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A muscle-bound building boss who came home from a New Year's Eve fancy dress party kitted out as Thor scared off a burglar by charging at him in his superhero outfit. Six-foot-tall fitness fanatic Torvald Alexander, 38, was wearing a full God of Thunder outfit - complete with flying red cape and tinfoil silver-winged helmet - when he spotted the raider in his front room rifling through a desk. Mr Alexander, who runs building firm Alexander & Summers in Edinburgh, Scotland, said the burglar threw himself out of a first-floor window of his £350,000 home in the Inverleith area of...

A man was shot and killed early this morning outside a New Year's Eve party at a hillside home in Coldwater Canyon, police said. The body was found slumped on a curb across the street from the four-story tan stucco home in the 3900 block of Avenida del Sol, just east of Harvard-Westlake School and St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. Police have not publicly identified the victim. The large home on the winding street of three- and four-story houses, in sight of ridgetop spreads with canyon views, had been rented by three men, one of whom was out...

3 celebrating with guns shot by police in 3 incidents Thursday, January 1, 2009 7:46 PM By Kevin Mayhood The Columbus Dispatch Like cowboys whooping it up, central Ohioans celebrated another new year with guns blazing in the air. But for the first time, Columbus police shot revelers who they said refused to drop their weapons. Three people, all involved in separate incidents, were treated at area hospitals, though none suffered a life-threatening injury. "We've never had three police-involved shootings in one night before," said Sgt. Jeff Sacksteder, of the Columbus Police Division's cold-case squad. Sacksteder and a host of...

Update: The French press reported that the Interior Ministry released a final "verified" count of 1,147 vehicles burned in France over New Year's Eve. The number is up 30.64% from last year's total, 878. REUTERS - At least 445 cars were torched over the night of New Year's Eve in France, a 20 percent rise on last year, but there were relatively few clashes with police, the Interior Ministry and police said on Thursday. Car burnings are regular occurrences in France but the registering the New Year's Eve total has become something of a tradition since they achieved symbolic status...

Did the Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop malfunction?? We didn't see it drop! Hill/Billary were supposed to push the button to release it. If so, it only proves that the Dems can't even drop the ball right!!

Sydney Harbor, AustraliaAhmahdabad, IndiaSeoul, South KoreaThe KremlinLondonBrandenburg Gate, BerlinManilaIt's cooooooold in Times Square

George Stroumboulopoulos is the biggest faux hip poseur ever to grace Canadian airwaves. Guaranteed to recycle all the old cliches from American campaign coverage because he's too vapid to think of original and incisive questions on his own. He is probably the most shallow and blinkered of CBC hosts. And that's saying something. Sarah should have no problem running rings around him.

New York, NY (AHN) - Champagne sales are nothing to toast to this year. Makers of the bubbly are reeling from the sour economy and feelings its effects. Makers of both inexpensive sparking wines and expensive bottles are feeling the pinch following 2007's strong 4 percent gains, the biggest since the buying frenzy in 1999 to ring in the new millennium. Nearly 21 million bottles were shipped to the United States from the region of France known as Champagne in 2007. Through August, sales were down 17 percent over the corresponding period last year, according to Sam Heitner, director of...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52517 New York Guard Readies for New Year's Eve By Eric Durr Special to American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2008 – As New Yorkers and visitors gear up today for New Year's Eve celebrations, the citizen soldiers and airmen of the New York National Guard are ready to support homeland security missions throughout the state, officials said. At the direction of Gov. David Paterson, members of the New York Army and Air National Guard will conduct additional security missions and stand ready to respond to local civil authorities if an emergency...

Bill and Hillary Clinton will push the ceremonial button to signal the lowering of the giant illuminated ball in New York's Times Square this New Year. The former president and his wife -- a U.S. senator from New York and President-elect Barack Obama's choice for Secretary of State -- will join New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in this year's festivities, event organizers said in a statement Tuesday.

I want to let you know about an important opportunity to bring Virginia-style leadership that will change Washington. Glenn Nye is the Democratic Nominee for Congress in the Second District of Virginia, and bringing him to Washington will make a huge difference in creating the change our nation needs. I've been proud to support and campaign with Glenn, and I'm asking you to join me today. Glenn is a unique candidate who truly fits his district. He is a fifth-generation Second District resident and former Foreign Service officer who volunteered to serve in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq....

Speculation is mounting (except, of course, among the “professional” press), as to the identities of six of the eight individuals included in the Libby subpoena to The New York Times (see Clarice Feldman’s piece here). The Times deemed the identities of only two of the parties worthy of release, former CIA director George Tenet and former White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer. The names of the other six remain elusive

New Year's Eve rolls around, and although you know you've already overdone it this holiday season, you settle down with your squeeze and pour a couple glasses of bubbly. This time you swear you're not going to pour too much. But will you get it right? That may well depend on the glass you use, according to new research. If you pour champagne into a tall, slender glass, you'll probably serve yourself less than if you pour it into a short, fat glass. But the human mind plays tricks, so you'll almost surely think it's the other way around. Brian...

1/3/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- With inspiration from New York -- the city that never sleeps -- Airmen at this desert base that never sleeps got to drop the ball this New Year’s Eve. In less than 72 hours, some 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron members constructed a New Year’s Eve Ball like the one dropped at New York’s Times Square every year. “We’ve got New York beaten -- hands down,” said electrician Staff Sgt. Jacob Phillips, the New Year’s Eve Ball project officer. New York’s ball is six feet in diameter. The one he helped build has a...

1/3/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- People around the globe welcomed 2006 with a variety of New Year’s Eve celebrations. High above Iraq, a Reserve C-130 Hercules aircrew headed for Balad Air Base, celebrated in a different way -- flying another mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. With the drone of the aircraft’s four propellers in the background, Senior Master Sgt. Ernie Leyba attached his night vision gear to his flight helmet. It was nearly pitch black on the flight deck, except for the pale green glow of the instrument lights. But it didn’t stop the flight engineer. Since...

My nine year-old daughter and I decided to attend Evanston's First Night New Year's Eve celebration. Evanston, IL is a very liberal town--it's the home of Northwestern University. Jan Schakowsky, one of the most liberal members of the House of Representatives, has lived in Evanston for many years. The Chicago suburb turns out huge Democratic majorities each election. Our first stop for First Night was the Evanston Public Library, where we bought our tickets to the fair. We encountered a table staffed with war protesters from Neighbors for Peace, there they are in the picture below. Visitors to the library...

Falling bullets injured two people and narrowly missed a half-dozen children after New Year's Eve revelers fired guns into the air across San Diego County. The most serious injury involved a 27-year-old woman whose shoulder was pierced by a stray bullet as she stood on her apartment balcony on Felicita Avenue in Escondido. Thirty miles away, a man was hit on a hand by a bullet that had passed through a wall of his Chamoune Avenue house in the Swan Canyon neighborhood of San Diego. Additionally, a family in the Chollas View neighborhood of San Diego had a close call...

U.S. soldiers toast during merrymaking as they celebrate the New Year at the IZ hospital in Baghdad January 1, 2006. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said recently the number of U.S. combat forces in Iraq would be cut by some 7,000 by early 2006, and the numbers involved in training Iraq's new military would increase. (REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani)

Rowdy revelers in France torched 425 vehicles overnight in scattered New Year's Eve unrest that has become an annual problem in troubled neighborhoods, the national police chief said Sunday. Last year, 333 cars were burned. Police Chief Michel Gaudin also said there were no major clashes this year between youths and police overnight, as had been feared. In what has become an annual tradition every New Year's Eve, youths set several hundred cars ablaze in France as festivities get out of hand. Police were especially cautious this time because of the wave three weeks of rioting and car burning that...

CRAWFORD, Texas — For six days, President Bush has stayed in nearly complete isolation on his ranch here — just mountain-biking and brush-clearing, the White House insisted daily, and seeing only one visitor, his mother-in-law, Jenna Welch. He never even ventured into this little town of 600, not even to the cheeseburger joint that he often uses as a political tool to show that he is in touch with his neighbors. But on New Year's Day, after a brief stop at an Army hospital in San Antonio to visit wounded soldiers, Bush is scheduled to return to the White House...

Hundreds of thousands of people crowded on to the Champs Elysees in Paris to see out the old year and usher in the new. There was high security along some two and half kilometres of the street, but as the clock struck 12 partygoers appeared to have nothing but having a good time on their minds. The night did not passed off completely peacefully, however. Less than two months after several suburbs in the capital and other cities saw sustained rioting, cars were again set on fire and youths threw stones at firefighters. Police say 343 vehicles were burnt before...

he London Ambulance Service reported a "horrifying" spate of stabbings across the capital - 35 in all on a night the service dealt with a record number of emergency 999 calls. Between midnight and 4am the service dealt with 1,444 calls, up four per cent on the same period last year. Deputy director of operations Russell Smith, who led the service's New Year's Eve response, said: "We are horrified that there have been so many stabbings on what is an evening of celebration for most people. "The majority of calls that we have responded to this evening have been alcohol-related....

The turn of the year started off peacefully in Holland, but the atmosphere in Rotterdam became more and more aggressive. A shooting in the Rotterdam party centre De Hooiberg, killed one person at around 06.00. The Rotterdam police arrested 100 people on Sunday morning for arson, violence, possesion of a firearm, and threatening. The mobile police unit was brought into action when a group of thirty people began throwing stones at police...

Even though the French government put large numbers of police on the streets in Paris and surrounding towns, the new year has begun with riots. 340 cars have been set alight, and the police have arrested more than 260 rioters....

Pope Benedict XVI waves in front of the Nativity scene at the end of "Te Deum" prayer in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI remembered his beloved predecessor and again stressed the importance that a family based on marriage has "in the life of the Church and of society." (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri)Pope Stresses Need for Marriage, Family By MARIA SANMINIATELLI Associated Press WriterVATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI remembered his predecessor Saturday and again stressed the importance of a family based on marriage "in the life of the church and of society."...

Called my sister shortly before midnight. She said her husband has three guns loaded to shoot off for New Year's Eve. I don't approve of this. I told her to shoot the guns into the ground, not into the air.They followed my advice. When my nephew shot one of the guns into the ground he hit a water pipe. Now water is gushing out of the ground. Just desserts. What can I say?

CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 31 -- A year ago this week, President Bush faced television cameras to offer relief and condolences after the Indian Ocean tsunami. In August, the retreat to his ranch was haunted by a 26-day siege by antiwar protesters demonstrating at his doorstep. Days later, Hurricane Katrina forced him to return to Washington in crisis-management mode as critics accused him of being slow to recognize the disaster. But the president is in quiet seclusion in the waning days of 2005. The traveling press has not laid eyes on him since Dec. 26, when he boarded Air Force One...

LONDON - Londoners ignored a subway strike to welcome the New Year. Some Japanese climbed a snowcapped peak to see the first sunrise of 2006. GIs in Iraq got a year-end "American Idol" treat. New Year's Celebrations like these spread throughout the world Saturday and early Sunday and were generally jubilant, a contrast with last year when the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami led many countries and individuals to cancel festivities. In France, youths burned hundreds of cars in a traditional year-end form of vandalism, but the country appeared to have avoided a massive resurgence of the rioting that...

NEW YORK -- There was more to celebrate than the ball dropping in Times Square for Dick Clark _ the personality who's been ringing in the New Year for decades made his first television appearance since a stroke in late 2004. Clark, sitting behind a desk with the street scene in the background, sounded hoarse and occasionally was hard to understand, but he said, "I wouldn't have missed this for the world." "Last year I had a stroke," he explained. "It left me in bad shape. I had to teach myself how to walk and talk again. It's been a...

NEW YORK - Thousands of New Year's Eve revelers ignored the sleet and snow and packed into Times Square with their "2006" glasses, waving balloons and working noisemakers for the famous ball drop and countdown of the final minutes of 2005. "I love my spot!" said an excited Linda Smith, who had secured a prime view before noon after taking a bus from Columbus, Ohio, for the celebration. Fireworks burst above the square at 6 p.m. when the 1,070-pound Waterford crystal ball was raised. In Boston, ice sculptures, parades, parties and fireworks kicked off the annual First Night celebrations. Tyler...

Youths threw stones at firefighters and burned cars in scattered unrest during New Year's Eve celebrations in France, where police were mobilized to prevent a repeat outburst of rioting that broke out this fall. Surveillance helicopters and about 25,000 French police were on alert for the holiday. Every New Year's Eve, youths set hundreds of cars ablaze as festivities get out of hand. Police are being especially cautious this time because of the wave of rioting and car-torchings that broke out for three weeks starting in late October. A state of emergency imposed during the rioting is still in effect....

A large New Year's Eve street party in downtown Los Angeles was canceled without explanation Saturday night, prompting angry calls to the fire department. Giant Village, billed as the "world's largest 21+ celebration," was to have featured the Black Eyed Peas and other music groups on six stages along Wilshire Boulevard, as well as a fireworks display, but late in the day it was canceled, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The fire department -- which had nothing to do with the cancellation -- was getting angry phone calls from people who drove to the area with...

PARIS, France (AP) - Youths threw stones at firefighters and burned cars in scattered unrest during New Year's Eve celebrations in France, where police were mobilised to prevent a repeat outburst of rioting that broke out this fall. About 25,000 French police were on alert for the holiday. Every New Year's Eve, youths set several hundred cars ablaze as festivities get out of hand. Police are being especially cautious this time because of the wave of rioting and car-torchings that broke out for three weeks starting in late October. A state of emergency imposed during the rioting is still in...

Top 10 reasons not to pass out on New Years Eve Mash here for the rest.

    10 Health Commandments for the New Year Most people are familiar with the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai as recorded in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-21. But have you heard of the second Ten Commandments? The second Ten Commandments are "10 suggestions" of a cardiologist, Steven R. Yarnall, MD, for giving one the edge on being the best you can be. Taking care of ourselves is most often just good, old-fashioned commonsense. But here are Yarnall's "10 Health Commandments" as I found them in a pamphlet put out by the Hope Heart Institute. Thou...

CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 30 -- On most of the 365 days he has enjoyed at his secluded ranch here, President Bush's idea of paradise is to hop in his white Ford pickup truck in jeans and work boots, drive to a stand of cedars, and whack the trees to the ground.SNIPThis might strike many Washingtonians as a curious pastime. It does burn a lot of calories. But brush clearing is dusty, it is exhausting (the president goes at it in 100 degree-plus heat), and it is earsplitting, requiring earplugs to dull the chain saw's buzz.SNIPRonald Reagan chopped wood and rode...

Yeah, I'm over the hill. I'm staying home for New Years Eve instead of going out. And I gave FR ten bucks that I would have spent on a couple of drinks out at a bar. Maybe we can all toss a five or a ten at JimRob tonight for sparing us the trouble of going out among the great unwashed.

Rick Nelson's eyes spar-kled as he signed an album cover for an adoring fan in the basement of PJ's Alley in Guntersville. It was almost showtime as he capped off a leisurely weekend in North Alabama - the last weekend of 1985. Two shows on Saturday night had thrilled a packed house, so his Stone Canyon Band stayed over for a final fling on Monday. They would be flying to Dallas the next morning to welcome in the New Year entertaining at the Park Suite Hotel. It was a date they would never make. Pat Upton was owner of PJ's...

When Richard Kilmer recalls the first Pink Party in 1995, he sees mainly coats. Mountains of them. Attendance at the inaugural year of the gay-themed New Year's Eve celebration so outpaced expectations that volunteers in the coat check room quickly ran out of hangers. "Coats were stacked to the ceiling. It was the Nightmare of the Coats," said Kilmer, who helped plan the event. "I don't know how anyone ever got theirs back." The Pink Party, an immediate success that went on to attract nearly 1,900 people at its height, will end its run tonight on its 11th anniversary. Organizers...

About 4,500 police officers, a steady number compared to last year, will be on duty in the Paris region, supported by helicopters and patrolling the streets and trains leading into the city and manning checkpoints across the capital to watch for potential troublemakers amid the hundreds of thousands of people expected to gather on the Champs-Élysées and around the Eiffel Tower to celebrate. As usual, trains and buses will run throughout the night.

Happy New Year's Day Weekend!!!       ______________________________________________   FRmail me if you want on or off the F/S Singles' Thread Ping List.  It will only be used for pinging to the official thread, and will never be used for any other purpose. ______________________________________________   This is a thread for singles, not a thread about singleness -- no moping allowed! :-) ____________________________________________________     Free Republic is the premier online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which...

      Music For Our Troops -All music is removed the following week! Support the artists below by going to the following links: ArtistDirect.com l Amazon.com l Walmart.com l Ticketmaster.com l Google.com l  Songfacts.com l Billboard.com l Audiophile.com l Wherehouse.com l Sonique l  MTV.com l VH1.com l CMT.com l MuchMusic.com l Audio Realm l MSN Radio l Shout Cast l Launch Music l Live-Radio Net l MP3.com l Welcome to our New Year's Music Celebration! Thank you for joining us this evening!! To all of our Troops around the world: ~ Happy New Year's ~ Mayhem Presents~ Remixes...

Suicide bombers threatened in letters sent to local media that they would target a top politician and launch attacks against New Year's revellers in the city of Bangalore, police said on Friday. A letter from a previously unknown group outlining the threatened attacks in Bangalore was faxed to several newspapers late on Thursday, the director-general of police, S Sial, said. "It will be the most coordinated attack the country has ever seen," television channel CNN-IBN quoted the letter, written in English, as saying. Six attackers will trigger explosions including, "two human bombs to target the state chief minister," Moin-ud-Din of...

Are hanged out In Moscow on houses leaflets about tomorrow's acts of terrorism Terrorists are going to lead tomorrow in Moscow the large armed action, radio station " Echo of Moscow " referring to the operative information which has acted to address of capital authorities informs. In this connection authorities of city have disposed to check up all uninhabited, basement and garrets for explosives. Besides written preventions of probable acts of terrorism have appeared on apartment houses of the Western district of Moscow. These are x-copies of the telephone message in which zamprefekta the Western district asks heads of...

Auld Lang Syne - Traditional Auld Lang Syne - Modern Auld Lang Syne - For Cat People :) A Finest Happy New Years Weekend… History and Traditions As we enter 2006, this weekend thread is dedicated to traditions past. Please feel free to share your traditions and memories!!! ANCIENT NEW YEARS The New Years celebration is the oldest of all holidays. First observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible cresent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring). The beginning of...

Hoping to "drive home" responsible drinking messages this holiday season, Anheuser-Busch today released the results of its annual designated driver poll and declared Dec. 11-17 National Designated Driver Awareness Week. The survey found that most Americans -- 41 percent -- would prefer to be driven home in a Hummer by their designated drivers of choice Katie Couric and George Clooney. In addition, survey respondents chose a sleigh ride by the Budweiser Clydesdale Hitch as their favorite mode of transportation. "It's important for us to reinforce responsible behavior and encourage those who drink to use a designated driver, especially during the...

LA MARQUE — All that’s missing is an appearance by Bob Barker. For the third consecutive year, Abundant Life Christian Center will bring a taste of game show glitz to its annual New Year’s Eve services, using the lure of a jackpot to put wayward souls in the seats. At the end of the evening Saturday, one attendee will walk away with a $120,000 home — a newly constructed three-bedroom bungalow on Allen Boulevard off the east side of state Highway 3 near the Mainland Medical Center. During the service, 20 names will be drawn at random and placed with...

What's Up In Space EBONY MOON: According to modern folklore, when there are two Full Moons in a month, we call the second a Blue Moon. Question: what do you call it when there are two New Moons in a month? It's about to happen. On Dec. 31st, New Year's Eve, the moon will be new for the second time this month. (The first time was Dec. 1st.) Double new moons occur about once every 2.5 years, the same frequency as Blue Moons. There's no widely accepted name for a second New Moon, so we asked SpaceWeather readers to suggest...

Win A House At Church For New Years December 27, 2005 3:00 p.m. EST Andrea Moore - All Headline News Staff ReporterLa Marque, Texas (AHN) - A church in Texas plans to award a $120,000 three-bedroom home to one of its worshipers on New Years Eve in a game show-style giveaway.In the three previous years, The Abundant Life Christian Center has given away a car, a motorcycle and furniture.During services on Saturday, 20 names will be selected at random and placed with 100 others chosen from services throughout the year. Twelve finalists, symbolizing the 12 apostles, will be selected.Each...