All politics stink. Even democracy stinks. Imagine if our clothes were selected by the majority of shoppers, which would be teenage girls. I'd be standing here with my bellybutton exposed. Imagine deciding the dinner menu by family secret ballot. I've got three kids and three dogs in my family. We'd be eating Froot Loops and rotten meat.

But let me make a distinction between politics and politicians. Some people are under the misapprehension that all politicians stink. Impeach George W. Bush, and everything will be fine. Nab Ted Kennedy on a DUI, and the nation's problems will be solved.

But the problem isn't politicians -- it's politics. Politics won't allow for the truth. And we can't blame the politicians for that.

Politics is corruption, because it's a game play between financial competitors who care more about their self-image and their salaries, than what they do about the common citizen who's being exploited and lied to. The problem is not Bush. The problem is democracy, and in extension, politics. We need real political leaders whose work is to make decisions for the best of the nation, not a bunch of media clowns that cater to lobby interests and the shallow trends among the crowd.

Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.

egardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

The rationalization measure included statements such as: "It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

Equality is a word without reference to something in reality. Equality of ability doesn't exist and this is what conservatives have recognized. However, we are not conservatives. We know society is broken in many ways, but refuse to trouble ourselves with concepts that are not realistic. Instead we focus on rebuilding and not worrying about the casualties because they will be too many to count - and why would we spend time on negativity when we have goals to achieve?

Some people say we live in a world of shit. I tend to agree. What I'm seeing though is that many of these people end up giving up on life and handing in the towel because of all the problems around them. You don't have to suffer from a weak mind to feel that all the world's problems are here to hunt us down. I believe it's important, first of all, to recognize the state that we're in. Yes, we are living in a world of shit. But you know what; nothing's lost. Nothing's over.

Why do we celebrate ancient civilizations and cultures? Because they had a noble, heroic outlook on life. Life was not always fairy tale for Mayans, Romans, Greeks or Vikings. But they held on to their beliefs and ideals - not because they were inhuman and therefore weren't afraid, but despite all fears and doubts. They believed that once you transcend the mental images of failure and follow your dreams, you become immortal. What we modern people need to recognize is that we must revive this spirit again, if we are going to survive this. And we will, because I and many other people who are aware of the problems around us, believe in You. We believe in You, because together we can create change.

We will not back down. We will continue to march through fire and darkness. There will be much pain, much sorrow, and much anger. But we will still be marching forward toward our goal of creating a new society for the people who deserve it. We will revive art, we will revive spirit, we will revive tradition, we will revive unity, and we will revive new gods, new paths, new ideals, new visions, and new dreams. Right now You're standing by the side and watching us moving across the battlefield. We're few so far, but in turn we're stronger than most, and we continue to grow by the numbers. When You make the decision to be one of us who chose to move forward in an age of decay and madness, You will contribute to make this group stronger and more powerful. New challenges await us and we see them as an opportunity to grow as individuals and fight for truth. We are here to say that we're ready to face them. Bring it on!

Repeat the motto of Change: Onward into countless battles!

- A. Birch

Cyberspace - 05/07/08 - On May 5th this week, environmentalist activist John Feeney wrote an article for The Guardian on the topic of overpopulation. Addressing the critical but controversial issue that the world population has exceeded its limits in regard to the resources per capita available, Feeney's research and opinions created a wild debate on the popular news site.

That same day, a crowd of Corrupt supporters organized a cyber hit by posting dissident comments in support of Feeney's views and managed to gain monentum. As of May 7th, 13 out of the 19 most recommended comments are posted by Corrupt supporters. The Corrupt Hq declares the cyberhit a success and wants to thank all of those who chose to participate, especially Mathew Eugene who coordinated the attack. This is a threefold victory:

- Support of John Feeney and overpopulation awareness
- Support and awareness of the Corrupt philosophy
- Increased page ranking for the Corrupt main site

This is a fist in the face of those who choose to deny reality by hiding behind emotional and moral pretense. It's an affirmation of reality, one that is both fun and effective in making other people aware of the same realization.

Ever onward into countless battles!

Target: John Feeney / Return of the population timebomb

Public participants:

Antiglobalism
Kaliyuga
matheweugene
0AlsoKnownAs
dave931
sadomatic
PeakThought
fju2112
RickfromCanada
56000xp

Corrupt is an influential thinktank & civilization watchdog that believe a better future for humans will come by embracing reality and not silly bureaucratic, academic or emotional abstractions. Our goal is to critique the society of our current time and get human civilization back on track with sorting out our actual problems.

www.CORRUPT.org

CORRUPT
PO Box 1004
Alief, TX 77411
(512) 553-4544

The Robert L. Capp collection at the Hoover Institution Archives contains ten never-before-published photographs illustrating the immediate aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing. These photographs, taken by an unknown Japanese photographer, were found in 1945 among rolls of undeveloped film in a cave outside Hiroshima by U.S. serviceman Robert L. Capp, who was attached to the occupation forces. Unlike most photos of the Hiroshima bombing, these dramatically convey the human as well as material destruction unleashed by the atomic bomb.

As soon as people start bloviating about how democracy will save us from all evil, I point out that the 120,000 people who lost their lives after the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, probably wouldn't accept that definition of "freedom." And before you say "but...," remember the Dresden bombings, where innocent civilians were practically roasted alive. Together with the meaningless wars in Middle East, we see that democracy is not the innocent image of Good that it portrays itself as in the media. Rather ironically, championing world peace and equality, it always manages to find new enemies to crusade against (Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Saddam, bin Laden - next up Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?).

The largest randomized study of breastfeeding ever conducted reports that breastfeeding raises children's IQs and improves their academic performance, a McGill researcher and his team have found.

In a new article, Dr. Michael Kramer reports the results from following the same group of 14,000 children for 6.5 years.

"Our study provides the strongest evidence to date that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding makes kids smarter," said Kramer, a Professor of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology & Biostatistics in the McGill University Faculty of Medicine and lead investigator in the study.

There you go; traditional motherhood makes our children smarter. Apart from this recent study, children obviously need loving and caring parents who show them affection and moral guidance. It's the basis for the kind of stable, traditional society that's been the foundation to all great civilizations in history.

Every day Americans discard 426,000 cell phones. The image above, created by Chris Jordan, displays the number of cell phones discarded within minutes. Check out the link above to see more of these unsettling images.
It's time we reduce the number of people on this planet and the level of consumption we engage in, unless we wish to turn our planet into a gigantic city dump.

Only since 1800, in the last 0.01% of the history of Homo sapiens, has the human population shot into the billions. Now at nearly 6.7 billion, with 9 billion looming 40 years away, few environmentalists seem to care.

Yet the population-environment link is clear. Our environmental impact, as gauged by total resource consumption for a country or the world, is the product of population size and the average person's consumption.

Today's crumbling environment, racked by climate change, mass extinction, deforestation, collapsing fisheries and more is evidence our total consumption has gone too far. We are destroying our life-support system. In ecological terms we are in "overshoot" of Earth's "carrying capacity" for humans, our demand exceeding the planet's absorptive and regenerative capacities.

John Feeney is one of the few environmentalists that recognizes and dares to spread awareness of one of the biggest problems humanity has to face in modern time: Overpopulation.

Show your support, both to Corrupt and Mr. Feeney, by taking 5 minutes to register on the site and posting a short comment supporting this point of view and/or referencing CORRUPT and/or its ideals:

* Organic society instead of institutional
* No support for surplus population
* Industry, economics must follow social needs
* No one is special for being a human alive

You can recommend posts as well. Posts by Antiglobalism, Kaliyuga, matheweugene and 0AlsoKnownAs are the obvious ones.

Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.

"I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,' [he said]. Wizardry?" he asked.

Tampa Bay's 10 talked to the assistant superintendent with the Pasco County School District who said it wasn't just the wizardry and that Picular had other performance issues, including "not following lesson plans" and allowing students to play on unapproved computers.

If this teacher is losing his job because he performed a magic trick, let's declare the whole White House unemployed for zapping away the dollar value, sending the gold reserve to the Moon, casting spells in the Middle East after symbolic enemies, and destroying all the beautiful nature with just a snap of hands. The true wizards wear tuxedos and appear on TV!

Tune out, turn off and get away from addictive electronics for 24 hours on May 3 and enjoy the outdoors.

That's the message from organizers of the second annual global Shutdown Day who say using computers, televisions and electronic gadgets is having a negative impact on society.

"People are failing to socialize with each other and they are becoming outcasts, they are becoming more and more introverted," said Montreal-based Shutdown Day co-founder Ashutosh Rajekar in an interview.

The electronics isn't the problem; lack of realistic values and meaningful ideals is. However, these people are 100 % right: We need to stop hiding behind our TV:s, computers, cell phones and moral virtual realities. Turn off your entertainment and discover the world outside your window; it's more beautiful than what you might think.

Young people entering the job market today may be better educated, but they're earning less money than their parents did a generation ago, according to new census data released Thursday by Statistics Canada.

In fact, it's a trend that began a quarter century ago and doesn't appear to be slowing down - especially for young men entering the workforce.

Across all age groups, median salaries for full-time workers have changed little in 25 years. Workers today make, on average, a mere $53 more than they did in 1980, when adjusted for inflation, according to the census.

We're celebrating progress and freedom, despite the fact that we're being exploited and adopt morals that say it's alright. We can get out of this loop hole and the first thing we need to do is to stop worrying about material wealth in the first place, and instead focus on family, culture and personal development. We're losing money, yes, but we don't need be rich in order to live a good, happy and meaningful life.

You must have seen the kind of newspaper columns telling you the various ways in which you can be greener and save the planet. Well, if you're cutting down on paper consumption, you'll have read all that spiel online at any rate.

Some of this advice is of use: recycling your plastic bags; driving a more fuel-economic car - and some of it is worse than useless. In particular I am thinking of the big push towards eco light bulbs. Those things crack faster than the ice at a Billy Connolly show - particularly the swirly sort. I have had three of the buggers smash in my house in the past year. Environmentally friendly? That's so inaccurate anyone saying so should be prosecuted under the sales descriptions act. They are not environmentally friendly, they are environmentally lethal.

Victoria McMagnus describes the usefulness in giving up modern lifestyle patterns we don't need in her latest column:

The Appeal Of Giving Up Modern Inconveniences

While the survey showed that young women notch up as many sexual conquests as men, the survey found that they are really looking for a "romantic, hard-working man who is not afraid to commit".

[---]

By the age of 25, what young women really want is a soulmate with a view to marriage.

[---]

"However, young women today have watched their mothers' floundering relationship history and realised that getting a man to commit is important for their future happiness and family security. Young women are starting to expect far more from men."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=562673&in_page_id=1879

This is a positive response, showing that women are tired of growing up in failed, abusive relationships. If we remake the values of our society, the romantic aspirations of the youth today would be combined with realism and probably save many marriages from failure. This is the only way we can escape the "American Pie"-generation where you get drunk, have sex, end up with 4 kids you hate, and then die fighting some fairy tale evil in Iraq.

Hayden said the world's population is expected to grow by 45 percent to 9 billion people by midcentury, mostly in countries that cannot sustain such growth, such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Combine that with the likely mass migration to developed countries, and resources will be strained, leading to an increased risk of violence, civil unrest or extremism, he said.

China will become an economic and political competitor to the United States, he said, but should not be treated as "an inevitable enemy."

Although the rapid growth of the Chinese military could pose a threat to the United States and Taiwan, Hayden said, he believes that the nation's aim of military modernization is about "projecting strength" and demonstrating that it has "great-power status."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/30/cia.director.challenges/index.html?eref=rss_world

Hayden is lying; if Asia already is unstable and China is becoming the next superpower, you can bet that the U.S. wants to subvert them. Today it's not only a battle over nuclear power, Communism or oil - it's all at once, including other resources like oil, water and agricultural land. If you for a moment think America isn't aware of this and wants to be a part of the game, you're being duped, just like the American soldiers were when they were sent into Iraq after symbolic evils with messages of peace and democracy.

“These lip glosses can make more of the light rays penetrate directly through the skin instead of getting reflected off of the skin’s surface,” says Dr. Christine Brown, a dermatologist at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. (You're covered, however, if you wear lip gloss with SPF.)

At worst, say some dermatologists, the resulting sun damage can lead to potentially fatal forms of skin cancer. An estimated 3,500 new cases of skin cancer of the lips are diagnosed each year, and 90 percent of those cancers are squamous cell carcinoma. While that form of cancer isn't usually particularly serious, it can be more aggressive on the lips than on other parts of the skin. If left untreated, it can cause disfigurement, and in very few cases, it can spread to other organs and become deadly.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24190829/

The mistake we make is to accept any given product because:

a) It brings in profit
b) It "looks good"

This logic has brought us to environmental collapse and a heap of products that are dangerous to our health. Let's get rid of these right away, because you as well as I know that we don't need most of this junk in the first place!

We've come to the point where it doesn't matter if we enforce our meaningless wars abroad or keep them within the national borders; either we'll be hunting down a symbolic enemy in Iraq or set our violent suburbs on fire. These guys have since long understood this and that is why they're treating the war as an aesthetic experience. They're the first honest generation of American soldiers, because they know they're not fighting to spread "democracy" and "freedom," but to serve the interests of the oligarchs. So why not shoot and enjoy the chaos while it lasts?

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality." Living a life of utter misery, enduring his parents' death at an early age, numerous love affairs shattered and torn, and maintaining no substantial and consistent income, Edgar Allan Poe committed his life to writing. While everyone else was not paying him much attention, Poe continued to write new, provocative and different pieces than what the public and literary elite was used to. Synthesizing the macabre of the Gothic tale with the personal will to power of the emotive Romanticist movement, we are delighted by a blend of prose and verse talent that can be best described as the dark Romanticism that this American poet creatively spawned.

Our creative contributor Joel Meyer has done it again, this time an engaging, in-depth literary study into the genius mind of American Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe. Read about the man that evolved the Romantic poetic style, fulfilled the Gothic genre, fused mysticism and occult science with modern psychology, invented the stroll/gadabout novel and basically created the modern crime novel as we know it. We're ever grateful to Mr. Meyer and proud to present yet another brilliant addition to our celebrated profile-section.

Read about Edgar Allan Poe here

Want to be a part of the momentum and also write a profile?

Check this page for a list of available topics.

Over the years, different theories have emerged to describe the educated/less-educated divide. Conservatives have gravitated toward the culture war narrative, dividing the country between the wholesome masses and the decadent cultural elites. Some liberals believe income inequality drives everything. They wait for an uprising of economic populism. Other liberals divide the country morally, between the enlightened urbanites and the racist rednecks who will never vote for a black man.

None of these theories really fit the facts. It’s more accurate to say that the country has simply drifted apart into different subcultures. There’s no great hostility between the cultures. Americans have a fuzzy sense of where the boundaries lie. But people in different niches have developed different unconscious maps of reality. They have developed different communal understandings of what constitutes a good leader, of what sort of world they live in. They have developed different communal definitions, which they can’t even articulate, of what they mean by liberty, security and virtue. Demographic groups have begun to function like tribes or cultures.

[---]

The core message is that even if you take away the ideological differences between the parties, you are still left with profound social gulfs within the parties. There’s poignancy to that. The upscale liberals who revere Obama have spent their lives championing equality and opposing privilege. But they’ve smashed the old WASP social hierarchy only to create a new educational one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/opinion/29brooks.html?_r=1&em&ex=1209700800&en=19f68d2260f8ab57&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin

David Brooks agrees with Corrupt: Pluralism doesn't work. Our nation is torn apart by ethnic interests that clash with the idea of a country based on consensus. Mr. Brooks gently hints at the solution that Corrupt also espouses, which is ethnonationalism. We're happy to see our ideas gaining ground in pop journalism!

A LEADING scientist has warned a new species of "humanzee," created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.

In an interview with The Scotsman, Dr Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, warned the controversial draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill did not prevent human sperm being inseminated into animals.

He said if a female chimpanzee was inseminated with human sperm the two species would be closely enough related that a hybrid could be born.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/Exclusive-Should-we-beware-the.4028970.jp

According to Corrupt Officials these half-chimp, half-man beasts have already bred into billions and infiltrated our once happy and peaceful societies. You can spot them at day time, shuffling paper, collecting plastic toys in the shopping malls, watching TV or talking nonsense in political debates. At night time most of them hide in their homes, most likely watching more TV, unless they're out getting drunk to ease the pain of being half-chimp. Nietzsche was right but probably didn't expect his Overmen to arrive this early.

Summer is coming, and with it hordes of mosquitoes. We can either try to destroy the mosquitoes, or we can design our living spaces so that mosquitoes play a smaller role. The advantage of this second approach is that we do not suffer from the means used to destroy mosquitoes.

Here are some plants that, if you seed them and nurture them in barrier gardens (semicircular beds in areas of approach to your living spaces), will keep mosquitoes repelled. It's either that or smearing yourself with bear fat as the American Indians did (which if you ask me, is a waste of tasty bear fat).

Lantana (genus Lantana) - many people plant this just because it's an attractive flower, but keeping bugs away is a bonus.

Lemongrass (genus Cymbopogon) - You may be familiar with this from your favorite dishes in Asian restaurants, but it's also a hardy, fibrous grass which repells insects.

Catnip (genus Nepeta) - Cats love to get high on this stuff, but it was harsh smoke for us. Nevertheless, it is an attractive and hardy flowering plant.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) - a woody herb that adds flavor to cooking worldwide, despite its rigidity. Bugs hate it.

Mexican Marigold and Marigolds (family Asteraceae) - In Mexico, emo kids get beaten for being irritating. Mexican Marigolds dump unpleasant scents on mosquitoes. Many people don't like the scent as well, which is why you will often see Marigolds planted around a bed of flowers with a stronger smell.

American Basil (Ocimum americanum) - Strongly fragrant leaves often used to disguise odors come from a pretty little plant that will keep bugs away from your house and flavor your pasta sauce.

Horsemint (Monarda punctata) - anecdotally, peppermint and spearmint also work, and enhance the power of marigolds. A mint bed bordered by marigolds, int he path of morning breezes, seems to keep mosquitoes confused and/or frustrated. They go home to play on their Wiis instead.

Ageratum (genus Ageratum) - Clusters of pretty flowers, often strikingly refreshing. Although this is an irritant, and you shouldn't get it on your skin, mosquitoes don't like to hang around it.

Eucalyptus (genus Eucalyptus) - Trees with a unique, lightly oily scent that is reminiscent sometimes of lemon and sometimes of willow trees.

Chrysanthemum (genus Chrysanthemum) - Round, cheerful flowers from which we extract pyrethrum, also rumored to dispell mosquito populations.

American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) - Shrubs with chains of flowers that leave shiny, colorful berries in their place, and bug bugs, for a bonus.

Geranium (genus Pelargonium) - Pleasant, stalky flowers which emit a strong fresh odor that is likened by many to the smell of a healthy hothouse (but not bathhouse).

Six U.S. cities have been found guilty of shortening the amber cycles
below what is allowed by law on intersections equipped with cameras
meant to catch red-light runners. The local governments in question have
ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and
decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration,
and collect the profits instead.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/six-us-cities-tamper-with-traffic-cameras-for-profit.html

How incessantly the herd bleats "absolute power corrupts absolutely," without any knowledge that, given one simple abstraction layer, moral authority is absolute power. Government does not have moral authority
until it becomes the Nanny State, but then, it's in your best interests that they do things to you. If you object, then you must disagree with their aims and not their actions.

This separation between methods and ideals occurs in several areas amongst the levels of interpretation required. If we object to Nanny State methods, it is seen that we must object to their ideals as well. If we look at life honestly, we see either ideals (goals beyond the individual) or methods (preserve the individual) as a means of social glue, but little crossover. Humanism or idealism, pick one.

While automobile ownership and maintenance has changed over the years, there are basic items we can easily attend to with minimal time spent. Most repairs are maintenance items which are easily diagnosable using OBD-II and other methods. Independent mechanics ("indies") partake in a network of other indies to share ideas when they're stuck, and they update their skill sets regularly whenever manufacturers adopt new technologies. As such, using a qualified indie is preferable to the dealership. For DIY-ers, the full technician's manual for nearly every vehicle can be purchased at a dealership, and the OEM parts referenced within the guide can be purchased online at steep discounts. For the less mechanically inclined, following are some easy steps to ensure your vehicle is properly maintained.

Read more

We'd like to thank Frank U. for writing this excellent document on how you maintain your veichle.

I've often been accused of racism in the past few years because I'm against excessive immigration. I keep retorting that I'm not a racist, I'm a culturalist- I'm fine with immigrants who want to come here to join our American/Canadian culture and all the high lifestyle standards that provides, in return for being some of the hardest working people in the world. I'm against people who want to colonize our land, bring in their culture, and replace it with theirs. I'm also against bringing in more people to areas where the carrying capacity is already at it's limit.

I've been rightly or wrongly criticized for that in the past- but apparently I'm not the only one who feels this way: Illiad of UserFriendly Fame, who apparently lives near a casino I once did technical support at in the mid 1990s, wrote a very good essay on his blog about the difference between "immigrants willing to join the community" and "immigrants who cut themselves off". Just so happens most of the ones down here in the states who are of the later variety start their life in the United States with an overtly criminal act, but the attitude is the same. They're sending the message, by forcing Spanish on the rest of us (or Cantonese in the sake of Richmond, BC) and by breaking our laws to come here, that they don't want to become a part of our community, that they only want to colonize us.

I'd also point out that's exactly what we English and French speakers in North America did to the Native Americans- and we should learn from their failure what happens when you let too many immigrants in who don't want to be a part of your community.

http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=637462

Is it "racism" to notice that only one culture can exist, and mixed culture is destructive to all original cultures?

Search your heart, and your uncensored mind, and you'll realize Rome is falling again.

It would be nice to preserve the good things we've made.

The Pragmatism Party wants to create an organic social order to replace institutional society:

* Reward morally upright individuals
* Localization
* Reverence for nature
* Focus on goals not methods
* Economy serves culture

It's more than politics: it's a way of life. For more information:

http://www.pragmatism.us/

A prostitute, recovering from whatever bad decisions she made to get herself into prostitution, wants to lecture us on freedom:

"Sawyer asked me about preserving the 'sanctity' of my body, as though sex without the imprimatur of love were inherently degrading," the blogger chides.

"I feel like I can only sigh, because I doubt I can begin to penetrate the many layers of misunderstandings and preconceptions, let alone that relentless working assumption that a woman's value as a human being decreases as she gains sexual experience."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04222008/news/regionalnews/hookers_laid_bare_on_show_107500.htm

She can only sigh, because if she looked within, she'd see that she's still a whore and in a few years no one will care. She will gain sexual experience, which is sort of like getting good at backrubs, and in exchange she'll also gain sexual alienation. No stable marriage for her, but more years of getting old alone and wondering what she did with her youth.

And she wants us to follow her in the name of "freedom."

Drug addicts, pedophiles and swingers feel the same way.

Somehow, I don't think my path -- or that of anyone I know who is not a loser -- will go in that direction. Even if they've memorized words like "imprimatur."

People in a modern time seem paralyzed. Why might this be?

Today's order requires surviving a gauntlet of choices: Latte or Americano? Flavored or plain? Cream and sugar? Small, medium or large? And the list goes on.

New research shows that such daily decisions eat up limited mental resources, ultimately rendering our self-control into mush. Which means making too many decisions might be why many people can't stick to a diet, finish a big project or even complete simple daily tasks.

"It's a strange paradox because human beings are drawn to choice," said study co-author Kathleen Vohs, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "We love having more
choices, but at the same time the human psyche is easily overcome by them."

http://www.livescience.com/health/080418-too-many-choices.html

This view of the study shows us that the same decisions, day after day, wear us down. Often, we'd prefer to have fewer options, because these decisions don't matter as far as our effectiveness goes. They don't even make us all that happy, our coffee choices (and other trivia).

Study author Kathleen D. Vohs, PhD, of the University of Minnesota's marketing department, and researchers from several other universities have determined that making choices, as opposed to just thinking about options, can be mentally draining. Those with too many choices -- good or bad -- have trouble remembering to take their medicine and staying focused on everyday tasks.

The findings are based on seven experiments designed to test how the simple act of choosing or not choosing influences a person's ability to remain focused and productive.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20080418/too_many_choices_exhaust_the_brain

The above summation gives us a better view: choice-making itself wears us out. If we can make 20 good choices a day, and we have to make 50, maybe that overloads us. And certainly our exhausted society looks overloaded.

The person who wrote this belongs to those of us who've chosen to step out of the hamster wheel for a moment and think things through; "maybe we're not free, after all."

One in five Swedes thinks that a woman who is raped only has herself to blame if she dresses provocatively, doesn’t fight back, or is drunk at the time of the attack.

[---]

Young people between 15 and 25-years-old, as well as people over 66-years-old, are the most inclined to think that a woman is at least partially to blame for being raped. The same subgroups are also more likely to think that extenuating circumstances can explain a man’s behavior accused of rape.

Amnesty believes the results beg further questions about gender stereotypes related to women’s and men’s sexuality.

This is how the media spins it: Swedish men think it's OK to rape women.

This is what the respondents actually were trying to say: Rapes have always and will always exist; they won't go away, no matter how "moral" we become. Therefore women should take greater care of themselves and not get recklessly drunk, follow weird strangers home etc. Idiotic behaviour doesn't justify rape, but it's obviously a good idea to be more careful and use your brain to avoid situations like this.

Increasingly, psychologists are looking at such behavior and saying out loud what may go against the grain of how many people act: high self-esteem is not the same thing as healthy self-esteem. And new research by a psychology professor from the University of Georgia is adding another twist: those with “secure” high self-esteem are less likely to be verbally defensive than those who have “fragile” high self-esteem.

“There are many kinds of high self-esteem, and in this study we found that for those in which it is fragile and shallow it’s no better than having low self-esteem,” said Michael Kernis. “People with fragile high self-esteem compensate for their self-doubts by engaging in exaggerated tendencies to defend, protect and enhance their feelings of self-worth.”

This psychological behaviour is present in most modern people today. It works something like this:

1) Person watches television
2) Television says we have to buy stuff to feel happy
3) Person walks out of the house, sees destroyed farmlands
4) Person has got two voices inside his head: one saying consuming is good, another saying consuming destroys farmland
5) Person experiences conflict between these two voices, also referred to as cognitive dissonance
6) Person denies there's a problem with farmlands and viciously defends the right to buy

Human-dominated marine ecosystems are experiencing accelerating loss of populations and species, with largely unknown consequences. We analyzed local experiments, long-term regional time series, and global fisheries data to test how biodiversity loss affects marine ecosystem services across temporal and spatial scales. Overall, rates of resource collapse increased and recovery potential, stability, and water quality decreased exponentially with declining diversity. Restoration of biodiversity, in contrast, increased productivity fourfold and decreased variability by 21%, on average. We conclude that marine biodiversity loss is increasingly impairing the ocean's capacity to provide food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations. Yet available data suggest that at this point, these trends are still reversible.

This is simple math: we're 6,7+ billion people on this planet - and growing. I laugh when I think of the populist greens who talk about recycling tampons, exterminating farting cows, and saving animals from being driven over on highways. The truth is that we need to be fewer people, especially if we want to continue living a lifestyle whose material standard is even a fraction of what we've got now. This article shows that we're not doomed yet; there is a possibility for change!