Free Republic

If you want to keep your house naturally cooler this summer, the most important thing you can do happens before the day heats up: Close your blinds and windows by about 9 a.m., or before direct sunlight reaches that side of your home. That’s the core idea behind an old-school home-cooling technique some call the “caveman method,” inspired by the naturally cool conditions found in caves. To understand how it works, Country Living talked to Joseph Holman, a door and window specialist at Green Door based in the U.K., where June temperatures have surpassed record highs this year. While it...

Dramatic footage shows the electric double-decker ablaze at the bus depot in west London at around 6pm on Wednesday evening. Dark grey smoke can be seen billowing from the depot as the flames ripped through the number 23 bus, which serves routes from Westbourne Park to Aldwych. Four fire engines and 25 firefighters were dispatched to tackle the inferno and were able to bring the fire under control by around 7pm. No injuries were reported. The bus and two charging points were destroyed in the fire. Nearby Tube station Westbourne Park was closed after the fire broke out, reopening just...

Super El Niño 2026, often being referred to as the Godzilla El Niño, is shaping up to be one of the most important climate events of the decade, with early signals pointing to a powerful shift in global weather systems. As La Niña collapses and ocean temperatures rise, this transition is already influencing atmospheric patterns across the Pacific. The result is a growing concern about extreme weather 2026 and how it could reshape seasonal conditions worldwide. The El Niño global impact is expected to extend far beyond the Pacific, affecting rainfall, temperatures, and storm activity across continents. From rising heat...

That was not music to his ears. Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s 2019 rap video reached a national audience Thursday night — during an incredibly awkward moment on a live CNN interview that left the New York City mayoral hopeful visibly uncomfortable. Mamdani appeared on “Erin Burnett OutFront” and the eponymous host used the C-grade hip-hop video as an introduction to the 33-year-old lefty pol who performed under the name “Mr. Cardamom.” **SNIP** In the 2017 track “Holy Land Five,” the presumptive Democratic mayoral candidate praised five men — known as the “Holy Land Five” — from the Holy Land Foundation...

I'm in Orlando for a business meeting, staying at a resort/meeting hotel. I came down from Central NH on a day when the high temperature was 48. It was 97 in Orlando. It's been very nice to be outdoors when it's this warm, even at night. I like it. But the indoor temperature at this hotel, in public areas, restaurants, and corridors is FREEZING. Like 60F, with AC runnning full blast. Is this normal for you all? Does it mess you up to have a 30 degree temp change when you go in and out of doors? Just asking.

Quantum scientists have shown it’s possible to generate Schrödinger cat states in warmer conditions, challenging the assumption that cold is essential for quantum effects. Credit: SciTechDaily.com *************************************************************************** Researchers have pulled off a quantum feat that defies traditional expectations—they’ve created Schrödinger cat states not from ultra-cold ground states, but from warm, thermally excited ones. Using a superconducting qubit setup, the team demonstrated that quantum superpositions can exist even at higher temperatures, overturning the long-held belief that heat destroys quantum effects. This breakthrough not only validates Schrödinger’s original “hot cat” concept but also paves the way for more practical and accessible quantum...

Adults only please.

Stocks ended the with with steep losses after new federal data showed prices rising faster than expected, reigniting inflation fears on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 715 points on the day, falling 1.7 percent. The Nasdaq composite lost 2.7 percent and the S&P 500 index fell 2 percent. The stock slide began shortly after the Commerce Department released data showing an unexpectedly steep increase in consumer prices. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 2.5 percent over the past year, but 2.8 percent without food and energy prices included. On a monthly basis, the...

CNBC ECSTATIC OVER TRUMP'S INFLATION REPORT: "Expecting +0.3%... up 0%! Boy, that is progress. We haven't had a number that low [since] October '23. Strip off food and energy? DOWN -0.1%, [lower] than expectations! Find a lower number, you're going back to COVID times!" https://x.com/i/status/1900173997741883893

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested this week that NATO welcoming Ukraine into the alliance could halt the “hot stage” of the war, while Russia would temporarily keep the territory it overtook. “If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Zelensky said in an interview Friday with SkyNews. “We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way,” he added. Back in early July during a summit...

If it seems you’re getting more and more messages from co-workers, friends or attendees at that family barbecue about a positive COVID-19 test, it’s not in your head. While COVID-19 hospitalizations are still far lower than previous years, they’re steadily trending up this summer — both statewide and in the Capital Region. “We have seen a jump this month, but the good thing is we’re nowhere where we were two years ago,” Albany County Department of Health Interim Commissioner Maribeth Miller told the Times Union. With at-home testing prevalent, officials now rely on hospitalization rates to track the disease. Last...

(NEXSTAR) – New predictions for the summer season, released by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center this week, show weather is likely to heat up in almost every corner of the United States. The forecast, which covers June, July and August, indicates nearly every U.S. state with leaning toward a hotter-than-normal summer season. The highest chances are found out West, where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Colorado have a 60% to 70% chance of above-average temperatures over the next three months. Several other Western states plus the Northeast are also strongly favored to see above-average heat. The only exception to...

Economic data across multiple metrics is coming in hot, showing the strength of the U.S. economy and the persistence of inflation in the last mile of its descent down to the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2 percent. A March uptick in the consumer price index (CPI) to an annual 3.5-percent increase could push interest rate cuts back from their predicted start date in June. The CME FedWatch forecasting algorithm put the probability of a June cut at just 21 percent Wednesday morning. The algorithm has higher odds for a cut than a pause at the rate’s current range of...

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who has endorsed Nikki Haley in the GOP primary, said on Monday ahead of the Iowa caucuses that he would “probably not” be her running mate. “Look, I’d do anything for Nikki Haley but not — but probably not that. That’s not my gig. I don’t think Washington — I don’t think Washington could handle me, Neil,” Sununu told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto when pressed on whether he was interested in being Haley’s running mate.

Anyone that’s ever enjoyed a cold slice of pizza for breakfast knows that food doesn’t need to be hot or fresh to be really, really good. In fact, a lot of dinners that are intended to be eaten warm actually taste better the next day as a cold meal straight from the fridge. Anything with lots of sauce and cheese and spices is a sure bet for leftover success—no reheating necessary. This isn’t just an opinion, though. There’s actual science to back it up! According to the Institute of Food Technologists, your leftovers continue to have chemical reactions that create...

More than a dozen volcanos are erupting at the same time worldwide, and three new eruptions joined the list this week. The Smithsonian Institute’s Global Volcanism Program tracks new eruptions and updates its list of currently erupting volcanos on Wednesdays. The most recent update shows three new eruptions, bringing the list’s total to 19 eruptions at once. The list doesn’t include all erupting volcanos. The new volcanic eruptions have some people voicing their concerns on social media. “Volcanoes erupt simultaneously in Italy, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Philippines, etc. Below is a volcanic activity map of 2013 vs 2023.Totally normal, right?”...

COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. remained relatively steady week over week following five weeks of larger declines, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. tallied about 16,200 new hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 over the seven days ending Oct. 21, according to provisional data – only 40 hospitalizations less than the total for the previous week and effectively pausing a downward trend that began after hospitalizations totaled close to 21,000 during the week ending Sept. 9. Hospitalizations dipped to a low point of approximately 6,300 in late June before starting to trend back up.

With tensions growing around the Israeli-Hamas war, police arrested a man who fired a “splatter ball gun” into a crowd marching in support of Palestinians in Eugene, Oregon, on Oct. 21. Protesters drew weapons in response and the Eugene Police Department (EPD) stepped in to disarm and de-escalate the tense situation. According to EPD, approximately 200 protesters gathered near the Federal Courthouse on Oct. 21 for a “Free Palestine Rally.” Participants carried signs with messages that called for a “ceasefire now” and urged President Joe Biden to stop “funding genocide.” At about 3:15 p.m., the group began to march. The...

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) fired back at Donald Trump on Wednesday, calling him “a hot mess” after the former president took a jab at Christie’s weight. “I mean, look at him. He’s — I mean he’s such a hot mess. And he’s like, talking to me about what I look like — take a look at him,” Christie said, responding to a question from NewsNation while in New Hampshire. NewsNation’s parent company is Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. “What I know because I’ve known him for 22 years, is I am so in his...

The woman behind the shocking 'that motherf***er back there is not real' airplane meltdown has been unmasked as a 38-year-old Dallas marketing executive. Tiffany Gomas became erratic over an argument with the relatives she was traveling with The Dallas resident had accused her relatives of stealing her Airpods, per a police report. The July 2 viral incident happened on Flight 1009 from Fort Worth to Orlando, Florida. After she claimed her relatives had stolen her AirPods, Gomas began to say the airplane was not safe and would not make it to its destination. Official documents say she was not willing...