Free Republic

Schoolchildren from Caversham have become the first to learn a brand new theory that dividing by zero is possible using a new number - 'nullity'. But the suggestion has left many mathematicians cold. Dr James Anderson, from the University of Reading's computer science department, says his new theorem solves an extremely important problem - the problem of nothing. "Imagine you're landing on an aeroplane and the automatic pilot's working," he suggests. "If it divides by zero and the computer stops working - you're in big trouble. If your heart pacemaker divides by zero, you're dead." Computers simply cannot divide by...

In his Sept. 2 National Post column, George Jonas noted that if universities had been eliminated around 1900, we'd have been spared the devastating effects of many toxic ideologies, which needed mass production and distribution vehicles -- those vulnerable empty vessels known as students -- to sow their ruinous messages amongst the general population. He cited, amongst others, the scourges of anti-Semitism (in the guise today of anti-Zionism), Communism, National-Socialism, eco-fascism and militant feminism, all of which have depended on universities for transmuting ideology into laws, social policy, foreign relations, and cultural identity. I'm inclined to agree with Jonas; but...

Colleges and universities will start their fall semester soon. You might be interested in what parents' and taxpayers' money is going for at far too many "institutions of higher learning." At Occidental College in Los Angeles, a mandatory course for some freshmen is "The Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie." It's a course where Professor Elizabeth J. Chin explores ways in "which scientific racism has been put to use in the making of Barbie [and] to an interpretation of the film 'The Matrix' as a Marxist critique of capitalism." Johns Hopkins University students can enroll in a course called "Sex, Drugs, and...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A University of Wisconsin-Madison professor was allowed to work on campus for months after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting young girls even though some colleagues were threatened by his presence, according to a document released Thursday.

Students are paying an average $21,000 in annual tuition to attend the nation's colleges, which teach subjects such as the "unbearable whiteness" of Barbie dolls and "same-sex eroticism" in Renaissance Europe. Those courses -- at Occidental College in Los Angeles and Princeton University, respectively -- were among the "most bizarre and troubling instances of leftist activism supplanting traditional scholarship" at U.S. colleges and universities named this year to the "Dirty Dozen" list by Young America's Foundation. The Herndon-based conservative youth group also singled out for criticism courses such as "Lesbian Novels Since World War II" (Swarthmore), "Marxist Concepts of Racism"...

Live Convention Video, 7 - 11 p.m. ET• Sen. John F. Kerry• Max Cleland• Kerry's daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa Kerry• former Green Beret Jim Rassman• Madeleine Albright• Sen. Joe Biden (Del.)• Wesley Clark• Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.)• Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.)• Rep. Ed Markey (Mass.)• Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (Calif.)• Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.)• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.)• Rep. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.)• John Sweeney, President of AFL-CIO• Gov. Mark Warner (Va.)