mormons."
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POPSACORN's Corporate Donors Backing Off Banks and other financial institutions have given millions of dollars and other forms of support to ACORN for decades in response to boycott threats from the organization, as well as accusations of racism and other forms of discrimination in granting personal loans and mortgages. The ACORN campaigns followed passage of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which was designed to pressure financial institutions to loosen lending standards in order to increase home ownership among poor and minority communities. Legislation strengthening CRA during the Clinton administration greatly encouraged such ACORN activities. Dissident current and former officials of ACORN claim that donations made to AHC and other affiliates are often misappropriated. “There’s no guarantee that any donations are going where they are supposed to be going,” said Ron Sykes, treasurer of the Washington D.C. ACORN and a member of the ACORN 8.
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POPSIs being an expert a key to good leadership? Clipped this from an interesting article that uses General Electric as an example of a company that doesn't prioritize expertise or understanding of how things work or how they're made in or to manage their development. From my personal experience with Clipmarks and Amplify i can definitely say that i wish i had greater knowledge of how things work technically and have often felt that i would help us make better decisions if i did. That said, i also think my lack of knowledge about how things work has allowed me to have an open mind about things, because i'm not burdened with the knowledge of how difficult things may be.
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POPSThe Forgotten War Sri Lanka continues to fight a civil war and innocent people are caught in the middle, please ask Ms. Clinton to increase pressure to stop fighting.
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