Free Republic

There is big news coming out of the Middle East that one of the hottest commodities can be made out of the earth’s two most common elements, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Energy could see a substantial progression of discovery thanks to a group of researchers at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev in Israel. The group reports that they have pioneered a process that converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas into a renewable alternative for crude oil. The alternative has been dubbed “green feed” crude oil. This innovative idea was made possible by the use of nanomaterials which reduces the...

Kevin Beaner is a close friend of an acquaintance of mine. He is a middle-aged Harley-Davidson owner, professional vagabond, published author and photographer who has been clean and sober for several decades. He raised $10K from his followers (he has 5000 friends on Facebook) this last summer and has been in Vietnam for a month riding around on a tiny motor scooter. There’s a great video of riding his scooter in Vietnam as well as a number of still shots. Here’s a link to his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/beanre?fref=ts#!/beanre

Due to health considerations, I have been unable to travel for some time. However, doctors have now given tentative approval for limited travel for a few days. This may be the last chance I have to do so before declining health no longer allows that, so I am thinking of visiting with BIL's family in Vermont, with perhaps one or two short stops to visit other family members on the way back. I am looking for recommendations for the following needs: 1. A State where the Driver's Licence requirements are not unduly onerous since I have only a limited time...

Matthew Lee Chegwidden feeds a deer herd at his house in Divide, Colorado. The deer are so friendly, they come up to the man like he’s some sort or Santa Claus or Mr. Snow White. Amazing! read mroe at albasun.com ///

Hyundai or KIA?

There once was a popular Indian teacher named Papa G, who drew students from far and wide. People flocked to see him and hear his words of wisdom. One lucky man who was able to attend one of his retreats spoke to Papa G, with camera in hand. The visitor asked the guru what he’d like to say to the multitudes all around the world vying to come to India to see him. Papa G smiled an impish grin and said, “Stay home.” Papa G’s words remind me a bit of Dorothy, who journeyed all around Oz, only to find...

Twelve years ago, Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) began testing a unique — and outlandishly expensive — automobile in California: a car powered by hydrogen fuel cells. This so-called FCHV (fuel cell hybrid vehicle) was an electric car that didn’t need to be plugged in. Its electricity was generated by a stack of fuel cells that ran on compressed gaseous hydrogen, a relatively cheap fuel that gives off no harmful emissions; its only byproduct was water vapor. The FCHV never made it to dealer lots, however. Production of plug-in electric cars proved more viable, partially because the FCHV technology was...

2,184 Miles: From Georgia to Maine on Foot, ( 13:16 ) Cornerstone University Documentary 2013 Final. Join Zac Tolsma and his friends as they experience the Appalachian Trail.

Some time ago I found an interesting post in a blog by an Indian in London. The post, now removed, was entitled "Dubai - Still Racist?", and said: Dubai (and the UAE) then and now is arguably one amongst the more institutionally racist places in the world with a strict hierarchy of privilege. Arabs are at the top of the heap, followed closely by Western Europeans and US (called the Whites in Dubai), Eastern Europeans, Philipinos and finally Indians and Pakistanis. The different communities were completely isolated from each other in terms of housing, schools, social clubs – it...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is drafting regulations that would require all new cars to be equipped with tracking devices that constantly broadcast the car’s location, direction, speed and, possibly, even the number of passengers it is carrying. As NHTSA Administrator David Strickland explains, “we constantly admonish parents to watch their children at all times. Well, this would build on that same principle. How can the Government assure the safety and well-being of Americans if we don’t know where they are or what they’re doing at all times?” Strickland granted that “the proposed new regulation is only a partial...

Get yourself a thirty-footer and go! By Matt Bracken 11-25-2013 This essay is directed to all freedom-lovers, but primarily to young unmarried American men. (At my age I count thirties as young, and would readily grant special dispensation beyond that.) It’s dedicated to the guides who showed me the stars, and to thirty great years of both calm and stormy weather. If you are a Millennial who feels that the Land of Opportunity has at least temporarily suspended the offer, leaving you stranded in somewhat less-than-hoped-for circumstances, I’m writing this for you. Maybe you did the Sandbox trip, and maybe...

Construction of a natural gas pipeline from Russia to South Korea is still possible despite obvious difficulties in its implementation and the development of new Russian LNG projects aimed at Asian exports, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. Russia is actively developing LNG projects, including in the northern Yamal Peninsula and in its Far Eastern regions, in the proximity to South Korea, but supplies of pipeline gas to this Asian country are also possible, Putin said in an interview with South Korea's KBS, broadcast by state-run Russian 24 TV network. One of the option to organize pipeline gas supplies is to...

Japan's public and private sectors will supply an aid package worth US$16 billion over three years to help developing nations cut greenhouse-gas emissions, a report said on Tuesday, as climate talks get underway in Warsaw. TOKYO: Japan's public and private sectors will supply an aid package worth US$16 billion over three years to help developing nations cut greenhouse-gas emissions, a report said on Tuesday, as climate talks get underway in Warsaw. The contribution would account for over 40 per cent of the US$35 billion that developing nations were expected to ask for to battle climate change, Japan's leading Nikkei business...

Russian President Vladimir Putin was in South Korea on Wednesday to push a pet project for a new major trading route linking Asia and Europe by rail that requires prying open North Korea. SEOUL: Russian President Vladimir Putin was in South Korea on Wednesday to push a pet project for a new major trading route linking Asia and Europe by rail that requires prying open North Korea. Putin hopes his brief visit will include the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the ambitious project, which envisages an "Iron Silk Road" uniting the rail networks of South and North Korea...

(Reuters) - China may have wasted the chance to build goodwill in Southeast Asia with its relatively paltry donation to the Philippines in the wake of a devastating typhoon, especially with the United States sending an aircraft carrier and Japan ramping up aid. The world's second-largest economy is a growing investor in Southeast Asia, where it is vying with the United States and Japan for influence. But China's assertiveness in pressing its claim to the disputed South China Sea has strained ties with several regional countries, most notably the Philippines. China's government has promised $100,000 in aid to Manila, along...

NEW DELHI: India is the strictest when it comes to tardiness as 42 per cent of employers in the country seem to have fired an employee for being late, the highest in the world, says a CareerBuilder survey. According to the survey, 42 per cent of employers in India have fired an employee for being late and among the nine surveyed countries. Brazil came in second, a distance 16 per cent behind, where 26 per cent of of employers have fired a staff for coming late, followed by France and Russia jointly at the third place (22 per cent). Meanwhile,...

NEW DELHI: Inflation is forecast to have risen to uncomfortable levels for policymakers in October due to stubbornly high food prices, adding to the pressure for further interest rate rises despite slowing economic growth. Data on Tuesday is forecast to show annual consumer inflation at 9.9 percent in October, up slightly from September, and figures on Friday are expected to show wholesale inflation running at an eight-month high of 6.90 percent, according to Reuters polls of economists. In a more positive sign, factory output is forecast to have risen 3.5 percent in September from a year earlier, much faster than...

KOLKATA: This may be music to Chidambaram's ears. The finance minister's efforts to curb gold imports are expected to bring down inflow of gold from overseas in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2013 by 71.23 per cent vis-a-vis last year. The country had imported 255 tonne during Q4 of calendar year 2012. The fourth quarter is the time of the year when gold demand increases in India. Bullion traders and jewellers say that India had imported only 23 tonne of gold in October for Dhanteras, when the entire country enters into a major gold buying spree. They say imports...

Fareed ZakariaBEIJING—“We are all struck by the contrast between Beijing and Washington,” said George Yeo, the former foreign minister of Singapore. He was referring to the quality of governance in the two capitals—in particular, the sense pervasive in Asia that the United States has lost its ability to execute public policy with competence (see Iraq, Obamacare). Beijing, on the other hand, has been carefully and systematically planning a series of reforms that will likely make China the world’s largest economy within a decade. The contrast is particularly striking because China faces huge challenges and will need to make major economic,...

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has warned against groups suspected of abducting and swindling Vietnamese brides, and promised to strictly crack down on illegal profiting from foreign marriage intermediaries, the Beijing News reports. As numerous Chinese netizens participated in the nationwide shopping spree on November 11, or Double 11, foreign marriage intermediaries also found business opportunities during the buying rush. A group purchasing website offered a lottery draw where winners could travel to Vietnam for a blind date for free. It claimed to provide legal services for Chinese men looking to become grooms. Both the Chinese and Vietnamese governments...