Free Republic

Clark County Today Administrator Heidi Wetzler shares clinical psychology professor Mattias Desmet’s theory about the societal conditions under which a population ends up willingly sacrificing their freedom.

Florida and Georgia FReepers - looking at the RADAR and moisture images tonight, it looks like a storm is forming off the SE coast of FL. What if anything are the weather peoples saying in FL?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUpu46qHpgc&feature=emb_logo

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Beyonce has taken a lot of heat for her new song "Formation," which critics claim has an anti-cop message. Some Tampa Police officers might agree, if the request to work her upcoming Tampa concert is any indication. No one has agreed to do it. Typically, officers who are off-duty agree to work concerts and sporting events at the venue for extra income, but none have signed up to work security for Beyonce's upcoming concert on April 29 at Raymond James Stadium. The concert is expected to be a sold-out show, so not staffing the event with...

I have been at a major church three times recently for some pretty important occasions, and each time only women read, and every time the female 'music minister' sat enthroned above con-celebrating clergy as some sort of demi-bishop signalling to the people to turn their attention from the altar to her and join in the music, even when the celebrant sang things that would of themselves demand people participation, like "The Lord be with you". No, I didn't check, there might have been very good reasons for the exclusion of men from lay-ministerial positions but the fact it happened on...

| The discovery of mysterious rocks on the brightest large asteroid in the solar system, Vesta, deepens the mystery surrounding the huge object's origins, researchers say. Vesta is the second-largest asteroid in the solar system. The 330-mile-wide (530-kilometer) protoplanet is also the brightest large asteroid, with a surface about three times more luminous than Earth's moon.

A new chemical analysis of lunar material collected by Apollo astronauts in the 1970s conflicts with the widely held theory that a giant collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object gave birth to the moon 4.5 billion years ago.

f the soldier-like perfection of the synchronized formation by these mini drones doesn’t freak you out a bit — their collective buzzing sure will. Orchestrated by the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, these 20 “nano quadrotors” developed by KMel Robotics seem to, as Popular Science describes, sense each other’s proximity and work together to maintain formation “like a hive of bees moving en masse.” Watch the drone swarm in varying formations and with obstacles (Note: Hold out for the figure eight at 1:27):

Planetary scientists have long wondered why Mars is only about half the size and one-tenth the mass of Earth. As next-door neighbors in the inner solar system, probably formed about the same time, why isn't Mars more like Earth and Venus in size and mass? A paper published in the journal Nature this week provides the first cohesive explanation and, by doing so, reveals an unexpected twist in the early lives of Jupiter and Saturn as well. Dr. Kevin Walsh, a research scientist at Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), led an international team performing simulations of the early solar system, demonstrating...

Vocations Under the Christmas Tree? 2 children’s books help plant seeds...fruition in the priesthood and religious life. KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ 12/20/2010   -snip-Into that breach steps Elizabeth Ficocelli, a New York City-born mother and author (of books like The Imitation of Christ for Children) living in Ohio and convert to Catholicism. This year she has penned the children’s books Where Do Priests Come From? and Where Do Sisters Come From?, the latter of which has just been released by here). Why would you want to encourage girls to be oppressed victims of a patriarchal Church? Haven’t you read any Maureen...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A change in the color of the ocean could dramatically impact the number and intensity of hurricanes, according to US researchers. A team of researchers with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ran computer simulations of such a change in the North Pacific, a region that accounts for more than half the world's hurricane-force winds. The main factor is the green tint ocean water takes when there are large concentrations of chlorophyll, a pigment that helps tiny organisms known as phytoplankton convert sunlight into food for the rest of the marine ecosystem. "We think of the oceans...

2/17/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The first woman to serve as major general in the Air Force, and the Department of Defense, passed away Feb. 15. Retired Maj. Gen. Jeanne M. Holm is credited as the single driving force in achieving parity for military women and making them a viable part of the mainstream military. The Portland, Ore., native attained the rank of two-star general in 1973 after a career that began 31 years earlier in 1942 when she enlisted in the Army. General Holm entered Women's Army Air Corps in January 1943 where she received a commission as third...

HOBART, Australia - Some of the coldest temperatures on Earth brought a rare cloud formation to the skies over Antarctica, scientists said Tuesday. Meteorological officer Renae Baker captured spectacular images of the nacreous clouds, also known as polar stratospheric clouds, last week at Australia's Mawson station in Antarctica. The clouds only occur at high polar latitudes in winter, requiring temperatures less than minus 176 degrees Fahrenheit. A weather balloon measured temperatures at minus 189 degrees Fahrenheit on the day the photos were taken. Resembling airborne mother-of-pearl shells, the clouds are produced when fading light at sunset passes through water-ice crystals...

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2006 – President Bush singled out the efforts of U.S. servicemembers in his salute to the new unity government that formed in Iraq today. "The sacrifices of many of our country's noblest and bravest have helped make this day possible," he said. "We will not forget their contribution to our security and Iraq's democracy." Thirty-nine ministers and state secretaries received the Iraqi Parliament's approval today, culminating the move to form a democracy that started with the U.S. and coalition's toppling of former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. "Iraqis now have a fully constitutional government, marking the end...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's acting speaker of parliament said on Sunday he would call on the assembly to convene in the next few days, raising the possibility that political deadlock over a new prime minister may be broken. The Iraqi people are impatiently waiting for this issue to be resolved. When the parliament convenes it will be possible to start the steps to form a national unity government," Adnan Pachachi told a news conference...

APTOS, Calif. -- Howard "Red" Hickey, who invented the shotgun offensive formation while coaching the San Francisco 49ers, died Thursday, his son said. He was 89. Jeffrey Hickey didn't disclose the cause of his father's death. Hickey coached the 49ers from 1959-63, going 27-27-1 before resigning three games into the 1963 season. He also played for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 championship team and was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Rams' championship club in 1951 before spending two decades as an assistant and scout for the Dallas Cowboys. The Arkansas native made history in 1960 when he combined elements...

NASA's Spirit Mars rover has arrived at a site dubbed "Home Plate" within Gusev crater. But what the robot found has left scientists puzzled. As the Mars machinery relays images of the area, the sightseeing has sparked healthy debate within the team running the mission. "Well, so far it has been great," said Steve Squyres, lead Mars Rover Exploration scientist at Cornell University. "It's the most spectacular layered rock we've ever seen at Gusev," he told SPACE.com. The images relayed so far by Spirit of Home Plate "really are stunning," Squyres added. "Many of us were pretty much reduced to...

Fr. Stefano Penna: A priest learns love's meaning At 44, he discovers what it means to be called 'father' By BILL GLEN WCR Staff Writer Edmonton Being a priest is a love story lived out publicly, says Father Stefano Penna. "As a priest, I have learned about courage and fidelity," said Penna, 44. Penna came to Edmonton at a point in his life when being called "father" had a new resonance. The moment had arrived when he realized he was not going to have children of his own. "It's one thing to be swept away at 25 by the eagerness...

Kenrick-Glennon Seminary: At the Heart of Archdiocesan LifeIntroductionIn coming to the Archdiocese of St. Louis, I was especially happy that the archdiocese has its own college seminary, Cardinal Glennon College, and its own theological seminary, Kenrick School of Theology. Both seminaries are located in the same building at 5200 Glennon Drive in the City of Shrewsbury and are commonly called by one name: Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. At one time, the two seminaries were housed in two separate buildings, not too distant from each other, but Archbishop John L. May decided to locate both seminary programs at what was then the college...