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POPSThe real Obama (is not fit for President)
The story of Obama's political career is not a pretty story. He won his first political victory by being the only candidate on the ballot-- after hiring someone skilled at disqualifying the signers of opposing candidates' petitions, on whatever technicality he could come up with. Despite his words today about "change" and "cleaning up the mess in Washington," Obama was not on the side of reformers who were trying to change the status quo of corrupt, machine politics in Chicago and clean up the mess there. Obama came out in favor of the Daley machine and against reform candidates. Senator Obama is running on an image that is directly the opposite of what he has been doing for two decades. His escapes from his past have been as remarkable as the great escapes of Houdini. Why much of the public and the media have been so mesmerized by the words and the image of Obama, and so little interested in learning about the factual reality, was perhaps best explained by an official of the
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POPSToy Robot Intended to Save Humans This narrative, crafted by Hugo award winner Tony Daniel and University of Texas performance professor Thomas Riccio, is intended to make Zeno into a character that people identify with and want to to see develop — something with the depth of a movie character or a figure from a Homerian epic. That makes Zeno into as much of a sociological experiment as it is a technical marvel or fun toy. "The idea is to create a cultural phenomenon and accelerate the use and humanization of the technology," Where story, game, reality, toys are not differentiable anymore.
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POPSLet's junk the myths and celebrate what we've got Moreover, we need to become responsible versus petty humans; in the words of the article "When you see nothing but junk, create quality. Where quality is hard to find, curate it, adding your own seal of approval with a link. When you read inaccuracies and misunderstandings, add facts, corrections, context and journalism. If people on the internet get things wrong, educate them. When you hear the noise of people talking online, listen." Thumbs up.
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POPSCitroen GTbyCitroen goes from game to reality Sadly, very little is known about the GTbyCitroen in terms of performance, expected cost, or whether it'll reach mass production, but here's hoping. Citroen would earn itself a virtually unlimited amount of kudos if it went ahead and made it for real for real. We might even forgive it for the Citroen Ami.
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POPSNew Brit TV show debuts-Torture as entertainment The show's presenter, the explorer Benedict Allen, admitted that he himself had been concerned about some participants' state of mind at times. "We knew we couldn't afford to kill anyone but yes, there were times when I was seriously worried. It got pretty hairy. Two hours into filming on the first day, one of the contestants collapsed on the floor and suffered convulsions. We were stuck in the depths of the jungle in Guyana and we had to get him out. It didn't start well."
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POPS Invisibility cloaks could take sting out of tsunamis "I think that this is a great idea with much potential," says Ulf Leonhardt at the University of St Andrews, UK. "One could really imagine protecting coastlines by arrays of cleverly designed concrete poles." Such structures act like metamaterials, materials whose properties result from their structure not composition, and can be used to make invisibility cloaks for light, he says. But Guenneau cautions that large structures like islands and coastlines are unlikely to become invisible anytime soon, because building the many small islands needed to protect one is such a big job. "It's crazy – maybe only people in Dubai could do this," he adds, referring to the spectacular artificial islands built there. Smaller structures such as offshore oil platforms would be easier to protect, he says.
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POPSAl QAEDA' S PLAN B Book Review from the New York Post: "These are some of the ideas developed by al Qaeda's chief theoretician, Sheik Abu-Bakar Naji, in his new book "Governance in the Wilderness" (Edarat al-Wahsh" I URGE A CAREFUL READING OF THIS ARTICLE AT SITE: http://www.nypost.com/seven/07012008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/al_qaedas_plan_b_117936.htm?page=0
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POPSMore Frank Rich In his excellent column in today's N.Y.Times Frank Rich points out that a Carl Rove policy means "all slime,all the time"
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POPSThe World's Greatest Aviation Innovations 9. The flying wing -- Yves Rossy keeps breaking records and defying expectations with his 8-foot-diameter, carbon composite flying wing. Last week he made a successful 13 minute, 125 mph trip across the English Channel. 10. Stealth aircraft -- What's cooler than a plane that can outsmart radar? Because the surfaces of a stealth are designed to absorb radio waves or reflect them away from the receiver, stealth planes can sneak in and sneak out undetected. Too bad they're so expensive: The 21 plane B-2 program cost over $45 billion. 11. Jetway -- Another one most of us don't think about is the long covered walkway the connects our departure gate with our plane. 12. Deicing -- Ice buildup is the cause of many fatal aircraft accidents, which is why applying monopropylene de-icing fluid to wings pre-flight has become standard operating procedure.
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POPSTom Starkel, Missing 30 Years I've been sifting through google, looking for whatever information I can find about Tom. One thing that has me a bit puzzled is the fact that Tom disappeared without a trace, and someone else was found driving his vehicle. (arrested then later released due to lack of evidence) YET when I view .state.ca.us/ Tom is listed as a Voluntary Missing Adult? Missing Person
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POPSPalin's Alternate Universe “Say it ain’t so, Joe! There you go pointing backwards again ... Now, doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and God bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? Aw-shucks, darn-right, I’m-just-a-hockey-mom governor of Alaska mouthing something completely devoid of meaning? If Governor Palin didn’t like a question, or didn’t know the answer, she responded as though some other question had been asked. She made no bones about this, saying early in the debate: “I may not answer the questions the way that either the moderator or you want to hear.”
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POPSMurdered young man of Todmorden No matter who or what created the character of this young Englishman, he did not deserve to be murdered on the streets of Todmorden. Close scrutiny of this boy's history shows the dire pits into which the Social Services in Britain have fallen. The cases of mal-management are legend, but the this over paid bureaucratic self opinionated shower of professionals keep making basic errors. Too much eduction and no involvement of reality. They go to work five morning a week, make occasional house call, collect their expense claims, and at four-thirty go to the pub to tell their fellow workers what good eggs they are. They are cracked and need overhauling with a yard brush. Had they done their job correctly, this young man would not have thought there was a need for him to carry and use a knife on some other young person. Social Service employees are so much like their worthless employers, the politician, that it is impossible to tell them apart.
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POPS Main Street vs Wall Street While this is unpleasant for those who work in the field, it is necessary to achieve better balance in our overall economy. We could see a large reduction in the number of firms and the number of people employed in financial services without impairing households’ ability to invest safely or obtain credit that they can use prudently. Rogoff views the financial bailout as akin to a tariff for the steel industry or a subsidy for the auto industry. It is testimony more to the power of the financial industry’s political connections than to its role in the economy. Banks are important, yes. But so are manufacturing firms and software companies. When the Internet bubble popped, we did not send government aid to the technology industry, which has since recovered nicely following a shakeout. The other claim that is made on behalf of the bailout is that Treasury will make a profit for taxpayers by buying distressed mortgage-related assets.
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POPSThis was well said... The division is intentional. The left profits from it. It is their M.O. The only unity they want is a forced organic unity bred from the ideology they espouse. The resurgence of this fascist tendency is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. The less credibility we allow these complete idiots, the better.
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POPSA Global Killer Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are giving back to the country where their 3-year-old daughter Zahara was born. The couple have donated $2 million to help fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Ethiopia, said the Global Health Committee, which announced the donation by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
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POPSRuffled Feathers or Legal Bowel Movement? With so many "high profile" crimes against women in Will County, IL, you would think those who live there would be lining the streets in protest. Fact. If we reduce the number of domestic violence cases, give women the protection in the legal system, there would be a vast reduction in the number of women missing and murdered.
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POPSMore Evidence of Sanctified Civil Liberty Violations
Border Agents are now allowed to search you and your car and belongings without evidence or suspicion of wrong doing. They can make copies of anything you have in your possession including laptops, cell phones, personal papers, diaries, date books, etc. What they do with this information ends up on government databases to be added to your very own file which, of course, you cannot access but every law enforcement agency across the country can, with or without a valid reason. If citizens were not aware that there are unethical individuals in law enforcement and scattered throughout the government who can access these files, and if we did not know that files get ‘lost’, and if we were not aware that computer files get hacked into, why would we worry? But these things have all become reality and pervasive. First Amendment rights are one of the last protections we Americans have against this government becoming a Fascist state. And since George W Bush was first elected, his gan
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POPS"Should a belief in witchcraft exclude someone from holding high office?"
article continues: Despite whatever you may feel about the moderate adherent of christianity, surely you can agree that witches and general witchery do not exist. Human beings have made some progress over the years, and a portion of that progress is our disbelief in notions like witchcraft and demon possession. In my view, an earnest belief in something so outrageous indicates a defect in one's mental faculties. Accusations of witchery have largely been a political construct. That is not to deny that many people over history have chosen to describe themselves as such, but allegations of congress with the devil and the ability to cast spells on others was merely maneuver of the church accomplish political gains. Most of the victims of this happened to be women of insignificant standing in their community; often they were old and barely lucid, or outcasts due to appearance or behavior. Factoring in primitive attitudes and easily incited citizens looking to blame someone for what were
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POPSRussia Moving into U.S. Backyard Thanks to the arrogance of the Bush/Cheney foreign policy with Venezuela, we now have talk of nuclear reactors being built in Venezuela with Russia's assistance. Relations between U.S. and Venezuela have been deteriorating for years and as a result Russia is extending its reach around the world. If we had maintained better relations with Russia, this would not cause Americans much concern. But the reality is that we now have two oil rich nations trading nuclear technology and weapons that are not motivated to work with the U.S.
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POPSThe Financial Crisis And how many politicians have we heard say that this Financial Crisis is Bush's fault. If you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it. Leave no incumbent in office.
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POPSOld Man Needs a Nap McCain increasingly seems to be losing touch with reality as he continues to make false statements in light of what most people see as reality. How can a seasoned politician like McCain have such a political tin ear? He seems almost incapable recently of correctly reading the tone and direction of the public.
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POPSGames and reality, Which affects which? on the other hand, "some biologists think the game could have educational value just by making users think about science, like an entertaining hook into evolutionary biology." "Ultimately, games are made to engage the people who play them. Provoking wonderment or debate is a good thing. Wright abstracts grandiose topics, and he does it well. Not enough game designers have the stones or the vision to try the same, which is why we get battered with endless versions of Madden NFL (also put out by Electronic Arts). In the end, that's also why Spore leaves such an impression. It's more than just fun. It's worth arguing about."
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