Free Republic

Archaeologists in Scotland shed "genuine tears" upon discovering a stone covered with geometric carvings that the Picts, the Indigenous people of the region, designed about 1,500 years ago.The team unexpectedly found the 5.5-foot-long (1.7 meters) carved stone while doing a geophysical survey in Aberlemno, a village with Pictish roots. The stone has several geometric shapes showing abstract Pictish symbols, such as triple ovals, a comb and mirror, a crescent and double discs. Some of the carved symbols overlap, suggesting that they were carved in different time periods, the researchers said.It's unclear what all of the symbols mean, but the "best...

This is the face of a "rolling stone" who spent his life wandering across medieval Scotland before (most likely) meeting an unpleasant death, left to lay in the remains of a Roman toilet for centuries.Archeologists recently took a closer look at the skeletal remains of nine adults and five children discovered beneath a bathhouse at the former-Roman fort in Cramond near Edinburgh, Scotland, piecing together their story using a bunch of bioarchaeological techniques and isotopic data.These remains are literally “bog bodies,” not because they were preserved in the acidic, low oxygen environment of a wetland, but because these bodies were...

CBS News hasn’t put the same kind of spotlight on weather as many of its rivals, but that may all be about to change as quickly as a shift in the wind. The Paramount Global news unit is teaming with The Weather Channel to bring more reporting on weather and climate to CBS News programs including “CBS Mornings” and “The CBS Evening News,” as well as the division’s streaming efforts. “This is a holistic partnership that brings together the scale of both companies’ reporting teams, technologies and audiences,” says Neeraj Khemlani, co-president of CBS News and Stations, in a prepared...

To many, it’s a fun fairytale to lure tourists; to others, it’s a genuine mystery – or just a silly hoax. But to woke education chiefs, the Loch Ness Monster is a potent symbol of England’s domination of Scotland – a theory which will now be taught in schools. Pupils north of the border are to be told how the mythical beast reinforces negative stereotypes and ingrains bias about the Scots. Schoolchildren will be taught how the class structure had a role in the creation of the legend, and how stories surrounding the creature relate to debate on Scottish Independence...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rules Monday that would force companies to publicly disclose a wide-range of climate-related information. “I am pleased to support today’s proposal because, if adopted, it would provide investors with consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information for making their investment decisions, and it would provide consistent and clear reporting obligations for issuers,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who President Joe Biden appointed in February 2021, said in a statement. The SEC, the nation’s top financial regulator, would require publicly-traded companies to disclose how “severe weather events and other natural conditions” may impact their business, under...

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called for “everyone to step up, whether it’s gas station owners, whether it’s oil companies” to increase energy supply and said there is “concern about whether there is profiteering happening at the gas station level, as well as at the oil company level.”

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said European nations that are “much more reliant upon Russia for natural gas and for oil,” are “doubling down” on becoming energy independent through green energy, “and we should be doing the same.” Co-host Brianna Keilar asked, “[W]e’ve seen these reports, the administration’s reaching out to Saudi Arabia and to Venezuela. I think folks that many Americans might consider unsavory characters, in this search for energy, to kind of fill this Russian energy void. How should Americans view this?”

Joe Manchin has done it again. The senator from West Virginia threw a wrench yesterday into another key element of President Biden’s climate agenda. This time, it’s the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator, a role that entails monitoring emerging risks to the U.S. financial system — climate change among them.

(18 million bbl a week)The Fake Buildings That Hide LA’s Massive Oil Industry | January 13, 2022 | Half as Interesting

Multiple reports Monday hinted the White House is weighing a trip for President Joe Biden to Europe amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The plan, which is still being finalized, calls for Biden to meet with other leaders from the NATO alliance in Brussels on March 23, said three of the sources as cited by Reuters.

A nuclear war would be disastrous for the earth’s climate, according to a recent piece in the Atlantic that drew harsh criticism for its focus on the harms posed to the environment by a potential nuclear exchange resulting from the current conflict in Ukraine. The Wednesday essay, titled “On Top of Everything Else, Nuclear War Would Be a Climate Problem,” was penned by Atlantic staff writer Robinson Meyer and began by noting climate change is often associated with energy policy.

A nuclear war would be disastrous for the earth’s climate, according to a recent piece in the Atlantic that drew harsh criticism for its focus on the harms posed to the environment by a potential nuclear exchange. The essay, titled “On Top of Everything Else, Nuclear War Would Be a Climate Problem,” was penned by Atlantic staff writer Robinson Meyer. He warned of imposing a “no-fly zone” over Ukraine, claiming it would lead to an open war between the U.S. and Russia, with a likely chance of a nuclear exchange that would ultimately prove disastrous for the climate. “And it...

Tens of thousands of people protested across France Saturday to call for more attention to the climate crisis in the runup to presidential polls next month. The climate crisis took up only 1.5 percent of talking points in media coverage of the election campaign from February 28 to March 6, a recent survey by climate justice NGOs has found. Organisers said 80,000 protesters took part across the country, including 32,000 people in Paris. The interior ministry however said just around 40,000 demonstrated, of whom 11,000 in the capital. In the northern city of Lille, Lydie Lampin Bernand described the climate...

A "Climate Justice" rally hosted in Albany by the left-wing organization NY Renews on Tuesday was billed as "a day to remember" by organizers who hoped to "flood the streets of Albany to demand $15 billion for climate, jobs, and justice." But what may be remembered, rather than what appeared to be far less than a "flood" of climate alarmists, is one sign that was present at the gathering. Yes, that is "climate change" depicted as a plane headed for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which stood in lower Manhattan until they were destroyed by Muslim extremist...

President Joe Biden adamantly condemned calls for loosening restrictions on domestic energy prices on Tuesday, arguing it would not help lower gas prices. “Loosening environmental regulations or pulling back clean energy investment won’t — let me expand. Won’t. Will not lower energy prices for families,” he said during a speech at the White House announcing his decision to ban oil imports from Russia to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for escalating his war in Ukraine. Republicans excoriated the president’s efforts to restrict domestic oil production, as the average cost of gas reached record highs over the weekend. The president argued...

The White House is hopeful for a rebound after a strong week, with bipartisan support for backing Ukraine, a strong jobs report, COVID-19 restrictions eased and the confirmation process for its Supreme Court nominee underway. President Biden, who has been plagued by low approval over high inflation and pandemic fatigue, saw his numbers rise in at least one poll after his first State of the Union address.

@Nigel_Farage We need a referendum on the net zero madness. I am excited to launch a new campaign with @TiceRichard called @PowerNotPoverty The Richmond Greens don't have to worry about paying their gas bills — but millions of ordinary people do.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Scientists have long been warning that extreme weather would cause calamity in the future. But in South America — which in just the last month has had deadly landslides in Brazil, wildfire in Argentine wetlands and flooding in the Amazon so severe it ruined harvests — that future is already here. In just three hours on Feb. 15, the city of Petropolis, nestled in the forested mountains above Rio de Janeiro, received over 10 inches of rainfall – more than ever registered in a single day since authorities began keeping records in 1932. The ensuing...

A group of paleontologists discovered a large, well-preserved pterosaur on a rocky beach off the coast of Scotland. Boasting roughly an 8-foot wingspan, the ancient reptile is the largest of its kind to be found from the Jurassic Period. The animal’s existence was a chance find made in 2017, when paleontologist Amelia Penney stumbled across the creature’s head while photographing dinosaur footprints on a rocky beach on the Isle of Skye. The pterosaur was promptly sawed out of the rock (with a couple pauses to deal with the tides, which threatened to wash away the fossil) and exhaustively studied; the...

Archaeologists have reconstructed the weathered face of a balding, middle-age man suffering from back trouble and severe dental disease. He died more than 600 years ago and was buried in Aberdeen, Scotland. Using facial reconstruction technology, researchers crafted a digital model that offered a glimpse of the man — known by researchers as "Skeleton 125," or "SK125" — showing what he may have looked like in life, Aberdeen City Council representatives said in a statement. The result reveals the 46-year-old man's face, with blue eyes that are set close together and a jaw that is missing many of its teeth....