Free Republic

From “Mystic River” to mystery meetings. Sean Penn was spotted linking up with first son Hunter Biden at Soho House in Malibu, Calif., Wednesday. The “I Am Sam” star was photographed with a cigarette in his mouth, wearing a plaid blue shirt, a pair of cargo pants and holding a tan jacket as he exited his vehicle. Biden, meanwhile, kept a low profile in a black baseball cap, aviator sunglasses, a dark denim jacket and a pair of gray slacks. The two men were seen chatting casually while posted outside the swanky members-only club. We’re told Penn, 63, and Biden,...

Her experience brings new meaning to the "bear vs. man" question.While social media users debate if they’d rather be left alone in the woods with a bear or a man, one woman is considering herself “lucky” after surviving a real bear attack. A Scottish tourist was mauled by a bear in Romania. Friends Moira Gallacher and Charmian Widdowson were visiting the Carpathian Mountains when they encountered a group of bears, according to Scottish news outlet STV. Widdowson said, “We saw these bears — a mummy bear and a baby — they were gorgeous.” What the women didn’t know was that...

May 8 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Florida were called to a Starbucks cafe to eject an unruly customer from the drive-through: an alligator. North Port Fire Rescue said on social media that it was "just another day on the job" when crews were called to a local Starbucks. The post said firefighters "had quite the surprise" when they discovered the cause of the commotion was a coffee-craving crocodilian at the drive-through. "After coordinating with our friends at North Port Police Department, we safely relocated our scaly friend to a nearby pond," Fire Rescue officials wrote. "Who knew our mornings could...

Mount Ontake in Japan rises 3,067 meters above sea level — a windswept giant standing head and shoulders above densely forested hills. This ancient volcano is a popular trekking site. A trail traverses its ash- and boulder-strewn ridges. There are several huts and a shrine. On September 27, 2014, hikers took advantage of a blue sky and gentle wind. At 11:52 a.m., over a hundred of them stood on the summit, eating snacks and taking photos. Disaster struck with little warning. The windows and doors of a nearby hut rattled, vibrated by a low-frequency shock wave inaudible to humans. People...

A rare cast of a red-painted cow in a rock shelter, accompanied by a man ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New archaeological findings from the hyper-arid Atbai Desert, in Eastern Sudan, indicate the Sahara Desert was once a lush and green environment. Dr Julien Cooper from the Department of History and Archaeology, led a team of archaeologists in 2018 and 2019 on the Atbai Survey Project, discovering 16 new rock art sites in Wadi Halfa, one of the most desolate and driest areas of the Sahara. Almost all of the newly discovered artwork, which dates back 4000 years, features the presence of cattle. “It...

Human remains were spotted in the mouth of a 13-foot, 8.5-inch alligator on Friday, in a canal just north of the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. The gator was extracted from the water and “humanely killed,” the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release, adding that a dive team had also “recovered the remains of a deceased adult from the waterway.” VIDEO AT LINK.............. So far, no details regarding the identity of the victim have been shared, as the investigation is still ongoing. It’s also unclear whether the alligator was directly responsible for the person’s death. One local...

May 7 (UPI) -- An unusual transaction was caught on camera at a Florida credit union when an alligator wandered into the drive-through lanes. Addition Financial in Lake Mary shared a photo to social media showing the gator parked by the teller window at the credit union. "Just a normal day in Florida," the post said. "Can we even blame this little guy for wanting in on our 5 star service?" A video of the encounter features commentary from a teller. "Man, welcome to Florida where you go to work and casually see alligators just chillin' at your job," the...

A weekend spring storm that drenched the San Francisco Bay area and closed Northern California mountain highways also set a single-day snowfall record for the season on Sunday in the Sierra Nevada. The wet weather system had mostly moved out of the state by Sunday morning, but officials warned that roads would remain slick after around two feet (60 centimeters) of snow fell in some areas of the Sierra. “Did anyone have the snowiest day of the 2023/2024 season being in May on their winter bingo card?” the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab asked on the social...

(Credit: Northrop Grumman/DARPA) The Manta Ray prototype uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) has successfully completed initial full-scale tests in an ocean environment, according to an update that appeared at the website of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). Built by aerospace and defense technology giants Northrop Grumman, Manta Ray’s first ocean tests were carried out off the coast of Southern California between February and March 2024, featuring submerged operations that allowed each of the new UUV’s modes of control and propulsion to be engaged. An extra-large glider UUV designed to carry out long-range and long-duration missions in undersea environments, DARPA’s...

Daniel Ducharme, 31, likely died immediately after losing control of car on I-91... A man who was dragged by a bear following a car crash was most likely dead at the time, Massachusetts State Police said. First responders found the man outside of the car in Hatfield on Sunday morning and saw a bear in the woods nearby... A preliminary investigation suggests that earlier that day, the driver, Daniel Ducharme, 31, of South Hadley, was traveling south on Route 91 when he lost control of the car, struck the guardrail multiple times, went down an embankment, and struck several trees...

AL GORE please pick up the red emergency phone. Storm destroys the world's largest floating Solar Panel Farm. What Valedictorian engineer signed off on this stupidity. VIDEO AT LINK...................

Cities, towns and vacation spots across the American South are 'drowning' under rapidly rising tides that could soon put them underwater. Ocean levels are at least six inches higher than they were a decade ago along a swathe of the country from Texas to North Carolina. An overall rising ocean is coupled with vicious tidal events that wreak havoc and kill locals, especially when they coincide with storms. The problem is already affecting thousands of Americans living along the coast, and millions more across the US will feel it in the coming decades. Climate change is steadily raising sea levels...

* An adult male named Rakus chewed a plant used by people in Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation, then applied it to an injury on his right cheek * Photographs show the animal’s wound closed within a month without any problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rakus, a Sumatran orangutan, is seen two months after he started treating himself with a medicinal plant at a protected rainforest area in Indonesia. Photo:Safruddin/Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour via Reuters AsiaSoutheast Asia Wild orangutan seen using medicinal plant to treat wound, scientists say An adult male named Rakus chewed a plant used by people...

The “Five Little Ducks” were met with a grizzly end. A zoo bear named Juniper shocked guests at a girl’s birthday party after devouring ducklings that had landed in its enclosure, as seen in a video with over 2 million views on TikTok. “A #natgeo trainwreck for my daughters’ birthday, thanks JUNIPER,” mother Rachelle captioned the clip of the impromptu feeding. She and her fellow revelers, which comprised both adults and children, had reportedly been celebrating her daughter’s birthday at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. The bash took a turn when the party-goers stopped by the bear exhibit...

Money Mail can today reveal a timebomb looming in the second-hand market for electric vehicles (EVs). Our investigation found that many EVs could become almost impossible to resell because of their limited battery life. Experts said that the average EV battery guarantee lasts just eight years. After this time, the battery may lose power more quickly and so reduce mileage between charges. Many EVs will lose up to 12 per cent of their charge capacity by six years. Some may lose even more. Yet the cost of replacing an EV battery is astonishingly high, our research found. In some cases,...

Scientists have identified what could potentially be the “deepest known blue hole” in the world, extending so far down that the bottom has not yet been reached. Researchers described how the underwater abyss’s extensive depths could harbor a “biodiversity to be explored” in a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. Indeed, new measurements taken during a December scuba-diving expedition indicate that the Taam Ja’ Blue Hole (TJBH), located in Chetumal Bay off the Yucatan Peninsula, extends at least 1,380 feet (420 meters) below sea level — nearly the height of Trump Tower in Chicago. That’s 480...

It sounds like a dream, but it's true in Antarctica, gold rains from the sky. Tucked in among the glaciers, fiery Mount Erebus is the southernmost active volcano on Earth, providing a bit of heat amid the frozen landscape. The frozen continent features 138 volcanoes, according to a 2017 study, with around nine of them reported as active. With a summit elevation of 12,448 feet (3,794 meters), Mount Erebus is the most well-known. Erebus is one of three volcanoes that form Ross Island, and it's said that it was erupting when it was discovered in 1841 during the voyage of...

An active volcano in Antarctica is shooting $6,000 in gold dust into the air every single day, NASA’s Earth Observatory revealed last week. The volcano on Mount Erebus spits pockets of gas containing 80 grams of crystallized gold daily, it said. Mount Erebus, is arguably Antarctica’s most famous volcano. It holds the titles of the tallest active volcano on the continent, with its summit reaching 12,448 feet (3,794 meters), and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. Named after the personification of darkness in Greek mythology, Mount Erebus was erupting when Captain Sir James Clark Ross first discovered it in 1841....

The 2024 tourist season has just begun in Yellowstone, and there are already plenty of incidents of people getting too close to wildlife, like in this recent file photo. On Monday, Yellowstone National Park annoucned the arrest of a man who not only allegedly harassed a herd of bison, he kicked one in the leg. (Reader photo: Ralee Plunkett) An Idaho man is accused of kicking a bison while drunk, becoming Yellowstone National Park’s first bison attack victim of the season, the park announced Monday. The incident took stupid human tricks to an entirely new level, the curator of the...

Eagle Pass: Local resident, Luis De La Torre, came across an alligator while fishing this morning at the Rio Grande. Previous sightings of alligators have been confirmed by Border Patrol. VIDEO AT LINK........................