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POPS15 Quotes by Famous Atheists Bertrand Russell: “You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.”
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POPSSchizophrenia: The Curse That's Almost a Blessing
A recent study may have found what kind of process goes awry in schizophrenic brains. Researchers found that DISC1 regulates the migration of new neurons in the adult brain. When the levels of DISC1 were reduced in mice during adult neurogenesis, the newborn neurons sped up and overshot their intended targets within the hippocampus, When the neurons finally reached their destinations, they forged an unusual number of connections with neighboring cells, a series of events that might give rise to the abnormal—and quite crippling—brain functions associated with schizophrenia, according to Hongjun Song, a Johns Hopkins neurologist who also worked on the study. It is possible, Song says, that further research will lead to a drug that treats schizophrenia by restoring normal neurogenesis. So what evolutionary advantage could schizophrenia-related genes bring to people who have some of the genes but not the disease? For now, this remains one of the many open questions.
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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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POPSPostcards from Auschwitz These photos teach us an important historical lesson: that there is no line separating humans from monsters, a single being can be both, simultaneously. Contrary to the common presumption, you do not lose your humanity simply because you dehumanize others. Even our worst enemies and the most hideous criminals are startlingly normal people. If there is a difference between the good and the bad, it must be that truly good people do not think themselves above being capable of true evil. When we lose sight of that, when we begin to presume our own righteousness, declare those who differ with us irredeemably mad or evil, and excuse our own transgressions on account of our own faultlessness, who is to say that we are any different from these people?
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POPS26 Ways We Decieve Ourselves Pretty good list with links defining each of the different ways we deceive ourselves. We are all probably guilty of quite a few of these. Interesting read.
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POPSHow to Brood Tom Chiarella might be my favorite author to clip, not only because of the originality of his topics but because of his pithy, honest terseness and his wry approach to modern life. Now pardon me while I mull over what all this implies about me, Clipmarks, and the entire history of humanity alone in a corner somewhere.... Some people are smart. They stay away. You might call this respect. Others are pathological in their worry. "Why so glum?" they ask. Or "How you doing, big guy?" And just because they won't honor my need to be alone in public, to stretch around inside the muscle of my worry, or respect the fact that a smile is sometimes just a tiresome, mawkish mask, I flat-out lie. I tell them I'm doing fine. Jim Dandy. Then I smile and wait for a good moment to turn back to my troubles -- which now include the fact that some jackass thinks it's okay to call me "big guy."
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POPSSingularity by 2045 - incredible life in a tamed world Other possible advancements from 2050 to 2100 could include colonies on Moon, Mars and beyond, finding and harnessing wormholes that break “light speed” barriers in extraterrestrial travel, and whisking information through time to meet ourselves at an earlier age, or go forward and see what the future has in store for us. It may even become possible to gather scanned minds from lost loved ones before their death enabling them to continue living in our time. How wild would that be?
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POPSHow Homophobia Hurts Us All It hurts me that my own Mother wouldn't love me if she knew I was bisexual, but it also helps me to know that through it all some people can love me for who I am. My husband, my youngest daughter, my very best friends, and the support at CM.
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POPSEmotional Problems of Gifted Children And they are so often shunned by the 'Normals' as weird etc so they have problems with relationships. They grow into adults who may be the great shapers of humanity, or succumb to the tragedy of their isolation. Education really should pay more than lip service to the 'gifted child'.
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POPSRare words 'mutate' faster than common ones. I suppose if people don't use a word it is forgotten, or badly remembered. There was a great shift in language in Britain after the Black Plague. Labor became expensive and people who once were 'common folk' acquired money, land, and assumed positions of power. French that was spoken in the royal court, and was considered the 'official' language. This gave us many words describing end products, like beef, veal, and bacon, while words like calf,cow,and pig, which were in common use and concerned things that involved everyday farmers, and workers, The two dialects combining were a significant element in the evolution of the English language, because of the way it changed the frequency of word use.
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