Free Republic

Things may be getting a little more stylish up on the DMZ (the Korean Demilitarized Zone) when Republic of Korea troops don their new high-tech battle uniforms. Accessories could include bulletproof helmets and a new assault rifle. The Agency for Defense Development will begin the two-phase development on a new combat uniform beginning next year, according to The Korea Times. "The agency has completed studies on the concept of the future combatant uniform and equipment,'" an unnamed official told the newspaper. "From next year, we plan to begin developing related technology and equipment after getting approval from the Defense Acquisition...

Take a gander at this one... Reuters Gives us another Obama photo in a seeming Christ-like pose, halo surrounding him.

The joystick has brought Ben Stiller nothing but sorrow. Industry expectations for "The Heartbreak Kid," the date movie that re-teamed him with the Farrelly brothers (the duo who made him a megastar in "There's Something About Mary"), called for a $20 million to $25 million opening for the film. Instead, "Kid," which cost north of $60 million to make, managed only $14 million in the U.S. and Canada -- heartbreaking, indeed.

This is quite a funny presentation. I'd discuss it but I'd rather you watch instead. Total runtime--5:52. Safe for work. I was hooting toward the end. Click here or at the link above.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft's (MSFT.O) "Halo 3" has dominated video game headlines this week, but if blasting aliens isn't appealing there is more on offer in other games, including role-playing the composer Frederic Chopin. "Halo 3" is also only available on Microsoft's Xbox 360, so owners of Sony's (6758.T) PlayStation 3 or Nintendo's (7974.OS) Wii have to look elsewhere. The good news is that there are a number of games that have garnered high marks from reviewers and don't involve plasma rifles or parasitic alien life forms. "'Halo' is sucking up a lot of the publicity right now but...

<p>Microsoft Corp. said its hotly-anticipated new videogame, Halo 3, generated an estimated $170 million in U.S. sales in its first day of release, a record for the games industry and a big boost for Microsoft's Xbox 360 business.</p> <p>The sales for Halo 3 exceeded first-day U.S. sales of $125 million for Halo 2, which came out three years ago for Microsoft's original ...</p>

PALMDALE - "Halo 3," the long-anticipated third installment of the futuristic video game series, went on sale at midnight, helping give closure to the hundreds of devotees who bought or picked up pre-ordered copies of the game in the wee hours of the morning. Ernie Casillas, assistant manager of Gamestop video game store on 10th Street West, said about 800 people pre-ordered copies of "Halo 3" from his store alone. Gamestop will be host to a "Halo 2" tournament at the store as customers wait until midnight to pick up their discs. "We have one gent in line already," Casillas...

The grizzly man is back, and this time he's ready to take on bullets and bombs. Troy Hurtubise, the Hamilton-born inventor who became famous for his bulky bear-protection suit by standing in front of a moving vehicle to prove it worked, has now created a much slimmer suit that he hopes will soon be protecting Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and U.S. soldiers in Iraq. He has spent two years and $15,000 in the lab out back of his house in North Bay, designing and building a practical, lightweight and affordable shell to stave off bullets, explosives, knives and clubs. He...

This monthly thread is dedicated to Freepers who also enjoy online gaming. Post here to find fellow gamers, arrange online games, or share screen shots, reviews, helps and tips. Separate Ping lists are created and maintained for each game.Official game site links are available for most games listed. We currently have 92 gamers playing over 95 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (19 gamers) World Of Warcraft (16 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (10 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 86 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (19 gamers) World Of Warcraft (15 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (10 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 84 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (19 gamers) World Of Warcraft (15 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (10 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 76 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (17 gamers) World Of Warcraft (14 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (9 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 74 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (16 gamers) World Of Warcraft (13 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 72 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (16 gamers) World Of Warcraft (13 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (7 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 71 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (16 gamers) World Of Warcraft (12 gamers) Unreal Tournament (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 70 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (15 gamers) World Of Warcraft (12 gamers) City Of Heroes (8 gamers) Unreal Tournament (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 68 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (15 gamers) World Of Warcraft (12 gamers) City Of Heroes (8 gamers) Unreal Tournament (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 61 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (14 gamers) World Of Warcraft (11 gamers) City Of Heroes (8 gamers) Unreal Tournament (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 59 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (14 gamers) World Of Warcraft (10 gamers) City Of Heroes (8 gamers) Unreal Tournament (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 57 gamers playing over 60 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (12 gamers) World Of Warcraft (9 gamers) City Of Heroes (9 gamers) Unreal Tournament (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 53 gamers playing over 50 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (12 gamers) World Of Warcraft (9 gamers) Unreal Tournament (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 50 gamers playing over 50 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (10 gamers) World Of Warcraft (9 gamers) Unreal Tournament (8 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 44 gamers playing over 45 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (9 gamers) World Of Warcraft (8 gamers) Unreal Tournament (7 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 41 gamers playing over 45 different games. Top Games: Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (8 gamers) Unreal Tournament (7 gamers) World Of Warcraft (7 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 38 gamers playing over 45 different games. Top Games: Unreal Tournament (7 gamers) Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (6 gamers) World Of Warcraft (5 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 36 gamers playing over 45 different games. Top Games: Unreal Tournament (7 gamers) Battlefield/Battlefield 2 (6 gamers) World Of Warcraft (4 gamers)

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. We currently have 33 gamers playing over 45 different games.

If you are a Freeper, and also like online gaming, post here to find fellow gamers, share screen shots, reviews, helps, and tips. Gamer tables are updated and published weekly. Freeping Gamers Aliases IM services/IDs BADROTOFINGER AmericanControl, BuffaloWing, PsychoFool, Uncle Isotope  Liberty server Bloody Sam Roberts Scorpios   Born Conservative hillarysfatlegs   cabojoe Cabojoe   CGVet58     Dog Gone Hillary Wideass Clinton   Fire_on_High Scendera, Thyla, or Lithandra   HairOfTheDog     kenth ACK, Stax Yahoo: kenth_68  icq: 622651 Leapfrog  Admiral Your Worst Nightmare  MetaServerII Liberty Tree Surgeon     Mad Dawgg Dextar   Malsua Huzzah martin_fierro     Michael Barnes...

How far ahead of the pack is the F-22? Especially when compared to European fighters like the Rafael, Eurofighter, and Gripen? This is something that matters a lot to the Air Force, which thinks the F-22 is vital to maintaining air superiority – replacing the F-15C as soon as possible, even at the expense of reducing the buy of the F-35. How valid is the Air Force’s claim? First, one needs to look at how visible the aircraft in question are on radar. The F-15C is probably the most visible, entering service just as Lockheed began work on the F-117...

Halo 2, the sequel to the top selling game for Microsoft's Xbox, will be released on November 9th. Joe Staten, the Microsoft employee and writer responsible for the storyline of both games, will use the new game (targeted at teens) as a political protest against the Bush Administration. For those who don't know story of the Halo games, it takes place in the future when vicious and radically religious alien forces called "The Covenant" are in a war with the human race and have trapped a lone human warship light years from Earth near the heretofore unknown Halo, a huge...

Excerpt: Die-hard fans will notice that the core gameplay in Halo 2 remains largely unchanged. The most impressive new feature is the ability to wield two weapons at once. But the biggest step forward is that Staten's story about an invasion of Earth is now told from the perspective of both the humans and the Covenant aliens. Since Master Chief was already well established, Staten and his father, a professor of theology, developed a set of religious beliefs that could explain the Covenant's actions in the sequel. They zeroed in on the idea of the Halos — 10,000-kilometer-wide ring worlds...

Dark Matter Halo Puzzles Astronomers Summary - (Oct 26, 2004) Astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have discovered a huge halo of dark matter around an isolated elliptical galaxy; an object that shouldn't have such a halo, according to optical observations. The galaxy, NGC 4555, is unusual that it's a large elliptical galaxy which isn't part of a larger cluster of galaxies. It's surrounded by a cloud of gas, twice the size of the galaxy itself, that's been heated to 10-million-degrees Celsius. This gas could only get that hot if it was being constrained by a halo of dark matter...

BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Residents in Changsha, Capital of central China's Hunan Province have enjoyed the golden opportunity to see an atmospheric wonder: a solar halo. Yesterday, the sun was wrapped by a grey and black band and the sight looked more beautiful as colorful rings appeared outside the ring. The spectacular sight lasted three and half hours in the city. Meteorological experts make it clear the solar halo can not foretell good or ill luck since it is only an atmospheric phenomenon. Solar halos indicate the increase of steam and the coming of low pressure. (CRIENGLISH.com)

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 21 A Halo Around the Moon Credit & Copyright: Sarah McKay Explanation: Have you ever seen a halo around the Moon? This fairly common sight occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover much of the sky. Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens. Because most of the crystals have a similar elongated hexagonal shape, light entering one crystal face and...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 30 A Sun Pillar Credit & Copyright: Dave Liquorice Explanation: Have you ever seen a sun pillar? When the air is cold and the Sun is rising or setting, falling ice crystals can reflect sunlight and create an unusual column of light. Ice sometimes forms flat, stop-sign shaped crystals as it falls from high-level clouds. Air resistance causes these crystals to lie nearly flat much of...