Free Republic

Narrator Our very planet depends on them. Yet they remain nature's most elusive scientific species, inhabiting some of the world's most delicate and daunting academic environments. But thanks to new breakthroughs in high speed cameras and email files, metascientists are finally beginning to understand their mysterious behaviors and complex social interactions. Tonight on Iowahawk Geographic: step inside the Secret Life of the Climate Researchers. French Horn Fanfare Theme Fast-cut montage of walrus mating with polar bear, astronomer peering through telescope into neighbor's window, cheetahs chasing penguins on the Serengeti, scientists filling out NSF grant proposals Dah dat dat DAAAH dat,...

Martha Stewart on Sarah Palin: "Very Boring" Don't ask domestic diva Martha Stewart to break bread with, buy a book from, or listen to a speech by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Palin is pushing her book with a presidential campaign-style bus tour of so-called "Red" states and Republican-leaning cities. She may be on magazine covers and Fox News, fut Stewart has apparently tuned out the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and self-styled "hockey mom." "I wouldn't watch her if you paid me," Stewart told a TV interviewer on Monday. Why not? "She's very boring to me," Stewart replied. "She's...

AP: You'll need to be 21 to take a bite out of this Thanksgiving turkey. New York City tavern owner Paul Hurley unveiled what he is calling the nation's first 100-proof turkey on Monday.

Racial attacks like the ones behind the arrest of 32 suspects in Denver are part of a trend spreading across the country, gang experts said Saturday. As part of the trend, black gang members videotape the assaults in trendy tourist districts and sell them on the underground market as entertainment. "They knock a young white guy out with one blow to see if his knees will wobble and surround them and take their money," said the Rev. Leon Kelly, who runs a Denver gang-prevention program. "It's a joke." The gang members crave the notoriety of having their one-punch knockouts recorded...

It took more than 60 years, but a World War II vet from Plymouth finally got his full military honors on Sunday. The 86-year-old received two medals for his service. Earl Joswick was a fighter pilot in World War II, when his plane was shot down over Germany. He broke his leg when he ejected then was captured by the Germans. Now his military record will have two additions to it, the POW medal and the Purple Heart. It may take them a few extra steps. Earlier this month, Joswick and more than 100 other World War II vets made...

After sweeping the Country Music Association Awards earlier this month, Swift won five American Music Awards Sunday, including Favorite Artist of the Year.

As you can see here (via TechCrunch) a few people are mad that BestBuy’s thanksgiving advertisement features a 14-letter phrase (or 15 if you count the hyphen). Who’s going to BestBuy this weekend?

The Sunday 11/22 Best Buy ad has a Space on the lower left of the front page proclaiming "Happy Eid alAdha". What? Eid al Adha is the Festival of Sacrifice, the Greater of the two Eid celebrations. Can't imagine why they would choose to do that!

I think of killing-womb-babies champion Joy Behar cackling away on The View. She gets absolutely evangelistic about preaching on behalf of the abortion evil.

This autumn, China and the U.S. began moving toward greater cooperation in space. As China lifted a little more of the veil covering its space program, U.S. officials expressed a greater desire to work together in exploring space. Presidential science adviser John Holdren floated the idea of increased cooperation in human spaceflight last spring. The Augustine committee raised the idea again, and Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao pledged to deepen space cooperation last week

BOULDER, Colo. – Call it Operation: Plymouth Rock. A plan to send a crew of astronauts to an asteroid is gaining momentum, both within NASA and industry circles. Not only would the deep space sojourn shake out hardware, it would also build confidence in long-duration stints at the moon and Mars. At the same time, the trek would sharpen skills to deal with a future space rock found on a collision course with Earth. In Lockheed Martin briefing charts, the mission has been dubbed "Plymouth Rock – An Early Human Asteroid Mission Using Orion." Lockheed is the builder of NASA's...

Sugardrop Tomato That's Sweeter Than A Peach SEAN POULTER 23rd November 2009 Tomatoes are hailed as a superfood, packed with vitamins and anti-oxidants that can help prevent cancer. Unfortunately, such arguments fail to persuade fussy children to eat them. But a sweet version of the fruit could overcome their objections. Growers is Spain have produced the sugardrop tomato, which they say is as sweet as peach. It is the result of two years of cross-breeding involving 3,000 varieties, on behalf of Tesco. It is hoped parents will be able to encourage their children to eat the tomatoes as readily as...

A Real Bale Out! Free will contribution (not through taxing of you and your future grandchildren). No profits for unions or politicians. Real stimulus to the economy through purchase of goods and services made in the USA such as hay, grain, jobs for farmers, US owned animal food companies employees and retailers. Workers are not on union pay scale nor receive bonuses, as a matter a fact every worker is a 100% volunteer. Your Bale Out contribution will go directly to purchase the following: Round bale of hay $40 Square bale of hay $4 Bag of dog food $18 Bag...

Scientists from Northern Illinois University and Nasa's Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston found dozens of valleys, shown in red, after using new software to analyse images of the surface and create the most accurate map to date. The valleys, first spotted in 1971, were caused by a network of rivers more than twice as extensive as previously mapped, pictured right. The new map shows water channels in a belt between the equator and mid-southern latitudes. Experts say this is consistent with heavy rain, and the presence of an ocean covering most of Mars's northern half. "It would also explain...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne today helped boost into orbit an Intelsat communications satellite that will provide data, voice and video services for the Americas, Europe and Africa. The satellite includes Intelsat’s first Internet Router In Space. The mission, AV-024, launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket powered by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s RL10 upper-stage engine and the RD AMROSS RD-180 booster engine. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX). RD AMROSS LLC is a joint venture of...

There’s a tremendous opportunity in space right now, a rare alignment of technology and interests that only comes once every couple of generations. What’s missing is something to push it over the edge and get it flying, to pique people’s and industry’s interests in such a way that it takes off and is sustainable. In the wake of the Augustine report, many articles have been written discussing where to go and what launchers to use, but the most important aspect—the political one—has gotten scant attention. The Obama Administration is facing a spectrum of problems, most with more political prominence than...

In 2004, the European Space Agency released a design study called “Human Missions to Mars: Overall Architecture Assessment”. This study was undertaken after a decade of work, notably by David Baker, Jim French, and Robert Zubrin, which established that local propellant production using the Martian atmosphere would be a key technology for practical human access to the Red Planet.

Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pleased to announce the creation and initial membership of the Spaceports Council, composed of spaceports worldwide who seek to cooperate on issues of common interest such as airspace access, legal and regulatory frameworks, infrastructure, international policy migration, liability, and voluntary common operating standards.

We are considering adding on to our home. Was looking in to refinancing with our mortgage holder. We had refinance before with them in 2003. Our credit is good. The mortgage will currently be paid off in 4 years. So having good credit should not be a problem. Here's my situation: Here are some of the fees that I'm questioning. Can these be decreased or entirely eliminated? Or is this common practice set in stone? Flood life of loan: 19.00 Tax Service: 75.00 Abstract or Title Search: 205.00 Title Insurance: 216.00 Title Endorsement: 25.00 Closing Protection Letter Fee: 35.00 Recording...

Want to show off your sci-fi love, but don't want to get a tattoo like the hardcore fans we showed you last week? Then a vanity license plate is definitely the way to go—and it's a heck of a lot less painful, too!

To Louise Bowling, it was the fulfilment of a life-long dream. Having bought some land, surrounded by beautiful countryside, she now had space to rear her beloved horses. But. just a few months after purchasing the 1.1 acre plot, Mrs Bowling's dream is in tatters.

There are only two more adventures to go before we see David Tennant pass on his sonic screwdriver to Matt Smith. The first part of "The End Of Time" is scheduled to be a darker festive adventure for UK viewers as it takes on the traditional primetime slot on Christmas Day.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - State wildlife officials are asking hunters to keep an eye out for any drug-growing operations hidden in remote areas across Wisconsin. The call comes after two sophisticated marijuana operations were found in the last two years. In both cases thousands of plants were found on public lands, in part because private lands can be seized if they're used to grow drugs. Because the operations are well-hidden, they're usually only found when hunters stumble across them. So the Department of Natural Resources wants hunters who spot anything suspicious to tell authorities. DNR warden Randy Stark said hunters...

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say thank you enough.

I'm getting to be a broken record here, but I can't stop looking at these photos from the Enceladus flyby. This first one I put together from two of the south polar plume images – you can see all four of the tiger stripes, and the plumes issuing from them, in this wide shot. I mosaicked two images, matching their levels, rotated them 180 degrees to put "ground" at the bottom and "sky" at the top, and filled in a little of the background in the corner at lower right to fill out the whole image. Enceladan south polar vents...

Having friends over for dinner used to involve a minimal and fairly unremarkable to-do list: There were groceries to buy, along with flowers and a couple of bottles of semi-respectable wine. I would put out some guest towels and a collection of fancy soaps that were off limits to blood relatives, and then — voilà! — dinner was served. Preparing for a dinner party these days is far more complex, thanks to a vast and bewildering array of dietary needs that seem to have suddenly overtaken everyone I know. Complaint Box Steamed? Dish out the peeves. Send your essays —...

There was an article that came out a few months ago about a doctor on the East coast who solved the healthcare problem. He cut out the insurance companies completely. He charged his patients a flat-rate ($170??) a month and they got unlimited dr visits, labs, x-rays, MRI's, etc. The government shut him down. They said he was acting like an insurance company. Does anyone know where I can find a copy of this article? I've been hunting for hours and can't find it anywhere. I know I've read about it and saw him a couple of times on FOX...

They don't all need glasses. But if you always suspected basketball referees are biased — well, you're right... Refs favor the home team... They're big on "make-up" calls. They make more calls against teams in the lead, and the discrepancy grows if the game is on national TV. The professors studied 365 college games during the 2004-05 season and found that refs had a terrific knack for keeping the foul count even, regardless of which team was more aggressive. Exhibit A: The 2005 Final Four meeting between Illinois and Louisville. The Illini, known for being more aggressive defensively, got whistled...

POLL: Should members of Congress be required to undergo random alcohol and drug testing? VOTE HERE!

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the purse string-controlling House Appropriations Committee, is calling the idea a "war surtax."

Ads and Deals are by store name. http://dealnews.com/black-friday.html?iref=dnhd

TO THE SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE OF YOUR NEAREST FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) OFFICE: Check the site for further instructions . Click on DIRECTIONS FOR WHAT TO DO WITH THE LETTER ONCE WRITTEN .

A bug in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is causing more than 50 million files stored online to leak potentially sensitive information that could compromise user privacy, a security researcher said. The documents stored in Adobe's PDF format display the internal disk location where the file is stored, an oversight that can inadvertently expose real-world names and login IDs of users, the operating system being used and other information that is better kept private. The data can then be retrieved using simple web searches. Google searches such as this one expose almost 4 million documents residing on users' C drives alone....

As scientists, Governments and Industry look for viable replacements to our quickly dwindling supply of fossil fuels, attention has again turned to biofuels and the potential they offer. You’ve all no doubt heard of Ethanol, rapeseed and other popular bio-diesel crops, but it is now possible to turn our quickly growing garbage mountains into biofuels. Scientists have now discovered some amazingly effective, mutually beneficial, symbiotic processes that could single-handedly solve both imminent problems with the creation of “bio-fuels” and “synthetic fuels” derived directly from our trash and garbage. Full article is: http://www.oilprice.com/article-biofuel-of-the-future-turning-our-garbage-into-energy.html

IRVING - An Irving family is calling for an outside investigation after police officers opened fire on Orlando Rodriguez. “It was really just a slap in the face to see somebody protecting their home was actually shot and killed,” said Rachel Hernandez, Rodriguez’s niece Reports of shots fired sent police to 18th Street on the city’s southwest side early Saturday morning. Once on the scene, police confronted the 49-year-old man outside his sister's home. Relatives said he was checking on suspicious noises and was carrying a BB gun for his protection. Arriving officers mistook it for a rifle. Police said...

Since the ACLU doesn't like the word "Christmas", let's send a Christmas Card to them in New York. Make sure the card is all about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! Address: ACLU 125 Broad Street 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 Merry Christmas!

ZAGREB (AFP) - The Croatian first division match between Sibenik and Medjimurje Cakovec will be remembered for a cat which earned the visiting team's goalkeeper a yellow card, press reports said on Monday. Ivan Banovic was taken by surprise in the 20th minute of Saturday's match, played in the coastal town of Sibenik, when the cat walked on to the pitch near his goals, the Jutarnji List daily reported on its Internet site.

ZAGREB (AFP) - The Croatian first division match between Sibenik and Medjimurje Cakovec will be remembered for a cat which earned the visiting team's goalkeeper a yellow card, press reports said on Monday. Ivan Banovic was taken by surprise in the 20th minute of Saturday's match, played in the coastal town of Sibenik, when the cat walked on to the pitch near his goals, the Jutarnji List daily reported on its Internet site.

A CONVICTED murderer and former aide to the Duchess of York has absconded from an open prison in England. Jane Andrews failed to return to East Sutton Park prison in Kent, England on Sunday night. Andrews was jailed for life for murdering her boyfriend Thomas Cressman, 39, at their flat in Fulham, west London, in September 2000. She beat him with a cricket bat and stabbed him with a kitchen knife in a jealous rage after he refused to marry her.

LANSING , Mich., A Michigan lawmaker is requesting a hearing for a bill that would give the state an official tartan, or Scottish-inspired plaid pattern. State Rep. Richard LeBlanc, D-Westland, who introduced an identical tartan bill that failed to gain steam in 2007, said he supports a tartan made by Scottish weaver Kati Meek, 69, of Alpena, Mich., the Detroit Free Press reported Monday. Meek said the tartan includes colors representative of Michigan's forests, lakes, beaches , cherries and snow. "I used Michigan's natural colors. There's some pretty gross tartans, and this I think is one of the more attractive...

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) watches on as the "Cougar Cannon" robot throws a ball at a student from Oakton High School following Obama's remarks on science, technology, engineering and math education initiatives in the Eisenhower Executive Office building in Washington, November 23, 2009. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about initiatives to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics education while in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, November 23, 2009

A fight between two inmates Sunday resulted in one person dead and another facing additional charges. A disagreement and some teasing between two cellmates was reportedly taken as a slight and escalated into fisticuffs inside their cell... After the victim was punched several times in the head, he was then strangled with a "ligature made from a laundry bag,". Both inmates were housed in a section of the prison typically reserved for sex offenders. Mawien was convicted in 2004 of two amended charges of attempted aggravated sex assault, a first-degree felony; and forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony. He was...

I am a real estate investor (wholesaler, for now) in the Baltimore, MD area and I was wondering if there were other RE investors out there in FRland. I wanted to open a forum thread to discuss strategies on how to invest in these harsh economic times and what to invest in. I've been a Real Estate investor for about a year and believe that we have a huge opportunity to make good money given that the housing market is so low. You know, buy low, sell high, right? However, I would like to talk to other RE investors who...

"American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert's vocals weren't top-notch at last night's American Music Awards, but nobody really noticed. How could they, given his over-the-top and in-your-face sexual choreography. Lambert's act during the show, aired on ABC, featured male dancers on leashes, an open-mouth kiss between Lambert and his male keyboardist, and simulated oral sex, both male-on-male and female-on-male. Naturally, boundary-pushing Hollywood hailed Lambert's performance. "As a TV viewer, I thought Lambert's performance was a gas, a delight, a blast of brash vulgarity in the midst of ordinary vulgarity," wrote Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, researchers report. The volcano ejected an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere, leaving a crater (now the world's largest volcanic lake) that is 100 kilometers long and 35 kilometers wide. Ash from the event has been found in India, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. The bright ash reflected sunlight off the landscape, and volcanic sulfur...

THIS outrageous footage shows Miss Gay Brazil being attacked by a jealous rival. The competition winner was being interviewed by TV crews when a losing contestant ran up behind her and pulled her wig clean off. She then storms off - quickly pursued by the competition winner's angry entourage.

Vanity

MOAB, Utah, A 48-year-old man who has not used money in nine years and resides in a desert cave in Moab, Utah, said he loves his simple existence. Daniel Suelo said while he shops for clothes by going through garbage, he is content with living an existence where he does not have to worry about a job, mortgage or other concerns that plague most U.S. residents, The Denver Post reported Sunday. "The understanding that, really, we all possess nothing is the cornerstone of all spiritual endeavors and religions," Suelo said. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Suelo said he also will...

Artist Jens Werner Andersen from Norway painted his house in Burberry check pattern. He said he woke up one day and thought it would be a fun idea. The 33-year-old decided to turn his home, a former public lavatory building in Larvik, Norway, into a "gathering place for happy people". We wonder if his neighbours were quite so happy

A Bridgeville man told police he killed his girlfriend's puppy yesterday afternoon because the animal would not behave before the Steelers football game broadcast. William Woodson, 22, is being held on $25,000 bail in the Allegheny County Jail, pending a preliminary hearing on animal cruelty at 1 p.m. next Monday before District Judge Elaine McGraw in Bridgeville. The puppy, a 13-week-old pit bull named Flip, had been the focal point of recent arguments between Mr. Woodson and his girlfriend, Christine Gielarowski, 21, with whom Mr. Woodson lives on Jane Way. Ms. Gielarowski still may face charges after she gave police...