Free Republic

Panasonic's new 145-inch Ultra High Definition television boasts resolution of nearly 34 million pixels, demonstrating what the future of television may eventually look like. When it comes to TVs, bigger is better. NHK, also known as the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, unveiled its 85-inch LCD display, developed in conjunction with Sharp, last year. Today they’ve bested their previous technology with the introduction of a 145-inch Ultra High Definition plasma display, developed in conjunction with Panasonic. The ultra-high-definition display, or Super Hi-Vision TV as NHK refers to the format, rivals IMAX theaters in detail. “Even when viewed from 1.6 meters away,...

The late great Alistaire Cooke describes the current predicament of the U.S. -- in 1973! Phenomenal.

Sex workers in Amsterdam will have a hard time finding work if two New Zealand academics' vision of the future comes true. "In 2050, Amsterdam's red light district will all be about android prostitutes who are clean of sexual transmitted infections, not smuggled in from Eastern Europe and forced into slavery, the city council will have direct control over android sex workers controlling prices, hours of operations and sexual services," write futurologist Ian Yeoman and sexologist Michelle Mars. The duo's paper, Robots, Men And Sex Tourism, published in the journal Futures, centres on an imaginary future sex club in Amsterdam...

As advances in computer technology make gadgets ever smaller and more portable the idea of carrying a screen of any kind could soon be outdated. Consumer products with screens have dropped in size from computer to laptop to tablet via phone. But one company specialising in cutting edge visual technology waIsraeli company Lumus has shown off the PD-18-2, which may look like a cumbersome pair of shades but allow the user to see high-quality images while they walk.nts to beam information directly into your field of vision.

YOU DECIDE! Somebody's been reading their Albert Pike docs., lol

we are getting closer to the jetsons!!

<p>There are moments when our political system, whose essential job is to mediate conflicts in broadly acceptable and desirable ways, is simply not up to the task. It fails. This may be one of those moments. What we learned in 2011 is that the frustrating and confusing budget debate may never reach a workable conclusion. It may continue indefinitely until it's abruptly ended by a severe economic or financial crisis that wrenches control from elected leaders.</p>

If Newt Gingrich were being nominated for sainthood, many of us would vote very differently from the way we would vote if he were being nominated for a political office. What the media call Gingrich’s “baggage” concerns largely his personal life and the fact that he made a lot of money running a consulting firm after he left Congress. This kind of stuff makes lots of talking points that we will no doubt hear, again and again, over the coming weeks and months. But how much weight should we give to this stuff when we are talking about the future...

Islam is on its way to become the most practiced religion in Europe. In a new book published by the University of Leuven, “The Iris and the Crescent,” sociologist Felice Dassetto says that Muslims will comprise the majority of the population of Brussels by 2030. The title of the book refers to the yellow flower symbol of Brussels’ region and to the Islamic emblem: While the first is decaying, the second is growing. Muslims now make up one-quarter of the population of the capital of the enlightened Europe and they are asking to use the empty churches for Islamic prayers....

Occupy Protesters Consider Political FutureBy Don Gonyea Thu., December 1, 2011 3:45am (EST) **SNIP** One who has been watching the Occupy movement closely is Van Jones, an activist who once worked in the Obama White House, and who now heads an organization called Rebuild the Dream. Jones has spoken at Occupy encampments and met with those working on the next steps. He thinks that the movement can work on multiple fronts. Protests and demonstrations are important, Jones says, but so too are elections. "There's no reason to do an either or here. This can be one of the biggest movements...

GOP candidate speaks out on 'Your World'

BOSTON (AP) -- Rep. Barney Frank's decision to step down at the end of his term is the latest jolt to the bruised ego of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, which once counted Kennedys, House speakers and a president among its ranks. Instead, some of the state's best-known political figures are now Republicans, among them Sen. Scott Brown and presidential candidate Mitt Romney. "For a long time, Massachusetts Democrats have felt they played a special role in the national Democratic Party," said Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry. "I think that has gone at this point. There is no one...

Nice to listen to on many fronts.

Get Ready! Listen up – Because your space playbook is about to really change. There’s a new gunslinger in Dodge and he’s huge. He’s hungry. He’s very wealthy. He’s ambitious, (like we used to be). And he is not American. He has already started to play the Game and we are unaware. We don’t even know what the Game is. What is the Game? The Game is what I call "Solar System Monopoly". This will characterize the 21st and 22nd centuries and beyond. "The Hell you say." Yes, I say -- and if we ignore this it shall be at...

"...First, identify prominent purveyors of global warming doom-and-gloom. The bigger the media ham, the better. For a jumping-off list, I suggest Al Gore, James Hansen, Michael Mann, Gavin Schmidt and Joe Romm. Second, whenever the purveyors of doom make ridiculous predictions about global warming, ask them to put their money where their mouths are. After all, if Al Gore can so fervently urge government to force us to spend our hard-earned money complying with his global warming predictions, he should certainly be willing to risk his own millions backing up his global warming claims. Sometimes you might get lucky and...

"...While climate is certainly an extraordinarily complicated mechanism, the facts keep pointing back to this simple fact of chemistry. Increased CO2 and methane may not be the sole cause of climate change, but it’s definitely a cause and almost certainly a major one. Now, what next? My Forbes colleague Tim Worstall argues that this is a serious situation, but one in which the human race can make “marginal changes and still survive and thrive.” I agree with him on this – as long as we act quickly. The technology is moving at a rapid pace, and the industries are catching...

The Obama administration seems surprised by how cautious consumers have been in the two years since the recession officially ended.Officially ended?I’d hasten to say the government’s definition of “officially ended” differs slightly from that of middle class America (i.e. those without the last name of Hilton, Buffet, etc.).When our homes regain the value they once had, maybe the recession has ended. When we no longer spend half our salary just to travel to work, maybe the recession has ended.Falling home prices, coupled with high energy costs and high unemployment has drained middle class America of what little wealth they had.Forget...

Yet another insane bill has passed through the madhouse called the California State Legislature and now awaits the undead governor’s signature. Indeed, one of the few signs of life he showed during the campaign that brought him back from beyond the grave was when he spoke of the joy with which he would sign such a bill if resurrected. I refer to AB 131, the second half of the so-called “California Dream Act,” which would allow illegal aliens brought to this country as children who’ve graduated from California’s public-school system to apply for college aid. Predictably, rage against this act...

Future of America: Harder Than Anything You’ve Experienced In Your Lifetime Mac Slavo July 11th, 2011 SHTFplan.com In February 0f 2009, while on the Glenn Beck show, trend forecaster Gerald Celente was asked to comment on global events and extraordinary times in which we live. His response should have been a wake up call. [It will be] Like nothing we’ve ever seen in our lifetime or I would say anyone’s life time. Since then we’ve seen not billions, but trillions upon trillions of dollars committed to bank bailouts, toxic asset purchases, stock market liquidity infusion, so-called job creation programs, tax...

Our Economic Future: From Best to Worst Case (Doug Casey) by: Doug Casey June 9, 2011 There is a great deal of uncertainty among investors about what the future of the U.S. economy may look like – so I decided to take a stab at what’s likely to happen over the next 20 years. That's enough time for a child to grow up and mature, and it's long enough for major trends to develop and make themselves felt. I’ll confine myself to areas that are, as the benighted Rumsfeld might have observed, “known unknowns.” I don’t want to deal with...