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POPSSaudi woman to be beheaded for being a "witch" Being beheaded by sword in a public place... For being a "witch" or practising "witchcraft"... Welcome back to the Middle Ages: "Burn the witch!" or "Behead the witch!", by the name of God. Correct me if I'm wrong, Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US, who enthusiastically invaded Iraq to bring "human rights and democracy" to Arabs, right?
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POPSThe Colors of Ancient Egypt "Paintings, clothing, books, jewelry, and architecture were all imbued with colorful symbolism. African historian Alistair Boddy-Evans explains that color “was considered an integral part of an item’s or person’s nature in Ancient Egypt, and the term could interchangeably mean color, appearance, character, being, or nature. Items with similar color were believed to have similar properties.”
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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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POPSSomething Very Strange is Happening in German Graveyards "This widespread problem has given rise to an entire industry that aims to save the day with new methods of rot. The latest innovation on this morbid market is the Swiss-engineered Linder reconditioning system -- a severe method that involves deep incursions into cemeteries. After excavating the unusable soil, Linder fills the area with a "custom mixture of topsoil, woodchips and gravel." Finishing touches to the burial place include a drainage system with additional filter and seepage layers."
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POPSA List of the Most Beautiful Places on Earth The World Heritage List includes 851 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. The list in the clip is actual the table view; there's a list by country here: http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&l=en&&&&mode=list
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POPSConcrete that literally eats pollution. If it works, then this could be a big breakthrough indeed. However, it's not like cities are going to start re-paving roads that don't need it, or demoing & rebuilding building, (or even just repainting them with this solution)... The cost would be prohibitive. So that 50% savings (just off of 15% of concrete surfaces) is a LONG way away. Plus, this definitely doesn't curb the need for changing the way we pollute...
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POPSGeography of Bliss: 9 of the happiest places in the world 'Writer Eric Weiner spent a year exploring the world’s happiest places for his book ‘‘The Geography of Bliss.’’ He used the science of happiness as a guide, as well as some hunches. Here are some random thoughts on the world’s hot spots of happiness.'
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POPSAngola Miss Landmine Beauty Pageant The joint winners of the Angolan contest, Augusta Urica, 31, and Maria Restino Manuel, 26, were the embodiment of Traavik's ideal at the finale in the capital, Luanda, swathed in designer gowns, sashes and silver tiaras that crowned them Miss Landmine 2008. With 10 women representing their provinces, she hobbled up the platform on crutches to collect her prize - a golden, state-of-the-art prosthetic limb to replace the leg blown off 10 years ago. In Cambodia there should be no shortage of contenders for the 2009 title. There are 25,000 amputees among the country's 63,000 victims of landmines and blasts from unexploded ordinance left after 30 years of civil war. Up to 1m landmines remain buried, out of the estimated million mines planted along the border with Thailand after the invading Vietnamese left in 1989
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POPSTolstoy & Gandhi: Two Giants Bound By Pacifism
Enlightening account of the relationship between Tolstoy & Gandhi "In South Africa, Tolstoy's writings landed on the desk of a young Indian dissident, Mahatma Gandhi. He was overwhelmed, declaring that after reading Tolstoy his "lack of faith in non-violence vanished." He hung a picture of Tolstoy on his office wall and named the camp where he trained activists in peaceful resistance Tolstoy Farm. Gandhi wrote five letters to Leo Tolstoy and received four in return, all glowing with praise and intellectual exchange. In his last letter, written in September 1910 only weeks before his death, Tolstoy told Gandhi that his activity was "the most central and important of all the work now being done in the world." Years later, Gandhi repaid the compliment, writing that he knew of no one "in India or anywhere else who has had as profound an understanding of nonviolence as Tolstoy had." Tolstoy had inspired Gandhi's legendary instruction to "be the change you want to see in the worl
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POPSWhy gas in the U.S. is so cheap Americans are feeling the pain of spiking prices at the gas pump more acutely than citizens in other countries because they've become accustomed to cheap fuel and large cars, experts say.
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POPSFunny Quotes Why is it that people never listen to what you say until it's called a quote? Enjoy.
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