Free Republic

Strange as it may seem, the dead have quit rotting in German cemeteries -- they are turning into wax-like corpses. Will the use of burial chambers solve the problem? Or is extensive soil reconditioning the only viable alternative? Cemeteries are supposed to be the quietest places on earth. But that notion may soon have to be laid to rest: Exhumation experts are currently conducting large-scale digging operations in German graveyards, belying the very concept of eternal peace. Corpses are no longer decaying in many German cemeteries. Instead, the deceased become waxen, an uncanny process that has become so rampant it...

LOS ANGELES - Peace reigns at least at the Miss Universe 2006 contest, where beauties Miss Lebanon and Miss Israel are the "best of friends" despite the bloody fighting between the two countries back home, their companions said. Even as Israel has bombarded Lebanon in the wake of a missile barrage by the Hezbollah militia in the country's south, the two women -- Gabrielle Bou Rached of Lebanon and Israel's Anastacia Entin -- have struck up a friendship ahead of Sunday's tough competition to see who is named the world's most beautiful woman. "I think the perpetrators of the current...

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Technology is changing the huge global market for record collectors. As music dealers like those immortalised in the book High Fidelity disappear, will vinyl and CD rarities survive the download revolution? Second-hand record shops are becoming almost as rare a sighting in the UK as a first edition Beatles EP. The days of shuffling into grubby backstreet stores in search of that obscure Pink Fairies seven-inch are on their way out as dealers succumb to the march of online auction sites and MP3s. CURRENT RARITIES U2's Trabant car: £6,000 Queen 12" single: £10,000 Withdrawn Nirvana CD: £500 Led Zeppelin seven-inch:...

(CBS) The black blobs that have mysteriously shown up on the streets and sidewalks of Camden, New Jersey were at least partially explained Friday. State and county officials said the stuff is paraffin wax and poses no risk, but they won't venture a guess as to how it got to the Waterfront South neighborhood. Paraffin wax is used in industrial processes and for making candles. Camden County Health Department spokeswoman Lorraine Hynes said hot weather probably made the goo more noticeable, melting dabs of it into dark, waxy, half-dollar-sized splotches in an area with industrial facilities and homes. Solving the...