Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) — The ability to access a car quickly and give it back after a few hours is exploding in popularity among both college students and city dwellers. Zipcar created the car-sharing concept in 2000. By the end of the decade car-sharing had caught the attention of the two largest U.S. car rental companies as Enterprise and Hertz started competing services. And this week, Avis, the nation's No. 3 car rental company, jumped into by offering nearly $500 million to buy Zipcar. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/A-look-at-the-pros-and-cons-of-car-sharing-4168037.php#ixzz2HAtWjxOx

A Florida man just wanted ketchup on his Philly cheesesteak sandwich at Subway. When he didn't get it, a confrontation with the sandwich maker ensued, leading to a 911 call. Now-former Subway employee Lawrence Ordone told TV station WFTV he was working behind the counter at the sandwich restaurant in an Orlando Walmart on New Year's night, when a man ordered a Philly cheesesteak. "He (the customer) wants ketchup on the Philly cheesesteak and I have never put -- we don't even have ketchup at Subway -- I've never put ketchup on anybody's sandwich," Ordone told WFTV. The restaurant chain...

[Video] Fox News Parody About Gun-Free Zones Stopping Crimehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dg_AcBeHgo --------------- --------------- Rep. Thomas Massie, R-4 KY H.R. 133: To repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and amendments to that Act. Introduced: Jan 03, 2013 Sponsor: Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4] ====== Flashback 2011: Texas Congressman and GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul introduced a bill that would abolish "gun-free zones," ultimately permitting teachers to carry firearms on school grounds. Ron Paul Introduced Pro-gun Legislation The New American 04 August 2011 ==== Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has introduced a bill in the House that would allow teachers to carry firearms onto...

This marvelous bust is one of the very few documents of an actual black person from Greek and Roman antiquity. Memnon was a pupil and protégé of the well-known Athenian entrepreneur and philosopher Herodes Atticus. It was found more than a century ago in one of several villas owned by Herodes, and it adds a face to the name of the person recorded by Philostratus in his Lives of the Sophists, an account of the famous philosophers of the second century. The exact circumstances of Memnon's entry into this celebrated milieu are unknown, but there is no doubt about the...

Explanation: In silhouette against a crowded star field toward the constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower. In fact, clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. Known as a cometary globule, the swept-back cloud, extending from the lower right to the head (top of the tower) left and above center, is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the...

The world view that the final reality is only material or energy shaped by pure chance, inevitably, (that's the next word I would bring to you ) mathematically -- with mathematical certainty -- brings forth all these other results which are in our country and in our society which have led to the breakdown in the country -- in society -- and which are its present sorrows. So, if you hold this other world view, you must realize that it is inevitable that we will come to the very sorrows of relativity and all these other things that are so...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- One of the Cleveland police officers involved in the Nov. 29 police chase that ended with two suspects dead fumbled a 2011 traffic stop so badly that the department suggested video of the incident be used to teach other officers what not to do. Recently released personnel files show that the 13 officers who shot at Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30, when the chase ended in East Cleveland range from highly commended to narrowly hirable. A few have come under gunfire while performing their duties, and some had shot at suspects before.

A new EU poster places the hammer and sickle emblem above the Christian Cross and symbols of other religions. MEP Dan Hannan is rightly angry over this atrocity at his blog: “For three generations, the badge of the Soviet revolution meant poverty, slavery, torture and death. It adorned the caps of the chekas who came in the night. It opened and closed the propaganda films which hid the famines. It advertised the people’s courts where victims of purges and show-trials were condemned. It fluttered over the re-education camps and the gulags. For hundreds of millions of Europeans, it was a...

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of some of the most strict interpretations of Islam, has a notoriously unyielding police force. But unlike most countries, the Saudi kingdom also has an active “religious police,” and the roles of the two sometimes seem to overlap. For instance, Al-Arabiya related Friday that a man was recently arrested by the ​real​ police after being found in possession of documents indicating his desire to…marry a Jewish woman. He was reportedly near the Grand Mosque in Mecca when apprehended. Al-Arabiya explains: Lieutenant Abdulmohsen Maiman, spokesman for the Grand Mosque police, told [al-Hayat newspaper] that the 49-year-old Saudi...

Girlguiding UK is considering the removal of any mention of God or the Queen from its oath. In one of the most controversial shakeups in its 102-year history, the organization has launched a consultation that could lead to significant changes to the promise Guides are expected to take when they join. It would be the first major reform for the Guides, which boasts more than half a million members, to be initiated under Julie Bentley, its new chief executive. The former head of The Family Planning Association, who took over in November, ruffled feathers when she described the Guides as...

January 7, 2013   Monday after Epiphany     Reading 1 1 Jn 3:22–4:6 Beloved:We receive from him whatever we ask,because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.And his commandment is this:we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,and love one another just as he commanded us.Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,and the way we know that he remains in usis from the Spirit whom he gave us. Beloved, do not trust every spiritbut test the spirits to see whether they belong to God,because many false prophets have gone...

Dr. Rosembaum: It appears today that your efforts to publicize your research ("Gun Utopias? Firearm Access and Ownership in Israel and Switzerland," Journal of Public Health Policy 33, p. 47 (2012)) have accelerated. The most recent showcase for your paper and the concepts that underlie it happens to be Foreign Policy ("A League of Our Own," Foreign Policy (December 19, 2012)) but Ezra Klein showcased your research in an interview for his Washington-Post sponsored Wonkblog some days before ("Mythbusting: Israel and Switzerland are not gun-toting utopias," Wonkblog (December 14, 2012)). It is unfortunate then that the body of your research...

Temperatures in China have plunged to their lowest in almost three decades, cold enough to freeze coastal waters and trap 1,000 ships in ice... Since late November the country has shivered at an average of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees colder than the previous average, and the chilliest in 28 years... Bitter cold has even frozen the sea in Laizhou Bay on the coast of Shandong province in the east, stranding nearly 1,000 ships, the China Daily newspaper reported.

January 6, 2013   Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord   Reading 1 Is 60:1-6 Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,the glory of the Lord shines upon you.See, darkness covers the earth,and thick clouds cover the peoples;but upon you the LORD shines,and over you appears his glory.Nations shall walk by your light,and kings by your shining radiance.Raise your eyes and look about;they all gather and come to you:your sons come from afar,and your daughters in the arms of their nurses. Then you shall be radiant at what you see,your heart shall throb and overflow,for the riches...

School shootings have gone up dramatically since 1990. What has changed? First, the Gun Free School Zone act, sponsored by Joe Biden, went into effect, was found unconstitutional, and was then reenacted with intense lobbying by President Clinton. Schools shootings have increased at least four fold since the act was implemented, making schools a popular target full of unarmed victims for mass shooters. Second, the major media, with a clear desire to pass anti-gun legislation in a media-induced emotional frenzy, has given school shootings enormous coverage far beyond other events that are as horrific. This coverage amounts to shouting “Fire!”...

It is an odd experience to enter a darkened room and, for more than two and a half hours, watch someone tell a story that you experienced intimately in your own life. But that is what happened recently as I sat in a movie theater near Times Square and watched “Zero Dark Thirty,” the new Hollywood blockbuster about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. When I was head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center from 2002 to 2004 and then director of the National Clandestine Service until late 2007, the campaign against al-Qaeda was my life and obsession. I must say,...

Despite the global economic slowdown, Asia's cities are continuing to widen the perceived technological gap between its American counterparts. The juxtaposition is visible from the moment your feet leave the plane. Many of the airports in Asia's biggest cities are stunning, engineering marvels — and make those in the U.S. seem outdated. Has America's early leadership in technology and engineering evaporated? Or is it hidden at first glance? 1) The Shanghai Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) floats on magnets and is the world's fastest commercially operated train, traveling at speeds up to 268 mph. 2) Seoul's local government has launched a $44...

BATON ROUGE, LA - The Mall of Louisiana has been closed and evacuated after a fight broke out between dozens of young people Saturday evening. Deputies were called to the food court area around 6 p.m. and said the troublemakers quickly dispersed to other areas of the mall. No injuries were reported though several ambulances were dispatched to the area and initial reports of shots fired were apparently incorrect. However, at least one eyewitness reported a chaotic and scary scene in the second floor food court.

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — Months after an unusual stench blanketed parts of Southern California, local smog regulators have approved a $200,000 system to monitor the stench, it was reported Saturday. The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports that the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) plans to establish two stations near the Salton Sea to warn people when the odor reaches critical levels. The stench apparently spawned from either a fish die-off at the Salton Sea or disturbed sea floors that released methane gas from rotting sea life. Hundreds of concerned citizens reported the foul odor to authorities last September. It plagued several...

"Meat loaf and mashed taters, and maybe some steamed summer squash on the side. Meat loaf needs gravy or its juices, on top. At the Maggie's HQ, we make meat loaf the Italian way: Italian Meat Loaf Recipe. Italian-style meat loaf usually has a dash of nutmeg and/or allspice in the recipe, but that particular one does not. I do not think they make this in Italy. Maybe it's a modified meat-ball recipe, but they don't eat meatballs in Italy either. (Nor do Swedes cook Swedish Meatballs.) Best thing about meat loaf? Meat loaf sandwiches the next day or two....