Free Republic

For Stephen Colbert, the late-night honeymoon appears to be over. The dose of reality comes upon tracking the last three weeks available on the ratings front. But first, a quick review of where we were and how we got here on the late-night competition front: outside of Colbert's opening week, NBC's Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show have beaten his CBS competition every week with plenty of room to spare. No surprise there, as even CBS execs concede they had no illusions of beating Fallon as Colbert and The Late Show find their groove. But that's not to say Colbert...

Phillip Scott Johnson uses 90 portraits of women from famous painters to seamlessly show their changing features as time elapsed. The morphing effect is bizarre and impressive at the same time. It's impressive not just for its stretch of time, but style, medium and interpretation as well.

Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Baum & C. O’Dea (RIT), R. Perley & W. Cotton (NRAO/AUI/NSF), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) =============================================================================================================== Scientists often use the combined power of multiple telescopes to reveal the secrets of the Universe – and this image is a prime example of when this technique is strikingly effective. The yellow-hued object at the centre of the frame is an elliptical galaxy known as Hercules A, seen by the Earth-orbiting NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In normal light, an observer would only see this object floating in the inky blackness of space. However, view Hercules A with...

Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted Can't help but wonder what's happenin' to my companions Are they lost or are they found? Have they counted the cost it'll take to bring down? All their earthly principles they're gonna have to abandon And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend I had a woman down in Alabama She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic She said, "Boy, without a doubt Have to quit your mess and straighten out You could die down here, be just another accident statistic" And there's a slow, slow train...

Jack Hylton and His Orchestra plays "The Pick Up" on HMV B5882. The vocal is by Pat O'Malley. The song is featured in the film titled "Safety in Numbers."

Two archaeological discoveries led to the identification of the creator of Nefertiti's bust. The first was uncovered at Tell el-Amarna near the artists' workshop where the bust was created. (The bust was unearthed in this workshop during excavations in December 1912.) Outside the workshop, the excavators discovered a horse's blinker -- used to prevent the horse from looking toward the rear and sometimes to the side -- inscribed with the name Thutmose, who was identified by the following titles: "favored by the King," "Chief of Works," and "seankh" (a designation that means "he who gives the final touch of life"2...

Here's my message to all of the snot nosed, bed wetting, crybaby, micro-agressed, pussy faced, neutered, limpwristed, higher-edumacated dweebs: "You ain't nuthin in my book."

My tribute and thanks to those who have heeded the call and especially to those who paid for our freedom by the giving of their the last full measure of devotion. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

I am trying to find an episode of the Three Stooges wherein one of them (Curly I think) finds money on the floor (a $20 I think). "Oooo, a $20" he says. To which Moe says, "Is that the $20 you owe me?" And Larry says to Moe, "Is that the $20 you owe me?" To whom Curly says, "Is that the $20 you owe me?" To whom Moe says, "Is that the $20 you owe me?" and on and on. I thought this a perfect example of how many think an economy works (Particularly Krugman); money just circulating. I...

Image: J021659-044920. The red and yellow lobes are the galaxy’s radio lobes. The red spot in the center is the visible galaxy. Prathamesh Tamhane/Yogesh Wadadekar. ================================================================================================================== Astronomers in India have discovered a very unusual galaxy, and it’s dying. By now, in fact, it’s probably already dead. The new galaxy, known as J021659-044920, is 9 billion light years away from Earth. That means it’s really old in cosmic terms (but not quite as old as the oldest object astronomers have ever found, a galaxy 13 billion light years away called UDFy-38135539). Viewed in the visible spectrum, J021659-044920spans about 100,000 light years...

Video LinkThis is the performer who was on Saturday Night Live with Trump last night. The young girl in the video is Maddie Ziegler, a dancer who appears in numerous Sia music videos.I think Sia and Maddie are absolutely brilliant.Of course, mileage might differ.

Published on Nov 3, 2015 A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what's in front of it. To prove this we invited six photographers to a portrait session with a twist. ‘Decoy’ is one of six experiments from The Lab, designed to shift creative thinking behind the lens. Want to be part of future The Lab experiments? This experiment done for entertainment and educational purposes is also a great example of how powerful a photographer's bias can be.

Cast members from The Wiz Live!, as well as Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof, Finding Neverland, The King and I, On Your Feet! and Something Rotten! will perform in 89th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which will be broadcast live on NBC Nov. 26 at 9 AM ET. In addition to the five musicals announced to perform during the first hour of the special, the cast of School of Rock will also make an appearance on their own float during the parade. - See more at: http://playbill.com/news/article/the-wiz-live-and-5-broadway-shows-set-to-perform-in-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-369741#sthash.QVSJaILc.dpuf

No Longer Slaves // Jonathan David & Melissa Helser // We Will Not Be Shaken Official Lyric Video

A film of Walt Disney's first animated creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which has been lost since 1928, has been discovered. [Video at link]

The experimental setup inside the modified Applied Test Systems model 2605 pneumatic creep tester, in which the anode was located at the top of the sample and the cathode at the bottom. The system was electrically insulated from the rest of the furnace. Credit: Jain ===================================================================================================================== On a serendipitous occasion, while attending a conference and listening to Rishi Raj, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, speak about the remarkable effect of moderate electrical fields on lowering the sintering temperature of certain ceramic powders, Himanshu Jain, a professor of materials science and engineering at Lehigh University,...

But for many fans, it wasn't merely Snoopy's brothers and sisters dragging him down. There was something fundamentally rotten about the new Snoopy, whose charm was based on his total lack of concern about what others thought of him. His confidence, his breezy sense that the world may be falling apart but one can still dance on, was worse than irritating. It was morally bankrupt.  As the writer Daniel Mendelsohn put it in a piece in The New York Times Book Review, Snoopy "represents the part of ourselves-the smugness, the avidity, the pomposity, the rank egotism-most of us know we...

Just in time for its 50th anniversary, Star Trek is returning to the small screen. Prolific producer Alex Kurtzman is developing a new take on the beloved sci-fi classic for TV, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The new Star Trek has been picked up straight to series at CBS, with the premiere slated for the network in January 2017. Subsequent episodes will air on its digital and VOD platform, CBS All Access. The premiere and all subsequent episodes will then be available in the U.S. on CBS All Access, the network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service....

had their own Only Fools and Horses moment when a garish tile saved from a church jumble sale sold for more than £177,000. The 9ins square tile that depicts two emerald green parrots was inherited by a woman from Devon who gave it little thought and kept it propped up against a motorbike in her garage for years. The lady, aged in her seventies, decided it had cluttered her garage for long enough when a planned garage conversion led her to donate it to her local church jumble sale. After dusting it down something sparked intrigue in the tile and...