Free Republic

Full Title: President Ronald Reagan's Address at the Omaha Beach Memorial Cemetery Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in Normandy, France

[Recordings at link. The 1 min D-Day audio includes the words of the announcer.]The Sound of the Liberty BellThe Bell as Ben Heard ItThanks to modern computer modeling, we may have a closer idea of exactly how the Bell sounded when Benjamin Franklin heard it. In 1999, graduate students from Pennsylvania State University were able to digitally create a structural model of the Liberty Bell. From this computer model, they were able to mathematically equate the vibration of the Bell and add sound. Knowing that the tone of the Bell was E-flat, they were able to come up with a...

New research shows 8,000-pound sloths once dug caves, adapted to oceans, and roamed widely—until climate and humans brought their downfall. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com ================================================================= Long before they became tree-hugging symbols of chill, sloths were 8,000-pound giants that roamed deserts, dug caves into cliffs, and even swam like manatees. Scientists have now pieced together the epic story of their evolution, using ancient DNA and hundreds of fossils to explain how sloths once grew to mammoth proportions—bigger than most cars—and why they eventually shrank or vanished altogether. Sloths’ Strange Family Tree Most of us know sloths as the slow-moving, tree-loving creatures...