Free Republic

Pizza farm shows slice of agricultural life September 12, 2005 BY JIM SUHR DOW, Ill. -- Walt Gregory found a way to make dough harvesting pizza. The gray-bearded retired insurance agent and his business partner have carved up quite a tourist draw near the Mississippi River city of Alton, educating people with a half-acre circular plot divided up like the slices of a huge pizza. Each of the eight wedges represents something used on a pizza -- everything from tomatoes to peppers and a patch of herbs including rosemary and sage. Three goats represent milk, and Cleo the cow stands...

Sanitation problems plague mountaineers in Alaska Wed Jun 15, 2005 03:54 PM ET By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Mountaineers who ascend North America's loftiest peak are often brought down to earth by "virus-laden poo" left behind by previous climbers, a medical report says. The unsanitary conditions created by piles of human feces on Mount McKinley can cause diarrhea among climbers, which can lead to widespread problems when combined with the physical stress of a mountain expedition, according to the report in the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. Of 132 climbers interviewed on the 20,320-foot (6,200-meter) peak in the...

Taking Chance Chance Phelps was wearing his Saint Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday. Eight days later, I handed the medallion to his mother. I didn't know Chance before he died. Today, I miss him. Over a year ago, I volunteered to escort the remains of Marines killed in Iraq should the need arise. The military provides a uniformed escort for all casualties to ensure they are delivered safely to the next of kin and are treated with dignity and respect along the way. Thankfully, I hadn't been called on to be an escort since Operation...

I was asked by one of my fellow laborers, the other day, as to why I thought Ronald Reagan was as great a President as I do. I told her of his optimism and his policies and of the great success in defeating the Soviets in the Cold War. She persisted, however, certainly, others had the same policies and stood up against regimes that were contrary to their beliefs just as much as Reagan did? I realized that Reagan has been out of public view (at least overtly) long enough that young people may not remember him. I want to...

DIY dill shoots nail into brain By Sue Hewitt March 7, 2004 BRAD Shorten admits he is a fool who is lucky to be alive. He was skylarking with mates over a few beers and took what he thought was an empty nail gun and pointed it at his head. The Victorian father of three fired a 3.2cm nail through his skull into his brain, just behind his temple. A centimetre deeper and Mr Shorten, 33, could have been dead or paralysed. The Sunbury bricklayer's labourer thought the firing mechanism had glanced his skin, leaving a small red dot, not...