Free Republic

A top-ranked Canadian waterskier who attended the University of Louisiana-Layfayette “suddenly” died at 18 years old on May 6, the university announced. Freshman Micky Geller studied kinesiology and marketing while he was on a full-ride waterskiing scholarship with the national champion Ragin Cajuns. While Geller’s cause of death was not revealed, Water Ski Canada said the standout athlete “died suddenly.” “It is with great sadness that the University will lower the University flag to half-staff in memory of Michael Arthur ‘Micky’ Geller on Thursday, May 18,” the university said in a statement on Facebook. “His friends and family remain in...

Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts the existence of black holes, formed when giant stars collapse. But that same theory predicts that their centers are singularities, which are points of infinite density. Since we know that infinite densities cannot actually happen in the universe, we take this as a sign that Einstein's theory is incomplete. But after nearly a century of searching for extensions, we have not yet confirmed a better theory of gravity.But we do have candidates, including string theory. In string theory all the particles of the universe are actually microscopic vibrating loops of string. In order to...

The pricey and immersive Star Wars hotel at Walt Disney World in Florida is closing after just one year of taking guests on a two-night 'voyage' that could cost up to $20,000. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was originally sold as an experience rather than a hotel and costs around $1,200 per person per day. One 'tricked out' suite has been reported to come in at a whopping $20,000 for the trip. The immersive lodging, which is based in Orlando - and does not have any windows - will carry out its final 'voyages' in September, four years after it was...

Ailing Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein's office has admitted the 89-year-old did suffer a brain infection, despite her own insistence that she'd just been battling the flu. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Dianne Feinstein, 89, has been diagnosed with vision and balance impairments as well as facial paralysis known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome in addition to encephalitis, a brain infection. 'It was a really bad flu. I'm doing better thank you,' Feinstein said initially about her condition.

The United States on Thursday urged Iran not to carry out the executions of three people involved in nationwide protests, with campaigners fearing that authorities will kill them imminently, AFP reported. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, echoing a statement last week by Amnesty International, voiced concern that Iran may soon execute Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi, who were arrested in November over protests in the central city of Isfahan. "We join the people of Iran and the international community in calling on Iran to not carry out these executions," Patel was quoted as having told reporters. "The...

The FBI had at least four open criminal investigations into Hillary and Bill Clinton that were suddenly dropped in the months before the 2016 presidential election, special counsel John Durham’s recently released report shows. The bombshell report released by Durham — which concluded that the bureau’s probe into former President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia was “seriously flawed” — also shed light on the quashed probes. The feds had been looking into claims that foreign countries and other individuals were trying to influence the Clintons through donations to their namesake non-profit and Hillary’s presidential campaign. Three of the FBI’s...

Pakistan’s Army needs to take a large chunk of the blame for ruining the country’s economy. Last year, former Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa officially admitted that the military has been meddling in politics for decades. “In my opinion, the reason for this is the constant meddling by the army in politics for the last 70 years, which is unconstitutional,” he said, adding that the crumbling economic situation must be taken as a lesson and all stakeholders need to work together to safeguard the country’s interest. Last year in November General Asim Munir took charge as Pakistan’s new Army...

Will China come to the rescue of cash-starved Pakistan, which is inching closer to a default amid delay in revival of the $6.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)? China has not made any statements over the deepening political crisis in the South Asian nation but concerns have risen. “China’s stakes in Pakistan are high. It also needs Pakistan to contain India but the moot question is whether Beijing will be willing to completely bailout Pakistan. That is a matter of debate,” an analyst told India Narrative. Global ratings agency Moody’s has already warned that Pakistan may default...

If investors agree on one thing this year, it's that the dollar is going to fall. That's made the greenback's 2% bounce over the last month particularly confusing. U.S. inflation is cooling and the Federal Reserve may pause its interest rate hikes next month. So the dollar should be on the way down, right? Analysts say a number of factors are probably at play. One is that a range of worries - about the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations, the health of banks, and the global economy's outlook - are burnishing the dollar's safe-haven credentials.

Scientific evidence, not popular ideas, should drive probiotic and prebiotic recommendations in clinical settings. Globally, evidence is continually emerging on how probiotics and prebiotics can be effectively used in patient care but health care professionals often struggle to find out where the evidence stands for a particular condition. The World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) recently published an updated guideline document, aimed at helping gastroenterologists and other physicians understand appropriate clinical applications for probiotics or prebiotics. The guideline was created with contributions from experts in gastroenterology, probiotics, and prebiotics, with the efforts co-led by experts from the International Scientific Association for Probiotics...

When you try your best, but you don’t succeed. That could be the case for frustrated Coldplay (pic) fans in Malaysia, who are finding it hard to get hold of tickets for the rock band’s concert after they were all were snapped up within three hours on Wednesday. Pre-sale tickets which were exclusive to CIMB cardholders on Tuesday were also sold out within hours. The demand for tickets is so hot that one buyer on e-commerce marketplace Carousell in the country is offering to pay RM111,111 for the concert tickets. The buyer is seeking tickets in Category 1, which originally...

Jade Jagger, the daughter of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, has been arrested on the Spanish island of Ibiza for attacking police officers, a police source said on Thursday without providing further details. The 51-year-old jewelry designer had been staying at a hotel on the popular party island since at least May 11, according to her Instagram account. She was arrested on Wednesday along with a man following an altercation at a restaurant in the island's capital Ibiza Town, Spain's largest newspaper El Pais reported, citing witnesses.

Embarking on the journey of creating a new Twitch channel can be both exciting and nerve-wracking, especially when it comes to understanding the platform’s guidelines.Are you thinking about starting a new Twitch channel but aren’t sure what you can or cannot say? In this article, we give the lowdown on the latest Twitch banned word list in 2023. This ensures you stay on the right side of Twitch’s guidelines and avoid the banhammer. You’ll also learn effective tactics to fend off internet trolls and protect yourself – and your audience – from cyberbullying. What Words Are Banned on Twitch? Twitch...

Genesis 3:1-11,22 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the...

Americans are reportedly buying groceries at Walmart and opting out of nonessentials at other stores as inflation troubles President Joe Biden’s (D) economy. Walmart experienced strong sales last quarter, according to a recent CNN Business report: The company said Thursday that sales at stores open for at least one year increased 7.4% during its latest quarter compared with the same stretch last year. Its operating income increased 17.3% last quarter. Walmart (WMT) raised its sales forecast for its next quarter and the full-year, sending its stock up 1.5% during pre-market trading. During a recent conference call, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon...

An open letter calling for a swift diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine was published on Tuesday in the New York Times. The letter’s 14 signatories consisted mostly of former U.S. military officers and other national security officials, including Jack Matlock, Washington’s former ambassador to the Soviet Union; Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former diplomat; Matthew Hoh, a former Marine Corps officer and State Department official; and Ret. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff. Many are longtime critics of U.S. foreign policy and post-9/11 war policies.The letter calls...

Japan's Nikkei share average rallied on Friday to the highest since August 1990, the country's so-called "bubble" era, driven by a confluence of positive factors from strong earnings to optimism over a U.S. debt ceiling deal. The benchmark index jumped as high as 30,924.57 shortly after the open, on course for a seventh straight winning session, after smashing through the psychological 30,000 level on Wednesday for the first time in 20 months. The broader Topix, which had reached the post-bubble milestone on Tuesday, extended its climb to as high as 2,171.37.

From the conclusion: "Just two months later, it was claimed that an allegedly real zoonotic coronavirus had begun infecting people. The “new disease” had typical flu-like symptoms and very similar death rate to seasonal flu-like diseases. Coincidentally, in this period cases of flu reportedly dropped to almost zero. Tests for this “new virus” were rushed out, skipping the usual peer review process. Mass testing of asymptomatic people was used to create “covid cases”, while mass testing of those already dying in hospital was used to create “covid deaths”. As a “response” to the “pandemic”, lockdowns were introduced, crippling the economy...

Seven inmates were hospitalized on Wednesday night after experiencing what officials described as "a medical emergency" while incarcerated at a jail in northwestern Washington. Authorities believe the inmates may have suffered from fentanyl overdoses, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office office said. The sheriff's office, which is leading a criminal investigation into the incident, confirmed Thursday that all of the inmates who were hospitalized had since been discharged and returned to the Snohomish County Jail. The office said earlier that detectives believed an inmate brought fentanyl into the jail and had identified a possible suspect. By Thursday morning, authorities had referred...

The police officer involved in a critical incident where a 95-year-old woman was tasered is still on the job, despite having his duties under review. Great-grandmother Clare Nowland is in a critical condition at Cooma Base Hospital after the incident at the Yallambee Lodge, where she fell and hit her head after being tasered by police. The senior constable with 12 years of experience was with his partner when they were called to the aged care home in Cooma after reports of a patient with a knife. NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Cotter said the elderly woman was armed with...