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POPSHow John Cassavetes' Shadows changed American movies forever more at clip source The movie immerses you in its world from the get-go. The opening credits scroll over a raucous rave-up in a cramped apartment, with revelers—white and black—boozing and singing along to an impromptu jam. Without a word of dialogue the demimonde is established—this is not Don Draper's Manhattan. Shadows centers on three siblings: Benny (Ben Carruthers), a brooding beatnik and unemployed trumpet player; Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), the innocent little sister who puts up a worldly front; and Hughie (Hugh Hurd), the oldest and a struggling jazz musician. The three are African-American, but only Hughie looks it—both Benny and Lelia are light-skinned enough to pass for white.
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POPSA second chance at life, thanks to strangers on a train
More: Mr. Medaglia and Dr. Tolani rode the subway downtown together… He’d missed the 5:13 train and while he was waiting at Penn Station for the 5:59, a woman came up and said, “You did the CPR on that guy, is he really going to live?” “I said I think so,” recalled Mr. Medaglia. “She blew me a kiss. She said, ‘God bless you — you did a great thing.’ I just sat on the train home, thinking, ‘Holy Jesus.’ ” …This was Lieutenant Kelly’s fourth CPR call in 13 years. The three other aideds all died. “Best thing I ever did in my life,” he said… Having gotten a second chance, Mr. Kiernan, a lifelong bachelor, said he is trying to be a better partner to his longtime girlfriend and is trying to eat more carefully, drink less, and seize each day a little more. “I’m not religious,” he said, “but I keep thinking, ‘Who put that cardiologist on the train?’ Coming home tonight, I looked around the subway car — there wasn’t anybody who looked like a cardiologist.”
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POPSRussia Reconsiders "There's no question that Stalin is undergoing a sort of renaissance in Russia. Despite the many millions killed or sent to labor camps during his reign, many now view his rule with a sort of hazy nostalgia. "The cynical position of the Stalinphobes is that only innocent people were kept in the gulag," he said. "Criminals who violated the law were kept in the gulag. And let the Western reader ask himself, should criminals be kept in spas or resort hotels?" Meanwhile, Stalin's image and name, systematically bleached out as the waning Soviet empire began to grapple with its bloody past, are creeping back into Russian life. His name was restored this fall to a Moscow metro station. His unmistakable mustached face beams from the wall of Soviet Meatpies, a kitschy diner downtown."
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POPSFirst-ever Tweed Ride, Sacramento - Nov. 8, 2009 More: As Erin and Rick would say, “Don your tweeds and mount your steeds” for a luxuriously slow ride around downtown Sac with stops along the route for breakfast and libations. Put on your best duds and compete for prizes in categories including Dapperest Chap, Snappiest Lass, and Most Enviable Moustache. We hope to see you there! When: Sunday, Novemebr 8, 2009 Start Location: Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen (1915 I Street) Time: Enjoy a spot of coffee at 9am. Ride sets out at 10-ish. Sacramento Tweed
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POPSSecond Thoughts I went back and re-read what I had written. And I listened for far too long to the right wing hate machine who did what they could to crap all over Barack's big day. Did I -- and others on the left -- do the same? We are weary, weary of war. Obama is moving too slow for most of us -- but he needs to know we are with him and we stand beside him as he attempts to turn eight years of sheer madness around. Who could do that in nine months? Superman? Thor? Mitch McConnell? Instead of waiting to see what the president is going to do, we all need to be pro-active and push the agenda that we want to see enacted. on't abandon the best hope we've had in our lifetime for change. Now for the tasks ahead. We need you to do all that you promised to do. We need it. The world needs it. Fred (that's Norwegian for "Peace") ---- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O7PnvVgQvA
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POPSAccidental Freshby
mona 10-13-2009 
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From the website: "Ever see someone in a fresh outfit? But they didn't actually know they were being fresh? We have. Send in your pictures to accidentalfresh@gmail.com. "
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POPSMexican Power Union Power Struggle
Calderón has attacked one of Mexico's most powerful unions. In Mexico, unions are powerful because of the power they enjoy to disrupt daily life for ordinary people, who just want to get to work and home again and be safe. Governments have been too pusillanimous to intervene to stop their illegal blockage of public spaces. See the six-month sit-in in 2006 that paralyzed Mexico City and took billions of pesos from people as work dried up for the poorest who lost their "job" washing and parking cars in Mexico City's chaotic downtown. Etc Etc. Calderón effectively lost a battle with the mega teacher's union"the largest in Latin America. The "teachers" blocked highways and city centers throughout the nation and Calderón's "reforms" were immasculated (not that they would have done any good anyway). Now he's taken on the electricians' union and with it the cultural icon of the government power company. Mexicans are taught to believe that their nationalized power company is a "right
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POPSCalifornia going down the drain?
Sitting propped up against a lamp post, waiting for her number to be called, is Debbie Tuua, 33. It is her birthday, but she has taken a day off work to bring her elderly parents to the Forum, and they have driven through the night to get here. They wait in a car as the heat of the day begins to rise. "It is awful for them, but what choice do we have?" Tuua says. "I have no other way to get care to them." Yet California is currently cutting healthcare, slashing the "Healthy Families" programme that helped an estimated one million of its poorest children. Los Angeles now has a poverty rate of 20%. Other cities across the state, such as Fresno and Modesto, have jobless rates that rival Detroit's. In order to pass its state budget, California's government has had to agree to a deal that cuts billions of dollars from education and sacks 60,000 state employees. Some teachers have launched a hunger strike in protest. California's education system has become so poor so quickly that it is n
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POPSG-20 Summit Begins The speakers at the rally were diverse internationally, if not philosophically. They included Walden Bello, an antiglobalist professor at the University of the Philippines and representative in that country's Congress; James Quilligan, economic adviser to former President Jimmy Carter, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and former French President Francois Mitterand; and Anna Pinto, program director of the Center for Organization, Research and Education in northeast India. Generally, the speakers believe the G-20 controls the global economy on behalf of banks and transnational corporations, at the expense of most citizens. "The G-20 as a mechanism to save globalization is doomed to fail," Bello said. Quilligan mocked security preparations, including plans for more than 3,000 police officers downtown, as the "biggest mobilization of security in Pittsburgh history since the French and Indian War."
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POPSH1N1: Sorry, we don't have a line item for That. Creating ways for healthful lifestyle habits to be the natural first choice for Americans is the goal of a $650 million initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, decrease obesity, and decrease smoking in U.S. communities. And then, on the same day Dr. Frieden was doing his best Oliver Twist before Congress: $120 Million for States Made Available as Part of Recovery Act Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative Now, the H1N1 is one of the more anticipated, slow-moving ‘pandemics’ in history. It hasn’t even really hit and it seems like old news. Surely, some of that $650 million in grants for ’healthy choices’ could have been used to, you know, actually keep people healthy.
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POPSRemember When? When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties. It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event. Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin. Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare." If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!! Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!" Here's another blast from the past. Do you remember? .:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CR8DMFfFs8
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POPSPractice Run for What the Future Could be Like.
Four thousand police were on duty plus 2500 National Guard plus Coast Guard and Air Force and dozens of other security agencies. A thousand volunteers from other police forces were sworn in to help out. Police were dressed in battle gear, bulky black ninja turtle outfits: helmets with clear visors, strapped on body armor, shin guards, big boots, batons, and long guns. In addition to helicopters, the police had hundreds of cars and motorcycles , armored vehicles, monster trucks, small electric go-karts. There were even passenger vans screaming through town so stuffed with heavily armed ninja turtles that the side and rear doors remained open. No terrorists showed up at the G20. Since no terrorists showed up, those in charge of the heavily armed security forces chose to deploy their forces around those who were protesting. Not everyone is delighted that 20 countries control 80% of the world’s resources. Several thousand of them chose to express their displeasure by protest
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POPSFBI Has Arrested a Jordanian Man for Attempted Dallas Bombing "The highest priority of the FBI and the Department of Justice remains the prevention of another terrorist attack within the United States," said U.S. Attorney Jacks. "In that effort, it is the job of the FBI to locate and identify individuals intent upon carrying out any type of attack upon this country and its citizens/residents."
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POPSUnique Golden Chariot from Ancient Thrace Found more (at source): t is both the decoration and the gold-copper alloy that make the chariot on display in downtown Sofia without any analogy among similar finds from ancient times. The decorative plaque is 52 cm long and 12 cm wide, and 0,3 cm thick. It was placed on the lower back part of the chariot, which was actually a luxury passenger car rather than a war chariot. It pictures what appears to be an ancient building, most likely a temple. Other decorations on the chariot include a bust of Heracles (Hercules), and two heads of Medusa, the mythical gorgon monster. Over 200 chariots dated back to Thracian and Roman times have been discovered in Bulgaria so far by both archaeologists and treasure hunters. In comparison, only 2 more chariots have been found in the rest of Roman Empire - one in Pompeii, and another one in Ephesus; and about 20 chariots have been discovered in Hungary.