Free Republic

A Los Angeles County sheriff's captain is being investigated for allegedly taking an inmate out of jail and going golfing. Cpt. Jeff Donahue reportedly took professional golfer-turned-jewel-thief Frank Carrillo out of the Avalon jail. Carrillo says Donahue wanted tips to improve his golf game. Donahue is now on medical leave. Sheriff's officials are forbidden from fraternizing with inmates. Carrillo, 41, was serving a two-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to stealing cash and jewelry from people at golf courses. He was at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles then transferred to Catalina, where he became a trusty, which...

Good morning, FRiends and fellow gardeners! The weather has cooled-down a bit, the sun is shining and my grandgirls have been here all week. I am one happy blonde today.It rained again 2 and 3 days ago, so I haven't even disked up the garden spot yet, but that will get done Monday.All of the fruit trees and bushes that I've planted are doing very well and the regular rains have been perfect to keep them moist and off to a great start! Some of the raspberries that I planted were established plants, and some were bare-root canes. Many...

I know the rules of baseball can be arcane and--dare I say it?--Talmudic. But I saw something in today's Braves/Mets opener that I simply don't understand. I've done a web search but come up blank. It's the bottom of the second. Ike Davis is at bat for the Mets; first base is open. He has two strikes on him. He swings and misses at the third strike, but it barely touches the ground before being caught. Now as I understand it, this entitled him to run for first base. But he didn't. Instead he informed the umpire that the ball...

Upcoming programs on TV this week regarding "TITANIC", all on National Geographic Channel, Eastern times: "Titanic: Ballard's Secret Mission" Sat 4/7 @ 7p Sun 4/8 @ 2a "Titanic: the Final Word with James Cameron" Mon 4/9 @ 8p " " @ 11p "Save the Titanic with Bob Ballard" Mon 4/9 @ 10p Tues 4/10 @ 1a

Bass Pro Shop advertising a Bushmaster AR15 O.R.C. M4 (Optics Ready Carbine) 16", 30-rd, collapsible stock. Curious about any FReeper experience with this carbine. Priced at $979.99 Out of stock at most of the usual places online, so I thought it might be a popular firearm. What is the FReeper opinion of this? This is a .223/5.56 NATO rifle. Not gonna debate .223 v .308 on this thread. That is a different purchase. Please provide your USEFUL opinions.

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, when bulky twin-speaker cassette players were still popular, Leyland E. George bought a nice, loud Panasonic for $90, clipped a shoulder strap to it and began his boombox ministry in Bushwick, Brooklyn. “I realized I could reach more people in the streets than any church, so I made the streets my church,” said Mr. George, 70, a Guyanese immigrant whose special brand of Christianity deplores the separation of people along racial lines. “I want to know why people see themselves as black or white,” he said. The box has been repaired often through the years, and is...

I saw Three Dog Night tonight and they were AWESOME. Those old timers can still rock. I just wish they did Eli. They did not.

NHRA Pro Stock icon Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, a master of the internal combustion engine and a legend among the Chevrolet faithful, died March 29. He was 81. Jenkins, voted No. 8 among NHRA Drag Racing's greatest racers in a 2001 experts poll, scored just 13 NHRA national event wins but earned his well-deserved spot in drag racing's top 10 because no other individual has contributed more to the advancement of normally aspirated engines for drag racing competition than the legendary "Grump." “Everyone at NHRA is saddened by the passing of Bill ‘Grumpy’ Jenkins, not only a pioneer in the sport,...

New 'Girls Around Me' iPhone App Helps You Stalk Women Girls Around Me scans for women who have checked in on Foursquare, so you can find her and tell her you found her on the internet.You know how it's totally cool and normal and appropriate to just show up somewhere because you know there's a girl there, at that very moment, who you think is cute, even if she doesn't happen to know you exist? Oh, wait. I think that's called stalking. And it's the premise behind the new iPhone app Girls Around Me. The creepiest app I've personally ever...

Good evening, FRiends and gardeners! I deeply apologize for the delay in posting this week's thread ... this is an extremely busy time here on our farm, and when you've got just a handful of folks farming 3,000 acres, there are times when it is all hands on deck all night long. The rain has been spaced exactly right to be wrong, and we were down to the wire getting our corn crop planted.With that out of the way, how in the world is everybody doing with their gardens and plans for gardens? We have so many members with...

Holy cr@p! This zombie attack bike is powered by a chainsaw I'm sorry, did you think I meant a chainsaw motor? I suppose that's understandable (after all, two-stroke chainsaw engines are often used to convert bicycles into rear-wheel-drive motorbikes), but I didn't say chainsaw motor, did I? I said chainsaw. Because whoever pieced together this unholy death machine has clearly left the power source attached to a number of other components. They've even opted for a FWD conversion so that the saw's guide blade and cutting chain could be front-mounted. 100% terrifying, 100% brilliant. Perfect for plowing through hordes of...

Welcome to the 17th installment of the FReeper Weekly Recipe Thread for 2012. Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or seven- for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites! Here's the place to share and explore your latest and greatest favorite recipe. (All 2011 FReeper Recipes are on my profile page as an Online Cookbook Thread Link)

The 1940 census will be released online on April 2, 2012. Please bookmark this page: 1940census.archives.gov. This is where you will be able to access the digitized census records starting on April 2. The digital images will be accessible free of charge at NARA facilities nationwide through our public access computers as well as on personal computers via the internet. Part 1: General Information FAQs about the 1940 Census 1940 Census Forms Questions Asked on the 1940 Census Selected List of Codes 1940 Census Lectures by NARA staff nationwide Part 2: How to Start Your 1940 Census Research

MATAGORTA BAY, Matagorda County - For hours after their boat sank, Ken Henderson and Ed Coen treaded water in the Gulf of Mexico, talking about life and death while struggling to survive. For more than 30 hours, it worked. Then Henderson was forced to make a decision that would save his life, but not his best friend's. "This is the last-ditch effort, but I'm going to go for help or you're not going to make it," Henderson told Coen, just before cutting the strap that connected them in the deep, cold waters off the Texas coast. "I understand," Coen responded,...

Woman won online essay contest and popular voteA Bay Area woman has just claimed an award even she didn't expect: Extreme Huntress of 2012. Think of it as the "Miss America" of the hunting community. It's a big deal. Concord resident Tiffany Brewer recently won the nationwide contest, sponsored by Tahoe Films and Tom Opre, host of the NBC Sports outdoors show "Eye of the Hunter." Entrants had to submit a 500-word essay on why they considered themselves the Extreme Huntress. Ten finalists were chosen based on their essays, then it was up to popular online vote to determine the...

Before we discuss why it is men can't and shouldn't stop looking at women in the street, I'd like to explain about the girl in the miniskirt on the bicycle. It was the first of the warm spring days that inflated Toronto this week. I was on my way to work on my bicycle. Two blocks from my house, I turned right and found myself 10 feet behind a young woman. I use the word “behind” hesitantly. She might have been 20. I am 58. She had long blond hair, and was wearing a short putty-coloured jacket, nude hose –...

Just looking at new gun cleaners, anyone ever use Gunzilla ?

What should you say, or what should you NOT say if you’re involved in a shooting? Massad Ayoob shares the 5-points to cover when the police arrive.

Gallery: Familiar-yet-alien Soviet arcade games While playing Centipede (don't judge) at my local mall in the '80s, it never occurred to me that somewhere behind the soon-to-fall Iron Curtain there would be some punk playing the Soviet version of arcade games as well. Hell yeah they were! Now, thanks to two nostalgic Muscovites who remembered their days of playing "Sea Battle," there is an entire museum full of these Soviet-era games. The story of the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines is so cool we couldn't make this up if we tried. Let's talk about the games first. Soviet classics Sea...

Welcome to the 16th installment of the FReeper Weekly Recipe Thread for 2012. Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or six- for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites! Here's the place to share and explore your latest and greatest favorite recipe. (All 2011 FReeper Recipes are on my profile page as an Online Cookbook Thread Link)