Free Republic

An inscription carved into a 2,100-year-old hand-shaped amulet from northeastern Spain seems to be related to Basque and may be a rare example of an ancient language spoken in Europe more than 5,000 years ago.In a new study, published Tuesday (Feb. 20) in the journal Antiquity, researchers revealed that the inscription is the oldest and longest ever found in a Vasconic language, a group of languages that includes modern Basque. Until now, the only known ancient Vasconic texts were mainly from a few words written on coins from the region, the researchers said.Archaeologists unearthed the amulet in 2021 at the...

My sister bought a house last year in Navarre, FL, but before we could go visit her she was deployed to Trashcanistan. She will be back in a few weeks and we are going to go visit her for a family vacation. It will be me, my wife, and my 3 year old son. I am just trying to see if anyone has been there to see what all there is that is family friendly to do. My sister said it is like Destin, but without the tourists. I don't know, I haven't been to Destin either.

I just returned from the beach. I live about 10 minutes from Navarre Beach, in Santa Rosa County (between Pensacola and Panama City). There is a light sheen of oil in the intercoastal bay (Santa Rosa Sound), but there is no evidence of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Smoke is visible from burning oil out to sea, but you really have to look for it. A lot of the locals are concerned about the oil spill's impact on tourism. I take a walk on the beach nearly every day, and I have never seen it as crowded as it...

I don't normally "do" vanities. Heck, I rarely post articles. But I absolutely have to get some attention to what Hurricane Ivane did to Pensacola and some of the nearby communities. The landscape has changed. Tens of thousands are now without homes or businesses. Roads needed for resupply are out. Power is out and food supplies for many miles are threatened. Grocery stores don't have power. Power may take weeks to restore, water 6 weeks or more.