Free Republic

Results from a large population-based cohort study including 60,000 men and women in central Sweden suggest that exposure to higher concentrations of disinfection byproducts in drinking water is associated with elevated risk of colorectal cancer in men. Drinking water is a very important part of our diet that is consumed daily by essentially everyone in the population. Hence, assuring a that the public drinking water maintains a high standard is crucial. Chlorination of drinking water is a cheap and effective method widely used to control waterborne infectious disease. A drawback is, however, that reactive chemical byproducts can be formed in...

Public health experts are touting ventilation as a less-intrusive way to stop tiny particles carrying the virus from traveling through the air. But uptake of better practices has been slow. Enter the Corsi-Rosenthal Box, a do-it-yourself air filtration system that has taken the internet by storm. Each box typically costs under $100 to make and is more effective than other, pricier options like High Efficiency Particulate Air filters. The simple contraption consists of a box fan, four MERV13 furnace filters that can be purchased online or in store, some cardboard and strips of tape. It’s the brainchild of air quality...

If you're despairing at recent reports that Earth's water sources have been thoroughly infested with hazardous human-made chemicals called PFAS that can last for thousands of years, making even rainwater unsafe to drink, there's a spot of good news. Chemists have developed a simple way to break down almost a dozen types of these nearly indestructible 'forever chemicals' at relatively low temperatures with no harmful byproducts. ...

Could the holy grail of turning salt water to drinkable water finally be upon us? A new report from Interesting Engineering seems to suggest that could be the case – detailing a new nanofiber membrane, developed by Yunchul Woo and his team at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, that appears to be “stable in the long term” for desalinization. And it can be done “in minutes”, the report says. Membranes had been used in the past, but there is often a challenge in keeping them dry for long periods of time. When they become wet, their...

According to the researchers, the new invention acts as a reverse filter, capable of blocking small particles while simultaneously allowing large ones to pass through. The researchers envision a variety of uses, including enabling military doctors to perform open surgery on the battlefield. According to the scientists, the membrane will enable surgical tools to pass through the membrane to access the wound, while keeping out dust particles and other debris – ensuring a clean environment to safely operate. 'The membrane filter could potentially prevent germs, dust or allergens from reaching an open wound, while still allowing a doctor to perform...

Intelligence officials can selectively release classified information to trusted journalists while withholding the same information from other citizens who request it through open records laws, CIA lawyers argued Wednesday. ....The judge in the case appeared to find Johnson’ argument compelling. In a court order last month, Chief Judge Colleen McMahon of the Southern District of New York said FOIA laws do not authorize limited disclosure, to favored journalists or otherwise. “In this case, CIA voluntarily disclosed to outsiders information that it had a perfect right to keep private,” she wrote. “There is absolutely no statutory provision that authorizes limited disclosure...

YouTube is addressing a corporate boycott: Advertising sponsors are withdrawing ads, but the solution involves disproportionately censoring channels that are not politically correct, specifically anything remotely conservative. Google AdSense, a program enabling YouTube publishers to receive ad revenue from corporate sponsors, caused titan corporations like AT&T, Verizon, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Pepsi, and several others to pull their advertising from YouTube because their ads reportedly are premiering on channels with terroristic and hateful content. In an effort to comply with corporate demands, YouTube has secretly enforced their restricted mode to hide age-inappropriate content, shield comments from all videos, and allow third-party media...

Anyone know how to filter Free Republic using keywords? There are some topics and articles I never want to see.

I originally had this graphic focus on Democrats, but it really isn't just for them. Kevin McCarthy could've used one of these last week...

While there's been a lot of talk about the "Francis Effect," it's worth pondering, on the Holy Father's seventy-eighth birthday, the Francis Filtration. About a year ago, I suggested to one of the top editors of a major American newspaper that his journal's coverage of things papal left something to be desired, as it seemed based on the assumption that Pope Francis was some kind of radical wild-man, eager to toss into the garbage bin of history all those aspects of Catholic faith and practice that mainstream western culture finds distasteful. My friend replied, in so many words, look, you...

Who needs fancy water purifiers? Try this easy water treatment technique instead, using nothing more than fruit peels and rubbing alcohol. With more and more eco-conscious people replacing their bottled water intake (and for good reason) with tap water, there is a growing demand for water filtration devices. But you don't need to go out and buy a fancy device to ensure that your tap water is free from pollutants. Researchers with the National University of Singapore have recently discovered a simple do-it-yourself method for filtering water using nothing more than fruit peels and rubbing alcohol, reports Wired. Researcher Ramakrishna...

A $16 device could provide a family of five with clean water for an entire year About 780 million people—a tenth of the world’s population—do not have access to clean drinking water. Water laced with contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, lead and arsenic claims millions of lives each year. But an inexpensive device that effectively clears such contaminants from water may help solve this problem. Thalappil Pradeep and his colleagues at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras developed a $16 nanoparticle water filtration system that promises potable water for even the poorest communities in India and, in the future, for...

Bostrom: From Extinction to Transcendence by Paul Gilster on February 27, 2013 At the top of my list of people IÂ’d someday like to have a long conversation with is Nick Bostrom, a philosopher and director of OxfordÂ’s Future of Humanity Institute. As Centauri Dreams readers will likely know, Bostrom has been thinking about the issue of human extinction for a long time, his ideas playing interestingly against questions not only about our own past but about our future possibilities if we can leave the Solar System. And as Ross Andersen demonstrates in Omens, a superb feature on BostromÂ’s...

Apparently, he wasn't embarrassed the first time he claimed Romney doesn't pay taxes. Now he's doubling down...

The world will recognize the Depression we have tried to cover up. This is not a US-centric story. The Eurozone will get the unemployment and tax consequences too. Germany will be forced to choose between propping up the entire rest of the Euro (which it can't) and detonating it and going back to the Deutsche Mark (which it will be forced to.) There is a very high probability of war that comes out of this, although the exact trigger is not something I can forecast. War is the classical solution to these problems, and it is unlikely to be different...

Thousands of protestors marched down Istikal Cadesi, Istanbul’s main pedestrian street. They chanted and waved signs. One poster put a Turkish twist on Barack Obama’s campaign slogan. It read “Yes we ban.” The protestors were demanding that the Turkish government take its hands off the Internet. The demonstrators considered the proposed new filters as just the latest step to tighten the government’s control over the Internet. Turkish officials say the filters are not about censorship. They are meant to protect children and families from harmful content on the Internet. But protestor Melike Ozbek says the authorities can’t be trusted. “The...

Does anybody know of a firewall program that will allow blocking direct access to a site (youtube in my case) while still allowing another page to bring in content from that site? I am trying to block youtube while allowing an educational site that has specific embedded youtube videos as lecture material. With McAfee, I can block youtube, but then the embedded video lectures aren't loaded at the educational site.

The U.S. government passed new emissions standards that required new diesel-powered cars and trucks to use the filters. New York state government helped Corning build the new plant. Then, the state passed its own emissions law that forces owners of old diesel vehicles used on state contracts to install the filters — an upgrade that could cost as much as $30,000 each.... With eight months to go, there is also no coordinated effort to retrofit the state’s own fleet. The DEC cannot say how many trucks have been done. The Division of Budget does not have a cost estimate. Each...

On top of regular donations how much would you kick in to be able to filter things out when you browse FR? There are certain subjects I'd rather not bother with and there are certain posters I'd rather not bother with. I'd kick in a few bucks for the extra functionality. How much would you kick in for this ability? I'll kick in $50

My position on breaking up banks generates questions from two groups. Libertarians ask, how can I justify breaking up private sector institutions? Naive liberals ask, why is this policy not embraced by our political leaders? My answer to both relates to what I call the Harvard-Goldman filter. The Harvard-Goldman filter works like this. 1. To get into a position of power, you have to pass through a filter. The easiest way to show that you can pass through the filter is to go to Harvard and then work for Goldman. 2. If you do not go to Harvard and work...