Free Republic

In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV. Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a more direct heading. On Feb. 15, 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor, a roughly 62-foot (19 meter)-diameter asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, as it entered Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle. The blast shattered windows...

New documents raise questions about the integrity of the steel rods that hold together the Bay Bridge eastern span and point to potentially widespread problems that experts warn could lead to premature failure.

A 2006 police report detailing Josh Duggar’s molestation of his sisters has caused a media firestorm, yet the document has also revealed another detail that the Duggar family has yet to address: namely, the assertion by one of their children that Jim Bob and Michelle use a rod to spank them. The allegations surfaced in the police report, which was released in a redacted form last week by In Touch Weekly. The report includes a summary of a conversation which occurred between an investigator and one of the Duggar children, who remains unnamed. “Inv. Taylor asked [redacted] about getting spanked....

Yun Chung, a retired engineer and metallurgist, read the official report explaining why massive, high-strength steel rods on the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge broke last March and was stunned – then alarmed. At first glance, Chung said about the July report, he saw obvious errors – some typographical, others that confused basic terminology. Digging deeper, he discovered more important problems. He concluded that the analysis defied metallurgical science and common sense. “I think it’s very shameful that in this public document, this important (oversight) report, there are so many errors. (I have) a sense of outrage,” Chung said in...

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago TEHRAN, Iran - Iran is producing fuel rods for nuclear reactors, state radio reported Thursday in the government‘s latest attempt to boost a nuclear program that world powers are trying to curb. "After sanctions from the U.S., experts from Iran‘s atomic energy organization have produced better quality rods than the foreign samples," the radio reported. Enriched uranium can be used in the production of nuclear energy or weapons. Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, insists its nuclear program is aimed only at producing electricity. But the United States, France...

Coast2Coast with George Noory. Listen and comment. First news story - an upcoming earthquake in Japan

...The reactor type used at Chernobyl was inherently unsafe — it has never been used in this country and never will. Above all else, it lacked a containment structure, designed to contain radiation should everything else fail. The only other meltdown in history came at Three Mile Island — whose containment dome completely contained all the radiation released by the meltdown. Radioactive gases were then control-released into the atmosphere over the course of a week. Sounds scary? Had you been standing at the perimeter fence at TMI during this period, you would have received about the same radiological dose as...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Sunday rejected a proposal by U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry who has suggested supplying the Islamic state with nuclear fuel for power reactors if Tehran agrees to give up its own fuel-making capability. Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said it would be "irrational" for Iran to put its nuclear program in jeopardy by relying on supplies from abroad. "We have the technology (to make nuclear fuel) and there is no need for us to beg from others," Asefi told a weekly news conference. Washington says Iran plans to use its nuclear facilities to make...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- North Korea apparently has begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods, which would be an indication that the communist country intends to produce nuclear weapons, a senior Bush administration official said Saturday.</p> <p>Air samples taken in the vicinity of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear plant indicate the presence of Krypton-85, intelligence experts said, signifying that the reprocessing is under way.</p>

From the outside, it looks like another '70s muscle car. On the inside, it's a gearhead fantasy come true. Every chunk of this 1972 Ford Torino's innards has been swapped for fresh parts. An extra gas tank has been fused onto its body. Controllers for laser jammers, radar detectors, GPS sensors and video cameras now occupy areas once reserved for 8-track players and beige-tinted shades. The vehicle has been hauled 2,700 miles on a tractor-trailer, from Gibsonville, North Carolina, to San Francisco. And on Wednesday, it'll begin a five-day, helter-skelter dash to reach Miami before hundreds of other cars cross...

Breaking. Located th thru Google news search, in the PAKISTAN DAILY news, and picked up from Bill Gertz report in D.C., and also breaking in Asian news sources on the web: A report out tonight that Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military have gone forward to modifications of their surface to air missiles, by changing/upgrading to two stages (SA-3 missiles) thus increasing the kill range in order to bring down more US/UK pilots who are flying the no-fly zones right now. Breaking. Admin Moderator: If full story is posted already, please pull this thread. If not, Freepers, please add and...

On Sunday, October 20, 2002, at 4:20 p.m. EDT, FOX 23 News videographer, Brandon Mowry, was filming a weather segment for WXXA-TV in Albany, New York. While the camera was still running, he lifted the camera 180 degrees to get another shot of a plane taking off. He did not know at the time that he caught seven frames (1/3rd second) of digital videotape of the jet airliner passing out of the upper right corner and a strange, missile-like, unidentified aerial object rapidly passing through sky and seemingly through a cloud estimated to be at 5,000 feet or more....