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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.

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.

New dating indicates... a well-known group of early Homo (early human) fossils discovered in previous investigations at Koobi Fora in the Turkana Basin of East Africa have an age range that is older than previously estimated. Led by archaeologist Josephine C.A. Joordens of the Netherlands' Leiden University, the researchers combined magnetostratigraphy and strontium (Sr) isotope stratigraphy techniques to develop a new age constraint range for 15 selected hominin fossils found in deposits on the Karari Ridge of the Koobi Fora region in the eastern Turkana Basin (Kenya). Magnetostratigraphy measures the polarity of Earth's changing magnetic field at the time a...

Archaeologists have found a mass grave close to one of Britain's favourite cathedrals. Bones from 18 bodies have been discovered by Durham University experts during building work at the Palace Green Library, part of the World Heritage Site in the historic city centre. At first it was thought the bodies were buried in Durham Cathedral's medieval cemetery which was bigger than the current burial plot. But further examination revealed an unorthodox and intriguing layout to the bodies which archaeologists say is proof of a mass burial. Richard Annis, senior archaeologist, Archaeological Services Durham University, said: "We have found clear evidence...

Archaeologists said fortifications of the largest neolithic Chinese city ever discovered were excavated on Wednesday and Thursday in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The ruins of two square beacon towers, once part of the city wall of the 4,000-year-old Shimao Ruins in Shenmu County, have been uncovered, according to Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology. One of the towers is 18 meters long, 16 meters wide and four meters tall, while the other is 11.7 meters long, about 10 meters wide and three meters tall, said Su Zhouyong, deputy head of the institute. Sun said the discovery is a breakthrough and contributes...

A team of archaeologists from London’s Kingston University has mapped a prehistoric temple complex at a Neolithic site near the village of Damerham – located about 15 miles from the iconic Stonehenge – and discovered a sink hole of material that may hold information about plants that thrived there 6,000 years ago. “The site at Damerham is on chalk land, so we don’t often find materials like this that capture and preserve the plant remains – pollen or phytoliths – from a specific time period,” said Dr Helen Wickstead, head of the archaeological team. “It was evident that prehistoric people...

Some Southwest Florida flights were canceled after Allegiant Air experienced system-wide issues over the holiday weekend. We learned there are several reasons behind the cancelations, including crew scheduling and weather. Fourteen flights were canceled Monday, with another ten canceled the day before. While that may not seem like a lot, the airline operates much differently than regular carriers. Many flights only operate two or three times per week, making it difficult to rebook passengers. Four flights were canceled in Punta Gorda, leaving frustrated passengers with few options. "My flight is delayed. I've missed a day of work, and hopefully I...

Italian archaeologists have unearthed a 2,600-year-old intact Etruscan tomb that promises to reveal new depths of one of the ancient world’s most fascinating and mysterious cultures.

The California Air Resources Board is reportedly considering a new plan to help transportation for low earners: buying them cars. The agency would like to give those of low income a voucher to buy energy-efficient vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, which has a sticker price of $21,000. The board currently gives drivers $1,000 to $1,500 to get rid of their older vehicles in an attempt to curb carbon emissions; there is a second program that gives up to $4,000 depending on the vehicles involved.

Tuba Skinny playing the "Climax Rag" on rainy day in Royal St., New Orleans on 4/15/2013.

The cruise-line industry is a rough business. Every time a passenger ship leaves port with a guest cabin unoccupied, that's money the cruise operators are never going to see. Last week Micky Arison, the longtime chief executive of Carnival Corp., announced that he will be stepping down; revenues at the world's largest cruise-ship line have been falling. Arison will remain as chairman of the firm, but a new CEO will step in. Cruise companies have always had to contend with uncertainties in the economy, which sometimes make travelers cautious about planning leisure trips, and Carnival has faced widespread unpleasant publicity...

A team of Iranian and Italian archaeologists has unearthed ruins of an ancient temple in an Elymais site in the Kaleh Chendar region in southwestern Iran, the Iranian director of the team announced on Saturday. Most parts of the structure have been built with large stones without mortar in form of a broad platform like those built at Persepolis, Jafar Mehrkian told the Persian service of CHN. The structure also includes platforms made of brick, which were usually built in the ancient temples, he added. Vito Messina of the University of Turin and a number of his colleagues accompanied the...

Italian technology will allow the restoration and preservation of thousands of very delicate papyri at the Egyptian museum in Cairo...part of the 'commodity aid' programme of Italian cooperation. High tech instruments in particular provided by Italtrend Spa and produced by Bresciani Srl, which will play a role in saving the museum's secular papyri, were shown during the ceremony. They are a laser and a portable instrument. The laser, an Italian-made groundbreaking tool in the preservation of artwork, uses non-invasive technology to clean very delicate and sensitive surfaces and allows not to use chemical products. The spectrometer is used for chemical-physical...

Västra Vång in Blekinge is now a sleepy rural community on Sweden’s southern Baltic coast. It has never been mentioned in ancient or medieval writings. So why are gold figurines and bronze busts turning up there? ... No less than 29 guldgubbar have been found beneath the turf. The term means “little old man of gold”, and is also found in Norway and Denmark. These are thin pieces of hammered gold, fashioned as clothed men or women. The figurines date back to the 6th century AD and were made for a few centuries. They are made of very thinly beaten...

Scientists excavating within the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal, have unearthed a timber structure that they date to the sixth century BCE. It is situated within and underlies a temple that is considered sacred to many as the birthplace of Siddh�rtha Gautama, or Buddha. Until now, there has been no archaeological evidence supporting a date any earlier than the third century BCE for Buddha's life. Some historians have suggested the death of Buddha took place sometime in the late 4th century or early 3rd century BCE, although there are a number of traditions...

One of the mysteries of Stonehenge is how some of its stones were brought from Pembrokeshire in Wales to Wiltshire. Photograph: I Capture Photography/Alamy For almost a century archaeologists have been braving the wind and rain on an exposed Welsh hillside in an attempt to solve one of the key mysteries of Stonehenge. But new research about to be published suggests that over the decades they may have been chipping away at the wrong rocky outcrop on the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire. The work in the hills is a crucial element in the understanding of Stonehenge because it is generally...

it's been years since I've flown with a firearm. I've read the TSA and Delta's website. Still looking for tips/suggestions.

beautiful and expertly-flaked obsidian tool which formed part of a cache, rescued from a development site, offers a greater insight into the lives of ancient people that inhabited the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea (PNG). In October 2010 Dr Robin Torrence a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum Reseach Institute was contacted by the General Manager at Barema oil palm plantation on New Britain Island. The company was in the process of bulldozing the side of a hill to make a house terrace. In the process they had uncovered a group of finely worked obsidian (volcanic...

Mount Etna has erupted and is dropping volcanic ash on nearby towns in Sicily.

Sitting for hours on the back of a sofa and having your meals brought to you twice a day can really take it out of you.So when your owners decide to take a totally unearned holiday and abandon you, the least they can do is provide adequate lodgings.And here they are. The ultimate escape for cats who never get a moment to rest – a luxury hotel where moggies receive massages, bedtime stories and à la carte food. Ings Luxury Cat Hotel also has plasma screen TVs showing virtual fish tanks and bird scenes, and four-poster beds.Life is suite: A...

Quartz meteorologist Eric Holthaus answered your questions about the Thanksgiving Eve storm, how it will affect holiday travel, and more. The video above is an archive of the chat. His original piece is below. It looks increasingly certain that a major storm will hit the eastern half of the United States on the day before Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year. But here’s the twist: Don’t expect a white Thanksgiving in New York, Boston, or other big cities. Along the coast, the tempest will manifest itself more like a tropical storm than a snowy nor’easter. That means a...

In 1963 President Kennedy recognized Berkeley Plantation as the site of the first official Thanksgiving when the small ship the Margaret landed at Harrison Landing on the James River (upstream from Jamestown) in 1619, carrying 38 men after a perilous journey from England. The small group of carefully chosen craftsmen immediately marked their arrival on Dec. 4, 1619 with an act of Thanksgiving, led by their Captain, John Woodlief. They fell on their knees on the riverbank, and Captain Woodlief ordained that this day should be commemeorated annually as a day of Prayer and Thanksgiving. This was not Captain Woodlief's...

At The Manta Resort's underwater room, set off Pemba Island (also known as “the Green Island” in Arabic), guests are dropped off at a self-contained hotel that literally drifts at sea. They can sunbathe on the top deck of their private island accommodations by day and dine on a water-level lounge deck. By night, they'll dive into the sea to access their hotel room, where they nod off among the fishes and their marine surroundings. For an ethereal effect, the suite — built four meters (about 13 feet) below the surface — is lit by underwater spotlights that provide a...

Spanish excavations in Can Sadurní cave (Begues, Barcelona) have discovered four human skeletons dated to about 6,400 years ago. The skeletal remains of the individuals are particularly important as they are in a very good state of preservation. An archaeological campaign carried out previously identified other individuals which were not so well preserved but belong to the same stratigraphic layer. Archaeologists excavating in 1999, also discovered within the cave, evidence for the earliest European beer, which may have been included as part of the death ritual... A small landslip from the outer part of the cave must have taken place...

TSA Pre✓™ is a pre-screening initiative that makes risk assessments on passengers who voluntarily participate prior to their arrival at the airport checkpoint. TSA Pre✓™ includes U.S. Citizens who are select frequent travelers of participating airlines or members of existing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler programs including Global Entry, NEXUS, and SENTRI programs. Canadian citizens who are members of NEXUS are also qualified to participate in TSA Pre✓™. In addition, passengers 12 and younger are allowed through TSA Pre✓™ lanes when traveling with an eligible parent or guardian.

PHILADELPHIA, PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Amtrak said it is investigating after a train headed from Philadelphia to New York ended up lost in suburban Pennsylvania. Officials said Amtrak Train 644 departed Philadelphia's 30th Street Station Tuesday night and accidentally ended up on Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority tracks, KYW-TV, Philadelphia, reported Wednesday. The train traveled several miles on the wrong tracks before the mistake was noticed and it stopped at a station in Bala Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia. Amtrak said the 130 passengers on the train were taken back to Philadelphia, where they boarded another train for New York....

A Boeing Dreamlifter cargo jet, with a cargo hold among the largest by volume, accidentally landed at the wrong airport in Kansas Wednesday night, and was unable to take off due to the short runway. According to KWCH News, this type of plane requires 9,200 feet to take off whereas the runway at the airport is only 6,101 feet.

The speed limit on Kelly Drive near Fountain Green Drive is 35 mph, but the average speed of motorists is nearly 55. In an attempt to slow everybody down, the city has installed sensors in the roadway that determine the speed of vehicles approaching Fountain Green, about a half-mile north of the Girard Avenue Bridge. If a vehicle passes the sensor going above the speed limit, the light at Fountain Green turns red. … In another safety measure, the city will add a nonslip surface on Kelly Drive next year to help reduce accidents on rainy days, (acting Streets Commissioner...

What's up with the French? We're referring specifically here to a recent story by The Washington Post. In the spirit of the travel warnings the U.S. State Department issues for other countries, The Washington Post documented any number of U.S. cities to avoid. And what a list it is. Cities the French government tells its citizens to avoid are: Boston, New York City, Washington, Baltimore and more. Have we left anyone out?snip Salt Lake City: Headquarters of the LDS Church, this town is lousy with Mormons -- an annoyingly friendly people. And because many of them served missions abroad, an...

You've never seen hot air balloons like this before! A couple of weeks ago, Albuquerque, New Mexico held its 42nd annual International Balloon Fiesta. It's a 9-day event where over 700 balloons see liftoff. It's the largest hot air balloon festival in the entire world and we were on hand to capture the action. Turn the Volume up, HD on and enjoy this Balloon Fiesta Experience! *if you are capable of watching in a higher resolution than 1080p choose original as this film was finished in 4k* Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. The Alarm goes off at 4 am. Time to get...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LmPBPWHJu4

Recently there was an interesting article about what foreigners thought of American culture - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3090848/posts Just thought I’d share my observations of times I lived in Europe. Here's a scattering of what I discovered. All payments are electronic. Your salary, your bills, your insurance, your rent or mortgage, etc. You constantly have to check online to see where you are financially. Hospitals are stark and bare. No beautification or art work. But hospital rooms have windows you can open and patients can buy beer in the cafeteria. Electrical bills are paid in advance. You are billed for electrical usage that...

A Switzerland-based worldwide federation for breath-holding diving says Mevoli reached the 72-meter depth of the no fins dive, swam back to the surface but had difficulty breathing while completing surface protocol and lost consciousness. Freedivers, unlike scuba divers, enter the water without air tanks, regulators and hoses and swim to various depths relying entirely on the air held in their lungs.

As wonderful and useful as our modern technologies are, there are still plenty of places in this world where Mother Nature rules supreme. One such place is Slope Point in New Zealand. Slope Point is the southernmost tip of New Zealand’s South Island. It lies 4800 km (2982 mi) from the South Pole and 5100 km (3168 mi) from the equator, so it’s regularly exposed to unimaginable weather conditions. The air stream loops that travel over the Southern Ocean uninterrupted for 3200 km (2000 mi) make landfall at Slope Point, making for consistently extreme winds. And yet, even in this...

PHILADELPHIA, A US Airways flight in Philadelphia was canceled when passengers became outraged about a blind man and his seeing-eye dog being kicked off the plane. Albert Rizzi said flight attendants removed him and his dog from the Wednesday flight from Philadelphia International Airport to Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y., because the dog became agitated during a delay on the tarmac, KYW-TV, Philadelphia, reported Friday. "What I'm concerned about is that there are a tremendous number of individuals in the disabled community who might not have the stamina, the strength, the confidence to stand up for their rights...

In the French Quarter, the government advisory warns travelers to not go beyond northwestern Dauphine Street and northeast Ursulines Ave. If travelers are in the Garden District, they say not to travel north of St. Charles Avenue or south of Magazine Street.

Muni passengers were taken for a wild ride this morning after their train car departed the station without the driver aboard. According to the Chron, at about 10:15 a.m. the KT-Ingleside/Third Street train was about to leave the Castro Street station when the operator spotted a problem with one of the train doors. The operator hopped out to fix the issue, and that's when the real problems began. Perhaps the operator forgot to employ the emergency brake, but for unknown reasons the train loaded with passengers took off -- leaving the operator behind. As the train rolled away -- headed...

A Pennsylvania man allegedly stole a $125,000 backhoe from a construction site in Chester County on Sunday and drove it all the way to Philadelphia during a trip that probably took about two-and-a-half hours. William Michael Pusey, 33, took major roads during the 30-mile trek to Philadelphia. "He drove up Route 202 to I-76 and drove I-76 down to Route 1," said Embreeville Trooper Wesley P. Foster. Foster wasn’t sure what roads Pusey took after leaving Route 1, but he was positive the backhoe ended up at a Philly scrap yard. Despite taking it to a scrap yard, Pusey wasn’t...

According to the Worldwatch Institute, the US Department of Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, is pushing for an increase of the current maximum of 10.2% ethanol in gasoline to 15-20%. Much of that is supposed to come from corn and, later, from cellulose (wood). Under the current federal “Renewable Fuel Standard” the US is already slated to increase its use of biofuels from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. That standard does not even include the proposed increase of the ethanol content of common gasoline. The proposed revision would be a really bad idea and let...

General Motors is recalling nearly 60,000 Chevy Malibu midsize cars to fix window defrosters that may not work and power seat wiring that can catch fire. … GM dealers will reprogram the computer at no cost to customers. The company says it doesn’t know of any crashes or injuries from the problem. …

A passenger fell out of small plane and plummeted into the water in Miami's Biscayne Bay today, police said. The plane was flying at 1,800 feet at the time. Air traffic control received a "mayday" call around 1:30 p.m. ET when the Piper PA 46 was flying roughly eight miles southeast of Tamiami Executive Airport. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! I have a door ajar and I'm heading toward Tamiami," the pilot told air traffic control. "I have a door ajar and a passenger that fell down. I'm six miles from Tamiami."

The Mars Exploration Vehicle (as the crew vehicle would be called) would use nuclear propulsion and liquid hydrogen to bring two habitats along with it. One of those would (along with several fuel tanks) be used on Phobos for up to 40 days of surface operations. It would travel during solar maximum in 2024 to reduce the effects of cosmic radiation from outside the solar system, since the sun’s activity would blow the radiation further away. Further, the crew would be protected from solar flares with high-density polyethylene, as well as a temporary solar storm protection chamber lined with 50...

In 1870, Ma, Pa, Mary, and Laura Ingalls left their home in southeast Kansas, where they had lived for about a year, and headed back to Wisconsin. Their Kansas home was later the basis for Laura's book The Little House on the Prairie. That same year, a group of new families moved into the area. They were Spiritualists, a religion that was totally foreign to the homesteaders already in the new state. Two of the families moved away within a year. The others kept to themselves, with the exception of the Benders. John Bender, Sr., and his family settled in...

Just when you think your holiday travel is safe, the Service Employees International Union is ready to help ruin the holidays. Employees of private contractors at New York airports congregated at LaGuardia’s Terminal B on Tuesday to protest their wages – what they call “poverty wages and poor working conditions.”

Where’s Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson when you need him? EasyJet passengers were left sitting more uncomfortably than usual after a snake was discovered on board a flight heading to England from Israel. A wacky traveller sneaked the slithering reptile past airport security in Tel Aviv in a ‘small takeaway box’ before the alarm was raised mid-flight. He was then arrested upon the plane landing at Luton airport. ‘No Samuel L, but an actual snake on a plane. Police about to meet @easyjet arriving from Tel Aviv to Luton,’ wrote one passenger on Twitter. ‘My plane is being met by...

A lot of people around the world have ideas of what America is like, possibly thanks to Hollywood, or their local news channels, and maybe from what they’ve heard from families and friends. But then, they came here, to the grand old United States and their minds exploded. Taken from Quora.   1. Rakib Islam I am originally from Bangladesh and here are a few things that I find hard to explain to peeps back home. Fruits and vegetables are way more expensive than meat and poultry. That, generally speaking, the poor is more obese than the rich. A lot...

If You Liked ObamaCare, You'll Love ObamaCar In an effort to win back the hearts of the American People, the White House today announced its support of the new ObamaCar program. "Too many Americans are driving substandard cars," said White House Spokesperson Jay Carney during today's press briefing. "In fact, there are a lot of Americans who don't even have cars. That is why the President, by executive order, has initiated the ObamaCar Program." The new program will see that all Americans, regardless of age, place of residence, or occupation will be required to purchase a vehicle suitable to meet...

Rupee was hour away from dying when Joanne Lefson saved him; trek to 17,598 feet took 10 days and helps raise awareness of dog adoptions. Rupee, a stray dog that was rescued from a dumpsite in Ladakh, Northern India, and was said to be less than an hour away from death, has become what is believed to be the first dog to reach Mount Everest base camp, located at an elevation of 17,598 feet. The dog was just 8 months old—starving, dehydrated, and extremely weak—when Joanne Lefson adopted the pup, according to the U.K. Daily Mail. She nursed him back...

This is the best canine love story you will read today – or possibly ever! If you thought dogs don’t have feelings, get ready to change your mind. Ben, a 4 1/2-year-old mixed breed (above left), and Jade, a 1-year-old German Shepherd mix (above right), were two strays who met on the streets of Terre Haute, Indiana, and fell in love. (Yes, dogs can fall in love.) The pair was well known and cared for in the local community, but when Jade became pregnant last summer, the Terre Haute Humane Society (THHS) brought them to their shelter. The couple were...