Free Republic

More than 180 migrants crossed into Poland through a tunnel hidden in a forest on the border with Belarus, frontier guards said on Friday. Around 130 of them were detained in Poland after the passage was discovered on Thursday, but the rest were still on the run, the Polish Border Guard said in a statement. It released video of the tunnel dug through roots and bare earth, supported by wooden posts and metal rods and just 1.5 meters (5 feet) high – not enough for most people to pass through without crouching. European Union member Poland has been grappling with...

An extinction event is a rapid, sweeping collapse -- something so disruptive that what emerges afterward is unrecognizable from what came before. Volcano eruptions or meteor strikes can trigger such events in the natural world. Washington, D.C. may be approaching a political version of the same phenomenon, and Republicans seem disturbingly unprepared for what is coming. The GOP currently holds narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress -- seven seats in the House and six in the Senate. Those margins are razor-thin by any measure, and fragile given that five senators, three Republicans and two Democrats, are over eighty years...

It looks like the universe may end much sooner than anticipated. Dutch researchers have looked into the initial theories about when the universe is likely to cease to exist. The team from Radboud University in the Netherlands put their heads together and used Hawking radiation to come to a conclusion. This theory is named after the late Stephen Hawking, who came up with the idea that black holes leak radiation and they eventually evaporate. Scientists at the university then used this theory on other objects in the universe — neutron stars and white dwarfs, for example — and discovered that...

Space junk in Earth's orbit may increase because of the effects of the same heat-trapping gases that are polluting the air and warming the planet, according to a recent study. What's happening? A team led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers determined that, with Earth's warming, space debris could accumulate enough to reduce the low Earth orbit area available for satellites by between a third and 82% by the year 2100, as the Associated Press detailed. The reason for this, per the study published in Nature Sustainability in March, is that climatic changes high above ground could reduce the effectiveness...

Not your typical commuleftwoke hitpiece blaming Wascally Wepublicans, vile America, vile progress, vile internal combustion engines and vile fossil fuels for loss of atmosphere and global/climate warming. 1. “And yes, the fault, once again, lies with the Sun, which is heating up more than it should and is going to alter carbon dioxide levels.” 2. “... as the Sun keeps heating up (something that is not new, it’s been happening for millions of years) a chain of consequences will be triggered that doesn’t seem very friendly for complex life ...” Hmm, ya think maybe the Sun’s heating up, and more...

In a story pulled straight from the history books of Australia, humanity is once again losing a battle with bird-kind. According to a write-up in Futurism, feral chickens with supercharged survival instincts have taken over the island of Kauai. The Hawaiian chickens have long made the island famous for their free-roaming status on the local beaches, even acting as a tourist attraction for visitors, though locals of Hawaii have warned that the chickens in question can be quite vicious and may attack on sight. While complaints about these avian adversaries vary from one local to another, some Hawaiians feel that...

"20/20” co-anchor John Stossel is going on the attack against “experts” who warn about manmade global warming – along the way berating Al Gore for saying the debate over climate change is over. In a release from ABC previewing Stossel’s report on Friday’s “20/20,” the veteran newsman and Newsmax pundit – who won 19 Emmys exposing scammers and con artists – says: “This week on ‘20/20’ (in our new 8 p.m. Eastern time slot) I say ‘Give Me a Break!’ to our Nobel Prize-winning Vice President. “Mr. Gore says ‘The debate is over,’ and those who disagree with his take...

Hi all you wonderful tech savvy guys (and gals). I'm having some strange noises coming out of my PC. Sounds kind of like the power supply fan hitting something (what it could be hitting, I have no idea.) There seems to be some debat among my local techies on if it's a power supply, or if it's a hard drive (I have 2 in the machine.) What's your best guess? It's a 3 year old machine (Dell Dimension 4500) with a 250 watt power supply. The oldest of the two hard drives is probably 4 years old. Any thoughts?

Hormonal changes may actually alter the chemical balance in the brain and trigger some of the mood swings associated with a woman's monthly menstrual cycle, according to a new study. The study suggests that cells in a brain region called the hippocampus generate different types of receptors for the brain chemical GABA during various phases of the menstrual cycle. These changes may affect a woman's susceptibility to anxiety, depression, and seizures. Both estrogen and progesterone have effects on nerve cell activation, but the mechanism behind changes in seizure activity and increased anxiety are unknown, write the researchers. They say their...