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A Delta Airlines flight from Seattle to Atlanta was rerouted to Spokane International Airport in Washington state shortly after takeoff on Saturday due to a medical emergency that left a 16-year-old male passenger dead, officials said. ... Pilots diverted to Spokane, the closest airport, upon learning of the emergency. The cause of death was not immediately known. Local authorities and a medical examiner were summoned to the airport, NBC affiliate KHQ reported.

The Christmas Candle, Rick Santorum’s movie about a Christmas candle, is very nice. It’s nice in every sense of the word. There’s not a lot else to say about it. I was really, really tempted to just e-mail my editors a document that said this: “:-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-|” and try to convince them that publishing it would be subversive and hip. Reluctantly, I decided not to do that. But here’s why it’s so much of a pain to write about this movie: It’s trying very hard to be something, and you feel like a jerk...

Hello, Mrs Premise.... Hello, Mrs Conclusion. ... : Busy day?... : Busy! I've just spent four hours burying the cat.... : Four hours to bury a cat? ... : Yes! It wouldn't keep still, wriggling about howling its head off..... : Oh - it wasn't dead then?.... : Well, no, no, but it's not at all a well cat so as we were going away for a fortnight's holiday, I thought I'd better bury it just to be on the safe side...... : Quite right. You don't want to come hack from Sorento to a dead cat. It'd be so...

More young men in California rise in pitch at the end of their sentences when talking, new research shows. This process is known as "uptalk" or "valleygirl speak" and has in the past been associated with young females, typically from California or Australia. But now a team says that this way of speaking is becoming more frequent among men.

This week, regulators shut down the New England fishery for Gulf of Maine shrimp for the first time in 35 years. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission judged the stocks of the popular shrimp, also known as northern shrimp, to be dangerously low. "Shrimp is just one of those treasures in the winter of Maine," says Taylor, who co-owns the upscale Hugo's Restaurant in downtown Portland with Wiley. The restaurant sits just yards from the city's working waterfront and the two pride themselves on serving fresh, local seafood. Maine shrimp normally hit the menu in January or February. They may...

Psychologists have shown humans are poor judges of their own abilities, from sense of humour to grammar. Those worst at it are the worst judges of all. You're pretty smart right? Clever, and funny too. Of course you are, just like me. But wouldn't it be terrible if we were mistaken? Psychologists have shown that we are more likely to be blind to our own failings than perhaps we realise. This could explain why some incompetent people are so annoying, and also inject a healthy dose of humility into our own sense of self-regard.

Thirty-two teams. Eleven cities. Hundreds of players. Millions of fans. Just one ball. With the draw for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil only days away, Adidas introduced the tournament’s official match ball, the Brazuca, on Tuesday.

What's really remarkable about December 7, 1941 isn't that we got sucker-punched by the Empire of Japan but how rapidly we recovered and why. Coming out of the worst depression in our history (in 1940, unemployment was still 17%), we fought a global war on two fronts, against the world's strongest military powers (fueled by fanaticism and plotting war for almost a decade) and won, becoming the dominant power on the planet in the process. And we did it all in three years and eight month after Pearl Harbor. It's all the more remarkable when you consider how far we...

Record breaking snow cover for this time of year.

In the late 1930s, as humans managed to launch yet another war that would fail to end all wars, H.G. Wells wrote a series of essays laying out a plan for a better world. Wells, a novelist, reformer and sometime historian, believed that technology could connect people in ways that had never before been possible, joining them in a network and uniting their wisdom into a kind of synaptic and singular mind. The structure Wells imagined would be, he declared, “a sort of mental clearinghouse for the mind, a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified,...

The Bitcoin price last traded at USD 790 (this morning) which represents a 37% price crash against its trading high of 1242, vaporising the wild dreams of just a few days ago where some reported that the virtual money could be destined to go as high as 1 million! Whilst never realising the difference between what is virtual and what is real, instead in large part bitcoin pumper's remain in denial as many have been seduced by the golden coin image to imagine that bitcoins and gold are the same or similar when the reality is the exact opposite. Bitcoins...

There are smartphones and smart appliances, but Microsoft has discovered that smart technology goes only so far. The tech giant has decided not to pursue the idea of a “smartbra” with embedded sensors dreamed up by a team of researchers to combat stress-related overeating. The ultimate goal of the team led by Mary Czerwinski, a research manager in Microsoft’s Visualization and Interaction Research Group, was not to make a bra, a Microsoft spokesman told CNSNews.com, but to figure out ways to use behavior modification to prevent emotional overeating.The team came up with two mobile phone apps for “tracking emotions, food,...

An officer who shot at a minivan full of children following a traffic stop near Taos has been fired, a New Mexico State Police spokesman said Friday. The Oct. 28 incident, in which the officer fired a handgun toward the fleeing vehicle, gathered national attention after a video from a dashboard camera was released.

Welcome to the FReeper Recipe Thread. Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or three- for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites! Here's the place to share and explore your latest and greatest favorite recipe.

Few things renew American patriotism better than a trip to New England. My wife and I had the opportunity to do that recently when we visited our daughter, who is working on a film project there for a couple of months. Although we had been to Boston before, we were reminded of the city’s realities even before reaching the bag claim area at the airport. This is the place where the notion took flight that simple colonists could recover their birthright of freedom by tearing themselves away from the oppressive rule of the British king and launching an experiment in...

Newlyweds just three weeks removed from their wedding day lured a Pennsylvania man to his death with a Craigslist ad because they wanted to kill someone together, police said. Elytte Barbour told officers before his arrest Friday night that he and his wife, Miranda, had planned to kill before but their plans never worked out until last month when Troy LaFerrara responded to an online posting that promised companionship in return for money.

It was inevitable that a few short days after Wall Street lovingly embraced Bitcoin as their own, with analysts from Bank of America, Citigroup and others, not to mention the clueless momentum-chasing, peanut gallery vocally flip-flopping on the "currency" after hating it at $200 only to love it at $1200 that Bitcoin... would promptly crash. And crash it did: overnight, following previously reported news that China's Baidu would follow the PBOC in halting acceptance of Bitcoin payment, Bitcoin tumbled from a recent high of $1155 to an almost electronically destined "half-off" touching $576 hours ago, exactly 50% lower, on very...

I just moved to Oklahoma City from Houston. It's 5 degrees outside. I lived in Houston for more than a decade. The coldest it got where I lived was about 20. Maybe. For a couple of hours. FIVE. DEGREES. I didn't turn my pipes on to drip and am now trying to get some water out before it develops into a major disaster. Yeah, I've lived in a warm climate so long that I kind of forgot about winterization. The heater in my car, for instance, quit working. I needed antifreeze. I just changed the oil in my car to...

A small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Two men can be seen on the superstructure of the USS West Virginia, upper center, with the mast of the USS Tennessee in the background. Dec 7 1941.

Reactions to recent constitutional violations are pathetic and they will truly be the demise of our republic. Tyranny is unfolding before our very eyes. Astonishingly, shoulders are shrugged, just like in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Legislative representatives are saying, “There’s nothing we can do – precedents have been established.” Really? Our nation was built with brighter minds than this and more fortitude. The legislative branch is collectively sounding like Neville Chamberlain.

... Heisman hopeful Jameis Winston will not face any charges in a sexual assault case, mostly because there were too many gaps in his accuser’s story... ... the woman’s blood-alcohol content at the hospital was 0.04 percent and investigators estimated it to be about 0.10 percent at the time of the incident, based on the amount of time that had passed....

EDMONTON, Alberta,- An Alberta man who stabbed a friend in the chest as a test for what turned out to be an ineffective stab-proof vest was sentenced to six months in jail. Calvin Clackson, 21, of Edmonton, pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal negligence causing bodily harm in the Oct. 15, 2012, incident that required friend Justin Harder, 18, to undergo emergency surgery for a bleeding chest wound, the Edmonton Sun reported Friday. The court heard Harder had been wearing a purportedly stab-proof vest and invited Clackson to test it out with a folding knife. "Unfortunately, the vest didn't work and...

Companies can now get a federal permit for up to 30 years allowing bald or golden eagles to be killed without penalty. SEATTLE — In a decision that highlights the clash between two cherished environmental goals — producing green energy and preserving protected wildlife — federal officials announced Friday that some wind power companies will be allowed to kill or injure bald and golden eagles for up to 30 years without penalty. Previous permits expired after 5 years. Conservation groups decried the Obama administration's new regulation as a "stunningly bad move" for wildlife, but wind industry officials said Friday that...

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A woman found herself in a sticky situation after going to the restroom at The Home Depot store at Banks Crossing last week. Someone had apparently put glue on all of the toilet seats in the women’s restroom and she didn’t realize it until she became stuck on the seat. Emergency medical services personnel were called to the store to help remove the woman from the toilet seat, according to an incident report filed at the Banks County Sheriff’s Office. The woman had to be taken to a Gainesville hospital for treatment. The manger of the store found a brown...

If the U.S. reaches the second round of next year's World Cup, it would be quite an accomplishment. The Americans wound up with the potentially punishing group they feared and will play Ghana, Portugal and Germany in June during a 9,000-mile zigzag journey across Brazil. "It's going to be difficult for them to advance, but not impossible," former U.S. coach Steve Sampson said. While Ghana eliminated the Americans in 2006 and 2010, the Black Stars won't do it again. The U.S. opens its seventh straight World Cup appearance against Ghana on June 16 at Natal.

A STOLEN prosthetic arm has been uncovered at a second hand shop sparking a search for its owner.

The police have knowingly exposed us to violence and aggression by angry Muslims and have only towards the end, when very many attacks had already happened, somehow done their job – but by their inaction, they have consciously put health and life of our demonstrators to a severe risk. About 50 people came to support us on this difficult matter (see announcement), which was organized in Cologne by our non-party, independent alliance against persecution of Christians. As distinguished speaker we could welcome Michael Mannheimer. In addition, councillor of the City of Cologne, Jörg Uckermann from Pro Köln, joined us for...

Dayna Morales, a New Jersey waitress, made national news last month when she claimed she was left a hate-filled, anti-gay note instead of a tip. Last week, she came under fire when she was accused of faking the incident. Morales has since been accused of making other false claims as well, including telling her friends and family she had brain cancer and claiming to have seen combat when she served in the military. Morales has been suspended from her job at the bistro while the restaurant completes its investigation into whether her story was a hoax. Why would someone lie...

... Moving on to the 1990s, there is the very unsettling saga of Ray Boeche, an Anglican priest and a former state-director for MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network. In 1991, Boeche met (at Lincoln, Nebraska) with two US Department of Defense physicists working on a project to try and contact what were termed “Non-Human Entities,” or NHEs. While the initial assumption on the part of the DoD team-members was that the NHEs were extraterrestrial, that view soon changed. And radically so, too. Eventually, the project personnel concluded that far from being the aliens they purported to be, the NHEs were...

(CNN) -- A young man in his 20s -- let's call him George -- sits across from me in the exam room. "Dr. Youn," he says, "I have man boobs." I notice a not-so-unfamiliar smell wafting from his body. It's the same odor that floated my way during a rock concert I recently attended. "How long have you had a problem with this, George?" "Hard to say. But it seems to have gotten worse over the past year or so." "George, the first thing you need to do is stop smoking pot. Marijuana could be causing your man boobs."

777 plant in Greensboro?

Did anybody else know this memorial to the fallen in the middle east existed? http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WEPBQGu74oo&feature=player_embedded

FAIRBANKS—It wasn't the classic cat-in-the-tree rescue call, but University of Alaska Fairbanks firefighters did save a dog stranded on the Chena River ice on Wednesday afternoon. Firefighters in wetsuits crawled through overflow on top of thin ice with an inflatable raft to reach the dog and were able to haul her back without falling through. The dog, which Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Control manager Sandy Besser described as "some kind of a pitbull/boxer/healer mix," had been standing out on the ice for about three hours just downstream from the University Avenue bridge when the animal shelter received a call...

Barry Jackson obituary: Actor best known for playing the pathologist George Bullard in Midsomer Murders The actor Barry Jackson, who has died aged 75, was a staple of British television for more than 50 years but it was not until he was in his 60s that he earned a degree of stardom, thanks to his portrayal of the pathologist Dr George Bullard in 76 episodes (1997-2011) of the popular mystery series Midsomer Murders.

It's likely you've seen a child that's too young to speak in complete sentences operating his mom's iPhone better than, well, his mom. But what about a product that's geared specifically toward babies -- like an infant seat -- that comes with a iPad holder? The Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity Seat by Fisher Price is just that. It features, in addition to the iPad holder, bat-at toys on the removable bar and a mirror that reflects the baby's image when the iPad is removed. But it's that iPad holder feature that's got moms up in arms.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Eight people pleaded not guilty Friday to charges they operated a home burglary ring targeting vacationing Los Angeles Times subscribers. According to prosecutors, the ring stole an estimated $1 million in electronics and other items in dozens of burglaries in both Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. A 39-count indictment unsealed Friday named Randal Joseph Whitmore, 44; Duane Vantuinen, 52; Joshua Ray Box, 44; Lorraine Marlene Vasquez, 41; Cory Mulligan, 22; Brian Thomas Duran, 42, Margaret Mary Susan High, 29; and Edwin Lynn Valentine, 53. All eight are charged with multiple counts of first-degree residential burglary,...

"There are a few magical studios with such amazing sound that they have become sort of sonic temples for musicians who dream of making musical pilgrimages to them. There’s Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit, home to the Motown sound. There’s FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama where artists like Wilson Picket and Otis Redding honed the 60’s southern soul sound. And then there’s Capitol Records studios in Los Angeles. Housed in the iconic circular building on Hollywood and Vine, it’s uniquely famous as much for what it looks like on the outside, as what’s been created on the inside........" .....Designed in...

The television question was solved last week. Freepmail me if you want to know the solution. New problem: I use over 3K oil and four cord wood to heat home and mil apt. The wood heats the main house. The oil heats a ground floor room, the mil and all the hot water. I have been thinking of distributing the system. Getting a propane hot water heater for the house, and two propane wood like heaters, one for the ground floor and one for the mil. Also get one of those big space ship looking tanks. Because at that size...

Full Title: One hundred and deity - Jesus lookalike banned from darts tournament for second year running because of crowd chants 6 Dec 2013 00:00 Aussie Nathan Grindal said: “Two big beef-head security guards dragged me into an office... It’s not my fault that I look like Jesus” _____________________________________________________ A hairy fan has been banned from returning to a darts competition – because he looks like Jesus. Bearded Nathan Grindal was booted out of last year’s Cash Converters Players Championship after the 5,000-strong crowd saw him on the big screen and chanted “Jesus”. The Messianic cries put Phil “The Power”...

The Warsaw conference demonstrated that the “climate summit” model is broken and, more importantly, that capitalism itself is driving us to the brink. Protests are not the solution—it’s time to fight the system using its own weapons. … This means we need a method of searching for new strategies that can’t be co-opted by the sleek, but unfortunately destructive, principle of capitalism. Imagine, for example, what might happen if a large number of businesses make the improvement of the common good—instead of an increase in their profits—the goal of their commercial efforts. There are in fact already more than 1,400...

The world is paying its respects to civil rights leader and former South African president Nelson Mandela today, after learning that he passed away at the age of 95. While most people respect the civil rights and racial reconciliation work he did, some have questioned where Mandela stood on abortion. Unfortunately, Mandela signed into law a bill legalizing abortion on demand. John Smeaton, of the British pro-life group SPUC, offers this documentation about Mandela’s pro-abortion views. He writes as a Catholic but the comments are instructive of all pro-lifers to praise the good things Mandela did but to keep in...

When I met him he was 63. He had cerebral palsy and spoke and walked with great difficulty. When he was a young man, the state considered him unemployable and suggested he collect disability payments. He refused. For more than 40 years he earned a living selling Watkins products on routes that took him through Portland's westside neighborhoods. At night, he would return to his small house. Hunched over an old typewriter and with a twisted hand, he slowly banged out orders for everything he'd sold that day. For several years he was Watkins' top retail salesman in all of...

This is the terrifying moment a plane almost landed sideways as ferocious winds hit the UK yesterday (Thurs). Passengers told how they watched the drama unfold on the TV screens on the plane. Some started vomiting as the pilot struggled to control the 777.

The U.S. government has just passed a new law called: "The Affordable Boat Act" declaring that every citizen MUST purchase a new boat, by April 2014. These "affordable" boats will cost an average of $54,000-$155,000 each. This does not include taxes, trailers, towing fees, licensing and registration fees, fuel, docking and storage fees, maintenance or repair costs. This law has been passed, because until now, typically only wealthy and financially responsible people have been able to purchase boats. This new law ensures that every American can now have a "affordable" boat of their own, because everyone is entitled to a...

Eating a healthy diet vs. an unhealthy one costs about $1.50 more a day, which might not sound like much, but works out to more than $2,000 more per year on the average family of four’s grocery bill, new research from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) suggests in a study published Thursday. “People often say that healthier foods are more expensive, and that such costs strongly limit better diet habits,” said lead author Mayuree Rao, a junior research fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH. “But, until now, the scientific evidence for this idea has not been systematically...

After I posted my kid's goofy Christmas wish list on Wednesday, we asked you readers to send in some of your own. You were not a disappointment to us. One guy's kid sent in the entire contents of the toy section at Target. Another reader's kid had a list that included a diagram (its instructions and purpose were not clear). And I got one list that included "Meet my real dad" as a line item, though I daresay that list was a phony. Here, in every bit of their glory, are some of the more amusing entries.

eter Jackson has picked up the pace. He began his Hobbit trilogy at an amiable, meanderingly wayward canter, and tried the patience of believers and non-believers alike with that initial supper scene, almost an epic in itself. But this second episode commences with a narrative whipcrack – a quick flashback to Gandalf and Thorin tensely discussing their great plan in the snug bar of the Prancing Pony – and then we're off, at a tremendous gallop. The Desolation of Smaug is a cheerfully entertaining and exhilarating adventure tale, a supercharged Saturday morning picture: it's mysterious and strange and yet Jackson...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reacted today to news of former South African President Nelson Mandela's passing: "Nelson Mandela will live in history as an inspiration for defenders of liberty around the globe. He stood firm for decades on the principle that until all South Africans enjoyed equal liberties he would not leave prison himself, declaring in his autobiography, 'Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.' Because of his epic fight against injustice, an...

He may be 85 years old, but when Army sniper veteran (Battle of the Bulge) Ted Gundy was given the chance to show off the skills he used in World War Two, he proved he still could....(video 5min.)