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POPSConcrete that literally eats pollution. If it works, then this could be a big breakthrough indeed. However, it's not like cities are going to start re-paving roads that don't need it, or demoing & rebuilding building, (or even just repainting them with this solution)... The cost would be prohibitive. So that 50% savings (just off of 15% of concrete surfaces) is a LONG way away. Plus, this definitely doesn't curb the need for changing the way we pollute...
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POPSCan the Singularity Save Us From Ourselves? Persons who believe firmly in the inevitability of The Singularity might be surprised to learn that the default human society is the closed society, resistant to change. Most of them have never known anything but open societies, born of western civilization’s restless urge to expand intellectual horizons. They live in an exceptional time, in an exceptional society, yet somehow believe it to be the human default. That type of blindness comes from forgetting to study history.
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POPSQUIZ: What American Accent Do You Have? If you think you don't have an accent, think again. This short quiz is a way to find out which dialect of American English you speak. Different regional accents become more prevalent in countries at different times throughout the years for various socio-economic and geographical reasons. These accents come to be perceived as "neutral" or "accent-less" by the majority during these times. For a while, the American dialect sometimes called "Standard Midwestern" has dominated but, like accents themselves, this "standard" constantly evolves. Recently, the spoken aspects of American English have trended westward along with the population center of America. Many features distinct to Northeastern accents (think NYC, Boston) are being replaced in popularity with those from Western accents (think LA) across America. This shift tends to be more prominent the younger the speaker is.
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POPSAnother Great Depression? "I've been asked many times whether we will have another Great Depression," said David M. Kennedy, a Stanford University history professor and the author of "Freedom From Fear," a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Depression and World War II. "My standard answer is that we won't have that one again -- I'd be surprised to have one of that seriousness and duration. But that doesn't mean we wouldn't have a catastrophe we haven't seen before." Thank you very much Mr. President.
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POPSVulberability of the power grid It's incredible to me that more isn't being done to make the United States power grid more state of the art. That means the ability to transfer greater amounts of electricity over larger distances with more reliability and security. It seems to me that this is just a disaster waiting to happen.
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POPSREALITY CHECK! There is a frightening new global trend of denial... Europeans think that they don't need to limit fishing... Car companies don't think they need to improve fuel economy standards... Bush thinks he can increase spending and cut taxes at the same time... Jingoists think we are winning the war in Iraq... Democrats think Hillary Clinton has enough experience to win an election... Polluters think that Global Warming won't really happen... Evangelicals think Jesus is coming back soon... Fundamentalists think they can win the war against modernity... The truth is: we're stuck with this world. The rules DO apply. No free passes. You have to face the music sometime. We must choose realism over comfortable delusion. Unfortunately, for now, wistful thinking will rule the day until we let it all collapse around us. Then we'll stand there scratching our heads saying: How could this happen?
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POPSChomsky: If US was a true Democracy!
On all these topics, White House policy is completely at odds with what public opinion wants. But the media rarely publish the polls that highlight this persistent public opposition. Not only are citizens excluded from political power, they are also kept in a state of ignorance as to the true state of public opinion. There is growing international concern about the massive US double deficit affecting trade and the budget. But both are closely linked to a third deficit, the democratic deficit that is constantly growing, not only in the US but all over the western world. The US press sometimes publishes even my work, and the US is not a totalitarian country. But anyone who fails to fulfil certain minimum requirements does not stand a chance of becoming an established commentator. One of the big differences between the propaganda system of a totalitarian state and democratic societies go about things. Exaggerating slightly, in totalitarian countries the state decides the official li
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POPS16 Of The World's Best Squares: Think About The Details From Mexico to Italy to Iran, these remarkable squares can inspire us all. What stands out most is that design is only a small fraction of what goes into making a great square: small details add up to great places. Historically, squares were the center of communities, and they traditionally helped shape the identity of entire cities. Like the tentacles of an octopus extending into the surrounding neighborhood, the influence of a good square (such as Union Square in New York) starts at least a block away. Any great square has a variety of smaller "places" within it to appeal to various people. The use of a square changes during the course of the day, week, and year. The streets and sidewalks around a square greatly affect its accessibility and use, as do the buildings that surround it. Any community where people want to discover the rewards of public life can make a square its centerpiece.
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POPSToward a Type 1 civilization Along with energy policy, political and economic systems must also evolve. Michael Shermer, one of the most trusted voices in todays world.
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POPSThe Success of Savage Capitalism is the Failure of our Society
Consider these three articles puzzling over the US Economy. The dollar is in free-fall but the GDP is growing. The credit bubble is bursting, but production is up. American companies are making money hand over fist but the wealth gap is staggering. So the question is: has the Regan/Bush agenda of Savage Anything-Goes Global Capitalism worked? Is America a better nation because of it? The answer is no. We are not developing our economy, we are just generating wealth for the top 1%. We aren't improving our country so much as optimizing it for de facto feudalism. Some one needs to give a real good answer as to why this surreal economic nightmare is a success story, or we need to finally admit that Savage Capitalism is motivated by nothing more than greed and wistful thinking. It's time to get real about our country and our economy. Unless we can save the middle class, then we will be nothing but a crude fiefdom of modern Robber Barons.
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POPSGlobal compassion - photos Discrimination is an act of depriving individuals of their fundamental human rights and treating them unjustly in any aspect of their lives, be it political, economic or cultural. In Japan, Buraku discrimination happens against people who were born or live in the Hisabetsu Buraku (discriminated districts). The roots of Buraku discrimination come from feudal Japan, when the Buraku were areas separated from the other social classes. The people there lived under tight restrictions in every part of their lives, such as clothing, jobs, and home, due to the feudal class system formed by a variety of political and social factors. These historical areas are the origins of today’s Buraku, people who are still the target of discrimination due to the influence of subsequent social systems. This discrimination is what Japanese call, “Buraku issues.” (via boing-boing)
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POPS'Wild-Eyed’ Bush Thumped Chest: ‘I Am The President!’ Is this a joke?? (We all know Bush is a joke, it's the article I mean.) He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.” And that destiny would be what? Economic collapse? Endless wars? Dictatorship? Fascism? Land of the not-so-Free? World War lll? Give us a clue, Mr Boosh! Too many choices!
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POPS Hunger Due to Injustice, Not Lack of Food Worth noting:: "In addition, the offspring of some GM plants are sterile, which means they cannot be stored to grow future crops. Poor farmers thus become dependent on transnational companies, and are forced to buy new seeds every year."
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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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POPSMust-know terms for the 21st Century intellectual One author's mostly optimistic prediction of the ideas that will come to define our collective future. Nicely done. Open Source : This is a term that most people are familiar with, but it’s worth re-stating. The open source revolution, where information is freely distributed and editable, is already reshaping a number of industries and upsetting traditional economic and intellectual property models. Wikipedia has very quickly become the world’s largest repository of encyclopedic information. Linux and other open source software continue to rival the big players. And looking further down the line, there’s the potential for open source science, culture, and the disturbing potential for open source warfare.
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