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I considered naming the Fort after the Ohio city that threw two retired veterans in jail for not painting their home. The heartless city officials were ungrateful for the fact that the veterans were willing to risk all of their tomorrows so the city officials could have their todays. The veterans didn't know they were living in Fort Stepford. The fictional city of Stepford is the home of robotic wives. A Fort Stepford city is a city where government martinets try to force rigid adherence to the city's military like regulations. City codes define the condition a resident owner's house...

Brady and Keith look at some of The Royal Society's collection of standard weights and measures - including a particularly special one that even Keith had never unpacked before!

(Reuters) - Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis believed he was being controlled by electromagnetic waves in the months before he killed 12 people at a Washington base on September 16, an FBI official said on Wednesday. There are no indications that Alexis, 34, was targeting anybody in the rampage at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington, said Valerie Parlave, the FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington field office. "We have found relevant communications on his electronic media which referenced the delusional belief that he was being controlled or influenced by extremely low-frequency electromagnetic waves for the past three...

WAVY, the NBC affiliate in Hampton Roads, Virginia asks “has zero tolerance gone too far?” as it reports this story: A suspended seventh grade Virginia Beach student will find out soon if he is expelled for the rest of the year for shooting an airsoft gun. Like thousands of others in Hampton Roads, Khalid Caraballo plays with airsoft guns. Caraballo and his friend Aidan were suspended because they shot two other friends who were with them while playing with the guns as they waited for the school bus. The two seventh graders say they never went to the bus stop;...

President Obama discussed his long-time political agenda during a memorial service Sunday among grieving family and friends of the victims of the horrific Washington Navy Yard mass killing last week. David Jackson and Kelly Kennedy of USA Today reported breathlessly on the president's shameful comments. Obama said that the murder of twelve innocent people "echoes other recent tragedies" and went on to name other mass killings. Although the president predictably harped on his gun control agenda, the memorial service should have been a tribute to the fallen. He declared, "Our words and our prayers are not enough ... We are...

FULL TITLE - "DC Capitol SWAT Team That Was Ordered NOT To Neutralize Navy Yard Shooter STILL Not Debriefed, And PD Removes Leader Without Explanation" On Wednesday, BBC News reported the indefensible discovery that the D.C. Capitol Police’s SWAT team was ready to neutralize the Navy Yard mass shooting. But, the highly trained and heavily armed, elite tactical group was, instead, ordered to stand down and leave the scene. The Capitol Police promised a full investigation. Today, BBC News reported more disturbing information. No one has talked to the SWAT team members. Not even for the protocol debriefing. But, not...

Grand Theft Auto Ads highlight ESPN NFL website in screencap:

____________________________________________________ -h/t Donna-

A woman fighting a terminal form of bone cancer is trying to raise money to help pay bills with a few weekend garage sales, but the city of Salem says she’s breaking the law and is shutting her down. Jan Cline had no idea, but the city of Salem has a clear law that states a person can only have three yard sales a year. Cline has been selling her stuff in the backyard for a few weekends and said she thought she’d be fine by keeping the sale out of everyone’s way. “It’s a struggle,” Cline says. “It’s a...

Am I the first 'dummy' to ever post something SO off topic and foreign to FReerepublic?There just aren't ANY forums (Regardless of topic) where folks respond as quickly as here!I have this stuff that just 'exploded' and is taking over my lawn and have No idea what it is called or What will do away with it!?Some answers that I have received from elsewhere are: shotweed, bittercress and clover.Sure hope there's a weed expert around?Thanks Everyone.

Judge sides with potty planter fan By SARAH SUTSCHEK - ssutschek@nwherald.com WOODSTOCK – A Lakemoor woman's toilets will be filled with hostas and lilies again this summer as she successfully challenged a village ordinance in court. Tina Asmus was fined $25 in June 2009 after police said she violated Lakemoor's public nuisance ordinance by using two toilets and a sink as flower planters outside her home. One of the toilets also had "God bless my neighbors" written on it, as well as a smiley face. She said the toilets now have poinsettias in them. While McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell...

Any good suggestions for preventing or capturing DemoRATS that steal campaign yard signs from your yard? Maybe rat traps? http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/tag/dems-steal-campaign-signs-in-ld-20/

Back to the Title 10 side of the house for a moment; the Air Force Council meets today to consider further cuts in aircraft to meet aggressive savings targets laid out by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. One option on the table: early retirement of all 66 B-1B Lancer bombers (the last delivery of which came back in 1988). Force structure cuts might also extend to the air arm’s much cherished but currently under-utilized fighter force. The service already plans to early retire 250 fighters this year, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said last month; gone are 112 F-15s, 134 F-162,...

My Mom's yard has a spot where grass is dying. I noticed birds feeding there a lot in the last month, it is a mostly round patch, 10 feet across I tried to use a gerden weasel on it today and huge hunks of soil came up with the grass, easily broken up, stillmoist, odorless no apparent moles, voles, or grubs at this spot

I've used commercial cat repellent, cayenne pepper, and now just put out an electronic device that's supposed to detect motion and emit an ultrasonic sound to repel them. I'm furious, I spend 2 wasted hours every Saturday to just clean up the cat scat in my front yard. Any suggestions out in Freeperland for chasing away the cats without hurting them that I haven't already thought of.

We've lived in our current home for something like 14 years. I've never been a yard freak. I think I mowed my lawn once last year. I had to recently pull up several small trees from the front yard that sprouted. But this year hope springs eternal. I want to really make my yard great. However there's one thing I'm worried about: moles. I'm pretty sure there's an entire city of moles living under my grass. They've been there quite a while and they're fat, dumb and happy. I want to bring pain to their world. What is THE best...

  Virginia Truth Teams Canvass  Join us this weekend, September 20th and 21st, for our Truth Teams Canvass. Talking to your neighbors is the most powerful way you can spread Barack’s message and fight rumors. And if you bring a friend with you to canvass this weekend, you will be entered for a chance to meet Barack when he visits Virginia. Your name will be entered for each friend you bring -- so bring as many friends as you can! Virginia residents who knock on just 40 doors will also receive a free yard sign. Sign up to join...

My pet chalky, Glory and dachshund Belle, with O7 Mixed and grandchildren playing in the back yard. Revski

Howdy folks!!! I originally planned to wait until tomorrow (Friday) to get this going, but it is such a damp, dreary, plain old yucky day here on Virginia's Eastern Shore I decided to do it now --dreaming of spring, so to speak! One of the major topics that seemed to arise last week dealt with "zones" and how even people living in the same "zone" will have different growing conditions based upon location. Also because we are all so spread out the different zones do matter when it comes to planting times and plants. GardenGirl and Diana in Wisconsin are...

Scotland Yard man jailed for terror leak By Megan Levy and agencies Last Updated: 6:51pm BST 27/07/2007 A senior Scotland Yard worker has been jailed for eight months for leaking sensitive information which detailed al-Qa'eda plans to carry out Hiroshima-scale attacks on British soil. Thomas Lund-Lack, 59, a retired detective inspector with the Metropolitan Police, admitted wilful misconduct in public office by disclosing a secret Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre report to a journalist. As a civilian working at Special Branch since 2003, he had been cleared to see the "inner circle of top secret material" on Britain's security threat levels,...