Free Republic

Al Qaeda's newest tactic to elude American forces appears to be dressing in drag. A key al Qaeda operative who was dressed as a woman was killed in eastern Afghanistan, according to the U.S. military. It was the third time in just three weeks that al Qaeda operatives wearing women's clothing have been captured or killed by coalition forces, Coalition spokesman Colonel Tom Collins told ABC News.

My dad (long time civil structural engineer) sent the following question this evening to me: Tomorrow morning, I need the drag of one square foot of plate in 6 mph water. Not edge effects, downstream turbulence, corner losses, etc. Just how much force will I have to provide to hold a square foot of plate still into a 6 mph current? No, not in channel. In open water. I can't find it ANYWHERE! Durn! Got a structure in a pickle in water, and I really need that drag force to figure piling forces. My Olde Books are EMPTY on the...

The most prolific racer in Houston Raceway Park history, seven-time Funny Car winner John Force, added to his Texas legacy Friday night with a double-track-pass of 4.695 at 328.06 mph to lead the Day 1 qualifying action at the 19th annual O'Reilly Spring NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil. The $1.5 million race is the fourth of 23 on the $50 million POWERade Drag Racing Series. Force thrilled the packed grandstands with his big run, which puts him in prime position to earn his ninth low qualifier award at this facility. He was joined by Top Fuel leader Doug Kalitta...

Fishnet Hosiery Does in Robbery Suspect - New York Times           MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) -- A man's pantyhose led to his arrest, authorities said. An unshaven man wearing a black evening gown, fishnet stockings, calf-high boots and a black wig robbed a USA Gas station Monday morning, authorities alleged.           The armed man stuffed $290 in cash into an ensemble-matching black purse.

Oh lookie at what steroids does to ones ummmmm....

AN Egyptian man discovered on his wedding day that his fiancee of three years was a man who had been concealing his identity behind a veil. The 26-year-old groom-to-be, Tamer Shehata, was notified by a female guest attending his wedding that his would-be wife was a man in women's clothing. When Mr Shehata confronted his fiancee, he broke down and revealed that he was actually an 18-year-old man called Ahmed Abo Zeid. Mr Abo Zeid confessed that he had tried several times to undergo a sex change but had failed to secure doctors' approval. Mr Abo Zeid, whose face was...

Cleopatra Found Depicted in Drag By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Sept. 21, 2005— A relief image carved approximately 2,050 years ago on an ancient Egyptian stone slab shows Cleopatra dressed as a man, according to a recent analysis of the artifact. The object is only one of three known to exist that represent Cleopatra as a male. The other two artifacts also are stelae that date to around the same time, 51 B.C., at the beginning of Cleopatra's reign. Researchers theorize that the recently discovered 13.4 x 9.8-inch stela probably first was excavated in Tell Moqdam, an Egyptian city that...

A Glimpse Ahead Timothy Snodgrass The Impossible Will Come Alive In 2005 01/28/05 In January of 2004, as we began to intercede for the New Year the Holy Spirit gave us the prophetic slogan, "The Seas will Roar in 2004". This year we were given a new slogan, "The Impossible will come Alive in 2005". As the veil of darkness begins to come down over nations and regions, along with great shakings will come great breakthroughs; signs, wonders, healings and a spectacular release of miracles in impossible circumstances. This year, although we are ultimately poised to gain much ground, there...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

January 15, 2005 -- A hotshot Wall Street bond analyst was fired from his $4 million-a-year job for putting this fake photo of himself as a woman being swept off her feet on teh cover of a business report. Andrew Susser, 39, of Banc of America, was rated the past three years as the No. 1 analyst covering casinos and hotels — and the prank may also cost him his annual bonus, which could be an additional $5 million, insiders say. Bonuses are due in four weeks, said one company source, but won't be paid for people who are fired....

The Illinois Family Institute (IFI) received a troubling report yesterday of a grade (and middle) school in Carrier Mills that held an “Opposite Sex” Day in which students were encouraged to come to schools dressed as members of the opposite sex. At least one outraged mother pulled her children out of Carrier Mills-Stonefort Elementary School (kindergarten through 8th grade) after being informed about the cross-dressing day. Carrier Mills is about 45 minutes east of Carbondale. One school staffer reached by IFI said the school had no radical agenda but was just looking for “something silly for the kids to do.”...

Blasts, Gunfire Shake Najaf As Talks Drag Sunday August 22, 2004 11:16 PM By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI Associated Press Writer NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Explosions and gunfire shook Najaf's Old City on Sunday in a fierce battle between U.S. forces and Shiite militants, as negotiations dragged on for the handover of the shrine that the fighters have used for their stronghold. Late Sunday, U.S. warplanes and helicopters attacked positions in the Old City for the second night with bombs and gunfire, witnesses said. Militant leaders said the Imam Ali Shrine compound's outer walls were damaged in the attacks. The U.S....

MADISON, Ill. - National Hot Rod Association drag racer Darrell Russell died Sunday night from injuries suffered in a violent crash during the Sears Craftsman Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. Russell, a 35-year-old native of Hockley, Texas, had just lost to Scott Kalitta in the second round of eliminations when his Top Fuel dragster crashed while running about 300 mph at the end of the quarter-mile strip at Gateway International Raceway. The crash occurred around 6:30 p.m. Central time. Just less than two hours later Graham Light, NHRA senior vice president of racing operations, announced to the media that Russell...

Cary, N.C.—Renegade professors and serious students hoping to buck the politically correct trend that engulfs academia and makes shared knowledge an endangered species may not find much refuge in their local community college. Dr. Michael Filozof certainly found no sanctuary at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York. Married, with one daughter, the tenure-track political science professor at the school now faces imminent unemployment as a result of a scurrilous whispering campaign by two professors who found his political views (support for President Bush and for U.S. troops in Iraq) hard to take. When Dr. Filozof placed an American flag...

Mimicking humpback whale flippers may improve airplane wing design DURHAM, N.C. -- Wind tunnel tests of scale-model humpback whale flippers have revealed that the scalloped, bumpy flipper is a more efficient wing design than is currently used by the aeronautics industry on airplanes. The tests show that bump-ridged flippers do not stall as quickly and produce more lift and less drag than comparably sized sleek flippers. The tests were reported by biomechanicist Frank Fish of West Chester University, Penn., fluid dynamics engineer Laurens Howle of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and David Miklosovic and Mark Murray at...

Ex-Televangelist to Hold AIDS Drag Benefit Mon Dec 22, 8:02 AM ET DURHAM, N.C. - Former televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker Messner will headline a drag bingo benefit for AIDS here next month. The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, which serves people with HIV and AIDS in Durham, Orange and Wake counties, is organizing the fund-raiser at the Durham Armory on Jan. 2. The headliner was a source of surprise to at least one group official. "When they told me, I said, 'Oh, this is not going to work' — far right and all that," acting executive director Jacquelyn Clymore said Friday....

<p>ROANOKE - A transsexual will be granted early release from prison so he can undergo the final surgery to become a woman.</p> <p>A Roanoke judge ruled Friday that Michelona Sierra De'Lonta, 27, can be released from the city jail one month shy of completing his six-month sentence for forgery if he pays about $1,200 in court costs by this afternoon.</p>

 After knocking Miss America organizers last week for pinning a scarlet letter on a contestant they claimed lacked the morals to wear the sash, I couldn't see much point to attending the contest Saturday night.So I hit the next-best thing: The Miss'd America Pageant, a drag show for charity held the next night, a few blocks from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. (Miss'd as in, if you missed the other pageant, catch this one.)After watching both sequined spectacles, I gotta say: They put the wrong queens on TV.Sure, Miss Maryland danced and played violin at the same time.But she couldn't...

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have warned. The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy. Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections . Dame Helena Shovelton: The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession would lead to a caution, rather than arrest. The British Lung Foundation is...