Free Republic

Muslim women in France regain virginity in clinics Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:20AM EDT By Alexandra SteigradPARIS (Reuters) -- Sitting in a cafe near the Champs Elysees, the 26-year-old French-born woman of Algerian descent looks like any other Parisian. But two months ago, she did something none of her friends have done.She had her hymen re-sewn, technically making her a virgin again."I'm glad I had it done," said the woman, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. "I wanted to reconstruct part of my life, to reconstruct myself so that I could feel better about myself."This 30-minute outpatient...

Burt Rutan, the iconoclastic aerospace designer behind Virgin Galactic's fleet of suborbital spaceships, is fond of saying that NASA (or "Naysay," as he jokingly pronounces it) stands for "No Adult Supervision Apparent." His California-based company, Scaled Composites, and the Virgin Galactic team have been cast as nimble mammals, running rings around the dinosaurs of the traditional space establishment. Was there ever an instance of mammals and dinosaurs helping each other out? Well, in the space business there is: Today NASA announced an agreement with Virgin Galactic to collaborate on items ranging from spacesuits to spaceships. NASA's news release said a...

An agreement signed this week by NASA and Virgin Galactic, a subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, could lead to "very exciting" collaborations in the future, NASA officials say. But it's too early to know how big a presence Virgin Galactic will have at the NASA Ames Research Center at Mountain View's Moffett Field. The details of what sort of projects might be developed at the research center will be determined during negotiations on a "space act agreement," a formal document that will serve as a blueprint for how Virgin Galactic and Ames will work together, said NASA spokesman Michael...

HERE'S a sobering thought: Sir Richard Branson getting around at three times the speed of sound. If you thought the Virgin founder was already packing a lot in lately, wait until he goes galactic. In a dizzying past few weeks, Sir Richard, 56, has launched a new health bank to store the stem cells from babies' umbilical cords; sprayed the Virgin Media logo all over cable group NTL and produced a $US25 million ($32 million) prize for whoever cracks extracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Virgin Lobster Fails to Spawn By Bill Ray Published Friday 19th January 2007 07:02 GMT Virgin mobile has sold "considerably less" than 10,000 of their mobile-TV-enabled Lobster handsets, despite Pamela Anderson’s advertising and cutting the price to below a hundred quid, according to The Guardian. Virgin won't confirm the figures, but it's clear that sales are disappointing. This should not come as any surprise: the Lobster was never an attractive handset, and in a business largely driven by owning the coolest-looking handset it was always going to be a hard sell. How this reflects on the viability of mobile video...

Virgin Galactic is in discussions with the spacesuit industry and preparing to release a request for proposals. As work continues on its Scaled Composites-designed SpaceShipTwo (SS2) vehicle, the UK suborbital tourism provider wants a fallback position for environmental control. It envisages a lightweight suit with no hard points and perhaps a moveable face plate. "We want the safest possible system. We are pursing our own pressure suit [as an option]. I'm going to pursue both [a spacesuit and a shirt-sleeve cabin environment]," says Virgin Galactic chief operating officer Alex Tai. Under US Federal Aviation Administration rules published on 15 December,...

Below are all the biblical references to Mary, the mother of Jesus that I could locate. Anything beyond Scriptural references is conjecture, the philosophies of men and not God. Would anyone care to construct a Scripturally accurate portrait of Mary, leaving behind extra-biblical sources? Please include your Scriptural references in support of your description. Isaiah 7:13-14 Matthew 1:13-25; 2:11, 14, 20-21; 12: 46-50; 13:54-56 Mark 3:31-35; 6:3 Luke 1:26-56; 2:1-7, 16-19, 27, 33-35, 39, 41-51; 8:19-21 John 2:1-12; 6:41-42; 19:25-26 Acts 1:14

CHESTER, England - As Christmas approaches, a virgin mother is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her offspring. She’s Flora, the Komodo dragon. In an evolutionary twist, Flora has managed to become pregnant all on her own without any male help. It would seem the timing is auspicious: The seven baby Komodo dragons are due this festive season.

Yes, I would like to commit to a rosary for Our Lady's Victory over the Culture of Death and renewal of a Culture of Life! (enter your name and e-mail address at the link above or below)

NEW YORK - British business mogul Richard Branson on Thursday pledged to invest about $3 billion over the next decade to combat global warming and promote alternative energy, saying that it was critical to protect the environment for future generations. Branson, the billionaire behind the multi-platform Virgin brand, said the money would come from 100 percent of the profits generated by his transportation sectors — trains and airline companies. It will be invested in efforts to find renewable, sustainable energy sources in an effort to wean the world off oil and coal. The so-called "rebel billionaire" — wearing a dress...

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has committed £1.6bn over 10 years to fight global warming.... will hand over all the profits from the Virgin Group's transport business to support the cause. (snip) [Branson] said the profits from Virgin's train and airline businesses would be invested in efforts to find renewable, sustainable energy sources.

British business mogul Richard Branson said Thursday he would invest about $3 billion to combat global warming over the next decade. Branson, the billionaire behind the multi-platform Virgin brand, said the money would come from 100 percent of the profits generated by his transportation and airline sectors. It will then be invested in efforts to find renewable, sustainable energy sources in an effort to wean the world off of oil and coal. Branson made the announcement on the second day of the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual conference of business, political and nonprofit leaders hosted by former President Clinton. "Our...

SIR RICHARD BRANSON has joined forces with two of America’s top venture capitalists to slake California’s thirst for environmentally friendly fuels. Branson has injected more than $60m (£32m) into Cilion, a company that will make bioethanol from corn. He is investing alongside Vinod Khosla, the renowned Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and Ron Burkle, a Los Angeles billionaire who counts Bill Clinton among his advisers. The project is the start of a move by Branson’s Virgin empire into environmental businesses, a plan known internally as the Gaia Capitalism Project, after the environmental theory developed by the British scientist James Lovelock. Virgin Fuels,...

Only the first, of 72!

LONDON (AP) -- Designer Philippe Starck, former soap star Victoria Principal and ``Superman Returns'' director Bryan Singer have booked their flights for tourist trips in outer space, an official from the company selling the galactic voyage said Monday. Virgin Galactic, a Virgin Group company, has sold some 200 tickets to passengers for suborbital flights, starting in 2008, said Will Whitehorn, the company's president. It has collected 8.5 million pounds (US$15.6 million, euro12.4 million) in deposits for the flights that cost 109,000 pounds (US$200,000, euro158,000). "Right now we're headed right on schedule," Whitehorn said. "Things are looking good from our perspective."...

July 14, 2006 Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin Psalm: Friday 29 Reading 1Hos 14:2-10 Thus says the LORD:Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;you have collapsed through your guilt.Take with you words,and return to the LORD;Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,and receive what is good, that we may renderas offerings the bullocks from our stalls.Assyria will not save us,nor shall we have horses to mount;We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’to the work of our hands;for in you the orphan finds compassion.”I will heal their defection, says the LORD,I will love them freely;for my wrath is turned away...

April 29, 2006 Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church Psalm: Saturday 18 Reading 1Acts 6:1-7 As the number of disciples continued to grow,the Hellenists complained against the Hebrewsbecause their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said,“It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men,filled with the Spirit and wisdom,whom we shall appoint to this task,whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayerand to the ministry of the word.”The proposal...

IT USED to be the stuff of science fiction, but now tourist trips to space are to be launched from Scotland, under new plans being considered by Sir Richard Branson’s company Virgin Galatic. Last month the company directors announced that they would launch their first commercial flight into space in 2008 from New Mexico and have already attracted 167 bookings at a cost of £115,000 per person. A number of celebrities including Sigourney Weaver, star of the Alien films, Paris Hilton, the socialite, and Victoria Principal, the former star of Dallas, the TV soap opera, have bought tickets for the...

SIR Richard Branson is taking a giant leap for mankind by drawing up plans to build the worlds first space hotels, his space flight company Virgin Galactic has told The Business. Alex Tai, its operations director, who will pilot Virgins first commercial space flight in 2008, has held talks with US hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow about the project, Virgin Galactics president Will Whitehorn confirmed. Bigelow Aerospace is developing inflatable pods it believes could receive the first space travellers by the end of the decade. Branson, Virgin Galactics chairman, revealed the space hotel discussions in Dubai last week. Branson said: We...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Richard Branson's Virgin Group is on track to become the world's first commercial spaceline, with suborbital flights for space tourists due to start in 2008, the British billionaire said on Wednesday. In an interview with Reuters in Dubai, where his Virgin Atlantic (VA.UL: Quote, Profile, Research) airline began flights from London this week, Branson said other companies offering space travel had not matched the progress made by the Virgin Galactic venture. "A number of companies around the world are offering space travel but they haven't tested and built any space ships. They certainly haven't had test flights...