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New virus in China similar to Covid?Reports: Another virus reportedly starting in China similar to Covid, say Chinese researchers.— FrontalForce (@FrontalForce) March 14, 2021"I just saw this tweet below from Dr. Gordon Chang. I have no idea at this point what it means. Better to share the information with a caveat." #China’s military is talking about pathogens that will sicken only non-#Chinese, so one day #Beijing will develop a civilization-killer. In the meantime, we need to deter #XiJinping from spreading it as he deliberately spread #COVID19. #coronavirus https://t.co/tRcK1bs4xw— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) March 14, 2021

A county official says reports of an active shooter at a school in North Carolina turned out to be malfunctioning water heater. News reports quote Pender County emergency management director Tom Collins as saying that noise from the water heater was taken for the sound of gunfire at Topsail High School on Friday morning. The earlier report of shots fired provoked a massive response by law enforcement and caused the school district to reroute buses and put schools on lockdown.

“Dear _______ Our records indicate that you are registered to vote in Kings County. Who you vote for is your secret. But whether or not you vote is public record. Many organizations monitor turnout in your neighborhood and are disappointed by the inconsistent voting of many of your neighbors. Here is some information you may need to vote: The polls are open from 6am to 9pm. You can confirm your voter registration by visiting [a website] If you have any questions about voting, please call [telephone number] We will be reviewing Kings County official voting records after the upcoming election...

News about the spread of the Ebola virus has been an increasing focus for market participants in recent days. Despite rising media coverage, Ebola seems to have had little discernible effect on consumer sentiment to date. However, as Goldman Sachs notes, the "fear factor" associated with Ebola appears more significant than in past instances of pandemic concern. While expert opinion sees the likelihood of a significant outbreak of Ebola in the US as very low, it is likely any negative macroeconomic consequences are most likely to be transmitted through fear or risk-aversion channels.

A 34-year-old Grand Junction man was rescued Wednesday from a van teetering off a cliffside about 170 feet above a canyon floor. Daniel J. Lyons drove his van off a road in the steep, red-rock canyons of Colorado National Monument, and the vehicle dropped, tumbled and rolled 120 feet before getting snagged on brush and a rock ledge. "It's jaw-dropping," said Joan Anzelmo, park superintendent. "It got caught on an outcropping of rock; that's what saved his life." About 50 rescue personnel including park rangers, Grand Junction firefighters, volunteer firefighters and Mesa County sheriff's deputies performed a technical extraction in...

Let me get one thing out there, before this column gets ugly (as it most definitely will). I believe Barack Obama will win in November. Republicans, after all, are facing a horror show: stratospheric gas prices, 401K accounts that have joined Jenny Craig, increasing numbers of casualties in Afghanistan, escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and a situation in Iraq that oscillates between suicide bombings and periods of relative calm. But an Obama victory may not be quite the harbinger of change that so many of his supporters hope. Let me offer as Exhibit A - and, believe me,...

Concerning the "paralysis of modern Muslims" in the face of Muslim extremist terror, which fellow TCSer Arnold Kling wrote on recently, I would suggest that a big reason for Muslim silence is, simply, terror. Steven Schwartz in a recent TCS article points to a type of spiritual renewal and reinforcement of traditional Muslim principles sans the "bloody stain" cast upon them by the Islamic terrorists. But the state of fear in which many Muslims find themselves is a formidable barrier to such a transformation. Americans and Britons have mainly shown anger and contempt for the Islamofascist terrorists. The Spanish? Well,...

PALMDALE - On a quiet little side street in old suburban Palmdale, the non-descript storefront of Advanced Aquatic Technologies is hiding a business that makes possible almost all of the special effects related to water that Hollywood produces. In productions starring names from Janet Jackson to the Stone Temple Pilots, AAT Fabrication, Inc. and its 27 employees create the tanks that produce "80% of the water shots you see on TV" owner Lloyd Paddock said. Previously a banker from Northern California, Paddock said he started out simply keeping aquariums at home as a hobby. Later, he said, Pep Engineering, an...

A convicted killer with a desire to eat his victims today admitted killing two men - cooking the brains of one of them.Peter Bryan, 35, was labelled The Cannibal after police found him cooking human brains. Bryan pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the manslaughters on the grounds of diminished responsibility of Brian Cherry, 43, and Richard Loudwell, 59. The prosecution accepted not guilty pleas to murder charges because of the weight of psychiatric evidence. Bryan was sent to a secure hospital in 1994 after admitting the unlawful killing of 20-year-old shop assistant Nisha Sheth who was beaten to...

Lawsuit Called Frivolous CLEVELAND -- A judge threw out a lawsuit in which a viewer sued NBC for $2.5 million, contending that he threw up because of a "Fear Factor" episode in which contestants ate rats mixed in a blender. U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells called Austin Aitken's lawsuit frivolous and warned him against appealing. "Evidently, fear was a factor for him," Matt Kunitz, the show's executive producer, said on Wednesday. "We knew that justice would prevail and we're pleased with the outcome." A message left seeking comment from Aitken was not immediately returned. Aitken, a 49-year-old part-time paralegal from...

CLEVELAND (AP) -- A viewer is suing NBC for $2.5 million, contending that he threw up because of a "Fear Factor" episode in which contestants ate rats mixed in a blender. Austin Aitken told The Associated Press he watches "Fear Factor" often and had no problem with past installments where the reality show's participants ate worms and insects in pursuit of a $50,000 prize - but eating rats went "too far." "It's barbaric, some of the things they ask these individuals to do," Aitken said Thursday. Aitken's handwritten lawsuit contends the rat-eating made his blood pressure rise, resulting in being...

UNIVERSITY PLACE - A 'Fear Factor' type assembly at Narrows View Intermediate left some with a bitter taste in their mouths. A family watches and squirms knowing what their daughter went through. They consider it hazing. "She must have been under a tremendous amount of pressure," says the girl's dad who does not want the family identified. There were three teams, each made up of a teacher and two students doing stunts similar to the popular television show "Fear Factor." In fact, a consent form went home to parents. It said, "Your child will not be forced to do anything...

<p>Early in the afternoon on Monday, Nov. 10, I caught a promo that New York's WABC was running for its 5 p.m. local news broadcast. They were teasing a story about a major “regional recall" of baby formula (search) that had already left “three infants dead.”</p>

Yep, it's TODAY! Later this afternoon, I will be making my promised trip down to the local Chinese restaurant, and will attempt to eat 100 or more mussels. Why? To raise money for Free Republic, of course! You can still help, too. Here's how. So far, dozens of FReepers have pledged to donate a set amount to FR for every mussel I eat. Some have pledged .10 cents a mussel, some .25 cents, $1.00, and more. What can you pledge? To date, I believe we have a total of $16.05/mussel. If I reach my goal today of 100 mussels, that...

Get out the barf bags.The National Broacasting Company reality program 'Fear Factor' [airing Monday nights at 8PM EST in the family hour] is promising an 'all grossout' episode to kick off the February sweeps rating period. [when television ads rates are set for the season]Contestants will bob for objects dunked in 50 gallons of cow blood.They will also eat five inch long worms and pick up dead skunks from inside a pitch black tunnel.The episode airs February 3.

<p>BATON ROUGE - As Republicans rejoiced over President George W. Bush's coming to Louisiana four days before the Dec. 7 runoff, Democrats were awaiting former President Bill Clinton's decision whether to come to Louisiana for Saturday's Bayou Classic football game between Grambling State and Southern universities.</p>