Free Republic

Oakland Residents Upset Over Lockpicking Workshop OAKLAND, Calif. -- City leaders in Oakland have been getting some angry e-mails lately from some of the people they serve. Mayor Jean Quan is the major target after her newsletter appears to promote a class designed to teach people how to pick a lock. In a city with a crime problem, it's easy to see why they're not happy. The name of the class appears among 40 others in the catalog for the upcoming "Workshop Weekend" in Oakland, right alongside things like "robot building." It's a 3-hour class called "Introduction to Lockpicking" and...

Global music industry body the IFPI said it wanted to counter the "myth" that artists can make it on their own. In a report, it said virtually no new artists had broken through without the backing of a record label. Major labels invest $1m (£670,000) in each new act, who could not afford to make records and videos and go on tour without that backing, the IFPI said. Record labels around the world spend a total of $5bn (£3.3bn) a year on developing and promoting new and established artists. IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) chief executive John Kennedy...

First Barry Manilow, Now Whoopi Goldberg Hassle The View's Hasselbeck over Conservative/Pro-Life Views Goldberg, who is said to have had at least 6 abortions, says, "Americans ought to 'revere' women, who have had abortions By Peter J. Smith NEW YORK, October 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Once again the pro-life views of Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the only conservative woman on ABC's "The View," have landed her in trouble after a heated exchange with Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell's replacement, on Wednesday's program edition. Hasselbeck noted her opinion that presidential Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's proposal to give $5,000 for a new birth could help...

Student, prof build budget supercomputer August 30 , 2007 When Tim Brom 07’ set out to build a budget supercomputer with Calvin computer science professor Joel Adams, he didn’t know the product of his efforts might end up in his checked baggage headed for England. Brom, now a graduate student at the University of Kentucky continuing his studies in computer science, worked with Adams to build Microwulf, a machine that is among the smallest and least expensive supercomputers on the planet. “It’s small enough to check on an airplane or fit next to a desk,” said Brom. This may prove...

I thought someone might like to do some research. Has a governor ever appointed a senator of the opposite party as the governor ?

Homeowners Margaret and Daniel Anderson were proud of the work they did to upgrade their basement -- until all the lights went out. Electricians investigated, and found a fire hazard: Some wires were loose, bare and crammed together so tightly that electrical boxes were getting singed. The Andersons ended up paying a handyman service $10,000 to tear out walls and finish the basement. "It was all wrong," says Ms. Anderson. "They just bailed us out." Remodel for Less Than $500 The recent do-it-yourself boom has led to a growing number of botched projects as ambitious homeowners get in over their...

Just saw on the local (D/FW) news about a couple that I know personally (former employee's parents) who launched their own rescue operation for her mom in N.O. I heard they were going to do this but just saw on the news. They flew to Baton Rouge, bought a boat, drove to N.O. and found grandma at home and brought her back. She didn't want to leave because of her cat, but they got her back safe with the help of other relatives.

Discovery's astronauts had misgivings about the risky spacewalk mission to the shuttle's fragile belly but agreed to try the repair because it seemed relatively easy to do, crewmembers said on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Steve Robinson will make space history when he ventures out to Discovery's smooth underside to try to remove two loose fiber strips sticking out from between the crucial heat-resistant tiles. "Like most kinds of repairs, it's conceptually very simple, but it has to be done very, very carefully," Robinson said during a news conference from space on NASA's first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster. The...

Iraq, with some assistance from U.S. trainers, is approaching the halfway point in fielding its Special Weapons and Tactics teams to each governorate. Seven teams are now trained and equipped; two others are currently in training, according to officials from the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. The MNSTC-I Civilian Police Assistance Training Team plans to provide a SWAT team for each of 20 major Iraqi cities, with at least one in each governorate. SWAT teams in several major cities are already making a difference, according to reports. SWAT teams were used as quick reaction forces in Najaf and Al Kut during...

A transvestite who pumped industrial silicone into other men to give them feminine features pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a man who suffered complications. Stephen Thomas, 31, will serve five years in prison and 10 years on probation under the plea to felony involuntary manslaughter, which he entered Monday. The plea of was appropriate because those involved were willing participants and there was no intent to kill, Chief Assistant District Attorney Greg Edwards said Friday. The death of Andre Geter in December 2003 threw a spotlight on ``pumping,'' a thriving underground practice among men living as women,...

A Statement of our Mission At Conservative punk, our mission is threefold: 1. To inform today's youth that identify themselves with the punk scene with the facts, rather than rumor and conspiracy theory. 2. To encourage today's youth to register to vote and become engaged in politics. 3. To encourage youth voters to draw there own conclusions rather than indoctrinate them into a certain way of thinking. Punk music has been, and still is, one of the most heavy-handed genres of music there is. Unfortunately the topics of such heavy-handed songs are almost always seeped in left wing propaganda, bumper...

Friday, May 21, 2004 The way things are going, the world may come to an end before Lester Germanio is allowed to complete his environmentally self-sustaining "food-water-shelter project" in the boondocks of West Lake Hills. Since Lester began building his home about 18 months ago at 910 Terrace Mountain Drive, where the only thing he'd need to bring in to survive is wheat seeds, the City of West Lake Hills has hit him with several stop-work orders. Lester — who said he needs a place to sustain his family because who knows when the next "resource war" is going to...

George W Bush: Punk icon? By Damian Fowler BBC reporter in New York It sounds unlikely, but there is a surprising new subculture emerging in the United States: Republican punk rockers. In his knee-high Dr Martens and with his head shaved, Michale Graves is the Bush-friendly face of punk rock. He is the front man for the band Gotham Road, which has just kicked off its US tour. On stage he belts out angry, obscure lyrics, but offstage he is also known for his conservative rants and raves. "The leftist radical agenda seems to be resonating loudly from within pop...

<p>In the next few days or weeks, one of the world's most comprehensive online reference sites will publish its 200,000th article. More accurately, one of the site's contributors will publish the article.</p> <p>Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), an encyclopedia created and operated by volunteers, is one of the most fascinating developments of the Digital Age. In just over three years of existence, it has become a valuable resource and an example of how the grass roots in today's interconnected world can do extraordinary things.</p>

Pearl Jam doesn't play the corporate game. Or so the hugely successful Seattle-based rock music group would have you believe. The band's origins are in that city's anti-corporate, grunge rock movement. Fronted by singer-songwriter Eddie Vedder, the band's street credibility was reinforced by a lengthy, late 1990s feud with Ticketmaster, which the band boycotted in an effort to keep ticket prices down for its fans. But last week, a Delray Beach, Fla., music entrepreneur, Shep Alster, challenged Pearl Jam's populist image in Palm Beach Circuit Court. He is suing the band and its business consultant, Peter McQuaid, contending that they...

Concert CDs sold on the spot by a radio giant New York Times News Service Clear Channel Communications, the radio broadcasting and concert promotion giant, plans to introduce on Monday a venture that will sell live recordings on compact disc within five minutes of a show's conclusion. The venture, Instant Live, will enable a band's still-sweating fans to leave with a musical souvenir instead of, say, a pricey T-shirt or a glossy program. Although initially modest, involving only small-audience clubs and theaters in the Boston area, the venture could eventually extend beyond radio and concerts into music distribution. And that...