Free Republic

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “Word for the Day”. VilipendTr. Verb 1. To view or treat with contempt; despise. 2. To speak ill of; disparage. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... Review Threads: Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish (Be SURE to check...

Explanation: Buffeted by the solar wind, Comet Lovejoy's crooked ion tail stretches over 3 degrees across this telescopic field of view, recorded on February 20. The starry background includes awesome bluish star Phi Persei below, and pretty planetary nebula M76 just above Lovejoy's long tail. Also known as the Little Dumbbell Nebula, after its brighter cousin M27 the Dumbbell Nebula, M76 is only a Full Moon's width away from the comet's greenish coma. Still shining in northern hemisphere skies, this Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is outbound from the inner solar system some 10 light-minutes or 190 million kilometers from Earth....

Viking Cruises will establish its first North American beachhead, a homeport in New Orleans, starting in 2017. Viking Cruises will establish its first North American beachhead, a homeport in New Orleans, and will offer cruises up the Mississippi River starting in 2017, the company and Louisiana officials announced. The move is seen as an effort to capitalize on rapidly growing interest in river cruises, which involve much smaller vessels than most ocean liners. The company — whose boats ply the rivers of Europe, Russia, China, Southeast Asia and Egypt — will begin cruising the Mississippi with two boats in late...

The Paperless Future - Emma!! The small, family owned company I work for, is trying to go paperless. Not for environmental reasons, just because they don't like paper, and want to move into the age of technology. So, they are pushing hard for us to do every thing digitally and electronically now. Is it me, or is that a bit extreme, considering the mom and pop shops that we deal with, and how many of those customers won't be "digital" or may not even be electronic savy? Somehow, this logic is lost on our new management....which is the younger generation...

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This is a very brief excerpt of Marie Harf & Matt Lee going at it .It's and oldie but a goodie-& freaking funny I love how Harf chastises Matt Lee and at the very end puts her emphasis on the word "AGAIN"

Formerly the "Quinn and Rose Morning Show" thread, our friendly group continues to meet to start the day as we await the return of our favorite morning talk show - which looks like sometime in March! So if you are preparing to go to work, are getting home from work - or happily retired - stop in and say mornin' and share the latest news, discuss the weather, share a recipe, or whatever!

Notorious Egyptian belly dancer Sama El Masry announced this week she will run for a parliamentary seat in Egypt’s March elections. The performer, whose online videos criticizing Islamists and President Barack Obama have gone viral on social media, may not yet have an electoral platform but she’s not wasting any time getting behind the Egyptian government’s airstrike campaign against Islamic State targets in Libya.

If you’ve ever wanted to sleep with a giant lizard — and let’s face it, you only live once — one Japanese hotel has just the thing with its soon-to-be opened Godzilla Room. Hotel Gracery in Tokyo’s buzzing Shinjuku entertainment district offers the chance to catch some shuteye under the watchful gaze of a man-sized atomic mutant as he stomps on a miniature version of Tokyo in the corner of your room. For those extra-unsettling dreams, a giant Godzilla hand, complete with razor-like claws, looms over the twin beds to ensure you get maximum value from the ¥39,800 a night...

Lots of people love the birds in their garden, but it's rare for that affection to be reciprocated. One young girl in Seattle is luckier than most. She feeds the crows in her garden - and they bring her gifts in return.

Due to copyright restrictions, Link only to article: Only 40 Percent of World's Population Has Ever Gone Online

Roughly 61,000 Ohioans in Medicaid are expected to lose their coverage this weekend after failing to take steps to renew their health benefits as required, the state’s Medicaid director said Thursday. Those recipients who did not update their household income or other eligibility information as requested are poised to be terminated from the program Saturday. Federal law requires states to “redetermine” annually whether recipients remain eligible for Medicaid. The federal-state program for the poor and disabled provides coverage to nearly one out of every four Ohioans. The process was on hold in Ohio for a year as the federal health...

Lewis Reynolds didn't understand what had been done to him when he was 13. Years later, after getting married, the Lynchburg man discovered he couldn't father children. The reason: He had been sterilized by the state. Reynolds was among more than 7,000 Virginians involuntarily sterilized between 1924 and 1979 under the Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act. Advocates for the surviving victims won a three-year fight Thursday when the Virginia General Assembly budgeted $400,000 to compensate them at the rate of $25,000 each. It's welcome news, Reynolds said. "I think they done me wrong," he said. "I couldn't have a family like...

On the outside, the metal box looks like an oversized bread container. But what's inside could save an abandoned newborn's life. The box is actually a newborn incubator, or baby box, and it could be showing up soon at Indiana hospitals, fire stations, churches and selected nonprofits under legislation that would give mothers in crisis a way to surrender their children safely and anonymously. Indiana could be the first state to allow use of the baby boxes on a broad scale to prevent dangerous abandonments of infants if the bill, which unanimously passed the House this week, clears the state...

The liberal hold on Hollywood is loosening. A persistent conservative mindset is emerging in the entertainment industry, replacing glitter with some red, white and blue as studios discover that Americans like America, and they pine for fare that uplifts the nation. Money talks. Consider that “American Sniper” has made $428 million at the box office since it opened six weeks ago, largely credited to a devoted heartland audience. A new breed of stars has claimed some turf. Plainspoken “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson was candid about his belief in traditional values and stood firm in the aftermath, despite a media...

Immaculate Heart of Mary School of Still River, MA has withdrawn its marching band and float of Saint Patrick from this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade after learning that a small homosexual activist group will be allowed to march while publicly identifying its homosexuality. The school is compelled by the teachings of the Catholic Church to pull out. According to the Principal, Brother Thomas Dalton, “Catholics are forbidden to sponsor or even participate in an event which openly promotes unnatural and immoral behavior. The Church will never accept nor condone same sex marriage and the homosexual life style.” For 25...

The powers behind the FCC’s muscling of the Internet Today’s vote by a bitterly divided Federal Communications Commission that the Internet should be regulated as a public utility is the culmination of a decade-long battle by the Left. Using money from George Soros and liberal foundations that totaled at least $196 million, radical activists finally succeeded in ramming through “net neutrality,” or the idea that all data should be transmitted equally over the Internet. The final push involved unprecedented political pressure exerted by the Obama White House on FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, head of an ostensibly independent regulatory body. “Net...

As a tribute to Photoshop for its recent 25th birthday, Lynda created this “before there was Photoshop” video that shows the darkroom tools and techniques that were used by film photographers before Photoshop and digital photography arrived on the scene. Photographer Konrad Eek works on a print by dodging, burning, adding gradients, using masks, feathering, and more. If you’ve never made a print in a darkroom before, this video could be quite illuminating.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is having a tough time getting millennials to crack open a can of Budweiser. The world’s biggest brewer said Thursday that falling unemployment and “premium” brands are boosting overall beer sales in the US, its biggest market. But the company is struggling to market Bud — the 139-year-old American brand with blue-collar roots — to younger drinkers, who prefer craft brews and bourbon.

Early farming began in the Near East about 10,500 years ago. Farming first reached the Balkans in Europe some 8 to 9,000 years ago, and then crept westward. Locals in Britain, separated from the mainland by the relatively newly formed English Channel, did not start farming until about 6,000 years ago. But an analysis of sediment from a submerged British archaeological site called Bouldner Cliff found something unexpected. “Amongst our Bouldner Cliff samples we found ancient DNA evidence of wheat at the site, which was not seen in mainland Britain for another 2,000 years.” Robin Allaby of the University of...