Free Republic

A New Zealand Rugby player has died suddenly at the age of 25 following a reported “medical event.” Connor Garden-Bachop’s death on Monday was confirmed by New Zealand Rugby. The statement read: On behalf of the entire rugby community, the Highlanders, Wellington Rugby, New Zealand Rugby, the New Zealand Māori Rugby Board and the New Zealand Rugby Players Association would like to extend our deepest thoughts and love to the Garden-Bachop family. Connor passed away on Monday following a medical event, and rugby’s collective focus at this time is on supporting his family. All of rugby walks alongside the Garden-Bachop...

A week ago I wrote about a Hertz President Circle member charged $277 for returning a rented Tesla without filling it with gas. That’s the second-most Hertz thing ever, after getting arrested because the rental company reported the car you rented stolen. And just like getting arrested just for being a Hertz customer – and Hertz refusing to admit its mistake lest the police stop believing them when they file false police reports – appears to be anything but a one-off. Being charged exorbitant rates for not filling up the gas on an electric vehicle seems to be a systemic...

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s rover discovered a mysterious boulder on Mars, CBS News reported Monday. NASA’s Perseverance rover made a discovery in the Jezero crater on Mars, encountering a mysterious, light-toned boulder that differs from any previously observed Martian rocks. This finding occurred during the rover’s journey through the Neretva Vallis, a dried-up river delta, as it navigated towards a region in the crater’s rim to study sediment deposits, according to CBS News. The boulder, dubbed Atoko Point, caught the team’s attention with its unique speckled, light-toned appearance amid darker rocks. It was said to be “in a...

Image: Singapore Heritage/Roots THE LANGUAGE ON THIS 1,000 YEAR OLD STONE IS A “GLYPH BREAKER’S NIGHTMARE.” SCIENTISTS WANT TO USE AI TO CRACK IT. MJ BANIAS·JUNE 14, 2024 For centuries, the Singapore Stone has stood as one of Southeast Asia’s most enigmatic artifacts. Discovered in 1819 at the mouth of the Singapore River, this sandstone slab, inscribed with an unknown script, has baffled historians and linguists alike. Dubbed a “glyph breaker’s nightmare,” researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to unlock the secrets of this ancient relic. The Singapore Stone, originally a large boulder, was partially destroyed by the British in...

Thrash metal band Belushi Speed Ball has a new single out. It sounds even better if you're hungry. By And they say physical media is dead. The popularity of vinyl records continues to explode, and even the humble CD is staging a comeback after revenue from physical music sales hit a decade high. That’s great if you’re into the whole nostalgia thing, but one Kentucky band dares to dream of something more. Louisville thrash metal outfit Belushi Speed Ball just released its latest single in the form of a slice of pizza. Available in Detroit or New York Style, “My...

“I’m like, ‘Oh, you gotta be kidding me,’” Sandusky Co. Deputy tells driverNewly released video of a traffic stop along Route 20 west of Fremont shows body cam footage from a Sandusky County Deputy. He had just pulled over a USPS Mail Van for speeding, going more than 100 mph in a 60 mph zone. “Is there a reason you’re going over 100?” video shows the deputy asking the driver, to which the driver replies, “I didn’t realize I was going that fast.” According to the traffic report from Sandusky County, the van had no plates and the driver appeared...

(Credit: Dr. Kenneth O, UT Dallas) After twenty years of research, a team from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) says they have perfected a customized imaging chip that can let your mobile device “see” through walls. Designed using technology similar to package security scanners employed by airline personnel, the chip is small enough to fit into nearly all mobile devices, turning your everyday cell phone into a Superman-inspired X-ray-style scanner. “This technology is like Superman’s X-ray vision,” said Dr. Kenneth K. O, director of the Texas Analog Center of Excellence (TxACE) and the Texas Instruments Distinguished University Chair...

June 14 (UPI) -- Authorities in California said a single bear was responsible for five break-ins in a two-hour period -- and one of the homes was occupied at the time. The Sierra Madre Police Department confirmed officers responded Thursday to a northeastern neighborhood where a bear had broken into four homes and a garage between 12:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. One of the homes was occupied at the time of the break-in, but the woman locked herself in a bedroom until the animal left and was not injured, police said. Homeowner Laurie Devault said her neighbor captured video when...

Mohammad Nusairat, who is a student at University of Chicago Illinois said in his May 3, 2024 Friday sermon at the university’s MSA – Muslim Students Association that America, the American government, and democracy are cancers. He said that they have spread their illness all over the world. Nussairat continued to say that non-Muslim are tired of this cancer of the American government and democracy and that they want to see a new way of life. He stressed that Muslims have this way of life and that Islam is a religion that has come to be implemented on society. In...

Jim Carrey doing parody of Biden

One of the more common memes that I’ve seen white supremacists spread around recently has been “diversity is a code word for white genocide”. The concept here is that diversity is only promoted in white nations, and that the end goal is to eliminate white people altogether by flooding all white countries with non-white people until there are no white people left. Well, guess what, white supremacists? That’s exactly right. Diversity IS about getting rid of white people, and that’s a good thing. First off, I am a white person myself, so allow me to get that out of the...

...but, heck, it's Saturday night. Has anyone here been interested in Bigfoot/Sasquatch, or seen one, or know someone who claims to have seen one?

U.S. — In one of the most remarkable miracles in human history, the thousands of bump stocks that went missing seven years ago in boating accidents all simultaneously washed ashore and have been reunited with their owners. "Wow, my bump stock washed ashore! And just a day after the Supreme Court ruling overturning the ban!" said local man Omar Gonzales. "What's even crazier, my neighbor Bill also lost his in a boating accident in 2017, and his bump stock also washed ashore this morning. It's a miracle!" Across the nation, tens of thousands of Americans reported similar shocking experiences. "It's...

As women are a considerable, or at least a pretty numerous part of company, and as their sufferages go a great way toward establishing a man's character, in the fashionable part of the world (which is of great importance to the fortune and figure he proposes to make in it), it is necessary to please them. I will, therefore, upon this subject, let you into certain *arcana* that will be very useful for you to know, but which you must, with the utmost care, conceal; and never seem to know. Women, then, are only children of a large growth; they...

The rotation of Earth's inner core really has slowed down, a new study has confirmed, opening up questions about what's happening in the center of the planet and how we might be affected. Led by a team from the University of Southern California (USC), the researchers behind the finding think this change in the core's rotation could change the length of our days – albeit only by a few fractions of a second, so you won't need to reset your watches just yet. "When I first saw the seismograms that hinted at this change, I was stumped," says Earth scientist...

Names are universal throughout human cultures and across different languages. They form a huge part of our identity and help us communicate with each other, but personal names are considered a uniquely human thing. Now, new research has suggested that wild African elephants could address each other with individual specific calls – the equivalent of a name – with fascinating implications for the evolution of language. The new research analyzed calls from wild elephants in two areas of Kenya: the greater Samburu ecosystem to the north, and the Amboseli National Park to the south. The final dataset contained around 470...

College grads venturing out into the corporate world should, by now, know the ins and outs of the job interview process. Dress smart. Project confidence. Know how to answer that boilerplate question, “What’s your biggest flaw?” Don’t bring your parents along. Wait, what? Come again? Yes, it seems the safe-space generation apparently needs mommy and/or daddy to show up as they try to land their dream job. According to a survey by Resume Templates, 26 percent of those ages 18 to 27 brought along a parent to a job interview — and that’s just the beginning of the disturbing findings...

Another ignorant CNN contributor has no idea what form of government we have in America. He and his followers double down on X HERE

June 12 (UPI) -- Firefighters in California conducted an unusual rescue when a crow spotted struggling high up in a tree turned out to be entangled in sewing thread. The Orange County Fire Authority said Truck 56 responded to a report of a bird in distress near the top of a Ladera Ranch tree on Tuesday. Firefighters ascended the ladder and discovered the distressed crow was entangled in sewing thread. The Fire Authority shared a video of the rescue on social media. "We can't translate what the crow is saying, but we do know the kids' cheers mean they are...

Brice Andrew DiGiorgio (Cowboy State Daily Staff) A Florida man who stole a fire department’s brush truck four years ago is at it again, this time absconding from Colorado to Wyoming in a stolen semitruck, court documents claim. Brice Andrew DiGiorgio, 35, is facing two felony theft charges in Carbon County, Wyoming, on allegations that he stole a semi in Colorado, fled with it through Wyoming until it wouldn’t drive anymore, then stole a Chevy pickup until it crashed on a two-track road near Hanna. Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Evan Deneke received a be-on-the-lookout alert from Carbon County dispatch the...