Free Republic

If accepted at the time, the design would have likely revolutionized architecture. ======================================================================== In the early 1500s, Leonardo da Vinci designed a hypothetical bridge for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. It was rejected. Over 500 years later, an MIT team has recreated the design with a model and have showed that it would have worked. Da Vinci's design incorporates architectural techniques that would have not been seen for another 300 years. ========================================================================== Gretchen Ertl ========================================================================= Researchers at MIT have proven Leonardo da Vinci correct yet again, this time involving his design for what would have been at the time...

Confederate monuments are being taken down or vandalized in cities across the country in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody -- but so far the revived push to remove symbols of slavery and segregation has largely overlooked the late Democratic senator who was a former Ku Klux Klan member yet later rejected those views. West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd's legacy is visible throughout his home state of West Virginia, with his name on numerous buildings and roads. Byrd was a former member of the Klu Klux Klan who later regretted that affiliation, renounced his past views supporting...

A private college in West Virginia said Wednesday it is removing the name of the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd from its health center, saying his name had caused “divisiveness and pain" without explicitly noting his complicated past on racial matters. Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s but subsequently denounced the organization. He served in the Senate for 51 years and died in 2010 at age 92. Bethany College President Tamara Rodenberg said on the school's website that Byrd's name will be removed from the college's Robert C. Byrd Health Center “to demonstrate...

Robert C. Byrd's name has been removed from the Bethany College Health Center. The move was prompted by the ongoing national conversations about race relations in America. "The last few weeks, and well before the conversations and calls for change took hold, we recognized as a campus that the name of our Robert C. Byrd Health Center created divisiveness and pain for members of Bethany community, both past and present." According to a letter, posted on the college's website, from President Tamara Rodenberg, Ph.D., the move is "to demonstrate Bethany College’s capacity to change, to listen, and to learn." Byrd,...

A mountain lion attacking a small animal was spotted by students living near Gerhart Hall on the Bethany University campus in Scotts Valley Monday night, the second such sighting in as many days... Students reported seeing the cougar on both Sunday and Monday nights... Students are also being advised to avoid jogging or walking alone during the early morning hours or at dusk to avoid coming into contact with a mountain lion.