Free Republic

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 4 ~ Feb. 17, 2012 ~ Spring Projects Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012 Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 2 ~ Feb 3, 2012 ~ “Off Season” Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 3 ~ Feb. 10, 2012 ~ Boat TransportationLast week’s thread had 23 posts, including boat transportation sources and recommendations. With Spring in the air and the boating season around the corner, what is everyone doing to prepare? This week I have been busy helping clients either prep their boats to sell or get...

The most important factor in determining when to plant a certain type of vegetable in your garden is the “Last Freeze Date” in the spring for your area...

Animated to inspire Faith in God and His Son Jesus! Child singing voice is unknown and is from the Black Pond Baptist Church fellowship.

Ludovic Masciave, 36, was driving his car through the Arly Gorge in the French Alps when a 20 ton boulder crashed onto the roof of his vehicle. Amazingly, Masciave survived the crash and is recovering in a local hospital, according to Landov...

Question for the shooters out herein FR land. I want to buy a .22 pistol for general target shooting and need a recommendation. I know you can buy a brick of .22 bullets for the price of a box of others. A good friend has a Ruger Mark III and shoots it constantly. Any other suggestions??

If chivalry, as the common saying goes, is dead, someone forgot to tell Shane Adams—the host of History's new original reality series, Full Metal Jousting, which aims to resurrect the medieval and renaissance competition as a legitimate sport over 500 years after its heyday. Which isn't to say that things don't get gritty—"Do not stick out your tongue. You will bite it off," Adams advises the series' would-be knights in last night's premiere episode. Full Metal Jousting, which premiered last night, takes 16 amateur competitors and trains them in competitive full-contact jousting, with a $100,000 prize to be awarded to...

A misty “tsunami” has hit the coastline of Panama City, Florida, USA. A helicopter pilot managed to capture rare phenomenon and has posted breathtaking photos on Facebook. ­JR Hott, who makes his living, flying tourists in a helicopter over the city and the Gulf of Mexico, took photos of clouds of fog developing over buildings while hovering over Panama City’s coastline.

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 3 ~ Feb. 10, 2012 ~ Boat Transportation Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012 Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 2 ~ Feb 3, 2012 ~ “Off Season”Last week’s thread had 26 posts, including the source for this week’s thread – boat transportation. I have helped clients ship vessels of all sizes and types all over North America and overseas. Except for two small scratches, every shipping project was successful, albeit harrowing on occasion. To help ensure your boat shipping efforts are successful, I will provide boat...

The winter months are ideal for whale sightings as these massive mammals make their 7,000 mile journey from Alaska to Baja, California by way of our Pacific waters. The warm waters to the South are ideal for mating, birthing, and growing in preparation for the long journey back to cooler Alaskan waters. We’re right in the midst of their migration and large numbers of gray, fin, and minke whales have been spotted right off our coast. With record numbers of whales being spotted up and down the coast, now is the ideal time to embark on a whale watching adventure....

DNA Test Helps Enforce Pet Clean Up Policy SAN DIEGO - The same DNA technology that has solved cold case murders is now being used to crack down on a whole new class of criminals: dog owners who don't clean up after their pets. "Unfortunately, people leave surprises in my yard, but I always carry plastic bags, so I can clean up those surprises," said dog owner Ted Stevens. Now, BioPet Vet Lab ,a company in Knoxville, Tenn., has developed technology that is says can identify the dogs that leave unwelcome calling cards on neighborhood lawns. The system, called Pooprints,...

Charging gadgets out in the wilderness is a challenge, but the BioLite CampStove could change that for the power-hungry. This 2-pound portable device features a USB port that can power or charge devices while you burn biomass. So how does it work? Well, the thermal energy of the fire delivers power to fans inside the stove through a thermoelectric module. These fans blow air on the fire to improve combustion, which in turn creates excess energy. A USB port delivers the extra energy generated by the fire for charging devices such as smartphones, LED lights, or GPS units. The efficient...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to leave the pigskin at home. The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a Frisbee on any beach in Los Angeles County. In passing the 37-page ordinance on Tuesday, officials sought to outline responsibilities for law enforcement and other public agencies while also providing clarification on beach-goer activities that could potentially disrupt or even injure the public. The updated rules now prohibit “any person to...

A family vacation to west Texas included a frightening encounter with a mountain lion for a Leander couple and their 6-year-old son. The 17 stitches on the right side of Rivers Hobbs' face may be out by next week, but the memory of what caused the injury will not soon fade away. “It sneaked up on me,” said Hobbs. The 6-year-old was attacked Sunday, by a mountain lion, at Big Bend National Park. He and his parents were on a walkway near the main lodge heading to their room when the mountain lion attacked. “No, not that bad,” said Hobbs,...

Since when did prepping for the end of the world become a hobby? In a sense, that’s one of the questions behind “Doomsday Preppers,” a new National Geographic Channel 10-part series that bows tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The show looks at more than a dozen Americans who have turned building bullet-proof shelters, stocking up on several years’ worth of canned goods and mapping evacuation routes into a kind of pricey game of one-upmanship. Whoever wins may be the last man (or woman) standing – literally. But in another sense, the preppers don’t think of what they do as a...

Big Bend National Park - What started as a family vacation quickly took a turn for the worst after a six-year-old boy is attacked by a mountain lion in Big Bend National Park. "We weren’t on a trail or down in the woods we were on a sidewalk between the restaurant and hotel," explains Rivers Hobbs’ father, Jason. The Hobbs family drove in from Austin, hoping to enjoy the outdoors in Big Bend National Park. But their vacation was cut short. "It snuck up on me," claims 6-year-old Rivers. “It” was a mountain lion, sneaking up on Rivers just feet...

With deer season ended for gun toters, with duck outings finished, numerous Arkansas hunters have hung it up for the year. They are missing some fun and some interesting action. It is still squirrel time. Yes, squirrel season runs from mid-May to the end of February. We’re in February now, so let’s look at this late-season squirrel hunting, an endeavor that can be rewarding from the standpoints of getting outside and also of getting something pretty darn good to eat. Arkansas has plenty of squirrels, and wildlife biologists tell us that hunting has little impact on their numbers. You’ll find...

The Giants won against a cheater.

This loving mastiff didn’t mind adding one more to her litter of pups, even though it didn’t have a tail to wag and was suspiciously wearing a diaper.

Out for a walk with 42 Saint Bernard dogs Lasquite's Saint Bernards on Lasqueti Island Canada (Click onto the link to view the two-minute + video on the Fox 43 WPMT webpage)

Hooded Mergansers for the most part. I used to see a greater variety when I was hunting, I can't get far enough off the road these days.

Last week saw the launching of this Weekly FR Boating Thread. 15 posts with 6 boating links – nice start! Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012 Everyone is welcome to come aboard – come on it, the water is fine!This time of year almost all boaters are mired in the midst of ‘off-season’. What do you do to survive your ‘off season’? Listen to boating music, watch boating movies, surf boating YouTube and blogs, busy yourself with Winter boat upgrade and maintenance projects, catch up on non-boating stuff? Where you do your boating...

Excerpt: Authorities on Thursday were searching southwestern Oregon's rugged forests for three missing mushroom pickers who disappeared almost five days ago. Belinda and Daniel Conne, both 47, and their 25-year-old son, Michael, were last seen Sunday at a campground, where they had left behind their camp trailer and two dogs, Curry County sheriff's office said. Deputies found their SUV off a logging road on the western edge of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest on Wednesday, and clothing and mushroom-picking gear were found some distance away. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/02/3-mushroom-pickers-missing-in-oregon-forest/#ixzz1lH2LgXNc

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/bou/?n=bou_winter_briefing Major winter storm coming up thru CO from the Four Corners area. Local depths by Saturday AM could be 2+ feet, with blizzard winds and flying stuff. Check yer batteries, flashlights, beebers. Set aside some fluids and don't BBQ in the house please.

Researchers recently uncovered a startling phenomenon — a set of teardrop-shaped lakes in Antarctica that mysteriously move, jogging along at a pace as fast as 5 feet (1.5 meters) per day. The lakes sit atop the George VI ice shelf — a massive floating plain of ice larger than Vermont, composed of the mingled fronts of glaciers that flow off the edge of the continent and rest on the ocean. Glaciologist Doug MacAyeal at the University of Chicago, and student researcher C.H. LaBarbera, noticed the traveling bodies of water while studying satellite images of 11 ice shelf lakes captured between...

A Montara man walking two lapdogs off leash was hit with an electric-shock gun by a National Park Service ranger after allegedly giving a false name and trying to walk away, authorities said Monday. The park ranger encountered Gary Hesterberg with his two small dogs Sunday afternoon at Rancho Corral de Tierra, which was recently incorporated into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said Howard Levitt, a spokesman for the park service. Hesterberg, who said he didn't have identification with him, allegedly gave the ranger a false name, Levitt said. The ranger, who wasn't identified, asked Hesterberg to remain at...

The Little Ice Age was caused by the cooling effect of massive volcanic eruptions, and sustained by changes in Arctic ice cover, scientists conclude. An international research team studied ancient plants from Iceland and Canada, and sediments carried by glaciers. They say a series of eruptions just before 1300 lowered Arctic temperatures enough for ice sheets to expand. Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, they say this would have kept the Earth cool for centuries. The exact definition of the Little Ice Age is disputed. While many studies suggest temperatures fell globally in the 1500s, others suggest the Arctic and sub-Arctic...

SILVERTON — Turkish sheepdogs prized for their fierceness are raising concerns they may be a little too tough for the southwest Colorado communities where ranchers are using them. The Akbash dogs weigh up to 120 pounds and are especially aggressive toward animals near the sheep they guard. But that can include hikers and other backcountry tourists, prompting debate about whether the breed should be regulated. The Durango Herald reports that Silverton town trustees met last week to discuss Akbash conflictsU.S. Forest Service officials, sheepherders and outdoors enthusiasts have also entered the debate over regulations surrounding the use of the breed.

Most of these are in my front yardIt's sort of wild, just cleared enough to walk around a bit. I'm not the type to push a lawnmower around.I'm far enough into the woods that no one has to see it but me anyway. action=view&current=FROG_ANIM.jpg" target="_blank">

No new stuff, these are from the archives, some going back several years.Various cameras, I've worn out several. I believe they were made to be used

As bounty hunters with bush knives entrapped them in a circle and moved in for the kill, the only thing this mother orang-utan could think to do was to wrap a giant protective arm around her daughter. The pair seemed to be facing a certain death as a gang of hunters surrounded them in Borneo, keen to cash in on the palm oil plantations' bid to be rid of the animals.

Ahoy, fellow FR boating lovers! (Boating = all boats and water-related activities; sailing, cruising, fishing, beach combing, flipflop wearing, key lime pie eating, surfing, SUPing – if it floats, tastes salty or is sand encrusted, it belongs here!) While politics are important, our country is great, and FR is amazing; boating is all about fun afloat! This post is the launch of a weekly FR thread about anything and everything boating. (Boating FReepers are either enjoying their boats or dreaming about boats while surfing on Free Republic.) Back story: my parents met in a boatyard, I grew up on boats,...

I got out for a while yesterday, a nice sunny day. I was riding with a friend who just isn't in to lurking around mud holes so I really couldn't get serious.I got these pretty little Hooded Mergansers moving down a pond.

LONDON (Reuters) - A weaker sun over the next 90 years is not likely to significantly delay a rise in global temperature caused by greenhouse gases, a report said Monday. The study, by Britain's Meteorological Office and the university of Reading, found that the Sun's output would decrease up until 2100 but this would only lead to a fall in global temperatures of 0.08 degrees Celsius. Scientists have warned that more extreme weather is likely across the globe this century as the Earth's climate warms. The world is expected to heat up by over 2 degrees Celsius this century due...

If You Spot Bigfoot, Should You Shoot Him? In the new Animal Planet reality TV show optimistically titled "Finding Bigfoot," a team of experts examines video of an alleged Sasquatch spotted in the Canadian Rockies. The video, shot by a man named Todd Standing, shows something large and dark, standing atop a wooded ridge and then ducking back behind a bush. It could pretty much be anything, and when the experts concluded that the subject was probably not a Bigfoot, Standing expressed his frustration: "No video is ever going to be evidence, ever. It's never going to be good enough…"...

Recorded tales of a giant, hairy humanoid creature — whether you call it Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, Sasquatch, or the Yeti — date back to the 1920s in North America, and as far back as 1832 in Nepal. But like the Loch Ness Monster and flying saucers over Area 51, hard evidence of the Chewbacca-like hominid legend has always been elusive. Someone should have told the editors of Pravda, the Moscow-based tabloid that shares its name with the now-defunct Communist Party press organ that went belly-up, along with the USSR, in 1991. On December 29, Pravda ran a story under...

Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium is showcasing a bizarre apple-shaped sea cucumber from Australia in a new toxic display. The sea apple is a type of sea cucumber which is also related to urchins and starfish. It gets its name from its apple-shaped appearance and is brightly coloured to alert would-be predators to its deadly toxins. Blue Reef curator Matt Slater said: “It’s the first time we have been able to put sea apples on display and they really are extremely unusual creatures. “We’ve had to keep them in their own display away from the other fish as they are extremely...

Crazy guy on a Motorbike on a snow covered trail that at times is less than a foot wide, with drops of over 100ft.

California's Death Valley, already one of the hottest places on Earth, may have the potential to get a whole lot hotter — and live up to its name in a surprising (and possibly scary) new way, according to new research. Scientists have long known that the craters that pepper this dry landscape were formed by long-ago volcanic eruptions, triggered when hot magma ascending from inside the planet hit pockets of water. Some researchers now think the area erupted far more recently than thought, meaning the parched swath of central California, home to desolate salt flats and scalding temperatures, could be...

A foot-long alligator that looked “beat up” and “dehydrated” on the side of the road landed in a man's bathtub to be nursed back to health. But the efforts of good Samaritan Alexander Springer landed him in jail and charged with a second-degree misdemeanor. Deputy Jorge Velez with the Marion County Sheriff's Office went to a home in the 500 block of Northwest 155th Street in Citra late Thursday in response to a domestic call. While at the home, Velez determined there had not been any act of domestic violence, he noted in his report. However, a woman there led...

Traveled by Native Americans, presidents, generals, gypsies and families seeking a new life in the west, “The Great Road,” known today as Frederick Road or Route 355, provided a path for both the adventurer and the entrepreneur. As the main route northwest from Georgetown, the last port on the Potomac River, it was heavily traveled from the mid 18th century until it was replaced by Interstate 270 in the 1960s. It began as an Indian trail leading from the Piscataway settlement at the mouth of Rock Creek to the great “Conestoga,” a trail that included footpaths and waterways (what we...

You can probably imagine the kinds of nightmares a teenager on a solo voyage round the world might suffer from: pirate kidnappings, treacherous coral reefs or perhaps scary encounters with mysterious sea creatures. But not Laura Dekker. The 16-year-old schoolgirl's sleep is haunted by memories of the traumatic experiences she suffered at the hands of the Dutch authorities. And ever since she set her sights on sailing round the world she says Dutch social services have done their best to stop her from pursuing her dream. ~~~~ Earlier this month truancy officers issued her father with a summons claiming that...

Hobbies...yeah,it's been around a while. I don't understand Polish, but the woman's statement and encouragement included the word "quick"....mmmm, not so good....

Featured video from CTVNews.ca Two young girls who fought off a coyote that jumped their fence and attacked the pair in their Oakville, Ont. backyard tell their story.

Extreme BASE jumper and wingsuit pilot, Jeb Corliss, has created a new video of his exhilarating wingsuit flight called Grinding the Crack using multiple cameras for the ultimate viewing experience. His top speed in this particular flight was an amazing 122 mph. Probably the most talked about moment in Jeb Corliss's latest video, "Grinding the Crack," occurs when a man holding balloons dives to the left as Corliss flies dangerously close to him, and the ground.

A daredevil base jumper known as the "bird man" was in intensive care after a dramatic, bungled leap off a 3,500-foot mountain. Jeb Corliss, 35, famous for performing death-defying stunts from a string of landmarks worldwide, crash-landed on Table Mountain in South Africa yesterday while filming for HBO. (Vid at site....language warning)

Cold front came through about an hour ago. Had a gust of 56 mph and steady wind of 40 to 45 mph since with gusts over 50. I've never seen anything like it. Looking at Wunderground's home station network, it appears Buffalo's getting slammed, too (about 40 miles north.) One station near Ralph Wilson Stadium reports gusts over 60 mph. I'm 15 miles inland from Lake Erie. Sort of surprised the wind's holding up strong here. My weather station's here. I saw a thread earlier today that Louisville had tornado warnings when the front came through -- any other Freepers...

In 1980, Gaston Glock was the manager of a car-radiator factory just outside Vienna. At home, he ran a side business in his garage, making knives and bayonets for the Austrian army. He lived in a comfortable though not overly prosperous way, all but unknown beyond his corner of Austria. He knew next to nothing about firearms. Less than 20 years later, he was the world's leading manufacturer of handguns, and the business born in his garage had annual revenues of more than $100 million.

The guys from Knight Rifles "Americas Muzzleloader" head out to the range with Dave Fricke of Millennium Manufacturing to shoot the largest center fire rifle ever made. Only 12 people have ever shot the .950 JDJ as a rifle. Produced by SSK Industries, only 3 were ever made this was the first and the lightest weighing in at 50 lbs.. 2400 grain bullet and 240 grains of powder.

We may sing about purple mountains and amber grains, but one of America's most vital resources is its vast amount of carbon-catching, oxygen-spewing trees. Now, after six years of effort, NASA knows how many we've got. Josef Kellndorfer and Wayne Walker of NASA's Woods Hole Research Center worked in conjunction with the National Geological Survey and US Forest Service to catalog a mix of data gleaned from space-based radar, satellite sensors, computer models, and old-fashioned tree counting.

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