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POPSWhat Is Economics? Exchange is the trading of goods for money or for other goods. A market is any mechanism for buyers and sellers to exchange goods. A free market is a market in which buyers and sellers are generally free to decide what to exchange and under what terms. Money is anything generally accepted as a medium of exchange and thus useful for storing or measuring economic value. The price of a good is the amount of economic value that must be exchanged to acquire it. Demand is willingness and ability to buy. Supply is availability and proffer for sale. The scarcity of a good is the excess of its demand over its supply, and in a free market is measured by price.
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POPSThe Lord of the Rings and the Esoteric Symbolism of the Abrahamic Faiths Tolkien was a Roman Catholic and he delved deeply into the world of archetypes and symbols. Mahmoud Shelton demonstrates how Tolkien used many of these symbols in a distinctly Sufic, alchemical manner in the quest pursued by, and in the lives of, his characters. The mystical traditions of all three Abrahamic religions, while possessing their own distinct perspectives and practices, are nevertheless also very close in what one might term an Abrahamic symbolic pool which is shared by all three religions in varying alignments and semantic expressions, To speak in Sufi terms, the core of the quest is the journey of return to a realization of unity with the One. The path is love, the fuel is love, and the goal is love. Alchemy is the process of transformation that love ffects.
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POPSHaitian drum art Haitian drum art provides an ornamental revival of recycled metal into unique metal wall sculptures.
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POPSI'll Kick The Shit Out Of You! Every once in a while I meet someone who actually brings transformation instead of doctrine, and why that matters. You rock on Mas; you are clearly and inspiration for us all.
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POPSWhy cultural transformation is possible "If we are to move beyond the current destructive phase of capitalism, we will do so because we tap the spiritual energy that progressives have yet to tap in any coherent way. Values hold the key. The hungers of the heart can be the bedrock on which we build a new social order."
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POPSToward a Type 1 civilization Along with energy policy, political and economic systems must also evolve. Michael Shermer, one of the most trusted voices in todays world.
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POPSHYPERPOLITICS (AMERICAN STYLE) A Talk By Mark Pesce The power redistributions of the 21st century have dealt representative democracies out. Representative democracies are a poor fit to the challenges ahead, and 'rebooting' them is not enough. The future looks nothing like democracy, because democracy, which sought to empower the individual, is being obsolesced by a social order which hyperempowers him.
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POPSSeven Common Dreams and What They Mean Dreams come to us in our most private moments: wrapped up in sheets, our public faces stored away for the night. The visions we see in sleep are supposed to be expressions of our individual psyches and imaginations, but most people’s dreams are based on themes that are very common. I thought my recurring dream of losing my teeth was scary and freakish until I went online to find thousands of others having the same dream, all trying to find out what the heck it could mean. Just because our dreams are shared, though, doesn’t mean they aren’t unique; the way we experience these common elements in dreaming life is what’s significant.
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POPSWhat Should Uncle Sam Do? I like the sound of the phrase "socialized capitalism"..... Every time someone mentions that there should be more regulation of the greedy corporations, some ditto-head conservative yells "Socialism!". I gues they would rather have "Socialized Capitalism" in which the CEO's of these large corporations get to go home each year with millions of dallars in income, while the rest of us bail out their failed businesses.....nothing but greed and corruption!
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POPSImagine, Intend, Insist Phil Bowermaster has been a full-time amateur speculist since about age three. Often misunderstood during his childhood and adolescence, he fought a frequent perception that he was "daydreaming" or "goofing off" when in fact he was involved in serious contemplation of alternative scenarios to the world he saw around him. This misunderstanding persists to the present day.
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POPSThe Earth's 6th Great Mass Extinction is Occurring as You Read This With the human population expected to reach 9-10 billion by the end of the century and the planet in the middle of its sixth mass extinction — this time due to human activity — the next few years are critical in conserving Earth’s precious biodiversity. The cause of the Sixth Extinction, Homo sapiens, means we can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part. At a casual glance, the physically caused extinction events of the past might seem to have little or nothing to tell us about the current Sixth Extinction, which is a human-caused event. For there is little doubt that humans are the direct cause of ecosystem stress and species destruction in the modern world through transformation of the landscape, overexploitation of species, pollution, and the introduction of alien species
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POPSThe clash of Tocquevillians and Gramscians "While economic Marxism appears to be dead, the Hegelian variety articulated by Gramsci and others has not only survived the fall of the Berlin Wall, but also gone on to challenge the American republic at the level of its most cherished ideas. For more than two centuries America has been an "exceptional" nation, one whose restless entrepreneurial dynamism has been tempered by patriotism and a strong religious-cultural core. The ultimate triumph of Gramscianism would mean the end of this very "exceptionalism." America would at last become Europeanized: statist, thoroughly secular, post-patriotic, and concerned with group hierarchies and group rights in which the idea of equality before the law as traditionally understood by Americans would finally be abandoned. Beneath the surface of our seemingly placid times, the ideological, political, and historical stakes are enormous."
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POPSHistory of History Great NYer article I'd clipped recently and so was glad to be able to clip the online version too!
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POPSAnother Leftist Icon Comes to His Senses This is a great article about the transformation of David Mamet from Liberal to Conservative. I do not know who David Mamet is but I find the story rather familiar in my own transformation and in the natural maturity of many as they gain wisdom and perspective. It gets frustrating at times seeing and hearing comments that are based on such lack of clarity. This is more evidence that the natural growth and transformation is toward a Libertarian stance founded in clear-mindedness, Conservative stance on constitutional intent, and Incrementalism as the wisest approach to societal advance in the face of fascist-progressivism.
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POPS"Haughton's Drop", Hanging, Dublin Zoo, Darwin, Wallace, history Haughton House in Dublin Zoo is being restored to its ancient glories in honour of the great patron and scientist. On a visit to Bronx Park, New York he became a bit bored by the record of perfection which he received on all sides, so he enquired about the financial aspect of the institution: how did they pay for their obviously princely expenditure? So-and-so, he was told, but of course the main source of income was gate-money. “What ?” asked Haughton, “do you mean you charge people to get in?” “Of course; don’t you?” “Oh! no - we let them in free; then we enlarge one of our celebrated lions and charge them to get out! We do better that way.”
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POPSTwo American Children Released From Taliban Madrassa Two American Children Escorted from Taliban Madrassa by American Consulate in Karachi for Flight to NYC "Karachi Kids" Documentary Spurs Action Two American children were escorted by the American consulate officers in Karachi, Pakistan Tuesday night Pakistan time and boarded a flight to Dubai, UAE and then boarded a direct flight to NYC, Noor Elahi Khan and Mahboob Elahi Khan are expected to arrive in Atlanta on a Delta flight this afternoon at 4:30 PM.