Free Republic

Scotch tape was invented in 1930 by banjo-playing 3M engineer Richard Drew. Scotch tape was the world's first transparent adhesive tape. Drew also invented the first masking tape in 1925—a 2-inch-wide tan paper tape with a pressure sensitive adhesive backing.

Today Legion M announced the feature documentary William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill will debut in theaters in North America on March 22, which happens to be Shatner’s 93rd birthday.

Today is the feast of Saint Luke, a father of the ancient Church renowned as Evangelist, Historian, and Physician. We should be aware of one additional title that is traditionally attributed to this early disciple of Christ: Artist. For the name of Saint Luke is attached to one of the most venerable works of art of the ancient Church—the Hodegetria icon which resided in Constantinople until its destruction in 1453. While the origins of the Hodegetria icon are shrouded in mystery, its connection to St. Luke is based upon traditions stretching back to the early centuries of Constantinople as a...

Joe Biden delivered remarks in honor of 'long time friend', 'good man' and former Vice President Walter Frederick 'Fritz' Mondale on Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 'I served with Fritz a long time. He became a good and close friend,' the president said during his remarks at the Northrop Memorial Auditorium on the University of Minnesota's campus at the memorial service for Mondale, who served as President Jimmy Carter's No. 2 for his single term from 1977-1981. 'I was a kid when I got elected – I wasn't even old enough to be sworn in – I was 29-years-old,' Biden said...

<p>A 14-year-old boy has died after falling from a 430-foot-tall thrill ride at an amusement park in Orlando, CBS Miami reports.</p><p>The Orange County Sheriff's Office says they received 911 calls about an emergency at the "Orlando Free Fall" at ICON Park just after 11 p.m. on Thursday night after witnesses reported seeing a person fall from the ride to the ground.</p>

I recently came across this clip from the Clinton Years of Rush calling out said President's crocodile tears during the Ron Brown memorial service which did bring a much needed smile to my face. Now that we're looking back on his life, I thought would be a good time to ask people here for their favourite Rush moments that hold dear to them. Whether he made you laugh or stoked passion in you

In Moscow, large-scale Orthodox icons rendered in spray paint decorate bridges and underpasses. They're the work of artist Aleksandr Tsypkov and fellow creators who believe that everyone, not just church-goers, should be able to see religious art. https://www.instagram.com/alexandrtsypkov/> Here's more --- Aleksandr Tsypkov on Instagram --- beautiful.

A silver medieval ring thought to be up to 600 years old has been unearthed by a man who took up metal detecting after watching a TV sitcom. The gold-gilded ring was found by Gordon Graham in a field in the north of the Isle of Man. Archaeologists believe the piece, which is engraved with geometric shapes, dates from between 1400 and 1500 AD. An inquest hearing at Douglas Courthouse declared the ring can be officially classed as treasure. Allison Fox, a curator of archaeology at Manx National Heritage, said it may date back to the time when the first...

History Channel reference. On August 5, 1962, movie actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her home in Los Angeles. She was discovered lying nude on her bed, face down, with a telephone in one hand. Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, were littered around the room. After a brief investigation, Los Angeles police concluded that her death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide.”

(CNN)Civil rights icon and Georgia congressman Rep. John Lewis has been hospitalized but is expected to be released Sunday, his spokeswoman says. Spokeswoman Brenda Jones told CNN that Lewis is under routine observation but she did not give details of the nature of his illness or where he is hospitalized. CNN affiliate WSB-TV reported that Lewis was being treated at a hospital in metro Atlanta, and the station quoted unnamed sources as saying Lewis became ill on a flight to Atlanta on Saturday.

The Conyers family power struggle intensified Thursday as Ian Conyers, the great nephew of disgraced former Rep. John Conyers Jr., took steps to boot the ex-congressman’s son John Conyers III from the ballot in the race to replace him. John Conyers III should be kicked from the ballot because he did not collect the requisite 1,000 valid signatures to run for his father’s old seat in Michigan’s 13th District, the formal challenge filed by an attorney for Ian Conyers asserts. The challenge urges officials to throw out 617 of the 1,240 signatures on John Conyers III’s filing petition because because...

Faced with the sweeping backyard of her newly purchased $2.8 million home, Florence Fang considered her landscaping options. Should she plant some dainty cherry trees or perhaps a picturesque vineyard? Then inspiration struck: She needed a herd of 15-foot-tall dinosaurs. This wasn’t just any multi-million-dollar Hillsborough home — it was the “Flintstone House,” the iconic orange and purple domes that have become a loved (and hated) Bay Area landmark along the northbound commute up Interstate 280. Cherry blossoms weren’t going to cut it. The prehistoric critters are among the first new signs of life at the home that languished on...

Nancy Zieman Productions, LLC. is saddened by the death of our friend and colleague, Nancy Zieman, longtime host of the Sewing With Nancy TV show on Public Television. Thank you, Nancy, for a life filled with inspiration, education, and grace. We extend our condolences to Nancy’s family, friends, colleagues, viewers and readers. We all miss her so much. After a long battle with cancer, Nancy passed away at home, surrounded by family, on November 14, 2017. A private funeral service is planned with family and close friends.

A classical Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition survives in Christian iconography  Have you ever wondered, while looking at religious icons, why the figures of Christ and the saints make certain hand gestures? Each gesture has a specific meaning, but it’s no wonder we can’t always understand them: they’re “written” in Greek! Classical Greeks and Romans developed a well-established, quite complex hand-gesture code, which was used by both orators and rhetoricians alike, when they were giving speeches in the agora or the Senate, during their private addresses, or even in the classroom. The gestures accompanying the oratory, of course, were a matter of public...

Tragedy has struck one of the hopeful new companies trying to invent the future of aviation. On Monday an Icon A5 crashed next to Lake Berryessa in northern California. The disaster killed Icon lead engineer Jon Karkow and his colleague, Cagri Sever. We don't yet know the cause of the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating that. CEO Kirk Hawkins published the following statement on the company's Facebook page. I flew in an A5 two years ago when Icon brought the aircraft to New York for media test rides on the Hudson River. It is a gorgeous...

WASHINGTON - A D.C. police officer who rose to a pivotal role within the police department was suspended, but is now back on the streets after taking under-aged interns to a bar and even worse. She’s been recognized for paving the way for so many like her, in a police department that has strived to be progressive. The praise has been strong, but Fox 5 uncovered some disturbing information about Sergeant Jessica Hawkins.

No celebration? No jumpy iconic letters going all a gaga or a gogo?

Calling the Colorado Republican Party’s decision not to hold a primary popular vote a scandal, talk-radio host Michael Savage declared Sen. Ted Cruz should disavow the move and call for a vote. “What just happened in Colorado should, frankly, disqualify Cruz, who claims to be a constitutional conservative,” Savage told his listeners Monday. Savage is a strong supporter of GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who has been a regular guest on “The Savage Nation.” (full article at link)

According to ancient tradition, the wonderworking icon of Tikhvin is one of several painted by St Luke the Evangelist. The icon was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople in the fifth century, where it was enshrined in the Church of Blachernae, which was built especially for this purpose.In 1383, seventy years before the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Turks, fishermen on Lake Ladoga in the principality of Novgorod the Great witnessed the icon miraculously hovering over the lake’s waters amidst a radiant light. According to an early sixteenth century Russian manuscript, “The Tale of Miracles of the...

To anyone who’s followed the case of Emma Sulkowicz, Columbia University’s “Mattress Girl,” the fact that her symbolic protest doubled as a credit-earning work of performance art seems a fitting commentary on the whole situation. Sulkowicz, who graduated Sunday, spent her senior year hauling a 50-pound mattress around campus to protest the Columbia administration’s failure to expel her alleged rapist. It would be difficult to overstate the adulation showered upon her: She won the National Organization for Women’s Susan B. Anthony Award and the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Ms. Wonder Award; she was the subject of a glowing New York Magazine...