Free Republic

"In 1989 I took Rush Limbaugh's radio show off the air in St. Louis..." Jeff Long had his first "encounter" with Rush way back in the early days of his syndicated radio show. But there was more to come. Jeff would end up working in Rush's home town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He would meet Rush in person but there's more. And at the link below what Paul Harvey used to call on the radio "the rest of the story"... So many memories of Rush that for me include memories of the music that Rush loved. He would play songs...

Here’s a post from the AMSAT-UK high altitude balloon blog. It’s a great story about a balloon cruising at about 12km above the Earth completing its sixth circumnavigation of the planet. That post is from October 4th, and two weeks later the balloon is still going strong. Right now it’s over the Baltic heading into Russia with no sign of stopping or popping any time soon. The balloon was launched July 12, 2014 from Silverstone, UK. In the 100 days since then, this balloon has covered 144168 kilometers and has crossed its launching longitude six times. Even if this balloon...

(Memphis) A Planned Parenthood billboard has only been up a week in one South Memphis neighborhood, but some people there already want it to come down. They say the billboard, which includes the message “Getting It On Is Free” and a picture of a condom, is too graphic. “I was shocked. I was appalled that anyone would put up a picture of condom,” said Karen Wallace. Karen Wallace works at a church nearby and has to drive by the billboard every day. She said what is worse it’s right next to an elementary school cross walk. “The graphic was not...

Lisa Randall has become a star in the rarefied world of high-energy physics, and her theory about a “fifth dimension” has caught the imagination of the general public too. That doesn’t mean she still isn’t shy and a little nervous about all the hoopla. “I really like that my work is getting more people interested in science,” says the 43-year old Harvard physicist. “And while it can get a little nerve-wracking dealing with all the attention, I really enjoy speaking to the public and answering questions.” Randall seems constantly in motion. She seldom sits still, and says her mind brims...

LONDON (Reuters) - Two women died and 13 people were injured when they fell from a huge inflatable sculpture after it broke its moorings and flew into the air in a park in northeastern England, police said Monday. Up to 30 people were inside the walk-in exhibit, which has been shown around the world, when a gust of wind blew it 9 metres above the park in Chester-le-Street Sunday. "All of a sudden it just started rising like a balloon," witness Mark Spooner told BBC television. "(It was) flinging people all over. Then it just seemed to flip over in...

College Students Found Dead Inside Balloon ASSOCIATED PRESS LUTZ, Fla. (AP) - Two college students were found dead inside a large, deflated helium balloon after apparently pulling it down and crawling inside it, officials said. The deaths of Jason Ackerman and Sara Rydman, both 21, appear to be accidental, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Maj. Bob Schrader said. Their bodies were found Saturday partially inside a deflated helium balloon at the entrance of a condominium complex a few miles north of Tampa. The 8-foot-diameter balloon was used to advertise the complex. "It was more a fun thing they thought they were doing,"...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Radio giant Clear Channel Communications has come under fire from women's health advocates over a Christmas contest in which stations granted breast enlargement surgeries to women in four cities. In the "Breast Christmas Ever" contest, 13 women were awarded the procedure after writing essays to the stations explaining why they wanted larger breasts. A Tampa station claimed to receive more than 91,000 entries. Clear Channel said it had nothing to do with the contest and that it was a decision by local station managers to hold the promotion. The contest was aired on Clear Channel stations...

Pitch hangup will result in delay and changes to designSpaceShip1 HiccupsScaled Composites is planning changes for its SpaceShipOne rocket glider, following a pitchup incident in flight test that showed the current configuration is not safe for the planned flight to 100 km. altitude.The glider was starting an aft center-of-gravity (CG) stall test on its third flight on Sept. 23 when it pitched up uncontrollably at about 85 KIAS--15 kt. above the 70-kt. forward CG stall speed demonstrated on the prior flight (AW&ST Sept. 1, p. 19). The results were reported by the company three days later at the Society of...