Free Republic

TULSA – Tulsa police arrested a 45-year-old woman they said mixed chemicals together to make methamphetamine inside a Wal-Mart store. “She didn’t have the money to make the purchases of the chemicals that were needed so she was taking what was needed in the bottle,” Tulsa Police Officer David Shelby told FOX23.com. Police said the suspect, Elizabeth Alisha Greta Halfmoon, had been in the store since noon on Thursday, taking chemicals from bottles and mixing them in order to make meth. She had been in the store for six hours, according to police. Security officials called police once they spotted...

A war is brewing in South Florida, but don't look to the police to protect you. They're the ones who are fighting. Members of the Miami-Dade Police Department aren't taking kindly to having one of their own arrested at gunpoint by a State Trooper and now the threats and insults are flying. It started last month when Miami Officer Fausto Lopez was pulled over in his squad car for driving 120 MPH en route to an off-duty job. Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) Trooper Donna Jane Watts pulled him over, gun drawn, and put him in handcuffs. Miami cops are complaining...

STANFORD (CBS 5) — Google has changed the way people search on the internet, now it’s changing the way some people surf the web. Hundreds of lucky Bay Area residents are now accessing what is being touted as the fastest internet speeds in the world. CBS 5’s Kiet Do tested the Google Fiber internet service, which is being offered for free in a neighborhood just south of the Stanford University campus. A 95-megabyte high-definition movie trailer downloaded in about nine seconds. CBSSF.com showed up in a blink.

Self-defense situations trigger your natural fight, flight or freeze response. As your bloodstream fills with adrenalin you start thinking and moving a lot faster than normal. But your perception of time may remain the same. In other words, you have more time than you think you have. I’ve pointed this out before, and counseled self-defense shooters to force themselves to react slowly. Because you won’t be reacting slowly. You’ll be reacting just as quickly as you would in a less stressful environment, but doing so with more control . . . When you’re trying to avoid or counter a violent...

With all the other horrible events of the weekend, China's high speed rail crash sort of faded into the background. But the toll is horrific: 43 dead, and hundreds more injured after one high speed train ran into another. Critics, such as Michael Sainsbury of The Australian, are now arguing that this is the result of cut corners in the construction process:A picture is beginning to emerge of a network that has been built to unrealistic and politically driven timetables, using a mix of technologies that were given little time to be properly integrated.

The Republican-controlled House has passed another bill putting offshore oil and gas drilling on the fast track. The latest measure, passed 263-163 on Wednesday, gives the government a maximum of 60 days to decide whether a company can drill. Afterwards, the permit is automatically approved. There is currently no deadline for the permits.

The Texas House has passed a bill allowing the Texas Department of Transportation to raise the speed limit to 85 miles an hour on some highways.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP/WBTV) - North Carolina transportation officials say they've reached an agreement that will allow them to obtain $461 million in federal grants to improve train service. The agreement will allow faster and more frequent passenger service between Charlotte and Raleigh. State transportation secretary Gene Conti says the agency will seek bids for contracts for tracks, bridges and trains. Officials say the new service would cut travel time from Charlotte to Raleigh to less than three hours, even with seven stops along the way. However, the ride will only be 13 minutes faster. The project is expected to create...

A Video Message to my County Commissioners about speed signs that are an apparent waste of taxpayers money...

Fewer people have been killed and injured on roads following a decision by a local council to switch off its speed cameras. Accident data shows that in the first nine months after the devices were scrapped in Swindon, there were 315 road casualties in the area as a whole, compared with 327 in the same period the previous year. In total there were two fatalities – compared with four in the same period previously – and 44 serious injuries, down from 48. The figures were seized on by campaigners who claim speed cameras do little to combat problem driving...

Several dozen Arizona speed enforcement cameras have officially stopped clicking earlier this morning as the state of Arizona officially killed a traffic enforcement program that failed to generate promised revenue. The state ended its two-year contract with Australia-based Redflex Traffic Systems, the company responsible for installing the cameras and processing imagery. A total of 76 fixed and mobile cameras will be removed from state streets and highways by Labor Day. The state said that drivers that have been snapped along Arizona highways before Friday morning are still responsible for paying the tickets. Drivers, however, are taking a different tune. “I...

Verizon Wireless will be the first company in the U.S. – and among the first in the world – to launch LTE with a sizeable footprint. We will launch our 4G LTE network in 25 to 30 markets late in 2010, covering approximately 100 million people; we’ll double that in 2012. And we plan to cover our entire existing 3G footprint with 4G LTE by the end of 2013. Verizon Wireless plans to utilize our nationwide, contiguous 700 MHz spectrum to deploy 4G LTE. This spectrum covers the entire lower 48 states and Hawaii, and gives our customers the nationwide...

ATS secures investment from Goldman SachsPhoenix Business Journal - by Patrick O'Grady Phoenix Business Journal Dave D’Amato, design and engineering manager for American Traffic Solutions Inc., works on a device that will take pictures of speeders. View Larger American Traffic Solutions Inc. is getting an investment boost from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help it meet increasing demand for its red-light and speed cameras. Although neither company would disclose the amount of the investment, ATS President James Tuton said it was a “significant” amount that will net the former investment house, now a bank holding company, two seats on the...

On Wednesday morning, a US Air Force X-51A Waverider missile sustained speeds of Mach 5 for more than 200 seconds, the US Air Force has announced. The X-51A Waverider, which was launched over the southern California coast, is powered by next-gen scramjet technology.

If there were a drug that would make you smarter, would you take it? Today an increasing number of healthy people are using drugs without a prescription as a way to improve their mental function. It's called neuroenhancement and if you want to find someone who's trying it out, just visit a college campus. That's where a surprising number of students are turning to drugs like Adderall and Ritalin, originally developed to treat attention disorders, to boost their brain power and help them make the grade

The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks. The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.” The Home Office is testing the cameras at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall. The `SpeedSpike’ system, which calculates average speed between any two points in the network, has been developed by PIPS Technology Ltd, an American-owned company with...

While reading about the competition for broadband in South Korea .. I wondered ...

The laws of improbability were definitely on the side of this guy!

Police seize 5,000 amphetamine-based ‘Yaba’ pills, often referred to as "Hitler's drug," at Ben-Gurion airport; “It allows Thais to work for two days straight,� senior police source explains. A dangerous and addictive drug that was originally developed by Nazi scientists to boost the endurance of Axis soldiers, and which causes users to become aggressive and violent, is being smuggled into Israel from Thailand in ever-larger amounts, The Jerusalem Post has learned. In Thailand, the methamphetamine-based drug is known as “Yaba� (crazy medicine), and in the West, it is often referred to as “Nazi Speed� or “Hitler’s drug.�

By Mary Ann Ford | mford@pantagraph.com | Posted: Friday, January 29, 2010 9:00 pm | (10) Comments Font Size: Default font size Larger font size NORMAL — Not everyone at Friday’s news conference supported spending $8 billion for high-speed rail. Several people gathered at the Amtrak station held signs and even made negative comments while Sen. Dick Durbin was speaking. They questioned projections of economic growth from high-speed rail spending and the wisdom of spending so much money in the face of mounting state and federal budget deficits. “I’m really upset,” said Jeff Strange of Bloomington. While officials say the...

Assume the statutory speed limit of 70 MPH; the tendency of the local constabulary to ignore violations up to 5 MPH over; A stream of traffic in the right-hand lane averaging 68-72 MPH; and a certain sense of scofflawry and haste on my part that may rise to the level of a ticket without tipping over into the “reckless” category; and the fact that I am therefore in the continuous process of "passing on the left" all of those law-abiding drivers in the right lane. A question: exactly how fast must I be going before I must make way for...

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—As an engineer pulls the throttle, villagers track side gawk at the bullet-shaped train as it gathers speed. Soon, forests and wooden shacks are a blur as a dashboard display reads 250 kilometers an hour (155 miles per hour). Ten years in the making, Russia's state-owned railway is testing eight aerodynamic trains that in December will rush travelers from here to Moscow in less than four hours. With fancy kitchens and leather seats in first class, the Sapsans (Russian for peregrine falcons) mark a change in Russia's egalitarian rail tradition. More broadly, though, Russia's new trains mirror a...

ABC News also reports that, "The in-car cameras and computers in most squad cars don't work so officers can't record traffic stops, run license plates and check for warrants." So basically, speeding is now fair game in the city of Detroit.

As Scoring Soars, One Professor Sees Parallels in Nature; the 'River Basin' Theory When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans open the NFL season Thursday night, they will headline a brand of football that is nearly unrecognizable from the days when Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene were pulverizing ball carriers at the line of scrimmage. Today's NFL offenses spread out across the field, stretching defenses and creating wider holes of flow and penetration. In this game, balletic receivers like Pittsburgh's Santonio Holmes are the NFL's defining talents. The NFL has become so fast and efficient that last season, teams...

A Gahanna police officer pleaded guilty this morning to speeding charges after he was ticketed last month for traveling almost 150 miles per hour on a motorcycle. Gahanna Officer Christopher Thomas, 33, received a speeding ticket eight days after he was caught going 149 mph on I-70 near Buckeye Lake, and then only after the Ohio Highway Patrol made a courtesy call to his department. Trooper Jason E. Highsmith, 35, who was riding his motorcycle near Thomas, received a ticket for going 147 mph four days later. Licking County Municipal Judge W. David Branstool fined Thomas the maximum $150 and...

here shows you how chinese devlope their country! then, you should know why chinese economy grow faster than others. Feb 2009

CAIRO – How do you count almost 40 million handwritten paper ballots in a matter of hours and declare a winner? That's a key question in Iran's disputed presidential election. International polling experts and Iran analysts said the speed of the vote count, coupled with a lack of detailed election data normally released by officials, was fueling suspicion around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory. Iran's supreme leader endorsed the hard-line president's re-election the morning after Friday's vote, calling it a "divine assessment" and appearing to close the door on challenges from Iran's reformist camp. But on Monday, after two days...

Heads up, Google Chrome-hounds. Version 2.0 of your favorite, lightning-fast, "anti-establishment" browser has been released, and it's quicker and more feature-packed than ever. That is, if you take the word of the massive corporation that designed it. Over at the official Chrome blog, Googleite Darin Fisher says that a few of the new additions were included in the re-beta-ed beta released back in March, but the new version does contain some new features and sports faster speeds and increased stability thanks to the proper squashing of some 300 bugs. One of the new, and predictably appreciated, features lets you remove...

Please save this link as a favorite. I post it here today because there is a 100% packet loss in the Vienna, VA, area going on. Generally, traffic is slower today.

Fairly fascinating interview from the Liddy Podcast site: the fellow's name is Alex Roy, holder of the (highly illegal) transcontinental speed record: 32:07. The general site is http://www.radioamerica.org/POD_ggl.htm

A panel from the Commission for Integrated Transport and the Motorists' Forum, both of which advise the Government on transport, say the technology would cut injuries from road accidents by 29 per cent and reduce carbon emissions. The system would require detailed digital maps of Britain's roads, containing every speed limit, to be drawn up. A device in vehicles would use satellite positioning technology to discover the limit in its location and reduce its speed if necessary. The groups say the devices should be fitted on a voluntary basis and should contain a manual override feature, meaning drivers could break...

WENDOVER, Utah — A 47-year-old record-setting motorcycle racer from Montana has died when he lost control and crashed while traveling at 239 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Investigators weren't sure what caused Cliff Gullett, of Bozeman, Mont., to lose control of the motorcycle Wednesday during a time trial. The American Motorcyclist Association said on its Web site that Gullett was competing in the 500cc Streamliner class at the Salt Flats, where drivers go for speed records every summer on the flat, open space just east of the Nevada state line.

A gun that fires variable speed bullets and which can be set to kill, wound or just inflict a bruise is being built by a US toy manufacturer. The weapon is based on technology used to propel toy rockets. Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio based near Chicago, makes toy rockets that are powered by burning hydrogen obtained by electrolysing water. Now the company is being funded by the US army to adapt the technology to fire bullets instead. The US Army are interested in arming soldiers with weapons that can be switched between lethal and non-lethal modes....

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., June 24 (UPI) -- Higher interstate speed limits on an Indiana highway haven't resulted in additional deaths or serious injuries, a study has determined. Purdue University researchers found that an increase from 65 to 70 mph on Interstate 65 was still safe, a result that adds to mix of research results nationwide since passage of the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995, which gave states freedom to set interstate speed limits. Study authors acknowledged the ongoing debate in a Purdue University news release. "These findings are important because the influence of speed limits on roadway safety...

The Maryland House of Delegates voted 90 to 45 yesterday to pass the governor's speed cameras legislation, allowing police departments to install roadside cameras to ticket speeding motorists in work areas, school zones and residential neighborhoods across the state. The Senate has passed a similar bill. If the two chambers agree on a final version, Maryland would join the District in using cameras to enforce speed limits. In Maryland, speed cameras are legal only in Montgomery County. The legislation would allow the state's 23 other jurisdictions to use the technology.(snip) The speed camera bill, which was proposed by Gov. Martin...

SYDNEY (AFP) - The economic rise of China and India means climate change is occurring faster than previously thought, making efforts to fix the problem more urgent, an official Australian report found Thursday. The government-commissioned report called for stronger international commitment to addressing climate change, saying current efforts "still fall far short of getting deep cuts in global emissions underway." It warned Australia, already hot and dry, was more vulnerable to climate change than any other developed country and needed to lead efforts to reduce the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The government brushed aside the report's call for...

PHOENIX -- Police have arrested a man who they say sexually assaulted a 4 year old girl at a playground at University Park. Suspect booked into 4th Avenue Jail Police say the girl was at the playground with her family near by. Several witnesses say they saw suspect William Speed grab the girl while she played on the jungle gym and begin sexually assaulting her. The girl screamed and her family had to fight Speed to get him off of the girl. The family and nearby witnesses restrained Speed until police arrived. Suspect William Speed is a Level 3 sex...

The pages seem to load so very quickly. I don't have to click the refresh button at all. It's very unusual.

It's 55 MPH in Illinois for trucks, it should be 65 as all passenger cars to eliminate differential speed. Yes is slightly behind.

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time. According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second. However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory. The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of...

Shortly after beginning the shutdown process of AMPS and TDMA networks, and just hours before the launch the EDGE-capable iPhone, a number of users are reportedly seeing dramatic increases in EDGE throughput. After questioning whether the mobile was actually using WiFi, a New Yorker began to see if fellow AT&T customers across the nation were also noticing the substantial boost in speeds; sure enough, it looks like quite a few others are seeing speeds upwards of 200Kbps. Of course, the usual banter over the legitimacy of speed tests conducted on mobiles inevitably ensued, but we're leaving it up to you....

LEFT LANE DRIVERS of AMERICA “If you’re not a Left Lane Driver then get out of the Left Lane!” Traffic has become increasingly congested and tempers flare as slower drivers occupy what has been historically referred to as the “fast lane”. It’s time to get that Left Lane back! It is our considered opinion that not only will traffic move more smoothly and more quickly once the Left Lane is used in the way it has been designed but also headaches, frustration, bad tempers and road rage will all be greatly reduced when this pressure valve is released. It’s time...

A speed limit of 20mph could be introduced across much of London within three years. The measure, which would affect central London and residential areas where the limit is usually 30mph, is being demanded by the London Assembly Green Party, backed by road safety experts. Jenny Jones, the Mayor's Green road safety adviser, said she had discussed the plan with Ken Livingstone and that he backs more 20mph zones, but needed a little "arm-twisting" to accept their introduction across London.

BAGHDAD, April 20, 2007 – The United States is committed to the success of the fledgling Iraqi government, but not to the indefinite use of American troops to secure Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. “The United States sees Iraq as an important regional ally and a vital partner in the global war on terrorism,” Gates said in a news conference at the Iraq Ministry of Defense, in Baghdad’s heavily fortified International Zone. “Our commitment to Iraq is long-term, but it is not a commitment to have our young men and women patrolling Iraq’s streets open-endedly.”...

In Germany, sales of SUVs have risen by more than 45 percent in the past three years. People proselytize for hybrids and fuel efficiency, but they buy fat, gas-guzzling autos. Why do drivers, businessmen and politicians have such a hard time saving gas to protect the environment? Children can sometimes be painfully honest. When they play top trumps, there's only one question that matters: Which car is the most powerful -- which is fastest? "Mine has 255 horsepower." -- "Mine has 278." -- "From zero to 100 kilometers an hour in 7.1 seconds." Later, when the children have become grown-up...

ORLANDO, Fla. - While thousands of travelers queued up daily at Orlando International Airport, yanking off their shoes and shoving them through X-ray machines, a select few got to avoid the hassle during the latter part of 2006 — and passengers at four other airports nationally will soon join them. These travelers, who paid a $100 fee and underwent a background check to be part of a test program, bypassed the line and stepped into what may be a glimpse of the future — they inserted a biometric identification card into a kiosk that scanned their irises and their fingerprints...

... Windsor said he took an ax from a closet and hit her at least five times until the ax stuck in her head. He stopped because he couldn't remove the ax. The coroner's office could not remove the ax and when the body was X-rayed it was embedded down to near the victim's jaw, according to police. ...

December 5, 2006 A Loop 101 photo enforcement case that captured national attention and called into question the accuracy of Scottsdale’s freeway speed cameras won’t ever get its day in court. Scottsdale and the man accused of traveling a record 147 mph in a 2006 Hyundai Sonata family sedan reached a plea agreement less than a week before the case was to go to trial today. Lawrence Pargo, 27, of Goodyear, agreed to plead guilty to one count of criminal endangerment, one count of reckless driving and one count of excessive speeding at 102 mph in Scottsdale City Court, according...

BOOK REVIEW & DISCUSSION: Ain't Got No Cigarettes: Memories of Music Legend Roger Miller By Lyle E Style "It's an endless story about Roger. He was one of the cleverest people I've ever met in my life." (Waylon Jennings) This is my own review of Ain't Got No Cigarettes, the first Roger Miller book ever published. My review is based on reading the book (twice) and having several discussions with Lyle E Style, the author. He may stop by later to answer questions (as his schedule allows). This one is a must-read, folks. And for you radio personalities who...

A desperate motorist tried to escape a speeding fine by blowing up the roadside camera which snapped him, a court heard on Wednesday. Engineer Craig Moore, 28, took the drastic action because he feared he would lose his job as a result of the ticket. He returned to the roadside camera in the Manchester area and used explosive material, once used to make bombs and now common in the welding industry, to destroy the device. But the motorist didn't realise his actions were recorded by the camera itself. It is understood that pictures recovered from the camera hard disk show...