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POPSBy imagining many possible worlds fiction can chang our Minds "For more than two thousand years people have insisted that reading fiction is good for bookyou. Aristotle claimed that poetry—he meant the epics of Homer and the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, which we would now call fiction—is a more serious business than history. History, he argued, tells us only what has happened, whereas fiction tells us what can happen, which can stretch our moral imaginations and give us insights into ourselves and other people. This is a strong argument for schools to continue to focus on the literary arts, not just history, science, and social studies. But is the idea of fiction being good for you merely wishful thinking?'
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POPSThe Chain Gang Do societal expectations of gender roles hurt men and women? Please feel free to share opinions regarding the positive or negative roles imposed upon us by society, however refrain from attacking a clipper's opinions or experiences as those comments will be deleted.
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POPSWelcome to Heaven Everybody seems pretty smug in thinking they are of the right religion when all doors go to the same place.
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POPSLife Prison Terms for Children? What are we thinking!? What we are thinking is that county prosecutors get elected in the counties they serve in and "being tough" is generally the only qualification people run on. Often the same distinction is used by state legislators to get elected and re-elected. News media outlets all compete for attention, to sell advertising and make a profit. "DA seeks life to teen rapist!" "DA may seek life for young sex criminal!" "Jury may sentence serial hoodlum to life in prison!" Here's the real question - is a particular case about the victim and perpetrator, or is it about someone seeking power and/or money at the expense of someone who may then spend life in prison whether it is really justified or equal justice.
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POPSThe Reassurance of Magic A very straightforward polemic to chew over between the cornflakes and the coffee. (Certainly, almost anything is better than pop science).
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POPSA second chance at life, thanks to strangers on a train
More: Mr. Medaglia and Dr. Tolani rode the subway downtown together… He’d missed the 5:13 train and while he was waiting at Penn Station for the 5:59, a woman came up and said, “You did the CPR on that guy, is he really going to live?” “I said I think so,” recalled Mr. Medaglia. “She blew me a kiss. She said, ‘God bless you — you did a great thing.’ I just sat on the train home, thinking, ‘Holy Jesus.’ ” …This was Lieutenant Kelly’s fourth CPR call in 13 years. The three other aideds all died. “Best thing I ever did in my life,” he said… Having gotten a second chance, Mr. Kiernan, a lifelong bachelor, said he is trying to be a better partner to his longtime girlfriend and is trying to eat more carefully, drink less, and seize each day a little more. “I’m not religious,” he said, “but I keep thinking, ‘Who put that cardiologist on the train?’ Coming home tonight, I looked around the subway car — there wasn’t anybody who looked like a cardiologist.”
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POPSART : 21 Art21 Access '09 is an international screening initiative that provides opportunities to increase knowledge of contemporary art, ignite dialogue, and inspire creative thinking through hundreds of public screenings and events celebrating the premiere of the fifth season.
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POPSTwo Is Better Than One ♫ I remember what you wore on the first day You came into my life and I thought "Hey, you know, this could be something" 'Cause everything you do and words you say You know that it all takes my breath away And now I'm left with nothing 'Cause maybe it's true That I can't live without you Maybe two is better than one There's so much time To figure out the rest of my life And you thought that it got me coming undone And I'm thinking two is better than one I remember every look upon your face The way you roll your eyes The way you taste You make it hard for breathing 'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away I think of you and everything's okay I'm finally now believing That maybe it's true That I can't live without you Maybe two is better than one There's so much time To figure out the rest of my life And you thought that it got me coming undone And I'm thinking two is better than one ♫
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POPSDoes Economics Violate the Laws of Physics? Excellent article on how, among other things, economists treat energy as a commodity and ignore that it takes energy to produce the other commodities. This is what happens when our educational system gets taken over by people who devalue the subject of Science...not to mention common sense.
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POPS"The World Will Not End on Dec. 21, 2012" Morrison said he tries to reassure people that their fears are groundless, but has received so many inquiries that he has posted a list of 10 questions and answers on the website of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (www.astrosociety.org). Titled "Doomsday 2012, the Planet Nibiru and Cosmophobia," the article breaks down the sources of the hysteria and assures people that the ancients didn't actually know more about the cosmos than we do. "The world will not come to an end on Dec. 21, 2012," E.C. Krupp, director of Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory, declared in a statement released Thursday by the observatory and Sky & Telescope magazine. Krupp debunks the 2012 doomsday idea in the cover story of the magazine's November issue. Morrison said he attributes the excitement to the conflation of several items into one mega-myth. One is the persistent Internet rumor that a planet called Nibiru or Planet X is going to crash into the Earth. . .