Hundreds of airline catering workers blocked the entrance near Los Angeles International Airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year. The demonstrations took place along Century Boulevard

In 1954, Soviet Scientist Vladimir Demikhov Performed "The Most Controversial Experimental Operation Of The 20th Century"If you've never looked at a dog and wondered if there's "room for a second head on there", congratulations on not being Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov, a pioneer of organ transplantation who might be better remembered for his groundbreaking work in heart and lung...

Demikhov was a pioneer of heart surgery. But thanks to his other, unusual, "interests", that hardly ever gets brought up.

A 16th century gold posy ring found by a metal detectorist may have a connection to the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.Posy rings were popular from the late Middle Ages through the 18th century, often given to loved ones at betrothals and weddings. While most posy rings were gifts between lovers or spouses, they were also meaningful tokens of friendship and faithfulness of a non-romantic type.Their name is a reference to poesy, not a small bunch of flowers, because of the inscriptions on the interior surface that were declarations of love and loyalty. The inside of the ring is the part that makes contact with the skin, so the message was hidden to prying eyes and conveyed a special intimacy.The recently-discovered posy ring is decorated on the outside face with a geometric relief that is deep enough it may have originally been filled with enamel. The interior surface is inscribed YOVR . FRENDE . IN . DEEDE. No inscription with this wording has been found before, and there are thousands documented. The separation between in and deed suggests the giver wanted the recipient to know he would prove himself loyal in actions, not just words.It was found in May of 2022 next to the moat of Bushwood Hall in Lapworth, the place where Robert Catesby, the leader of the Gunpowder Plot, was born. The current half-timber manor house was built 15 years after Catesby was killed for his role in the plot to blow up Parliament, but the moat around it also encircled the previous house which had belonged to the Catesby family since the 15th century.Robert Catesby was born there in 1572, and after the death of his Protestant wife in 1598, he returned to his familys undercover Catholic faith. Elizabeth I had outlawed Catholicism in 1570 after she was excommunicated, so Catholics were forced to attend Anglican churches or face fines, imprisonment and persecution. Many Catholics went underground, literally, practicing their faith in secret in hidden rooms. Those who refused to publicly disavow their faith were known as recusant Catholics.When James VI of Scotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots who had herself been executed by Elizabeth, ascended the throne in 1603, English Catholics had reason for optimism that the new king would loosen up the chains. He didnt. He mistrusted the powerful Catholic families and was just as ruthless in suppressing the religion as Elizabeth had been.Early in 1604, Catesby hatched a plan to blow up the King and the House of Lords with gunpowder during the State Opening of Parliament on November 5th, 1605, and install James nine-year-old daughter Princess Elizabeth as their puppet queen. He recruited other Catholics, including Eighty Years War and Franco-Spanish War veteran Guy Fawkes, to join the plot. An anonymous letter alerted authorities to the danger, and on the night before the explosion was set to go off, Guy Fawkes was found in a cellar under the Parliament building guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder. He was arrested and the other plotters ran. Catesby was tracked down by a sheriffs posse and was fatally shot at Holbeche House on November 8th. He was 33.At the time of the plot, Catesby was living at another of the family properties at Ashby St Ledgers on the Warwickshire/Northamptonshire border near Rugby. But Bushwood Hall was the base for the other plotters, with Catesby using it to stockpile weapons and supplies. It was also home to one of the key conspirators, John Wright, who had been at school with Guy Fawkes in York.It was also only accessed via a one-way road, so there was no passing traffic, and any valuable lost along the way likely belonged to someone who lived there or someone who had dealings with them.In conclusion, there is no verifiable direct link between this ring and any of the Gunpowder conspirators, but the find site, inscription and dating make it a tantalizingly plausible hypothesis.The posy ring is going up for auction on November 27th with a presale estimate of 8,000-12,000 ($10,550-$15,830).