Free Republic

As advances in computer technology make gadgets ever smaller and more portable the idea of carrying a screen of any kind could soon be outdated. Consumer products with screens have dropped in size from computer to laptop to tablet via phone. But one company specialising in cutting edge visual technology waIsraeli company Lumus has shown off the PD-18-2, which may look like a cumbersome pair of shades but allow the user to see high-quality images while they walk.nts to beam information directly into your field of vision.

YOU DECIDE! Somebody's been reading their Albert Pike docs., lol

we are getting closer to the jetsons!!

<p>There are moments when our political system, whose essential job is to mediate conflicts in broadly acceptable and desirable ways, is simply not up to the task. It fails. This may be one of those moments. What we learned in 2011 is that the frustrating and confusing budget debate may never reach a workable conclusion. It may continue indefinitely until it's abruptly ended by a severe economic or financial crisis that wrenches control from elected leaders.</p>

If Newt Gingrich were being nominated for sainthood, many of us would vote very differently from the way we would vote if he were being nominated for a political office. What the media call Gingrich’s “baggage” concerns largely his personal life and the fact that he made a lot of money running a consulting firm after he left Congress. This kind of stuff makes lots of talking points that we will no doubt hear, again and again, over the coming weeks and months. But how much weight should we give to this stuff when we are talking about the future...

Islam is on its way to become the most practiced religion in Europe. In a new book published by the University of Leuven, “The Iris and the Crescent,” sociologist Felice Dassetto says that Muslims will comprise the majority of the population of Brussels by 2030. The title of the book refers to the yellow flower symbol of Brussels’ region and to the Islamic emblem: While the first is decaying, the second is growing. Muslims now make up one-quarter of the population of the capital of the enlightened Europe and they are asking to use the empty churches for Islamic prayers....

Occupy Protesters Consider Political FutureBy Don Gonyea Thu., December 1, 2011 3:45am (EST) **SNIP** One who has been watching the Occupy movement closely is Van Jones, an activist who once worked in the Obama White House, and who now heads an organization called Rebuild the Dream. Jones has spoken at Occupy encampments and met with those working on the next steps. He thinks that the movement can work on multiple fronts. Protests and demonstrations are important, Jones says, but so too are elections. "There's no reason to do an either or here. This can be one of the biggest movements...

GOP candidate speaks out on 'Your World'

BOSTON (AP) -- Rep. Barney Frank's decision to step down at the end of his term is the latest jolt to the bruised ego of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, which once counted Kennedys, House speakers and a president among its ranks. Instead, some of the state's best-known political figures are now Republicans, among them Sen. Scott Brown and presidential candidate Mitt Romney. "For a long time, Massachusetts Democrats have felt they played a special role in the national Democratic Party," said Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry. "I think that has gone at this point. There is no one...

Nice to listen to on many fronts.

Get Ready! Listen up – Because your space playbook is about to really change. There’s a new gunslinger in Dodge and he’s huge. He’s hungry. He’s very wealthy. He’s ambitious, (like we used to be). And he is not American. He has already started to play the Game and we are unaware. We don’t even know what the Game is. What is the Game? The Game is what I call "Solar System Monopoly". This will characterize the 21st and 22nd centuries and beyond. "The Hell you say." Yes, I say -- and if we ignore this it shall be at...

"...First, identify prominent purveyors of global warming doom-and-gloom. The bigger the media ham, the better. For a jumping-off list, I suggest Al Gore, James Hansen, Michael Mann, Gavin Schmidt and Joe Romm. Second, whenever the purveyors of doom make ridiculous predictions about global warming, ask them to put their money where their mouths are. After all, if Al Gore can so fervently urge government to force us to spend our hard-earned money complying with his global warming predictions, he should certainly be willing to risk his own millions backing up his global warming claims. Sometimes you might get lucky and...

"...While climate is certainly an extraordinarily complicated mechanism, the facts keep pointing back to this simple fact of chemistry. Increased CO2 and methane may not be the sole cause of climate change, but it’s definitely a cause and almost certainly a major one. Now, what next? My Forbes colleague Tim Worstall argues that this is a serious situation, but one in which the human race can make “marginal changes and still survive and thrive.” I agree with him on this – as long as we act quickly. The technology is moving at a rapid pace, and the industries are catching...

The Obama administration seems surprised by how cautious consumers have been in the two years since the recession officially ended.Officially ended?I’d hasten to say the government’s definition of “officially ended� differs slightly from that of middle class America (i.e. those without the last name of Hilton, Buffet, etc.).When our homes regain the value they once had, maybe the recession has ended. When we no longer spend half our salary just to travel to work, maybe the recession has ended.Falling home prices, coupled with high energy costs and high unemployment has drained middle class America of what little wealth they had.Forget...

Yet another insane bill has passed through the madhouse called the California State Legislature and now awaits the undead governor’s signature. Indeed, one of the few signs of life he showed during the campaign that brought him back from beyond the grave was when he spoke of the joy with which he would sign such a bill if resurrected. I refer to AB 131, the second half of the so-called “California Dream Act,” which would allow illegal aliens brought to this country as children who’ve graduated from California’s public-school system to apply for college aid. Predictably, rage against this act...

Future of America: Harder Than Anything You’ve Experienced In Your Lifetime Mac Slavo July 11th, 2011 SHTFplan.com In February 0f 2009, while on the Glenn Beck show, trend forecaster Gerald Celente was asked to comment on global events and extraordinary times in which we live. His response should have been a wake up call. [It will be] Like nothing we’ve ever seen in our lifetime or I would say anyone’s life time. Since then we’ve seen not billions, but trillions upon trillions of dollars committed to bank bailouts, toxic asset purchases, stock market liquidity infusion, so-called job creation programs, tax...

Our Economic Future: From Best to Worst Case (Doug Casey) by: Doug Casey June 9, 2011 There is a great deal of uncertainty among investors about what the future of the U.S. economy may look like – so I decided to take a stab at what’s likely to happen over the next 20 years. That's enough time for a child to grow up and mature, and it's long enough for major trends to develop and make themselves felt. I’ll confine myself to areas that are, as the benighted Rumsfeld might have observed, “known unknowns.” I don’t want to deal with...

The theoretical physicist and author of 'Physics of the Future' talks about how nanotechnology will change our lives.Will the future bring us the teleportation devices of "Star Trek" or the sinister machines of "The Matrix"? Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku of the City College of New York says that many of the things that were once the domain of science fiction — cars that navigate rush-hour traffic on their own, wallpaper that can switch colors when you remodel, an elevator that takes you into outer space — are already here, or well on their way. His book "Physics of the Future,"...

Today’s attack on Jewish worshippers at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus needs to be understood as something more significant than just another unfortunate instance of violence between Jews and Arabs. It is nothing less than a warning of what will happen once Palestinians achieve full sovereignty, as the Obama administration appears to be demanding, over all of the West Bank. The incident occurred when a group of religious Jews, members of the Breslov hasidic sect visited the Jewish holy site this morning unaccompanied by Israeli soldiers. The tomb is located in the city of Nablus

Growing up, physicist Michio Kaku had two heroes. The first, predictably enough for the man who co-founded a branch of string theory, was Albert Einstein. "Second?" he said. "I used to watch 'Flash Gordon.' " Kaku, author of the new book "Physics of the Future: How Science Will Change Daily Life by 2100," combines those two loves on the Science Channel, where he hosts "Sci Fi Science" and a tech-themed segment introducing reruns of sci-fi series "Firefly," which airs at 10 p.m. ET Sundays.

In January, I posted a column which dealt with the topic of Futurist Predictions for 2011. Within that article, I spoke of marketing and trend guru Faith Popcorn's research as to where our culture, economics and mindsets were headed in the coming year. Well, Ms. Popcorn has refined her 2011 predictions even more and is dubbing this year as "The year of En-Gen." "En-Gen" is an abbreviation of "end of gender," and Popcorn's posse of trend trackers feels that there is a fuzzy-ing of the gender differences which have existed for most of our collective lives! It seems that men...

WASHINGTON -Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday she does not want to stay in her job if President Barack Obama wins a second term in 2012. The nation's top diplomat also firmly said she neither has plans to mount another White House bid nor interest in other posts, such as vice president or defense secretary. Clinton, visiting Cairo, was asked whether she would stay on in a second Obama term. She also was asked if she would like the jobs of president, vice president or defense secretary. She offered single word responses to each: "No." Speculation about Clinton's...

The ongoing Census reveals the continuing evolution of America’s cities from small urban cores to dispersed, multi-polar regions that includes the city’s surrounding areas and suburbs. This is not exactly what most urban pundits, and journalists covering cities, would like to see, but the reality is there for anyone who reads the numbers. To date the Census shows that growth in America’s large core cities has slowed, and in some cases even reversed. This has happened both in great urban centers such as Chicago and in the long-distressed inner cities of St. Louis, Baltimore, Wilmington, Del., and Birmingham, Ala. This...

"'Becoming a grandmother at 29 is my worst nightmare' says mum after discovering her 14-year-old daughter is pregnant" A woman who is set to become Britain's youngest grandmother at 29 said it was 'her worst nightmare' when she discovered her 14-year-old daughter was pregnant. Kelly John said she always hoped Tia would not repeat her mistake and become pregnant at 14. But after getting over the shock, the grandmother-to-be has vowed to do 'everything' to bring up the new baby.

Members of an African American Student Union were left open-mouthed and outraged after a white, freshman was hired for a top job within the group. Torey McCleskey, a first year student at University of North Florida, was handed the coveted assistant director role, after a unanimous decision from the institution's Senate. However AASU members argue that Mr McCleskey, an athletic training and sports medicine student, has never actually set foot in the AASU's office.

JANUARY 13, 2011 Prices Soar on Crop Woes U.S. Cuts Global Grain Supply Outlook; Higher Prices Expected at Grocery Stores. By SCOTT KILMAN And LIAM PLEVEN Evidence of tightening global food supplies grew as the U.S. Agriculture Department cut its estimates for global harvests of key crops and raised some demand forecasts, adding to worries about rising food prices. Prices of corn and soybeans leapt 4% Wednesday and wheat gained 1%, continuing the broad rally in commodity prices that began in June. With yesterday's gains, prices of corn futures contracts are now up 94% from their June lows; soybeans are...

FYI - Here are statements from Jim about the future of FreeRepublic.com for those who missed them. They are quite serious. === "Well, I can say that there are definitely two things that will never happen. 1) Banner ads. 2) Oracle [a completely new database system.] And a third is a total replacement [of the current damaged system.] Don’t have the financial wherewithal." "To those who wish to leave because of it, see ya." "If FR dies, that’s that."=== [To: paulycy] Hey, you want us to get an all new system with all new software and add a few more...

America’s Pensionless FutureThe first debt bomb has already detonated. Is it the first explosion in a nationwide chain reaction? Robert Morley From theTrumpet.com January 4, 2011 Want to see the future? Go to Prichard Alabama. It is a city with a sobering lesson for America and for millions of people who think the good times are about to return. What draws our attention here? Nothing. That’s what’s startling. There is hardly anything going on here anymore. Prichard in 2011 is a rundown, decaying, derelict collection of overgrown, boarded-up old buildings. Around them, abandoned homes litter a landscape crisscrossed with cratered...

I found an interesting article on The Mormon Curtain dealing with the problems the Mormons face in the modern world, where Mormons are no longer isolated in western canyons and led by despotic authorities. Since Mormons are now "in" the world, and since the cult, itself, must make an effort to adapt, what are someof the areas of Mormonism impacted? Here's the article: The LDS Church Peaked In The 1990's And It Has Nowhere To Go But Down From Here Posted By RubiconThe LDS Church will exist in one form or another for decades but it's membership numbers will decline...

As the opening decade of the twenty-first century draws to a close, what is the future of the United States in an increasingly complex and fluid world order? In a prospective global scenario in which China dominates and reshapes Asia; India becomes a major economic power and extends its influence into Africa; Islam continues to spread its brand of social dominion and Europe has become a loose confederation of states trying to maintain some semblance of importance, what role will the United States play? It has become conventional wisdom that over the next 25 to 30 years the United States...

Today is my 12th anniversary as a Freeper. I came across Free Republic in the summer of 1998 as a lurker, troubled by an increasingly lawless President Clinton, and what was happening to our country. I lurked for about four months, reading every day and being amazed at the group of talented and knowledgeable people on this site. When Jim Robinson put out the call for people to come to Washington, DC to attend the March for Justice Rally on October 30, 1998, I came from NJ on my own, not knowing a soul there, because someone was finally calling...

... "Republicans, however, later agreed to pass it by unanimous consent."

None can foretell the future, and yet the shape of what we face can be shrewdly estimated with enough attention to historical trends; with broad contextual understanding; and with sufficient insight into the character of leaders, their societies, and the structures which define their basis. These estimates will be tempered by the sudden acts of nature, the sudden emergence of true leadership from unexpected quarters, or key breakthroughs in science. Still, we can hazard reliable views on the shape of the world in, say, a decade — in 2020 — if present trends and characters remain, and on a knowledge...

Poole and Rosenthal found that the House and Senate grew steadily less polarized from around 1900 to 1980. Then something happened; polarization has been sharply increasing ever since. A statistical method is fundamentally sound only if it tells you things you already know. The DW-NOMINATE maps tell us, first of all, that throughout the last 100 years both houses of Congress have split into two grand clusters, Democrats and Republicans. Within the Democrats, the Northern and Southern members form two clusters. Sometimes the Northern and Southern Democrats meld into each other without a gap, and other times (especially in the...

A few months back, President Barack Obama told an interviewer that he would rather be a great one-term president than a mediocre two-term president. As a glimpse into the President's mind, that remark is entirely credible, and it should be very frightening to anyone who cares about the future of Israel. Obama has always viewed himself as a world historical figure. Even the job of president of the United States does not fully comport with his ambitions, and many observers have remarked that he often seems bored by the humdrum demands of the job. The aspect of the presidency that...

Everyone knows that Obamacare was loosely modeled on the refrom undertaken in Massachusetts. So how’s MA doing? About exactly as you’d expect. This summer the Boston Globe wrote that: The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget. Unable to stop the bleeding, Massachusetts has resorted to price controls: In February, the governor filed sweeping legislation that proposes to give the Division of Insurance the...

div class="article_body"> The battle for the future of the Republican Party will fully engage tomorrow morning in the wake of today's election. The opposing forces will be initially represented by two Republicans who hold no elected office: Sarah Palin and Karl Rove. Palin represents the Tea Party Movement (TPM). Rove is the lead consigliere for the Republican bluebloods. Will their groups eventually consolidate their disparate agendas? The answer will determine the future of the GOP. After eviscerating Christine O'Donnell's campaign, Rove challenged the TPM in Der Spiegel, where he was quoted as saying, If you look underneath the surface of...

`The Campaign That Never Ended on November 4, 2008’, comes to an abrupt, merciful and undignified end tomorrow night. Most of the Democrats have been greedily picking the pockets of the poor, begging—on an almost daily basis—breaking the backs of the most vulnerable: the poor they claim to represent.

The following is part of the conclusion of David Limbaugh’s 2010 book CRIMES AGAINST LIBERTY: AN INDICTMENT OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA. This book may become a classic in the annals of political reporting. After 386 pages of extensively footnoted documentation of the record of President Obama, he offers this summary. The scariest part is not just what Obama has done, but what lies ahead:

The iconic writer reveals the shape of things to come, with 45 tips for survival and a matching glossary of the new words you'll need to talk about your messed-up future. 1) It's going to get worse No silver linings and no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop. 2) The future isn't going to feel futuristic .... (continued)

(NaturalNews) Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has admitted that there is no way to stop the uncontrolled spread of its genetically modified crops. "Even the best practices can't guarantee perfection," said Mark Ferguson, the company's defense lawyer in a recent trial. Two Missouri farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their crop with modified genes from an experimental strain of rice engineered to be resistant to the company's Liberty-brand herbicide. The contamination occurred in 2006, during an open field test of the new rice, which was not approved for human consumption. According to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from...

jenningsthecat writes "A study published in December 2009 in the International Journal of Biological Sciences found that three varieties of Monsanto genetically-modified corn caused damage to the liver, kidneys, and other organs of rats. One of the corn varieties was designed to tolerate broad-spectrum herbicides, (so-called 'Roundup-ready' corn), while the other two contain bacteria-derived proteins that have insecticide properties. The study made use of Monsanto's own raw data. Quoting from the study's 'Conclusions' section: 'Our analysis highlights that the kidneys and liver as particularly important on which to focus such research as there was a clear negative impact on the...

The Looking Spoon is a conservative humor/satire/art/commentary blog, visit www.thelookingspoon.com to see more posts and art

Computerworld - A majority of mobile application developers see Google's Android as the smart bet over the long run even as they vote for Apple's iOS in the short term, according to a survey published Monday. The survey, conducted jointly by Appcelerator and IDC, polled more than 2,300 developers who use Appcelerator's Titanium cross-platform compiler to produce iOS and Android native applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Of those developers, 59% said that Android had the "best long-term outlook," compared to just 35% who pegged Apple's iOS with that label. ... To make things even tougher for Apple down the...

Hollywood and robotics researchers have long struggled with the "uncanny valley," where a movie character or robot falls into the unsettling gap between human and not-quite-human. One psychologist likes to demonstrate this by holding up a plastic baby doll and asking audiences if they think it's alive. They say no. Then she takes out a saw and starts cutting the doll's head off, but quickly stops upon seeing the uncomfortable audience reactions.

Humans have always been fascinated by the idea of space travel. Some even believe that colonizing new planets is man’s best hope for the future. The popular idea is that we’ll eventually need some fresh, unexploited new worlds to inhabit -a real-world Pandora. In an earlier Galaxy post we wrote that Stephen Hawking, world-celebrated expert on the cosmological theories of gravity and black holes who held Issac Newton's Lucasian Chair at Cambridge University until his recent retirement, believes that traveling into space is the only way humans will be able to survive in the long-term, while warning about the potential...

Many of you will still be alive in 50 years. It’s interesting to think about what life will be like in 50 years technologically and otherwise. Predictions are risky, especially when they’re about the future, but I believe we can make some pretty good guesses. To predict a predictable future, you need to look at the past. What was technological life like 50 years ago? 50 years ago was 1959. The world of 1959 is pretty much the same world we live in today technologically speaking. This is a vaguely horrifying fact which is little appreciated. In 1959, we had...

Conservatives who read the polls are already anticipating Republican gains in this November's congressional elections, hoping for an anti-Obama tidal wave. They should temper their enthusiasm. Statistically, the opposition party almost always gains seats in midterm elections. But let us for the sake of the argument suppose that a repeat of the 1994 midterm elections is in the offing -- that Republicans exceed their wildest expectations and gain control of both houses. What will change? Will ObamaCare be repealed? Almost assuredly not. There is virtually zero chance that the Republicans will control both houses by the two-thirds majority necessary to...

In channel surfing the TV last night I heard the (desperate, non fresh) talking points of the democRATS. -Blame Bush... -Bring up Bush over and over and over -State clearly that what we are in now was caused by Bush -Cleaning up the Bush mess -Bush spends BILLIONS on phoney wars that benefit he and Cheney (They said this with a straight face HOPING no one will remember their chosen, progressive, communistic savior, Obama never stopped any war and sent more troops. -If the GOP takes power we will have tax cuts for the wealthy -Bush did it -Bush is...

Apple's Biggest Fear By: David Sterman Staff Writer StreetAuthority Published: July 13, 2010 In the land of consumer technology, it's hard to stay as the king of the hill. Two decades ago, Sony (NYSE: SNE) ruled the roost, with its hot-selling Walkmans and Trinitron TVs. About a decade ago, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) looked poised to dominate the global cell phone market, and more recently, Motorola's (NYSE: MOT) RAZR set that company up for a long-term run as a consumer favorite. All those companies can now be seen in Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) rear-view mirror. With each passing year, Apple's brand only...