Free Republic

For your enjoyment, written in 1955 and depicting the elections of 2008 and 2012 way in the 'future'....... Franchise Linda, age ten, was the only one of the family who seemed to enjoy being awake. Norman Muller could hear her now through his own drugged, unhealthy coma. (He had finally managed to fall asleep an hour earlier but even then it was more like exhaustion than sleep.) She was at his bedside now, shaking him. "Daddy, Daddy, wake up. Wake up!" He suppressed a groan. "All right, Linda." "But, Daddy, there's more policemen around than any time! Police cars and...

You know, of course, that today would have been the birthday of Karel Capek, who introduced the word robot to the world. He was born Jan. 9, 1890, in what became the Czech Republic, and though his obituary has never crossed my desk, I assume he has passed on. Otherwise, he would be 127, which would make him, by far, the oldest person on Earth. I’m sure that if that were the case, we would have heard of him lately because he would be at least 11 years older than the oldest person in the world at any given time....

I was wondering if there were any freepers here who are fans of the Red Gambit novel series, by Colin Gee. It's a series dealing with World War III, but set shortly after the end of World War II. In it, Stalin basically decides to stab the Western Allies in the back and restart the war with a eye to taking over all of Germany, and perhaps Western Europe as well.To stop this new enemy, the Allies must seek the help of their former German adversaries.

"The essential difference between the two lies in this: the civil disobedient does, while the revolutionary does not, accept the general legitimacy of the authorities," What Civil Disobedience Is Not, Chapter 2, pg-44-45. Asked whether he would try to forge a relationship with the president-elect, Lewis said that he believes in forgiveness, but added, "it's going to be very difficult. I don't see this president-elect as a legitimate president." This type of language and talk is not about civil disobedience or anything of the sort. It is Revolutionary speech against the legitimate authority. Lewis is very dangerous and while he...

According to the ancient tale, King Arthur still sleeps in a cave in the hills across the Shropshire border in Mid Wales.The legend says he is waiting for the call to rescue the nation when it is in danger. The King Arthur story resonates with visitors – and now it will be used to attract more tourists. King Arthur’s legend will be revisited as part of Wales’ 2017 Year of Legends. It is hoped the tale will benefit the region in the same way it attracts crowds to attractions like Tintagel in Cornwall and Glastonbury in Somerset. In Mid Wales,...

Zhou Youguang, the inventor of a system to convert Chinese characters into words with the Roman alphabet, died Saturday at the age of 111. Since his system was introduced nearly six decades ago, few innovations have done more to boost literacy rates in China and bridge the divide between the country and the West. Pinyin, which was adopted by China in 1958, gave readers unfamiliar with Chinese characters a crucial tool to understand how to pronounce them. These characters do not readily disclose information on how to say them aloud — but with such a system as Pinyin, those characters...

The earliest Japanese loanword to appear in the Oxford English Dictionary, kuge (court noble), came in 1577. By 2014, a study by Kinjo Gakuin University researcher Schun Doi had found 584 loan words. Since Commodore Matthew Perry’s Black Ships forced Japan open to trade in the 19th century, such loanwords have repaid the favor by contributing to the English language. The internet and increased travel now allow people to increasingly catapult their linguistic heritages — and attendant values — into each others’ lives. The term “emoji” is a good example. It first appeared in the OED in a 1997 citation...

In the Midnight Hour: The Life & Soul of Wilson PickettBy Tony FletcherOxford University Press, 320 pp. $27.95It was October 13, 1966, and Wilson Pickett was pissed off. And as friends, bandmates, producers and girlfriends knew, you did not want to piss him off. Not for nothing was he referred to — and reveled in — his nickname as “The Wicked Pickett.” At Rick Hall’s storied FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Pickett and his crack band had just laid down a definitive, smoking take on a little tune about a girl who loved her car more than her man....

After Words with Paul Sabin Paul Sabin talked about his book, The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future, in which he analyzes a bet made between economist Julian Simon and biologist Paul Ehrlich. More than 30 years ago, Mr. Simon made a bet with Mr. Ehrlich on the future prices of five metals, asserting that technological change and a booming market would keep the country prosperous. But Mr. Ehrlich predicted that rising populations would lead to overconsumption, taxed resources, and famine. Mr. Sabin argued that the opposing perspectives of the bettors - faith in free...

PERKASIE, Pa. (WPVI) -- A school district in Bucks County is apologizing to parents and students after one of its high school teachers assigned mathematics homework that included what the district is calling "adult content without a proper context." It happened at Pennridge High School in Perkasie, Pa. The assignment focused on Maya Angelou and her autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Two of the questions were captured in a photograph sent to Action News from Pennridge Reform.

William Peter Blatty, an author whose novel “The Exorcist” and his later screenplay for the 1973 film about a demonic possession became a phenomenon and stirred fierce public debate about the occult, died Jan. 12 at a hospital near his home in Bethesda, Md. He was 89. The cause was a form of multiple myeloma, said his wife, Julie Witbrodt Blatty. Mr. Blatty was a junior at Georgetown University when, in 1949, he became mesmerized by a Washington Post story detailing the alleged exorcism by a Jesuit priest of a 14-year-old boy from Mount Rainier, Md. who was believed to...

Later this year, producers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinny (FrackNation) and director Nick Searcy (Justified) will bring the story of notorious Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell to the big screen. Gosnell — who has been called America’s “most prolific serial killer” — operated what the 300-page grand jury report later called a “baby charnel house,” in which he regularly killed babies born alive at his clinic, which itself was staffed with inexperienced nurses and littered with blood-stained furniture and the remains of fetuses stored in basement freezers. Gosnell was later convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and hundreds of lesser...

Students at a leading London college say the majority of philosophers studied there should be from Africa and Asia, and white thinkers should only be examined “from a critical standpoint” or in a “colonial context”.

After the raucous ride of 2016, there’s a lot to be said for hitting the books for some good reading. Whether it’s history, policy, or religion that you find most interesting, here is an assortment of books that our friends from The Heritage Foundation recommend.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Animal Control Officers in Arlington received a big surprise last week while responding to a snake call inside an apartment bathroom – Anaconda big! Arlington County Animal Control said they received a call for a snake inside an apartment toilet, something that isn’t that unusual. However, this wasn’t just any snake, it was a juvenile yellow anaconda that was nearly 5 feet long. On a yellow anaconda scale, that is actually quite small. Fully grown yellow anacondas can be up to 13 feet long and over 100 pounds. Officials say Officer Brenys White was able to safely...