Free Republic

Baby boomers with cash and a campy bucket list take note: Movie director John Waters is hosting a summer camp for grown-ups in Connecticut. While the first iteration, slated for the third weekend in September, is already marked "sold out" (there were 300 slots) on the Camp John Waters page, dreamers of a follow-up will note that the $499 price of admission grants attendees access to a one-man show by Waters, a Q&A, a marathon viewing of his films, Bloody Mary Bingo, Hairspray Karaoke, and more, reports Dazed. Guests also receive an autographed copy of his book Make Trouble, which...

t’s a new era for space travel. And if there’s one thing that sets it apart from the previous one, it is the spirit of collaboration that exists between space agencies and between the public and private sector. And with commercial aerospace (aka. NewSpace) companies looking to provide everything from launch services to orbital and lunar tourism, a day is fast-approaching when ordinary people will be able to go into space. Because of this, many aerospace companies are establishing safety and training programs for prospective clients. If civilians plan on going into space, they need to have the benefit of...

Mathematical model of a 'TARDIS' takes the 'fiction' out of science fiction Summary: After some serious number crunching, a researcher says that he has come up with a mathematical model for a viable time machine: a Traversable Acausal Retrograde Domain in Space-time (TARDIS). He describes it as a bubble of space-time geometry which carries its contents backward and forwards through space and time as it tours a large circular path. The bubble moves through space-time at speeds greater than the speed of light at times, allowing it to move backward in time.

Romance is in the air — and sometimes in the airport, according to an online flight-shopping service. About 1 in 10 American air travelers reports having had sex of some kind at an airport, compared with about 8 percent who are members of the Mile High Club, according to an important new survey conducted by a flight-shopping website.

The 33lb long-tailed macaque weighs twice the normal weight of a macaque Nicknamed 'Uncle Fatty', the monkey was fed by tourists in a Bangkok market Wildlife officials took him in for a health check and monkey 'fat camp' He has been put on a strict diet and made to run a around with other animals They say the money is not sick and that they want him to return to the wild An obese monkey in Thailand is being sent to a fat camp after ballooning to twice the normal weight for his species - by gorging on food from...

It wasn’t until a passenger named David Dao was dragged from a United Airlines aircraft that many travelers even knew what overbooking was, let alone felt outraged over it. But after the April 9 incident turned Dao into a viral video star and left him with two broken teeth and a concussion, the controversial practice that airlines use to save themselves from losing money on empty seats became the target of everyone from angry social media activists to politicians like Chris Christie and Chris Van Hollen. Now, just as Dao has reached an “amicable settlement” with United, Southwest has announced...

A Swedish woman has explained her shock at being told during a job interview with Scandinavian airline SAS that she would have to take off her headscarf if she wanted the position. Aye Alhassani, 23, had completed several tests and a group interview before she was invited to an individual interview for the position with the airline. It was during the interview that she was informed SAS has a uniform policy banning the wearing of religious symbols. “At first they were cautious, and I don’t think the interviewer wanted to be straight about it. But eventually, it was clarified that...

FULL TITLE: Now United's killing fluffy bunnies! Son of the world's biggest rabbit dies on United flight. Huge three foot bunny arrives in Chicago dead in 'strange' circumstances Beleaguered United Airlines faces fresh controversy after a 'fit and healthy' giant rabbit died in the cargo hold of one of its flights. Simon, a ten-month-old 3ft continental giant rabbit, was on track to outgrow the world's biggest rabbit - his 4ft 4in dad, Darius. But Simon's devastated owner Annette Edwards from Stoulton in Worcester claims he died in the cargo hold of a flight from Heathrow Airport to Chicago O'Hare International...

The Prototype Lunar/Mars Greenhouse Project (PLMGP) is all about growing vegetables for astronauts during extended stays on the Moon, on Mars, or anywhere they can’t be resupplied from Earth. Beyond growing food, the Project aims to understand how food-growing systems can also be a part of life-support systems. ... he prototype itself is an inflatable, deployable system that researchers call a bioregenerative life support system. As crops are grown, the system recycles, water, recycles waste, and revitalizes the air. The system is hydroponic, so no soil is needed. Water that is either brought along on missions or gathered in situ—on...

FULL TITLE: Tennessee teacher, 50, who went on the run with 15-year-old student 'planned to take her to Mexico and test drove a boat before he was arrested for kidnapping after five weeks on the run' The Tennessee teacher who was arrested last week after spending five weeks on the run with his 15-year-old student planned to take the girl to Mexico to start a new life, prosecutors allege. Tad Cummins, 50, was arrested in northern California last week in a cabin near Cecilville, California, where he was hiding out with 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas. The pair vanished from their hometown...

FULL TITLE: United is rated as the WORST large airline in the US - even before the company courted scandal over doctor who was dragged off a plane United Airlines has been rated as the worst among its peers for customer satisfaction even before the scandal over a doctor who was dragged off a plane. Those responding to an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) study ranked United lower than all large airlines in the survey, which analyzed data from across all sectors. Last month, Dr David Dao was violently dragged from his seat on a United flight after the airline...

ABOUT THE FLYER The Kitty Hawk Flyer is a new, all-electric aircraft. It is safe, tested and legal to operate in the United States in uncongested areas under the Ultralight category of FAA regulations. We’ve designed our first version specifically to fly over water. You don’t need a pilot’s license and you’ll learn to fly it in minutes. We publicly revealed the working prototype in April 2017. The official Flyer will be available by the end of the year.

SYRACUSE — Why have sightings of unidentified flying objects around the nation more than tripled since 2001? Why is July the busiest month for U.F.O. sightings? Why did they spike in Texas in 2008, or in New Mexico in September 2015? And how in the world, or out of it, has Manhattan racked up New York State’s second-highest tally of U.F.O. sightings in this century? These questions and many others emerge from the first comprehensive statistical summary of so-called close encounters: 121,036 eyewitness accounts, organized county by county in each state and the District of Columbia, from 2001 to 2015.

Get to know this ricotta-filled Easter tradition“Of course I know it — cassata Siciliana, my mom used to make it,” says Cecelia Maiogan, a Chicago-area resident who grew up in a small town outside of Palermo on the Northern shore of Sicily. “From the time I was seven or eight, around Easter, she would send me on foot to town to go buy the candied fruit that we used to decorate it with,” Maiogan says, “and as a treat for my errand I got to have a small piece of the fruit. I remember really liking that, the sliver of...

Helsingborg in southern Sweden is set to become the home of a museum dedicated to some of the biggest flop products of all time, including the Betamax player, the Harley Davidson perfume and an ill-advised "female" pen. Those are just three of the items that will be on display at the new Museum of Failure when it opens its doors on June 7th, before becoming a touring exhibition throughout Sweden at a later date. "Companies are innovative, but they don't learn from their mistakes. And they keep them secret," explained Samuel West, a psychologist and innovation researcher who is contributing...

Scenes of Quebec City over Pachabel's Canon, played on water-filled wine glasses by a street musician on the boardwalk.

CNN)American Airlines is investigating after a video surfaced on social media showing a confrontation between a passenger and a flight attendant aboard one of its flights.

FULL TITLE: 'Hit me!' The shocking moment an American Airlines flight attendant challenges a passenger to a FIGHT after 'hitting a crying mother in struggle over her baby's stroller' A shocking video has emerged showing an American Airlines employee challenging a passenger to a fight after allegedly hitting a woman with a stroller on a domestic flight. The upsetting footage, filmed shortly before Flight 591 departed from San Francisco on Friday afternoon, shows the airline employee goading a passenger and saying, 'hit me'. The clip was uploaded by passenger Surain Adyanthaya, who explained he started filming after the flight attendant...

General Motors Co. says it plans to launch 10 electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in China by 2020 amid government pressure on the industry to promote alternatives to gasoline. The president of GM’s China unit, Matt Tsien, said Friday during the Shanghai auto show that the company will start production of a pure-electric model in China within two years. …

FULL TITLE: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish passenger delays flight for more than an hour because he wanted the TV screens switched off A flight from Kiev to Israel was delayed for more than an hour on Thursday night after an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man insisted the overhead television screens were retracted or turned off. In keeping with traditional religious teachings and practices, the passenger argued that he did not want his children to watch any TV or films during the flight with budget Israeli airline UP. Despite his verbal protest, flight attendants were unable to adhere to the man's request and they issued...