Free Republic

Five cars rented by President Joe Biden’s Secret Service detail for his Thanksgiving weekend trip to Nantucket mysteriously burst into flames a day after he left, according to reports. Footage of the burned out rental vehicles in a car park at Nantucket Memorial Airport was obtained by the Nantucket Current. The local news site reported that the cause of the fire was under investigation. No one was injured in the blaze. Footage showed firefighters dampening down the smouldering remains of several vehicles including a Chevy Suburban, a Ford Explorer, an Infiniti QX80, a Ford Expedition, and a Jeep Gladiator. In...

At least 12 species of crabs, prawns and lobsters collected from the deep seas in West Java are new to science. Another 40 are new records for Indonesia. Here are some of these strange and fascinating finds. SINGAPORE: The expedition lasted two weeks. But it will take two years for the scientists to complete their studies of more than 12,000 specimens - some bizarre and new to science - hauled up from the bottom of the Sunda Strait and Indian Ocean. These Indonesian waters off West Java had been largely unexplored by marine biologists until now. That changed in March,...

Two small bush planes are flying to the South Pole this week to evacuate workers at the Amundsen-Scott research station — a feat rarely attempted during the middle of the Antarctic winter. Kelly Falkner, the director of polar programs for the National Science Foundation (which runs the South Pole station), said that at least one seasonal employee for contractor Lockheed Martin requires medical treatment not available at the station and needs to be flown out. A second worker may also be rescued. Falkner couldn't provide further details about the medical motivation behind the rescues for privacy reasons. "We try to...

A World-Weary Puppy In Antarctica, Circa 1912 This poignant image (cheer up, buddy!) of a pup named "Blizzard" was taken in 1912 by Antarctic adventurer Frank Hurley, who two years later would be the photographer on Ernest Shackleton's famed Endurance Expedition. This shot is from the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which set out in 1911. Over a period of years, Hurley visited the frozen continent six times and came away with a trove of stirring images.

How an 1870s marine expedition changed oceanography and drove eight sailors insane When was the first voyage of the Challenger? No, not the Space Shuttle — the original Challenger, a sea ship that sailed in 1872. The HMS Challenger traversed the world's oceans for four years, drove some of its sailors completely insane, caused about a quarter of the crew to jump ship, and forever changed the face of ocean science. Is there a way to scroll past the nature channels without seeing one that describes the richness of the ocean and the life that teems in its depth? In...

How Scottish Scientists Re-Created a Hundred-Year-Old Whisky Preserved in Antarctica since 1907, the Scotch that Ernest Shackleton drank is now available in stores In 1907, Ernest Shackleton and crew set out on the ship Nimrod to visit Antarctica and, they hoped, the South Pole. The good news was, the entire party survived the trip, thanks in part to the Rare Old Highland Whisky they brought to the frozen continent. But the expedition was forced to evacuate in 1909, some 100 miles short of the Pole they sought. And, as winter ice encroached and the men hurried home, they left behind...

Scotch whisky meant to warm Antarctic explorers retrieved after century locked in ice Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand - This Scotch has been on the rocks for a century. Five crates of Scotch whisky and two of brandy have been recovered by a team restoring an Antarctic hut used more than 100 years ago by famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. Ice cracked some of the bottles that had been left there in 1909, but the restorers said Friday they are confident the five crates contain intact bottles "given liquid can be heard when the crates are moved." New Zealand Antarctic...

Inuit oral stories could solve mystery of Franklin expedition Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, June 25 More than 150 years after the disappearance of the Erebus and Terror - the famously ill-fated ships of the lost Franklin Expedition - fresh clues have emerged that could help solve Canadian history's most enduring mystery. A Montreal writer set to publish a book on Inuit oral chronicles from the era of Arctic exploration says she's gathered a "hitherto unreported" account of a British ship wintering in 1850 in the Royal Geographical Society Islands - a significant distance west of the search...

What possessed three 1950s housewives to defy convention and set off together for the forbidden reaches of the Himalayas? And what did they find when they got there? Sally Williams talks to the women today Fifty years ago three English housewives set off on a remarkable adventure. Anne Davies, 35, Eve Sims, 25, and Antonia Deacock, 26, who had no previous experience of overland expeditions, embarked on a journey everyone said could not be done by women: a 16,000-mile drive to India and back, and a 300-mile trek on foot into Zanskar, the remote Tibetan Buddhist kingdom. They were the...

Expedition to drill ancient mega-lake gathers pace 12:41 21 September 2007 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic An expedition to seek out a huge underground pocket of ancient water in Darfur, Sudan, is being prepared by geologists. About 100 metres beneath the arid sands in the north-west of the region there just might be the makings of an oasis – in the form of a hidden mega-lake, discovered in April 2007 using satellite imagery. The lake could provide much-needed relief to the war-torn African region, believe several UN agencies, the government of Sudan, and non- governmental organisations, which are backing the...

The foundation marked Gormley’s achievement with a donation of books — seven volumes of the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition — to the Tomlinson Library at Mesa State College. The journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark... were edited by Gary Moulton and published by the University of Nebraska Press. They are known among today’s historians as the best and most current version of the duo’s journey through the American West. Mesa State College Library Director Elizabeth Brodak said the fact that the books are forms of primary source material... “Anyone who wishes to get that flavor for...

Undersea expedition finds 'promising' data GALVESTON, Texas, March 11 (UPI) -- A submarine expedition to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico has returned with "promising" clues regarding an ancient undersea shoreline there. Anthropologist David Robinson told the Houston Chronicle that the expedition at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary yielded some significant data, yet was hesitant to say the area was 20,000 years old. "We found an area that looks like a promising place to do further research," he said of the 6-mile-long studied area. The study also marked the first use of some new vital undersea technology...

Hunt for Gambia's mythical dragon A child's depiction of the ninki-nanka on the expedition's blog A team of UK dragon-hunters is on an expedition in The Gambia to track down a mysterious creature known locally as the "Ninki-nanka".Believed to live in swamps, the ninki-nanka appears in the folklore of many parts of West Africa. It is described as having a horse-like face, a long body with mirror-like scales and a crest of skin on its head. Team leader Richard Freeman told the BBC, evidence so far was sketchy as most people died soon after seeing it. Mr Freeman, a...

Expedition seeks clues to lost Bronze Age culture By Richard C. Lewis Thu Jun 1, 4:11 PM ETReuters Photo: Deep-sea explorer Robert Ballard speaks at the National Geographic Society in an undated file photo.... PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) - An underwater explorer who found the Titanic and a team of international scientists will soon survey waters off the Greek island of Crete for clues to a once-powerful Bronze Age-era civilization. The expedition about 75 miles northwest of Crete aims to learn more about the Minoans, who flourished during the Bronze Age, and seeks to better understand seafaring four millennia ago,...

GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- The multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) were named honorary flagships March 13 for the upcoming search for the remains of the original Bonhomme Richard, which sank in the North Sea in 1779. The search project revolves around one of the most memorable battles of the American Revolution, where John Paul Jones, an American naval hero, uttered his legendary words, “I have not yet begun to fight!” “It’s entirely appropriate that these front-line warships are honorary flagships of the expedition, as they are representative...

Hurt by Falling Sales of SUVs, Ford Will Face Plant Closings and Thousands of Job Losses DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co., hurt by falling sales of sport utility vehicles, is expected to close plants and cut thousands of jobs in North America as part of a restructuring program to be announced Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Ford has refused to release details of the plan, dubbed the "Way Forward," which also is expected to include product changes and cuts to Ford's salaried ranks. Ford has about 87,000 hourly workers and 35,000 salaried workers in North America. "It's going to be painful for...

Think of it as the Mars Rover but at the bottom of the ocean, remotely exploring our own planet's most alien landscape for scientists back at mission control. "This is how the science is going to be done," said Deborah Kelley, a University of Washington oceanographer. In 2000, Kelley led an expedition using a manned submersible to explore the deep Atlantic Ocean. Her team stumbled upon something never seen before. The researchers discovered a startlingly massive collection of limestone towers located miles away from the tectonic "spreading" cracks in the seafloor that typically produce such structures. Some of these hydrothermal...

Recent News! They discover proof that Atlantis did not submerge complete but only one part...By Salvador Morales. Atlantis News Agency. Madrid, Spain. 01-06-2005. The Spanish investigator and scriptologist, Georgeos Diaz-Montexano, has discovered paleographical proofs that in fact the island or peninsula (Nêsos) denominated like Atlantis or Atlantic, it was divided in two parts below the sea. To date all atlantologists and students of the Timaeus and the Critias de Plato had thought that in texts of the Greek philosophist narrated the collapse of the all island or Atlantis peninsula, nevertheless, Georgeos Diaz-Montexano has reviewed the oldest texts known writings in...

Spanish investigators have discovered Atlantis's archaeological evidences... Atlantis = Iberia. Atlantis in Gibraltar and Ibero-Morrocian. The Georgeo's theories (I Part) Extracts the Georgeo's theories an hipotesis. (Forum Atlantis-Rising 2001-2004)Official website of the Georgeos's tehories (in spanish)http://Atlantis.sitio.nethttp://Atlantis.miarroba.comhttp://Georgeos-Diaz.sitio.net Spanish investigators have discovered archaeological evidences underneath the sea, near the coasts of Gibraltar, that could belong to the Atlantic civilization described by Plato with the name of Atlantis and that the Greek philosopher located exactly in front of the Columns of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar), next to the region of Gadeira (Cadiz, Andalusia) and of the Atlas (Morocco). The first findings were...

FORT CLATSOP, Ore. (AP) - Inside tiny Fort Clatsop, they were together again. The Lewises were there. So were the Clarks, the Floyds, and the Charbonneaus, the Gass family, the Whiteheads and more. Or at least their DNA was, some diluted across generations, some of it rock-solid. Descendants of the members of the Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery gathered over the weekend on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, the western terminus of the voyage where the party of 33 spent the miserable winter of 1805-1806. The reunion coincided with the three-year-long bicentennial celebration of the journey. Participants came...