Free Republic

Swedish Radio Science News asked about a dozen researchers, and many say the 200-550 kg animals are simply too large to get drunk on the amount of fermented apples they are reported to eat. Professor Petter Kjellander, expert on wild animals at the agricultural university SLU, says that neither he nor the colleagues he asked has ever come across a test confirming high blood alcohol in an elk. Despite thousands of people all over the world reading about the aggressive "drunk" Swedish elks Petter Kjellander speculates the animals might simply be protecting their stashes of tasty fallen fruit. One elk...

Great song by Tom Waits... ..... >

Road & Track’s Jason Cammisa busted a fuse during a recent drive of the 2015 Ford Mustang EcoBoost, he discovered something odd. Both the engine and the stereo went silent inside the car. It appears that the vaunted Ford Mustang – “the original pony car,” according to Jalopnik – has succumbed to piping in enhanced engine noise through the speakers. Autoblog investigated further, speaking to Ford engineer Shawn Carney who revealed that the engine-sound augmenting system is called “Active Noise Control,” and that only the turbocharged four-cylinder Mustang comes with it. ... “With the Ecoboost engine we have both active...

MICHIGAN, N.D. -- A Fort Totten man is dead and three children are hurt after the car they were in hit a moose late Monday night in northeast North Dakota. North Dakota State Patrol Sgt. Joe Knowski said the 2003 Chevy Cavalier was headed east on U.S. 2 about a mile east of Michigan about 10:05 p.m. when it hit the moose, which was in the middle of the highway. The Cavalier rolled numerous times before coming to rest on the south edge of the roadway, ejecting the driver and all three children, who are 10, 5, and 2, from...

On Saturday Officer Karl Romero was keeping an eye on surveillance cameras around the station when he spotted something in the sally port. A sally port is a controlled gate or passage in a fortified place. Romero said what he saw looked like a ghost walking across the lot, right through cages and a gate. He reported it to his supervisors. Detectives said there is no way in or out of the secured area without the gates opening and an alarm sounding. Police said they hear strange noises and see unexplained images in the lobby of the building, too.

JARRATT, Va. — A man on his way from New Hampshire to Florida got quite a scare driving down Interstate 95 in Virginia on Friday morning when a snake slithered out from the dashboard of his U-Haul truck. The driver and his passenger pulled off I-95, entered the town of Jarratt, parked the U-Haul at a car dealership and asked for help. “I was sitting at my desk,” Owen Ford employee Jason Lowery said. “A traveler came in and hollered at one of the service technicians ‘I got a snake coming out from behind the dashboard.'” When Lowery jumped up...

A German advisory council on ethics has told the government it should decriminalize incest between consenting adults. But Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats have wasted no time in rejecting the advice. On Wednesday the National Ethics Council voted, by a two-to-one margin, to call for the decriminalization of incest. “Criminal law is not the appropriate means to preserve a social taboo,” the council explained in a statement. “The fundamental right of adult siblings to sexual self-determination is to be weighed more heavily than the abstract idea of protection of the family.” Many might deem the “fundamental right…to sexual self-determination”...

So Jeb, the Jeb man, the Jeb Meister said that if Republicans take control of the Senate they should pass (Sh)amnesty. You know because it is an act of LOVE and all to trespass and waht not. But isn't this discriminatory? Not against Illegal Aiens, er, I mean Undocumented Immigrants, err... United States Citizens in "spirit"..... But isn't it Discriminatory against HATE? If Trespassing is an act of LOVE (as the Jebster sez) and it is legalized, then what about acts of HATE? We HAVE to be morally Reativistic here because the MEDIA DEMANDS us to be so, or they...

At this point, we've seen just about every iteration of Disney princesses recontextualized by creative fans. The well may have run dry, but this exhaustion speaks to how eager a global audience is for animated females who break the traditional Disney mold. In the meantime, one writer has started conjuring some new princesses who break that mold so comprehensively they've become more likely characters for violent indie thrillers than family-oriented studio fare. Which is kind of a shame. Former DreamWorks effects animator and fledgling artist Jason Porath recently created Rejected Princesses, a website that features detailed, often hilarious stories and...

A New Orleans man has pleaded not guilty to carjacking a 68-year-old Chalmette woman who was attacked last year in a busy Metairie parking lot. Daryle Guillot, 37, who entered the plea Tuesday during his arraignment, was back in a 24th Judicial District courtroom on Thursday, when attorneys and a judge discussed the case privately. Guillot, whose last address was 516 Marigny St., in the Faubourg Marigny, is accused of assaulting the woman on Nov. 12. She just had her hair cut at a business in the 200 block of Veterans Memorial Boulevard, near the 17th Street Canal, according to...

U cannot leave teh Iterwebz they is forever. Even this post. OMG I get so much with this, this caste will I wish them do some thing about it. I mean, should you at some point arrrrrrrrrrrcquire some tincture of articulation and decide, hey, I need a career producing slick romantic fiction for the Atlantic, somebody there will do a web search and this little stinker will turn up in the inbox of every member of the editorial board by the time you've got the champagne chilled and the brie toasted or whatever the hell it is that they do...

Two Ebola patients, who died of the virus in separate communities in Nimba County have reportedly resurrected in the county. The victims, both females, believed to be in their 60s and 40s respectively, died of the Ebola virus recently in Hope Village Community and the Catholic Community in Ganta, Nimba.

PETA wants accused cannibal killer fed vegan diet JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. – It has the stuff of a comedic one-liner, but PETA says it is dead serious in urging the local sheriff to feed an accused cannibal killer a vegan diet in order to “swear off flesh” while he’s imprisoned. Kenneth Montville, a national spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the proposal is aimed at making the group’s point that meatless food can help reduce violent behavior and also save money for jails. “We really want to take a situation that’s a tragedy and make it into...

In December 1980, there were reports of phenomena in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk near a United States Air Force base. The Forestry Commission has created a metal interpretation of a UFO to add to its trail which commemorates the alleged sightings. The commission said the sculpture was "impartial" and did not seek to answer the mystery. ... The Forestry Commission opened a UFO Trail in 2005 and placed three logs in a clearing where witnesses claimed a craft had landed and disappeared. The new UFO will be placed in the same clearing.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants his state to be ready when zombies arrive. And to make sure Kansas takes the zombie apocalypse seriously, Brownback plans to officially declare October "Zombie Preparedness Month" during a ceremonial event Friday at the Kansas Statehouse. Zombie Preparedness Month, however, is not actually about planning a defense for viral reincarnate flesh eaters. Instead, Brownback's administration wants to capitalize on pop culture's zombie obsession to raise awareness about disaster planning and response.

SCOTLAND, Pa. (WHTM) - State police in Chambersburg are investigating an incident where someone took an authorized ride on a PennDOT pay loader. The heavy equipment was parked south of Shippensburg last week, but sometime over the weekend was taken for a four-mile drive on Interstate 81. Police said the pay loader was driven from Exit 24 for Fayette Street and ended up in a motel parking lot off the Scotland exit. Investigators believe the unauthorized ride occurred sometime between Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Anyone with information is asked to call state police in Chambersburg...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles City Councilman wants to eliminate strip malls that dot many of the city’s street corners and replace them with multi-use “lifestyle centers”. KNX 1070’s Ed Mertz reports City Councilman Felipe Fuentes wants to create incentives that will lure more developers to create places for shopping, leisure activities and housing all on one site. Fuentes introduced a motion (PDF) in June calling for the city Planning Department to report on the number of mini shopping and commercial corner centers that have been developed citywide since the enactment of the Mini Shopping Center and Commercial...

Cuddlr is the latest ‘dating’ app to hit smartphones and it’s exactly what you think it is. Users sign up using their Facebook profile – a la Tinder – look at other users, and try to match themselves up with those they like the look of. Except, you aren’t supposed to be searching for a date. No, the idea is simply to find someone you want to hug. That’s it. No ulterior motives and no hanky panky, thank you very much. You send the person of your choice a ‘cuddle request.’ If you’re lucky enough to have it accepted, the...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — City prosecutors have received a $435,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice under a project aimed at keeping first-time, low level offenders out of jail while letting neighborhood panels decide how the criminal will make amends. KNX 1070’s Jon Baird reports the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office was one of only four prosecutor’s offices in the nation chosen to receive a Smart Prosecution grant by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). The OJP grant will cover two full-time positions for two years to staff the City Attorney’s Neighborhood Justice Panels in South Los Angeles and...

This is how frogs are entertained by watching their favorite channel :-)