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A sad story out of Virginia, where a 25-year-old woman, who was training to be a Washington Redskins cheerleader, has come down with a rare neurological disorder days after receiving a seasonal flu vaccination. Now she can hardly walk forward without severe contortions or speak normally. But amazingly, she can walk backwards, run forward and speak just fine as long as she's running. The question is, did the flu shot cause this? Watch the story from Inside Edition: VIDEO AT LINK

Rare Artwork by Mount Rushmore Creator For years, it sat as a paperweight in the home of Jeane Funkhouser. In fact, her daughter, Charlene Mitchell, remembers having to dust under it the entire time she was growing up. It turns out she was dusting under what may be worth millions of dollars. For several decades, the Victoria family has been in possession of an extremely rare Steuben Glass George Washington head created by artist Gutzon Borglum, the man behind the Mount Rushmore sculpture. Funkhouser, also an artist, was given the model as a gift from Borglum's son, Lincoln Borglum, in...

A unique ten-line Aramaic inscription on the side of a stone cup commonly used for ritual purity during Second Temple times was recently uncovered during archaeological excavations on Jerusalem's Mount Zion, The Jerusalem Post learned on Wednesday. Inscriptions of this kind are extremely rare and only a handful have been found in scientific excavations made within the city.

A rare collection of British-made Supersound guitars has been found in the basement of a house in the U.K., according to a report from the BBC. The Supersound brand of guitars resulted from a collaboration between noted British luthiers Jim Burns and Alan Wootton during the late 1950s. Burns, of course, went on to produce guitars played by such notable musicians as Queen’s Brian May, Andy Bell of Oasis, and others. The collection of 12 Supersound guitars appears to be one of the most definitive – and important – examples of a fairly undocumented period of British guitar-making history. “In...

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Archeologists have uncovered carved stucco panels depicting cosmic monsters, gods and serpents in Guatemala's northern jungle that are the oldest known depictions of a famous Mayan creation myth. The newly discovered panels, both 26 feet long and stacked on top of each other, were created around 300 BC and show scenes from the core Mayan mythology, the Popol Vuh. It took investigators three months to uncover the carvings while excavating El Mirador, the biggest ancient Mayan city in the world, the site's head researcher, Richard Hansen, said on Wednesday. The Maya built soaring temples and elaborate...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said Friday. Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara were found by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital, Wellington, during routine maintenance work Friday, conservation manager Rouen Epson said. "The nest was uncovered by accident and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara are breeding," Epson said. "It suggests that there may be other nests in the sanctuary we don't...

Some 300 rare and valuable books confiscated from Iraq's Jewish community by Saddam Hussein's regime have been secretly spirited into Israel, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday. The books include a 1487 commentary on the biblical Book of Job and another volume of biblical prophets printed in Venice in 1617, the Haaretz daily said. The volumes are part of a massive collection of books confiscated by the secret police of the executed Iraqi dictator and stored in security installations in the Iraqi capital until the US-led invasion of 2003. Many volumes were damaged during the bombing of government buildings in...

Skull returns to final rest place The skull is believed to be that of a woman in her 50s A rare 2,000-year-old Roman skull has been returned to the cave beneath the Yorkshire Dales where it was discovered by divers in 1996. Archaeologists were called in after cave divers unearthed human bones in what is believed to be one of the most important cave discoveries ever made. The skull dates to the 2nd Century and is that of a local woman in her 50s. It was stored at Sheffield University for carbon-dating and recently returned to the cave, which has...

This is an extremely rare creature, has very large ears and has been captured on camera in its native habitat for the first time.

Rare cave inscriptions By Gamini Mahadura A cave with rare ancient inscriptions dating back to more than 10000 years has reportedly been discovered at Badungala in the PS division of Yakkalamulla in Galle. Archaeology officials say that the inscriptions date back to the Endera yugaya or the era when animals were domesticated. They say similar cave inscriptions had been so far discovered in Alauwa, Ambilikanda and Mawanella. This is the first time that such a find has been reported from the South.

Astronomers Capture Rare Video Of Meteor Falling To Earth; Hunt For Meteorite ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2008) — Astronomers from The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, have captured rare video of a meteor falling to Earth. The Physics and Astronomy Department at Western has a network of all-sky cameras in Southern Ontario that scan the sky monitoring for meteors. Associate Professor Peter Brown, who specializes in the study of meteors and meteorites, says that Wednesday evening (March 5) at 10:59 p.m. EST these cameras captured video of a large fireball and the department has also received a number of...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A rare and threatened species of tiny frog has been found breeding in a New Zealand animal park, meaning its future may now be more secure, researchers said Monday. The 13 finger nail-sized Maud Island froglets were discovered clinging to the backs of full-grown male frogs at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital Wellington, said researcher Kerri Lukis. The frogs are normally found only on two islands in the Malborough Sounds region of New Zealand's South Island. "Maud Island frogs have never been found breeding" before, even on their home island, said Lukis, a masters...

Rare Egyptian "Warrior" Tomb Found Steven Stanek in Cairo, Egypt for National Geographic NewsFebruary 15, 2008 An unusual, well-preserved burial chamber that may contain the mummy of an ancient warrior has been discovered in a necropolis in Luxor. Scientists opened the tomb—found in Dra Abul Naga, an ancient cemetery on Luxor's west bank—on Wednesday. Inside the burial shaft—a recess crudely carved from bedrock—experts found a closed wooden coffin inscribed with the name "Iker," which translates to "excellent one" in ancient Egyptian. Near the coffin they also found five arrows made of reeds, three of them still feathered. A team of...

Living On 'The Red Edge': Rare Form Of Chlorophyll Discovered In Newly Sequenced BacteriumSea Squirts and sea stars. The Acaryochloris marina lives beneath the sea squirt, which is a marine animal that lives attached to rocks just below the surface of the water. The cyanobacterium absorbs "red edge" light through the tissues of its pal the sea squirt. (Credit: iStockphoto) ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State University have sequenced the genome of a rare bacterium that harvests light energy by making an even rarer form of chlorophyll, chlorophyll d. Chlorophyll d...

I am sure that some of Freerepublic readers like hawks. Check you-tube link and find a polish hawk. Revski

EDMONTON -- Two teams of surgeons in Edmonton delivered a baby while operating on the mother for a life-threatening heart rupture last month. The 36-year-old woman -- who was 35 weeks pregnant -- was airlifted from the Alberta city of Grande Prairie on Jan. 24 with a ruptured aorta - a condition that is fatal 40 per cent of the time without surgery within 48 hours. Grande Prairie is about 460 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. She was taken immediately into an operating room at the University of Alberta while a obstetrical team raced from the nearby Royal Alexandra hospital to...

DALLAS - One of the most famously flawed stamps in U.S. history sold for $825,000 to a New York man who bought it slightly cheaper than the record price another "Inverted Jenny" copy fetched at auction last month. The rare 1918 24-cent stamp, depicting an upside-down Curtis JN-4 biplane known as "Jenny," was sold privately this week to a Wall Street executive who did not want to be identified. Heritage Auction Galleries president Greg Rohan, who brokered the sale, said the buyer is the same collector who lost an auction last month in which another "Inverted Jenny" sold for $977,500....

The moon formed after a nasty planetary collision with young Earth, yet it looks odd next to its watery orbital neighbor. Turns out it really is odd: Only about one in every 10 to 20 solar systems may harbor a similar moon. New observations made by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of stellar dust clouds suggest that moons like Earth's are—at most—in only 5 to 10 percent of planetary systems. "When a moon forms from a violent collision, dust should be blasted everywhere," said Nadya Gorlova, an astronomer at the University of Florida in Gainesville who analyzed the telescope data in...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2007 – As it has for the past two years to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Pentagon will open its doors Sept. 8 and 9 for brief public tours. The tours, part of Sept. 11 commemorative events that include the Sept. 9 America Supports You Freedom Walk, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 8 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 9, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Joshua Hodgin, director of the Pentagon’s tour program, said. America Supports You is a Defense Department program connecting citizens and...

Rare green crystals found in 2,500-year-old tomb (Xinhua) Updated: 2007-07-04 16:43 JING'AN -- Chinese archaeologists exploring a 2,500-year-old tomb in east China's Jiangxi province that contained 47 coffins in a remarkable state of preservation were stunned to discover several pieces of green crystal lodged in the bones of the skeletons in the coffins. One of the diamond-shaped crystals was 8.5 centimeters long. The coffins also contained bronze, gold, silk, porcelain and jade items and even body tissue. Archaeologists said the crystals appeared to have "grown" in the bones. They pointed out that the coffins were made from halved nanmu, a...

NEW YORK - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took the stage Sunday with her husband, the former president, at a major fundraiser that brought in over $1 million for her presidential campaign. In a Manhattan hotel ballroom filled with New York elected officials and wealthy Democratic donors, Bill Clinton introduced his wife by describing her long career in public service beginning at Yale Law School where the couple met 35 years ago. He said he had encouraged her then to pursue a career in New York or Chicago and is still amazed she followed him back to Arkansas, where he...

BANGKOK, Thailand - The next time you take a Thai Airways flight to China, a passenger with a wingspan of 9.2 feet and a taste for rotting carcasses may also be on board. The country's national carrier announced Wednesday that it will transport a juvenile cinereous vulture to Beijing on March 21 to help return the rare bird to its natural environment in Mongolia. The vulture — normally not found in Thailand — has been nursed back to health by veterinarians at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, after apparently getting lost in late December and ending up dehydrated and near death...

A species of shark rarely seen alive because its natural habitat is 600 metres (2,000 ft) or more under the sea was captured on film by staff at a Japanese marine park this week. The Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, south of Tokyo, was alerted by a fisherman at a nearby port on Sunday that he had spotted an odd-looking eel-like creature with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth. Marine park staff caught the 1.6 metre (5 ft) long creature, which they identified as a female frilled shark, sometimes referred to as a "living fossil" because it is a primitive species...

Barre, Vt. — With the drop of a single coin into a Salvation Army holiday collection kettle, the group may have been enriched by as much as $14,000 (U.S.). The donated 1908 Indian head coin has a face value of $2.50, said Captain Louis Patrick. But it's worth at least at $250 and possibly as much as $14,000, according to a preliminary analysis. “I was shocked,” Patrick said. “I've heard of this happening in other places, but I've never actually seen it.” The coin was enclosed in a protective plastic case. “It was an incredibly generous thing to do,” Patrick...

With the elections just a few days away, Republicans continue to scoff at anti-war hunger strikes as “rookie stuff” and have quietly suggested that the anti-war movement should elevate their game if they really want results. “Yeah, the notion of Cindy Sheehan surviving on banana smoothies for a couple days really has us up nights,” said one Bush staffer. “These guys have really got to step it up if they want to be taken seriously. They need to draw on the heritage of their 1960s anti-war predecessors. I’m pretty sure that if the bunch of them set themselves on fire,...

GREENSBURG, Kan. - Scientists located a rare meteorite in a Kansas wheat field thanks to new ground-penetrating radar technology that someday might be used on Mars. The dig Monday was likely the most documented excavation yet of a meteorite find, with researchers painstakingly using brushes and hand tools to preserve evidence of the impact trail and to date the event of the meteorite strike. Soil samples also were bagged and tagged and organic material preserved for dating purposes. Even before they had the meteorite out of the ground, the scientific experts at the site were able to debunk prevailing wisdom...

LONDON (Aug. 7) - A rare photograph of Florence Nightingale went on display Monday to mark the 150th anniversary of the famous nurse's return to Britain from the Crimean War. The faded black-and-white photo, taken in May 1858, shows Nightingale reading on the grounds of her family home in Hampshire, southwest of London. It is one of only eight known photographs of one of nursing's most important figures. She shunned publicity, believing it would detract from her efforts to improve conditions in British hospitals. The photograph, which is going on show at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London, was taken...

Cambridge scholar makes rare 30,000-year-old find Archaeologists have unearthed a pair of tiny bone fragments dating back almost 30,000 years and featuring minute designs carved by some of our earliest European ancestors. The thumbnail-sized bone fragments are engraved with parallel lines and match similar artefacts uncovered in the same area during the 19th century. They were carved by hunter-gatherers as they slowly made their way north in pursuit of moving populations of mammoth and reindeer 25-30,000 years ago. The unusual find was made by a Cambridge scholar, Becky Farbstein, who has been working at Predmosti in north Moravia, in the...

HOBART, Australia - Some of the coldest temperatures on Earth brought a rare cloud formation to the skies over Antarctica, scientists said Tuesday. Meteorological officer Renae Baker captured spectacular images of the nacreous clouds, also known as polar stratospheric clouds, last week at Australia's Mawson station in Antarctica. The clouds only occur at high polar latitudes in winter, requiring temperatures less than minus 176 degrees Fahrenheit. A weather balloon measured temperatures at minus 189 degrees Fahrenheit on the day the photos were taken. Resembling airborne mother-of-pearl shells, the clouds are produced when fading light at sunset passes through water-ice crystals...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - July 19, 2006 - A University of Illinois researcher had discovered a fourth copy of a rare letter Abraham Lincoln had written by to the nation's governors in 1861. The letter John Lupton found Tuesday in the Lehigh County Historical Society's holdings was one Lincoln wrote as part of an unsuccessful ratification process for a constitutional amendment Congress adopted during the term of his predecessor, President James Buchanan, that would have made slavery the law of the land. The president remembered for abolishing slavery had been willing to push the amendment as "kind of a carrot...

Matt Hamill sent me pictures of himself with Tito Ortiz and his buddies. You won't find these pictures anywhere else on the internet except on ...

Maine lobsterman pulls up rare lobster2 hours, 24 minutes ago A rare two-toned lobster is seen in this Thursday, July 13, 2006, photo taken in Bar Harbor, Maine. The lobster caught by Alan Robinson in Dyer's Bay is a typical mottled green on one side; the other side is a shade of orange that looks cooked. Robinson, of Steuben, donated the lobster to the Mount Desert Oceanarium. Staff members say the odds or finding a half-and-half lobster are 1 in 50 million to 100 million. (AP Photo/The Daily News, Abigail Curtis) BAR HARBOR, Maine - An eastern Maine lobsterman caught...

EXPERTS FIND RARE ROMANI DNA IN NORWICH ANGLO SAXON SKELETON By Sarah Morley 12/05/2006 The recent discovery of Romani DNA in an Anglo Saxon skeleton has made experts re-think the nature of the city's early population. Picture courtesy Sophie Cabot. © HEART Experts from Norfolk Archaeology Unit based at Norwich Castle have discovered a rare form of mitochondrial DNA identified as Romani in a skeleton discovered during excavations in a large area of Norwich for the expansion of the castle mall. The DNA was found in an 11th century young adult male skeleton, and with the first recorded arrival of...

Rare artefacts found T.S. Subramanian Plaque belonging to 2nd century A.D. depicts `kuravai koothu' NEW DISCOVERIES: The terracota plaque with five dancers, and a figurine of Ganesha. (Below) A `vel' found in front of the sanctum sanctorum of the Muruga temple near the Tiger Cave near Mamallapuram. — Photo: S. Thanthoni CHENNAI: Several artefacts have been unearthed from the ruins of a Muruga temple that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been excavating since July 2005 on the beach at Salavankuppam close to the Tiger Cave, near Mamallapuram. The ASI's discoveries this year include a terracotta plaque that depicts...

Rare pre-Greek site to be exploredEnotrians ('wine lovers') renamed their kingdom 'Italia' (ANSA) - Palinuro, March 20 - A very rare example of surviving pre-Greek settlement in southern Italy is to be excavated and explored. The site, at Molpa in the hills above Palinuro south of Naples, is believed to contain the remains of a large village of the Enotrians, the earliest known inhabitants of Calabria and southern Campania. The Greeks who settled across southern Italy from 700BC to create Magna Graecia had an idealised vision of the Enotrians ("wine lovers") as coming from the Eden-like land of Arcadia ....

Rome paid tribute to the barbarians clamoring at her gates. It didn't do any good. Paying ransom only postponed the inevitable sacking, burning, and looting of the empire's capital. The UK's Neville Chamberlain sought to pacify Hitler, only to see Brits hiding in basements from the blitzkrieg a few years later. Instead of remembering history's lessons, the Washington Post today indulges in feel-good, intellectual rationalization of Muslim intolerance and hatred. In a 5-page manifesto entitled, "Anatomy of the Cartoon Protest Movement," authors Anthony Shadid and Kevin Sullivan exercise unlimited poetic license, calling Islamist hooliganism "a rare moment of empowerment among...

Last update - 08:55 18/11/2005 Rare seal bearing Jesus image found in Tiberias By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent A rare seal bearing a picture of Jesus on one side was discovered at an archeological dig in the old city of Tiberias on Thursday. The other side of the seal, which dates from the sixth century, depicts a cross and bears the inscription "Christos." The seal was discovered by two volunteers, employees of the American and British embassies. Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who is directing the dig, said the seal apparently belonged to a high-ranking church...

NEW ORLEANS - Searing heat and lack of electricity throughout New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ruined hundreds of thousands of bottles of rare wines by degrading corks and cooking the contents. Owners fear that even those bottles that appear to have survived the hurricane may hold spoiled wine. This city's once-vibrant culinary industry, already beaten back by disaster, has been further injured by damage to its wines. Losses are estimated to be as much as tens of millions of dollars. Private collectors, restaurants and distributors are preparing to destroy much of their stock. Insurance companies are just...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Hubble Space Telescope has taken a rare look at the moon to gauge the amount of oxygen-bearing minerals in the lunar soil that could be mined by astronauts and used in a new moon mission. NASA said Wednesday that the telescope's ultraviolet observations of two Apollo landing sites and an unexplored but geologically intriguing area will help scientists pick the best spots for robot and human exploration. The space agency hopes to return astronauts to the moon by 2018 using Apollo-like capsules and rockets made of shuttle parts. The data also will benefit a lunar...

NAPA, Calif. (AP) - California wine country was reeling after a huge warehouse fire wiped out millions worth of rare vintages. No one was seriously injured in the fire, the cause of which was still under investigation, and the losses weren't expected to put a big dent in the state's multibillion-dollar wine industry. But for some, the potential loss of years of effort and hope spelled big trouble. "It is a terrible thing," said Gary Lipp, who suspects that most of his 2003 cabernet sauvignon and all of his 2004 pinot noir are gone. Lipp and Brooks Painter, both wine...

Mexican immigrants rely heavily on health clinics but use emergency room services less often than most white Americans, a study released Thursday found. The joint study by the University of California and the National Population Council of Mexican Governments of Mexico bucks long-held perceptions that recent immigrants make more frequent emergency room visits. "Mexican immigrants when they come here, they don't get here with the idea of using public services," said Fabian Nuez, speaker of the California assembly and a son of Mexican immigrants himself. "They come here to contribute something." Still, even after living in the United States for...

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's rarest songbird is facing extinction, despite being the most promiscuous and energetic lover in the avian world, and concerned scientists are looking urgently for ways to save it. The male aquatic warbler is described as "continuously ready to mate" and able to indulge in record-breaking mating sessions, which in turn gives the females ample opportunity to sample and select the best mates. However, numbers have slumped to less than 20,000 in the past century -- a decline of 95 percent -- and its range has shrunk from continent-wide to isolated strongholds in eastern Europe as humans...

Mexican Archeologists Find Rare Sacrifice Saturday July 23, 2005 2:16 AM By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press Writer MEXICO CITY (AP) - Archeologists digging through an Aztec temple say they've found a rare child sacrifice to the war god, a deity normally honored with the hearts or skulls of adult warriors. The child found at Mexico City's Templo Mayor ruins was apparently killed sometime around 1450, in a sort of grim cornerstone ceremony intended to dedicate a new layer of building, according to archaeologist Ximena Chavez. Priests propped the child - apparently already dead, since the sand around him showed no...

AVALON, Calif. - A species of grass not seen since 1912 has been discovered growing on Santa Catalina Island off the Southern California coast, botanists say. The plant, California dissanthelium, had long been thought extinct until a botanist recently spotted the wispy, 7-inch-tall tufts while hiking in Cottonwood Canyon. "I saw a little grass, and I thought, 'Hmm, that doesn't look familiar,'" said Jenny McCune, an assistant plant ecologist for the Catalina Island Conservancy. McCune found the grass on March 30 in an area of the canyon hit by fire two years ago. Scientists confirmed the plant's identity last month....

Tiberias dig unearths very rare marble floor By Eli Ashkenazi A marble floor dating from the first century CE was unearthed during this season's excavations of ancient Tiberias. According to archaeologist Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld, director of the three-week dig that ended yesterday, the floor is apparently a remnant of a pavement in the palace of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who ruled the Galilee from 4 BCE to 38 CE.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan went before thousands of employees in a rare staff meeting Tuesday to defend the United Nations against what he called "relentless" attacks, and told them they should feel proud to work for the world body. The meeting was billed as a chance for Annan to spell out his plans to reform the United Nations and address staff concerns at a time when the organization is enduring fierce criticism over a host of scandals, from allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program in Iraq to sex abuse by peacekeepers and claims of harassment...

Researchers find rare letters from fifth century Gaza Strip Mon Jan 24, 3:48 PM ET Mideast - AFP GENEVA (AFP) - Swiss researchers have uncovered a rare exchange of letters written in ancient Greek during the fifth century in what is now the Gaza Strip , the University of Fribourg said. The discovery offers proof of a rich intellectual society in a region that is better known today for a bitter and bloody standoff between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said one of the researchers, Professor Jacques Schamp. Located amid mounds of manuscripts stored at the Marciana National Library in...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's expected appearance before an obscure legislative committee next week presents a rare spectacle in a state Capitol where few statewide elected officials have ever found themselves so engulfed in controversy. While many lawmakers have endured scandals and some seen the insides of prison walls, Shelley has few precedents as he prepares to testify before a committee that has traditionally concerned itself with auditing humdrum issues such as grazing fees and Medi-Cal overpayments. Though the 14-member Joint Legislative Audit Committee is also making headlines with its probe of cost overruns on the Bay...

What happened to the rare tribes? SANJAY DUTTA & CHANDRIKA MAGO TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2004 11:19:06 PM NEW DELHI: An enormous anthropological disaster is in the making. The killer tsunami is feared to have wiped out entire tribes — already threatened by their precariously small numbers — perhaps rendering them extinct and snapping the slender tie with a lost generation. Officials involved in rescue operations are pessimistic, but still keeping their fingers crossed for the Sentinelese and Nicobarese, the two tribes seen as bearing the brunt of the killer wave. The bigger fear is for the Sentinelese, anthropologically the most...

Rare artifacts shed new light on Spanish outpost in Panhandle By BILL KACZORPublished Sunday, July 11, 2004 Associated Press Writer SANTA ROSA ISLAND, Fla. A flood of rare artifacts and the rotted remains of wooden buildings offer surprising insights into life at a Spanish presidio, or military outpost, that vanished under the shifting sands of this barrier island 250 years ago. University of West Florida archaeologists and students, aided by public volunteers, last year recovered more than 40,000 artifacts, and they are digging up more this summer. What they've found shows Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa was more than a...