Free Republic

How do you deal with extreme heat? I have zeroed in on a strategy that works very well for me. I am retired, on a limited budget, do not own a swimming pool; limited retirement income.I am also lucky to own a 41-year old house, with the originally installed ac/heating unit capable of maintaining a 33-degree differential between outside and inside temperature, apparently indefinitely. Limited only, so far, to the amount I am able to afford for pay for the energy. I do a minimum of work inside the house and keep the thermostat between 78-82, keep the large screen...

"It's no secret that Amazon (AMZN) is upending retail, with a new bankruptcy filing or store closure announcement coming nearly every day since the beginning of March from traffic starved bricks-and-mortar retailers." "And the digital beast is showing no signs of letting up."

On My Way to Somewhere Else Can't remember what , but looking something up on line earlier today I came cross this article : Costa Rica Street addresses I have been to Costa Rica many times now, having relatives there who are long time residents. My first trip was around 1999, to the Capital, San Jose, a city of population 335,000, in 2016. Remarkably there was not a single street sign or house or business address in the entire city (that I know of.) As can be imagined, this creates a "Twilight Zone" experience for first time visitors. The link...

Microsoft has been pushing Windows 10 for over a year now, and it seems to be "successful."

"What I see appears to be a vengeful elimination of any memory or dignity in the South, a dignity the peace after the Civil War thought it wise to allow"

Anyone know how TSA-approved luggage locks work?

Where have all the heroes gone, long time passing? Where have all the heroes gone, long time ago? Where have all the heroes gone? Gone a-golfing everyone. Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?

(Reuters) - Israeli forces found the bodies of three missing teenagers in the occupied West Bank on Monday

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — This spring, new research out of Canada's McGill University that reviewed historical temperature records and geological data (ice cores, tree rings and lake sediments) concluded with 99% certainty that our current climate change predicament cannot be ascribed to natural cycles. But many are still dubious that man-made climate change is real. What's more, some skeptics even claim climate change is a money-making scam. In reality, you can follow the "dark money" to see how targeted funding is perpetuating these misconceptions -- even as climate change awareness and research groups lose funding.The article attempts to attack "skeptic"...

Pictures are worth... No excerpt necessary

California lakes and canals are a testament to our fathers’ using nature to bring water, power, and prosperity to the Central Valley—often under the tutelage of a past generation of scientists, engineers, and researchers from the coastal universities. These visionaries saw the massive federal West Side [of the California Central Valley] irrigation projects as the logical twentieth-century successors to the smaller state and local enterprises that had irrigated the East Side in the nineteenth century. But today, coastal scientists have tired of such visions. They consider them destroyers of nature, not catalysts of wealth, and so they use their academic...

NASA and JAXA Launch New Satellite to Measure Global Rain and Snow a few hours ago

From: DSCC Rapid Response Subject: doomed Date: Dec 28, 2013 12:53 PM[My Name] -- In his final press conference of 2013, President Obama shared some critically important news: “The Affordable Care Act has helped keep health care costs growing at their slowest rate in 50 years."Obamacare is making health care affordable for millions of Americans. But $4.1 million from the Koch brothers -- along with millions more in hateful anti-Obamacare attacks -- are drowning out its success. The Koch brothers are claiming that Obamacare is ruining Americans' lives -- and they're trying to wipe out every single swing-state Democrats who...

Of an identified $10 billion in spending that occurs during Thanksgiving weekend on the wine and beer, the gas and plane tickets, and the meal itself, government taxation composes 35.86 percent of those expenses — approximately $3.6 billion in revenues. Many of these Thanksgiving items are subject to the increased costs of income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, and other taxes on business activity. Government then includes additional fees and excise taxes that further increase the cost of providing specific items or services.

“Today’s vote is a victory for the American people, who should not be forced to spend another dime on Obamacare. Opponents of the law are, and must remain, united in their opposition to funding this unworkable, unaffordable law. Senate Democrats must now make a decision: will they stand with President Obama to protect Obamacare or will they reject partisan politics to protect their constituents.”

The first officially recorded municipal bond was issued by the City of New York for a canal in 1812. It was a general obligation bond, meaning the city pledged every available resource – most notably, tax revenue – to repay the debt. So, in theory, unless the city lost its legal ability to levy taxes, which it never would, investors would be repaid... If Orr succeeds, look for all hell to break loose. Just like we witnessed during the real estate collapse when homeowners started walking away from their mortgage obligations without any recourse, other cash-strapped municipalities are destined to...

Windows had no updates for a few weeks. Yesterday there were somewhere around 17 that kicked in with automatic update.My Win 7Pro desktop handled it apparently with no problem; my laptop was something else.The laptop is running Win7 premium and has always updated with no problem. This time, I left it running overnight and it would turn itself off. The following morning after it booted, it went through the configuring process, I got a cursor, but there was no taskbar. Pretty much nothing can happen without a taskbar, either logging in, starting the browser trouble shooting or anything else. I...

Jobs Remain #1 Issue Washington Won't Solve You see, the Labor Department says the economy gained 195,000 jobs in June. This beat economists' expectations, the media trumpeted. And that's not the worst of it. I want you to understand the magnitude of the ongoing deception. I'm going to give you some numbers, and I want you to stick with me. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is perpetrating a gigantic sham, starting with the unemployment number of 7.5%. According to Shadowstats.com, the real unemployment rate is 23.4%. These numbers honestly account for people who are long past the end of...

Sucker=xx=xx Bad news: After Republicans spent $400,000 in sickening ads to hijack John Kerry's old Senate seat, a terrifying new GOP poll shows an incredibly close race: Markey (D) 45, Gomez (R) 44% And the election is in JUST TWO WEEKS away I know you're a top President Obama supporter, so you need to know that the next 36 hours are critically important for the President. If we lose this seat, Mitch McConnell will be a step closer to: -blocking every single sensible gun law -completely repealing Obamacare -tearing apart Social Security and Medicare President Obama needs you to finish...