Free Republic

Thanks to some thoughtful collaboration between researchers and traditional Inupiat whalers (who are still allowed to hunt for survival), scientists have used amino acids in the eyes of whales and harpoon fragments lodged in their carcasses to determine the age of these enormous animals—and they found at least three bowhead whales who were living prior to 1850. Granted those are bowheads, not sperm whales like the fictional Moby Dick, (and none of them are albino, I think), but still. Pretty amazing, huh? Bowhead whales reach an average length of 35 to 45 feet, and they are believed to live over...

Russia hadn’t lost a warship to an attack since World War II. Until last week. On Thursday, the Ukrainian navy announced it destroyed a Russian amphibious warship, the Saratov, that was conducting resupply missions in the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk. While the details are fuzzy, it's yet more proof that Russia’s war in Ukraine isn't going well. Following the invasion, Turkey invoked the 1936 Montreux Convention and denied entry to all foreign warships not previously based in the Black Sea. What’s there now, and perhaps what Russia can bring by canal from the Caspian Sea, is all the navy Russia...

There was yet another interminable car chase in the streets of Los Angeles carried on every 24-hour news channel. Excepts of this eight-hour ball of excitement appeared on regular news programs. Everyone who saw none of this, please raise your hands. Hold on, you. Admit it. You did watch. I confess, so did I. This one was a white minivan that wandered over several freeways in downtown L.A. Several times the minivan came to a full stop in heavy traffic, while up to five police vehicles also stopped – 25 feet behind the van. Meanwhile, a police spokesman droned on...