Somewhere near Washington D.C., a company is spending $300 million to dig a luxury apartment complex 200 feet into the ground. The swimming pool sits 20 stories down but looks like it’s perched on the edge of a cliff. Robots run the medical wing. A single membership costs $20 million, and only 625 people will ever hold one. The project is called Aerie, built by a Virginia firm named SAFE, short for Strategically Armored and Fortified Environments. They’ve spent decades building panic rooms and fortified estates for the mega-rich, including one home with its own Formula 1 track. Aerie is…
Author: Tommy Grant
The U.S. Space Force Honor Guard donned the updated ceremonial service dress uniform in the nation’s capital over the weekend.On Sunday, the guard debuted the new ensemble at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C., according to a Friday release.“The public will now be able to immediately recognize us as Guardians and key members of America’s warfighting capabilities,” Chief Master Sgt. Ross Koehler, Space Force Honor Guard senior enlisted leader, said in the release.The new uniform is meant to replace the modified Air Force service uniform guardians have worn since the branch was established seven years ago as the…
The United States canceled a joint amphibious landing drill scheduled for next month with South Korea, Seoul’s Marine Corps said on Monday, after Washington cited constraints on the availability of U.S. forces due to the war in Iran.The U.S. Marine Corps formally notified its South Korean counterpart in June that force availability would be constrained for the division-level exercise, known as Ssangyong, a South Korean Marine Corps spokesperson told a press briefing.The allies remain in close consultations on resuming the drills, the spokesperson said. He did not specify what measures might be taken to prevent future cancelations or to make…
When masked agents pounded on the windows of the family vehicle, Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juárez’s six-year-old daughter started crying. She sat, buckled into her car seat, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ordered the windows rolled down and announced they would be detaining Cristy Maryori Villafranca Trejo — the child’s mother and Turcios’s wife — for a missed court appearance. The child watched as the figures handcuffed her mother.“It took me a minute to realize what was going on — my heart just dropped,” Turcios told Military Times about the encounter. “It was very hard looking at…
We’ve already covered the basics of getting apple butter onto your shelf with a two-year shelf life elsewhere on the site. This one goes deeper into the parts that actually separate a good batch from a mediocre one: the exact tested recipe ratios, the doneness tests almost nobody explains properly, a genuine reduced-sugar option that’s still fully tested and safe, and the troubleshooting for when a batch doesn’t turn out right. If you’ve ever ended up with apple butter that’s too thin, scorched on the bottom, or never quite sets right, this is the guide that explains why, and how…
Most people already own the gear that would get them through a blackout. A flashlight in a drawer, a radio on the shelf, a power bank buried in a bag somewhere, etc. But more often than not, those devices are at maybe 25 percent, or possibly dead, meaning they’ll be useless when the power goes out. Owning useful equipment with a dead battery is one of the most common gaps in modern preparedness, and it’s completely avoidable. To avoid having dead devices during the next blackout or major disaster, you have to create a habit of recharging everything on a…
1791 Industries has just launched ultra-lightweight upper and lower AR-15 receivers called the LiteRaider series.The original AR-15 design was always lauded for how lightweight it is, but 1791 Industries decided that they could make it even lighter without making any compromises. Hence, the company’s new LiteRaider LRM4 upper and lower receivers.The LiteRaider LRM4 upper and lower receivers are made of Metal Matrix Composite (MMC), and 1791 Industries says that it’s 33 percent lighter than aluminum while offering “comparable strength and durability to 7075-T6 aluminum.” The company says that MMC has better thermal resistance and vibration dampening than aluminum as well.…
The Department of Defense does not request enough funding to fully meet its installation maintenance and major improvement needs, a Government Accountability Office report found.The department sought to fund 90% of its maintenance needs, but the GAO found that the services continue to request funding for only about 80% of their needs, according to the report released Friday. The funding shortfall led to an estimated $285 billion of maintenance backlogs in fiscal 2025.“DOD has not fully determined the risks to its mission and to the quality of life of its personnel as a result of not meeting its funding goal,”…
There’s a new addition to the fleet of maritime vessels serving the Marine Corps in the Pacific, and its name is Matilda. Matilda 1, a specialized stern landing vessel that can transport troops from ship to shore or from beachhead to beachhead, is notable for its shallow draft, allowing it to navigate littoral waters the way few other vessels its size can. But it’s also different in how the Marine Corps acquired it for use.The 240-foot boat was designed by the Australian firm Seatransport and constructed by Indonesian builder Karimun Anugrah Sejati. It became operational earlier this year and was…
Green beans are one of the most commonly home-canned vegetables, and also one of the vegetables most frequently linked to botulism outbreaks when canned incorrectly. That combination makes this guide worth reading start to finish, even if you’ve canned other vegetables before, since green beans have their own exact, tested requirements that don’t carry over from other recipes. This is the specific, complete procedure, straight from the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s tested method, covering prep, packing, exact processing times and pressures, and the storage and safety details that actually matter. Why Green Beans Must Be Pressure Canned Green…