Free Republic

Michael Faraday’s illustrated notes that show how radical scientist began his theories at London’s Royal Institution to go online He was a self-educated genius whose groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of physics and chemistry electrified the world of science and laid the foundations for Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity nearly a century later. Now, the little-known notebooks of the Victorian scientist Michael Faraday have been unearthed from the archive of the Royal Institution and are to be digitised and made permanently accessible online for the first time. The notebooks include Faraday’s handwritten notes on a series of lectures given by...

Given that the best way to store your car keys at night is by putting them in a coffee can, what's an ex-FBI agent's advice to protect cars from theft during the day? Wrap car fobs in aluminum foil. “Although it's not ideal, it is the most inexpensive way,” said Holly Hubert, a cybersecurity expert who retired in 2017 from the FBI in Buffalo, New York. “The cyber threat is so dynamic and ever changing, it’s hard for consumers to keep up.” Now, as CEO of GlobalSecurityIQ, she suggests clients go online and spend a few dollars and buy what’s...

A man in Australia was sacked after he relied on a 180-year-old scientific discovery to help prevent his colleagues discovering his whereabouts while he played golf during work hours. Tom Colella, a 60-year-old electrician in Perth, lost his job after an anonymous letter to his firm claimed that he left work to play golf at least 140 times over the last two years. Australia’s Fair Work Commission, a workplace tribunal, heard that Mr Colella blocked his whereabouts by storing his personal digital assistant, a phone-like device that has a GPS inside, in an empty foil packet of Twisties, a puffy...

This may well be the best Faraday cage you can make on the cheap and the best Faraday cage at any price. I'm not saying that to brag but I really believe in this design. If you are at all concerned about protecting your electronic equipment from either a man made or solar EMP please consider making a Faraday storage cabinet like this. The cabinet cost me $100, the tape $32 and the aluminum insulation was free. You might be able to make this Faraday cage for less if you stop by construction sites and get left over aluminum insulation...

A rock chip this isn't! How about a lightning bolt! It's what's left of a Salt Lake woman's windshield after lightning struck as she was driving down a highway. Lightning is the number one natural killer in Utah so she's lucky to be alive, and what a story she has. One minute she's driving down the highway, the next she's pulled over after lightning ripped through her car. If the chances of getting struck by lightning are slim, then getting hit two times should be near impossible. That means Aline Devaud of Millcreek shouldn't ever have to worry about it...

In the blink of an eye, electromagnetic bombs could throw civilization back 200 years. And terrorists can build them for $400. BY JIM WILSON Lead illustration by Edwin Herder The next Pearl Harbor will not announce itself with a searing flash of nuclear light or with the plaintive wails of those dying of Ebola or its genetically engineered twin. You will hear a sharp crack in the distance. By the time you mistakenly identify this sound as an innocent clap of thunder, the civilized world will have become unhinged. Fluorescent lights and television sets will glow eerily bright, despite being...