Hasta La Gadget!

Travelers are well acquainted with major airlines and hubs spread across the country, but sometimes plans call for a short 40-minute flight to more exotic spots like the Costa Rican jungle, or a quick jaunt to upstate New York. Cars, trains, and ferries can take hours, which makes the perks of flying on smaller airlines enticing. Want to skip the pesky TSA lines when flying to Nantucket, or arrive in St. Barths adventure-style with a glass of Champagne in hand? There’s a bevy of quality airlines you’ve never flown that cater to a mix of passengers, from budget to luxe. These five airlines are shuttling to niche spots in North and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Spread your wings and adopt a new airline crush.

PORTER AIRLINES
A stellar alternative to Air Canada, the six-year-old regional Porter Airlines woos its customers with generous airline lounge amenities like free WiFi, espresso, and snacks. Onboard, expect leather seats with generous leg room on Q400 turboprop planes. Sip a glass of complimentary local white wine and snacks (think sandwiches, pastries, and chocolates) served by friendly flight attendants. Porter’s in-flight magazine re: porter, a collaboration with Tyler Brûlé (of Monocle), is a snappy, informative read with local tips and hip neighborhood guides. The best part? Porter’s perfectly-located hub at Toronto’s lakefront Billy Bishop Airport is a very convenient, short ferry ride from downtown.

TRADEWIND AVIATION
You only need 20 minutes before your flight when you’re about to jump on a Tradewind plane, based out of Oxford, Connecticut. With a fleet of 19 aircraft, flying both scheduled and chartered flights from small Northeast locales like Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard (peak months from April to December offer 30 flights daily), Tradewind operates like a private charter, which means you skip the TSA lines and get personal, first-class service like pilots (two aboard each plane) phoning ahead to have your car pulled around. In the azure Caribbean, Tradewind services St. Barths, Anguilla, and Nevis from San Juan with handsome gunmetal Pilatus PC 12s equipped with snacks, beer, and Vueve, which you’ll need on the steep descent into St. Barths, a narrow airstrip between two volcanic hills.

NATURE AIR
Positioned in San Jose, Costa Rica, Nature Air is perfect for reaching remote jungle destinations (think Arenal, Tambor, Drake Bay) and farther spots like Managua, Nicaragua and Bocas Del Toro, Panama. With the choice of daily flights from 15 destinations (13 within Costa Rica), you’re almost always a 40-minute plane ride away from your destination. The updated fleet of Twin Otters and Caravan Cessnas boast increased fuel efficiency, and Nature Air operates as a “carbon-neutral airline,” donating money to projects like saving the forests to offset its engine exhaust. The fun, tropical plane designs add a pop of sky art–a recent Facebook contest allowed passengers to vote on the next look, featuring either a lizard or a toucan.

ALASKA AIRLINES
Pacific Northwesters and West Coasters rely heavily on the Seattle-based Alaska Airlines. From its fabled 1932 origins, this expanding airline keeps adding to its route map and boasts a stellar on-time track record. With secondary hubs in Los Angeles, San Jose, and Portland, it’s easy to hop around from Hawaii to Mexico to San Diego and 16 other destinations spread throughout the Midwest and the Eastern seaboard. Perks include custom-designed Recara leather seats with ample legroom and a full frequent flier program. Plus, the airline is installing USB outlets at every seat on long haul aircrafts. Fly in style, as the airline’s Native Alaskan Eskimo logo is painted on the tail of each plane.

CAPE AIR
Established in 1989 with only one itinerary running between Boston and Provincetown, the budget-friendly, employee-owned Cape Air currently flies to 44 cities across the US, Caribbean, and Micronesia (spots like Guam). From one of its popular hubs at Boston’s Logan Airport, you can easily hop a small flight (mostly comprised of 9-seat Cessna twin-engines) to small, isolated spots like Saranac Lake and Maine, as well as more seasonal spots like Cape Cod and Nantucket. Cape Air’s largest planes are a pair of 46-passenger aircrafts partnered with United. If you love to fly, pilots of the smaller planes usually allow one passenger to ride shotgun, providing stellar panoramic views of the world below.

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American voters brought Congress to a historical breaking point in this year’s midterm elections, as the number of women serving in the U.S. House and Senate hit representation in the triple digits for the first time ever with the election of Democrat Alma Adams.

Online research engine FindTheBest collected data on female representation in the U.S. House and Senate over the years. The 113th Congress hit a historic high in terms of overall female representation, as well as representation among Democrats, but there was a decline among Republicans.

Women in Congress – Over Time | FindTheBest!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^https:/.test(d.location)?’https’:’http’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+”://cdn1.findthebest.com/rx/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”ftb-widgetjs”);

Below, see a map depicting the number of women that have served each state in Congress over time. Though currently cast in gray to depict no female representation up until this point, Iowa elected Joni Ernst to the Senate earlier this month. Ernst will be the first woman to represent the state in Congress come January.

Women in Congress by State – Total Historical | FindTheBest!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^https:/.test(d.location)?’https’:’http’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+”://cdn1.findthebest.com/rx/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”ftb-widgetjs”);

A Florida elementary school teacher is behind bars after allegedly sending racy photos to a student at her school.

Tara Milton Roberts, 28, was a 5th-grade teacher at River Hall Elementary School in Alva, Naples News reports. Parents were notified on Tuesday that Roberts had been arrested and that a substitute teacher would be working with her students until a more permanent replacement could be found, according to ABC-7. Roberts, who was a first-year teacher, will not be returning to the classroom.

Lee County officials believe that Roberts used social media app KIK to send messages to a student at the elementary school. Her messages were initially friendly, but allegedly became more sexual in nature. Investigators said she ultimately sent photos of herself in which she was scantily clad, according to WTSP.

The victim was not a student in Robert’ class, according to authorities.

She is charged with two counts of child cruelty and transmitting information harmful to minors.

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If you’ve ever traveled on a commercial jet, you probably know to avoid picking the middle seat in a row of three. If you purchase a last-minute ticket or you didn’t select a seat before check-in, you might not have any other choice but to sit between two strangers on a long transcontinental flight, but assuming you do have your pick of where to sit, it’s worth spending a few minutes to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

An air carrier’s seat map may highlight certain rows as having additional legroom or a missing seat in front, but airlines typically leave out a few critical details that can mean the difference between a decent flight and a miserable one. Take the row just behind a bathroom for example, or one adjacent to the galley, where chatty flight attendants tend to gather between beverage services on a redeye. You don’t want to end up in either, but without some input from passengers who have traveled on the same aircraft type in the past, it can be tricky to know which seat to pick.

Sites like SeatExpert and TripAdvisor’s SeatGuru take the guesswork out of selecting an ideal seat. Both sites display similar results, but it’s worth dropping by both SeatExpert and SeatGuru before you pick a seat for any upcoming flight. SeatExpert lets you locate the aircraft type using your airline name, flight number, and date of departure, making the process a bit more straightforward for novice seat pickers. If you’re already familiar with your carrier’s fleet (you know a Boeing 737-900 from a 737-800, for example) SeatGuru is probably your best bet.

To get started with SeatExpert, enter your flight details and click “Find your Seat.” If all goes well, a detailed aircraft layout will pop up, with seats colored green (a good seat), yellow (less than ideal), orange (worth avoiding), and red (avoid at all costs). White seats are average, and if you end up there, you should be just fine. Naturally, you’ll have the best experience in a green seat, which typically offer more privacy or additional legroom. Red seats, at the other end of the spectrum, are often located near galleys or lavatories, and may lack a window, floor storage, and a normal amount of legroom.

SeatGuru includes additional info, such as a list of in-flight amenities and reviews from people who have traveled on that aircraft type, along with green, yellow, and red color-coding for great, poor, and terrible seats. You’ll find a bit more detail with select seats as well — for example, the seat map for United’s 787-800 (Dreamliner) makes it clear that seat 27L has restricted legroom, a tiny window, and a tray table in the armrest, giving you less space to sit. 16L, meanwhile, has heaps of extra legroom thanks to its bulkhead position behind the business-class cabin, though you won’t have space to store belongings below the seat in front.

Airlines have caught on to the demand for better seats, of course, labeling preferred rows as “Economy Plus” or “Main Cabin Extra” and charging a premium for a more spacious seat. Oftentimes these roomier rows are located in the front near the restrooms and baby basinet locations, however, so even though an airline may charge the same premium for two seats with comparable legroom, you may still have a better (or worse) experience in one location than another. Just as you might not get a better return when you blindly purchase a higher fare or a more expensive bottle of wine, the same applies to pricier seats.

Some seats are better than others in premium cabins as well. Just as you do in coach, you’ll want to avoid seats near the lavatory or galley while seated in business or first class. An expensive flat-bed seat will only go so far when the flight attendants are clanging dishes and silverware after the meal service or blabbering away on an overnight flight. If you want to have the best experience, be sure to review your aircraft seating plan thoroughly before you board the plane, and keep an eye on the seat map after you check in–passengers may change flights or get upgraded to first class, opening up better seats just before departure.

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At last you can simulate looking into the Ark of the Covenant in the comfort of your own home. And safely. With this Melting Toht Candle you can make this movie baddie burn every night.

This is a cool gift for fans of Raiders of the Lost Ark. This candle lets you celebrate one of the greatest deaths in cinema history. Luckily it doesn’t melt as fast as it happened in the movie. That way you can really enjoy seeing this evil movie Nazi burn.

He is nicely detailed with his spectacles and fedora – though not for long. Get it for about $31(USD) from Firebox and let Toht melt forever in your heart.

[via Nerd Approved]