Free Republic

The city that never sinks? New geological research warns that the weight of New York City’s skyscrapers is actually causing the Big Apple — whose more than 1 million buildings weigh nearly 1.7 trillion pounds — to sink lower into its surrounding bodies of water. The city is plopping closer to the water at a rate of 1 to 2 millimeters a year, “with some areas subsiding much faster.” While that may not seem significant to untrained eyes, the gradual descent makes NYC extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, according to lead researcher and geologist Tom Parsons of the United States...

The unexpectedly fast rate of the rising earth may markedly increase the stability of the ice sheet against catastrophic collapse due to ice loss, scientists say. Moreover, the rapid rise of the earth in this area also affects gravity measurements, which implies that up to 10 percent more ice has disappeared in this part of Antarctica than previously assumed. Researchers led by scientists at The Ohio State University used a series of six GPS stations (part of the POLENET-ANET array) attached to bedrock around the Amundsen Sea Embayment to measure its rise in response to thinning ice. The "uplift rate"...

Forget about Obama Girl. There's a new game in town: The Santorum Girls. Two home-schooled sisters in Oklahoma have created a frenzy on the Internet after writing and recording a country ode to Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. The song, called "Game On," was released on YouTube on Super Tuesday when the four GOP White House hopefuls vied to win 10 states, including Oklahoma. So far the video has more than 150,000 hits. Haley, 18, and Camille Harris, 20 -- both daughters of a pastor -- are seen in the video strumming guitars and holding Santorum signs. Their parents and...

Campaigning as the only true conservative running for president, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson came to one of the most Republican towns in Republican-dominated Orange County on Saturday to deliver crowd-pleasing talk of slashing taxes and securing U.S. borders. The event was kicked off by state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), a favorite among the party's conservative activists. He introduced Thompson as the first candidate in a generation to have the integrity, credentials and appeal of former President Ronald Reagan. Thompson avoided taking any direct shots at his rivals Saturday, only subtly questioning some recent political conversions on bedrock conservative...

Today's two images are inspired by the "learn something new every day" phenomenon. In this case, the something that was learned was about the Northwest Angle in Minnesota, pictured here (click to go to article, with larger image link). I wanted to find other images of the Northwest Angle, but couldn't find much. However, I did find the interesting site below, with a virtual tour and smallish excerpts from a Landsat poster of Lake of the Woods. The image below was interesting, especially the circularity of the features in the lower part of the image. A Virtual Tour of Lake...