23
POPS‘Leopard Behind You!’ A human in a blue shirt is announced differently from a human in a yellow shirt. In and of itself, it’s not surprising that the sounds animals make are not just noise, or a reflection of the state an animal’s in (scared, happy and so on). But the subtlety of the calls — the full amount of meaning they contain — is only now being appreciated. Animals of one species often respond to the alarms of another. In a small way, it’s like those childrens’ stories that have rats talking to toads, or elephants arguing with ostriches. Predators sometimes respond too. After all, alarm calls don’t just let other animals know there’s danger in the area. They can also let a predator know that it’s been seen. Ambush predators, like leopards, often give up and go away once an alarm has been sounded. <<
17
POPSA long,melancholy roar Of our ancient enemies, microbes are now the most fearsome.HIV/AIDS chalked up 2 million deaths across the planet in 2007 alone; tuberculosis was close behind, with more than 1,700,000.The year before, malaria escorted almost a million people to their graves. We should be far more scared of mosquitoes than we are of bears; but we’re not. More recently, however, it’s been the case that the mammal most likely to kill a human is: a human. Murder and war have long been more important causes of death for us than predatory wild animals. But here’s the thing. Today, in many parts of the world, the human being most likely to cause your violent death is: you. Yes. You are the person most likely to kill yourself violently and on purpose. Suicide rates have risen dramatically over the past 50 years.
27
POPSThe death of language? "What we lose is essentially an enormous cultural heritage, the way of expressing the relationship with nature, with the world, between themselves in the framework of their families, their kin people," says Mr Hagege. "Its also the way they express their humour, their love, their life. It is a testimony of human communities which is extremely precious, because it expresses what other communities than ours in the modern industrialized world are able to express." For linguists like Claude Hagege, languages are not simply a collection of words. They are a living, breathing organisms holding the connections and associations that define a culture. When a language becomes extinct, the culture in which it lived is lost too. ____ According to Ethnologue, a US organisation that compiles a global database of languages, 473 languages are currently classified as endangered. ____ "Most people are not at all interested in the death of languages," Claude Hagege says.
17
POPSThe A-B-C-D-E of Travel Photography At first glance, the picture above depicts a nun walking. But as you look at more details within the picture, you get a full sense of where she is. She isn’t carrying a bag or other personal effects which suggests she is someplace familiar. The direction and length of her shadow suggests mid to late afternoon, and the Slavic-type text on the walls suggests somewhere in Central or Eastern Europe. So the picture transports you to a monastery or nunnery in Eastern Europe around late afternoon. __________________________________ Ever glanced in exasperation at travel photographs wondering why yours taken of the same landscapes or subjects never turn out as stunning? Great travel photographs share a few similarities even though their subjects may be as different as a sweeping landscape or a brooding portrait. Above are a few primer concepts that will guarantee better travel shots from even a simple point-and-shoot camera.
18
POPSDo our brains interpret our values and beliefs as facts (objective truths)?
Such messages caused activation in the brain region that is responsible for error detection. So in other words (and yes, I am grossly simplifying here), it was as if people's brain's were indicating "error, error, error; this message does not compute." This is consistent with research by Emily Pronin (psychology professor at Princeton University), which shows that people of all beliefs see their own beliefs as LESS biased than others. In other words, republicans see themselves as less biased, and so do democrats, and for that matter, so do mailman, coperate CEO's and homeless people. I think this goes a long way in explaining the depth and extent to which people defend their beliefs. Perhaps, Berger and Luckmann are right; we do live, in some sense, in alternative forms of reality. Sure, we all know a rock won't bite us and 2 + 2 = 4, but what I "know" (George W. Bush was lousy) is not what many Republicans "knows" (George W. Bush was a good president).
19
POPSConditional parenting In 2004, two Israeli researchers, Avi Assor and Guy Roth, joined Edward L. Deci, a leading American expert on the psychology of motivation, in asking more than 100 college students whether the love they had received from their parents had seemed to depend on whether they had succeeded in school, practiced hard for sports, been considerate toward others or suppressed emotions like anger and fear. It turned out that children who received conditional approval were indeed somewhat more likely to act as the parent wanted. But compliance came at a steep price. First, these children tended to resent and dislike their parents. Second, they were apt to say that the way they acted was often due more to a “strong internal pressure” than to “a real sense of choice.” Moreover, their happiness after succeeding at something was usually short-lived, and they often felt guilty or ashamed.
14
POPSJupiter turned Comet into "Moon" for 12 years Between 2068 and 2986, comet 111P/Helin-Roman-Crockett is expected to be captured and complete six laps around Jupiter, the astronomers say. Earth Unlikely to Gain Extra Moon It's doubtful that our own planet would have the gravitational pulling power to add a temporary satellite to the night sky, Asher said. << Too bad.I wouldn't mind an extra moon... :-)
13
POPSEpic migration seen "through eyes of" antelope Photographer and biologist Joe Riis hopes to raise awareness of the animals' epic, ancient migration and to encourage action to protect it. "It's pretty incredible, because it's happening right in the middle of the United States," Riis said. "It seems like this type of stuff is long gone, and maybe most of the long migrations are. But this one is , and I think it's worth protecting."
10
POPSConvergent evolution The huge fossil teeth of megalodon had been known for centuries and were once believed to be the fossilized tongues of dragons. Agassiz, noting that great white shark teeth and the fossil megalodon teeth were both serrated, lumped megalodon into the same genus, Carcharodon, (from the Greek karcharos, meaning sharp or jagged, and odous, meaning tooth). Agassiz was not, however, making an evolutionary judgment. In 1835, a young Charles Darwin was just then visiting the Galapagos Islands. There would be no theory of evolutionary descent for nearly 25 years. In fact, the brilliant Agassiz, who later became a professor at Harvard and the leading figure of natural history in the United States, forever resisted Darwin’s revolutionary ideas. Rejecting biological evolution, Agassiz defined species as a “thought of God.” His classification scheme signified nothing about shark origins. But over the next century, the idea that great whites evolved from megalodon took hold. << more at the
19
POPSDutch cannabis coffee shops ban tourists In another unintended consequence, several border towns complain of the burdens associated with a weekly influx of tens of thousands of tourists, mainly Belgian, French and German. Among recent steps taken to deal with these problems, Amsterdam has said it would halve its number of coffee shops, citing criminality, while other cities are to close those within a certain radius of schools.
19
POPSCat and dog combination nothing to sneeze at The New Zealand research said although the findings created a dilemma for those making decisions on the health effects of pets, ''if parents with decide to own a pet, our data suggests that combined cat and dog ownership might be necessary to confer a protective effect''.
18
POPSOne day I'll be trusting and spacious authentic and grounded and home I have been running so sweaty my whole life Urgent for a finish line And I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete...
20
POPSA fine but no lash for Sudan woman who wore pants “The flogging, yes, it causes pain,” Mrs. Hussein, who is Sudanese, said. “But more important, it is an insult. This is why I want to change the law.” The last time Sudan’s courts handled a case that attracted such international attention, they found a compromise solution. A British schoolteacher had faced up to 40 lashes and six months in prison for allowing her students to name a class teddy bear Muhammad, which was perceived as an insult to Islam. But after being sentenced to 15 days in jail, she was soon pardoned by the Sudanese president.
13
POPSWill he jump? While some passers-by like 23-year-old Verena Kircher found the piece "alarming," others like Caroline van Kelst thought it was beautiful. "It is crystal clear that this is not a suicide," she said. "He has definitely got something about him which is majestic, not desperate."
12
POPSA tribute to the Man,beyond just the Mouse THE DEATH OF DISNEY Disney succumbed to lung cancer on Dec. 15, 1966, and Gallery 10, back on the ground floor, registers the world's reaction, with a television playing a broadcast by Eric Sevareid of CBS News and 36 commemorative editorial cartoons. (This one was drawn by Karl Hubenthal of The Los Angeles Herald Examiner.)
14
POPSHello,sweet Prince New York audiences tend to respond differently from London ones, but it is never clear in advance how this will play out. “When you’re faced with ‘To be or not to be,’ in the first rehearsal,” Mr. Law said, “there’s a sense of ‘Oh, God, I’m stepping into the world’s greatest cliché.’ But without sounding like a naff old actor, I’m Hamlet, and what a great way to question life and death.” He added: “The reason they’re so famous is because they’re beautifully written and incredibly powerful pieces of dialogue. Never underestimate the power of these lines. Our language is littered with words and phrases from this play, and we use them because we have not, in 400 years, found a better way of putting things.”
20
POPSOne hundred and fifty years ago on Aug. 27 “When the discovery happened, the few people who were there and not involved in the war, went around and bought all the property they could and had outside investors come in,” Black said. “But the real heyday of the development happened from 1864-1870. It’s that 11-year period when the little river valley was the world’s leading supplier of oil. ”The “little river valley” in western Pennsylvania earned the nickname Petrolia. “I would see this as less of an anniversary to note for celebration and more of an anniversary to note how far we’ve come and the serious moment that we’re at right now,” said Brian Black, an energy historian at Pennsylvania State University and author of the book Petrolia. “Energy transitions happen and I argue that we’re in one right now and that we need to aggressively look to the future to what’s going to happen after petroleum.”
15
POPSNew theory for why we cry This new concept from Hasson "offers the most plausible hypothesis about the evolved function of tears and crying," said evolutionary psychologist David Buss at the University of Texas at Austin."Others have speculated about possible function of tears, but the notion that they operate through handicapping is highly original."
13
POPSJust what is 'annualism'? Many would argue that there is nothing wrong with a journalist putting themselves at the centre of the story. What binds all the "annualist" titles together is that while their "year-long ordeal" might be classified as a stunt, they have serious things to say about their subject matter and its importance to society. And there is a long and honourable history of "stunt" journalism. It goes all the way back to Nellie Bly, the pioneering American journalist. In 1887 she infiltrated an asylum by pretending to be mentally ill in order to investigate conditions there. Her expose, Ten Days in a Mad-House, outlined the grim conditions, rotten food, and beatings that constituted the life of patients. Ultimately, we are impressed by feats of endurance. For many readers, it adds authenticity to an act of criticism. For many of the authors of course, one "annualist" work is enough. "It would be really nice to do something that doesn't involve the words 'I', 'me' or 'my''.
Clips
Pops
Comments
Tags
4
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update