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POPSHow to be the perfect house guest this holiday season As holiday season approaches many of us will travel to see friends and family.Heres how to show gratitude and make your stay a welcome and pleasant one now or any time of the year.May be take them out to dinner but the others can be considered as they would probably to polite to expect your considerations.
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POPSReport: Military Should Use Less Private Security Government Executive story, by Robert Brodsky, points to more pressure on President-elect Obama to scale back on use of private contractors. Pair this story with another interesting one from the Washington Post today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111601841.html
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POPSMajority of Kids Are Computer Savvy An overwhelming majority (89%) of all kids age 6-11 in the US spend at least some time doing online activities and - though many of their basic social activities haven’t changed much over the years - they have vastly different communication styles and preferences than older age groups, according to a study from Experian Consumer Research.
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POPSGreenpeace shifting focus to dialogue in anti-whaling campaign
Whaling is a barbaric murderous business and besides the moral implications of killing our friends, great beautiful, graceful, air-breathing, large-brained, socially sophisticated, singing, communicating animals, whaling is just contributing to the more dangerous human impact on killing the oceans. When we finish killing the oceans thru our pollutions and overfishing, we'll be dead. Brutal humanity is disgusting to some of us but not apparently to some here in this forum (Japan Today) and in Japan, Iceland and Norway. Thank the Sea Gods for Sea Shepherd and Capt. Paul Watson who will be In the Southern Ocean aboard the "Steve Irwin" to confront the Whalers again. I have no quarrel with Greenpeace, corporate PR is their forte and they have the $$ for it and they weren't all that effective stopping the whalers anyway, just taking pictures and grandstanding in style, which is OK--it brought some attention to whaling but I have much more respect for Capt. Watson and his dedicated crew in
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POPSGerman equivalent of Mi5 & the FBI puts Scientology in the same category as Islamic extremists tl;dr Scientology is very fucking dangerous. And creepy. And scary. Why can't the police just handle Scientology? It's because the cult are known for courting corrupt police officers and public officials. (google 'Kevin Hurley + Scientology' to see how they've been giving gifts to a certain London police chief superintendent) (click on the link next to the paperclip to go straight to the German site. It's in English)
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POPSReported Obama-Hamas Contacts Bode Ill Another clash between Obama’s public statements and his team's behind-the-scenes activities. According to Yousuf, Hamas' contact with Obama's advisors was ongoing, adding that he personally had friendly relations with a few of Obama's advisers whom he had met when he lived in the US. "Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh will draft a congratulatory letter to Obama for his victory in the elections," added Yousef. "The policy Obama will instate in the Middle East will differ from that of his predecessor George W. Bush, although it is clear that the region and the Palestinian issue will not be at the top of his agenda," Yousef told Al-Hayat, "(Obama) will focus more on the economic crisis, Iraq and Afghanistan." © 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
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POPS On Creativity, fulfillment and flow... TED -Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow."
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POPSShop till you drop The Internet revolutionized everything, from slow paced to speedy high-tech life, making almost everything easy and convenient. Getting informations firsthand before was pretty hard and takes a long process. Today, just a browse, topics of variety and bulk are available in an instant. With many of the advantages of the Internet use, is online shopping. It has been one of the activities that many got attached and got addicted to. For someone who lucks time for a walk, shopping online is the best
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POPSIAD, Internet Addiction Disorder "US academics have found that more than one in eight Americans showed at least one possible sign of problematic internet use, with some web surfers already starting to seek medical help." "The Chinese manual would be the first of its kind in the world, adding to the controversy over whether compulsive internet use should be officially viewed as a mental disorder." I think that eventually we will have to recognize it as an added capability of the human, the netting/wired sense or a sort. certainly not a disorder.
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POPSObama Transition Team Limits Lobbyists The specifics, from Change.gov : Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition. Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition. If someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied. If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked. A gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.
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POPSClimate Change - What You Can Do Great site--act now to help--It's a new era and we need to hit it running to recover and repair the damage of the Boooshies disastrous effect on the environment--they set us back 35 years in just 8 yrs and held us back from any progress, the fuckin' incompetent profiteering asses! (OK, I prolly didn't need that last phrase but they're still doing the damage as you read this--all to benefit industry profits)