Free Republic

One of California’s most critical hydroelectric plants is at risk of closing for the first time in five decades as water levels continue to sink. A megadrought and scorching heat, both worsened by La Nina weather effects, have depleted some of the water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville. The lake’s current water levels are hoovering around 700 feet above sea level, but if 640 feet is breached, then officials “will likely be forced to close the Edward Hyatt Power Plant for the first time since it opened in 1967,” California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley told CNN. The lake’s...

He is best known for his comedy work, finding huge success with cartoon TV show Family Guy and the Ted films. But Seth MacFarlane ventured into the sci-fi world on Sunday night, as his new series The Orville, inspired by Star Trek, made its debut on Fox. The actor, 43, stars as Ed Mercer on the show, and follows his attempt to captain a spaceship 300 years in the future with his co-pilot Kelly - who also happens to be his adulterous ex-wife, after he finds her in bed with an alien.

I have had it. I just watched the latest episode of "The Orville". But this latest episode, "Primal Urges" pissed me off to NO end. Let's forget the overall subject of "gay" porn addiction by a completely non-human species, and the total delve into how that affected the ship and crew...and the clear homosexual overtones. I cannot let pass the behavior of the sudo-Klingon character of Bortis who stood by and watched a woman say goodbye to her family...husband and son...of which there was a good 30-60 second scene...and our Uber Macho "hero" did NOTHING to save her. His behavior...given...

A 100-year-old Texas man says he's on “the top of the world” after breaking five world running records for his age group during a championship meet in Maryland last weekend. Orville Rogers, a Dallas resident who trained bomber pilots during World War II, is proof age is just a number after his record-setting performances at the USATF Master Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Orville Episode 4 Review: If the Stars Should Appear The Orville runs into a massive ship adrift in space, and the story, although familiar in some ways, unfolds impressively. [This "The Orville" review contains spoilers] The Orville Season 1 Episode 4 You’d think that after many seasons and spinoffs of Star Trek, we’d have seen an episode like this one, but The Orville is proving that it can break new ground even as it treads familiar territory. Encountering a society blinded by self-imposed ignorance is nothing new, of course, but the manner in which this show presents its encounters...

Are they righting a wrong or wronging the Wrights? The Connecticut Senate passed a bill Tuesday evening that would delete the Wright brothers from history, explicitly stripping recognition for the first powered flight from Orville and Wilbur and assigning it to someone else. “The Governor shall proclaim a date certain in each year as Powered Flight Day to honor the first powered flight by [the Wright brothers] Gustave Whitehead and to commemorate the Connecticut aviation and aerospace industry,” reads House Bill No. 6671, which now sits on the governor’s desk awaiting passage into law. "There’s no question that the Wright...

No info yet, breaking headline on CNN TV..

A San Francisco Chronicle Herb Caen Lecture featuring Dan Rather, who was anchor and managing editor for the CBS Evening News for 24 years, and now serves as a correspondent for 60 Minutes and hosts and produces long form programming examining major global topics and events for the Discovery Channel, will be in conversation with Orville Schelll, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism. Often referred to as "the hardest working man in broadcast journalism," ...

Orville Freeman, a former Minnesota governor and longtime ally of former Vice President Hubert Humphrey who served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969, died Thursday in Minneapolis. He was 84 and had Alzheimer's disease.As agriculture secretary, he took office in a time of huge grain surpluses and complaints from small farmers. A friend remarked that the governor took the post with some reluctance and that his only experience in agriculture was mowing his lawn.Mr. Freeman saw part of the solution to agricultural surpluses in more aggressive international marketing and in aid to the less fortunate, both at...