Free Republic

Man's lost gnome attends Steelers game Thu Sep 21, 4:34 PM ET MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Allen Snyder's garden gnome is apparently out of jail and now traveling the country. The 14-inch tall red-and-white statue disappeared from Snyder's Morgantown yard in the spring, and Snyder has since received three letters claiming to have been written by "Gnomey." The latest letter, which Snyder received this week, included photos of the gnome in the company of Steelers fans attending Pittsburgh's football home opener. "You never took me to any games," the note said. The letter ended: "Have to go now. Boarding a plane....

A few of these Photoshopped parodies are funny; most are lame; some are in downright bad taste. One of the better ones.

German art student poses as terracotta warrior, confounds police 1 hour, 26 minutes ago BEIJING (AFP) - A German art student hoodwinked police in northern China's famed terracotta warrior museum by disguising himself as a clay soldier among a forest of ancient statues, state media said. Pablo Wendel jumped into an archaeological pit showcasing several thousand terracotta soldiers, found a spot to stand and frustrated police who had difficulty finding him amid the 2,200-year-old warriors, Xinhua news agency said. After finally locating the art student, Wendel refused to budge and police at the museum near China's ancient capital of Xian...

Man sets sights on eye-popping record Sun Sep 17, 7:08 AM ET RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Claudio Paulo Pinto is looking to break an eye-popping record. Literally. Pinto can pop his eyeballs out of their sockets at least 7 millimeters (0.3 inches), a national record for eye-popping according to RankBrasil, an organization modeled after the Guinness Book of World Records that lists Brazilian records. A former driver, Pinto got a job scaring visitors in a commercial haunted house in Belo Horizonte, 210 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. But he recently was laid off, and now he seeks international...

How to Shut Up a Republican / Right Winger 0:1:45 of your life will be wasted trying to make sense of this. Oh, like you had something better to do anyway.

Top 5 Strangest iPod Cases Our editors have compiled a list of the five strangest iPod cases for your enjoyment. If we happened to miss any, please leave us a comment. Which ones are your favorites? “Continue Reading” for the full list. Honorable Mention - Ultimate iPod Case If you’re looking for the ultimate iPod case, then check out this one. It features slots for just about every iPod produced– including the U2 special edition, two Nanos, and even a pair of DJ headphones. “The only ones i’m missing is the 1G (back in 2001, in my oppinion 5GB was...

Motorcycle airbags part of safety trend By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 14, 12:24 PM ET MARYSVILLE, Ohio - Jeaneen Parsons' husband steered their motorcycle to the ground seven years ago to avoid hitting a passenger whose cycle went down on a twisting mountain road in Kentucky. The couple emerged from the accident with a few road burns and frazzled nerves. The passenger's leg was shattered. Marifran Mattson lost part of her left leg when the motorcycle she was on was struck by a semitrailer in 2004 near Crawfordsville, Ind. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was seriously injured...

Finland's sexiest man is its prime minister, says French president Sun Sep 10, 12:58 PM ET HELSINKI (AFP) - Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen is the sexiest man in Finland, French President Jacques Chirac said in off-the-cuff remarks recorded by television crews at a Europe-Asia summit in Helsinki. "Let me introduce you to the sexiest man in Finland," Chirac joked to Spain's prime minister when he spotted the 51-year-old Vanhanen entering a meeting room. "You can believe it because it's in all the papers, it's in the press." Spain's Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero smiled at the remark Sunday. Last year Chirac...

Woman found guilty in dead puppy attack Wed Sep 6, 10:18 PM ET ST. LOUIS - A woman accused of pummeling a dog breeder over the head with a dead Chihuahua puppy was found guilty Wednesday of misdemeanor assault and trespassing. Lisa Hopfer, 34, faces up to 18 months in jail and a $1,500 fine. The trial featured X-rays and pictures of the dead dog, and testimony from Linda Hulsey, who said Hopfer assaulted her at least 30 times on June 7 with the corpse of the Chihuahua she sold to Hopfer. Hopfer told police that after buying the puppy...

Motorcycle safety instructor hospitalized after crash Tuesday, September 05, 2006 By DAVID KERN, Columbian staff writer Andrew Henry, still in critical condition Monday. A Vancouver man who teaches safe motorcycle riding remained in critical condition Monday from a Saturday morning motorcycle crash. Andrew M. Henry, 37, suffered multiple injuries, but Southwest Washington Medical Center officials declined to provide details, citing federal medical privacy laws. Two photographs of Henry were published on page A10 of Sunday's Columbian. They showed him coaching riders during a Motorcycle Safety Foundation class. The classes are conducted in Clark County by the Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation...

Paraglider lands in minefield 1 hour, 30 minutes ago JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli man was stuck in the middle of a minefield near the Syrian border Saturday after crashing his paraglider and severely injuring himself. The unidentified man took off from a peak in the Golan Heights and drifted east toward the Syrian and Jordanian borders before crashing in the minefield, injuring his legs and breaking several bones, rescue services said. "He's in the process of being rescued," an army spokesman said. Paragliding, in which participants jump off tall peaks or cliffs with a parachute strapped to their back,...

Finn takes world mobile phone throwing title 1 hour, 43 minutes ago HELSINKI (AFP) - Lassi Etelaetalo of Finland beat out a slew of competitors to win the World Mobile Phone Throwing Championships title in Savonlinna, Finland, tossing his handset 89 meters (97 yards), organisers said. Etelaetalo, who competed in the original "over-the-shoulder-throw" event being held for the seventh straight year, fell short of the world record of 94.97 meters set in 2005. "It was a really fast throw with lots of power," one of the organisers, Juha Lukkonen, told AFP. Second place went to last year's champion, fellow Finn...

Pluto can still be in our gang: Seven Dwarfs 25 minutes ago LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Pluto may have been cast out to the darkest reaches of the Solar System but will always be a friend to the Seven Dwarfs. The Walt Disney Co. characters have issued a hard-hitting statement after the world's top astrononomical body decided on Thursday to relegate Pluto to the lowly status of a "dwarf planet". School textbooks will have to be rewritten -- and Mickey Mouse's faithful companion is said by Disney insiders to be anguished over the fate of his planetary namesake. But the...

Defenders of Innocent Infants: Click on the "Hialeah Homicide" petition link above. View the petition and please leave your comments how we should defend this from happening again. In Hialeah, Florida, July 20, 2006 at 2:30 pm, an 18 year old girl walked into A Gyn Diagnostics Center, 3671 W. 16th Ave, with the intention of aborting her baby. The 18 year old mother then delivered a baby girl who was alive and breathing. Clinic worker, Belkis Gonzalez cut the umbilical cord of the baby, stuffed her into a bio-hazard bag, and removed every moment of love or life the...

Psychology student wins first German stiletto race Sat Aug 19, 5:25 PM ET BERLIN (AFP) - A 25-year old psychology student ran away with the first foot race down Berlin's swish Kurfuerstendamm boulevard in stiletto high heels. It took Nadine Sonnabend just 12 seconds to run the 100 metres (328 feet) on her seven centimetre-high heels (almost three inch), said the organisers of the Stiletto Run, which is being held as part of the Global Fashion Festival. "I much prefer tennis," admitted Nadine, as she walked off with her 10,000-euro (12,800-dollar) voucher to spend at Berlin's most prestigious department store...

Fat fish cashes in its chips at Chinese aquarium Thu Aug 17, 2:16 PM ET BEIJING (AFP) - Too much food and too little exercise cost the life of a grossly overweight fish at an aquarium in southern China, state media reported. The grouper -- an edible fish -- weighed in at 150 kilos (330 pounds) and measured 1.6 meters (five feet four inches) at the time of its death last week at the Beihai Sea World in Guangxi region, Xinhua news agency said. It had weighed just six kilos and been a mere 30 centimeters (12 inches) when it...

Man picks wrong spot when nature calls 8 minutes ago CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Sometimes when nature calls, there's no time to delay, but a Kentucky man sure picked the wrong spot for a pit stop. Michael Ray Hunter, 37, found out Wednesday night that the parking lot of the West Virginia State Police headquarters in South Charleston isn't the right spot. Trooper J.S. Crane just happened to be walking nearby as Hunter was relieving himself. As Crane approached, he smelled alcohol. That discovery led Crane to the pickup truck where Hunter's buddy, James Alan Richardson, 40, was checking phone messages....

Squirrel attacks people in Fla. park 2 hours, 12 minutes ago WINTER PARK, Fla. - Several people attacked by a squirrel at Central Park said they had one word for the animal: nuts. On Wednesday some expressed frustration that the animal was not caught sooner, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Alisa Cox's son Carson, 3, was bitten by a squirrel several times and had a 2-inch wound on his leg after the incident, Cox said. James Klute said his 3-year-old son was also bitten on the calf while they were kicking a soccer ball at the park. Jim Hindman, meanwhile, said...

4 neighbors arrested in cigarette fight 1 hour, 12 minutes ago DECATUR, Ala. - A cigarette butt casually tossed to the ground sparked a daylong argument between four neighbors that escalated into a fight that sent at least three of them to the hospital and got them all arrested. "It's sad that people were injured over a cigarette butt," Lt. Chris Mathews, spokesman for the Decatur Police Department, said Thursday. Police said a guest visiting Bobby Joe Ray, 42, tossed a cigarette butt toward the edge of Ray's yard on Aug. 4. The butt landed near a fence belonging to...

National Underwear Day Takes It Off in Times Square Lindsay Sammon Wed Aug 9, 7:48 PM ET Fashion Wire Daily - New York - Foot and street traffic alike were stopped in their tracks Wednesday, August 9, as FreshPair.com, the online retailer of various underwear brands, held its fourth annual National Underwear Day in New York's Times Square. A fashion show at the merge of Broadway and Seventh Avenue showcased the newest trends in intimate apparel. An estimated total of 4000 pairs of underwear were handed out to passersby by scantily clad street models. "Our mission is to raise awareness...