Free Republic

Two British researchers challenged the conventional history of mathematics in June when they reported having evidence that the infinite series, one of the core concepts of calculus, was first developed by Indian mathematicians in the 14th century. They also believe they can show how the advancement may have been passed along to Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who are credited with independently developing the concept some 250 years later... historian of mathematics George Gheverghese Joseph of the University of Manchester, who conducted the research with Dennis Almeida of the University of Exeter... says that no one has yet firmly...

A proposed Capital One-Discover merger drew swift backlash from some Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups who say the deal could reduce competition and increase fees and costs for consumers. “With a merger this size, the regulators need to ensure our financial system remains strong and competitive, so that consumers continue to have access to safe, affordable financial products and services,” said Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “A rubber-stamped merger that makes powerful financial companies even bigger and more powerful will do nothing for families,” he added. Capital One announced Monday that it would acquire Discover Financial Services...

Capital One Financial is set to acquire Discover Financial Services , according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The deal could be announced Tuesday, the outlet said, citing sources. The merger of the two companies, who are among the largest credit card issuers in the U.S., would expand Capital One’s credit-card offerings. The news comes on the back of a Bloomberg News report on Monday that Capital One was considering an acquisition. Shares of Discover are down 1.7% lower for the year, putting the company at a $27.63 billion market cap. Capital One has a market cap of...

I Used To Be A Normal Person I used to think I was pretty much just a regular person, but I was born white, into a two-parent household which now, whether I like it or not, makes me privileged, a racist, and responsible for slavery. I am a fiscal and moral conservative, which by today's standards, makes me a fascist because I plan, budget, and support myself. I went to Grammar School and have always held a job. But I now find out that I am not here because I earned it, but because I was "advantaged." I am heterosexual,...

Politicians lean on the financial industry to target activities they don’t like.The first credit card processor to announce plans to track purchases at gun shops is Discover Financial Services. The company hints that its competitors, specifically Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, are on the same schedule to implement a controversial gun-specific merchant category code announced last year. Given that the ideologically charged bank behind the new code has big plans for targeting gun purchases you can expect more fireworks to follow. "Discover Financial Services, a provider of credit cards, told Reuters it will allow its network to track purchases at...

Beginning in April 2023, Discover will become the first credit card issuer to track gun purchases made by their cardholders. On September 11, 2022, Breitbart News noted that Visa caved to pressure from gun control groups and New York Democrats, agreeing to flag gun and ammo purchases via a new sales categorization. The Associated Press observed that Mastercard and other major credit cards also agreed to flag gun sales. On March 2, 2023, the Independent Journal Review (IJR) reported that Discover will be first among credit card companies to track gun sales, inasmuch as the company will begin doing so...

(Reuters) - Discover Financial Services, a provider of credit cards, told Reuters it will allow its network to track purchases at gun retailers come April, making it the first among its peers to move ahead with the initiative aimed at helping authorities probe gun-related crimes. The decision came after the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which decides on the classification of merchant categories used by payment cards, approved in September the launch of a dedicated code for gun retailers. Proponents of the move, including gun control activists and Democratic politicians, say it will allow financial institutions to better assist authorities...

BREAKING|159,586 views|Sep 3, 2020,02:52pm EDT Discover Blocks Credit Card Donations To Christian Site Collecting For Alleged Teen Shooter Kyle Rittenhouse Karen Robinson-Jacobs Karen Robinson-JacobsForbes Staff Business I cover breaking news with an emphasis on race. TOPLINE Discover, one of the nation’s top credit card issuers, told Forbes it has blocked its users’ ability to make any donations on the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo which has raised more than $380,000 for accused Kenosha teen shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, who has garnered support from the far-right as a national debate rages on vigilante justice. Kyle Rittenhouse (in green) was among the volunteers to...

A pair of mathematicians from Australia and France have devised an alternative way to multiply numbers together, while solving an algorithmic puzzle that has perplexed some of the greatest math minds for almost half a century. For most of us, the way we multiply relatively small numbers is by remembering our times tables – an incredibly handy aid first pioneered by the Babylonians some 4,000 years ago. But what if the numbers get bigger? Well, if the figures get unwieldy – and assuming we don't have a calculator or computer, of course – most of us would then turn to...

CONROE, Texas – Parents knows it can be difficult to get kids to eat their greens, but after an incident at a Texas high school some students may never eat vegetables again. “There’s no way they could’ve missed (them), picking up a handful of broccoli like they do with their gloves on and not seen these ginormous bugs,” Melissa Evans, mother of Caney Creek High School junior Falyn Evans, told Click2Houston. Falyn Evans and her friend were served the bug-infested broccoli for lunch Monday and the two almost ate the insects before they realized they were there. “It was kind...

Scientists discover ‘deadliest substance known to man’ By News.com.auOctober 15, 2013 | 1:34pm Scientists have discovered a new type of botox they believe is the “deadliest substance known to man” and have withheld the DNA sequence because an antidote is not known. It is the first time the scientific community has made such a move to withhold such information but security concerns have dictated that they do so. New Scientist reports that just 2 billionths of a gram, or inhaling 13 billionths of a gram, of the protein botulinum produced by the soil bacterium Clostridium botulinum will kill an adult.

For nearly a decade, a band of cybercriminals rampaged through the servers of a global business who's who: Among the victims were 7-Eleven, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, JetBlue and JC Penney. Prosecutors say the hackers stole "conservatively" 160 million credit card numbers, and the dollar value of the crimes they helped facilitate is enormous — just four of the victims are out $300 million. The suffering caused to identity theft victims was "immeasurable," say prosecutors. On Thursday, five of the gang's members were indicted. One is in custody in the U.S., a second is awaiting extradition in the Netherlands, and three...

Astronomers discover new kind of supernova March 26, 2013 EnlargeThis artist's conception shows the suspected progenitor of a new kind of supernova called Type Iax. Material from a hot, blue helium star at right is funneling toward a carbon/oxygen white dwarf star at left, which is embedded in an accretion disk. In many cases the white dwarf survives the subsequent explosion. Credit: Christine Pulliam (CfA) (Phys.org) —Supernovae were always thought to occur in two main varieties. But a team of astronomers including Carnegie's Wendy Freedman, Mark Phillips and Eric Persson is reporting the discovery of a new type of supernova...

The TLC series Sarah Palin's Alaska gave us a view into a place of wonder most have never seen and experienced. As one of America's last wild places, it's clear that there's something to be learned by all of us in the beauty of Alaska and the rugged individualism that necessarily prevails among its people. When Columbus set sail in search of a westward passage to the East Indies, he stumbled upon something wonderful when he found the New World. What he discovered was a land of nature's plenty, and a place ripe for the expansion of civilization in which...

Archaeologists have discovered a rare gold bell with a small loop at its end. The finding was made during an archaeological excavation in the City of David National Park (near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem) by the Israel Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation. The directors of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, said after the finding, “The bell looked as if it was sewn on the garment worn by a man of high authority...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Hate insects? Afraid of germs? Researchers are reporting an alarming combination: bedbugs carrying a staph “superbug.” Canadian scientists detected drug-resistant staph bacteria in bedbugs from three hospital patients from a downtrodden Vancouver neighborhood.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working with mice have discovered that by removing a protein from the region of the brain responsible for recalling fear, they can permanently delete traumatic memories. Their report on a molecular means of erasing fear memories in rodents appears this week in Science Express. “When a traumatic event occurs, it creates a fearful memory that can last a lifetime and have a debilitating effect on a person’s life,” says Richard L. Huganir, Ph.D., professor and director of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “Our finding describing these...

Scientists have discovered a gene which makes mice more intelligent when it is not working. Nicknamed the ‘Homer Simpson gene’, after the hapless cartoon character, it operates in a part of the brain which regulates how animals learn and form new memories. The researchers from the Emory University School of Medicine say that deleting the gene in mice made them more skilled at navigating mazes and remembering objects. (Snip) John Hepler, PhD, professor of pharmacology at Emory University School of Medicine, said: "A big question this research raises is why would we, or mice, have a gene that makes us

"We're going to be showing off the beauty and the uniqueness and the ruggedness of Alaska and our natural environment and the characters who live up there and make their living," she told reporters at the TIME 100 gala Wednesday night. "It's going to be a good thing for the rest of America to see."

Aside from Earth, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. But that's not the only similarity our home and Titan share. A team of planetary astronomers recently announced that the two share yet another feature, which is inextricably linked with that surface liquid: common fog. The team discussed their findings in a recent paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters as well as in a presentation at the American Geophysical Union's 2009 Fall Meeting in San Francisco. Astronomers say...