Free Republic

I-80 eastbound at 84th St right shoulder blocked while an overturned semi is cleaned up. Slow down and move left. Traffic is starting to pickup so please pay attention. This will be a prolonged cleanup operation. Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The side of a Nebraska highway was littered with hundreds of boxes of energy drinks after a semi truck overturned and wound up in a ditch. Officer Mike Bossman, a spokesman for the Omaha Police Department, said on social media that the semi overturned on eastbound Interstate 80, near 84th Street, and ended up in a ditch next to the...

Californians are looking into the possibility of moving abroad after becoming increasingly 'fed up' with the divisiveness of politics in the US. A recent report suggests those living in the Golden State in particular are considering a move overseas - or even across the border into Mexico. Experts specializing in relocating expats overseas say they have seen a notable increase in the numbers of Americans exploring options leave the country with figures from 2024 far exceeding those of 2023. Henley & Partners, a firm specializing in international residency and citizenship, said approximately 80 percent of its US clients cite political...

The team are in Somerset to investigate the remains of a small Roman villa, dating back to just after the time of the Roman invasion in 43 a.d. But previous excavations suggest it was occupied by local inhabitants rather than Roman invaders. Could it have been built on the site of an earlier, Iron Age settlement? The team are joined by Roman specialists John Creighton and Tom Moore, and Claire Ryley makes an authentic period garden. Members of the Stranglers put in a surprise appearance.Blacklands: The Iron Age Brits Who Welcomed The First Romans | Time Team | 47:29Odyssey -...

An 87-year-old quest to find Amelia Earhart's missing plane looked like it had finally come to an end earlier this year.Following an extensive expedition, explorers at South Carolina firm Deep Sea Vision said they'd found an 'aircraft-shaped object' in the same region of the Pacific where the legendary aviator vanished in 1937.However, a second expedition now reveals the object is not an aircraft at all, but simply a bunch of rocks.Tony Romeo, founder of Deep Sea Vision, said in a statement: 'This outcome isn't what we hoped for...'Deep Sea Vision set off on its initial search in September 2023 in...

This is a happy day! My wife just called and said she wants to go to the inauguration and I'm all in. Before anyone wants to tee-off on me by saying something like, "Google is you friend," I have looked, but I want to hear from y'all too. So, I would sincerely appreciate any and all tips and recommendations from folks who have gone before. We'd be coming up from Raliegh and are wanting to do this as an "up-and-back" rather than an overnight trip. Thanks all!!! Have a great day.

Ancient Greek authors believed that Mende was used as a base camp for giants before battle, and as palaeontologist Evangelia Tsoukala has been finding out, it's clear to see why.Unearthing The Bones of Greece's Ancient 'Giants' | 2:18BBC Timestamp | 784K subscribers | 9,562 views | September 19, 2024

Live Science reports that a 4,400-year-old settlement site has been discovered in western Saudi Arabia by a team of researchers led by Guillaume Charloux of the French National Center for Scientific Research. The settlement was made up of a central district, a residential district, and protective ramparts measuring about nine miles long. Such Bronze Age settlements in Saudi Arabia tended to be smaller than those found in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Charloux said. "These were small towns connected to networks of monumental ramparts surrounding the large local oases," he explained. This small town, dubbed al-Natah, is estimated to have been home...

Two inscriptions from Hierapolis provide evidence of how gladiatorial contests were supervised. Gladiators were not, in fact, engaged in the chaotic, savage massacre of many people's imagination. On the contrary, the games were governed by detailed sets of rules and overseen by arbiters, or referees. These inscriptions, dedicated to local arbiters named Apollonios Menandros and Zosimos, describe the men as secunda rudes, or second umpires. If the city provided gladiators and referees for the games, it's possible there was a permanent gladiatorial organization in Hierapolis. This interpretation is supported by a grave stela found at the end of the nineteenth...

Alligators are one of the most dangerous animals in the US. The states that have the most attacks are Louisiana and Florida given the population of alligators located there. However, as alligators have begun to migrate to places in Tennessee and have even been located in Lake Eerie, that may change. Even the biggest alligator ever found was located in a surprising state, not Louisiana and Florida, showing that states that may never have dealt with an alligator population may have no choice but to do so in the future. Louisiana and Florida each have more than one million alligators...

Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Commuters on a busy Massachusetts road faced a stinky situation Monday morning when two potable toilets fell off the back of a truck. VIDEO AT LINK............ The truck failed to clear the low-situated Massachusetts Avenue overpass on Memorial Drive in Cambridge during the morning commute, knocking two porta-potties off the truck and onto the road. The truck initially left the scene but returned about 20 minutes later to collect its smelly cargo. The incident was an example of what is known locally as "storrowing," named for Boston's Storrow Drive, which features multiple low-clearance bridges that are...

Ahram Online reports that a tomb dated to the Middle Kingdom period has been discovered in the Asasif necropolis at Thebes, which is located on the western bank of the Nile River in Upper Egypt. The 4,000-year-old tomb contained the remains of 11 individuals, who are thought to have been family members who lived during the 12th and early 13th Dynasties. Damage to the wooden coffins and linen wrappings in the tomb is thought to have occurred during ancient floods. Jewelry and pottery, however, were found to be well preserved and still in place among the skeletal remains. The jewelry...

A childish tantrum landed one man in jail after a video of the incident was published and went viral. VIDEO AT LINK...................... The bit of aquatic road rage was captured on the body-worn camera of the victim and uploaded to the TikTok account of coastalfloats on October 27. It has since gained millions of views. The encounter, which appears to have taken place in a Florida section of the Intracoastal Waterway, began as the victim was fishing the relatively calm stretch of water. Video shows a jet skier approaching at a high rate of speed as a voiceover explains the...

The fourth-century a.d. Chronicles of Huayang, the oldest surviving Chinese geographical survey, records that Sichuan was once the domain of the Kingdom of Shu. According to these chronicles, one Shu king, who is described as having bulging eyes, taught his people how to cultivate silkworms, while another had the ability to communicate with fish. For thousands of years, the Kingdom of Shu was known only through such semilegendary accounts. Then, in 1927, a father and son dug a ditch at the site of three earthen mounds near the banks of the Yazi River in central Sichuan, 25 miles northeast of...

Experiencing a city on foot gives you the freedom to amble from one attraction to another, discovering hidden bars, quirky shops, and lesser-known spots along the way. It’s also free and reduces your carbon footprint. But what makes a city pedestrian-friendly? In 2023, the sustainable living nonprofit organization Smart Growth America released their Foot Traffic Ahead report, which analyzed factors such as how easily residents in America’s largest metro areas can walk from their homes to amenities, the distances between blocks, and access to public transportation. So, lace up some comfortable footwear and explore the most walkable cities in the...

The Associated Press reports that sandstone sculptures depicting door guardians have been unearthed near the north gate of the Royal Palace at Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Khmer Empire. Long Kosal of the Apsara National Authority said that archaeologists were looking for fallen stones around the gate at the eleventh-century palace when they found the statues, which range in height from about 39 to 42 inches. Each of the 12 guardians are standing at attention, and wearing unique facial hair ornaments, added archaeologist Sorn Chanthorn. The statues have also been dated to the eleventh century, based upon their...

DNA from 131 ancient individuals throughout the Caucasus region between Europe and Asia has been analysed, pointing to a split into two populations – one group became farmers, while the others continued living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.The region is known as one of the earliest places people practiced animal husbandry. The new study adds insight into how this developed.The study, published in Nature, spans nearly 6,000 years of genetic data in the region.The Caucasus mountains are on the border between Europe and Asia. They stretch between the Black Sea to the west and the Caspian Sea to the east. The mountain...

Archaeologists have found a previously unknown network of massive Bronze Age sites in Central Europe that could explain so-called Bronze Age "megaforts."..."Some of the largest sites, we call these mega-forts, have been known for a few years now, such as Gradište Iđoš [modern-day Serbia], Csanádpalota, Sântana [Hungary] or the mind-blowing Corneşti Iarcuri [Romania] enclosed by 33km of ditches and eclipsing in size the contemporary citadels and fortifications of the Hittites, Mycenaeans or Egyptians," says lead author Barry Molloy, an associate professor at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland."What is new, however, is finding that these massive sites did not stand alone,...

During the Roman period, Apsaros was an important port and garrison on the Colchis coast—a term that refers to a historical region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, roughly corresponding to what is now western Georgia—Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski said. Apsaros, constructed around 2,000 years ago, was of particular importance in the time of the Roman emperors Trajan (who ruled from A.D. 98-117) and Hadrian (who ruled from A.D. 117-138).The votive plaque found during the 2024 excavation season at the site, which ran from mid-May to the end of July, is essentially a thin gold plate. It features a Greek inscription...

While digging to find an ancient settlement in southern Sweden, archaeologists made a completely unexpected discovery: an enormous Viking Age cemetery with more than 100 graves and several ship-shaped mounds...The cemetery was initially found in 2017 in the village of Tvååker, in southwestern Sweden, ahead of planned road construction. Although Tvååker is mentioned in historical sagas, the aboveground remains of this particular cemetery were lost to time until recently."The problem is that the land has been plowed and leveled to create pastures," Nordin said, "so all the occupation levels, above-ground remains, and burials have been plowed to pieces."During excavations carried...

Japan has been inhabited by people since about 35,000 years ago. Roughly 16,500 years ago a group of Neolithic hunter-gatherers, referred to as the "Jomon" culture, developed a complex society including the production of pottery and jewellery.About 3,000 years ago, rice cultivation in paddy fields was introduced to Japan. This saw the beginning of the Yayoi period which ended around the year 300 CE. After the Yayoi came the Kofun period (300–538 CE)...The authors note that the current consensus based on DNA evidence from modern Japanese people is that there was 2 or 3-way mixing between the indigenous Jomon people...