Free Republic

When you are an old man in modern Western Society, the default position is for too many young people, especially young women, to treat you as a stupid, patriarchal and probably criminal piece of shit. Yesterday the opposite thing happened for me. It happened through perhaps the last bastion of freedom in Australia, the home grown game of sport of Australian Rules Football. I am a lifelong Collingwood supporter. The team is also known as the Magpies. My dad took me to all the games when I was a kid. In 1969 and 1970, as a young teenager, I had...

When we attached tiny, backpack-like tracking devices to five Australian magpies for a pilot study, we didn't expect to discover an entirely new social behavior rarely seen in birds. Our goal was to learn more about the movement and social dynamics of these highly intelligent birds, and to test these new, durable and reusable devices. Instead, the birds outsmarted us. As our new research paper explains, the magpies began showing evidence of cooperative "rescue" behavior to help each other remove the tracker. While we're familiar with magpies being intelligent and social creatures, this was the first instance we knew of...

Australia has a reputation for terrifying, deadly animals, from brown snakes to redback spiders to buff red kangaroos that can disembowel you with their feet. Fortunately, most of these hell creatures will won't start anything if you just leave them alone. Unfortunately, magpies do not extend the same courtesy. Also known as "spring" in the U.S., swooping season is in full swing in Australia, adding just one more reason for everyone to stay indoors right now. Every year from early August to late October, the Australian magpie loses its tiny feathered gourd and starts indiscriminately dive-bombing anything that comes within...

JOIN the National Organization for Women (NOW), Wednesday, July 20th at 10:00 am for a demonstration against the nomination of anti abortion rights John Roberts to the United States Supreme Court! Dirksen Senate Office Building - Senate Swamp Constitution and First St SE 10:00 am The United States Senate must NOT confirm John Roberts. Let's show our support for women's rights.