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POPSPhoto Tampering Throughout History see rest of photos in original page, linked to my previous post: Digital Forensics: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Photo http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/D516F80D-C71B-4B53-BB9C-77EA80B8C919/
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POPSUnintelligent Design At this point, 30 years after the Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman and his late collaborator Amos Tversky started documenting a rash of fallacies in human reasoning, the idea that the human mind would be "perfect in His image" is as outdated (and narcissistic) as the idea that the solar system would revolve around the planet earth. The only theory that can really make sense of these needless imperfections is Darwin's theory of natural selection, which holds that humans (and all other life forms) evolve through a blind process known as descent-with-modification, in which new life forms represent random modifications of earlier life forms -- with no central overseer to guide the process. Such a random process can, over time, lead populations of creatures to become more adapted to their environment, but it is also vulnerable to getting stuck, in the sort of good-enough-but-not-perfect solutions that mathematicians call local maxima.
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POPSBodyshock: The Amazing Story behind the 256 Year-Old Man "Looking at all of this from a medical and documented perspective: Jeanne Louise Calment, a French woman who died in 1997 so far holds the title for the person who has roamed the earth the longest: 122 years, which is a phenomenal length of time. That means, that if the records discovered by Wu Chung-chien were accurate, Li Ching-Yun’s age would surpass the official record by more than 130 years. Is this even medically possible? The detail, which seems to prove both arguments and debunk them at the same time, is Li’s youthful appearance, noted in a 1928 article from the New York Times. Visually and physically, he appeared to look like a typical 60 year-old. Does this therefore signify a superhuman body capable of lasting one quarter of a millennium, or is the story of Li Ching-Yun based on a series of half-truths, lies or exaggerations?"
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POPS"paintings are talking you, beyond word" ...Buddhist art... "The Buddha did not initiate the creation of sacred images. Once he said to a disciple, who wanted to see him before dying: «Oh, Vakkhali, why do you want to see this body, composed of unclear substances? He who perceives Dharma, Vakkhali, perceives me. He who perceives me perceives Dharma». Thus, as far as we know, there was no worship of the Buddha’s image in the early Buddhist community after his Parinirvāṇa.
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POPSStone babies (disturbing image) When the fetus cannot be expelled, the woman's body protects itself by forming a thick layer of calcium around the fetus, effectively preserving the fetus.
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POPSArt: Maria Lassnig - Nudes A new exhibition of Maria Lassnig's paintings is opening on April 25 at the Serpentine, London. Her work deals with the awareness we have of our own bodies, and rejects the strictures of traditional portraiture. Have a look at some of her work Truth and dare At nearly 90, the painter Maria Lassnig is producing the most confrontational work of her life. She talks to Adrian Searle The painter greets us, naked. She holds a gun to her own head, and aims another at her spectators. Maria Lassnig, approaching 90, might be trying to tell us something. You or Me is the title of this self-portrait, painted in 2005 and the first thing you see in her exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London. As well as an introduction, the painting is a test: bolt and run, or stay and face the consequences. I plunged right in. Visual art Truth and dare At nearly 90, the painter Maria Lassnig is producing the most confrontational work of her life. She talks to Adrian Searle In pictur
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POPSOut of Body Illusion Demonstrated in Lab Being innately skeptical I never bought into the validity of the "out of body" experience. We now have experiments that show that this is indeed a phenomena that is constructed by peoples brains to explain conflicting sense inputs. Another brick in the wall of mysticism and magic appears to be ready to fall.
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POPSFat Studies There's important research to be done along these lines, I have to confess to having some small problems with this as a specialty.
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POPSGood job making that baby By Maggie Mason from MightyGirl. BNM says: With the latest crop of celebrity babies, the magazine covers are loaded with "how I lost the baby weight" stories. The outright disdain and loathing that Hollywood has for body fat is sad. You can't even create an entire human being without someone curling their lip at your glorious birthing hips, your nourishing thighs, your comforting breasts, your full joyful face. My body is more than my size. My body is amazing.