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America America was, America is, America will always be a red tulip in my heart. It was the year 1947, and the first time I spoke to a man who walked on American soil. In his old days, he returned to his old nest, just like the birds who fly home. He recounted a remarkably beautiful story throughout our town about the beautiful American way of life. This was a story which only butterflies and honeybees could live out in Croatia, former Yugoslavia, during early blossoming spring. It was a country where birds were careful where to land and build...

MIAMI BEACHShaq's big assist leads to an arrestAn 18-year-old was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon, and it's all thanks to Shaquille O'Neal.BY CASEY WOODScwoods@herald.com That's Officer Shaq, to you.Shaquille O'Neal, who is in the process of becoming a reserve officer with the Miami Beach Police Department, helped nab the suspect of a hate crime on South Beach early Sunday, police said.Two men were walking on Washington Avenue near Third Street about 3 a.m. when two men in a silver Honda yelled anti-gay slurs at them, police said.One of the men in the car...

If you had a chance to listen to the content companies' press conference on the afternoon the Supreme Court's decision in MGM v. Grokster was announced, you heard nothing but crows of victory. The word "unanimous" was repeated umpteen times (the decision was 9-0 against the peer-to-peer company defendants), and much was said about how unequivocal the record companies' and movie companies' victory was. As a technical matter the content companies won MGM v. Grokster; the decision remands the case to a trial court for further factfinding as to whether defendants "induced" infringement. But it's clear that they didn't win...

Six Minutes of Hard-Core Exercise Per Week May Be Enough   Contributed by Ron Gara|  06 June, 2005  23:31 GMT 'This type of training is very demanding and requires a high level of motivation. However less frequent, higher intensity exercise can indeed lead to improvements in health and fitness.' Fitness experts have suggested an alluring prospect for people who want to stay fit but can't afford to spend long hours in the gym: Just six minutes of intense exercise a week could be as effective as an hour of daily moderate activity. "Short bouts of very intense exercise improved muscle...

The Good and Bad of String Theory The most celebrated theory in modern physics faces increasing attacks from skeptics who fear it has lured a generation of researchers down an intellectual dead end. In its original, simplified form, circa the mid-1980s, string theory held that reality consists of infinitesimally small, wiggling objects called strings, which vibrate in ways that yield the different subatomic particles that comprise the cosmos. Advocates claimed that string theory would smooth out the conflicts between Einsteinian relativity and quantum mechanics and the result would be a unifying "theory of everything," which could explain everything from...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co. said Tuesday that its researchers have proven that a technology they invented could eventually replace the transistor, a fundamental building block of computers. In a paper published in Tuesday's Journal of Applied Physics, HP said three members of its Quantum Science Research group propose and demonstrate a "crossbar latch," which provides the signal restoration and inversion required for general computing without the need for transistors.HP (up $0.25 to $19.59, Research) said in a statement that the technology could result in computers that are thousands of times more powerful than those that exist today.

For military and intelligence communities, outer space has become a highground, hide-and-seek arena -- a kind of "now you see me, now you don’t" espionage playing field. Over the decades, spying from space has always earned super-secret status. They are the black projects, fulfilling dark tasks and often bankrolled by blank check.However last month, several U.S. senators openly blew the whistle on a mystery spy satellite program, critical of its high cost while calling to question its utility in today’s post-9/11 world.One lawmaker, Jay D. Rockefeller (D-WV), the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, openly criticized the program on...

I read the local liberal free weekly on the train, and this morning in Ft. Lauderdale, I saw the following comic strip that, while typically bashing conservatives, I found quite funny.

Boeing's Delta IV Heavy Gets Ready for its Close-Up By Jason BatesSpace News Staff Writer The upcoming demonstration of Boeing’s heavy-lift Delta 4 rocket will feature a booster-separation event soon after liftoff and a long-duration main-engine burn during which the thrust will be throttled up, down and back up again.Those are the major differences between the flight profile of the heavy-lift Delta 4 and the standard variant, said Dan Collins, vice president of Boeing Expendable Launch Systems of Huntington Beach, Calif. The heavy-lift vehicle, with three core stages in a side-by-side configuration, is designed to loft up to 13,000 kilograms...

November 8, 2004 Myths of the Republican Mullah-cracy You can't blame Jesus for the voters' choice John Hood It took only a few hours for media talking heads to come up with an explanation for why the tax-cutting, war-mongering ignoramus George W. Bush got re-elected on Tuesday. It couldn't have been, they agreed, that the electorate truly wanted four more years of Republican domestic and foreign policies. After all, didn't John Kerry win every substantive point on the issues that really matter? Wasn't Bush an accidental, illegitimate president in the first place? Another explanation had to be found. Quickly...

Fed Chairman says the economy is picking up momentum after a 'soft patch.' NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress Wednesday the economic recovery has regained some momentum after hitting a "soft patch" amid soaring oil prices.

NASA's Mars Rovers Roll Into Martian Winter As winter approaches on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover continues to inch deeper into the stadium-sized crater dubbed "Endurance." On the other side of the planet, the Spirit rover found an intriguing patch of rock outcrop while preparing to climb up the "Columbia Hills" backward. This unusual approach to driving is part of a creative plan to accommodate Spirit's aging front wheel.</p Spirit, with an odometer reading of over 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles), has already traveled six times its designed capacity. Its right front wheel has been experiencing increased internal resistance, and recent efforts...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Since 2000, developer id Software has told the world the next installment of "Doom," the game that kicked off the action genre, would ship "when it's done." Good news, gamers: It's done. In the lexicon of the industry, "Doom 3" has gone gold.That means with id Software's work done, publisher Activision is duplicating copies to ship to retail. What it all boils down to is you'll be able to pick up a copy at retail on Aug. 5, though some stores could start selling the game as early as Aug. 3.

My household has recieved several different calls from an organization identifying itself as MoveOn.org, asking for a person in particular, then asking if we were already registered to vote. All three times, we said yes, and that was it. Next call I'll have the person say they are not registered, just to hear what they say. Two calls were selfidentified as moveon.org, the other one I had to ask first.I am just wondering if anyone else got calls from them, I have never before recieved such a call. I am wondering if there might be some pattern or motive. The...

I don't know whom else to ask, except my friends here at FreeRepublic, who usually show an amazing amount of grace on the topic of death (of innocents). Here is my question. My wife and I were at the scene of a traffic accident last weekend. The victim died on the scene while we attempted to give aid (there was nothing anyone could do). We were both extremely saddened (to put it mildly) by this incident, and would like to pay our respect to the victim and his family. Would it be out of bounds to attend the funeral? We...

The Korean carmaker's rating is nearly as good as Toyota's in J.D. Power initial quality report. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - For the first time, Korean carmakers, thanks to a strong performance by Hyundai, have surpassed both domestic and European carmakers in initial quality, a measure of the number of problems owners experience in a new car.

 MOSCOW (AP) -- U.S. President George W. Bush's new plan to send men to the moon, Mars and beyond excited Russian space officials and designers, who voiced quick hopes Thursday for winning a lucrative share in the U.S. program and boosting the sagging status of Russia's space program.NASA has already sent its proposals concerning cooperation in moon and Mars missions to the Russian Aerospace Agency, said deputy chief Nikolai Moiseyev, acording to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Moiseyev did not give details of the U.S. proposals, but said that Russia has plentiful know-how to share. Bush's plan could be a chance...

Creator of 'Star Trek' Starship Dies Associated Press LOS ANGELES - Matt Jeffries, a film and television art director who created the original "Star Trek" starship Enterprise, has died at age 82. Jeffries had been ailing and died of a heart attack Monday at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said his brother, John Jeffries. Jeffries worked as a set designer for films in the late 1950s including "Bombers B-52" starring Natalie Wood and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. He served as art director for TV shows such as "The Untouchables," "Little House on the Prairie" and "Dallas." "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry had Jeffries...

<p>MESQUITE, Texas — Doom is just around the corner. Tim Willits can feel it. A trio of hellspawn demons, each nearly real enough to reach out of the large plasma video monitor and slash him, is fast approaching. He laughs nervously, frantically clicking the keyboard to reload, shoot and evade.</p>

Nov. 18 — Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too. ... Westman studied 120 overweight volunteers, who were randomly assigned to the Atkins diet or the heart association’s Step 1 diet, a widely used low-fat approach. On the Atkins diet, people limited their carbs to less than 20 grams a day, and 60 percent of their calories came from fat. “It was high fat, off the scale,” he said. After six months, the...