Free Republic

Of all the umpire-related stories we've seen this year, here's one that's just really odd: Jordan Baker is a rookie umpire who's getting noticed for tossing his gum into the outfield after every half inning. If he's umping — like he was Tuesday night in the St. Louis Cardinals-Arizona Diamondbacks game — you'll see wads of gum behind him. The announcers of Tuesday's game noticed as much and talked about it on the air. That wasn't the only reason Baker was noticed. He also threw Diamondbacks bench coach Alan Trammell out of the game after an argument about a stolen...

Weird baseball reached a whole new level on Friday night in Seattle. Note: Watch the video at the link before reading the article.

Dashboard cameras are more commonly used for documenting car crashes, accidents and crimes, but one Youtube user has uploaded a series of goof deeds captured on the devices. The video, which was uploaded by ArkadiYM93, features a series of kind acts by good Samaritans in Russia. It has since gone viral, amassing more than 880,000 viewings in just a one day. The video has had a very positive response on the website as Youtube users expressed their gratitude to ArkadiYM93. Youtube user xlv90 wrote ‘This video is so inspiring. It actually made me just want to go out and start...

When your workplace spans 3,500 miles from coast to coast, the best way to turn heads is to show up with a tricked-out set of wheels. In our case, the wheels can carry up to 5,100 cubic feet of cargo. Walmart Canada has made greening the supply chain a significant priority and investment over the past few years through a number of different initiatives. One area where we saw great opportunity was with our fleet; we wanted to find a way to deliver more products to our stores using fewer trucks, thereby reducing our impact on the environment. We found...

Can anyone tell me what is the name of the car that this dash is a part of? What are those levers in front of the steering wheel used for? Air vents? Nice looking dash.

Happy ending. Judge Judy - Grown up man cries. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI4UEojhT2Y

A local Chili's restaurant in Midvale, Utah, might have made the grave mistake of "breaking" one little girl's cheeseburger by cutting it in half, but the waitress, manager and line cooks more than made up for it Sunday when they presented her with a brand new "fixed" one. Seven-year-old Arianna Hill is autistic and she loves cheeseburgers. But apparently, ones that are cut in half just won't do. "We just decided we were going to get some lunch before we were taking her to see the Easter bunny," Arianna's older sister, Anna MacLean, 25, told ABCNews.com. However,when Arianna's burger was...

There's a store in Australia that really hates it when its customers walk around the store without buying anything. Redditor BarrettFox posted a pic of a sign informing shoppers of a new fee at a specialty food store in Brisbane. It's $5 for "just looking." The fee exists to stop people from "showrooming" — which occurs when a customer looks at items in a physical store, then makes the purchase online. The sign assures that you'll have the five dollars deducted from the final purchase price, so you'll get your money back if you buy something.

Up to a dozen Norwegian children may have ingested their kindergarten teacher's blood after she brought a vial of it into class. The teacher, who has not been identified, reportedly asked the nurse at a recent doctor's visit if she could have a vial of her blood to take with her to the school where she taught. When 'sharing time' came, she took out the vial, poured it in a plate, and let the students pass it around the classroom, said Inger Lise Andersen, director of the Dravhaug kindergarten. 'The children asked if they could touch it and she allowed...

A homeless man in Kansas City, Missouri is facing a windfall of more than $100,000 for his kindness after he returned a diamond engagement ring to its rightful owner, which she had accidentally dropped into his donation cup. Billy Ray Harris, who is homeless and often sleeps under a bridge, was shocked to find that a diamond ring had been dropped in his collection cup while begging last Friday. ‘The ring was so big I knew if it was real it had to be expensive,’ he told KCTV. Rather than pawn it, Harris had a hunch that the owner would...

Airbus said it is dropping plans to use lithium-ion batteries on its new A350 airplane, under development, in the wake of problems with the batteries on Chicago-based Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. The Boeing Co. rival said, while it believes the battery architecture it has been developing and qualifying for is robust and safe, it will instead use nickel cadmium main batteries, which have a proven track record. “Airbus considers this to be the most appropriate way forward in the interest of program execution and A350 reliability, Airbus said in a statement. The entire fleet of 50 Boeing 787s was grounded by...

Graduate student Megan Thode wasn't happy about the C-plus she received for one class,saying the mediocre grade kept her from getting her desired degree and becoming a licensed therapist — and, as a result,cost her $1.3 million in lost earnings. Now Thode is suing her professor and Lehigh University in Bethlehem,claiming monetary damages and seeking a grade change. A judge is hearing testimony in the case this week in Northampton County Court. Lehigh and the professor contend her lawsuit is without merit. Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano declined to dismiss the suit Wednesday, ruling that there was enough evidence for...

Two test flights of Boeing Co's (BA.N) 787 Dreamliner have not revealed the cause of the battery malfunctions that grounded the jets, leaving it to focus on low-tech interim fixes, the Wall Street Journal said, citing government and industry officials. More test flights are planned, including efforts to assess potential fixes, although no significant new clues emerged to help pinpoint the cause of the problem, the Journal said. Boeing is now considering putting the lithium ion batteries in a sturdier container to stop heat, flames and toxic chemicals from escaping if the power packs overheat, the newspaper said. People familiar...

A fire that broke out last week in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner could have been hot enough to melt the carbon-fiber reinforced plastic that makes up the plane’s shell, according to the results of tests the Federal Aviation Administration performed last year. In the FAA tests, which the agency performed at its site in Atlantic City a year after it certified the Dreamliner, the temperature of the battery fires reached as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The plane’s polymer skin melts at 649 degrees, according to its manufacturer, Victrex Energy of West Conshohocken, Pa. It also burns at high temperatures....

Serial number tag does not match the serial number in bios. I just bought a used Lenovo Thinkpad off eBay. Received it yesterday and I noticed the serial number tag on the bottom was a little torn. No concern to me, at least at first. I also ran the s/n from the tag to see if it had any warranty time left on it. The s/n on the tag shows the warranty expired in 2011. Okay, as wthis as expected. So, I was checking the system out to ensure it was okay, the settings were correct, and I noticed the...

Army National Guard Maj. Shawn Fulker is thousands of miles away serving in Afghanistan, and when his wife's birthday came around, he decided he wanted to do something very special. Josephine Fulker loves Mellow Mushroom pizza,so her husband emailed Mellow Mushroom's corporate website on Thursday to ask whether one of the company's Jacksonville stores could deliver a pizza and a $50 gift card to his wife at their Jacksonville, Fla., home.If they could, he said, he would call the store and pay for it with his credit card. Mellow Mushroom did one better. Unbeknownst to Shawn Fulker,a local Mellow Mushroom...

J.C. Penney is bringing back sales. The struggling department store chain this week will begin adding back some of the hundreds of sales it ditched last year in hopes of luring shoppers who were turned off when the discounts disappeared, CEO Ron Johnson told The Associated Press. Penney also plans to add price tags or signs for more than half of its merchandise to show customers how much they're saving by shopping at the chain — a strategy used by a few other retailers. For store-branded items such as Arizona, Penney will show comparison prices from competitors. The reversal comes...

Bear surprises a camera crew filming a commercial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoe5Vjl90-o

•Peugeot Citroen invents technology for air car ready for the market by 2016 •'Hybrid Air' engine system runs on petrol and air, instead of electricity •Company predicts 'Hybrid Air' to achieve 117 miles per gallon by 2020 French car giant PSA Peugeot Citroen believes it can put an air- powered vehicle on the road by 2016. Its scientists say it will knock 45 per cent off fuel bills for an average motorist. And when driving in towns and cities costs could be slashed by as much as 80 per cent because the car will be running on air for four-fifths...

Japan's new government is barely a month old, and already one of its most senior members has insulted tens of millions of voters by suggesting that the elderly are an unnecessary drain on the country's finances. Taro Aso, the finance minister, said on Monday that the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die" to relieve pressure on the state to pay for their medical care. "Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government," he...