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POPS The $cience of Harry Potter The museum defends the intellectual value of what is sure to be a cash cow of an exhibit by noting that the 200 movie props it features offer a window into innovation. “You see these props and think, ‘How did they do that?’ It is an inspiration for people to explore what it took to create these movie worlds,” said Paul Fontaine, vice president of education at the museum. And that inspiration is essential to scientific innovation, he says. “When you think of the foundations of science, it is creativity; what it takes to transform fantasy to the screen. We hope people take away those foundation skills,” Fontaine said. The museum is home to displays about DNA, electricity, astronomy and anatomy. But some area academics agree a re-creation of Hogwarts is not out of place. Andrew Cohen, physics professor at Boston University, references popular movies in his lectures to make complex theories tangible. So, could Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures
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POPSPlanned Parenthood Indoctrinates High-Schools I wonder if our tax dollars (via stimulus money) is paying for these new jobs? Perhaps these are the jobs Obama was talking about creating. The text claims they will stress abstinence, but of course the lefties believe abstinence programs don't work, so I doubt there will be much emphasis on that in this indoctrination program.
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POPSUSA: Panel votes to restore abstinence education money Late last night, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) pushed through an amendment in the Senate Finance Committee authorizing $50 million in funding for abstinence-only programs as part of Health Care Reform- despite over 10 years of evidence that these programs do not work. By a razor-thin vote of 12-11, the Senators on the Finance Committee gave conservative ideology a victory over science and common sense. See ↗ Advocates For Youth .
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POPSInsurance Company Must Pay $10 Million For Revoking Policy Of Teen With HIV 
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court's verdict against Fortis Insurance, now known as Assurant. The trial jury had awarded the former college student, Jerome Mitchell, $15 million in punitive damages; the Supreme Court reduced that amount by $5 million. Mitchell learned that he had HIV when, while heading to college, he donated blood. Fortis then rescinded his coverage, citing what turned out to be an erroneous note from a nurse in his medical records that indicated that he might have been diagnosed prior to his obtaining his insurance policy. Before the cancellation of the policy, an underwriter working for Fortis wrote to a committee considering whether or not to rescind his policy: "Technically, we do not have the results of the HIV tests. This is the only entry in the medical records regarding HIV status. Is it sufficient?" The underwriter's concerns were ignored and the rescission went forward. In the ruling, Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal wrote: "We find ampl
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POPSevidence-based sex education ... finally! yes, values are important ... but research has indicated that the values based abstinence education isn't working! in fact, teens who come from religious backgrounds and make pledges to abstain from sex until they are married are some of the least likely to use contraceptives and engage in safe sex, but engage in sex none-the-less ..
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POPSOutrage over risqué slogans What the hell has happened to our morality? Before all you impassioned ‘freedom of speech’ advocates go crazy I want you to picture your pre-teen daughter wearing a shirt that says ‘I’m Easy’ and tell me what you think after you find out she was molested and killed just because freedom of speech should be applied everywhere. How are these slogans considered funny when placed on children’s clothing? Sexualizing children may be ‘cute’ to some sick twisted adult but to place slogans of this nature on children’s clothing is degenerate. We have children sexually attacking one another. If parents would take more responsibility to the message we are sending children with this garbage then perhaps society would not have to deal with so many sex crimes. Wishful thinking I know, but this behavior disgusts me. I’m all for freedom of speech but damn it control yourselves.
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POPSGovernment Program Aimed at Teen Pregnacy Fails Once again the enlightened and educated amongst us prove once again that COMMON SENSE has died. These government programs in England and in New York are destined to fail because of the very foundation they are attempting to build upon. Instead of teaching these AT RISK young ladies about self-esteem, and the virtues of a chaste lifestyle, they reason that since these girls are going to have sex anyway we might as well teach them about sex. And like every other government mandated program IT FAILED! Not only did it fail it FAILED miserably.The truth is it made the matter worse than if they would have left the girls alone. Sound familiar?
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POPS15% of teens expect to die before age 35, and these expectations correlate with high-risk behavior I suppose this isn't surprising, but it's the first real, large-scale empirical confirmation that pessimism in teenagers is connected with dangerous behaviors (on the one hand) and with disadvantaging circumstances such as poverty or single-parent family situations (on the other hand). In other words, kids in bad situations are more likely both to believe they will die young and to act in ways that make it more likely that they will.
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POPSA NOTE TO PARENTS
Dr. Kathleen McCoy told Awake! that one of the greatest mistakes a parent can make is to ignore such warning signs. “No one wants to think that something could be wrong with their child,” she says, “so some parents go into denial. They tell themselves, ‘It’s a phase’ or ‘It will pass’ or ‘She always was a bit dramatic.’ That’s dangerous. All threats should be taken seriously.” Do not be ashamed to get help for your son or daughter if he or she suffers from severe depression or another mental disorder. And if you suspect that your teen is thinking about ending it all, ask him about it. The notion that talking about suicide will encourage the act is false. Many youths are relieved when parents bring up the subject. So if your teen admits to having thoughts of suicide, find out if a plan has been devised and if so, how detailed it is. The more detailed the plan, the more urgently you need to intervene.* Do not assume that the depression will lift on its own. And if it does seem to l
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POPSConfessions 2 This is the second article in the series on self-esteem that was inspired by the VH1 show, Confessions of A Teen Idol.
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POPSAbuse In Youth Dating "Most of the calls come from girls, often in response to relentless texting or efforts by boys to dictate what they do or wear. While texting that runs to 200 or 300 messages a day can be a prelude to abusive behavior, William S. Pollack, a Harvard University psychologist and the author of “Real Boys” (1998) and “Real Boys’ Voices” (2000) about boys and masculinity, said his research had found that “usually when adolescent boys get involved with girls, they fall into the societal model which we call ‘macho,’ where they need to show they are the ones in control.”
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