The US Airways Airbus 320 that landed in the Hudson River just a year ago is for sale. In the story known as "Miracle on the Hudson", Captain Sully Sullenberger brought the plane down with no loss of life only 23 minutes into the flight when a flock of geese jammed the engines. Now the insurance company is selling what's left of the plane.

The auction — “As Is/Where Is (New Jersey),” Chartis Insurance Group is compelled to disclose — does not include the airliner’s engines or avionics, and the lot is somewhat in pieces. But apart from that it seems to be surprisingly intact for a craft that hit the water at a normal touchdown speed with ad hoc landing gear comprising the entire fuselage and wings — which, by the way supported all 155 people aboard as they safely deplaned and awaited rescue craft on the frigid Hudson.

The offering page is remarkably bland, not even considering the high drama surrounding the most famous water landing ever. Under the formal description of the accident, it says: “Aircraft suffered severe bird strike event resulting in water emergency landing.” The description of the damage is simple: “Severe water damage throughout airframe. Impact damage to underside of aircraft.”

The craft itself is described as “1999 AIRBUS A320-214? and nowhere on the page is even the most oblique mention of the significance of this particular piece of aviation salvage.

Bids are being accepted through March 27. Link

(image credit: Janis Krum)

No, it's not really made of glass, but you can see the heart beating inside this frog, one of 30 new species of creatures found in the highlands of Ecuador. See more of the discoveries in a photo gallery at National Geographic. Link -via Metafilter

(image credit: Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI)

Despite sharing a name with the deadly sin of laziness, sloths aren't all that slow and they don't sleep all day either. But they stay so still that scientists had to glue electrodes to their heads to tell when they slept! The sloth's lack of activity is their camouflage to avoid being eaten by eagles.

To that end, sloths have picked up a couple of useful adaptations. First, they're covered in a unique sort of fur that's an ideal breeding ground for algae. Second, they're able to spend most daylight hours immobile and, when they do move, it's usually very, very slowly. The result: From the air, sloths look more like green vegetation than tasty, meaty eagle snack.

Learn more about sloths at Boing Boing. Link

(image credit: flickrfavorites)

PS: Happy anniversary to Boing Boing, celebrating ten years of blogging!

The oldest remains yet of a member of English royalty are thought to have been found in Germany. Queen Eadgyth (pronounced Edith) was the sister of King Athelstan and married the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I in 929 AD. She died in 946. The bone fragments from a lead coffin in Magdeburg will be analyzed by a team of forensic specialists.

Professor Mark Horton of the Bristol University's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, who is coordinating this side of the research, explained the strategy: "We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope to match the isotope results with known locations around Wessex and Mercia, where she could have spent her childhood. If we can prove this truly is Eadgyth, this will be one of the most exciting historical discoveries in recent years."

Eadgyth is likely to be the oldest member of the English royal family whose remains have survived. Her brother, King Athelstan is generally considered to have been the first King of England after he unified the various Saxon and Celtic kingdoms following the battle of Brunanburgh in 937. His tomb survives in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, but is most likely empty. Eadgyth’s sister Adiva - also offered to Otto as wife, but he choose Eadgyth instead - was also married to an unknown European ruler, but her tomb is not located.

Link -via Fark

(image credit: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Juraj Liptak)

John and Kay Ure live in a former lighthouse keeper's cottage at the edge of a cliff on the coast of northern Scotland. On December 19th, Kay Ure left to go buy a Christmas turkey in Inverness. Before she could return, a snowstorm blocked the road and she had to stay in the village of Durness, eleven miles from home.

Mr Ure spent Christmas and New Year on his own and celebrated his 58th birthday last Sunday with a tin of baked beans.

Yesterday, for the first time since mid-December, he managed to drive 11 miles to a small jetty and cross the Kyle of Durness by boat to collect his wife and the turkey.

The couple run the country's “most isolated tearoom” at the end of an ungritted army road and were forced to spend their first festive season apart in 35 years.

John Ure was down to emergency rations before he could drive to town. He said reuniting with his wife was like a "second honeymoon". Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Peter Jolly)

The 2nd Annual Golden Gate Express Garden Railway is open at San Francisco’s Conservatory of Flowers. The garden features miniature versions of the city's most recognizable landmarks, buildings, and of course, a train! Plus, they are all made of recycled materials. The exhibition is open until April 18th, but if you can't go, you can see more pictures at Laughing Squid. Link

(image credit: Todd Lappin)

(YouTube link)

Apple Daily in Hong Kong produced a Sims-style video to explain the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien situation to Chinese television viewers. Portraying them as comic book heroes is sheer genius! You don't have to understand the language to follow along. -via Cynical-C

Every January 19th, an unidentified person comes to the grave site of Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore and leaves three roses and a half bottle of cognac. It's a tradition that goes back to at least 1949. About three dozen fans were waiting this morning for the toaster, but for the first time in over 60 years, he didn't show up on what would have been Poe's birthday.

Rafael Alvarez, President of the Baltimore Poe Society tells WBAL Radio he has a theory about why the mystery admirer did not show up this year. He thinks that person died last week.

Alvarez says e-mails have been circulating for the past several hours pointing to the late David Franks of Baltimore as the Poe toaster. Franks was found dead in his Baltimore apartment last week. He has been a writer, performer and poet in Baltimore for years.

"It fit David's love of the prank and the practical joke. And particularly stunts that involve sort of high literary high-wire acts," says Alvarez.

He says that Franks also wore the same clothes daily like that of the Poe toaster and he fit the physical description. "David had quite the late 19th century English dandy flair for scarves, gloves, and various caps. It would not be unusual for David to don a cape if the situation called for it," says Alvarez.

There is also a possibility that the toaster decided to stop the tradition at Poe's 200th birthday, which was last year. Link -via Metafilter

An unnamed 28-year-old man was driving over a bridge in Roseville, California when his phone activated and startled him. He drove his station wagon into Pleasant Grove Creek, where it sank six to eight feet under water.

The Roseville Fire Department said the man used his handgun to shoot out his vehicle window, giving himself an opportunity to escape and swim to safety.

The man flagged down a passing vehicle and was treated for minor injuries by emergency crews.

Remember that tip the next time you drive into a body of water. Link -via Arbroath

You'll always have a place for your slippers with this rug! The slippers fit right into spaces in the design when you're not using them, and become part of the carpet itself. The rug is called Tapistongs by French designer Lise El Sayed. It looks as if there are enough slippers for plenty of guests around the edge. Link

(YouTube link)

The folks at our favorite variety show from Japan wanted to see what kind of animal could negotiate a field of dominoes without wrecking them. You'll be surprised at which critter succeeded! Here's a hint: think of an American sport played in an alley. Link -via Buzzfeed

Listverse has some unexplained mysteries that I had never heard of. Gelatin raining from the sky? Faces appearing and disappearing after they were photographed? A boy who can make rain fall? And there's the case of the boat named the Carroll A. Deering.

Approximately 50 years after the mysterious disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste, a similar event occurred when the schooner Carroll A. Deering was spotted around the coast of North Carolina on January 31, 1921. When rescue ships finally reached her, theydiscovered , to their shock that the Deering’s entire crew was missing. Though evidence in the galley suggested that food was being prepared for the following day, nothing else was found of the crew. Eerily enough, no personal effects, no ship logs, no traces were left behind, much like the case of the Mary Celeste.

These can't all be hoaxes -or can they? Link -via I Am Bored

Sometimes you can see something in the shape of an animal's spots, but have you ever seen a cat shape on the back of a cat? Link -via The Daily What

I had no idea Megadeth song titles could be confused for Lifetime channel movie titles, but that's the challenge of today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. I am an expert on neither, so I only scored 60%. You will do better! Link

Every once in a while, people encounter things on their radio, TV, or interstellar wave detectors that no one can explain. Is it a secret military message? A prankster hacking just to see if it can be done? Aliens trying to contact us? Cracked has five cases that still haven't been settled. Take, for example, the case of UVB-76.

It is an irritating, electronic noise, not unlike the sound of a truck horn played through a cheese grater. It is broadcast over a certain frequency, constantly, and has been since at least 1982. But the weird part isn't the tone, but what happens when it stops.

In its 20-something year run, the sound has been interrupted only three times, the earliest known time being Christmas Eve in 1997. Each time a voice comes on and lists several Russian names and numbers before returning to the foghorn. The most recent occurrence was 2006, a mere three years before the time of this writing. It is clearly becoming more active after remaining quiet during the Cold War.

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