Free Republic

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kyle Busch made NASCAR history Saturday night with an unprecedented sweep of three national races in one week, completing the trifecta with a victory in the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to use a Scaled Composites aircraft in an attempt next year to complete the first solo nonstop circumnavigation of the globe. The aircraft, dubbed the GlobalFlyer, will be flown by either Steve Fossett or Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson. Branson is acting as the reserve pilot. The aim is to complete the flight in less than 80 hr. The Burt Rutan-designed, composite-material aircraft has a maximum gross weight of 22,066 lb. and an empty weight of 3,577 lb., which allows for 18,000 lb. of fuel. Wingspan is 114 ft. The GlobalFlyer is powered by a single...

With the recent publicity surrounding Sen. Rick Santorum's remarks on the issue of sodomy, almost everyone on FR must be familiar by now with the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas.Petitioner Lawrence and his special friend are trying to overturn a Texas law against homosexual sodomy. There are two issues in this case: 1) Is there a constitutional right for any two adults to engage in any kind of consensual sex, as long as it's behind closed doors? The petitioners say yes, there is, and are asking the court to agree. 2) Does it violate the 14th amendment's guarantee of...

PROJECT OVERVIEW ABSTRACT Electrical activity emanating from the brain is displayed in the form of four types of brainwaves that are associated with specific cognitive functions and that vary in level of activity. The team’s experiment will measure a test subject’s level of brainwave activity while performing a variety of tasks in a virtual reality environment in zero-gravity. By immersing the test subject in a virtual reality simulation, the team will be able to duplicate many of the cognitive and motor functions required of astronauts working in space. Effects of a short-term microgravity environment, such as vertigo and spatial disorientation,...