Free Republic

Washington DC will hand out free AirTags to residents to track stolen cars in light of the rising levels of crime. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in a press conference that residents living in areas with the highest reports of carjackings will receive a free tracking device. Free AirTags will be distributed at three different events held from November 7-9 and residents will have to show proof of residency and an address that matches the eligible areas. Bowser said at the press conference: 'These tags and tiles will help MPD recover stolen vehicles and hold people accountable. 'The word will also...

The paw prints and hoof prints of a few meddlesome animals have been preserved for posterity on ancient Roman tiles recently discovered by archaeologists in England... The artifacts, which could be nearly 2,000 years old, were found in the Blackfriars area of Leicester... Wardell Armstrong Archaeology was brought in to dig at a site where a construction company plans to build student housing. At least one of the tiles is tainted with dog paw prints, and one is marked with the hoof prints of a sheep or a goat that trampled on the clay before it was dry... The tiles...

The cat paw print on the Roman roof tile. David Rice ================================================================================================================== Paw prints made by a cat 2,000 years ago have been found on a Roman roof tile kept at a museum in south west England. Dug up in Gloucester in 1969, the tile fragment had long lain unnoticed at Gloucester City Museum. Only recently, a researcher spotted the cat’s paw on the tile while going through the finds from the 1969 archaeological excavation. “At that time the archaeologists seem to have been more interested in digging things up than looking at what they found,” David Rice, curator at...

The United States Department of Justice is accelerating its antitrust probe into Apple and there is increased likelihood that Apple will face an antitrust lawsuit, reports The Information. Citing internal sources with knowledge of the investigation, The Information says there has been a "flurry" of activity as the DOJ has continued to question Apple, its customers, and its competitors about Apple's control over the iPhone. The DOJ sent new subpoenas to Apple's business partners over the summer, and has assigned more staff to the probe. Specifics have yet to be nailed down, but The Information's sources believe that the investigation...

Last week, Apple announced its new AirTags — $29 location-tracking fobs that can help find your keys or purse anywhere in the world. The devices, which are roughly the diameter of a quarter, have since been tested and lauded by tech journalists, including our own.But technology often comes with unintended consequences, explain representatives from the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), a leading nonprofit with the goal of ending violence against women. NNEDV sits on advisory boards for Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Uber and has consulted for both Google and Apple in the past (but not on AirTags). The...

My Son is Learning How to Install Ceramic and Quarry Tile. Any Tool Brand Recommendations? I am providing him with tools of the trade. He needs a wet saw that will hold up for a number of installations. Tile guys out there?

SPACE CENTER, Houston - NASA said Wednesday a chipped thermal tile on Discovery's belly does not appear to be a danger, and it cautioned the public against overreacting to every speck of damage sustained by the shuttle during liftoff. The space agency expected some debris to fall off during launch, and some did. The big question is whether any of it harmed Discovery, and the answer is still a few days away, NASA said one day after the ship blasted off on the first shuttle mission since the Columbia tragedy 2 1/2 years ago. Flight director Paul Hill said it...

Earth Worshippers Cause Death in Space By Hannes Hacker Ayn Rand Institute | July 11, 2003 Now that a dramatic new test has confirmed that a piece of thermal insulation flaking off of space shuttle Columbia's external tank during launch was the most likely cause of its destruction during reentry, the typical second-guessing in the press has focused on NASA engineers, asking: "What did Mission Control know, and when did they know it?" Somehow, NASA engineers should have guessed about the damage done to Columbia's thermal tiles and pulled an Apollo 13-style rabbit out of their hat. The implication is...

New fuel tank design linked to shuttle disaster   13:20 16 April 03   NewScientist.com news service   The Columbia shuttle disaster may been triggered by a combination of a new external fuel tank design and ageing of the spacecraft, a Columbia Accident Investigation Board press conference was told on Tuesday. Although some remaining alternatives remain to be ruled out, the CAIB's focus is now on two crucial factors. First, it appears that a new fuel tank design led to foam falling off during liftoff. A one-kilogram block was seen striking Columbia's left wing during launch. Secondly, the damage this impact caused may...

<p>SAN JOSE, Calif.(AP) - As the space shuttle program took shape in the late 1960s, engineers had to find technology that could withstand the heat of re-entry without being too heavy, unreliable or costly.</p> <p>They settled on the small silica tiles that brought shuttles home safely more than 100 times, but have fallen under suspicion in Saturday's loss of Columbia as it descended over Texas.</p>