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Containing about 35 literary texts in Aramaic that date to the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., Papyrus Amherst 63 is written in a cursive Egyptian script known as Demotic. This unusual combination of the Aramaic language and the Demotic script was among the main reasons why the decipherment took more than 120 years. Karel van der Toorn (University of Amsterdam), who recently published a new edition and translation of Papyrus Amherst 63, argues that besides the forerunner of Psalm 20, the Egyptian papyrus contains two other Israelite psalms... “The two other psalms of the Amherst papyrus are not in the...

The worker, who worked for Horizontal Air at Seattle Tacoma Airport for nearly four years according to his Linkedn account operated as a ground service agent and operations agent loading bags. ...worker’s personal blog revealed Russell living in Pierce County with his wife, Hannah who he married in 2011 after meeting her in school the year before. The ground service agent, referred to as ‘Rich’ and ‘Richard’ by air traffic controllers, was born in Key West, Florida and moving to Alaska as a child. ... Russell and Hannah opened a bakery called Hannah Marie’s Bakery in North Bend, Oregon and...

Off the coast of the Black Sea in the Mykolaiv region, archaeologists have discovered a sunken ancient Greek shipwreck dating back more than 2.5 thousand years. The ship, discovered during a joint expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of NAS of Ukraine and the Warsaw Institute of Archaeology, is believed to be one of the oldest of its kind discovered in the region. According to the head of the black sea international underwater archaeological expedition, Vyacheslav Gerasimov, it may have possibly sailed ancient trade routes to Olbia or Chersonesos. “This ship is one of the oldest known in the Northern...

The air pollution in Paris is so bad that visiting the city for a long weekend means you have as good as smoked two cigarettes and those living in the city smoke the equivalent of 183 a year, a new study reveals. […] “When air pollution is bad, we are told to avoid eating or exercising outside,” Transport & Environment’s Jens Müller said. “But walking around cities and eating on restaurant terraces is what city breaks are all about. Right now, tourists, including kids, are more or less forced to smoke, in terms of the health impacts.” However, the French...

...So this post is an update with my new rankings of the world’s 10 best first class products. It goes without saying that this is entirely subjective, so it’s perfectly reasonable if others disagree with me. Let me also emphasize that I’ve actually flown every single first class product I rank (and paid for the ticket, either in cash or miles), and have flown almost every first class product in the world (the only airline I haven’t flown in first class is Kuwait Airways). So I’m not going off any marketing bullets with these rankings, but rather my firsthand experiences....

We tend to think of the Amish as shutting themselves off from the outside world, but one Amish man in Michigan is embracing a modern trend in his own innovative way.Timothy Hochstedler of Colon, Michigan, has added his own spin on the fairly newfangled concept of ride sharing with what he calls "Amish Uber." For $5, Hochstedler will take you where you need to go in his horse and buggy and provide stories and conversation along the way.WMMT reports that Hochstedler received his inspiration from Uber's immense popularity. "Uber is a cool thing, every single year something new comes in and Uber...

And now a few gems from Air Traffic Control: ========================= Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles ." Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!" ========================= "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 degrees." "Centre, we are at 35,000 feet . How much noise can we make up here?" "Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?" ========================= O'Hare Approach Control to a 747: "United 329 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock , three miles, Eastbound." United 239: "Approach, I've always wanted to...

Early Roman "horseshoes" unearthed during an excavation at a fort near Hadrian's Wall are to go on display. Barbara Birley, curator at Vindolanda, near Hexham, in Northumberland, said it was "incredibly rare" to find a full set of four iron hipposandals. She said the hoof protectors were so well preserved that their tread to stop horses slipping was clearly visible. The haul was found by a volunteer - one of 250 who carry out digs at the fort every year. Because the Romans were in Britain for between 400 and 500 years, Ms Birley said, teams could dig at the...

FULL TITLE: Train-loving toddler, 3, killed by freight train after he and his two-year-old sister sneaked away from home and went to the railroad tracks An Indiana family has been left devastated after their three-year-old son and his two-year-old sister were hit by a freight train after sneaking out of their home. Caleb Wilson was killed on impact when he was struck by the train around 9.30am on Tuesday. His sister Ellie was hospitalized in critical condition. The children's parents have been identified as Kelsey Benson and Jacob Wilson. Family members said Caleb adored trains and that Ellie adored her...

NEW DELHI: An abandoned stillborn baby was found an Imphal-New Delhi AirAsia flight on Wednesday. The airline in a statement confirmed that the body of the baby was found 'abandoned and lifeless' in one of the plane's toilets when the aircraft was being prepared for landing. According to sources, the infant was found with its mouth stuffed with toilet paper. AirAsia said that a medical examination was conducted on the woman suspected to be the mother by a doctor at the New Delhi airport and also confirmed that the baby had been delivered onboard. Sources said that the woman, who...

An 18-year-old Brooklyn woman returning with her sister from a trip to Jamaica has been identified as the mother of the premature newborn found dead inside an airplane toilet at LaGuardia Airport, officials said Wednesday. The teen, who checked in to Kings County Hospital after giving birth, claimed she never knew she was pregnant when she rushed into the bathroom of an American Airlines plane after it landed at the Queens airport about 10:45 p.m. Monday. “She pulled the baby out and put it in the toilet and covered it with paper,” a law enforcement source said. The woman told...

Three coffins, skeletal remains, chariots and swords were recovered from the excavation site of Sanauli, Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. This discovery is estimated to belong to a royal warrior class dating four millennia back, from the Pre-Iron or Bronze Age of 2000-1800 BC, reported India Today. Though the findings are not being linked to any race or civilization particularly, Sanauli's close proximity to Hastinapur, the land of Kauravas and Mahabharata's estimated time period dating to 2nd millennium BC has got the historians thinking! The findings might actually be linked to the Mahabharata! The royal remains have now been transferred to...

Archaeologists have discovered a massive stone sarcophagus in Zülpich, Germany, dating to the 3rd century AD; inside, the remains of a Roman woman and her beauty tools... Because of the number of well-preserved artifacts in this burial and because additional burials were expected to be found, the finding was not announced until yesterday at a press conference. The sarcophagus required a full week to excavate, and its lid alone weighed two tons. When archaeologists removed it, they found the skeleton of a young woman, estimated to have been between 25-30 years old at the time of her death. They also...

Located far into the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, North Sentinel Island is one of the most isolated places on earth. Approximately the size of Manhattan, this remote island is home to the Sentinelese tribe, the most dangerous tribe in the world. The North Sentinel island made headlines in 2006 after the tribe murdered two fishermen who had illegally approached the island. After the incident, a 3-mile zone has been imposed around the island, and the Sentinelese have since kept a low profile. The Indian government, who previously tried to establish a relationship with the tribe, have since...

Motorists may be taxed on the distance they drive rather than paying excise on fuel at petrol station pumps, under plans proposed by senior officials. The Government is considering numerous schemes to ensure the overall tax take from motoring does not drop significantly as a result of moves to lower emission vehicles. The Department of Finance has outlined a series of options on how to ensure the exchequer does not lose out, such as a fixed charge on the purchase of every car, no matter how low its emissions levels are. Recent policy has been designed to encourage motorists to...

My friends (a couple) from South Africa have a 2 week visit planned to see me at my place here in Las Vegas. This trip they were planning to bring their good friend, a younger (21 year old) friend of theirs (they're late 20's). The US denied her tourist visa... without asking any questions. The reason "risk of immigration". WTF? A young gal, with a family, friends, job (fitness model) in South Africa can't join her friends in the US for 2 weeks with return ticket in hand? But, anyone waltzing across the Mexican border is in for life no...

EUROPE is braced for its hottest day since records began today with temperatures likely to soar above the 118F high set 40 years ago. Thousands of Brit holidaymakers and expats in Spain and Portugal will pile on to packed beaches as the heatwave peaks. The blistering sunshine is widely tipped to pass the 118.4F (48C) recorded in Athens, Greece, on July 10, 1977. And the deadly scorcher — driven by an African plume carrying Saharan dust with it — will spark a mini-revival of Britain’s heatwave with temperatures of 88F (31C) expected all weekend. But it could also lead to...

Nine astronauts have new travel plans aboard commercial space capsules, with their mission assignments announced earlier today (Aug. 3). Five of those astronauts flew aboard the United States' last set of spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), the space shuttles. But while the newly announced crews are excited to once again launch from Florida instead of Kazakhstan, they aren't very nostalgic for the hardware of the shuttles themselves. During the press announcement of the new astronaut assignments, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine asked two veteran astronauts to compare their new rides to the shuttles they flew more than...

A man arrested at the Texarkana Regional Airport on July 4th allegedly told investigators he intended to fly a stolen plane to a rap music concert in another state. Asked about his lack of training as a pilot, Zemarcuis Devon Scott, 18, allegedly told Texarkana, Ark., police that he didn't believe there was much more to the task than pushing buttons and pulling levers, according to a probable cause affidavit used to create the following account. It was about 2:30 a.m. when airport security personnel contacted police about seeing a man jump a fence and attempt to enter an American...

Citing safety, the Trump administration on Thursday proposed rolling back car-mileage standards, backing away from years of government efforts to cut Americans’ trips to the gas station and reduce unhealthy, climate-changing tailpipe emissions. If the proposed rule becomes final, it could roil the auto industry as it prepares for new model years and weaken one of the federal government’s chief weapons against climate change — regulating emissions from cars and other vehicles. The result, opponents say, will be dirtier air and more pollution-related illness and death. The proposal itself estimates it could cost tens of thousands of jobs — auto...