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POPSLinguistic superpowers The book Limits of Language by Swedish linguist Mikael Parkvall is a sort of languages-only Guinness Book of Records, listing everything that’s large, small and otherwise interesting about the manifold manners of human speech and associated forms of communication. One item deals with the world’s most linguistically diverse countries, and is illustrated with this map, of the world’s ‘linguistic superpowers’.
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POPSLanguage Without Numbers: Amazonian Tribe Has No Word To Express 'One,' Other Numbers However, the MIT team decided to add a new twist--they started with 10 objects and asked the tribe members to count down. In that experiment, the tribe members used the word previously thought to mean "two" when as many as five or six objects were present, and they used the word for "one" for any quantity between one and four. This indicates that "these aren't counting numbers at all," said Gibson. "They're signifying relative quantities." He said this type of counting strategy has never been observed before, although it may also be found in other languages believed to have "one," "two," and "many" counting words.
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POPSCoffees of the World Robusta beans are more receptive concerning temperature and altitude and does not fall when ripe, meaning that it can be harvested at a simpler pace. Arabica bean which is expensive to produce and more difficult to cultivate. This bean needs very specific conditions of temperature, altitude, and soil. As soon as they are ripened, the berries fall to the ground and must be harvested immediately. more clips on coffee: cniq_cniq's clip - My Coffee Tastes Like Sh!#: http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/7844C091-D0C6-4F4A-BC1D-FB5431F0B517/ AtlLiberal's clip - Coffee Lovers Special: http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/DF5C8D23-7AE5-4B99-8FE8-EB87548E3EEB/ mykrak's clip - The Kopi Luwak Story (this one is funny): http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/123CB20A-C53E-47FF-9CEE-D953C1948365/ queerty's clip - Daily caffeine protects brain: http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/5A774160-AF31-4BA9-807C-757EE0207BAD/
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POPSOur Earth as Art Welcome to the Earth as Art Gallery.Here you can view our planet through the beautiful images taken by the Landsat-7 satellite - and most recently, the Terra Satellite's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). This gallery of images uses the visceral avenue of art to convey the thrilling perspective of the Earth that satellites provide to the viewer.
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POPSHoli: The Festival of Colors There is life imitating art, and then there is life becoming art itself. This is a beautiful ceremony of color. (thanks, reflex768) The colors that are used to celebrate Holi were originally derived from the blossoms of Spring trees, but over the years these beautiful natural resources came to be replaced by industrial dyes. Much like the way the white face paint used by geisha was harmful to the skin, these artificial colors can contain toxic chemicals which should never be applied to human flesh. Since Holi colors are sold loosely on the roads, it is difficult to know if what one is buying is natural or artificial.
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POPSMissing: priest who floated off with helium party balloons The smiling 41-year-old priest was strapped to a seat attached to a huge column green, red, white and yellow balloons, and soared into the air to the cheers of a crowd. He was reported missing about eight hours later after losing contact with port authority officials. The priest wanted to break a 19-hour record for the most hours flying with balloons to raise money for a spiritual rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazil's second-largest port for agricultural products.
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POPSIndigenous SEX Wipeout Deliberate? Survival International Survival's director Stephen Corry stated, "Tribal people die because their land is invaded and taken and because they succumb to outside diseases they never knew before. Increasingly now we can add HIV/AIDS to the list of killers. "It is striking the most vulnerable peoples of all: those who have no grasp of the risks of unprotected sex; no access to condoms; no appropriate treatment; and whose numbers are already small. The first solution is the simplest - governments must ensure tribal lands are properly protected."
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POPSStudy Of Countries I do not claim that sites such as this are the be all and end all of research regarding any given country. But still they are fairly comprehensive. If any given country or nation intrigues you then I recommend further research. If this site creates a even greater thirst for knowledge then I will have done something useful.
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POPSStill a Democracy. 'How about you?' The voters will decide, with a far stronger opposition media than exists in the USA proselytising against the government. Venezuelans have not lost civil liberties the way people in the US or the UK have in recent years, and ordinary citizens continue to have more say in their government, and share more in its oil wealth, than ever before. It is doubtful that the referendum will reverse these changes, regardless of the outcome. He does seem to be trying to give the poor some healthcare and some hope. 'How about you?'
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POPS1 billion people are threatened by starvation.
Interview with Erwin Wagenhofer_____ From article: In contrast to people who have too little and starve, we in the industrialized nations should be the happiest people since we have never really suffered from hunger and thirst. Yet we are actually far from being happy and content. What is it that hinders us? When I look around I do not see many happy people, even though we today have such immeasurable wealth. My mother and father, for example, experienced hunger; I am the first in our family who comes from a generation that has not known hunger. Maybe this is due to our considerable need for time to learn to deal with such material wealth. I believe that we need more time than we think is required. A human lifespan is not very long, even if we do live to a ‘ripe old age’. In comparison to the world’s history it is really very short. Maybe we should also be more modest and do everything somewhat more slowly. The pace of life today is killing us. ...
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POPSWhy Are Pygmies Short? Because of their short life expectancies, the researchers speculate that pygmies have had to shift their reproductive years forward. The average life expectancy at birth for different pygmy populations ranges from just 16 years to 24 years. Very few pygmy women reach the end of their reproductive period, as only a small percentage survive past age 40.
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POPSColor Inspiration: Pattern and Decoration of Beatriz Milhazes
"Many of these explosions of colour originate in her small, compact studio, where she has been based since 1987. It is situated right next door to Rio’s luscious botanical gardens, and, inevitably, the forms and patterns of the flowers – delicate swirls and leaf-like shapes – have found their way into her paintings. She has also “taken advantage of the atmosphere of the city”, with its rich urban mix incorporating chitão (the cheap, colourful Brazilian fabric), jewellery, embroidery and folk art. Other influences range from architectural – the work of Roberto Burle Marx, the landscape architect and garden designer who created the five-kilometre Copacabana beach promenade in Rio – to Pop symbols such as Emilio Pucci fabric patterns. Painterly inspiration comes from the seventeenth-century Dutch artist Albert Eckhout, who travelled through colonial Brazil, and the Brazilian Modernist Tarsila do Amaral, as well as Mondrian, Matisse and Bridget Riley."
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POPSMost Gruesome Manias Done with Human Flesh "Human beings are capable of extraordinary and unbelievable feats which can range from jaw-dropping to the utmost stomach-churning. Some train feverishly to be recorded in infamy and have their names immortalized in the Guinness World Records, a number come by their inimitable achievements due to medical conditions, while others merely strive to be the top in their league for their passions or for religious convictions." A lot more at the source - videos, if you can stand to watch: http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/most-gruesome-manias-done-with-human-flesh/offbeat-news
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