Free Republic

A smart thermostat quickly learns to optimize building microclimates for both energy consumption and user preference. Buildings account for about 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption, and are responsible for one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions. Making buildings more energy-efficient is not only a cost-saving measure, but a crucial climate change mitigation strategy. Hence the rise of “smart” buildings, which are increasingly becoming the norm around the world. Smart buildings automate systems like heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); lighting; electricity; and security. Automation requires sensory data, such as indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and occupancy...

Good news exists – even if it rarely appears in the media. During Christmas time, local news outlets are reporting on the goodness of humanity, from strangers flooding a lonely grandmother with Christmas cards to a couple of eight year olds deciding that what they want for Christmas is to help others in need. Here are seven stories exemplifying the Christmas spirit – and demonstrating that the little things sometimes matter the most. Grandma in Nursing Home Receives Hundreds of CardsSusan Wendt, a nursing home resident in Rhode Island, felt alone this holiday season. That’s when she decided to ask...

RLJI RYD FPSYR EDVNQD OYQPIRZJI, NQ IN IJWDRY RYD ENNH, FNR J OQDJRXQD LJI IRPQQPFS, DGODCRPFS RYD ONNH. —JFNFWZNXI

Merry Christmas, FReepers & friends. Best to you all, God's blessings, and on our country in these challenging times. Thank You, God.

Humanitarian reasons have been cited for flying home several 'IS' brides and children from internment in Syria. At the height of the civil war, the women allegedly traveled to join the Islamist militia. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday said he was "relieved" that a "humanitarian" recovery operation had brought home 18 children and five "Islamic State" (IS) brides from Kurdish-run internment camps in northeastern Syria. One of three German women brought back, identified in reports as Leonore M., 21, from Saxony-Anhalt state, was arrested a day earlier on arrival in Frankfurt airport, on charges including terror organization membership,...

A black physician in Indianapolis has died with Covid-19 weeks after she accused a doctor of denying her proper medical care because of her race. In a video from her bed at Indiana University Hospital North, Susan Moore said she had to "beg" for treatment. Offering its condolences, the hospital said it took accusations of discrimination very seriously but could not comment on specific patients. Black people are at greater risk from Covid than white people, studies show. Dr Moore, 52, passed away at another local hospital on Sunday. In her 4 December post on Facebook, she described how her...

With the refusal of the US Supreme Court to even hear the facts of the election fraud case, we have reached a political and societal singularity. In physics, a singularity is a condition in which all the known laws of nature seem to break down. In sociology, a tipping point is reached, in which the entire social order can be abruptly dismantled. In either case, the result is unpredictable. No one knows what will happen. We have entered the twilight zone. A few months ago, what is happening now was inconceivable, an Orwellian fantasy. No one could have believed that...

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Healthcare, Government, Family, Military, Business, Farmers, Sanctity of Life, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

TOKYO - Japan aims to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles in the next 15 years, the government said on Friday in a plan to reach net zero carbon emissions and generate nearly $2 trillion a year in green growth by 2050. The “green growth strategy,” targeting the hydrogen and auto industries, is meant as an action plan to achieve Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s October pledge to eliminate carbon emissions on a net basis by mid-century. Suga has made green investment a top priority to help revive the economy hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and to bring Japan into line with the European...

Anybody else getting serious lag on all sites?

Official figures show the Home Office cannot trace tens of thousands of people who have either skipped their immigration bail conditions or fled from detention centres. Last night, campaigners seized on the data, which was released under Freedom of Information laws, as proof that Britain’s immigration system is not being properly enforced. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: ‘This is a shocking failure. It is ridiculous to intercept those crossing the Channel illegally or after they emerge from the back of lorries, only to turn them loose to disappear into the undergrowth of the shadow economy. It simply...

“Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame. Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another” (Proverbs 25:8-9).

Congresswoman-elect Lauren Boebert (R-CO) spoke with Breitbart News about Second Amendment-related issues Wednesday, stressing guns provide women with an “equalizer” against a “stronger aggressor.” On January 29, 2014, Breitbart News reported on Rifle, Colorado’s Shooters Grill, a restaurant where waitresses and patrons alike carry guns. Boebert owns Shooters Grill, and in 2014 she said, “We encourage [carrying guns], and the customers love that they can come here and express their rights. This country was founded on our freedom. People can come in carrying their gun, and they can pray over their food.”

President-elect Joe Biden and First Lady-to-be Dr. Jill Biden sang “Happy Birthday” to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday, marking his 80th birthday. In a tweet by Dr. Biden, which her husband retweeted, the two sang “Happy Birthday, Dr. Fauci,” in different keys.

<p>A government television broadcast in Cuba this week urged citizens to eat guinea pig and other rodents, suggesting rodent meat is more nutritious and “sustainable” than pork or beef, Cuban outlets reported on Wednesday.</p><p>The Communist Party has presided over major food shortages in Cuba for decades, beginning almost immediately following the Cuban Revolution in 1959. In recent years, the Castro regime has blamed President Donald Trump for extensive food shortages and failed distribution of government-mandated rations. While the Trump administration has imposed significant sanctions on the regime in response to the increased frequency of human rights violations against pro-democracy dissidents in the Obama era, these sanctions have targeted elite individuals and military-linked corporations, not sources of food for the general population.</p>

Dominion Voting Systems, one of the two companies that have been accused by President Donald Trump and his lawyers of stealing the election in favor of Joe Biden, have put several Fox News presenters and other right-wing media outlets on notice that defamation lawsuits are coming. Dominion, which provided vote-counting equipment to several states during the November election, this week sent 21 letters threatening Fox News and hosts Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and, Maria Bartiromo, with impending legal action. 'We write regarding patently false accusations that Dominion has somehow rigged or otherwise improperly influenced the recent U.S. Presidential election —...

Donald Trump on Thursday praised Rush Limbaugh as 'the greatest' after the radio host thanked his listeners for their support and opened up about his fight with terminal cancer during his final show of the year. The president shared a tweet from producer Bo Snerdley who had posted a link to the Fox News story about the broadcast. Trump tweeted: 'Rush is the GREATEST!'

The US government will now require all airline passengers arriving from the United Kingdom to test negative for COVID-19 starting Monday. A new mutant strain of the virus that is 70 percent more infectious is spreading in Britain, prompting many countries to shut their borders to travelers from there. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement Thursday that all airline passengers arriving from the UK must test negative within 72 hours of departure.

House Republicans snuffed out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bid to accept President Donald Trump's demand for $2,000 stimulus checks for Americans – failing to accept the offer in a rare Christmas Eve session and forcing the proposal to get shelved on a parliamentary move. After the defeat of the move to try to advance the president's late-in-the-game demand, the House formally enrolled the mammoth 5,593-page bill to provide relief and keep the government from shutting down. With Trump already in Mar-a-Lago, where he played a round of golf Thursday after releasing an official schedule saying he had 'many meetings and...