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BERLIN, A postcard dated May 17, 1913, and found in a bottle by German fishermen appears to be the oldest such message ever found. Konrad Fischer, captain of a fishing boat from Schleswig-Holstein, told Kieler Nachrichten, a local newspaper, that he was about to throw the bottle back in the sea when someone told him it was not empty, the Local.de reported. "When I saw the date I got really excited," he said. The postcard, from Denmark, had German stamps on it. It was signed by Richard Platz and addressed to his own home in Berlin with a message asking...

CUSCO, Peru, Security at the Peruvian historical site of Machu Picchu has been increased after a recent string of streakers invading the centuries-old Inca citadel. Late last year, guards arrested two male tourists who were caught streaking at the site. More recently, a video of a couple streaking at Machu Picchu went viral on YouTube, prompting others to follow suit, The Guardian newspaper in London reported Friday. Ricardo Ruiz Caro, Peru's new regional director of culture, announced recently that park guards will increase surveillance to "avoid these unfortunate events that threaten cultural heritage."

The death of Ireland’s High King during the famous bloody battle of Clontarf almost exactly 1,000 years ago will be remembered with a special service in his burial county of Armagh next month. Brian Boru (Bóraime) may have been born in County Clare but, as the well-known theme song ‘The Boys from the County Armagh’ notes, his ashes lie in the city, at the Church of Ireland Cathedral. The legendary leader had requested to be buried in Armagh, possibly due to its religious links to St Patrick, and it is said he was brought to the city by the clergy...

Bob Costas got his infamous case of Olympic pink eye from botched Botox, a source claims to Page Six. NBC’s prime-time Olympics host, who had to take a six-day absence after coming down with viral conjunctivitis in both eyes, contracted the infection after a Botox procedure to smooth out wrinkles prior to the Olympics. Our source said, “Bob’s eye infection was due to botched Botox. This isn’t the first time he’s had it.” NBC strongly denies that Costas — who arrived to host the games in Sochi with a forehead smoother than the Olympic luge track — developed the infection...

The Internet is full of French travelers who've experienced the United States and have things to say about the strange ways of Americans. With the help of Google Translate, Americans can get a peek at these revelations. We know that there are no doubt many Flossers who can translate French better than Google can (though probably not as hilariously), and we welcome any additional information in the comments.1. Be Friendly to Nosy Strangers. Grind Their Knuckles! Our custom is to kiss before, during, and after each social encounter, with 1, 2, 3, or 4 kisses. This is not the custom...

A routine flight from Calgary to Victoria was marred by a passenger who apparently didn’t appreciate having his flight captained by a woman. CTV Toronto: Pilot shocked by nasty note Instead of thanking the female pilot, a passenger left an angry note behind on a napkin. Colin D'Mello has the story. Canada AM: Passenger leaves sexist note for pilot A WestJet passenger has caused an uproar after he left a note for a female pilot that said the cockpit was no place for a woman. A female WestJet pilot says she was in “shock” after a passenger left behind a...

Richard Hammond, the host of the world’s leading motoring show Top Gear UK, enjoyed a unique ride, test-driving the brand new Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6×6 at Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s first mega waterpark. A media statement said that Top Gear chose Yas Waterworld as the venue to host an exceptional underwater adventure and put the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6×6 through its paces in the Yadi Yas Wave River, an over one metre-deep ride with steep curves and an exciting course. Yas Waterworld’s showcase on Top Gear, which recently aired on BBC UK, showcased its range of adventure and...

Calgary residents are throwing their support behind a local school bus driver who was fired for picking up a group of students in her own SUV. Kendra Lindon was fired by First Student Canada after she picked up six junior high students in her own vehicle last month, after discovering that her bus wouldn’t start. There weren't enough seat belts for two of her passengers, but Lindon said, at the time, she was more concerned about the students waiting in the extreme cold. The temperature that morning was in the minus 20s. She also said she wasn't sure a replacement...

[video] DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Three children -- ages 5, 7 and 10 -- were rescued from a minivan that was driven into the Atlantic Ocean off Daytona Beach. Onlookers pulled the children from the vehicle, which was being buffeted by waves as it drifted deeper into the surf Tuesday. A woman driving the van escaped unharmed. Beach Safety Capt. Tammy Marris said the woman was already driving on the beach, where cars are allowed, when the vehicle entered the water. The South Carolina family of four was taken to Halifax Hospital. Once the children are released, they will be...

United Airlines is getting tough on passengers with oversized carry-on bags, even sending some of them back to the ticket counter to check their luggage for a fee. The Chicago-based airline has started a push to better enforce rules restricting the size of carry-on bags — an effort that will include instructing workers at security checkpoint entrances to eyeball passengers for bags that are too big. In recent weeks, United has rolled out new bag-sizing boxes at most airports and sent an email to frequent fliers, reminding them of the rules. An internal employee newsletter called the program a "renewed...

I subscribe to a couple of Russian Blogs and Websites that post various data and information without the typical hype and filters of Western Science, Academia and the Press, let alone the fringe and "Alien" woo-woo crowd interests. The following are photos of some Super Megaliths from Southern Siberia near the mountains of Gornaya Shoria. The following material is from the website of Valery Uvarov. The super megaliths were found and photographed for the first time by Georgy Sidorov on a recent expedition to the Southern Siberian mountains. The following images are from Valery Uvarov's Russian website. There are no...

A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder bolsters the theory that the first Americans, who are believed to have come over from northeast Asia during the last ice age, may have been isolated on the Bering Land Bridge for thousands of years before spreading throughout the Americas. The theory, now known as the "Beringia Standstill," was first proposed in 1997 by two Latin American geneticists and refined in 2007 by a team led by the University of Tartu in Estonia that sampled mitrochondrial DNA from more than 600 Native Americans. The researchers found that mutations in the...

An important archeological find of ancient Roman ruins has been made at the Medici Fortress of Arezzo in central Italy. During work for the reorganization of the historic building, evidence of an ancient Roman structure dating from the early decades of the first century AD were brought to light - probably a residence, or domus... The Roman find is of enormous value for understanding the history of the city, Pessina said, and complements other discoveries such as the Church of San Donato in Cremona, dating back to the year 1000, found a few metres from the Roman structure, now being...

For 12 years, visitors wanting to see Spain's prized prehistoric Altamira cave paintings have had to settle for a replica in a museum a few hundred feet away. But from Thursday, small groups of visitors will again be allowed in the cave, which has been described as the Sistine Chapel of paleolithic art, as part of an experiment to determine whether the paintings can support the presence of sightseers. The vast cavern complex, in the Cantabria region of northern Spain, was made a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1985. It is covered in paintings dated to between 14,000 and...

New analysis of two spear-throwers excavated nearly a century ago in the Ozark Mountains reveals what one archaeologist calls an “uncanny” similarity to those used in the ancient Southwest and Mesoamerica. One of the artifacts — an intact carved wooden spear thrower, or atlatl — was first described in the 1920s, when it was found under a rock outcrop known as the Alred Shelter in northwestern Arkansas. The other, a large fragment of an atlatl of a different design, was uncovered in the 1930s at a site called the Montgomery Shelters in southwestern Missouri. The object was foreign enough to...

The world’s largest aircraft, which can stay airborne for up to three weeks and will be vital in delivering several tonnes of humanitarian aid as well as transporting heavy freight across the world, has been unveiled. The 300-ft (91-m) ship is part plane, airship and helicopter, and there are plans to eventually use it to transport hundreds of tonnes of freight across difficult terrain throughout the world as well as deliver aid to risky areas. It is environmentally friendly, being part airship filled with inert helium, and will also be used for surveillance and communications. Developers hope to make more...

The next commercial SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that’s set to launch in March carrying an unmanned Dragon cargo vessel will also be equipped with a quartet of landing legs in a key test that will one day lead to cheaper, reusable boosters, announced Elon Musk, the company’s founder and CEO. The attachment of landing legs to the first stage of SpaceX’s new and more powerful, next-generation Falcon 9 rocket counts as a major step towards the firm’s eventual goal of building a fully reusable rocket. ... SpaceX engineers will continue to develop and refine the technology need to accomplish a...

It might be the happiest place on earth, but your wallet won't be feeling any happier after splashing out even more to 'experience the magic' of Disney. The cost of going to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World just got more expensive. Although Disney won't specify the reasons behind the increase, the Florida parks are home to the company's new high-tech wristband-based ticketing and ride reservation system, called MyMagic+ which cost the company $1.5 billion. ......................................................... Disney World has raised the one-day ticket price to the Magic Kingdom by $4 so that it now costs $99 before taxes for...

“How many people here actually want to move to the U.S.?” I said. Her eyes widened and she looked at me like I was stupid even for asking. “A hundred percent,” she said. “Well, maybe not a hundred, but close.”

USING BIOMIMICRY, URBAN PLANNERS COULD LEARN HOW TO BUILD BETTER NETWORKS OF ROADS AND RAILWAY LINES BY LOOKING AT THE SUPER-EFFICIENT "MANY-HEADED SLIME."Compared to mold, humans know next to nothing about creating efficient networks. The single-celled organism Physarum polycephalum, a slime mold, grows outward in search of food, optimizing along the way to make its network of branches the shortest, quickest, and strongest paths to where it wants to go--even in a maze. Researchers are beginning to learn how our own networks--like those of railways and roads--might be improved by watching how the so-called “many-headed slime” behaves under the same...

Despite general resistence, representatives of tribes in the US recently gave their blessing for DNA analysis of the remains of a Stone Age child. Research conducted on the boy's genes indicate that Native Americans have European roots. It must have been a pretty special child, otherwise the two-year old wouldn't have been buried in such a ceremonious manner. The boy was sprinkled with celebratory red dust and given distinctive stone artifacts for his last journey. The characteristic fluting of the stone weapons serve as archeological evidence that the boy, who died some 12,600 years ago, came from the Clovis culture....

A journey to the heart of New Guinea’s Asmat tribal homeland sheds new light on the mystery of the heir’s disappearance there in 1961 smat is, in its way, a perfect place. Everything you could possibly need is here. It’s teeming with shrimp and crabs and fish and clams. In the jungle there are wild pig, the furry, opossumlike cuscus, and the ostrichlike cassowary. And sago palm, whose pith can be pounded into a white starch and which hosts the larvae of the Capricorn beetle, both key sources of nutrition. The rivers are navigable highways. Crocodiles 15 feet long prowl...

The Voynich Manuscript, carbon-dated to the 1400s, was rediscovered in 1912, but has defied codebreakers since. Now, Bedfordshire University's Stephen Bax says he has deciphered 10 words, which could lead to more discoveries. The manuscript, which some think is a hoax, is full of illustrations of plants and stars, as well as text... It largely disappeared from public record until 1912 when Wilfrid Voynich, an antique book dealer, bought it amongst a number of second-hand publications in Italy. Since then, scholars and cryptographers have studied the document but have failed to find meaning in the text. It was investigated by...

With the help of Google Translate (and an ability to interpret completely random sentence structure), an American can find out what kind of advice the Japanese give to their own countrymen on how to handle the peculiarities of American culture. Here are some things to look out for if you are visiting America from Japan. 1. There is a thing called “Dinner Plates.” And what goes on them is a mighty disappointment. In Japan, each person eating gets as many individual dishes as needed for the meal. Sometimes more than 10 dishes per person are used. In America, there is a...

Love Boat Goes To The Breakers For those of us of a certain age, we remember the cheesy, comedic voyages of the Love Boat as a staple of late 1970s TV. Captain Stubing, Gopher, Doc, Isaac and the blond chick would sleep their way through the passengers, smile and serve drinks. All this happened in a tidy hour format complete with laugh track. Well, the ship that was at the core of the show, the Pacific Princess, has finally sailed its last and is at the wreckers in Turkey. Unfortunately, the Turkish ship breakers are not known for saving furnishings...

Special to the Star-Telegram One year after his death, hundreds of items from the estate of Van Cliburn are going on sale at Christie’s auction house in New York. The pianist, who died in February 2013, filled his Westover Hills home with items encountered during his world travels — fine art, furnishings, tableware — and selected with a veteran collector’s eye. Two years ago, Cliburn parted with some of his most valuable treasures at a Christie’s auction of what was billed as “The Van Cliburn Collection.” That sale earned almost $4.4 million, beating a presale estimate of $3 million. The...

Aston Martin V8 Vantage and DB9 Carbon Black and Carbon White to debut at Geneva International Motor ShowAston Martin will be unveiling two exclusive new special editions at the 84th Geneva International Motor Show. The iconic British performance luxury car marque, now in its 101st year, is introducing a bold addition to its legendary V8 Vantage range as well as striking special editions of the timeless DB9. Wraps will be taken off the V8 Vantage N430, a new addition to the exciting ‘N’ series of Aston Martin specials. The limited edition V8 Vantage N430 will set you back (in the...

The lion is seen pacing in the backseat of a white SUV in an undated videoAn new video doing the rounds on social media platforms features a lioness pacing the backseat of a white SUV, with a partial view of Sheikh Zayed Road in the background. The date of the video cannot be confirmed at the time, but according to stats, it was uploaded on February 19 and has already garnered over half a million views. The white Nissan Armada SUV with a Dubai license plate [which has been edited out here for privacy], is in traffic, with a lioness...

Volkswagen’s top labor representative threatened on Wednesday to try to block further investments by the German carmaker in the southern United States if its workers there are not unionized. Workers at VW’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last Friday voted against representation by the United Auto Workers union (UAW), rejecting efforts by VW representatives to set up a German-style works council at the plant. German workers enjoy considerable influence over company decisions under the legally enshrined “co-determination” principle which is anathema to many politicians in the U.S. who see organized labor as a threat to profits and job growth. …

A group of passengers who departed San Francisco yesterday aboard Cathay Pacific Airways landed in the hospital after the plane hit some mega turbulence, tossing passengers from their seats. CBS delivered the scary news this morning, detailing the overseas trip which got a lot bumpy as the plane cruised over Japan. The 747-400, which was carrying 321 passengers and 21 crew members, encountered the turbulence near Hokkaido around noon Hong Kong time Tuesday. It lasted about two minutes. At least one passenger described the flight as a roller coaster ride. Passengers were tossed from their seats, and some were thrown...

Former Illinois Democratic Rep. Mel Reynolds was arrested Monday in Zimbabwe after police learned that he was making pornographic films in hotels where he had accumulated $24,500 in unpaid bills, and that he had overstayed his visa by two months.

If you’re looking for a new career in the exciting field of aviation, the Federal Aviation Administration is now taking applications to for new air traffic controllers. The requirements for the position do not include, however, previous air traffic controller or aviation experience. The job previously sought those with military or prior aviation experience. […] The current job listing requires only United States citizenship, security clearance, a physical, fluency in English, three years of responsible work experience or a bachelor’s degree. The applicants must able to attend the FAA training academy prior to their 31st birthday and willing to locate...

MINERAL WELLS — Every time Annette Bennett walks out the back door of the family business, the Baker Hotel still looms large, but it possesses little of its majestic past.

...Mounir with that metal finger shown around Gaza has attracted the attentions of Hamas' spies, always well introduced in every environment. Within a few hours the fisherman is arrested and the statue, which could date back to the fourth century B. C., is seized. It would be a great achievement for Hamas to show the world this wonder of Greek art - comparable to the Riace Bronzes - but for those who have it in their hands it soon becomes clear that the Apollo must remain a secret. Islam forbids the reproduction of the human figure in art and accepts...

From lounging on the FL coast to running the Iditarod trail in 16 days, 16 hours, 48 minutes: where'd I leave my boots? Danny Seavey For those of you who don't know, I'm not racing dogs this winter. My wife, daughters, and I left Alaska last fall and have been touring the East Coast, starting in Maine and moving south as the weather gets colder. I woke up in Pensacola, Florida this morning, am currently wearing flip flops, have as much of a tan as I ever have and a pocket full of Allikz's seashells. I think I've adapted quite...

Liza Dye is a living advertisement for why you shouldn’t walk while engrossed in something on your cell phone, especially before getting on the subway: The 25-year-old New York resident recently learned the hard way that technology can be hazardous to your health. Dye fell onto the tracks in front of an oncoming subway train at New York’s Broadway-Lafayette Station, while engrossed with her phone on Thursday. The oncoming B train stopped short, but not before rolling right over the South Carolina native, who is lucky to be alive. …

'Catastrophic' event at Campi Flegrei 39,000 years ago Volcanic eruption near Naples may have killed Neanderthals Some researchers are suggesting that Neanderthals were driven to extinction by a massive volcanic eruption near Naples. The suggestion is one of the topics under debate this week at a conference at London's British Museum examining what forces led to the destruction of the Neanderthals and what led to the triumph of the homo sapiens. One new theory holds that a gigantic eruption of the volcano in the Campi Flegrei area near Naples 39,000 years ago was catastrophic for the Neanderthals. That was the...

In recent years, DNA analysis has shed light on the parents of Egypt’s most famous pharaoh, the boy king Tutankhamun, known to the world as King Tut. Genetic investigation identified his father as Akhenaten and his mother as Akhenaten’s sister, whose name was unknown. French Egyptologist Marc Gabolde offered a different interpretation of the DNA evidence on Thursday. Speaking at Harvard’s Science Center, Gabolde said he’s convinced that Tut’s mother was not his father’s sister, but rather his father’s first cousin, Nefertiti. Nefertiti was already known to be Akhenaten’s wife and in fact the two had six daughters. Gabolde believes...

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Hotel Selling Cooked Human Meat Found In Onitsha * Police Arrests 11 With Fresh Human Head On Thursday Onitsha police arrested 11 people after they discovered 2 fresh human heads in a hotel (name withheld) very close to the popular Ose-Okwodu market in Anambra state.2 AK47 rifles & other weapons were also discovered in the hotel. The arrest followed tip-offs from area residents on Thursday morning. The hotel owner, 6 women and 4 men were arrested. After police got access to the hotel, they made a startling discovery of two human heads wrapped in a cellophane bag, two AK47 rifles,...

A Bronze Age grave uncovered in the Highlands has revealed the remains of a woman in her forties who was suffering from toothache before she died 4,000 years ago. Archaeologists from Glasgow-based Guard Archaeology were called in when a cist – a stone burial chest – was inadvertently disturbed by construction workers during landscaping of an access track through Cullaird Wood in West Torbreck, south-west of Inverness... Osteoarchaeologist Maureen Kilpatrick analysed the bones and discovered that they belonged to a woman aged between 40 and 44. She said: “As the radiocarbon date demonstrates, this occurred at some point between 1982BC...

Researchers have securely dated a prehistoric human stone tool industry that is thought to have been used by early modern humans, or possibly late Neanderthals, around the time when early modern humans were beginning to emerge in Europe, arguably sometime between 40,000 to 50,000 years B.P... The Uluzzian, a prehistoric stone tool techno-tradition represented by lithic artifacts unearthed by archaeologists at cave locations primarily in Italy and Greece, has been a central contender as a possible "transitional" industry between the typical stone tool types (the Mousterian) used by late European Neanderthals and those (Aurignacian, Châtelperronian) of the earliest modern human...

...Considered by some to be a Holy Grail of Puget Sound archaeology, three men — a commercial diver, an amateur historian and an attorney — believe they have found the fabled lost anchor of Captain George Vancouver’s exploration of the Pacific Northwest more than 200 years ago. Lying in shallow water along the west side of Whidbey Island, the historic artifact could be recovered by the three-man team that makes up Anchor Ventures LLC within the month... In 1791, British Navy Captain George Vancouver set out on a four-year exploration of the West Coast aboard the 99-foot HMS Discovery. Accompanying...

Archaeologists discovered a building from around 2,200 B.C. in an archaeological and ecological park in the Ecuadorian capital at the foot of Pichincha Volcano, sources at the excavations told Efe. "It is the most ancient archaeological find in Rumbipapa Park and in the city of Quito," park supervisor Bernarda Icaza told Efe, adding that no identification or description has been made of the culture that lived in the area during the Formative Period when the building was constructed. Icaza noted that the find has "enormous" historical importance, because "it opens doors to further archaeological, historical and heritage research." The excavation...

"Because our approach uses only genetic data, it provides information independent from other sources. Many of our genetic observations match historical events, and we also see evidence of previously unrecorded genetic mixing. For example, the DNA of the Tu people in modern China suggests that in around 1200 C.E., Europeans similar to modern Greeks mixed with an otherwise Chinese-like population. Plausibly, the source of this European-like DNA might be merchants travelling the nearby Silk Road."

A team of Spanish and Egyptian archaeologists made a find in a southern Egyptian tomb that opens the way to a reinterpretation of Pharaonic chronology, since it could show that Amenhotep III and his son Amenhotep IV reigned together. The team, headed by Spaniard Francisco Martin Valentin and funded by Spain’s Gaselec foundation, excavated the remains of a wall and columns of the mausoleum of a minister of the 18th Pharaonic dynasty - 1569-1315 B.C. - in the province of Luxor. What is exceptional about the discovery, Martin Valentin told Efe, is that in the excavation they found the names...

...reports on an intriguing fossil deposit discovered on Abaco Island in the northern Bahamas in 2009. The fossils are embedded in a layer of peat – organic soil – that is buried under beach sand and is only exposed a few days a year, during extremely low tides... Their finds range from remains of an extinct large tortoise (Albury's tortoise) to the extirpated Cuban crocodile (no longer found anywhere except a small region of Cuba), to small fragments of plants and mollusks. Radiocarbon dating shows the peat and its fossils to be 900-950 years old, which coincides with the first...

A San Jose neighborhood is stunned after a driver crashed a Maserati into a home's yard and left it there. Police are investigating the wreck -- which happened on Maywood Avenue, off Bascom Avenue, Thursday night. "Our home actually shook. Literally shook," Shari Delgado Miscevic said. "You thought maybe there was an earthquake." Neighbors said the luxury car was careening down Maywood Avenue when it hit a dip in the road. The vehicle then spun out of control and hit a parked car before taking out a nearby fence. Officials said the driver and a passenger fled after the crash....

We've read the arguments for learning French, but let's be honest: Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or any other language with growing global importance would be a better choice. Spanish may be the best choice of all for a second language, which is why its popularity in schools is soaring worldwide. Here are some reasons why you should estudiar. 1. Spanish isn't a foreign language anymore. In the U.S., Spanish is rising ahead of any other non-English language at a rapid pace, with a steady flow of new immigrants from Latin America and growth in the already large Hispanic population. According...

Queen Nefertari, whose name means “beautiful companion”, was one of Ramses II’s eight royal wives and his most beloved one. Although Nefertari’s family background is unknown, the discovery of an inscription of the cartouche of the pharaoh Ay inside her tomb has led archaeologists to speculate that she was related to him. If any relation exists, she could be his great-granddaughter because of the time between the reign of Ay and Ramses II in Ancient Egyptian history. Until now no decisive archaeological evidence has been found to link Nefertari to the royal family of the 18th Dynasty. Nefertari married Ramses...