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POPSNate Phelps: My father is addicted to hate Nate Phelps is the son of Fred Phelps , leader of the hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church. More: violence was a fact of life in our home, and is interwoven from my earliest memories as a child… In terms of knowing how to administer punishment, my father was an adept. Seven or eight blows would be enough to cause the skin to swell and bruise. However, if he administered a few blows, and then waited five to ten minutes before the next round, this gave the damaged tissue time to swell and stretch the skin tight. The new round of blows would cause that skin to split and bleed.… When my mother tried to intervene in some of his more brutal beatings, he’d turn on her and punish her, also. Proverbs 13:24 was core to his actions: He that spareth his rod hateth his son. But there was a fundamental contradiction. He claimed that this punishment was done out of love for his children; yet as he beat us, he’d scream his hatred at us also.
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POPS"Drained" oceans reveal epic landscapes ...Big Island of Hawaii is practically little when seen with its underwater flanks exposed. Measured from the seabed, the island's active volcano Mauna Loa is the world's tallest mountain--some 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) taller than Mount Everest. The Big Island was gradually thrust upward out of the Pacific, likely by a plume of lava deep beneath the seafloor. Those same slow forces look to be at work beneath a new volcano off the southeastern end of the Big Island, Loihi. Ten thousand or a hundred thousand years into the future, Loihi should emerge as the latest and hottest new Hawaiian island.
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POPSWoman getting married to fairground ride more: Although she faces discrimination from employers, most of her family and friends have been supportive. “I’m not hurting anyone and I can’t help it," she said. "It’s a part of who I am.”
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POPSYoga Faces Regulation, and Firmly Pushes Back 
The registry was created by the Yoga Alliance, a nonprofit group started in 1999 to establish teaching standards in an effort to have the industry regulate itself. In a recent newsletter, the alliance warned its members that nationwide licensing might be inevitable, “forcing this ancient tradition to conform to Western business practices.” “We made it very, very easy for them to do what they’re doing right now,” said Leslie Kaminoff, founder of the Breathing Project, a nonprofit yoga center in New York City, who had opposed the formation of the Yoga Alliance. “The industry of yoga is a big, juicy target.” New state regulations would not directly affect the drop-in classes attended by many of the 16 million Americans estimated to practice yoga. But the classes they would affect are an important source of revenue for many schools, and, of course, train future instructors. “It’s the perpetuation of the species,” said S. J. Khalsa, who operates Kundalini Yoga East in Manhattan, a
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POPSDIY Solar Electric Systems Build your own (diy) do it yourself solar panels electric system for less than $200 and save hundreds of dollars each year on your electricity bill.
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POPSThe Top Three Winners of the 2009 Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest "The Best Visual illusion of the Year Contest is a celebration of the ingenuity and creativity of the world’s premier visual illusion research community. Contestants from all around the world have submitted novel visual illusions (unpublished, or published no earlier than 2008), and an international panel of judges has rated them and narrowed them to the TOP TEN. At the Contest Gala in the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts, the top ten illusionists will present their creations and the attendees of the event"
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POPSSuzanne Lyall, Monday4 the Missing “Until we know for sure that Suzanne’s deceased, we’ll always hold out hope that she’s alive and out there somewhere. There’s no getting away from that for us. Even if on the surface people in our situation might say we’ve given up and there’s no way she’s alive, there’s still that little cell way back in the consciousness that says she could be. You see a story on TV where a woman has been held captive in some underground bunker for ten years and you think, ‘Is Suzanne being held against her will somewhere?’” Crime Rant
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POPS10...GREEN ANGELS (10/10) This top 10 social psychology study not only demonstrates the 'halo effect' but also how little access we have to our own thought processes. The 'halo effect' is a classic finding in social psychology. It is the idea that global evaluations about a person (e.g. she is likeable) bleed over into judgements about their specific traits (e.g. she is intelligent). Hollywood stars demonstrate the halo effect perfectly. Because they are often attractive and likeable we naturally assume they are also intelligent, friendly, display good judgement and so on. That is, until we come across (sometimes plentiful) evidence to the contrary. In the same way politicians use the 'halo effect' to their advantage by trying to appear warm and friendly, while saying little of any substance. People tend to believe their policies are good, because the person appears good. It's that simple.
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POPS Day One Obama faces a Cold War threat and a warning from Israel Gordon Brown became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Obama in a ten-minute telephone call last night. Aides said they discussed Obama's plans for a phased withdrawal from Iraq and his commitment to boost forces in Afghanistan. Speaking from the South Lawn of the White House, President Bush said he would be meeting Mr Obama next week and is making 'unprecedented efforts' to make a smooth transition during his final 74 days in office. As if the instant foreign policy tests were not enough, Mr Obama was also facing more economic problems with the Dow Jones Index dropping for a second successive day. Wall Street greeted his election win by plunging nearly 500 points on Wednesday and it was down again by 274 points in afternoon trading.
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POPSUK faces economic crunch "Here's a plea signed by ten thousand schoolchildren, begging you to join us and save them. Here's a plea from a home for the crippled. Here's a petition sent by the ministers of two hundred different faiths-Here's an appeal from the mothers of the country. Read them." "Is this an order?" "No!" cried Mr. Thompson. "It's not an order!" Galt remained motionless, not extending his hand for the papers. "These are just plain, ordinary people, Mr. Galt," said Chick Morrison in a tone intended to project their abject humility. "They can't tell you what to do. They wouldn't know. They're merely begging you. They may be weak, helpless, blind, ignorant. But you, who are so intelligent and strong, can't you take pity on them? Can't you help them?" "By dropping my intelligence and following their blindness?"
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POPSSea of Faces I see the city lights all around me Everyone's obscure Ten million people each with their problems Why should anyone care And in Your eyes I can see I am not just a man, vastly lost in this world Lost in a Sea of Faces Your body's the bread, Your blood is the wine Because you traded Your life for mine Sometimes my life it feels so trivial Immersed in the greatness of space Yet somehow you still find the time for me It's then You show me Your love And In Your eyes I can see And in Your arms I will be I am not just a man, vastly lost in this world Lost in a Sea of Faces Your body's the bread, Your blood is the wine Because you traded Your life for mine If only my one heart Was all you'd gain from all it cost Well I know you would have still been a man With a reason To willingly offer your life I am not just a man, vastly lost in this world Lost in a Sea of Faces Your body's the bread, Your blood is the wine Because you traded Your life for mine Jus
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POPSSaudi woman wants a divorce because her husband tried to sneek a look at her face
"She said her husband apologised and promised never to do it again, but she insisted she wanted a divorce. It is not the first example of Saudi husbands with wives forever shrouded in mystery. There was the case of Ali al-Qahtani whose wife had been wearing a face veil for the entire ten years of their marriage. When he tried to take it off she threatened to leave and only decided to stay after he swore never to try again. And neither the husband or children of Om Rabea al-Gahdaray, 70, have ever seen her face. It was a family tradition, also followed by her mother and sisters, which her husband accepted and never tried to change, she said. When asked how she could have children without her husband ever seeing her face, she replied: "Marriage is about love, not faces." I never knew that some Moslem women hid their faces from their own husbands (and children), I thought it was only in public that they they were covered. I learn something every day.
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POPS10 Tricks to Save Time Using Google You might want to print this out and keep by your computer. Good to know, hints on getting the best out of using Google. I made it easy for you, just click this link and print it out :-D http://www.thethinkingblue.com/Googletricks.doc
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POPSAtheists Don't Deserve Freedom And as Joan Walsh added: But I wasn't reassured, I was alarmed. Romney blasted "the new religion of secularism," referring to those who continue to argue for strict separation of church and state, which apparently, like certain of the Geneva Conventions under the Bush administration, is becoming "quaint." I sometimes find the anti-God stridency of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens grating. Listening to Romney's speech I realized what a necessary corrective it is to corrosive political pandering. Calling secularism "religion" is a cheap shot worthy of Bill O'Reilly, not a major presidential candidate. I can't help hoping Romney's speech fails to soothe religious conservatives, because the sooner the Republican Party faces up to the destructive cost of its electoral dependence on religious extremists, the better off our country will be.
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