Free Republic

Reader Psalmon writes: "Nenana River ice breakup nears top three latest dates in 97 years of contest." It may have escaped notice, but this last Saturday the locals in Nanana, AK hooked up the clock to determine the breakup and winner of the annual Nenana Ice Classic. Further ice measurements were apparently suspended last Thursday with the last measurement of 40 inches (just). If you think May 11 seems late for starting the countdown, it is. After the fourth earliest breakup in 2012 (April 23), as of this afternoon on May 14th, the tripod still stands, making 2013 the fourth...

Rocket: Atlas 5 Variant: AV-401 Payload: GPS 2F-4 Date: May 15, 2013 Window: 2:38 - 2:56 pm/5:38 - 5:56 p.m. EDT (2138-2156 GMT) Site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral, Florida Can be viewed here: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av039/status.html and here: http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Webcast.shtml

Canada has deported to Lebanon a “Palestinian” man who lived in the country for the past 26 years over a 1968 attack on an Israeli airliner, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Monday, according to the AFP news agency. Issa Mohammad immigrated to Canada using a false alias in 1987, after being convicted by a Greek court of storming a civilian airliner and killing a passenger and later being released from jail in a hostage exchange.

The city of Keene, New Hampshire, is suing a group of do-gooders for allegedly topping off parking meters of strangers. The group, which calls itself "Robin Hood and his Merry Men," likes to leave notes on the windshields of cars that are in danger of getting a ticket due to an expired meter, according to the Union Leader.

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. (AP) — On one of Virginia's small barrier islands, a NASA facility that operates in relative obscurity outside scientific circles is preparing to be thrust into the spotlight. On Wednesday, Orbital Sciences Corp. plans to conduct the first test launch of its Antares rocket under a NASA program in which private companies deliver supplies to the International Space Station. If all goes as planned, the unmanned rocket's practice payload will be vaulted into orbit from Wallops Island before burning up in the atmosphere on its return to Earth several months later. The goal of the launch isn't...

Florida country radio morning-show hosts Val St. John and Scott Fish are currently serving indefinite suspensions and possibly worse over a successful April Fools' Day prank. They told their listeners that "dihydrogen monoxide" was coming out of the taps throughout the Fort Myers area. Dihydrogen monoxide is water.

Crowdfunding for NASA – in a round about way. Unknown to most people, NASA is barred from purchasing advertising. Recently a campaign on Indiegogo was launched to purchase a trailer to run prior to the next Star Trek film which will soon be in theaters across the country. As quoted from the campaign; "When the Space Shuttle landed for the last time, many Americans thought NASA was closed for good. Nothing could be further from the truth. Right now, men and women from the space program are designing and building next generation space vehicles to go to new destinations in...

Much to the chagrin of people who are sure I’m evil, in the pocket of big oil, and highly carbon positive, I’m actually an independent and pretty energy efficient guy, and I challenge any of my detractors to show their solar and energy efficiency projects. Put your money where your mouthpiece is, I say. For example, do loud climate campaigners Joe Romm and Bill McKibben have solar power on their homes? Do Jim Hansen and Michael Mann have solar power while telling us we all must cut back our energy usage linked to fossil fuels? Inquiring minds want to know....

Coldest UK March in 50 years ‘This is certainly unusually cold for this time of year. It’s very cold for mid-March when we should expect much higher temperatures.’ - MeteoGroup forecaster Matt Dobson Most of southern Canada buried beneath 40-50 or more inches of snow Paralyzed eastern European cities, buried cars and lots of snow – Video Photos and videos taken in eastern Poland, near Polish-Ukrainian border. Also from Southern Poland. Worst winter storm in 150 years – Belarus grinds to a haltLots of photos here." Bridgeport Connecticut – 2nd Snowiest Season EVER The Mini-Ice Age has Arrived Migrating...

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee thought her country was "the best on the planet." It wasn't until the famine of the 90s that she began to wonder. She escaped the country at 14, to begin a life in hiding, as a refugee in China. Hers is a harrowing, personal tale of survival and hope -- and a powerful reminder of those who face constant danger, even when the border is far behind. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers...

This year seems to be one for comets. In addition to the two projectiles that will zoom near Earth, a third one has recently been discovered. The newest one, though, won't fly by our planet. Instead, it will pass uncomfortably close to Mars in 2014. Named C/2013 A1, the comet will fly near the Red Planet on Oct. 19, 2014 according to preliminary orbital prediction models. The icy missile is thought to have first originated from the Oort Cloud, which is a hypothetical region containing billions of cometary nuclei located around our solar system. Comets have struck planets in the...

LAWRENCE, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) – A specially trained police dog accidentally fired a gun into a Crescent Street home while searching for the stolen firearm in a nearby snowbank. The stolen firearm was reportedly buried in a snowbank by one of three suspects who were being sought by police. K-9 Ivan was called to the scene shortly after the incident occurred early Saturday morning. An officer was reportedly parked on Reservoir Street around 2 a.m. when he heard three gunshots. He pulled around to the front of the building and saw three males driving away towards Haverhill Street, reports The Eagle-Tribune....

The death of a resident of the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Ata is being investigated, after he keeled over and suffered an apparent heart attack – as police handed him a traffic ticket. The 64-year-old man died on the spot Saturday evening. His funeral was set for Monday. The man suffered the attack as he was speaking to a female traffic police officer, who stopped him for an alleged driving offense. The policewoman said that the man had shown no signs of panic, nor had he indicated that he had any health problems. The two talked as she wrote...

(CNSNews.com) - A federal advisory committee appointed by the Obama administration to produce a report on climate change says that if Earth’s climate were still “primarily controlled by natural factors”—rather than by man-made global warming—then the next ice age would occur within the next 1,500 years. But now, because of humans, the committee says, the next ice age has been "delayed indefinitely." “Confirmation of what are called Milankovich cycles (cyclical changes in the Earth’s orbit that explain the onset and ending of ice ages) led a few scientists in the 1970s to suggest that the current warm interglacial period might...

For space scientists dreaming up a manned base on the moon, 3D printing with lunar dust looms as an attractive possibility. Such on-demand fabrication would allow astronauts to repair broken parts, manufacture spare ones and maybe even build structures, all out of the dirt scooped from under their boots. In a new study involving artificial moon dust, engineers have shown that the technology is close to becoming reality. With 10 pounds of simulated lunar dirt (or regolith) in hand, NASA officials approached researchers at Washington State University and challenged them to melt and resolidify the fake moon rock using 3D...

Climate change itself is already in the process of definitively rebutting climate alarmists who think human use of fossil fuels is causing ultimately catastrophic global warming. That is because natural climate cycles have already turned from warming to cooling, global temperatures have already been declining for more than 10 years, and global temperatures will continue to decline for another two decades or more.

Rocket: Atlas 5 Variant: AV-401 Payload: TDRS K Date: Jan. 30, 2013 Window: 8:48-9:28 p.m. EST/5:48-6:28 p.m. PST (0148-0328 GMT) Site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral, Florida Feed: NASA Television On the pad! Completing the first third-of-a-mile on the trek to orbit, the Atlas 5 rocket has arrived at the Complex 41 pad for Wednesday evening's ascent to deploy a NASA communications spacecraft. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K (TDRS K) is bound for geosynchronous orbit to replenish the existing space network to transmit information between low-Earth-orbit craft and mission controllers. Users depending on the system include the space station, Hubble...

(This was published back in July of last year.) The coming winter in the Northern Hemisphere looks to be shaping up for another massive event perhaps bigger than what we experienced in 2011/2012. The last winter coincided with the highest level of EUV and FUV since the beginning of SC24 which although low by normal standards the current UV level is trending quite a bit lower. In fact the current level is not far above the SC22/23 minimum. At present the EUV levels are less than half of the values recorded during the peak of SC23. There is strong evidence...

I am sick and tired of reading politics today and need a break from it. Post your favorite tuneage her! Turn up your speakers and enjoy! I'll start of with the Scorpions "Acoustica" recorded live in front of an audience in Lisbon, Portugal and released in 2001. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustica_(Scorpions_album) Life Is Too Short http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piDNGnTgO0I I Wanted To Cry But The Tears Wouldn't Come http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0MNBwsfV0U You And I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPODFyv974A Drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLAXzA_en1s Wind of Change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmdbTGKR7Ss Rock You Like A Hurricane (or Hurricane 2001) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTl54LzKukA Rhythm Of Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJpzXpSsyYw Send Me An Angel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=golWswUiGEU Holiday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33OrOV2yBG0 Still Loving You (cello plays prominently) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itpRHoiMUMs

With energy costs escalating, more Germans are turning to wood burning stoves for heat. That, though, has also led to a rise in tree theft in the country's forests. Woodsmen have become more watchful. With snow blanketing the ground, it's the perfect time of year to snuggle up in front of a fireplace. That, though, makes German foresters nervous. When the mercury falls, the theft of wood in the country's woodlands goes up as people turn to cheaper ways to heat their homes. ----clip---- The problem has been compounded this winter by rising energy costs. The Germany's Renters Association estimates...

It is time the critics of the Second Amendment put up and repeal it, or shut up about violating it. Their efforts to disarm and short-arm Americans violate the U.S. Constitution in Merriam Webster’s first sense of the term—to “disregard” it. Hard cases make bad law, which is why they are reserved for the Constitution, not left to the caprice of legislatures, the sophistry and casuistry of judges or the despotic rule making of the chief executive and his bureaucracy. And make no mistake, guns pose one of the hardest cases a free people confronts in the 21st century, a...

Apparently we are making up for last years lack of snow. Today we had a record snowfall of 2.2 inches which puts us at 10.6 inches for December. After our big storm Wednesday and our snowfall this morning we’ve already seen more snow than we did last year. This morning accumulations varied with a few spots in Mercer county picking up five additional inches while most locations saw about 2 to 3 inches. Here’s a look at Live Doppler 2HD’s snowfall accumulation. Official National Weather Service amounts can be found by clicking here.

Best office "Secret Santa" ever? Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise shopping blitz through the brand-new Washington, D.C., Costco store on Thursday, emerging with a 32-inch Panasonic flat-screen TV, some kids' books, a big apple pie and Duraflame logs. He then brought his loot back to the White House compound. "I'm looking for pies," Biden told Costco employee Ivey Stewart, his native guide through the wilderness of the big-box store's opening-day frenzy. Biden, who was welcomed by Costco CEO Craig Jelinek and co-founder Jim Sinegal, flashed his membership card (yes, the vice president has his own membership card). "In...

OLYMPIA, Wash. – An Olympia mom wants to learn why her 10-year-old son was placed in a padded room at his elementary school last Friday. Melissa Gum's son attends Garfield Elementary, where she acknowledges he's been to the principal's office before. The school says he was sent to the principal's office Friday for being disruptive in class. But Gum said he’s never been sent to a room the district refers to as "the quiet room," which is described as the size of an office with gym mats padding the walls. It gets worse, according to Gum. She said the principal...

The father of a Jewish family was badly beaten and the family home was completely trashed on Sunday by local youths in Marseille, France. Residents in their Jewish neighborhood are stunned following the incident. Marseilles is home to some 80,000 Jews – 10 percent of the general population but a small fraction compared to the 250,000 Muslims with whom they also live. It has been relatively quiet France's second-largest city this year, compared to other areas in the country where violent anti-Semitism has been on the rise.

SYDNEY, October 18, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Australian school children are to be told that heterosexuality is not the norm, according to a new education department pilot program called “Proud Schools.” “Heterosexism” is one of the evils that the Proud Schools program is intended to stamp out, along with “homophobia and transphobia,” education officials have said. According to the minutes from the Proud Schools steering committee on March 22, 2011, the program focuses on reversing “the dominance of heterosexism rather than on homophobia.” The program defines “heterosexism” as the practice of “positioning heterosexuality as the norm for human relationship,” according to...

They began as tools in military combat. Now aerial drones are being considered by Bay Area law enforcement agencies as a cost-cutting way to replace helicopters, and use technology to fight crime and save lives. Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern first tested one of these Unmanned Aerial Systems or UAS about a year ago. Now he’s looking into possibly bringing a drone here. His office would be the first in California to do it. Armed with live-video-feeding capabilities and different features, like infrared devices, these drones can cost in the ballpark of 50- to 100-thousand dollars or more. There are...

A private rocket NASA is counting on to make robotic cargo flights to the International Space Station achieved a key milestone today (Oct. 1), as its first stage rolled out to its Virginia launchpad for the first time. The first stage of Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket arrived today at its pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), which is located at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. The move marks the beginning of on-pad preparations for a series of important trials with Antares that will take place over the next few months, Orbital officials said. The company aims to...

SpaceX is poised to start work on a $1.6 billion contract with NASA today, when a Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off with 882 pounds of supplies on the first operational commercial cargo flight to the International Space Station. Tonight's liftoff time is 8:35 p.m. EDT/5:35 p.m. PDT (0035 GMT). The capsule will return to Earth in late October with approximately 1,673 pounds of equipment from the space station.

The planet Uranus reaches opposition on Saturday (Sept. 29). This means that Uranus is directly opposite the sun in the sky. Uranus rises will rise as the sun sets, and set as the sun rises. It will be highest in the sky at local midnight, roughly 1 a.m. if you are on Daylight Saving Time. Uranus was discovered accidentally by William Herschel on the night of March 13, 1781. All the other planets had been known since prehistoric times, so this was a major discovery in its time, and made Herschel famous.

The [British] National Archives (BNA) is an executive agency of the government of the United Kingdom. Based in Kew in southwest London, the BNA is the UK government’s official archive, containing 1,000 years of history from Domesday Book to the present, with records from parchment and paper scrolls to digital files and archived websites, including Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence and files. The collections held by the BNA can be searched using their online catalogue. Entrance to the Archives is free. On April 18, 2012, the BNA released the first batch of thousands of “lost” colonial-era files believed to...

TOKYO — A racy new Japanese ad campaign launched for the 2012 Toyota Auris, or Corolla as it’s known in some markets, has been causing a commotion for boldly challenging convention — and probably not in the way you would think. Have a look at the commercial here. The star of the commercial is 19-year-old Ukrainian transgender model Stav Strashko. The commercial ends with the campaign’s tagline “Turn Your Rear to Common Sense” (常識��尻を���). Check out a short interview with Stav about the commercial here.

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR 210 PM PDT WED AUG 22 2012 ...WIDESPREAD FREEZING TEMPERATURES POSSIBLE FRIDAY MORNING... .COOL HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE OVER THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING. CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS WILL LEAD TO ADDITIONAL COOLING WITH FREEZING TEMPERATURES POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF NORTHERN KLAMATH AND LAKE COUNTIES FRIDAY MORNING. ORZ029>031-231100- /O.NEW.KMFR.FZ.A.0011.120824T1000Z-120824T1500Z/ KLAMATH BASIN- NORTHERN AND EASTERN KLAMATH COUNTY AND WESTERN LAKE COUNTY- CENTRAL AND EASTERN LAKE COUNTY- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...BEATTY...CHEMULT...CRESCENT... GILCHRIST...SPRAGUE RIVER 210 PM PDT WED AUG 22 2012 ...FREEZE WATCH IN EFFECT FOR FRIDAY MORNING... THE NATIONAL WEATHER...

Another N.C. Dem. Refuses to Endorse Obama Another North Carolina Democrat is refusing to support President Obama's reelection effort. This time it's Rep. Larry Kissell. "[H]e doesn’t plan to endorse Obama for re-election and isn’t sure he’ll attend his party’s national convention in Charlotte," McClatchy reports. "Kissell represents the 8th District, which runs from Mecklenburg County to Robeson County. Last year’s redistricting added heavily Republican areas of Rowan, Davidson and Randolph counties while removing thousands of Democratic voters in Charlotte and Fayetteville." Yet Another N.C. Dem. Won't Endorse Obama, Will Skip Convention Earlier today, news broke that North Carolina congressman...

From all of the threads that have been posted on FR about the SCOTUS decision in regards to ObamaCare no one has asked on the quality of the medical care we can expect to receive. Steve Crowder did an expose on the Canadian healthcare system that will give Americans a pretty good idea of what to expect at the link above. But we can also look to the UK NHS (National Health Service) and their quality of medical care care given to those in jolly old England. Please post your favorite NHS nightmare story here.

On Wednesday, June 13, members of the Occupy movement protested against a conference dedicated to combatting child sex trafficking — thus, the Occupiers in essence were coming out in favor of one of society’s most loathsome moral crimes. The protesters mostly were members of Occupy Oakland Patriarchy, a group within the overall Occupy movement tasked with overthrowing our civilization’s “patriarchy.” The conference which so infuriated them was called HEAT Watch, short for the National Human Exploitation And Trafficking Watch Conference. If there’s one issue that unites Americans of all political stripes, it’s the sexual enslavement of children. Whatever our opinions...

Oklahoma City, OK, United States (4E) – Oklahoma City has been dubbed “America’s Manliest City” in the fourth annual Combo’s “America’s Manliest Cities” list. Conducted by New Jersey-based Mars Chocolate, in conjunction with research expert Bert Sperling, the list ranks the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas using a scale that takes into account the number of home improvement stores, steak houses and “manly” occupations per capita. Cities stood to lose points if they had too many “girly” or feminine factors, such as a high number of nail salons or high-end retail boutiques. Topping the list as America’s Manliest City is...

A man from southern Israel divorced his wife this week because she had brought 550 cats into their home. The husband, apparently not a cat lover, told the Rabbinical Court in Beersheba that he was unable to sleep in his bedroom because the surface of the marital bed was constantly covered with cats who refused to lie on the floor. The man, in his divorce request, complained that the cats also blocked his access to the bathroom and did not allow him to prepare meals in the kitchen, the Hebrew daily Maariv reported Wednesday. When he sat to eat, cats...

SpaceX has swapped out a faulty check valve on a Merlin engine on the Falcon 9 rocket and approved plans for a second launch attempt at 3:44 a.m. EDT (0744 GMT) Tuesday. You can follow the entire flight on Spaceflight Now with live video and comprehensive coverage. Computers aborted the countdown a half-second before launch Saturday due to high pressure in one of the Falcon 9 rocket's nine first stage engines. Engineers opted to replace a check valve in the first stage's center engine - engine No. 5 - after inspections. "The failed valve was replaced on Saturday and after...

Down, down, down.

On Saturday at 4.55 a.m (EST) a Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida and hopefully become the first private commercial flight to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). Ferrying the Dragon capsule into space, the mission to the ISS will be to deliver 1,000 pounds of non-essential cargo after passing a series of test maneuvers over the course of three days.

The extra pounds that propelled Meow the shelter cat to national celebrity have killed him. The 5-year-old, 39-pound cat died Saturday of respiratory complications related to his girth, Santa Fe Animal Shelter executive director Mary Martin said Monday. The huge but personable feline became the subject of nationwide fame last month after appearing with Anderson Cooper and on the “Today” show — where Meow met actor Hugh Grant — as part of a media blitz to warn pet owners of the dangers of pet obesity. Meow traveled between Santa Fe and the East Coast for his TV appearances by airplane...

The need for additional software assurance testing has again delayed the launch of SpaceX's commercial demonstration flight to the International Space Station, the company announced Friday, until at least May 19. "SpaceX and NASA are nearing completion of the software assurance process, and SpaceX is submitting a request to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a May 19 launch target with a backup on May 22," the company said in a statement released Friday. "Thus far, no issues have been uncovered during this process, but with a mission of this complexity we want to be extremely diligent," the statement...

Rocket: Atlas 5 Payload: AEHF 2 Date: May 4, 2012 Window: 2:42 to 4:42 p.m. EDT (11:42 a.m. - 1:42 p.m. PDT) Launch Site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral, Florida After helium purge problem kept the Atlas 5 rocket on the pad Thursday afternoon, a second launch attempt is getting underway today to deploy a sophisticated and critical communications spacecraft for the U.S. government. The countdown clocks just began ticking, beginning a seven-hour sequence of work that will prepare the rocket, payload and ground systems for today's blastoff at 2:42 p.m. EDT (1842 GMT). The day's two-hour launch window stretches to 4:42...

Amid unaddressed concerns, the Portland City Council on Wednesday sent Police Chief Mike Reese back to his bureau to draft stricter policies before allowing police to place surveillance cameras on private property in Old Town and Chinatown. Commissioner Dan Saltzman echoed concerns raised by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon when he asked for assurances that police wouldn't use the cameras to peep into private residences. Reese, who wants to put up the video surveillance cameras to help officers monitor drug deals, said "These cameras are not focused on anything but public right-of-ways." The chief, though, did acknowledge in...

Remember that bird strike in April that forced a Delta flight to make an emergency landing? The actual incident was caught on video by author Grant Cardone, who is now on some FAA "you're a troublemaker" list because he shot that video when his iPad was supposed to be turned off. Cardone was on CNN this morning to discuss the letter he'd received from the FAA's Supervisory Principal Operations Inspector regarding the incident. Reads the letter: "Your failure to comply with flight attendant instructions during a critical phase of flight and an aircraft emergency could have affected the safe outcome...

Rocket: Atlas 5 Payload: AEHF 2 Date: May 3, 2012 Window: 2:46 to 4:46 p.m. EDT Site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral, Florida Feed: SES 2, Transp. 21, C-band, 87° West Watch live coverage here: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/status.html or here: http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Webcast.shtml Welcome to liftoff day for the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Air Force's next durable and secure communications satellite in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency series. The countdown clocks are starting to tick right now, beginning a seven-hour sequence of work that will prepare the rocket, payload and ground systems for today's blastoff at 2:46 p.m. EDT (1846 GMT). Soon...

German nymphomaniac who was arrested after forcing a man to make love to her eight times has struck again. Her latest victim, an African, was found weeping in the street outside her apartment by police after a 36-hour ordeal. He fought back his tears to tell them what had happened.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX is, it seems, no more immune to mission delays than our former space ferry captain, NASA. Early yesterday, Musk announced on Twitter a week-long delay of the scheduled launch of the Dragon spacecraft (atop the company’s Falcon rocket) while Musk’s team debugged the Dragon’s docking code. When Mashable spoke to Musk a few weeks ago, he actually joked about how that part of the first private mission to the International Space Station would go: “The thing that’s interesting and slightly scary is that Dragon is a robotic spaceship, automatically navigating itself to the...

Gregg Miller says he's well aware that his business selling testicular implants for dogs invites just as many jokes as it does clients. That's because Miller's job is creating artificial dog testicles for canines that have been neutered. "Dogs aren't stupid," he tells Business Week. "They would know if their eye was gouged out, or their foot was cut off. Why wouldn't they know if their testicles are now missing?" But laugh all you want, Miller, 59, says his business has become a big success. He says 517,223 in all 50 U.S. states and 49 countries are now wearing "Neuticles"...