Free Republic

Some of the artists of the 60s are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers who can remember doing the "Limbo" as if it were yesterdayThey include: Bobby Darin --- Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' A Flash Herman's Hermits --- Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker Ringo Starr --- I Get By With A Little Help From Depends The Bee Gees --- How Can You Mend A Broken Hip? Roberta Flack--- The First Time Ever I Forgot Your FaceJohnny Nash --- I Can't See Clearly Now Paul Simon--- Fifty Ways To Lose Your Liver The...

Hearken, youngsters, to another tale of those ancient days, the Eighties, when nobody wore bicycle helmets and there were precious few outbreaks of easily preventable infectious diseases owing largely to the fact that your mom didn’t get her health-care advice from the same place your dad got his porn. Dangerous days, they were, full of scraped knees and hurt feelings. The name “Tipper Gore” was never spoken casually; it was spat in contempt if it had to be uttered at all. The now-former Mrs. Al Gore was the leader of an organization called the Parents’ Music Resource Center, a coven...

One of the persistent American misunderstandings is that Thanksgiving is about celebrating abundance. Norman Rockwell helped the myth along as much as anyone. In his 1943 series, "The Four Freedoms," the famous "Freedom from Want" painting depicts a smiling grandma hoisting a bird to the table with Uncle Ed there on the left eyeing up a juicy drumstick for himself. *break* When Rockwell painted the happy clan, all grinning at the prospect of a big feed, America was an economically depressed nation struggling through a two-front world war. Grandma had to empty out her ration book to lay out even...

A few days ago, in the context of pointing out some of the excesses that typify superhero comic books being published today, I posted my personal mission statement, promising to no longer take part in the superhero decadence trend. As surely as night follows day, the comics community reacted (here, and on comics-devoted news sites and message boards, far and wide), in a more or less even mix of pro and con, support and condemnation, leavened with the usual percentage of anonymous bomb throwing that’s impossible to avoid in our wonderful Internet culture. Some arguments (on both sides) were fairly...

Mammoth hunters' camp site found in Russia's Far East 13:02 | 12/ 11/ 2007 KHABAROVSK, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - Archaeologists have found a 15,000 year-old hunters' camp site from the Paleolithic era near Lake Evoron in Russia's Far East, a source in the Khabarovsk archaeology museum said on Monday. "The site dates back to the end of the Ice Age, a period which is poorly studied" Andrei Malyavin, chief of the museum's archaeology department said. "That is why any new site from this period is a discovery in itself." The site, found during a 2007 archaeological expedition to Lake...

Some little known American Naval history... [About consumables.] The U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) as a combat vessel carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. Shecarried no evaporators. However, let it be noted that according to her log, "On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum." Her mission: "To destroy and harass English...