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POPSFISK: "Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11"
....– whose melting point is supposed to be about 1,480C – would snap through at the same time? (They collapsed in 8.1 and 10 seconds.) What about the third tower – the so-called World Trade Centre Building 7 (or the Salmon Brothers Building) – which collapsed in 6.6 seconds in its own footprint at 5.20pm on 11 September? Why did it so neatly fall to the ground when no aircraft had hit it? The American National Institute of Standards and Technology was instructed to analyse the cause of the destruction of all three buildings. They have not yet reported on WTC 7. Two prominent American professors of mechanical engineering – very definitely not in the "raver" bracket – are now legally challenging the terms of reference of this final report on the grounds that it could be "fraudulent or deceptive". Journalistically, there were many odd things about 9/11. Initial reports of reporters that they heard "explosions" in the towers – which could well have been the beams cracking – are easy to
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POPS"What If He Is?" God bless Powell for speaking the truth. As a popular personality, he hit the nail on the head.
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POPSWhat if everything you believe is Wrong? Retrospect and reflection are priceless. It's easy to cherish a belief that we are not prepared to challenge. Like a crab that needs to shed it's shell to grow, for a short time is soft and vulnerable. Soon it is harder, stronger and bigger. (unless it's a Hermit crab, with a new shell ready) One of the keys to the manner in which we challenge our beliefs is through learning and experience. Without the unknown to draw us forward, we would run around in circles. Consider the way a child sees the world. It can be valid, but sometimes beliefs belong in the domain of children. Children can believe a man they barely know gives them gifts for Christmas. There comes a time in their life that they have to admit not so much that this is a fiction, but that the truth has been that their parents have had to work to get the money to get the gifts, with absolutely no credit. (Sorry, I should write Recognition. Credit and Christmas are Mortal enemies)
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POPSThe Clay Model - The Illusion of Life A funny and insightful look into the reality of life, from the spiritual point of view. With deep humanity and humor, Belzebuub talks about the illusory nature of life and the spiritual reality behind it using the analogy of a clay model. At the same time, the video is deeply serious and pressing for each person. Does it resonate with you? Have you ever felt like you were living in a clay model?
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POPSWhy Are We So Bad at Spotting Lies? By nature, we are a rather trustful species and (unless you lie or detect lies for a living) chances are good that you harbor false assumptions of what deceitful behavior looks like. So says famous psychologist Richard Wiseman in this summary of his research into the universal, cross-cultural trait of human deception. Among other things, Wiseman shows that by the time they are five, even our own kids can fool us with ease and abandon! The simple fact is that the real clues to deceit are in the words that people use, not the body language.
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POPSWhy We Lie? Many animals engage in deception, or deliberately misleading another, but only humans are wired to deceive both themselves and others
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POPSWikipedia and the Meaning of Truth
These policies have become the social contract for Wikipedia's army of apparently insomniac volunteers. Thanks to them, incorrect information generally disappears quite quickly. So how do the Wikipedians decide what's true and what's not? On what is their epistemology based? Unlike the laws of mathematics or science, wikitruth isn't based on principles such as consistency or observability. It's not even based on common sense or firsthand experience. Wikipedia has evolved a radically different set of epistemological standards--standards that aren't especially surprising given that the site is rooted in a Web-based community, but that should concern those of us who are interested in traditional notions of truth and accuracy. On Wikipedia, objective truth isn't all that important, actually. What makes a fact or statement fit for inclusion is that it appeared in some other publication--ideally, one that is in English and is available free online. "The threshold for inclusion in Wiki
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POPSThe Code Even the CIA Can't Crack and the elusiveness of truth, its message written entirely in code. Almost 20 years after its dedication, the text has yet to be fully deciphered. A bleary-eyed global community of self-styled cryptanalysts—along with some of the agency's own staffers—has seen three of its four sections solved, revealing evocative prose that only makes the puzzle more confusing. Still uncracked are the 97 characters of the fourth part (known as K4 in Kryptos-speak). And the longer the deadlock continues, the crazier people get.
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POPSAt The Airport, You Better Smile... We now know the sound of George Orwell rolling in his grave. "Here's where it gets really absurd. Apparently, these Behavior Detection Officers work in pairs. One scenario is that an officer might move in to "help" a passenger retrieve their belongings after they've been screened. And then the officer will ask where the passenger is headed. If the passenger's reaction sets off alarm bells in the officer's well-trained mind, another officer will move in and detain them." "So while TSA employees are confiscating our scissors and water bottles, they're going to secretly be staring at us, looking for some telltale sign of terrorist intent in a grimace, a sigh, a crinkled nose? Who knows what? In the end, the Behavior Detection Officers are the ones who are really acting suspicious. Which is the truth of the matter anyway."
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POPSGossip more powerful than truth The researchers then took the game a step further and showed the students the actual decisions people had made. But they also supplied false gossip that contradicted that evidence. In these cases, the students based their decisions to award money on the gossip, rather than the hard evidence, showing such information is a powerful tool, Sommerfeld said. "Rationally if you know what the people did, you should care, but they still listened to what others said," he said. "They even reacted on it if they knew better." Researchers have long used similar games to study how people cooperate and the impact of gossip in groups. Scientists define gossip as social information spread about a person who is not present, Sommerfeld said. In evolutionary terms, gossip can be an important tool for people to acquire information about others' reputations or navigate through social networks at work and in their everyday lives, the study said. One example could be using gossip to learn tha
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POPSSupreme Court Votes to Hide the Truth The post-Constitutional Supreme Court has voted to cover up the truth about abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. They will undoubtedly be just as interested in protecting your human rights.
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