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POPSCommonly overused words "When you write, use the most precise word for your meaning, not the word that comes to mind first. Consult this thesaurus to find alternatives for some commonly overused words. Consult a full-length thesaurus to find alternatives to words that do not appear here. Keep in mind that the choices offered in a thesaurus do not all mean exactly the same thing. Review all the options, and choose the one that best expresses your meaning."
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POPSYep again! So true...so very damn true! You wonder why our military is stretched too thin...why we need Asia and the Middle East to bail out our banks...why we haven't embraced alternatives to oil like Asia and Europe have...why we haven't caught Bin Laden... Maybe it's because we keep electing people that seem cool to hang out with but aren't capable of leading the world's most powerful nation. How about George Bush and Sarah Palin start a tv show called "politicians that seem fun to hang out with" and we start electing more boring but gifted people as President.
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POPSDangerously Fun If you got board from clipping or reading other's clips, here is some fun alternatives. :-)
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POPSWhy we need high oil prices I know this sounds crazy, but i honestly believe that high oil prices in the short term (1-5 years) is a very good thing if it forces us to find alternatives. I am definitely concerned that if oil prices drop temporarily, the momentum behind alternatives such as wind and solar will die off - leaving us exactly where we are today - way too dependent on oil and way to harmful to our environment.
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POPSWhy doing nothing may sometimes be the best action of all
By taking action — even if it’s neither rational nor likely to be successful — they can at least be seen to have done something.If they stand and wait until the ball is kicked and then fail to stop it, they feel worse because of their inaction; and others are far more likely to criticize them for not appearing even to try. It’s better to try a poor action than try a better — but seemingly passive — response if both fail; even though the “inactive” response is more rational and based on a better likelihood of success. In today’s business world, action is preferred over the alternatives and is more likely to result in forgiveness when a mistake is made. You can always say that you tried. The person who does nothing is doubly damned: once for the mistake and again for not “doing something.”This urge to action — to get things done — is more emotional than rational. “Wait and see” risks your credibility and reputation, even where it can be shown to be the optimal course.
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POPSThe power and the glory The market for energy is huge. At present, the world’s population consumes about 15 terawatts of power. (A terawatt is 1,000 gigawatts, and a gigawatt is the capacity of the largest sort of coal-fired power station.) That translates into a business worth $6 trillion a year—about a tenth of the world’s economic output—according to John Doerr, a venture capitalist who is heavily involved in the industry. And by 2050, power consumption is likely to have risen to 30 terawatts.
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POPSFrance launches digital library... 12,000 public domain full-text documents but is set to have by 2010 over 6 million books, movies, photographs and other documents from across the European Union countries.
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POPSCup of tea may help boost memory! "Drinking regular cups of tea could help improve your memory, research suggests." Both green tea and black tea inhibit enzymes that help produce protein deposits in the brain which are associated with Alzheimer's disease. Green tea's inhibitive effect lasts longer. Good news for those of us who love to drink tea, particularly green tea. I'm going to brew a pot right now...
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POPSOil Shortage a myth? "The bad news is that by underestimating proven oil reserves we have been lulled into a false sense of security in terms of environmental issues, because it suggests we will have to find alternatives to fossil fuels in a few decades," said Dr Pike. "We should not be surprised if oil dominates well into the twenty-second century. It highlights a major error in energy and environmental planning – we are dramatically underestimating the challenge facing us," he said. Jeremy Leggett, author of Half Gone, a book on peak oil, is not convinced that Dr Pike is right. "The flow rates from the existing projects are the key. Capacity coming on stream falls fast beyond 2011," Dr Leggett said. "On top of that, if the big old fields begin collapsing, the descent in supply will hit the world very hard."
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POPSHarnessing Microbes To Meet Our Future Energy Needs "Microorganisms can provide just the services our society needs to move from fossil fuels to renewable biofuels," said Rittmann. "Only the microorganisms can pass all the tests, and we should take full advantage of the opportunities that microorganisms present."
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POPSFlu Vaccine May Be More Dangerous Than Virus Schafer said the real question is one of relative risks and benefits. The H1N1 flu, he said, has proved to date to be no more lethal than seasonal flu. Vaccines to treat seasonal flu have not been effective, and there is no evidence to suggest a vaccine for H1N1 will be more effective, he added. Schafer said an independent review of the effectiveness of flu vaccines concluded that healthy adults shouldn't be taking them. He said he wonders why anyone would want to take a vaccine for H1N1 that's being rushed into clinical use. "The so-called cure can be worse than the disease, or can be useless. There may be other alternatives, safer, more effective things we can do.