Free Republic

The ink was still drying on special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment papers when his chief deputy, the famously aggressive and occasionally controversial prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, made a bold but secret overture in early June 2017. Weissmann quietly reached out to the American lawyers for Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash with a tempting offer: Give us some dirt on Donald Trump in the Russia case, and Team Mueller might make his 2014 U.S. criminal charges go away. The specifics of the never-before-reported offer were confirmed to me by multiple sources with direct knowledge, as well as in contemporaneous defense memos I read....

Johns Hopkins researchers are using AI to speed up and improve titanium alloy manufacturing, unlocking new processing techniques for stronger, high-quality materials. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com ================================================================================== AI-driven research is making titanium 3D-printing faster, stronger, and more efficient, transforming aerospace and defense manufacturing. Producing high-performance titanium alloy parts—whether for spacecraft, submarines, or medical devices—has traditionally been a slow and resource-intensive process. Even with advanced metal 3D printing, determining optimal manufacturing conditions has required extensive trial and error. But what if these parts could be made faster, stronger, and with near-perfect precision? A research team from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics...

Vance’s role here is electric. Calling Zelensky “disrespectful” wasn’t petulance -- it was a generational torch-passing, a signal that the MAGA vanguard rejects the old GOP’s interventionist dogma. Vance, a Rust Belt warrior, knows the cost of foreign overreach: hollowed-out towns, veterans adrift, families stretched thin. His clash with Zelensky flipped the script. Experience isn’t the issue; principle is. America First doesn’t mean isolation -- it means discernment. Vance and Trump aren’t anti-Ukraine; they’re pro-America, a distinction lost on the warhawk relics clutching their think-tank sinecures. Yet balance demands we weigh Zelensky’s bind. He’s not wrong that Russia’s word is...

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, have efficiently removed oxygen from high-oxygen-concentration titanium, which might help reduce the production cost of an otherwise versatile metal. Tokyo, Japan – Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, yet products based on pure titanium are uncommon because it’s expensive to remove the oxygen from titanium ore. Reducing costs would encourage manufacturers to take advantage of the highly useful properties of titanium in their products. Now, in a study recently published in Nature Communications, researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo,...

Researchers at MIT have developed a new approach for creating titanium alloys that surpass traditional trade-offs between strength and ductility. By adjusting chemical composition, lattice structure, and processing techniques, they’ve created materials with enhanced mechanical properties. This innovation could be used to produce metals with exceptional combinations of strength and ductility, for aerospace and other applications. Titanium alloys are essential structural materials for a wide variety of applications, from aerospace and energy infrastructure to biomedical equipment. But like most metals, optimizing their properties tends to involve a tradeoff between two key characteristics: strength and ductility. Stronger materials tend to be...

Boeing has been forced to ground its entire 777X test fleet due to a failed engine component - the latest in a series of blows to the embattled manufacturer. The 777X, Boeing's latest and most state-of-the-art aircraft, first took to the sky in 2020 but faced delays in certification by the Federal Aviation Administration... The FAA this summer gave the plane the go-ahead for test flights needed before launching passenger service. Boeing had planned to deliver the fleet in 2025, but the discovery of a failed component connected to the jet's engine has some buyers not expecting the jet until...

The problem has been traced back to a Chinese supplier. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating an issue involving the authenticity of titanium used in Airbus and Boeing jets after a supplier discovered holes in the metal due to corrosion. This has raised suspicions that a supply chain partner may have falsified documentation, much like the AOG Technics scandal uncovered last year. As first reported by The New York Times, Airbus and Boeing partner Spirit AeroSystems has alleged that titanium used on recently-built aircraft at both planemakers may have been falsely verified, leading the FAA to launch an investigation....

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas. 🚴‍♂️👍

Chinese investment and interest in Russia’s Arctic natural resources continues unabated. In addition to receiving regular shipments of LNG and crude oil, one of China’s major engineering and construction companies is partnering with Russian Titanium Resources to develop a massive mineral deposit in the Russian Arctic. Russian Titanium Resources (Rustitan) and China Communications and Construction Company signed an agreement for the development of the Pizhemskoye mining project in the Komi Republic. The cooperation extends beyond the mining of titanium and includes a host of related infrastructure development including expansion of the Arctic deep water port of Indiga and construction of...

While China has been relentlessly pursuing self-reliance when it comes to raw materials -- especially strategic ones such as titanium, tungsten and cobalt, which are used in the defense industry -- the US for the past several decades has been selling off huge chunks of the strategic minerals stockpile to the extent that the National Defense Stockpile is reportedly reaching insolvency. By comparison, China, as of 2020, was the world's third-largest exporter of titanium, while the US was the number one destination for the Chinese titanium exports. It is China's growing influence in Africa, especially through its Belt and Road...

Skittles manufacturer Mars Inc. has been sued by a California woman who claims a colorant used in the candies is dangerous and puts people at risk of damage to their brains and DNA. In a proposed class action filed on Thursday in the Oakland, California federal court, Jenile Thames accused Mars of endangering unsuspecting Skittles eaters by using 'heightened levels' of titanium dioxide, or TiO2, as a food additive. The lawsuit highlighted how titanium dioxide will be banned in the European Union next month after a food safety regulator there deemed it unsafe because of 'genotoxicity,' or the ability to...

The mining company that wants to extract a rare heat-resistant element from the ground under southeast Nebraska says a new report shows the deposit it plans to mine holds a significant amount of other rare elements. NioCorp Developments said Thursday that the latest analysis shows the amount of rare earth elements present where it plans to build the mine about 80 miles south of Omaha near the town of Elk Creek is the second-largest deposit in the United States. The Centennial, Colorado-based company estimates that there are 632.9 kilotons of rare earth elements there. Those elements are needed to make...

At 563 carats, the Star of India is the world’s largest gem-quality blue star sapphire, and is approximately 2 billion years old. (Image credit: D. Finnin/Copyright AMNH) ================================================================== What does the legendary Star of India — a 563-carat star sapphire the size of a golf ball — have in common with a 35-million-year-old petrified redwood slab; a massive cluster of sword-like crystals that looks like it came from "Game of Thrones;" and a 5-ton (4.5-metric ton) stone pillar that can "sing?" You can see all of them, along with 5,000 other amazing stones, in the newly renovated Mignone Hall of...

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

A truck driver plowed into a group of bicyclists during a race event in eastern Arizona, and police said Saturday that an officer shot the suspected driver, who had fled the scene in their vehicle. The Show Low Police Department said that at approximately 7:25 a.m., a black Super Duty Ford F150 struck multiple bicyclists during a "Bike the Bluff" race event. Six victims were taken to the hospital with with injuries — four of whom were in critical condition, while two were "critical but stable," police said. Police said at least two other "walk-in" victims at Summit Healthcare were...

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.