Free Republic

Eleven years ago, at the Singapore Satellite Industry Forum 2013, Richard Bowles, the Regional Sales Director for Southeast Asia at Arianespace, dismissed SpaceX... He described SpaceX as "mainly selling dreams" and limited their voice at the conference because he didn't want to hear what he deemed unrealistic. At that time, SpaceX had a vision of building reusable rockets and an ambitious goal of launching 100 times a year—a target that seemed impossible for any private or government organization in the industry. This ambition was mocked heavily, and SpaceX was dismissed as a dreamer that no one wanted to wake up....

<p>A Florida woman went crazy in a supermarket parking lot, and it was all caught on video. The incident took place outside a Publix supermarket in West Palm Beach last month and was captured by YouTube content creator Wtfbroward, who films public interactions around South Florida.</p>

Walmart has reportedly deployed its first hydrogen fuel cell-powered Nikola Tre semi truck, marking a significant milestone in the retail industry’s transition to alternative fuel vehicles. Hydrogen technology stands as a potential competitor to EV trucks, which have the disadvantage of massive battery weight. Electrek reports that Walmart Canada has introduced the first hydrogen fuel cell electric semi truck to its fleet. This move makes Walmart Canada the first major retail chain in North America to adopt this cutting-edge technology in its transportation operations. The deployment of the Nikola Tre hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (HFCEV) is part of Walmart...

Despite huge acreage and treacherous terrain, most missing persons at Yellowstone National Park are found. But a small number of disappearances have never been solved. The reasons why are as vast as the park. =============================================================== Dan Campbell was illegally hunting elk antler sheds in Yellowstone Park when he disappeared more than three decades ago. Campbell had set off from Hellroaring Trailhead to Jardine, Montana, outside of the park's boundaries, with his dog Freckles for a four-day trek. However, when the 42-year-old Montana man failed to appear at the designated location and time, his girlfriend, Tracy Erb, reported him missing April...

...Bone fragments in a piece of fossilized excrement at a new museum in northern Arizona — aptly called the Poozeum — are among the tinier bits of evidence that indicate T. rex wasn't much of a chewer, but rather swallowed whole chunks of prey.The sample is one of more than 7,000 on display at the museum that opened in May in Williams, a town known for its Wild West shows along Route 66, wildlife attractions and a railway to Grand Canyon National Park...Inside, display cases filled with coprolites — fossilized feces from animals that lived millions of years ago —...

150 MPH, moving WNW at 20 mph.......................

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. — Boiling Spring Lakes Fire Rescue made everyone giggle Friday when they posted about an adventure their chief and the Brunswick County Sheriff's deputies had overnight. Around 1 a.m., Brunswick County deputies got a call asking for help with a strange traffic issue. It appears an alligator, which they thought looked about 12-feet long, was lying in the middle of the road, lunging at passing cars. Since the gator was huge, Boiling Spring Lakes Fire Rescue was called in to help. The chief and a Quick Response Vehicle was sent to the scene. "After a first attempt...

Sejanus' Fall...Tiberius soon grew suspicious of his minister's ambitions... he acted slyly: he began promising Sejanus even greater honours, and probably also allowed him to marry Livilla; in the meantime, he began showing indirectly that the praefect had lost his favour. For example, he left the consulship in May and forced Sejanus to do the same; he began criticizing some of Sejanus' friends while praising others; and in his letters to the Senate, he stopped including Sejanus' titles. He began showing affection for his nephews Gaius (better known as Caligula), the last surviving son of Germanicus, and Tiberius Gemellus, Drusus'...

In 524 BC, a force of 50,000 Persian soldiers travelled across the Western Desert of Egypt. Their intended target was The Oracle of Amun, however the army would not make it. They would instead disappear in a sandstorm, in a legend that still draws curiosity today.realhistory videosFinding The Remains Of 50,000 Persian Soldiers That Vanished In A Sandstorm | The Lost Army | 49:21Real History | 213K subscribers | 472,772 views | June 12, 2024

A plane toting a streamer reading “BI-DONE!” soared over a star-studded fundraiser in the Hamptons Saturday where the President was rubbing elbows with big-time Democratic donors. The opinionated aircraft flew from Montauk to Sag Harbor — made famous last week by Justin Timberlake’s DWI arrest — making sure to sweep past the ritzy event at the home of hedge-fund billionaire Barry Rosenstein and his wife Lizanne. Sources told The Post that a local Republican donor paid for the banner. Whether Biden himself saw the message is another story — he and First Lady Jill Biden spent the afternoon schmoozing with...

A hoard of 1,700-year-old coins has been discovered in central Israel by researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), according to a Live Science report. The 94 silver and bronze coins, which date to between A.D. 221 and 354, had been hidden in a public building in Lod, a city known to the Romans as Diospolis. The building is thought to have been destroyed during the last known Jewish revolt against Roman rule, known as the Gallus Revolt, for Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus, who ruled the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire at the time. The cities of Tiberias and...

New insights into the function of the world's oldest analog computer, the famous Antikythera mechanism, have been made with help from an unlikely source: technology developed for the study of gravitational waves...Roughly the size of a shoebox, the device features an array of intricately tooled gears that are surprisingly complex for any innovation from the second century BCE. Over the decades, studies of the device have revealed that it likely functioned as a hand-operated computer that would have allowed its operator to predict the arrival of eclipses, as well as calculate the positions of planets over time.Fast forward to 2020,...

A study shows that repetitive tasks carried out by ancient Egyptian scribes – high status men with the ability to write who performed administrative tasks – and the positions they sat in while working may have led to degenerative skeletal changes.Researchers in Prague, Czech Republic, examined the skeletal remains of 69 adults males, 30 of whom were scribes, who were buried in the necropolis at Abusir, Egypt...They identified degenerative joint changes that were more common among scribes compared to men with other occupations.These changes were in the joints connecting the lower jaw to the skull, the right collarbone and the...

On Tuesday, the WSJ reported that a lunar capsule carrying the first rock samples from the far side of the Moon had touched down on Earth, marking a significant milestone in space exploration. But, unlike the pioneering missions of the space race of decades past, this cutting-edge endeavor wasn’t masterminded by the US or Russia, but by China.Space Race 2.0China's lunar ambitions have been growing steadily since its Chang'e 1 lunar orbit mission in 2007, with NASA data revealing that the country has now made 9 missions to the Moon. But, collecting rocks is just one small step in China’s...

Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, states have been allowed to pass their own abortion laws. As certain states began to pass stronger protections for preborn human beings, other states began to eliminate protections — and ‘abortion travel’ became a hot-button issue. Some companies began funding abortion travel as a “benefit” to employees, and abortion funds began to pay for airfare, hotels, and the like in order to assist women living in pro-life states to obtain abortions in states where abortion was more available. Since that time, the Guttmacher Institute...

After years of maintaining County Road 505, Natrona County officials sued local landowners when they threatened to block off the road. Turns out, the county doesn't even own the road -- the landowners do. Both sides were in front of a judge Wednesday. Gravel trucks were using County Road 505 on June 18, 2024, to haul gravel to the BLM project on Muddy Mountain. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) CASPER — Determining who owns County Road 505 and a frustrated landowner’s threat to block it off landed in a Natrona County courtroom Wednesday. Natrona County is asking for an injunction...

Chinese battery giant CATL says it's successfully flown a 4-ton plane using its ultra-high density "condensed batteries." It now expects to have an 8-ton electric aircraft with a range of 2,000 to 3,000 km (1,240-1,865 miles) operating in 3-4 years. Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited (CATL) is the current world leader in manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles, owning 37% of the entire market share. Nearly every major car manufacturer, from Ford to Tesla, is using CATL batteries. In April of 2023, CATL announced its "condensed battery" packing over twice the energy density of nearly anything else on the market at...

Thunderbird Italien Ford Ford CEO Jim Farley stopped by The Smoking Tire podcast earlier this month to talk vintage sports car racing, EVs, and driver assistance, so if you’re a fan of events like the Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion, you should give it a listen. We also took note of some of Farley’s comments about the new car market—comments specifically about cars rather than SUVs. “I do not like generic cars and trucks,” said Farley as he railed against “appliance-like vehicles” while defending Ford’s decision to leave the sedan market. It’s a segment that Ford hasn’t completely written off for...

An aircraft mechanic who was contracted to repair Boeing planes has alleged he was labelled a "snitch" and then sacked for speaking up over safety concerns. Richard Cuevas claimed he witnessed substandard manufacturing and maintenance work on a crucial section of Boeing 787 aircraft. Boeing, which has been dogged by questions over whether its safety culture is rigorous enough, said the issues had been investigated and "did not present a safety concern". Lawyers representing Mr Cuevas alleged he reported critical issues that could create a serious public safety risk and has filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration and the...