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ORLANDO, Fla. — A day after Disney's Hollywood Studios removed a Bill Cosby statue, Disney's Epcot has removed a Confederate flag that was hanging at the theme park's American Adventure theater. Robert Niles from Theme Park Insider writes: The flag removed from Epcot is not the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia most commonly associated with the Confederacy, thanks to its adoption in early 20th century by the Ku Klux Klan and later revival in the 1950s and 60s by southerners in opposition to the civil rights movement. The flag that had hung in the American Adventure was...

The remnants of Transcontinental Air Mail Route Beacon 37A, which was located atop a bluff in St. George, Utah. (Photo: Dppowell/Wikipedia)Across the United States, from Los Angeles to New York, lies a network of mostly forgotten infrastructure, a system that was obsolete before it was ever finished—forgotten relics from the early days of powered flight. The early 20th century was an era of American history where Manifest Destiny seemed, well, manifest. The West had been won, and the cities blossomed. But with innovation came change and obsolescence. Trains became the prime movers of not only people and goods, but also the mail. The Pony Express proved...

UPDATE: 6:45 a.m. Monday: The Cape Horn Fire is now estimated to be around 2,000 acres. Crews have confirmed six homes have been destroyed, all on the eastern half of Cape Horn and containment is 0%. The fire spread rapidly overnight and evacuations have been issued by the Bonner County Sheriff's Office in the Cape Horn and Bayview areas using reverse 911.

A woman killed when a pensioner deliberately set himself on fire aboard a moving bullet train in Japan was on her way to a shrine to give thanks for her "peaceful life", it emerged on Wednesday. Yoshiko Kuwahara died after 71-year-old Haruo Hayashizaki doused himself in fuel and sparked the blaze on the busy 300km-per-hour train. "Today I'm visiting Ise shrine to give thanks for my calm, peaceful life," 52-year-old Kuwahara wrote on her Facebook page on Tuesday morning as she boarded the super-fast Nozomi bullet train at Yokohama.

The following is based on a translation of a report in Chinese media: According to xinhuanet.com’s report on June 19, through 3 years of research, Prof. Chen Yongsheng of the College of Chemistry and Prof. Tian Jianguo of the Institute of Physics, Nankai University have obtained a special graphene material for light-driven flight. Due to the special electronic characteristic of graphene and the macrostructure and form of the material, the material is able to get driving force from light 1,000 times greater than ordinary light pressure. The website’s reporter claimed to have seen with his own eyes a graphene sponge...

Recently, Parisian taxi drivers decided to deal with competition they have been getting from a new Internet car service called Uber by rioting and physically attacking cars they suspected of being part of that company. French authorities decided to deal with the situation by detaining two Uber executives and accusing them of running an “illicit service,” according to a Monday story in USA Today, The action illustrates how a bureaucratic, European socialist company reacts to change brought on by technology and entrepreneurial activity, by trying to ban it.

I have been doing some traveling the last couple of days, so the output is down.  The scenery has been great, and in getting ready for the trip I encountered the snake pictured above.   I believe it is a red coachwhip, aptly named, as it is so long and slender.  This specimen was about four feet long.  It was sunning itself in a tire track on the way out to the ranch. I find desert wildlife fascinating, and I try not to kill any without good reason.   I stopped, took some pictures, and intimidated the snake off the track...

Officials are expecting up to 350,000 people at the African American Festival this weekend in Baltimore. The festival is taking place Saturday and Sunday at the Camden Yards Sports Complex. The free event will include music, cultural exhibits, contests, health screenings and children's activities....

It wasn’t the Martians’ fault their planet died. If they existed – once – Martians were likely microbes, living in a world much like our own, warmed by an atmosphere and crisscrossed by waterways. But Mars began to lose that atmosphere, perhaps because its gravity wasn’t strong enough to hold onto it after an asteroid impact, or perhaps it was gradually blown away by solar winds. The cause is still mysterious, but the ending is clear: Mars’s liquid water dried up or froze into ice caps, leaving life without its most precious resource. Any Martians would have been victims of...

Concerned that the space allotted for on-board toilet facilities reduces the number of seats for passengers, the Boeing Corporation is converting all passenger seats on its 777-300ER into “potty chairs.” “Every additional passenger a plane can carry adds badly needed revenue to the airline’s bottom line,” said Boeing’s public relations specialist Anita Crapper. “We thought, if there were a way to convert the space set aside for restrooms into passenger seating it would permit airlines to earn thousands more per flight. By making every seat a ‘potty chair’ airlines can achieve that objective.” Ms. Crapper lauded this innovation as “far...

For aviation enthusiasts, this is a video that is un-missable. It serves as a reminder that planes, commercial or military, can do wonders and perform magic in the air. Not to forget those tiny humans, sitting in the cockpit, maneuvering these giant metal birds. On Thursday, Boeing released a spectacular video, showing it’s flagship 787-9 Dreamliner performing a near-vertical take-off and then some really great gliding and swerving movements before returning to the ground. The video was a rehearsal ahead of the Paris Air Show where Boeing’s expert crew will be doing some superb flying.

Boeing just announced plans to make their bathrooms smaller so they can fit more seats on the plane! So if you're claustrophobic, you might want to hold it. Boeing is shrinking the toilet area on the 777-300ER models to make them more marketable to airlines who will want extra seats on the plane, but passengers, would probably rather the extra leg room. Boeing says they'll be able to cram 14 extra seats on the triple seven with the tiny toilet model. It's all part of a plan to make the planes lighter. Another way Boeing will lighten the plane by...

I’m shocked by one aspect of the story of the guy selling $30 hot dogs to tourists near the World Trade Center — shocked that he was fired. Who knew hot-dog men could be fired? As for that other detail — selling a hot dog for considerably “more than it’s worth,” so what? Apple makes a huge profit on every device it sells. Does anyone think Apple is guilty of “price gouging”? Moreover, a hot dog is guaranteed not to shatter when it falls on the sidewalk, and I’ve never had to reboot my sauerkraut. No hot dog has ever...

Talk about crying over spilled milk. Authorities said an overturned tractor trailer spilled up to 6,000 gallons of milk onto a highway in Mt. Airy, Md., causing hours of delays on Wednesday morning. The incident happened about 6 a.m. on the eastbound side of Interstate 70. Milk spilled and at one point blocked all four lanes on the eastbound side. As of mid-morning, some of the lanes were getting by but traffic was reported to be heavy in the area. No one suffered major injuries.

A person infected with measles was at a New Jersey funeral home two times earlier this month, the state Department of Health announced Thursday. The department confirmed the measles case Thursday, saying the individual may have exposed people at a funeral home in the Fords section of Woodbridge in Middlesex County on May 11 and 14. Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that can cause serious medical complications. As a result, the department recommends that anyone who visited Flynn and Son Funeral Home, 23 Ford Ave., Fords, on Monday, May 11, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., and on...

A new class of magnets discovered that swell in volume and generate little heat when placed in a magnetic field could be used to harvest or convert energy efficiently. Applications range from sensors and actuators for automobiles to biomedical devices, besides defence applications. Discovered by scientists at the University of Maryland (UMD) and Temple University, the new magnets made from abundant metal alloys could replace the expensive, rare-earth magnets which exhibit poor mechanical properties. Maryland professor of materials science and engineering Manfred Wuttig, and Harsh Deep Chopra, professor and chair of mechanical engineering at Temple heated certain iron-based alloys (iron-gallium,...

Yet again, we've seen fighter jets dispatched to 'escort' aircraft to US airports after threats were made against them. Yet again, we've heard travelers and others remark how "comforting" the presence of those aircraft is to them. They clearly don't understand that those fighters are there for one reason and one reason only . . . to shoot down the aircraft if it has, indeed, been hijacked or otherwise turned into a danger to cities and installations on the ground. The fighters can't possibly intervene in a hijacking inside the cabin, and can't stop whatever's on board from manifesting itself....

ATLANTA, GA - The CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health have confirmed a death from Lassa fever which was diagnosed earlier today in a person returning to the United States from Liberia. The patient traveled from Liberia to Morocco to JFK International Airport on May 17th. The patient did not have a fever on departure from Liberia, did not report symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, or bleeding during the flight, and his temperature was taken on arrival in the U.S. and he did not have a fever at that time. On May 18th, the patient went to a...

I am not making this up. The Official Amtrak Merchandise store. (click the pic)