But that's what is so amazing about this site. There's SOMEBODY who knows about every last darn thing in the universe. Bush visits Iraq, someone's there; Earthquake strikes Indonesia, and we've got people from Jakarta to just outside that city in Thailand that got wiped out (forgot its name) to Sri Lanka, to a naval station in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; the Space Shuttle blows up over Texas and we've got reports coming in while it's still over California fretting about it not looking right. So of course, some researchers in the most distant jungles on Earth make a discovery, and someone knows someone who is in contact!
You are right. Every time something big happens, there is a FReeper on the scene.
Back in the 70s there was a book called News from Nowhere, a study of how “more news happened” in places close to where news teams were stationed (duh). The MSM is limited, but Free Republic is not. We are everywhere!