Free Republic

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Elephants understand humans in a way most other animals don’t, according to the latest research from the University of St Andrews. The new study, published October 10, 2013 by Current Biology, found that elephants are the only wild animals to understand human pointing without any training to do so. The researchers, Anna Smet and Professor Richard Byrne from the University’s School of Psychology and Neuroscience, set out to test whether African elephants could learn to follow pointing — and were surprised to find them responding successfully from the first trial. They said, “In our study we found that African elephants spontaneously...

Here’s what the Party of Ideas™ was up to while Chris Christie was over at AEI talking about Social Security and Medicare. I spent a half-hour looking for video, but no dice so far. Which seems strange: Why wouldn’t the Democratic leadership want to highlight a photo op with a fictional aardvark during our very serious national debate about the deficit? Is the clip embargoed? Free Arthur! Free the aardvark! On the upside, this really isn’t any sillier than having Colbert testify on immigration. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) rarely holds press conferences with animated aardvarks, but he went for it...

F-111s streak towards retirement THEY arrived late and amid much controversy, but 37 years later the Royal Australian Air Force is counting down the days to the retirement of the F-111s. The decision to acquire the supersonic strike aircraft is now recognised one of Australia's best defence purchases. Ordered by the Menzies government in 1963, the first F-111 arrived in 1973. The Amberley-based 6 Squadron, west of Brisbane, is operating the last active F-111 medium-range bombers in the world. The RAAF has planned a series of events to mark the passing of the aircraft which gave Australia a huge technological...

Aardvark's Asian Airshow Adieu Posted by Robert Wall at 1/30/2010 10:19 PM CST The F-111 has been one of the most spectacular air show aircraft in modern times, thanks to its ability to trail a “wall of fire.” But with the Royal Australian Air Force due to retire its F-111s this year, the long-range interdiction aircraft is saying fair well to the air show circuit. The Singapore Airshow will be the last Asian event where the F-111 will show off its ability to dump fuel, set it alight, and trail it. During its daily air display, the F-111 will twice...

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SYDNEY, Australia — A North Korean cargo ship seized after being used to smuggle heroin into Australia was sunk Thursday when the Australian air force used the vessel for target practice. The Australian Federal Police said the freighter Pong Su was towed out of Sydney Harbor earlier this week, then destroyed Thursday by a bomb dropped from a F-111 jet fighter and sank 140 90 miles off the coast of New South Wales state. The vessel was seized in 2003 after being used to smuggle in more than 275 pounds of heroin. It had anchored off the southwestern Victoria state...

THE North Korean freighter used to smuggle 150kg of heroin into Australia three years ago now rests on the ocean's bottom, after being destroyed by a pair of laser-guided bombs. Four F-111 strike bombers flying from RAAF Amberley in Queensland proved dead on target as the 3500-tonne freighter drifted 140km off Jervis Bay this morning. Two 800kg precision guided bombs struck the Pong Su's hull with massive blasts, showering debris over a wide area. The vessel sank quickly into deep water. The Pong Su was seized off the New South Wales coast in April 2003 after a four-day chase involving...

Where's the dignity? The Republican National Convention is over, and George W. Bush's "leadership" was showcased -- leadership resulting in 962 U.S. service members killed and 6,690 wounded in an unnecessary and counterproductive war that is creating jihadists faster than we can capture or kill them at a cost of $1 billion a week. One billion dollars a week could be spent on supporting homeland security or domestic programs. Under Bush, the number of Americans living in poverty increased in 2003 for the third straight year and those without health coverage rose an additional million people to 15.4 percent of...