Free Republic

Dense fog wreaked havoc on travelers inside both Chicago international airports - O'Hare and Midway - early Christmas Eve, as over 50 flights were grounded, leaving travelers stuck for the holidays. On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a dense fog advisory for the entire Chicago area that initially expired at 9 a.m., but was later extended to 12 p.m. as heavy fog lingered. At Midway alone, there have been around 50 cancelations so far, with increasing delays as the FAA issued a ground stop until 10:30 a.m., after travel was put on hold late Saturday night. Meanwhile, O'Hare airport...

Dense fog and smoke from two marsh fires collided early Monday to create a "superfog" that blanketed Interstate 55, causing a mile of deadly, chain-reaction crashes that killed seven motorists and shut down the highway in both directions, authorities said.

Today is the 247th anniversary of the mysterious, Providential fog that covered the evacuation of the Continental Army from Long Island to Manhattan in 1776. The term Providence was very common in this era. The president of Princeton College, John Witherspoon, defined Providence as the operation of God’s presence. After the evacuation on August 29, 1776, one soldier sent a report to a Boston newspaper that said: “Providence favored us. The night was remarkably still. The water as smooth as glass, so that our boats got all over. At sunrise a great fog came up. The enemy did not discover...

A burglar who can't see something can't steal it either – that is the idea behind a new method of deterring crime by using fog. As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported Tuesday, the technology behind the fog release is a brand-new way of fighting the mass retail thefts plaguing the city.

All six passengers aboard a small plane were killed in a fiery crash in Southern California early Saturday, marking the second deadly air wreck in the area this week. Heavy fog blanketed the area, which may have caused the plane to miss the runway and land in the field several hundred yards away, reported KTLA. “The airplane crashed short of French Valley Airport during its second approach around 4:15 a.m.,” a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board told the outlet.

At the start of March, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces stated that the Russian military casualties exceeded 150,000. Meanwhile, several reports indicate that Ukrainian military casualties are in excess of 100,000. However, it is likely that the actual numbers of Russian and Ukrainian combat losses are considerably less.

The pilot of the helicopter that crashed in thick fog, killing Kobe Bryant and seven other passengers, reported he was climbing when he actually was descending, federal investigators said in documents released Wednesday. Ara Zobayan radioed to air traffic controllers that he was climbing to 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) to get above clouds on Jan. 26 when, in fact, the helicopter was plunging toward a hillside where it crashed northwest of Los Angeles. The report by the National Transportation Safety Board said Zobayan may have “misperceived” the angles at which he was descending and banking, which can happen when a...

Caltrans tweeted that as many as 50 vehicles are involved in two locations, with as many as 100 vehicles trapped between the scenes. Videos of the scene posted to social media show multiple cars involved in the crash, and at least one in flames. Multiple emergency agencies responded to the scenes. All southbound lanes are shut down while emergency crews work the scene. Southbound traffic is being diverted to Frazier Mountain Park Road. The crash has also caused traffic slowdowns in the northbound lanes. Drivers at the scene noted thick fog and poor visibility.

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” while discussing the uncovered email showing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had told the Egyptian prime minister that “we know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film,” prior to telling them it was a YouTube video that caused the terror attack, Clinton said she did not lie to them but instead was caught up in “the fog of war.” When confronted by video clips of family members of Benghazi victims, Clinton said, “I understand the continuing grief at the loss that parents experienced with the loss of these four brave Americans....

BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) — Two people died and more than 80 people were hurt Thursday when at least 100 vehicles collided in Southeast Texas in a pileup that left trucks twisted on top of each other and authorities rushing to pull survivors from the wreckage. The collision occurred in extremely foggy conditions at about 8:45 a.m. Thanksgiving Day on Interstate 10 southwest of Beaumont, a Gulf Coast city about 80 miles east of Houston. A man and a woman were killed in a Chevy Suburban SUV crushed by a tractor trailer, the Texas Department of Public Safety told KFDM-TV. Officials...

Our ambassador to Libya was killed in our own consulate in Benghazi on the night of September 11. For the next six weeks, President Obama repeated the same talking point: The morning after the attack, he ordered increased security in our embassies in the region. Suddenly, on the campaign trail in Denver on October 26, he changed his story. “The minute I found out what was happening . . . I gave the directive,” he said, “to make sure we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to do. I guarantee you everybody in the CIA and military...

Our ambassador to Libya was killed in our own consulate in Benghazi on the night of September 11. For the next six weeks, President Obama repeated the same talking point: The morning after the attack, he ordered increased security in our embassies in the region. Suddenly, on the campaign trail in Denver on October 26, he changed his story. “The minute I found out what was happening . . . I gave the directive,” he said, “to make sure we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to do. I guarantee you everybody in the CIA and military...

A misty “tsunami” has hit the coastline of Panama City, Florida, USA. A helicopter pilot managed to capture rare phenomenon and has posted breathtaking photos on Facebook. ­JR Hott, who makes his living, flying tourists in a helicopter over the city and the Gulf of Mexico, took photos of clouds of fog developing over buildings while hovering over Panama City’s coastline.

However, no major accidents were reported Thursday morningSevere fog enveloped most parts of Dubai this morning bringing the visibility down to less than 30 metres in several areas and slowing down traffic movement. The Roads and Transport Authority’s Intelligent Traffic System displayed signs on most foggy areas alerting drivers to reduce speed and switch on the fog lights. However no major accidents have been reported so far. Meanwhile the weather forecast for today is that relatively hot weather during daytime with mild to pleasant weather at night especially over the internal and mountainous areas. According to the met department, “some...

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...

SAN BERNARDINO - As many as 50 vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction accident early Wednesday in fog on the north 15 freeway in the Cajon Pass, with injuries reported and wreckage scattered for a half-mile, authorities said. The number and severity of injuries was not immediately known, California Highway Patrol Officer Jacki Parent said. The chain-reaction collision began when two tractor-trailer rigs crashed in northbound lanes, officers said. Motorist Phil Cokkinos told KTTV's "Good Day LA" program by phone that he saw three separate multi-vehicle accidents as he zigzagged along Interstate 15 near the summit of Cajon Pass. The...

Keeping with the arts theme, I went back to Staud for these two images of the Yellow Mountains of China. The linked page has a few more.

Scripture, our Evangelical friends tell us, is the inerrant Word of God. Quite right, the Catholic replies; but how do you know this to be true? It's not an easy question for Protestants, because, having jettisoned Tradition and the Church, they have no objective authority for the claims they make for Scripture. There is no list of canonical books anywhere in the Bible, nor does any book (with the exception of St. John's Apocalypse) claim to be inspired. So, how does a "Bible Christian" know the Bible is the Word of God? If he wants to avoid a train of...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, March 19, 2008 – Multinational Division Center formed in spring 2007 as part of the U.S. troop surge. The progress made since then has been well-documented, as soldiers have built a network of patrol bases covering the “belts” of suburbs and agricultural communities surrounding southern and eastern Baghdad. What is less well-known is the surge in support required from other U.S. government agencies in bringing about those gains. In Multinational Division Center, one of the most significant of those surge partners is the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The NGA – a Defense Department support agency and a member...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Collisions on a foggy freeway Saturday resulted in a pileup of as many as 100 vehicles and the deaths of at least two people, the California Highway Patrol said. The collisions included nine big rigs on northbound Highway 99 just south of Fresno, CHP Officer Scott Jobinger said. "It looks like we had a chain reaction crash in that fog," Jobinger said. Rescuers extracted several people whose vehicles were pinned under tractor trailers, he said. The number of people injured was not yet known. Authorities said no hazardous materials appeared to have been spilled in the...