Free Republic

This newspaper is printed on paper made from cellulose fibers obtained from wood pulp. The fibers are fairly large, on the order of tens of micrometers wide, and the resulting paper is fairly weak — pulls on it and it tears easily. Researchers in Sweden and Japan have developed a much stronger paper, made from much smaller fibrils of cellulose. This "nanopaper" has a tensile strength greater than that of cast iron. Marielle Henriksson of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and colleagues used enzymes and a gentle beating technique to produce fibrils on the order of tens of...

Mr Prasad had saved up for his old age (Pictures: Prashant Ravi) A trader in the Indian state of Bihar has lost his life savings after termites infesting his bank's safe deposit boxes ate them up.Dwarika Prasad had deposited currency notes and investment papers worth hundreds of thousands of rupees in a bank safe in the state capital Patna. The bank says it put up a notice warning customers of the termites. Mr Prasad says he did not see it in time as he did not go to the bank for months after the notice went up. Bank officials...

Andrew 1st Period Liberalism: The Death of Freedom Liberalism as it is defined today is “support for a strong role of government in regulating capitalism and constructing the welfare state.”(Dictionary.com).and it challenges the intimate connection between personal liberty and a private property based market order. The definition of Freedom is “the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint"(Dictionary.com). It is quite obvious that the new, modern definition of Liberalism and the old, traditional definition of freedom are complete opposites in the political spectrum. Liberalism: The Death of Freedom is a paper that covers a broad and comprehensive subject...

CAIRO, Egypt - Saudi Arabia has indefinitely banned the distribution of a leading Arab newspaper, days after the paper disclosed that a Saudi extremist had played a key role in a violent Iraqi al-Qaida front group. One of the kingdom's most influential journalists immediately criticized the ban, calling it a sharp retreat from recent growing press freedoms. It was unclear if the Iraqi article was the main impetus for the ban, or merely the culmination of several weeks of disputes, mostly on other issues, between the Al Hayat newspaper and the kingdom's information minister. Saudi officials are sensitive to criticism...

India Man Fails High School Exams 39 Times The Associated Press JAIPUR, India - A 73-year-old man who failed his 10th grade high school exams for the 39th time vowed Friday to try again next year in the hopes that an education will improve his job and marriage prospects. Shivcharan Jatav, a farmer from the desert state of Rajasthan in western India, had no formal education as a child. He has been trying to pass the exams since 1969, when an army recruiter told him it would improve his chances of being accepted into the military. "Since then I have...

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - Toilet paper is becoming a sought after commodity at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility after officials began limiting inmates to one roll at a time to trim costs. Officials say the prison has long had a limit, but they learned recently that it hadn't been enforced. Increased enforcement began this month. Under the prison policy, inmates are restricted to four rolls of toilet paper each month or on an "as-needed" basis.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - April 23, 2007 - Think Rock, Paper, Scissors is just a kids' game? Try telling that to Ray Scott, a burly 64-year-old retiree.

Paper Photog Quits Over Altered Picture Monday April 9, 2007 11:01 PM By JOHN SEEWER Associated Press Writer TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A staff photographer for The Blade who digitally altered a front-page photo has resigned, the newspaper said Monday. Allan Detrich had told Blade editors that he altered a photo of a college baseball team for his personal files and mistakenly sent it to the newspaper. The photo showed Bluffton University players kneeling March 30 at their first game after a bus crash killed five players in Atlanta. Photos of the team in other Ohio newspapers showed the legs...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it was slapping duties on imports of coated paper from China, reversing a decades-old policy of not applying duties to subsidized goods from non-market economies. Anger over the U.S. trade deficit with China, which hit a record $233 billion last year, has spurred demands for a tougher response to Chinese government subsidies, which many U.S. lawmakers believe are fueling that country's exports."China's economy has developed to the point that we can add another trade remedy tool, such as the countervailing duty law," U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told reporters. He...

Michelle Conlin ride her scooter, even in the snow. ?Rain is worse,? she said. A sour odor hovered oh-so-slightly in the air, the faint tang, not wholly unpleasant, that is the mark of the home composter. Isabella Beavan, age 2, staggered around the neo-Modern furniture ? the Eames chairs, the brown velvet couch, the Lucite lamps and the steel cafe table upon which dinner was set ? her silhouette greatly amplified by her organic cotton diapers in their enormous boiled-wool, snap-front cover. A visitor avoided the bathroom because she knew she would find no toilet paper there. Meanwhile, Joseph, the...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its circulation area by dozens of counties, offer buyouts to 80 newsroom employees and spend $30 million to upgrade a printing plant as part of a multifaceted revamp of the paper's operations. The AJC, which has one of the largest online operations among regional newspapers, plans to shift more resources to focus on digital news. As part of the change, the paper will trim its circulation territory to 73 counties, centered on metro Atlanta. The pullback will take effect April 1 and means the print version of the AJC will no longer be available in...

NEXT time you unpack a new television, DVD player or other made-in-China electronic item or toy, chances are the cardboard packaging being thrown away has helped make Zhang Yin, 49, China's richest woman. And when you do throw away the packaging, there's a chance Zhang's company, the auspiciously named Nine Dragons, will be buying the cardboard to recycle it. It's a virtuous circle that last month saw Zhang named as China's richest person by the Hurun Report, knocking off two-time winner Huang Guangyu, the 37-year-old Harvey Norman of China who owns the Gome electronics retail chain. The rival Forbes rich...

PHILADELPHIA — Layoff notices were given today to 71 newsroom employees at The Philadelphia Inquirer, about 17 percent of the paper's editorial staff, as it grapples with sharp declines in circulation and advertising revenue, union officials said. The layoffs, which will be effective Jan. 17, could be whittled down by workers who volunteer to leave for other jobs or retire, the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia said. "It's very sad," said Bill Ross, the Guild's local representative who is meeting with affected employees this morning. "There are multiple boxes of tissues." Company spokesman Jay Devine said the layoff number will...

Just headline right now...will post story ASAP.

Paper Says It Has Unseen Video by Atta Sunday October 1, 2006 2:16 AM LONDON (AP) - A previously unseen video made by Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, has been obtained by Britain's The Sunday Times, the newspaper reported Saturday. In editions available late Saturday, the paper said it had been handed the so-called martyrdom video, but did not reveal the source of the tape. It reported that Atta was filmed reading a document marked in Arabic as a will as he sat beside fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah - who seized control...

Nickel prices took a severe beating in late trade at the London Metal Exchange on Monday, falling over $1,000 from Friday's kerb close. Three-months futures ended Monday's kerb at $27,600 per tonne, down $1,100, or 3.8 percent. Once selling began, the metal slipped into free-fall, traders said. "It was around $28,500, then on the next trade -- which was half an hour later -- it had gone down $300, then another $300." Volumes were tiny and support practically non-existent."It was trading one lot, then two lots, then one. There was a void underneath it," the trader said. Sellers may have...

Teen mails taped confession of father's slaying to paperAssociated Press Posted on Sat, Sep. 02, 2006 RALEIGH, N.C. - A man obsessed with the 1999 Columbine school attack made a videotape showing his father's bloody corpse and describing plans to attack his former high school, then mailed it to a newspaper which posted excerpts on its Web site. The release of the video late Thursday was the latest twist in the case, which began when Alvaro Castillo was arrested Wednesday in front of Orange High School in Hillsborough after multiple shots were fired from the parking lot. Two students suffered...

Pa. Sued Over Electronic Voting Machines Voter advocates filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to stop Pennsylvania counties from using "paperless" electronic voting machines, saying that such systems leave no paper record that could be used in the event of a recount, audit or other problem. The suit asks the state's Commonwealth Court to decertify machines used in 58 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. The other counties use optical scanning systems, in which voters fill in bubbles on paper forms that are counted in scanning machines; the plaintiffs say such systems should be in use statewide. "Whatever the initial promise may have...

New Evidence Suggests Longer Paper Making History in China A 2,000-year-old piece of paper inscribed with legible handwriting has been found in Gansu Province, suggesting that China's paper-making and handwriting history are older than previously thought. The 10 square centimeter piece of paper, made from linen fibers, was found during restoration of an ancient garrison near the Yumen Pass at Dunhuang in northwest China. The garrison was in use during the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D.), a report in the Beijing-based Guangming Daily said. "The paper was made in 8 B.C., more than 100 years before the birth of...

NEW YORK The most widely used electronic-voting systems all have flaws that can be addressed relatively easily, but few states and counties have actually implemented recommended security measures, researchers concluded Tuesday. Even the printing of paper records widely seen as a countermeasure to hacking and other attacks on ATM-like touchscreen machines does little good if audits aren't routinely and automatically performed, researchers said. While California and 11 other states require audits in addition to paper trails, more than half of the 26 states requiring paper records don't do so. The report, based on interviews with elections officials and analyses of...

June 7, 2006 — A federal judge ordered two attorneys to settle their dispute by using the children's playground game "rock, paper, scissors." The ruling yesterday by Judge Gregory Presnell of the U.S. District Court in Orlando, Fla., stated that he was so dissatisfied with the case's "latest in a series of Gordian knots" that he is fashioning "a new form of alternative dispute resolution." In the dispute at hand, the two attorneys could not agree about where to take the sworn statement of a witness in a case concerning payment of insurance claims. The judge's order states that the...

NEW YORK (AP) - Shares in newsprint makers Bowater Inc. and Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. fell Monday after Bank of America cut the stocks to "Sell," advising investors to take profits after recent gains. Analyst George Staphos also cautioned that he expects growth in newsprint demand to slow within the next 12 months, as the industry's boom cycle starts to weaken. "We view 2006 as a peak pricing year, and 2006/2007 as the peak in profitability," he said, adding, "This would argue that now is the right time to sell positions." Staphos said investors should be ready to increase their holdings if...

3/9/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- She’s called the “shredder queen.” Staff Sgt. Cassandra Ali, 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron base records manager, keeps track of Airmen who sign up to shred paper. In the last two weeks, she’s moved 57 20-pound bags of pulverized paper from the base’s newest operational security tool, a multipurpose high-security, high-volume industrial shredder. The shredder is far from your standard paper slicer. “Pulverizer would be a more appropriate name,” said Senior Master Sgt. James Patrie, 379th Information Services Flight superintendent. “What comes out of that machine looks nothing like paper.” Unlike most unclassified shredders on...

Brouhaha ContextBy John Hammer Despite what Americans have been led to believe by the mainstream media, the protests about the Danish cartoons are about as spontaneous as the canned laughter on an old network sitcom. Imagine for a moment that you are so outraged by the riots in Pakistan that you and 10,000 of your closest friends and family decide to protest. So you go to your flag locker and pull out your Pakistani flag to burn. What? You don’t have a flag locker with flags of every nation in the world? Wow, if one is to believe the tripe...

Saudi paper 'shut' in cartoon row By Sebastian Usher BBC World media correspondent Saudis have begun boycotting Danish products A newspaper in Saudi Arabia has stopped publishing after printing some of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Shams (Sun) has been suspended as part of an investigation into its decision to publish the cartoons that have caused anger across the Muslim world. It printed them next to articles urging Saudis to take action against Denmark where the cartoons first appeared. Three weeks ago, Shams, became one of few newspapers in the Arab world to print some of the cartoons. The...

Paper: White House Knew About Levees Early By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Twenty-eight government agencies, from local Louisiana parishes to the White House, reported that New Orleans levees were breached Aug. 29, the day Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, documents released Thursday show. A timeline of e-mails, situation updates and weather reports, pieced together by Senate Democrats, indicates the Bush administration knew as early as 8:30 a.m. EST about levee failures that would ultimately lead to massive flooding of the city and its surrounding parishes. Senate Democrats said the documents raise questions about whether...

German paper reports world’s oldest temple is in Þanlýurfa Saturday, January 21, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News One of Germany's leading newspapers, Die Welt, reported this week that the world's oldest temple, dating back around 12,000 years, is located on Göbekli Hill in Turkey's province of Þanlýurfa, said the Anatolia news agency. According to an article titled “Holy Hill of the Hunters,” the temple was discovered by German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, standing around 15 meters in height and located on a hill upon which a single tree stands. Defining the area as the “cradle of civilization,” the paper said...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq (Jan. 5, 2006) -- While on a long deployment overseas, Marines look forward to from letters from home, the occasional phone call or photos sent from their loved ones. These are the times where it’s the little things that matter so much – showers, a warm place to sleep and hot chow. To add one more item to this list, Marines from the 2nd Marine Logistics Group’s Food Service Company recently set up a Field Food Service System to support the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) at the unit’s base of operations, Forward...

For all of Joel Gordiejew's62 years, he has lived with a hidden, somber history. He was born in German-occupied Poland during World War II. His birth certificate carries the Nazi swastika. His parents were forced to work in Nazi slave camps. They were overworked and abused, he said. His maternal grandfather was separated from the family during the war and was never seen again. After the war ended in 1945, his family lived as refugees in Poland and Germany. In 1949 Gordiejew's family came to the United States, where their fortunes improved. But over the years Gordiejew's parents said little...

MONTREAL -- Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. (ABY) has permanently closed its Stephenville, Nfld. and Kenora, Ont. newsprint mills. In a news release, Abitibi-Consolidated said the decision follows discussions with governments, the unions and other stakeholders. It said it couldn't find a viable, long-term solution to return the two mills to profitability. It said it will record asset writedowns of about C$155 million (US$135 million) before taxes in the fourth quarter and incur mill closure costs of about C$50 million, of which C$35 million is cash. It said the closure has resulted in the permanent removal of 344,000 metric tons of capacity. It...

PARIS (Reuters) - Actor Gerard Depardieu is ending his film career, a newspaper quoted the popular Frenchman as saying on Sunday. "I have nothing to lose. I have made 170 films. I have nothing left to prove. I am not going to hang on like an idiot," Depardieu, one of France's best known actors at home and abroad, was quoted as saying by Le Parisien Dimanche newspaper. "I'm in the process of stopping filming," said the portly star of films such as "Cyrano de Bergerac," "Green Card" and "Jean de Florette." Depardieu, 56, made the comments on the set of...

“Able Danger” Able Danger was a small US army classified intelligence program that was created in late 1999. It was created as part of a plan against international terrorism. A few of the known members of Able Danger were Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer who is a bronze star recipient who is a CIA trained intelligence officer and reserve Army lieutenant colonel with more than 22 years of experience in the intelligence community. Another member was Navy Captain Scott Philpott an expert in futuristic naval warfare. The third known member is Mr. J.D. Smith who was a contractor. There are 3...

An Iranian daily commented on the US long-term efforts to overthrow Iran's Islamic Republic, stressing that Tehran was and still is the only winner on all accounts. Referring to the Sacred Defense Week (started since September 22, 2005) which marks the 25th anniversary of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran (1980-1988), the 'Kayhan International' said the war took place with the full support of the US and its allies. "Saddam was on an unholy mission to wipe out the Islamic Revolution and to serve the interests of his masters in the Capitol Hill," said the English-language paper. It stressed "The...

It's one thing to watch the dramatic televised images of last week's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It's quite another to wade through the dust, debris, and twisted black shells of three buildings, two of which had come to symbolize the dominant economic power of New York City.

   http://www.news.com/ Making paper waterproof--and writable By Michael Kanellos http://news.com.com/Making+paper+waterproof--and+writable/2100-7337_3-5823337.html Story last modified Tue Aug 09 04:00:00 PDT 2005 Sally Ramsey, founder of Ecology Coatings, jerry-rigged an apparatus in her lab to show a chemical company representative how rapidly one of Ecology's coatings dries when exposed to ultraviolet light. To avoid making a mess, she put a piece of paper underneath the object she wanted to spray. When cleaning up, Ramsey exposed the paper to UV light to dry it and make it easier to throw away. On a whim, she checked to see if the coating, which was...

Harvey M. Sapolsky, who directs the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told some unpleasant home truths to Canadians last month in a full-page article published in the National Post. There has been little response to it, either officially or editorially, and that is significant. "Canada is a security risk to the United States," wrote Sapolsky. "Anti-Americanism is the unstated essence of the modern Canadian identity." But there are reasons for this. After the Second World War, when Canada's historic British connection began to decline, "the threat of being absorbed, not by a conquering but by a...

In south Tehran there is a huge walled cemetery dedicated to the martyrs, the young men who died fighting in the 1979 revolution and the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988. This vast city of the dead, complete with its own subway station and shops, does not share Arlington National Cemetery's sublimely stoic aesthetic of identical tombstones, row upon row. In Tehran's war cemetery, each of the fallen is remembered individually with his own martyr's shrine, a sealed glass cabinet on a stand. The cabinets are filled with faded photos of men forever young, some in helmets or red bandannas, some carrying...

U.S. Policy Options for Iran: Sham Elections, Disinformation Campaign, Human Rights Abuses, and Regime Change Excerpt from Executive Summary While the Bush administration has been reluctant to adopt an unambiguous policy of regime change for Iran, the outcome of the Iranian electoral process, disinformation campaign, and violations of human rights require adoption of an explicit regime change policy for Iran.  An ambiguous American policy was somewhat effective prior to the June 2005 Iranian elections. That policy allowed Washington to support the European diplomatic initiative toward Iran without fear of being blamed for sabotaging negotiations by threatening the regime’s existence....

When the leaders of the world's industrialized nations meet today in Scotland, they would do well to take time out from their policy debates to focus on the fate of Akbar Ganji, who is becoming known as the Iranian Vaclav Havel. He is the journalist and dissident entering his 27th day of a hunger strike inside Evin Prison. Over the July 4th weekend, the chief of Iran's society of journalists told IRNA that Ganji was in critical condition. If Bush meant anything when he proclaimed in his second inaugural, "As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you,"...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Whoever wins Iran's presidential elections next week, they will be facing a determined press that has survived a string of closures and arrests and which continues to push against the Islamic republic's "red lines" that confine freedom of expression. There will be no going back," Mashallah Shamsolvazin, the president of Iran's Association for a Free Press, told AFP. "Going back" means a return to the situation eight years ago, just before the first election victory of incumbent President Mohammad Khatami. There were a mere five national newspapers of which one, Salam, was pro-reformist. The clerical regime also...

Will the last Democrat with an idea please stand up? It doesn’t even have to be a good one. Just pick an idea: A chicken in every pot. An intern under every desk. Whatever. But please, Democrats, do something soon to indicate some minimal brain activity before a Florida judge shows up and pulls your feeding tube. Yes, it’s that bad. In fact, it’s worse. Democrats, you’re starting to make George W. Bush look smart. There he was on TV the other night, answering questions about a plan to save Social Security, conjugating most of his own verbs, and zinging...

Plastic grocery bags: environmental curse or cure? Unlike paper products that come from trees, a renewable resource, plastic items are a petroleum-derived material and almost never are biodegradable. That would seem to give the environmental advantage to paper bags -- except that harmful chemicals and pollutants also are involved in the manufacture of paper. The debate remains a standoff, with the choice in most places ultimately up to consumers. However, a number of countries and locales have chosen, or are considering, taxing both kinds of disposable bags and using the money for research and education.

As the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 1363, I was disappointed in the Arizona Republic's coverage of the legislation allowing law-abiding citizens to carry their self-defense firearms into restaurants and other establishments that serve alcohol. The article seemed as if it was intended to scare the public. It referred to citizens being able to carry "rifles and shotguns" into bars and nightclubs. While this is technically true because Arizona statute refers to "firearms," instead of "handguns," it is not a legitimate issue. The same law currently pertains to McDonalds, Burger King, retail stores, hospitals, day care centers and every other...

Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of journalist Arash Sigarchi who was arrested on 17 January 2005, after responding to a summons from the intelligence ministry in Rashat in the north of the country. He had been updating a weblog that has been banned by the authorities, Panhjareh Eltehab (The window of Anguish), in which he had spoken out against recent arrests of cyberjournalists and bloggers. The worldwide press freedom organisation also called on countries taking part in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to officially condemn these repeated breaches of freedom of expression. Iran...

(New York, January 6, 2005) -- After testifying to a presidential commission about their torture during detention, a group of Iranian journalists have received death threats from judicial officials under Tehran chief prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the safety of the journalists, whose testimony to a presidential commission, tasked with investigating mistreatment of detainees, provided detailed information on their torture and mistreatment while they were detained, without being charged, by secret squads operating under the authority of the judiciary. “We want the Iranian government to know that the world is...

Norfolk's Virginian-Pilot is dropping columnist Michelle Malkin because, according to the paper's editorial board, she's an "Asian Ann Coulter" whose columns are too "anti-liberal" and "seemingly mean-spirited." Responding to a reader's complaint about the conservative scribe, the paper's public editor, Marvin Lake, announced on Monday that "she's outta here." In quotes covered by Editor & Publisher, Lake explained that the Virginian-Pilot's editorial board had concluded that Malkin was "too stridently anti-liberal" and that readers objected to her "seemingly mean-spirited rantings and suggested that she be dropped." Malkin's meticulously researched columns have covered a variety of topics, including exposing Sen. Robert...

Gannett to buy Michigan-based newspaper group 11/19/2004, 6:34 p.m. ET The Associated Press McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Gannett Co. Friday said it will buy newspaper group HomeTown Communications Network Inc. from the company's chairman and founder, Philip Power, for an undisclosed amount. HomeTown publishes the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus of Howell, Mich. and 62 weekly and twice-weekly newspapers in Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. The groups has overall circulation of more than 740,000. HomeTown also controls community telephone directories, shopping guides and Web operations, McLean-based Gannett said. Hometown, based in Livonia, Mich., expects 2004 revenue of more than $86...

So the Guardian claims that that the final sentence of Charlie Brooker's "Assassination Column" was an "ironic joke". What. Absolute. ROT. Irony isn't irony when there is no counterpoint; there isn't any counterpoint even remotely made in this spittle-flecked screed. It's all rant and wretch: the words are not so much typed as vomited. To review: The Guardian UK: Charlie Brooker Saturday October 23, 2004 "On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four...

Meximerica Media on Monday will begin publishing Rumbo de Houston, a Spanish-language newspaper for Houston readers. The newspaper is San Antonio-based company's second Spanish-language paper to open in Texas this year. Rumbo de San Antonio began publishing last month. The company plans to open newspapers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Austin this fall. The full-color, tabloid-sized newspaper is aimed at Hispanic readers between 21 and 54. Rumbo de Houston will cost a quarter and will be available at about 2,500 coin boxes and retail locations throughout Houston.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A majority of U.S. voters now say it was not worth going to war in Iraq and feel the United States is getting bogged down there, according to a Los Angeles Times poll published on Friday. In the survey of 1,230 registered voters conducted across the country from Saturday through Tuesday, 53 percent said it was not worth going to war in Iraq while 43 percent said it was and 4 percent said they did not know. The sample has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. The paper said the survey was the first...