Free Republic

COUNCIL BLUFFS Terry Markley remembers the glory days of greyhound racing, when gamblers needed a reservation to score a clubhouse table or else stand elbow-to-elbow with other dog enthusiasts. That was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the whistling bells of the slot machines began to drown out the barking of the dogs. “Before 1995, it was pretty packed in here, before people started to drift away from here to the riverboats,” said Markley, a retired military man who spends his afternoons betting on the dogs in a nearly empty clubhouse at Horseshoe Casino. No longer top dog...

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. (AP) -- Harvey Fite spent 37 years turning an abandoned bluestone quarry in the Catskill Mountains into a strange and striking landscape sculpture. Visitors to Opus 40 walk through rock-wall mazes that swirl around a 9-ton monolith looming in the center like a Stone Age exclamation mark. Fite was still working on his multi-acre artwork when he died in 1976 at age 72. His family has kept the Woodstock-area attraction open to seasonal visitors and the occasional concert, but now they're trying to sell the land, and local officials are working with them to keep this novel Hudson...

Just started reloading rifle ammo. Need to pick up a case trimmer. I do 200~300 in a batch. I'm thinking in terms of a manual trimmer with an electric drill attachment. I don't really feel like spending $300 for a Gracey. Any suggestions that would shorten research time would be valued. Thanks - HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING - now go plant your tomatoes.

(March 19) -- In 1965, a 14-year-old Canadian kid started building a chain of chewing gum wrappers, just like millions of other kids. The only difference between Gary Duschl and your typical kid is that he never stopped, and his chain is now 12 miles long -- 42 times the height of the Empire State Building, twice the height of Mount Everest and long enough to cross 210 football fields. "If you were to get in a car and drive 60 mph from one end of the chain, it would take you 12 minutes to get to the other," says...

(There are many candlelit activities to do with family or friends when you turn off the lights for an hour to raise awareness about climate change.) Q: Earth Hour is coming up on March 27 and I, for one, am excited to get in on the action and turn off my lights. One question though – what the heck am I supposed to do in the dark for a whole hour?A: You’ve come to the right place, my friend. For those of you who don’t know, the World Wildlife Fund started Earth Hour three years ago, asking people to turn...

Klaus Ulvestad (left) greets John Calvert, of Bowling Green, as Ulvestad and his friend Tormod Amlien (back) prepare to drive their 1937 Nimbus motorcycles to Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday. Over the last 11 months, Ulvestad and Amlien, of Norway, have completed about half of their world tour and have traveled more than 18,000 miles. The duo have been chronicling their adventures on their Web site, www.kccd.no, and receive help, donations and places to stay through friends and connections within the motorcycle community. They will be heading to Los Angeles and then to South America.

Good morning gardeners! It is finally warming up a just a bit and almost time for me to get the tiller out. I will keep my in ground garden the same size as it was last year but I have started some seed potatoes in containers and may do more in containers this year. My pear trees are budding and two already are starting to bloom. I hope my figs trees do better than they did last year. A couple of Freepers have alerted me to two articles that all of you may find interesting so I have linked to...

He’s a suspect in 1,000 burglaries and 17 cases of arson. He never repeats his clothes, prays hard and loves women. He’s escaped six times in two years. The police can’t arrest their violent, hard-living quarry. This reporter can’t even name him on the lam. Sharad Kumar — as we’ll call him — is 17, a self-confessed burglar since age 10. Since he’s not an adult, he can’t be charged. His previous escape was five days ago. “In six months we have apprehended him thrice,” said H.G.S. Dhaliwal, deputy commissioner of police (south). “The rest’s up to the juvenile justice...

Ben Raisher watches as the writhing Octopus on his plate has its tentacles clipped with giant shears, then squirms in amber sesame oil like a pile of bisected earthworms. With a deft pinch of his chopsticks, the wriggling, still-alive limb is in his mouth and down his throat. Raisher, 28, smiles. It's what brought him to his local food adventure club, one of a handful of groups dedicated to dining on exotic and bizarre foods from New York to Denver to San Francisco. The iron-stomached champions of New York City are the Gastronauts, who meet monthly to feast on foods...

In the media's eyes, the Boy Scouts of America are on par with bubble wrap - unimportant, disposable and something largely ignored unless someone wants to stomp on them. The Boy Scouts celebrated its 100th anniversary last month. And as an organization in which over 110 million Americans have participated, including film director Steven Spielberg, 211 current members of Congress and Presidents John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama - and given the positive characteristics often associated with Scouts - hard-working respectful and loyal - it's logical to think the media would love to...

Do you know that the most medicinal soy food is miso? MEENA SREENIVASAN finds out more NOT many of us know of the goodness of “miso”. Current scientific research supports its historical health claims, and this delicious food is undoubtedly an effective therapeutic aid in the prevention and treatment of heart disease, certain cancers, radiation sickness and hypertension. According to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, miso soup consumption is also linked with up to a 50 per cent reduced risk of breast cancer. As it is fermented with a B12 synthesising bacteria, it has been commonly recommended as...

A SINGLETON man took some convincing that the call from NSW Lotteries about a $1 million win in last night's Lotto draw was genuine. "I'll give you a call back after I check the numbers myself,'' he told the official who broke the good news by telephone this morning. NSW Lotteries said the father-of-two, in his forties, was only persuaded after seeing a sign about the win at his local Lotto agency, Singleton Pharmacy.

Times boxing writer Lance Pugmire breaks down the WBO welterweight title fight.This wasn't the usual ring walk for Manny Pacquiao. With so much ground to cover inside this $1.2-billion, 100,000-person capacity palace known as Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao came to Texas with a chance to take out his frustrations over the road not taken, the result of a bitter negotiation with fellow superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. that squandered a $25-million guarantee. The target was Ghana's Joshua Clottey, a true welterweight with a chance to stun the boxing world. Clottey emerged from a locker room where African drums and instruments had been...

UPDATE:Flying cars and robot maids may still be far from reality, but one Jetsons-era vision of the future is very real: the jetpack. After nearly 30 years in development, New Zealand's Martin Aircraft Company is finally gearing up to sell its jetpack: two rockets driven by a 2-liter, 200-horsepower engine that can theoretically take you as high as 8,000 feet. The company is currently taking commercial orders, but Martin expects it will be selling the devices to individuals late this year. With a range of 31 miles and a maximum speed of 63 miles per hour, you'll be able to...

GLOUCESTER, England, - Organizers of an annual Cheese Rolling event in Gloucester, England, say this year's competition has been canceled because of health and safety concerns. Richard Jeffries of the event's organizing committee, said local officials were concerned overcrowding at the May 31 event could cause problems, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday. "Last year, 15,000 spectators came to the event, by far the most we have ever seen, and we just could not cope," Jefferfies said. "As well as concerns about the safety of the crowd and the competitors, local landowners were also worried by the amount of damage done...

Good morning gardeners! March rains have temporarily halted progress in my garden and cleaning up the property. Hopefully I will get a few days of dry and warmer weather this coming week. At least I don’t have to have my State’s Legislature pass a Bill that says I can have a garden on my property! There is a link to this story in my second post below.

Greetings Programs! At the source URL is a little game where there are 56 video games referenced in a picture, name them all correctly and then you can upload a picture of yourself that will be used to make an ENCOM access badge that will be mailed to you. I might post the answers later if enough people want me to. Also, the http://www.arcadeaid.com website itself is set up as an online store selling parts (including side art) for older arcade games like Space Paranoids, and other related goodies. Don't get too excited though, it is just for show. HOWEVER,...

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Holy-Snail-Sipping-Doesnt-Sit-Well-With-Authorities-87343242.htmlReligious persecution is nothing new, but drinking snail juice as part of your beliefs is a bit of a stretch. But ask Charles L. Stewart, of Hialeah, and he'll tell you his practice of drinking the slimy creatures' juices in healing rituals is legit. "I did not invent this. It's something that is part of our religion," Stewart told the Miami Herald. "It's not something meant to hurt anybody." But state and federal authorities claim otherwise. They raided Stewart's house in January, claiming he was illegally smuggling the Giant African Snails into the country after they received complaints that his...

AMES, Iowa, - An Iowa man allegedly broke into a church and used electronic equipment belonging to the facility to watch pornographic films in the basement, police said. Ames, Iowa, police said Charles Bentley, 55, was arrested Friday morning after employees of the Ames Community Preschool showed up for work at the First Christian Church and called 911 to report items missing and sounds coming from the basement, the Ames (Iowa) Tribune reported Thursday. Investigators said Bentley, who may have spent the night at the church, entered the facility and brought items from around the church into the basement and...

When Andrew Evans sent us this photo of a rare melanistic penguin that he spotted during his travels, I became intrigued. So I decided to call up Dr. Allan Baker, an ornithologist and professor of Environmental and Evolutionary Studies at the University of Toronto and head of the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum, to learn more about melanism in birds. I got him on the line before he had the chance to look at the photos, and suffice it to say he was slightly flabbergasted at what he saw: "Wow. That looks so bizarre I can't...

WEST CAPE MAY — It’s a dark winter night and the park is empty. Or ... is it? Suddenly, movement. Yes, somebody slinking through the entrance gate, armed with long metal spikes of some sort. They’re pulling something out of a pouch. It looks like a ball of some sort, kind of like a ball of yarn, pink yarn. Before long another tree, signpost or lamp standard is covered with brightly colored yarn. Yes, the midnight knitter has struck again. And officials are stumped again. The midnight knitter (or knitters) remains at large. “We don’t know who it is,” said...

Looking for a good home defense shotgun. Do any Freepers have any experience with a Legacy Escort?

The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) has warned that the software included in the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access. In an advisory, the US-CERT warned that he installer for the Energizer DUO software places the file UsbCharger.dll in the application’s directory and Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory. For more: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=5602&tag=wrapper;col1

HOLLYWOOD , Fla., March 10 (UPI) -- Members of a U.S. organization dedicated to making alligator wrestling a legitimate sport say facing the large reptiles is not actually that scary. The Miami Herald said Tuesday to reinforce its point, Freestyle Alligator Wrestling Competitions is holding a competition this weekend at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Hollywood, Fla. James Holt, who wrestled an alligator Tuesday to help promote the event, said the key to facing down one of the potentially deadly animals is mental acuteness. "The hardest part is making sure you're in the right frame of mind,"...

Greetings Programs. Stop reading this and click the source link. End of line

Lots of birds pairing off today, breeding plumage is in and looking good.The Mallard in this series is either melanistic or a hybrid. Mallards ain't choosy!

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The superintendent of a rural Montana school district says he was showing students his black powder muzzleloader when he accidentally fired the weapon into a classroom wall during a history lesson. Dwain Haggard, who used to be a Civil War re-enactor, was showing the gun to five students in Reed Point High School's American history class Friday when it fired. No one was injured, and Haggard says he can't explain how the weapon was loaded. He says he usually fires a cap during the demonstration, but this time there was a loud bang and the room filled...

<p>The ghosts, supposedly trapped inside two glass vials, were put up for bidding by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch. She said they were captured in her house during an exorcism.</p> <p>The spirits were trapped inside the vials with stoppers and then dipped in holy water, which she says "dulls the spirits' energy."</p>

New Cuban cigar to woo women Carlos Batista Tuesday, 09 March 2010 13:49 HAVANA – Gripped between the teeth of Fidel Castro, Winston Churchill, a Cuban peasant or a Western businessman, the cigar has long been a male preserve. Now, however, Cuba hopes to woo the opposite sex with a new model for women, the "Julieta". Short, slim and light in colour, the Julieta is designed, its maker says, to be "enjoyed quickly, following the life rhythms of today's sophisticated active women." cuba_cigar_350 The Cuban-Spanish company Habanos SA, which promotes all brands of handmade Cuban cigars -- considered the finest...

How do you carry siding on a motorcycle? Check out these photos March 08, 2010 1:40 PM Wendy Victora Daily News MARY ESTHER — When George Puett saw a man trying to load siding on his motorcycle, he got out his camera and started taking pictures. "Don't you have anything else to do?" asked the man, who was not identified. "No," Puett answered. "I'm waiting for you to wreck." Puett says it took the man two attempts before he managed to drive off down Bryn Mawr Boulevard, "wobbling back and forth."

Share on Facebook | printer-friendly Eighteen months ago, Christopher Buckley made headlines with his endorsement of Barack Obama, becoming the conservative darling at MS-NBC after penning “The Conservative Case for Barack Obama.” At the time, Buckley wrote of Obama’s “first-class temperament” and top-drawer intellect. Buckley convinced himself that Obama would govern as a post-partisan centrist, rising above the progressive agenda that had carried him from the Chicago Machine to the threshold of the White House: But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us...

Click on the source link to get the image needed. Print it onto cardstock then cut/fold/glue to get your very own cubecraft Obama. Why do you want a cubecraft Obama? Not sure, but you are a creative bunch...

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) -- A sixth-generation Key West resident, who first blew a conch shell as a child, has won the island's 48th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest in Florida. Thirty-six-year-old Clinton Curry followed his two-toned toot Saturday with a portion of composer Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" on a single shell, earning applause from several hundred spectators. Blowing the fluted, pink-lined conch shell has been a Key West tradition since the early 1800s, when seafaring settlers used it as a signaling device.

<p>In case you were feeling sorry for yourself.</p> <p>You could be me.</p> <p>I cam ehome from work last Friday and found my wife had demolished the guest batroom.</p> <p>We were planning on remodeling it for some time now, but I was still taken aback.</p>

The yard sign... Ralph, My neighbor is a "lefty" of sorts (Obama bumper stickers, gung-ho socialized medicine, "guns should be banned", etc.). So last week I put this sign up in my yard after one of his anti-gun rants at a neighborhood cocktail party. The sign wasn't up more than an hour before he called the police and wanted them to make me take down the sign. Fortunately, the officer politely informed him that it was not their job to take such action without a court order and that he had to file a complaint "downtown" first, which would be...

So many uses, so little time. The GPS option is pretty cool. Lifting capabilities.

The country of Ghanzia is embroiled in a civil war. As a soldier in America's Army, your job is to do everything from protect U.S. military convoys against AK-47-wielding attackers to sneak up on a mountain observatory where arms dealers are hiding out. It is a tough and dangerous tour of duty that requires dedication, focus, and a bit of luck. Fortunately, if you get hit by a bullet and bleed to death, you can reboot your computer and sign on under a new name. America's Army is a video game -- a "tactical multiplayer first-person shooter" in gaming lingo...

Gotta get one for next winter, nifty little piece of equipment. Six wheel drive,lights for night plowing,600amps of power..........check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tPg1ZMiC9pA

Good morning gardeners! Here in Central Mississippi spring type weather will be here soon. I can feel the warmth at the other end of the tunnel! Highs for the next week will be in the 60’s and 70’s and I will be out in the garden and yard cleaning up. I will have around two or three weeks to get the garden area in shape before any plants get transplanted into the garden. Spring officially starts March 20. If you are just starting out gardening and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in....

Pretty day, the birds were out.

Inspiring animation!

"He said his office also received a call about it on the IG hot line the day the files were shredded but didn't process it until after the documents were gone."

My 10 year old Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Shelley, finally won her Hunting Retriever Club HR (Hunting Retriever) title by passing her third Hunt Test on Sunday, the day before her tenth birthday.

The Census Bureau and the National Archives have agreed to throw out the 2010 census forms after archiving statistical data. This means that seventy-two years later genealogist will see – nothing -. The same authorities planned to do this to the 2000 census, too. A January 1999 Supreme Court ruling forced the Census Bureau to redesign data collection by prohibiting the use of sampling. Responding to an inquiry from Congressman Waxman of the census oversight committee, the Census Bureau and the National Archives reevaluated their decision. Images of all 2000 census forms were copied onto microfilm.

I want to build an AR-15 from scratch.... I [obviously] want to make it mine...and as least expensively as possible. The web is full of info on this, but I've always gotten great advice from this forum..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/sets/72157604247242338/show/with/2346008881/

An anonymous buyer has set a record for the highest amount paid for a comic, with the $1 million sale of a rare edition of Batman. A Dallas auction house sold the 1939 copy of Detective Comics No. 27 for $1,075,000 Thursday, to an anonymous buyer from an also unnamed consignor, who bought the comic in the late 1960s for $100. Monday, a 1938 copy of the first comic book featuring Superman sold for $1 million in a sale between a private buyer and private seller.

Richard Dawkins has something of a reputation for provoking the religious community, but it seems he may have underestimated the atheistic fervour of his own fanbase. Amidst a tsunami of vulgar and vitriolic comments, the 85,000-strong forum on his official website RichardDawkins.net had to be shut down this week. The implosion appears to have been provoked by an announcement on the website that discussion threads and responses would in future be tightly moderated to help curb irrelevant discussions, frivolous gossip and abuse. However, the announcement itself created such an explosion of ire that the planned 30-day switch-over period had to...

With a veritable wealth of video games in existence, one doesn’t often spare a thought to those that didn’t quite make it, but a recent interview with game developer David Jaffe provides some insight into what could have been a highly controversial first person shooter based on George W. Bush's polices abroad. The game, Heartland, would have told the story of a Chinese invasion of the U.S as a result of some bad Dubya decisions, and how American soldiers struggled to cope with the aftermath. Sadly, we’ll never know how the soldiers resolved their moral dilemmas as the first-person shooter...

The National Rifle Association's connection to the military goes back well over a century. Indeed, it was military men who founded the organization. Dismayed by the lack of marksmanship shown by their troops, Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate formed the National Rifle Association in 1871. The primary goal of the association was to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis," according to a magazine editorial written by Church. Military veterans have played a role in NRA ever since. They make up a significant part of NRA's membership and Board of Directors. They shoot...