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Heavy rains in the southwestern French town of Lourdes have caused massive flooding, closing down a Catholic holy site and killing at least one person. According to France 24, the flooding has closed down the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, a famous French pilgrimage site for Roman Catholics. The site is sacred to Catholics due to reported sightings of apparitions of the Virgin Mary around the area in 1858. The holy site draws millions of tourists each year, causing Lourdes to have the second greatest number of hotels per square mile in France, just behind Paris. One 70-year-old woman was reportedly killed in the nearby village of Pierrefitte-Nestalas while trying to exit her car. The vehicle had become caught in the flooding after the Gave de Pau River became overflown. Some roads in the area have been cut off by water and around 200 people have been evacuated. This is the second year in a row that holy sites in Lourdes have been closed due to flooding. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has posted videos to its YouTube account showing the extent of the flooding and the damage the water has caused to the Basilica of St. Pius, a Catholic church at the pilgrimage site: (Image courtesy Milorad Pavlek under Creative Commons License) (via France 24)

LeBron James’ headband is an iconic part of his on on-court persona. He (accidentally) ditched that persona, along with the headband, during the Heat’s game against the Spurs. Turns out that headband may have been holding him back the entire time. With nine minutes left in the game and the Heat trailing behind, James lost his iconic headband. After that, something changed in him. He went on the offensive and led his team to a 103-100 victory. Check out the highlights below: Now, I’m not one to believe in superstition, but there must have been something up with that headband. Maybe it was crafted by the angels to control the unmatched power hiding deep within James’ body. What say you, Lebron? Does your headband hold back your fearsome power? After the game, he only had this to say about it: “I guess the headband was the least of my worries at that point.” Well, he didn’t confirm or deny any mystical powers, but that’s not the point. Losing the headband changed something within him. That change was incredibly good for the Heat and made the Spurs coil back in horror. The team that they had on the ropes came back with a vengeance and it was all thanks to that headband conveniently disappearing. Ah, but I am only only one voice among many. The folks on Twitter had much more to say about the game, LeBron and his maybe mystical headband: Will LeBron wear a headband in Game 7? Can Duncan win another ring? Is Bosh really an ostrich? Find out on the next episode of DragonBall Z! — Drunk Baby (@HungoverBaby) June 19, 2013 Never noticed that Lebron look like the The Crimson Chin til he took his headband off smh — Say Bruh , Thats Kre (@iKREatedUBih_GG) June 20, 2013 Time to accept that Lebron's headband is more famous than any of us ever will be. — Tyler Lichtenberg (@TylerL15) June 20, 2013 When lebron took off his headband it was like when Guru unleashed Gohans hidden powers — Papito (@shaqnasty) June 20, 2013 2k14 should come with a free unlockable code to unlock the No Headband Lebron — Miami Heat (@HeatNationBitch) June 20, 2013 I wonder if Lebron will wear his headband tomorrow. He seemed to start playing better without it #lebronwithoutaheadband — charlie (@Peyton_Hawk_Fan) June 20, 2013 Looks like the #Spurs may have a chance tomorrow. #Lebron says he will be wearing a #headband — Harry Dang (@HDTV03) June 20, 2013 After LeBron's headband came off… "Where's Lebron??!? Why isn't he on the court in OT" - Heat fans — M1keyMkV (@m1keymkv) June 20, 2013 [h/t: Deadspin] [Image: Keith Allison/flickr]

James Gandolfini, best known for playing Tony Soprano on HBO’s hit series The Sopranos, has died at age 51, according to his managers and to an HBO spokesperson. Gandolfini was reportedly on vacation with his family in Rome, Italy when he suffered a massive heart attack. Gandolfini was born in 1961 in New Jersey and began his acting career in his 20s. He spent most of his career as a character actor, usually playing tough-guy characters. He gained widespread notoriety when he landed the role of mob boss Tony Soprano in The Sopranos in 1999. The Sopranos ran for six seasons before concluding in 2007. He has also had a successful Broadway career, most recently starring in God of Carnage. Gandolfini’s managers, Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders, released a statement saying, “It is with immense sorrow that we report our client James Gandolfini passed away today while on holiday in Rome, Italy. Our hearts are shattered and we will miss him deeply. He and his family were part of our family for many years and we are all grieving.” Meanwhile, HBO also released a statement: “We’re all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family. He was a special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect. He touched so many of us over the years with his humor, his warmth and his humility. Our hearts go out to his wife and children during this terrible time. He will be deeply missed by all of us.” As you might expect, the news has spread quickly across social media. At the time of this writing, “James Gandolfini,” “RIP,” “Tony Soprano,” and “Sopranos” are all trending on Twitter. Here’s a sampling of what people are saying: Wow. RIP James Gandolfini. His talent brought me many hours of compelling entertainment. Sad for his family and friends. — Richard Marx (@richardmarx) June 20, 2013 Sad to hear about James Gandolfini passing away. 51 is young and he was really talented. — Jon Acuff (@JonAcuff) June 20, 2013 I am shattered by the news of the loss of my longtime hero and new friend, James Gandolfini. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. — Brian Baumgartner (@BBBaumgartner) June 20, 2013 I am shattered by the news of the loss of my longtime hero and new friend, James Gandolfini. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. — Brian Baumgartner (@BBBaumgartner) June 20, 2013 The thing about our random James Gandolfini 2:30 a.m. bar encounter: He was OUT OF HIS WAY friendly. And it made our months that he was. — Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) June 20, 2013 Very sad to hear of James Gandolfini's passing! I think Tony Soprano would have had this reaction to death! pic.twitter.com/FlWCCCb2xF — Jim Michaels (@TheJimMichaels) June 20, 2013 James Gandolfini was not Tony Soprano…he was a father, husband and a fellow human being, gone far too soon. RIP — Jennifer (@hipchkk) June 20, 2013 Gandolfini leaves behind a wife, Deborah, a 9-month-old daughter, Liliana, and a son, Michael.

In July 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean near New York, just minutes after taking off from JFK International Airport. All 230 people on board the flight died in the crash. Now, almost 17 years later, former investigators are urging authorities to re-open the investigation into the cause of the crash. According to the Associated Press, the call are being made just prior to the release of a new documentary on the event that claims to show new evidence that TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a missile. A petition has been filed with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The new documentary, titled TWA Flight 800, is scheduled to air July 17 on the Epic premium cable TV channel. According to Epix, the movie features “six former member of the official crash investigation breaking their silence to refute the officially proposed cause of the jetliner’s demise and reveal how the investigation was systematically undermined.” The FBI had initially investigated the crash as a possible missile attack. The NTSB’s final report stated that the explosion on the flight was due to the ignition of the fuel/air mix in the plane’s center wing fuel tank, likely caused by an electrical short circuit. The NTSB today released a statement regarding the petition, emphasizing that its 4-year investigation into the crash was one of the board’s most extensive investigations ever. From the statement: The NTSB today received a petition for reconsideration of its investigation into the July 17, 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800. As required by NTSB regulation, a petition for reconsideration of Board findings or a probable cause determination must be based on the discovery of new evidence or on a showing that the Board’s findings are erroneous. The NTSB will review the details of the petition to determine if it meets the requirements set forth in the regulation. The TWA Flight 800 investigation lasted four years and remains one of the NTSB’s most detailed investigations. Investigators took great care reviewing, documenting and analyzing facts and data and the NTSB held a five-day hearing to gather additional facts before determining the probable cause of the accident during a two-day Board meeting. The NTSB pointed out that its 400-page report on the crash has been available publicly for over a decade. It also stated that 17,000 pages of supporting material from the board’s docket is also publicly available. (via AP)

Adorable twins plus rubber bands equals the best video you’ll see on the Internet today. In fact, it may just be one of the best Internet videos of the year. In the video below, you’ll find two infant twins who are discovering elasticity for the first time. They think it’s hilarious. I probably thought it was hilarious as well until a friend had me facing down a rubber band gun. We can only hope that the innocence of these children will be spared a few more years. Video: Adorable twins find rubber bands hilarious If you liked that, you should check out this adorable video of a kid ridin’ dirty, or this kid wearing Google Glass, or this kid celebrating his spelling bee win like a champ.

Find out more about all our webshop modules at http://www.icepay.com. This video tutorial explains the easy steps to install the ICEPAY WP e-Commerce Online …

Did you know that with more than three million active Twitter users, and a 300 percent year-on-year growth rate, Saudi Arabia ranks number one in the world as the fastest-growing Twitter nation? Moreover, Arabic is the fastest-growing language on Twitter, and 88 percent of the Middle East’s online population uses one or more social networking [...]

After some 19 years of struggling with E-Commerce, Walmart is once again learning that managing a merged channel retail strategy is almost never going to beat a well-run pure-play e-tailer like Amazon when it comes to online sales. Was reminded of this point courtesy of a wonderful stat in a Wall Street Journal story that [...]

A swimwear and lingerie e-tailer called Bare Necessities is experimenting with a server-based (rather than browser-based) approach to re-sizing its site for various mobile devices. The benefit—if it works when fully deployed—will be faster initial page display and reduced overall load on the mobile browser. But the client-server rebalancing for mobile browsers is an interesting [...]

Most small businesses will never face major destruction due to a natural disaster. But even if your business isn’t in an area prone to tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes, disaster can still strike. Fires, water line breaks, and power outages can happen to anyone without warning, sidelining a small business for hours, days, weeks, or [...]