Free Republic

For Scott Stowell of New York City, it was the freedom to express a passion."I think the message we tried to deliver is something we really believed in. We were passionate in our beliefs and everyone has a right in our democracy to do that."Mr. Stowell was part of a team that produced one of 26 political commercials in a recent online contest soliciting political ads critical of President Bush. Entitled the 'Bush in 30 seconds' TV ad contest and sponsored by the Washington, DC-based public policy advocacy group MoveOn.org, Stowell's spot - entitled "Pop Quiz" - was produced and...

A little penguin related fun.

ELLSWORTH - A renovation project on a downtown building has uncovered what appears to be an underground retail area from turn-of-the-century Ellsworth. Mark and Josie Roehrman discovered the mall after they bought the E.W. Wellington store, built in 1898 by a wealthy sheep rancher. The Roehrmans' initial plan was to restore the second floor and provide added space for consignment antiques. During the renovation, a crumbling wall was lifted away, revealing another wall. Then, a layer of concrete was jackhammered away, leading to an underground brick sidewalk. More work unearthed walls and storefronts, an area the Roehrmans now call Underground...

There's a very good chance anyone who happened to be passing the Silly Moaning Hilmer's ofice in London recently concluded a group therapy session for sufferers of chronic constipation was underway inside, what with all the clenched-teeth grunting and groaning that must have been going as correspondent Peter Fray laboured mightily to bring forth this chunky little nugget of bitter, condescending concession. "It's So Good They Gave War a Chance" the article is titled, indicating that the editors at Hilmer World Headquarters who wrote the headline also are suffering from terminally congested colons. Still, credit where it's due. Fray and...

In Iraq, school administrators are struggling to keep their classroom doors open and their students educated, in the face of many obstacles unleashed by the occupation of the country. Looting has become commonplace, while lack of supplies and the decay of basic infrastructure make teaching a challenge. Into this situation steps Bechtel Corporation, the San Francisco-based engineering and construction giant. In April Bechtel was awarded a contract by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for the reconstruction of Iraq's primary and secondary schools, as part of a deal worth up to $1.03 billion to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. But the...

excerpt:... Effective teaching tools? That may be so, but it is still a gamble. For all the rhetoric behind the high-tech revolution, relatively little evidence backs the idea that computers improve learning in readily measurable ways, such as producing higher grades. Bob Spielvogel, principal author of a three-year study by the nonprofit Education Development Center that evaluated a $45 million IBM education program, cautioned that equipment is only the beginning of technological reform in the classroom. "We know that simply putting computers into schools doesn't work," he said, adding that the IBM program succeeded because it engaged "researchers, corporate managers...

A Stillwater area school district decision to provide laptops to junior high students apparently fueled a record number of write-in votes for the school board Tuesday and led to the defeat of three incumbents.Nancy Hoffman and Christopher Kunze, who announced as write-in candidates shortly after the laptop decision was made in September, won seats on the board, along with incumbent David "Choc" Junker — who voted against the laptop plan — and challenger Andrée M. Aronson."The laptop issue fueled people to go out," Hoffman said. "But I think people liked where we stood on other issues and saw they...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Prosecutors looking to throw the book at accused computer hackers have come across a legal defense expected to become even more widespread in an era of hijacked PCs and laptops that threatens to blur the lines of personal responsibility: the computer did it. In one case that was being watched as a bellwether by computer security experts, Aaron Caffrey, 19, was acquitted earlier this month in the United Kingdom on charges of hacking into the computer system of the Houston Pilots, an independent contractor for the Port of Houston, in September 2001. Caffrey had been charged...

Shattered Glass "Read between the lies." Directed by: Billy Ray Starring: Hayden Christensen - Stephen Glass Peter Sarsgaard - Chuck Lane Chloë Sevigny - Caitlin Avey Melanie Lynskey - Amy Brand Steve Zahn - Adam Penenberg Hank Azaria - Michael Kelly Rosario Dawson - Andie Fox Back before anyone had ever heard of Jayson Blair and his plagiarized stories for the New York Times, Stephen Glass was the star reporter for 'The New Republic' magazine. You may not be familiar with the magazine, its circulation is less than 100,000, but it’s known as ‘the in-flight magazine of Air Force One’....

Five South African policemen accused of killing the anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in 1977, giving rise to worldwide protests, will not be prosecuted, the government said yesterday. An inquest was told that Biko had been driven naked, shackled and unconscious in the back of a police van from Port Elizabeth, where he was arrested, to a police cell in Pretoria, where he died of brain injuries. But the South African justice ministry found that there was insufficient evidence to support a murder charge, partly because there were no eyewitnesses. Charges of culpable homicide and assault were also considered, but because...

A bear wandered into a neighborhood in Missoula, Montana, and got stuck in a tree, leaving authorities with the responsibility of figuring out how to get him down safely. Their brainstorming session came up with this idea: put a trampoline under him and then shoot him with a tranquilizer gun. The bear fell onto the trampoline, and his head went between the springs, nearly hitting the ground. He then bounced into the air and fell onto the grass. The bear was unharmed, and was scheduled to be released back into the wild.

Who Killed Apple Computer? This essay has received some attention on the web, giving it an audience beyond those for whom it was written. So I think a little introduction is in order. This was written for former Apple employees, and in particular for those who worked at Apple during the same time as me, when the company grew, reached an apex in revenue, and then almost died. It's an effort to draw some lessons from that experience. It is not, despite some things you may have seen on the web, a critique of the current incarnation of Apple. But...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - If you're a female cashier or a corporate officer at Wal-Mart, age 18 and over, and you're not afraid to shed your inhibitions in front of the camera, Playboy wants you.</p> <p>Playboy.com announced Monday it is searching for the sexiest women at Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: Research, Estimates), the world's biggest retailer.</p>

Legislation may 'unravel' JSFBy Tony Capaccio Bloomberg News LOCKHEED MARTIN Eight nations besides the United States have committed $4.5 billion to the $19 billion effort to develop the joint strike fighter. A House bill that mandates using more American machinery and parts in U.S. weapons programs would force an overhaul of Lockheed Martin's joint strike fighter program and eliminate participation by European companies, a Pentagon official said.Eight other nations have committed $4.5 billion to the $19 billion effort to develop a plane that has 80 percent common parts and design for all the services using it. Rolls-Royce Group, for example,...

President George W. Bush I am delighted to extend my warmest greetings to all those observing National Engineers Week. Engineers have made significant contributions to America's economy and our overall quality of life. In protecting our citizens, exploring new frontiers, developing our industries, and educating our young people, engineers have been vital to the crowning achievements of this great country. These dedicated men and women continue to lead our Nation to a better future, pioneering innovations in fields as vast and diverse as health care, the environment, the space program, and technology of all kinds. This week's activities will prove...

Sunday, February 16, 2003 The 'terahertz' camera at work: This man is fully clothed.   Voyeurs take note: a portable, cheap camera that can see through objects and clothing may be available for sale to common folk in as little as five years, say British-based space researchers.The camera, built by a European Space Agency-funded team working at a lab in central England, could one day be used to find skin cancer or hidden weapons, reveal wounds beneath animal fur or bandages, spot forged works of art, even pierce through fog.The technology was unveiled last fall, but it was just...

I would like to find a decent news radio site to listen to during the day. One that carries Rush Limbaugh. All the sites I've been to recently require me to down load some spy-ware plug-in just to listen to a windows media stream. They didn't use to require this and the streaming quality was just fine. I listen at work so I can't just down load plug-ins willy-nilly. I'd like to just find a site's URL that I can drop into Windows Media Player's open URL and it just play. Without it then opening up a browser window forcing...

In light of the Democratic reaction to the State of the Union Address, I thought it would be useful to show the difference in how various people approach the same reality: Question: You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner and is running at you while screaming obscenities. In your hand is a Glock .40 and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do? Liberal Answer: Well, that's not enough...

COMMENTARY--Could we be constantly tracked through our clothes, shoes or even our cash in the future? I'm not talking about having a microchip surgically implanted beneath your skin, which is what Applied Digital Systems of Palm Beach, Fla., would like to do. Nor am I talking about John Poindexter's creepy Total Information Awareness spy-veillance system, which I wrote about last week. Instead, in the future, we could be tracked because we'll be wearing, eating and carrying objects that are carefully designed to do so. The generic name for this technology is RFID, which stands for radio frequency identification. RFID tags...

SEOUL (Reuters) - Ruling party candidate Roh Moo-hyun emerged as the early favorite to win South Korea's presidential election on Thursday, a result that could complicate ties with the United States as the allies grapple with North Korea's nuclear program. Exit polls from all major broadcasters suggested Roh beat conservative opposition candidate Lee Hoi-chang in a closely fought election that had become a referendum on how to handle South Korea's unpredictable communist neighbor. Exit polls in previous South Korean elections have not always proved to be correct. But with more than half the vote counted, Roh had a 1.3 percent...