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Edwin Castro, who won Powerball’s record-breaking $2 billion jackpot this February, isn’t quite done spending his newfound cash on luxury real estate. The lucky lotto player has already purchased at least two other California mansions since coming into the money this past winter — and now he has splurged yet again, this time on a $47 million compound in Bel Air. Castro’s newest crib brags seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and an infinity pool with panoramic views of Los Angeles, the Daily Mail first reported. The 31-year-old’s newest home further boasts DJ turntables, a champagne tasting room, a suspended glass walkway,...

Evidence of the most powerful solar storm in history has been uncovered in an unlikely place: within the rings of a tree. This immensely powerful solar storm is thought to have been at least 10 times as powerful as the Carrington Event of 1859, which caused chaos in the rudimentary telegraph system of the time. The researchers found a strange spike in radiocarbon within the rings of subfossilized trees dating to around 14,300 years ago. "Fusa Miyake discovered a sudden and unexpected spike in radiocarbon levels in a Japanese tree from 774 AD. Initially, this was thought to have been...

What happen to the FR feature that helped convert webpages to email? Right click on tab to activate.

I'm looking for a new hosting service for the images that I sometimes put on Free Republic. A few months ago, somebody's browser freaked out at one of the images I put up, thinking there was malware involved. Since then, I stopped posting the images, but I want to migrate my site to a new hosting service with a decent SSL, because the host and SSL I have are obviously not that good, and the price is almost constantly increasing. What say you, fellow FReepers? What is a good one to check out? I am looking on my own, but...

We have been denied access to our accounts at vanguard. A message telling us to call them, can’t call on weekends. Anyone else having trouble getting to their accounts??

An ex-Amish TikToker revealed that the national smartphone emergency alert got his friends from the religious community in trouble for having phones. Every US smartphone, television and radio received an alert on Wednesday at 2:18pm ET as part of a nationwide test for an emergency alert system. Unfortunately for three members of the Amish community, the alert also involved a powerful alarm sound that outed them for having modern devices - which go against their beliefs. Amish beliefs and traditions condemn modern technology and encourage plain clothing. The community is known for not using any modern devices, dressing in old-fashioned...

Update from @SBF_FTX #SBFTrial: Questioning Gary Wang, co-founder of #FTX : Q. Did you commit financial crimes while working at FTX? A. Yes. Q. What types of crimes did you commit? A. Wire fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud. Q. Did you commit these crimes by yourself or with other people? A. With other people. Q. Who were the main people you committed these crimes with? A. Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison. Q. You're talking about Alameda Research? A. Yes. Q. Okay. We'll come back to it in a minute. When you say withdrew unlimited amounts of funds,...

It’s the latest blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government and its efforts to compel Google and Meta Platforms Inc. to negotiate payments with local publishers under the Online News Act, due to come into effect on Dec. 19. Google’s move comes about a month after Meta similarly dismissed the regulations and said that it will continue blocking users in Canada from seeing news on Facebook and Instagram to avoid running afoul of the law. Google already threatened to remove links to news, and tested blocking such content for a small percentage of users in Canada earlier this year. On...

This isn't exactly the machine uprising we were expecting.Chipotle’s social media accounts can be on the nose sometimes, with memes about sweater- and spooky- seasons, respectively; with rhetorical graphics about how a burrito would wear its pants; and with an oddly terrifying corncob-human hybrid called “Corn Lad.” But earlier this week, @Chipotle went serious on Instagram, providing a preview of Hyphen, its “collaborative robot” (or cobot), which it said was currently being tested to make burrito bowls and salads beside its fully human coworkers. “Around 65% of Chipotle’s digital orders consist of bowls or salads, so with Hyphen on board,...

LOS ANGELES — According to sources, federal agents confronted a group of Antifa rioters who were in the middle of burning down a courthouse so they could ask them if they'd seen any dangerous MAGA around. "Hey friends, you see any of them dangerous MAGA around?" a special agent later identified as David Friedkin reportedly asked while attempting to shield his face from the blaze. "It is imperative that we find them before they do something dangerous like calmly walk inside a federal building or vote for the wrong presidential candidate." Witnesses claim one of the Antifa rioters was kind...

The Grace Hopper Celebration, which bills itself as a the world’s largest conference for women in computing, was recently swamped by men. The influential career fair for women opened itself to disaster by welcoming “non-binary” attendees to be inclusive of the LGBT community — an invitation men accepted in large numbers. Event organizers became frustrated by the sea of men, accusing male attendees of “lying” about their gender identities, with the event’s chief impact officer complaining, “Unfortunately — some of you are taking interview slots right now, from women who need them. Some of you are standing in line, talking...

I've used several email programs in the past. Mozilla's, Outlook, yahoo. Right now I use gmail because my late wife and I used it for so much that I had to consolidate stuff to work on an assortment of issues. If they still work as easily I should be able to put in the SMTP settings and have the emails all imported into whichever email program. Does that still apply? I'd like from FR folks a few suggestions that are user friendly and as insulated from leftist manipulations as one can get. Thanks.

Forget the conventional wisdom about firing irreplaceable employees. Because if your employees aren’t irreplaceable, you’re doing something wrong. Credit: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock“The graveyards,” General De Gaulle once ironically observed, “are full of indispensable men.” Maybe so, but the same may not be so easily said about organizations whose success did depend on irreplaceable managers and staff.Take, for example, Apple. Under Steve Jobs it created the iPod, iPhone, App Store, and iPad — products and services that ranged from radical departures to entirely new concepts.Under Tim Cook? What his Apple has introduced to the marketplace are copycat items: A streaming service,...

MOSCOW, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Russia's communications watchdog plans to block Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) from March 1 next year, a Russian senator for the ruling United Russia party said on Tuesday. Demand for VPN services soared after Russia restricted access to some Western social media after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Senator Artem Sheikin said an order from the Roskomnadzor watchdog would come into force on March 1 that would block VPNs. "From March 1, 2024, an order will come into force to block VPN services providing access to sites banned in Russia," Sheikin...

French Emperor Napoleon III would use a unique set of aluminum cutlery only for his most honored dinner guests.Normal guests had to contend with gold utensils.In the middle of the 19th century, aluminum was more scarce and desirable than even gold.As a result, aluminum bullion bars found a place among the national treasures of France, and aluminum jewelry became a symbol of the French aristocracy.Aluminum, known by its atomic number 13 on the periodic table, is a ubiquitous element, yet it mainly exists intertwined in complex chemical compounds and not in its metallic state.The complex procedure of transforming aluminum compounds...

New York, NY, October 4, 2023 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) issued the following statement today regarding recent developments with X/Twitter: “In light of recent events, it feels like a useful moment to clarify the ADL position on X and its leadership. "As we have noted in our research over the past several years, X – along with other social media platforms – has a serious issue with antisemites and other extremists using these platforms to push their hateful ideas and, in some cases, bully Jewish and other users. "We appreciate X’s stated intent over the last few weeks to...

Conservative conspiracy theorists are apparently convinced that an upcoming emergency broadcast is going to turn everyone with a Covid-19 vaccine into zombies. FEMA's national Emergency Alert System — recognisable by the startling beep heard on the radio or television prior to an announcement — will test its delivery capabilities on Wednesday at approximately 2.20pm est. The test will include both the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts. While the EAS will be broadcast to radios and televisions, the WEA will be sent to mobile phone users bearing the text “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert...

A drone called the T-600 -the same name as the Terminator - successfully launched a torpedo from the sky. BAE Systems demonstrated the feat during a NATO training exercise, which saw a human controller fly the quadcopter strapped with the torpedo from a dock and over the ocean, where it let the weapon drop. The electric-powered, car-sized T-600 has a payload capacity of 441 pounds, tops speeds of 87 miles per hour and has a range of up to 50 miles. The demonstration aimed to showcase the anti-submarine warfare capabilities of the T-600 and its potential for automated logistics, resupply,...

TikToker Isabella Veronica Hardy couldn’t wait to show her followers the stylish makeover she’d given her husband’s gaming system — but wound up angering gamers everywhere when it was revealed she’d defaced a limited-edition PS4 console worth hundreds of dollars used. “Wrapping my husband’s ugly PS4 in white to match my white aesthetic room,” Hardy wrote in the beginning of the video, narrating in a voiceover. She lamented that the Playstation, which she described as an “ugly, blue thing,” has been bothering her for months. So, eight months pregnant and “nesting,” she decided to cover the offending article with contact...

The family of a North Carolina man who died after driving his car off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps directions is suing the technology giant for negligenceThe family of a North Carolina man who died after driving his car off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps directions is suing the technology giant for negligence, claiming it had been informed of the collapse but failed to update its navigation system. Philip Paxson, a medical device salesman and father of two, drowned Sept. 30, 2022, after his Jeep Gladiator plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory, according to a lawsuit...