A newly built suspension bridge in West Java, Indonesia, partially collapsed during its own inauguration ceremony after roughly 50 people crowded onto a structure designed to hold no more than three at a time, sending villagers and local officials plunging toward the river below. The Pongpet Suspension Bridge in Margacinta, a 196-foot crossing that connects […] The post New Indonesian bridge collapses during ribbon-cutting as crowd ignores weight limits appeared first on American Almanac .
A newly built suspension bridge in West Java, Indonesia, partially collapsed during its own inauguration ceremony after roughly 50 people crowded onto a structure designed to hold no more than three at a time, sending villagers and local officials plunging toward the river below. The Pongpet Suspension Bridge in Margacinta, a 196-foot crossing that connects several villages in Pangandaran Regency, gave way on a Sunday afternoon moments after officials cut the ribbon. A suspension cable on the left-hand side detached from its main anchor point, and the bridge tilted sideways. Several people fell. Panic broke out on the span, which hangs above a river roughly 20 metres, about 65 feet, below. No one died, local authorities said. But several…Open
An Austrian mountain guide surrendered his licence and faces a police investigation after helmet-camera footage captured him allegedly grabbing a Polish climber on a narrow, exposed ridge high on Austria's tallest peak, a confrontation that began when the guide barged past the climber's wife while she was lowering herself on a rope. The incident occurred […] The post Austrian mountain guide loses licence after grabbing climber on exposed ridge at 10,000 feet appeared first on American Almanac .
An Austrian mountain guide surrendered his licence and faces a police investigation after helmet-camera footage captured him allegedly grabbing a Polish climber on a narrow, exposed ridge high on Austria's tallest peak, a confrontation that began when the guide barged past the climber's wife while she was lowering herself on a rope. The incident occurred on August 22 along the Mürztalersteig route on the Grossglockner, Austria's highest mountain at 12,460 feet. The Polish climber and his wife were making their way toward the Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte refuge, roughly 10,000 feet above sea level, when the guide, leading two clients, wedged himself between the couple on one of the route's most exposed sections. The wife was mid-descent on a…Open
Prince William and Kate Middleton plan to simply ignore Prince Harry and Meghan Markle now that the Sussexes have moved back to Britain, a strategy friends describe as leading "by example" while the estranged couple settles two hours away. The Sussex family touched down at Birmingham Airport around lunchtime on August 26, arriving by private […] The post William and Kate's response to Harry and Meghan's UK return: carry on and ignore them appeared first on American Almanac .
Prince William and Kate Middleton plan to simply ignore Prince Harry and Meghan Markle now that the Sussexes have moved back to Britain, a strategy friends describe as leading "by example" while the estranged couple settles two hours away. The Sussex family touched down at Birmingham Airport around lunchtime on August 26, arriving by private jet from California roughly six years after they quit their royal duties and decamped to a $14 million mansion in Montecito. Harry, 41, Markle, 45, and their two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, are now house-hunting in the Cotswolds, an area about two hours from William and Middleton's Windsor home. The children have already been enrolled in a British prep school costing $35,000 a…Open
Tens of thousands of male tarantulas are leaving their underground burrows right now to search for mates across the American South and Southwest, a brief, driven journey most will not survive. The annual migration is already underway from Arizona to Arkansas, with roughly 30 species of tarantula active across 15 states between late August and […] The post Tarantula mating season sends males on a one-way march across 15 states appeared first on American Almanac .
Tens of thousands of male tarantulas are leaving their underground burrows right now to search for mates across the American South and Southwest, a brief, driven journey most will not survive. The annual migration is already underway from Arizona to Arkansas, with roughly 30 species of tarantula active across 15 states between late August and October. Males that have spent five to ten years underground emerge for the first and only mating season of their lives, crossing roads, trails, and open desert in search of a female's burrow. Within months of mating, or failing to, they die. For residents in the affected states, the season means more spider sightings on roads and near homes. But entomologists and wildlife officials say the…Open
Kippy Brown, who broke barriers as the first Black quarterback at Memphis State and went on to coach seven NFL teams, including a Super Bowl champion, has died at 71, drawing tributes from players and coaches across the league. The University of Memphis announced Brown's death Monday. No cause of death was disclosed. Brown's full […] The post Kippy Brown, Super Bowl-winning coach and Memphis trailblazer, dead at 71 appeared first on American Almanac .
Kippy Brown, who broke barriers as the first Black quarterback at Memphis State and went on to coach seven NFL teams, including a Super Bowl champion, has died at 71, drawing tributes from players and coaches across the league. The University of Memphis announced Brown's death Monday. No cause of death was disclosed. Brown's full name was Charles "Kippy" Brown, and he is survived by his wife, Deon, and two children. Brown's football life spanned five decades, from a playing career that made history in Memphis to a coaching journey that put him on the sideline for two consecutive Super Bowl appearances with the Seattle Seahawks. Along the way, he shaped some of the most talented skill-position players the NFL has seen, and earned a…Open
A Rhode Island judge handed an unnamed driver the nation's first jail sentence for speeding in August 1904, for the reckless act of driving 15 miles per hour. Judge Darius Baker looked at the motorist in front of him and decided the man behind the wheel deserved five days behind bars. The offense: piloting an […] The post Five days in jail for 15 mph: how America's first speeding sentence landed in 1904 appeared first on American Almanac .
A Rhode Island judge handed an unnamed driver the nation's first jail sentence for speeding in August 1904, for the reckless act of driving 15 miles per hour. Judge Darius Baker looked at the motorist in front of him and decided the man behind the wheel deserved five days behind bars. The offense: piloting an early automobile at a speed most joggers can match today. No one was hurt. No property was damaged. The driver simply moved too fast for a country still getting used to the idea that machines could replace horses. The sentence, as documented by The Sun , marked the first time an American court put someone in a cell for driving over the speed limit. The driver's name has been lost to history, and the specific Rhode Island city where…Open
Julie Andrews says a disciplined morning workout routine she has maintained for decades is the key reason she still feels "like in my 50s" at age 90, a habit rooted in the rigorous training she received as a child performer. The legendary actress, best known for her iconic roles in The Sound of Music and […] The post Julie Andrews credits a lifetime of morning exercise with helping her feel decades younger at 90 appeared first on American Almanac .
Julie Andrews says a disciplined morning workout routine she has maintained for decades is the key reason she still feels "like in my 50s" at age 90, a habit rooted in the rigorous training she received as a child performer. The legendary actress, best known for her iconic roles in The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, told Yahoo Life that physical exercise has anchored her mornings for most of her adult life. Andrews put it simply: she has "all my life worked out first thing in the morning or something like that, a little less so these days." That daily commitment stretches back at least three decades. In a 1996 appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Andrews described a 45-minute morning session of stretching, aerobics, and ballet…Open
A British media group born out of a pro-Palestinian "hack for Gaza" is running a worldwide campaign to keep cinemas from screening Sacha Baron Cohen's upcoming film, while insisting the effort has nothing to do with the Jewish actor's support for Israel. NewsCord, a U.K.-based outfit founded in late 2023, roughly a month after Hamas's […] The post Anti-Israel group with Irish media backing is behind campaign to block Sacha Baron Cohen's new Ali G film appeared first on American Almanac .
A British media group born out of a pro-Palestinian "hack for Gaza" is running a worldwide campaign to keep cinemas from screening Sacha Baron Cohen's upcoming film, while insisting the effort has nothing to do with the Jewish actor's support for Israel. NewsCord, a U.K.-based outfit founded in late 2023, roughly a month after Hamas's October 7 attack, has been flooding theaters with what it describes as tens of thousands of emails from moviegoers demanding they refuse to show Ali G: Who Iz I?, the first Ali G film in two decades. The group frames its objection as a stand against racial stereotypes. But financial disclosures reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show that an Irish investor who also bankrolls an anti-Israel publication…Open
A Utah judge has laid out in a written order exactly why 23-year-old Tyler Robinson will face trial on all seven charges, including aggravated murder carrying a potential death sentence, for the shooting death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Fourth District Judge Tony Graf Jr. published the order Wednesday from the courthouse in […] The post Utah judge details why death penalty stays on the table for Tyler Robinson in Charlie Kirk killing appeared first on American Almanac .
A Utah judge has laid out in a written order exactly why 23-year-old Tyler Robinson will face trial on all seven charges, including aggravated murder carrying a potential death sentence, for the shooting death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Fourth District Judge Tony Graf Jr. published the order Wednesday from the courthouse in Provo, Utah, formalizing a ruling he delivered orally earlier in the week. The order binds Robinson over for trial and preserves the state's ability to seek the death penalty, a outcome Robinson's defense team had fought to prevent. Robinson, through attorney Kathy Nester, pleaded not guilty to all seven charges on Tuesday. The written order centers on a single legal question that could determine…Open
CSAF and CMSAF visited AFSOC at Hurlburt Field to experience how the command meets today’s complex operational requirements while rapidly investing in tomorrow’s readiness through modernization.