Free Republic

Meta [formerly Facebook] CEO Mark Zuckerberg definitely has the martial arts bug...Zuckerberg announced that he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while training..."I was training for a competitive MMA fight early next year..."

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson tore his ACL in practice Thursday. ["Horrific" headline does not appear to be verified by the news report - but, obviously, he was having a great rookie year and is now out for the season.]

THE mystery of the car bombing of the Australian Christian Lobby headquarters in Canberra is not going away. ACT Policing’s attempt to downplay it as a “car fire” and then to claim, a mere 15 hours later, that it was not “politically, religiously or ideologically motivated” does not satisfy ACL managing director Lyle Shelton. And nor should it. What we know is that on the Thursday night before Christmas, at about 9.30pm, a van packed with six gas cylinders was exploded in Shelton’s marked car parking space outside the ACL office in a business park in Deacon, just three kilometres...

Opponents of Amendment 1 are asking a federal judge to void the vote that amended the Tennessee Constitution to make it easier for lawmakers to restrict abortions. In a lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court, plaintiffs say the state ignored the plain language of the constitution, which says it can be amended by “a majority of all the citizens in the state voting for governor, voting in … favor” of the amendment. The plaintiffs want the judge to order the state to count only those Amendment 1 votes where the voters also cast ballots for governor. If that is...

Night fell on the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park this past Sunday under a full moon and over a sea of mud. (It wasn't strictly mud, but more on that in a bit.) Many in the crowd, especially those in the proximity of the Dell stage, responded the only logical way possible — by dancing, or something close to it. Since the squishy, slippery ground made it a little difficult to move your feet — people weren't so much walking through the grounds at this point as gingerly creeping — Spearhead stepped in to pick up the...

Bengals QB Carson Palmer underwent an examination Tuesday in Houston for evaluation of his progress since his Jan. 10 knee surgery. The exam was conducted by Dr. Lonnie E. Paulos of Houston’s Methodist Sports Institute, who performed the January surgery on Palmer. “Dr. Paulos has told us that Carson is progressing just as we hoped he would,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “Carson still has much rehab work ahead, obviously, but at this point he is on schedule for our goal of having him ready to open the 2006 season. This is encouraging news for everyone in our organization.”...

CLEVELAND -- Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee when he crashed his motorcycle, according to several reports. He likely will miss the entire 2005 season, sources told the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Associated Press. Kellen Winslow Winslow Winslow underwent an MRI exam on Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic, and, according to the paper's source, it showed "what everyone feared." Winslow, who wrecked his high-powered bike while riding in a parking lot on May 1, will get a second medical opinion before surgery is scheduled, sources with knowledge of his injuries told...

A quick survey of headlines reporting the current crisis in the Anglican Communion reveals one word that appears over and over again: “Anglican unity at threat around the world” (an editorial in The Australian) “Homosexual debate threatens episcopal unity” (Washington Times, 29th July, 2003) “Church unity is at risk” (Washington Post, 30th July, 2003) The references are, of course, to a controversy that has come to the surface this year in the proposed, but abandoned, consecration of an openly homosexual man as Bishop of Reading in the Diocese of Oxford, and the consecration — not abandoned — of a practising...