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POPSNow the US is Chasing OBL to His Cave A couple of days old but I haven't been keeping up with what was going on in Pakistan. I'm trusting that this is true. With Musharraf gone and no more attempts to prop him up...time to find the "secret hiding place".
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POPSWhy you should go with your gut feeling To uncover this ability, Pessiglione and colleague Chris Frith, of University College London, tested 20 volunteers with a simple game based on winning and losing small amounts of money. On a computer screen, the volunteers watched an animated abstract pattern which for a couple of tenths of a second included one of three symbols part way through. Unbeknownst to the subjects, the symbols indicated whether they would lose or gain £1 or break even if they accepted the gamble. Surprisingly, subjects got better at predicting whether they would win or not, eventually plateauing at slightly above chance, strong evidence that volunteers do not consciously notice the symbols but are affected by them nonetheless.
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POPSPowerMall Debate So, my dear friend, forgive me for not heeding your word of warning. Because you see, my family comes first, what kind of person would I be, if I gave my "time" to strangers, when "my family" are the one's needing my "time". I am not selfish and do not want anyone to suffer, I do what I can, for whom I can, whenever the need arises. I will continue to show my concern, and be of help. I will also continue to find the right people who believe that "together, "we can" make a difference in the world we live in". Even if our world only reaches as far as our own back yard...it makes no difference to "Him"..., just as long as we do something.....
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POPSThe End of The Fairy Tale by Ralph Peters Putin went to war and the American president went to a basketball game--reinforcing the Kremlin's conviction that it could do as it pleased and get away with it. (Bush's gravest flaw is that he's a dreadful judge of character, stubbornly trusting undeserving men, from Iraqi schemer Ahmed Chalabi , through the incompetent Alberto Gonzales , to Vladimir Putin , who played Bush for a fool.) French president Nicolas Sarkozy, well-intentioned and inadequate The Putin regime was perfectly willing to let Monsieur le President return to Paris with a signed piece of paper. The Russians have drawn the lesson from Western efforts to negotiate with Iran and other rogue states that Europe can be narcotized with empty agreements and nebulous promises and that Europe has become a continent of bureaucrats who much prefer paperwork to reality. And there are no penalties when the agreements prove worthless.
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POPSHigh childhood IQ linked to antitraditional attitudes in adults A study of a large representative sample of the UK population shows that high childhood IQ is correlated with antitraditional (i.e., liberal, mostly) attitudes in adults (described as "antiracist, pro-working women, socially liberal," and democratic).This correlation is independent of gender, occupation and social class. Full PDF at the author's website (http://snipr.com/3ixli).
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POPSComplex decision? Don't sleep on it Since its publication two years ago by a Dutch research team in the journal Science, the earlier finding had been used to encourage decision-makers to make "snap" decisions (for example, in the best-selling book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell) or to leave complex choices to the powers of unconscious thought ("Sleep on it", Dijksterhuis et al., Science, 2006). But in the new study, to be published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, scientists ran four experiments in which participants were presented with complex decisions and asked to choose the best option immediately ("blink"), after a period of conscious deliberation ("think"), or after a period of distraction ("sleep on it"), which is claimed to encourage "unconscious thought processes". In all experiments, there was some evidence that conscious deliberation can lead to better choices and little evidence for superiority of choices made "unconsciously".
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POPSBeijing Olympics Not So "Dazzling" Last week, Bush met with several Chinese dissidents in Washington, signalling that he would take a hard line on human rights. That sparked a harsh response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which said that Bush had "rudely interfered in China's internal affairs."
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POPSHumans' response to risk can be unnecessarily dangerous, study The results of Lotem's research may also be used by economists, politicians and psychologists, who need to know when people will take risks, says Prof. Lotem. A wider understanding of this phenomenon can affect business decisions, the economy ― and, hopefully, the number of road accidents in America each year.
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POPSTrusting teachers Val Harrison says that the standards of marking for tests has long been shoddy and calls on government to trust teachers with evaluation
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POPSLosing Private Dwyer "Private Dwyer, who survived rocket-propelled grenades and shocking violence, made his way back to his family and friends. But part of him was also stuck forever on a road in Iraq, helpless and terrified, with nobody to carry him to safety."
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POPSAre Facts Obsolete? Thomas Sowell now that he has gotten their votes in the Democratic primaries and needs the votes of others in the coming general election. The question of how to raise more revenue may be the economic issue but the political issue is whether socking it to “the rich” in the name of “fairness” gains more votes. What matters politically is the image of coming out on the side of “the people” against “the privileged.” When ABC's Charles Gibson reminded him of the well-documented fact that lower tax rates on capital gains had produced more actual revenue collected from that tax than the higher tax rates had, Obama was unmoved.
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POPSToday Is The Day "I won't worry about tomorrow I'm trusting in what You say" Here we go! Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh I'm casting my cares aside I'm leaving my past behind I'm setting my heart and mind on You Jesus I'm reaching my hand to Yours Believing there's so much more Knowing that all You have in store for me is good Is good Chorus: Today is the day You have made I will rejoice and be glad in it Today is the day You have made I will rejoice and be glad in it And I won't worry about tomorrow I'm trusting in what You say Today is the day Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Today is the day Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh I putting my fears aside I'm leaving my doubts behind I'm giving my hopes and dreams to You Jesus I'm reaching my hand to Yours Believing there's so much more Knowing that all You have in store for me is good Is good Chorus: (Guitar interlude) (2xs) I will stand upon Your truth. (I will stand upon Your truth) And all my days I'll live for Yo
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POPSReading should not be believing ... Why ?! Only 28% adequately covered benefits, and only 33% adequately covered harms. Articles routinely failed to give any useful quantitative information in absolute terms, preferring unhelpful eye-catchers like "50% higher" instead. Was this new? No. The same thing has been shown in Canada and Australia, and in the US almost a decade ago. Does it matter? Yes. Regardless of what they say in surveys about trusting doctors and priests, and despising hacks, in reality, people listen to journalists. This is not idle speculation. A 2005 study in the Medical Journal of Australia looked at the impact of Kylie Minogue's breasts on mammogram bookings. They rose by 40% during the two-week publicity peak, and six weeks later they were still up by a third. The increase among previously unscreened women in the 40-69 year age group was 101%. These surges were unprecedented. But even academics are influenced by media coverage:
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POPSMEANING OF FOLDING THE FLAG The 7th fold is a tribute to our Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that we protect our country and our flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of our republic. The 8th fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day. The 9th fold is a tribute to womanhood, and Mothers. For it has been through their faith, their love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great has been molded.
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POPS Medical marijuana patients face transplant hurdles
"Marijuana, unlike alcohol, has no direct effect on the liver. It is however a concern ... in that it's a potential indicator of an addictive personality," said Dr. Robert Sade, director of the Institute of Human Values Dr. Brad Roter, the Seattle physician who authorized Garon's pot use for nausea, abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant. That's typically the case, said Peggy Stewart, a clinical social worker on the liver transplant team at UCLA who has researched the issue. "There needs to be some kind of national eligibility criteria," she said. The patients "are trusting their physician to do the right thing. The physician prescribes marijuana, they take the marijuana, and they are shocked that this is now the end result," she said. Many doctors agree that using marijuana — smoking it, especially — is out of the question post-transplant. The drugs patients take to help their bodies a
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POPSBlogilitics: Now Malaysians say blogs influence elections
Before the humiliation of the General Elections in Malaysia last month the Badawi Government was stridently insisting that bloggers were only engaged in masturbation and were not influencing anyone. Now ministers, ex ministers and all and sundry are embracing the new conventional wisdom that blogs are influential in politics. The irony of it all is that the power of the Malaysian bloggers are actually the creation of the Malaysian Government - if it was not so obsessed with controlling the mainstream media to the extent that it lost all credibility, Malaysians would still be happy trusting their newspaper, TV and radio stations instead of the blogs. So what now for the Malaysian Government. If Unspun was Machiavelli and advising the ABB Government he would tell them to free up the Malaysian media. if they can control it make sure that the enditors they put in place are good, professional and share the same vision as the government (assuming its got one). Once this is don
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POPSMaryland Zoo Welcomes It's First Baby Elephant! At 290 pounds, he is quite a big baby boy! Mother and son are doing well: "She's been teaching him things already. " Less than 24 hours after he was born, his keepers thought they could already see his personality emerging. "He seems like a very trusting little calf. He doesn't seem particularly nervous," "I feel like he's already thinking, sorting things out. You can see the little wheels turning." I can't wait to see him!