Free Republic

The British Empire and other major European powers did not significantly enrich themselves through slavery and colonialism but rather may have taken a net loss as a result, a report has asserted. Contrary to narratives pushed by ‘anti-colonialism’ academics and promoted by leftist talking heads, Western capitalism was not built off the backs of colonialism and slavery, fresh research from Kristian Niemietz of the Institute of Economic Affairs claims. The head of Political Economy at the IEA argues that while some select elite families within Britain and other colonial powers profited immensely during the time, such gains were not felt...

Opinion The scientific community celebrated April 14 as World Quantum Day to raise awareness of quantum science’s impact across diverse fields The world of science is on the cusp of a transformative era driven by the burgeoning field of quantum technology. Quantum science is founded on several key principles that underpin the behaviour of particles and systems at the quantum scale. The term “quantum scale” refers to the realm of physics that deals with phenomena occurring at very small scales, typically at the level of atoms, subatomic particles and fundamental particles. It encompasses the principles of quantum mechanics, which govern...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - It was a great legend while it lasted, but DNA testing has finally ended a century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook who died in the Sandwich Islands in 1779. "There is no Cook in the Australian Museum," museum collection manager Jude Philp said on Thursday in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made from Cook's bone. But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its exhibition, "Uncovered: Treasures of the Australian Museum," which does include a feather cape...

Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Or so said Steve Jobs when he announced iPhone in 2007.But I’m talking about a different revolutionary product. A foundational product that forever changed how everyone on this planet gets to where they need to be. Today, I’d like to tell you about the Etak Navigator, a truly revolutionary product and the world’s first practical vehicle navigation system.Here’s a picture of it:At the time, it was considered out-of-this-world. This is what Silicon Valley’s San Jose Mercury News said about it:The Etak Navigator launched 39 years (!) ago...

EXCERPTS: East Coast ports have invested billions of dollars over the past decade to expand capacity and while the temporary closure at Baltimore may add time and cost for some companies, economists do not expect a significant macroeconomic impact. The dockworkers are day laborers, said Scott Cowan, head of the International Longshoreman's Association Local 333 in Baltimore, meaning they only work when there is cargo to be moved. He estimated there might be about a week's work clearing the existing inventory at the port.

Marine archaeologists have identified 10 shipwrecks, including one from the Roman era, in the waters around a Greek island in the Mediterranean. The finds came to light during a multiyear project carried out by a team in collaboration with Greece's National Hellenic Research Foundation and the country's Ministry of Culture. The project has been surveying an area around the island of Kasos, which lies in the Aegean Sea, a portion of the Mediterranean between the Greek peninsula to the west and Turkey's Anatolia peninsula to the east. "This research was conducted to shed light on the maritime history of the...

Wood from three different trees cut by Vikings found at L'Anse aux Meadows been precisely dated to 1021 CE - 1,000 years ago this year. The Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, located at the tip of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula, was discovered in the 1960s, but has never been precisely dated. Previous estimates about when the Viking crossed the Atlantic and made their way to present day Newfoundland and Labrador have been based on Norse sagas and radiocarbon dating that typically has an error margin of about 50 years. The best estimates put their arrival at around 990 at...

...This year, the General Services Administration (GSA) will give away six of the historic beacons, including the Warwick Neck Light, at no cost. An additional four will be sold via public auction. The goal of the transfers is to preserve the historic buildings, even as technology renders them obsolete...Since the passage of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act in 2000, the GSA has been transferring ownership of lighthouses... to groups willing to preserve them, according to a statement from the agency...At many lighthouses, upkeep is challenging: Two of the structures up for auction, the Penfield Reef Lighthouse in Fairfield, Connecticut,...

The medieval trading center of Rungholt, which is today located in the UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Site and currently the focus of interdisciplinary research, drowned in a storm surge in 1362...Well known for its mythically exaggerated destruction and an archaeological find situation unique in Europe, Rungholt is a prominent example of the effects of massive human intervention in the northern German coastal region that continue to this day.The key to the success of the work lies in a close interdisciplinary collaboration...And Dr. Hanna Hadler from the Institute of Geography at Mainz University, added, "Based on this prospection, we selectively...

These expert navigators sailed thousands of nautical miles long before other societies.The 2016 animated family film Moana brought the long-told story of Polynesian seafarers (along with some incredibly catchy tunes) to a much wider worldwide audience. Now, geochemical analysis is confirming the oral history of ancient Polynesia’s incredible sailors in a new study published April 21 in the journal Science Advances. Long before Europeans arrived, Polynesian wayfinders sailed to islands across the central Pacific in canoes, and the stories of their adventures have survived largely through oral history. There has been limited material evidence supporting these accounts of Polynesian societies...

A Japan Coast Guard vessel is reportedly taking on water and leaking oil after grounding in rough weather while on a routine patrol on January 18. The vessel is stranded and awaiting a salvage crew but in no danger of sinking. The 3,100 gross ton Echigo, built by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding and commissioned in 1990, was operating in central Japan on Wednesday morning. Strong winds of 25 mph were blowing with heavy surf when the vessel approached a lighthouse near Kashiwazaki along the Sea of Japan. (...)

The Hickory bridge had been inoperative for about nine years, and any barricades had been washed away ... A North Carolina man is dead after his GPS led him to a defunct bridge that dropped off into a creek on Sept. 30. Phillip Paxson, a 47-year-old father of two girls, had been driving his Jeep at night from his oldest daughter's birthday party in Hickory when his GPS led him to a bridge that has been inoperative since heavy flooding in July 2013 destroyed it. "It was a dark and rainy night and he was following his GPS which led...

US Supreme Court 1st hearing on 3 October 2022. The case revolves around Michael and Chantell Sackett who bought a soggy plot of land near Priest Lake, Idaho in 2004. With the intention of building a home on the property, they began back-filling the low lying wet area. The EPA stepped in, claiming they were interfering with protected wetlands.

A crew of shrimp fishermen made an unusual catch earlier this week when they pulled up a 17th century wooden head which may have formed part of the adornments of a large ship. The fisherman caught the head, which is in pristine condition, in their nets when fishing off the coast of the Wadden island of Texel on Monday morning. Crew member Victor Ayal put the find on Twitter, sparking a lively discussion about its possible origin, from the work of Vikings to that of Northern European shipbuilders. However, according to archaeologist Michiel Bartels, the head most likely dates from...

The discovery of pottery from the ancient Lapita culture by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) has shed new light on how Papua New Guinea (PNG) served as a launching pad for the colonization of the Pacific—one of the greatest migrations in human history.The new study makes clear the initial expansion of the Lapita people throughout PNG was far greater than previously thought.The study... is based on the discovery of a distinctive Lapita pottery sherd, a broken piece of pottery with sharp edges, on Brooker Island (200km east of mainland PNG) in 2017 that lead researcher Dr. Ben Shaw...

Polar bears from the Arctic. Tigers from India. Giraffes from the Serengeti. The Romans brought animals thousands of miles for the beast hunts and shows staged in the Colosseum.How did the Romans Capture Animals for the Colosseum? | August 16, 2019 | toldinstone

Russia has been accused of interfering with the global GPS navigation system during a major Nordic war game in Finland. European aviation authorities have said signals, heavily used by commercial aircraft, have been affected from Finland, through the Mediterranean and even as far as Iraq. Disruptions to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), which include GPS, are caused by the 'jamming' or 'spoofing' of satellite signals. Since the war erupted on February 24, 'jamming and/or possible spoofing has intensified in geographical areas surrounding the conflict zone and other areas,' the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in an online bulletin Thursday.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has just published a Safety Information Bulletin warning of the increase in the probability of issues regarding the use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) or Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The notice goes out due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine following its invasion by Russian forces. Preserving a safe environment for flight operations The Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) issued by EASA, the body responsible for aviation safety oversight across the European Union, is aimed at the national aviation authorities of member states and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) as well as airlines....

A team of adventurers, marine archaeologists and technicians located the wreck at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, using undersea drones...Mensun Bound, the expedition's exploration director and a marine archaeologist who has discovered many shipwrecks, said Endurance was the finest he had ever seen. It is upright, clear of the seabed and "in a brilliant state of preservation," he said.

Scientists have found and filmed one of the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks 107 years after it sank. The Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, was found at the weekend at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915, forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape on foot and in small boats. Video of the remains show Endurance to be in remarkable condition. Even though it has been sitting in 3km (10,000ft) of water for over a century, it looks just like it did on the...