Free Republic

I only caught the end of the Barbara Walters' interview. Here's what I heard. BW: Teresa, finish this sentence will you? Teresa Heinz-Kerry is...? TH-K: (dramatic pause) An honest warm person who cares a lot about people. (She forgot to say: who has a brand marketing agency at her disposal to write positioning statements like this.) I really don't need the First Lady to care about me, just about the President, thanks very much. I thought she was patronizing and condescending. Oh, and she said she had a barbecue and ran out of ketchup. Her friends thought she had fountains...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Terri Carlin wants to make Janet Jackson's bare breast into a federal case. Carlin filed a proposed class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court this week against Jackson, singer Justin Timberlake, broadcasters MTV and CBS and their parent company, Viacom. Carlin alleges in the Feb. 4 suit that she and others who watched the halftime show during the Super Bowl were injured by the performers' lewd actions when Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson's costume, exposing her breast. In the lawsuit, Carlin charges that the exposure and "sexually explicit conduct" by other performers during the show injured...

To: All Viacom Employees From: Mel Karmazin Date: February 03, 2004 RE: Super Bowl Half Time Show As you know, the incident during the Super Bowl's Half Time Show on Sunday has received a significant amount of attention both in the media and in Washington, D.C. Because of the speculation and misinformation about what transpired, I want to update you on the facts and also on what we are doing to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. First let me say that everyone at Viacom, CBS and MTV was shocked and embarrassed about what transpired at the end...

'Super-TB' created by scientists TB is a major world killer A virulent form of tuberculosis was created in the laboratory by experts trying to alter its genetic structure. The mutant form of the bug multiplied more quickly, and was more lethal than its natural counterpart. Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, US, had actually been trying to disable genes and make the bacterium less deadly. "This is one of the very few hyper-virulent organisms ever created," said scientist Dr Lisa Morici. Tuberculosis is one of the world's biggest killers, and scientists are probing its genetic structure in a...

CHICAGO In news that has electrified the music world, the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew announced Monday that it is reuniting and will soon begin work on its first new material since the seminal 1985 single Super Bowl Shuffle. Above: The Shufflin' Crew's classic 1985 line-up. Confirming the recent swirl of music-industry rumors regarding a possible anniversary reunion, Shufflin' Crew lead singer Willie Gault told reporters,After years of solo gigs and side projects, "we decided it was time for us to work together again." Gault went on to strongly deny rumors that the Crew was returning to the studio looking for...

What makes a Super Bowl winner? The cliche answer is great defenses, and the last three Super Bowl winners -- Tampa, New England and Baltimore -- support that logic. But before the 2000 season, the argument can be made that 12 of the previous 13 Super Bowl winners (the lone exception being the 1990 Giants) were offense-dominated teams. So great offenses also can win. In fact, it says here great offenses will win this season when the Rams beat the Raiders in the Arena, er, Super Bowl. What wins Super Bowls are transcendent players who redefine their careers at the...

Setback for jewel industry is good news for high-tech Two companies are manufacturing gem-quality diamonds that may break the DeBeers cartel and set off a high-tech craze for diamond chips much heartier than silicon, reports Wired Magazine's September issue. The diamonds are flawless and can fool even the most expert of gemologists. The natural conditions that produce diamonds have long been understood – put pure carbon under enough heat and pressure and it will crystallize into the hardest material known. But evolutionists have suggested it would require millions of years to reproduce the precise set of circumstances. Some have suggested...

Super ice age 'gave evolution a kick-start' By Charles Arthur Technology Editor 10 April 2003 The appearance of the Earth's first multicelled organisms – which ultimately gave rise to humans – may have been triggered by the end of a super ice age in which the planet was a "snowball" for millions of years, scientists say. The "snowball" theory suggests that about 750 million years ago the Earth was covered with ice up to a kilometre thick, even in what are now the tropics. By comparison, the last ice age, which ended 10,000 years ago, glaciers reached only as far...

May 16, 2002 FBI 'super squad' to target terrorism From James Doran in Washington THE Federal Bureau of Investigation is poised for one of the most radical shake-ups since its inception almost a century ago with plans to create a centralised “super squad” to combat global terrorism. The changes, which aim to create a powerful counter-terrorism unit in Washington DC, are expected to be unveiled before Congress next month by Robert Mueller III, the FBI Director. More than 1,600 analysts and agents will be recruited as part of the drive to bolster the war on terrorism, with the bureau’s $5...

Japanese supercomputer takes world's fastest title from US A new Japanese supercomputer has taken the title of world's fastest away from the US. The NEC Earth Simulator processes data five times faster than its closest competitor. It works at a speed of 35,600 gigaflops compared to its closest rival, IBM's ASCI White, which runs at a speed of 7,226 gigaflops. A gigaflop equals a billion mathematical operations per second. The NEC Earth Simulator is as large as four tennis courts and creates a "virtual planet Earth" to predict climate patterns. Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer science professor, leads...