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POPSAm I a terrorist now?!? Be careful what you read online?!? Damn, I protest this! Sheesh, according to the Patriot Act § 802 and the definitions of domestic terrorism, legitimate protest could be prosecuted as terrorism! I kid you not! Hey, maybe this very clip could put me i Guantanamo! Folks, you'd better not pop this clip or they'll probably accuse you of giving me "material support" and end up in the cage next to mine! Oops, too late, if you've already read this far... Sheesh! Where will it end?!? Oh, well...orange suits me :o( (please send care packages)
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POPSNational Writing Day Now there's the computer and the internet. In the digital age, anyone with a laptop, a wi-fi card, and a place to sit at Starbucks can put material into cyberspace. The digital revolution means everyone's an author, every day is National Writing Day. And this sudden democratizing of the writing process generates its own set of complaints: * it's wrong to give so many people access to authorship -- after all, most people won't be very good at, and some people are going to write things that we don't agree with * computers make writing too easy -- something so important should only come with effort -- no pain, no gain -- maybe we should increase the entrance fees? * we need to control, license, censor what's on the 'net: after all, the web is full of lies, misinformation, nonsense, pornography, fraud, Nigerian money scams, and hate, not to mention all those pictures of little cats But despite the complaints, writers everywhere are grabbing their keyboards...
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POPSHmm: Internet porn prevents rapes (Slate, Oct 2006) The article has an interesting couple paragraphs on porn: "Similarly, psychologists have found that male subjects, immediately after watching pornography, are more likely to express misogynistic attitudes. But as professor Kendall points out, we need to be clear on what those experiments are testing: They are testing the effects of watching pornography in a controlled laboratory setting under the eyes of a researcher. The experience of viewing porn on the Internet, in the privacy of one's own room, typically culminates in a slightly messier but far more satisfying experience—an experience that could plausibly tamp down some of the same aggressions that the pornus interruptus of the laboratory tends to stir up. In other words, if you want to understand the effects of on-screen sex and violence outside the laboratory, psych experiments don't tell you very much. Sooner or later, you've got to look at the data."
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POPSBest on the Net: Italy expose Income of All! Tax evasion is rife in Italy and both Silvio Berlusconi, the incoming PM, and the man he succeeds, Romano Prodi, pledged to tackle tax cheats. Prodi's finance ministry described the move as a bid to shine a light on people's murky tax returns. The tax minister, Vincenzo Visco, was quoted in Italy's Corriere della Sera saying: "It's all about transparency and democracy. I don't see the problem." But the timing of the release of the information has been viewed with scepticism. It was one of the last acts of Prodi's centre-left government before it leaves office next week, sparking accusations the move was motivated by spite. ... Guardian
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POPSRon Paul's $4.2 Million Nov 5th Money Bomb The Washington Post knew that they had to print something. Not too bad an article. This will increase his fundraising and people will now takes his positions seriously. No way this was done by "spammers". It's very real, and the neocons' worst nightmare.
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POPSChina Will Be #1 in Greenhouse Emissions by 2008 No, this doesn't mean that since china is going to pollute a lot, then we should not bother doing anything.. quite the opposite.. we should work with china to help them come up with strategies to reduce their footprint. The main issue seems to be in infrastructure and that their populous is coming into the "new" age at a rapid pace. China, seems to be at least attempting to do something about it. In many provinces, their emissions standards for new cars are much more stringent than any in north America, and on par with many places in Europe (sorry, am going off what i saw on a documentary ... I'll try and find web links later)... Alas, they are undergoing massive reforestation & reclamation of desert lands .. trying to replace the damage they have done in many places by over farming.. Alas, in other provinces, things aren't so "green".
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POPSGoogle Browser Coming Your Way Soon? I think the most interesting think to note out of this whole article is the fact that Google has regestered the domain name gbrowser.com. While they may just be covering all of their bases I think that this bodes well for a future release of their own browser. I am sure that some of you will see this as another indication that Google is taking over the world, and while that may be true, I am not quite convinced that Google is as evil as some are making them out to be. Or maybe they are taking over Mwahahahah :)