Obama proposes $1 billion climate protection fund (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA_jPX8DRwxl2Hood5usj-ClEaWsSJmtk9BN9SKtznw2tnBKVxDJpo06ww_x-BuMNsm7HquV4xBlI5CH75ZQKz2ENuwWzh3hcPC_TjK5XPYYksPA5s33z0dVRp1N3WmLG1m1LSLrCkW8I/s1600/ba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA_jPX8DRwxl2Hood5usj-ClEaWsSJmtk9BN9SKtznw2tnBKVxDJpo06ww_x-BuMNsm7HquV4xBlI5CH75ZQKz2ENuwWzh3hcPC_TjK5XPYYksPA5s33z0dVRp1N3WmLG1m1LSLrCkW8I/s1600/ba.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_20914" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Fresno (United States) (AFP) - President Barack Obama proposed a $1 billion fund to mitigate the impact of climate change in the United States, and unveiled financing to combat drought parching swathes of California.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_20926" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"The budget that I send to Congress next month will include $1 billion in new funding for new technologies to help communities prepare for a changing climate," Obama said on Friday.The president landed in the Central Valley area and met farmers who have lost livestock and seen once fertile lands wither through lack of water.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_20946" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The president also noted that the snowpack in California mountains -- which he overflew in Air Force One was less extensive than normal -- compounding water scarcity.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_20956" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"As anybody in this state could tell you, California's living through some of its driest years in a century. Right now, almost 99 percent of California is drier than normal," Obama said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">It is unclear whether the fund has much prospect of advancing past Republicans on Capitol Hill, where skepticism of the science of global warming and Obama's wider political agenda runs deep.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="9" data-uuid="c5e2f7d7-0a08-325f-bd5e-4641918be757" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/us-president-barack-obama-2ndl-talks-rep-jim-photo-174841558.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="US President Barack Obama (2nd L) talks to Rep. Jim&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 188px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="US President Barack Obama (2nd L) talks to Rep. Jim&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="188" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iPetkTm3ZDKQX4FQNNVJLg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE4ODtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/e441ac7625b8045b0f03a78bc97eee7edf67889b.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">US President Barack Obama (2nd L) talks to Rep. Jim Costa while walking to Air Force One, at Andrews …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">White House spokesman Jay Carney argued earlier that climate change was already having a demonstrable impact on the American climate.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"We've always had heatwaves, but now the worst ones are longer, and they're hotter," Carney said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"We've always had droughts, but the worst ones are getting longer and drier.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"We've always had severe storms, but instead of 100-year storms that happen once in a hundred years, we're having 100-year storms that happen every other year or every five years."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The new Climate Resilience Fund is intended to finance research into better understanding of projected impacts of climate change and how to better protect communities and infrastructure.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="10" data-uuid="1abe7983-0228-3a78-a2f4-e2714b2766d2" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/california-governor-jerry-brown-l-farmer-joe-del-photo-032213882.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="California Governor Jerry Brown (L), farmer Joe Del&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 218px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="California Governor Jerry Brown (L), farmer Joe Del&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="218" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/teJZUmROxk5abRZyfKq3Xg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxODtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/57b9f8d15536dc549f9b0c330a8b6ed3bce53a2c.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">California Governor Jerry Brown (L), farmer Joe Del Bosque (2nd L) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)  …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">It is also designed to help vulnerable communities plan and prepare for the impacts of climate change and to encourage local measures to reduce future risk and to fund new resilient technologies and infrastructure to combat a warming climate.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The drought emergency has sparked wildfires and prompted Governor Jerry Brown to ask Californians to cut their water use by 20 percent.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Obama pledged to implement $100 million in livestock disaster assistance for California producers contained in a recently passed agriculture bill.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">He highlighted $15 million in conservation funding for extreme drought areas in California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_20965" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A further $5 million will be provided for emergency watershed protection for California, among other measures that also include a mandate for federal facilities to use less water.</div>

Obama proposes $1 billion climate protection fund (BLOG)

Fresno (United States) (AFP) - President Barack Obama proposed a $1 billion fund to mitigate the impact of climate change in the United Stat...

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Beyonce hits the dance floor at sister Solange's New York Fashion week bash (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgB0HdgzUSBRPh8hsvci2IxB2-pW2btiaf03yGfuwTPGVYOVDY0Fyv5xC1Ess-WcimNS-YFP1Szq2s1avvKIgx7cgi9aTxy3jMPQhVjEuIsYM4chixxXZFEc3vPPuNz31Xb1ehcFnTbA/s1600/beybey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgB0HdgzUSBRPh8hsvci2IxB2-pW2btiaf03yGfuwTPGVYOVDY0Fyv5xC1Ess-WcimNS-YFP1Szq2s1avvKIgx7cgi9aTxy3jMPQhVjEuIsYM4chixxXZFEc3vPPuNz31Xb1ehcFnTbA/s1600/beybey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">And <strong>Beyoncé </strong>proved that she can still hit it hard as she stole the limelight at her sister Solange's party on Thursday, posting the snaps to her Tumblr.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">The superstar clearly didn't want to blend into the background even though it wasn't her party - wearing a shiny copper mini-dress with a panel cut-out of the middle.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">And she certainly wasn't standing on the sidelines during the bash, taking centre stage on the dancefloor surrounded by pals.</div><span class="yui-editorial-embed" id="yui_3_0_0-2-1392406968961" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span id="schemaorg"><span class="yom-figure yom-fig-left" style="clear: both; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 6px; width: 630px;"><img alt="" class="editorial " src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/IJKh_ou2mITiVxFa5tvEpg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/omg/2014-02-14/bcb164f0-95ad-11e3-9080-a33eb4fcd2f5_bey-skirt.jpeg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block;" title="Beyonce stole the limelight in her tiny copper-coloured dress. Copyright [Tumblr]" width="630" /><span class="legend" style="color: #414141; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">Beyonce stole the limelight in her tiny copper-coloured dress. Copyright [Tumblr]</span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">Queen Bey proved that her moves aren't just reserved for her sell-out tour as she gyrated with a bottle of champers in her hands at the MSQFT x SaintHeron New York Fashion Week party.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">While everyone else looked relatively low-key, the pop star had really gone to town - pairing her thigh-high skirt with towering pink stilettos and a white fluffy coat.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">And she wasn't shy about posting a ton of snaps of herself - clearly VERY pleased with her scene-stealing outfit.</div><span class="yui-editorial-embed" id="yui_3_0_0-2-1392406968962" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span id="schemaorg"><span class="yom-figure yom-fig-left" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392589625002_1350" style="clear: both; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 6px; width: 630px;"><img alt="" class="editorial " src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/5ZM8Wja76ZH0rMcH71eBHg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/omg/2014-02-14/1d43e0d0-95af-11e3-9080-a33eb4fcd2f5_bey-champs.jpeg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block;" title="Beyonce certainly seemed to be having fun on the dancefloor. Copyright [Tumblr]" width="630" /><span class="legend" style="color: #414141; display: block; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">Beyonce certainly seemed to be having fun on the dancefloor. Copyright [Tumblr]</span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">Bey had a pretty nice surprise from hubbie Jay-Z the next day as he reportedly splashed out on a major Valentine's Day pressie.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">The rapper is thought to have spent $2.5k on promise bracelet for his wife, as well as a pile of others pricey gifts.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-top: 11px; padding: 0px;">A source told People Magazine: "Jay was waiting for Valentine’s Day to gift her along with a few other presents, but Beyonce is always too eager and you can’t hold any secret from her, so he decided to give it to her earlier."</div>

Beyonce hits the dance floor at sister Solange's New York Fashion week bash (BLOG)

And  Beyoncé  proved that she can still hit it hard as she stole the limelight at her sister Solange's party on Thursday, posting the sn...

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Pennsylvania 'Craigslist killer' says she slayed dozens more across U.S. as part of satanic cult (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraLg3e_-4_6daFC7eB3Pk0678hQD6s8Lw2oYw6MtTRJjwMLa60X9s_KRrfIWDDBql3iXJ56r_PmLJqQSx9c1jy6POYI2XYncCDEXUg11dR1hfrUPsLPMQmBbc6k64taprp9G6ew_mW9w/s1600/crazy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraLg3e_-4_6daFC7eB3Pk0678hQD6s8Lw2oYw6MtTRJjwMLa60X9s_KRrfIWDDBql3iXJ56r_PmLJqQSx9c1jy6POYI2XYncCDEXUg11dR1hfrUPsLPMQmBbc6k64taprp9G6ew_mW9w/s1600/crazy.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Pennsylvania newlywed accused of meeting a man on Craigslist and then stabbing him to death with her husband's help said she killed more than 20 more people as part of her involvement in a bloodthirsty satanic cult.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"When I hit 22, I stopped counting," 19-year-old Miranda Barbour told the Sunbury, Pa., Daily Item newspaper in a chilling jailhouse interview Friday.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I can pinpoint on a map where you can find them," <a href="http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/x1708329322/BODY-COUNT-AT-22/?state=taberU" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">she boasted</a>. "I remember everything. It is like watching a movie."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Barbour's claims of serial killer infamy came as she and her husband, Elytte, 22, are facing the death penalty for stabbing Troy LaFerrara to death on Nov. 11 in what investigators called a "thrill kill" to mark the couple's three-week wedding anniversary.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Miranda lured the lonely 42-year-old with a Craigslist ad offering "companionship," and the two met in the parking lot of a shopping mall before driving to a spot in Sunbury, authorities said.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elytte Barbour hid beneath a blanket in the Honda CRV's backseat and, after receiving a signal from his wife, jumped up and wrapped a cord around the LaFerrara's neck, prosecutors said.</div><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><img alt="Miranda's husband, Elytte Barbour, 22. The pair is charged with killing Troy LaFerrara, 42, a man who answered Miranda's Craigslist ad offering companionship in the form of 'delightful conversation.'" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1616293.1392567061!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/craigslist17n-4-web.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;" /><h4 class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">WNEP</h4><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Miranda's husband, Elytte Barbour, 22. The pair is charged with killing Troy LaFerrara, 42, a man who answered Miranda's Craigslist ad offering companionship in the form of 'delightful conversation.'</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Miranda then stabbed him 20 times. LeFerrara's body was found in an alley the next day.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Initially, Barbour told police she stabbed the passenger because he groped her and tried to choke her.</div><div class="ym-inline" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ym" id="ym_662210526407498782" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But on Friday, she admitted to the killing, claiming that LaFerrara "said the wrong things and then things got out of control."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I can tell you he was not supposed to be stabbed," <a href="http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/x1708329322/BODY-COUNT-AT-22/?state=taberU" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Barbour told the Daily Item</a>. "My husband was just supposed to strangle him."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Speaking through a jailhouse phone, Barbour told the newspaper LaFerrara was just the latest victim in a multistate killing spree that began at 13 when she joined a satanic cult in Alaska.</div><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><img alt="Barbour told the Daily Item newspaper she killed at least 22 others as part of her involvement in a satanic cult she joined as a teenager in Alaska. So far, police have not been able to back up her claims." src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1616295.1392567063!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/newlyweds-craigslist-killing.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;" /><h4 class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">CHRISTINE BAKER/PENNLIVE.COM/AP</h4><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Barbour told the Daily Item newspaper she killed at least 22 others as part of her involvement in a satanic cult she joined as a teenager in Alaska. So far, police have not been able to back up her claims.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The cult's leader let her tag along on a hit on someone who owed him money, she said.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The unnamed leader shot the man and then handed her the gun to finish him off, she claimed.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I couldn't do it, so he came behind me and he took his hands and put them on top of mine and we pulled the trigger," <a href="http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/x1708329322/BODY-COUNT-AT-22/?state=taberU" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Barbour said</a>.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"And then from there I just continued to kill."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The deranged young mom, who has a daughter from a past lover, claimed to have bodies stashed in California, North Carolina and Texas, as well as Alaska, where most of the murders took place.</div><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><img alt="Cops say Elytte hid the backseat of his wife's Honda and waited for a signal before jumping up and wrapping a cord around LaFerrara's neck. He hung on while Miranda stabbed the man 20 times." src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1616296.1392567064!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/newlyweds-craigslist-killing.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;" /><h4 class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">CHRISTINE BAKER/PENNLIVE.COM/AP</h4><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cops say Elytte hid the backseat of his wife's Honda and waited for a signal before jumping up and wrapping a cord around LaFerrara's neck. He hung on while Miranda stabbed the man 20 times.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Her victims, she told the Daily Item, "did bad things and didn't deserve to be here anymore."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I would lure these people in. I studied them. I learned them and even became their friend," she said.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Saturday, Sunbury police said they were aware of Barbour's claims and were looking into them with help from investigators in other states and the FBI.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So far, there were no reports of any evidence linking Barbour or her husband to any other killings.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Barbour said she had no regrets about killing LaFerrara — or any of the other alleged victims.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If I were to be released, I would do this again," she told the newspaper.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">With News Wire Services</span></div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /></span>

Pennsylvania 'Craigslist killer' says she slayed dozens more across U.S. as part of satanic cult (BLOG)

A Pennsylvania newlywed accused of meeting a man on Craigslist and then stabbing him to death with her husband's help said she killed mo...

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Charlie Sheen engaged to adult film star Brett Rossi (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2oeG2WsklL3iRPXWJ1EHsTi9RManDb-AJClcRGR-4BkgIoE9x5WpfIbXBYE-wOh13yXQpiaZw-E6izTUAwNPH7865TyHQGe9civgHIMX9EJKM0db9kvR4ZWV2FUriy_EgLLINg1mN54/s1600/cha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2oeG2WsklL3iRPXWJ1EHsTi9RManDb-AJClcRGR-4BkgIoE9x5WpfIbXBYE-wOh13yXQpiaZw-E6izTUAwNPH7865TyHQGe9civgHIMX9EJKM0db9kvR4ZWV2FUriy_EgLLINg1mN54/s1600/cha.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There will soon be a Mrs. Winning.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Actor Charlie Sheen announced Saturday he is engaged to adult film star Brett Rossi. Later, his publicist Jeff Ballard confirmed the news with People.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"With all due respect to Donna -- that maiden Klay-Vinn was annulled," Sheen wrote in a statement to the mag referring to his first marriage to Donna Peele, which ended in annulment.</div><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><img alt="Adult film star Brett Rossi arrives for the 2013 XBIZ Awards held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on Jan. 11, 2013 in Century City, Calif." class="" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1615933.1392517398!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/72905052.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;" /><h4 class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">ALBERT L. ORTEGA/WIREIMAGE</h4><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Adult film star Brett Rossi arrives for the 2013 XBIZ Awards held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on Jan. 11, 2013 in Century City, Calif.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The actor was also previously married to Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller.</div><div class="ym-inline" style="border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ym" id="ym_662888673935301733" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Therefore, if 'three' truly is a charm; The mashup/acronym of the real CS, (Charlie & Scottie) HAS to be; 'Char-M-stee...'" he added about his new love Rossi, whose nickname is Scottie.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">First <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2014/02/15/charlie-sheen-brett-rossi-engaged/#ixzz2tRkFzEKD" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">reported by TMZ</a>, the 48-year-old "Anger Management" actor proposed Saturday morning after they flew to Hawaii on a private jet.</div><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><img alt="The couple said they got engaged in Iceland last month but later admitted it was a joke." src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1615939.1392517404!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/sheen16n-3-web.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;" /><h4 class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">BRETT ROSSI VIA TWITTER</h4><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The couple said they got engaged in Iceland last month but later admitted it was a joke.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The former "Two and a Half Men" star joked last month he married Rossi, 24, in Iceland.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sheen's new bride-to-be <a href="https://twitter.com/thebrettrossi/status/434869121830768640/photo/1" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">tweeted a picture of the couple with the ocean in the background</a> Saturday that she captioned with a heart. That followed a <a href="https://twitter.com/thebrettrossi/status/434437533372387328/photo/1" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">picture of roses and a box of chocolates</a> she tweeted Friday.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She did not announce any proposal though she said Friday was the “start of an epic day."</div><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="mailto:jlandau@nydailynews.com" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;">jlandau@nydailynews.com</a> Follow on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/joelzlandau" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">@joelzlandau</a></span></div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /></span>

Charlie Sheen engaged to adult film star Brett Rossi (BLOG)

There will soon be a Mrs. Winning. Actor Charlie Sheen announced Saturday he is engaged to adult film star Brett Rossi. Later, his publicist...

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Chiwetel Ejiofor nabs Best Actor award for ‘12 Years a Slave’ at BAFTA (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZp_ixd-Y1jmvp4bmIOVdubOSXEr9FLCsKlD6yvWTrnUdR8I0hB0mASvKyLw6a1qzRGBQvPC2wpvXwrnNnOi31-ojfRw4rWl5meTS5RXw_SGTKPYa5b0XZnKNPG7Wv7Tw3Fxh3CmNg3yk/s1600/chi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZp_ixd-Y1jmvp4bmIOVdubOSXEr9FLCsKlD6yvWTrnUdR8I0hB0mASvKyLw6a1qzRGBQvPC2wpvXwrnNnOi31-ojfRw4rWl5meTS5RXw_SGTKPYa5b0XZnKNPG7Wv7Tw3Fxh3CmNg3yk/s1600/chi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chiwetel Ejiofor has won the best-actor prize at the British Academy Film awards for unflinching slavery drama "12 Years a Slave."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The British actor thanked director Steve McQueen for bringing to the screen the true story of a free black man kidnapped into servitude in the 19th-century American South.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He told McQueen: "This is yours. I'm going to keep it - that's the kind of guy I am - but it's yours."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The best-actress prize went to Cate Blanchett for her turn as a socialite on the slide in "Blue Jasmine." She dedicated the award to actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died this month.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alfonso Cuaron was named best director for "Gravity" - one of a clutch of prizes for the sci-fi thriller.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Space thriller "Gravity" was named best British movie at the British Academy Film Awards Sunday, taking the first trophy of the night.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The special-effects extravaganza also scooped up early prizes for sound and music.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Made in the U.K. by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron and starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, "Gravity" has 11 nominations in all for Britain's equivalent of the Oscars, and is a favorite to take the overall best-picture prize.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">David O. Russell's con-artist caper "American Hustle" and Steve McQueen's unflinching "12 Years a Slave" are the other front-runners, with 10 nominations apiece.</div><div class="ym-inline" style="border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="ym" id="ym_662888673935301733" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><img alt="Chiwetel Ejiofor won Best Actor for his role in ‘12 Years a Slave.’" class="" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1581606.1389880305!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/oscars17n-10-web.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;" /><h4 class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">JAAP BUITENDIJK/ FOX SEARCHLIGHT</h4><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chiwetel Ejiofor won Best Actor for his role in ‘12 Years a Slave.’</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The supporting actor prize went to Barkhad Abdi, who made an explosive screen debut as a Somali pirate in "Captain Phillips," while Jennifer Lawrence was named best supporting actress for "American Hustle."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"American Hustle" also won the hair and makeup prize for its spectacular 70s stylings, while the "The Great Gatsby" - little-rewarded so far this awards season - took trophies for costumes and production design.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The temperature in London was hardly Hollywood, but Britain's fickle weather relented ahead of Sunday's ceremony. The sun shone as nominees including "Wolf of Wall Street" star Leonardo DiCaprio and "12 Years a Slave" performer Lupita Nyong'o- striking in a green Dior gown - walked the red carpet outside London's Royal Opera House.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Best-actress nominee Amy Adams wore a black dress by Victoria Beckham, and revealed the inspirations for her "American Hustle" character's faux-British accent: "Marianne Faithfull and Julie Christie."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There was royalty of the Hollywood kind - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, wearing matching tuxedos. And there was British royalty, too, in the form of Prince William, honorary president of the film academy.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the past few years, the prizes, known as BAFTAs, have helped underdog films, including "Slumdog Millionaire," "The King's Speech" and "The Artist," gain Oscars momentum. This year, bookmakers have made "12 Years a Slave," which has a British director and a British star, Chiwetel Ejiofor, favorite to take home the best picture and best actor trophies.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Director McQueen said he was "so proud" to be nominated for awards in his home town, London. And he paid tribute to Pitt, a producer on "12 Years," for helping to get the film's uncompromising vision of slavery onscreen.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If you're trying to make a movie like this, you need some heavy backers," McQueen said. He said slavery "happened because of mental violence and physical violence. One has to be honest and truthful."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The BAFTAs have become an essential stop for many Hollywood stars ahead of the Academy Awards, held this year on March 2.</div><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><img alt="‘12 Years a Slave’ garnered 10 BAFTA nominations including Chiwetel Ejiofor's Best Actor win." class="" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1582959.1389976001!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/odds18f-1-web.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;" /><h4 class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">JAAP BUITENDIJK/FOX SEARCHLIGHT</h4><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘12 Years a Slave’ garnered 10 BAFTA nominations including Chiwetel Ejiofor's Best Actor win.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nominees Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench and Sandra Bullock were among those attending Sunday's black-tie ceremony.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This year's best-picture nominees are: "12 Years a Slave"; "Gravity"; "American Hustle"; "Captain Phillips"; and "Philomena," the story of an Irishwoman in search of the son she lost decades earlier.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The separate category of best British film pits "Gravity," "Philomena" and Mary Poppins story "Saving Mr. Banks" against motor-racing drama "Rush," biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" and gritty parable "The Selfish Giant."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The documentary prize went to "The Act of Killing," a powerful look at hundreds of thousands of killings carried out in 1960s Indonesia in the name of fighting communism by death squads that went unpunished. Director Joshua Oppenheimer dedicated the award to his Indonesian co-director and crew, all of whom had to work anonymously because of the threat to their lives in tackling the taboo topic.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Helen Mirren is to receive the British Academy Fellowship in honor of a career that has ranged from a hard-nosed detective in TV series "Prime Suspect" to Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mirren, who won a best-actress Oscar for "The Queen," said she had never expected to get the honor, whose previous recipients include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Elizabeth Taylor and Judi Dench.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I always imagined myself as a bit of an outsider, really, sort of the naughty girl," Mirren said.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mirren, 68, is no stranger to awards, but she said the prospect of making Sunday's acceptance speech was daunting.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You think, `My God, I've got to talk about my whole life,'" she said. "Not only my whole life - what movies mean, what movies mean to me, what they mean to all of us. And do it all in two minutes."</div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>

Chiwetel Ejiofor nabs Best Actor award for ‘12 Years a Slave’ at BAFTA (BLOG)

Chiwetel Ejiofor has won the best-actor prize at the British Academy Film awards for unflinching slavery drama "12 Years a Slave."...

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Simon Cowell -- I Idolize My New Son(BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNrbAnxFp-aWOd-T9jFkJudIBmPv0EU9CDtyt-ZHTqKe2r4ySHa9Gu1PNiIyTRcoTErCZKJw_GDm3ZTizjJV0jhu5UAsYyXhDEW_arhw1ToZ_u7allu0v9bQvKqMIJS4Bc8BGqu0WKa8/s1600/simo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNrbAnxFp-aWOd-T9jFkJudIBmPv0EU9CDtyt-ZHTqKe2r4ySHa9Gu1PNiIyTRcoTErCZKJw_GDm3ZTizjJV0jhu5UAsYyXhDEW_arhw1ToZ_u7allu0v9bQvKqMIJS4Bc8BGqu0WKa8/s1600/simo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600;">Simon Cowell</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> has a male in his life that is actually showing more chest than him -- and his name is Eric.</span><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It's a pretty shocking sight for a man who by all accounts has avoided parenthood for 54 years.</span><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Simon boasted how handsome his son is, adding, "I never knew how much love and pride I would feel."</span><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Simon, L</span><span style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600;">auren Silverman</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> and 2-day-old Eric posed for the pic in the NYC hospital where the kid was born.</span><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So how do you feel today ... looking at a 2-day-old kid who will never have to work a day in his life?</span><span style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /><br />-TMZ</span>

Simon Cowell -- I Idolize My New Son(BLOG)

Simon Cowell  has a male in his life that is actually showing more chest than him -- and his name is Eric. It's a pretty shocking sight ...

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Ellen Page Comes Out as Gay With Inspiring Speech (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03pjE-jSFlSPExtUffkPc-Wo_WZRkPmwAbgf0Qujv3oH6WrkdW7g8jxNgkDHoHQ67B4_nzDmUC-DKXhpoybOsFv0ZHZot_4pUSD3bJlyu3w8lX3QH67zpbAGBXSS9Hk3ZvO4OuiJdyAw/s1600/20140215-ellenpage-600-1392478374.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03pjE-jSFlSPExtUffkPc-Wo_WZRkPmwAbgf0Qujv3oH6WrkdW7g8jxNgkDHoHQ67B4_nzDmUC-DKXhpoybOsFv0ZHZot_4pUSD3bJlyu3w8lX3QH67zpbAGBXSS9Hk3ZvO4OuiJdyAw/s1600/20140215-ellenpage-600-1392478374.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Actress Ellen Page came out as gay on Friday night during a powerful speech delivered at the <a href="http://humanrightscampaign.tumblr.com/" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Human Rights Campaign's</a> Time to Thrive conference in Las Vegas, the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-an-emotional-ellen-page-juno-star-comes-out-at-hrc-conference-20140214,0,5964490.story#axzz2tP8ZR3H4" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a></em> reports.</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">"I'm here today because I am gay," Page told the audience at Bally's Hotel and Casino during the conference dedicated to promoting safety and inclusion for LGBTQ youth. "And because… maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time."</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">With her voice shaking, the 26-year old star of the 2007 indie hit <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Juno</em> and the upcoming <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">X-Men: Days of Future Past</em> revealed the pressure she felt to conform to Hollywood's expectations.</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">"Here I am, an actress, representing – at least in some sense – an industry that places crushing standards on all of us," she said. "Standards of beauty. Of a good life. Of success. Standards that, I hate to admit, have affected me. You have ideas planted in your head, thoughts you never had before, that tell you how you have to act, how you have to dress and who you have to be. I have been trying to push back, to be authentic, to follow my heart, but it can be hard."</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Page discussed what it felt like to have her appearance scrutinized on gossip websites, recalling an instance where wearing sweatpants to the gym raised eyebrows. </div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">"There are pervasive stereotypes about masculinity and femininity that define how we are all supposed to act, dress and speak. They serve no one," she said. "Anyone who defies these so-called ‘norms’ becomes worthy of comment and scrutiny. The LGBT community knows this all too well."</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">She went on to praise football player Michael Sam, actress Lavern Cox and Tegan and Sarah Quinn for their courage, and hailed the educators and counselors at the conference for their work fighting against those attitudes.</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">"You’re here because you’ve adopted as a core motivation the simple fact that this world would be a whole lot better if we just made an effort to be less horrible to one another," she said. "If we took just 5 minutes to recognize each other’s beauty, instead of attacking each other for our differences. That’s not hard. It’s really an easier and better way to live. And ultimately, it saves lives. Then again, it’s not easy at all. It can be the hardest thing, because loving other people starts with loving ourselves and accepting ourselves."</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">"I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission," Page declared toward the end of her speech. "I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I’m standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain. I am young, yes, but what I have learned is that love, the beauty of it, the joy of it and yes, even the pain of it, is the most incredible gift to give and to receive as a human being. And we deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame and without compromise."</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">-RollingStone</div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span>

Ellen Page Comes Out as Gay With Inspiring Speech (BLOG)

Actress Ellen Page came out as gay on Friday night during a powerful speech delivered at the  Human Rights Campaign's  Time to Thrive co...

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The Hunley: Zeroing in on what caused Civil War submarine's sinking (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLgoWCHLLIEmzjh-LBCnp5wT0Z1gSoIoJlyf3wleXLUZkpLNCTR5hHlLsnSG5sGJ2SVbdV8LI6IHhTAgs9V2tdAfvLUUBFH0vMLH9OLwz9dRBoZHKeQ4lvjfLRcv1JtIXgGsvZUUn2NI/s1600/hu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLgoWCHLLIEmzjh-LBCnp5wT0Z1gSoIoJlyf3wleXLUZkpLNCTR5hHlLsnSG5sGJ2SVbdV8LI6IHhTAgs9V2tdAfvLUUBFH0vMLH9OLwz9dRBoZHKeQ4lvjfLRcv1JtIXgGsvZUUn2NI/s1600/hu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(CNN)</strong> -- Born and built amid gray-cloaked secrecy during the American Civil War, the H.L. Hunley -- the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-3.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">first submarine to sink an enemy ship</a> -- has held tight to its murky mysteries.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 150th anniversary of the Hunley's daring and dangerous raid will be marked this weekend and Monday, but the overarching question remains: What caused the submarine and its eight-member crew to slip to the bottom of the sea on the moonlit evening of February 17, 1864, after it signaled to shore a success that changed naval warfare.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Hunley, housed at a laboratory in North Charleston, South Carolina, has yielded its secrets slowly and sparingly, even to researchers armed with the latest in technology.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You are going to be blown away. You are going to look at the face of the submarine for the first time," says Paul Mardikian, the project's senior conservator.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Already, the Hunley impresses visitors who gaze down to a 90,000-gallon freshwater conservation tank. Dive planes and remnants of other submarine components, including ballast tanks, are evidence of the innovation and care of the sub's designers and builders.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Patrons at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center also see the encrusted sediment, known as concretion -- a mix of sand and remains of sea life -- that <a href="http://www.clemson.edu/restoration/wlcc/people/mardikian_paul.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mardikian</a> likens to a "black box."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">By removing the material, he says, researchers will be able to do more precise analysis of holes in the hull and its condition, the Hunley's speed and performance in the Atlantic Ocean and whether gunfire from the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/civilwar/hunley.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">USS Housatonic</a>, its target, contributed to the submarine's demise.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If the submarine was hit by a bullet, you should be able to see that in the metal," says the conservator.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">By combining new findings with previous study, including that of the remains <a href="http://www.hunley.org/main_index.asp?CONTENT=THIRDCREW" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">of the crew</a>, experts believe they will be able to tell the complete story of what happened to the Hunley, which was brought to the surface amid much fanfare in August 2000.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I am confident this is all going to fall into place," says Mardikian.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But don't be surprised if everything falling into place won't result in a "smoking gun" that points to a single cause.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"There may be several things (factors) happening at the same time," according to Mardikian.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.clemson.edu/restoration/wlcc/people/scafuri_michael.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Archaeologist Michael Scafuri</a> says the team is trying to ascertain the truth of what happened that chilly night a few miles offshore from Charleston. But there are no guarantees.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"It is like detective work -- with a really cold case."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The cold case begins in Mobile, Alabama, where the Hunley was built for the Confederate government.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 40-foot vessel, described as "curious" looking and resembling a whale, had watertight hatches, two short conning towers, sea cocks, pumps and ballast tanks.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"This is a case where they settled on what would work. That was hand power."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Confederate officials ordered the Hunley to Charleston, where it and other ships prepared to challenge a blockade of the harbor. The Federal Navy had deprived the Southern city of vital military supplies.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Union fleet was well aware of the Hunley's danger -- to its own occupants.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Five members of the first crew died in August 1863 when it accidentally dived while its hatches apparently were open. The second crew's eight members succumbed in October when the Hunley failed to return to the surface.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Confederate commander of Charleston, concerned about the loss of life and the expense of recovering the Hunley, ordered that any attack be made on the surface. Still, the vessel would be mostly under the water line during an attack.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Still, those who volunteered for the mission against the 205-foot USS Housatonic must have been well aware of the perils when approached by Hunley skipper <a href="http://www.hunley.org/main_index.asp?CONTENT=THIRDCREW#DIXON" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Lt. George Dixon</a>.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"This took some serious bravery here. I wouldn't want to go in there," says forensic genealogist Linda Abrams, who has conducted extensive research on the Hunley crew. "They know some other people had drowned in it. They had to have some faith in Dixon."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dixon and his courageous crew, which included four European-born men, would target the Housatonic, the closest blockade ship.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph35" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dixon routinely kept a worn good-luck charm in his pocket: A gold coin that was bent when he was wounded nearly two years before at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph36" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 2001, the shiny talisman was found in the laboratory, along with Dixon's presumed remains. Only one crew member has been positively identified through DNA tests.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph37" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Menacing object approaches wary ship</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph38" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">On a chilly February evening 150 years ago, the Hunley set out from Breach Inlet, which separates Sullivan's Island and what is now called the Isle of Palms. The vessel churned toward the Housatonic, about 4 miles away, at an estimated speed of 2 to 4 knots.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph39" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the crew members would have been in charge of bellows, providing sufficient air to breathe when the hatches were closed.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph40" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.hunley.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Friends of the Hunley</a>, a nonprofit group established by South Carolina's Hunley Commission, provides a history of the mission on its website.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph41" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"While the cold bit through the lookout's coat ... men poured sweat over hand cranks that powered a spinning propeller while their captain manned the dive planes -- steering man, iron, anxiety and raw courage towards its final destination."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph42" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"A lookout aboard the Union Navy's largest ship was tired, cold -- but restless. Talk of a Confederate secret weapon was in and out of his thoughts. Suddenly he spotted something move in the chilly waters. A porpoise? There were certainly a lot of them around. But something about this one didn't seem right."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph43" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alarms went out on the Housatonic, which carried 12 guns.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph44" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Hunley was too close and low to be hit by artillery fire, so crew and officers of the Union ship fired small arms, rifles and even a shotgun at the approaching menace.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph45" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Once in place, a submarine crew member managed to pull the lanyard for the 135-pound torpedo, attached to a 16-foot spar that was still connected to the Hunley's bow.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph46" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Housatonic sank within minutes.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph47" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Five members of the Union vessel died; 150 others were rescued.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph48" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">All kinds of scenarios for loss of Hunley</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph49" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Union sailor who climbed to the Housatonic's rigging and a Confederate observer on the shore reported seeing a blue light emanating from the Hunley, signaling mission accomplished.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph50" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"That indicates someone was conscious after the sinking of the Housatonic," says Robert Neyland, head of underwater archaeology for the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Naval History and Heritage Command</a> and former director of the Hunley Project.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph51" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But researchers have been unable to precisely pinpoint the source of the light -- whether it came from a lantern or pyrotechnic device that sent out various signal colors. And it's possible the light came from Union rescuers.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph52" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Experts looked at the Hunley's lantern, but found no evidence of blue glass.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph53" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I think it was just Dixon's flashlight, to be honest," says Mardikian, the conservator.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph54" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">One scenario holds that the Hunley was swamped by or struck by a Union vessel. Or that it plunged to the sea floor to avoid detection, and never made it back up. A latch on the forward conning tower was found to be not properly locked.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph55" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In January 2013, Hunley scientists, who work for the <a href="http://www.clemson.edu/restoration/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Clemson University Restoration Institute</a>, reported a significant discovery.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph56" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Until now, the conventional wisdom has been the Hunley would ram the spar torpedo into her target and then back away, causing the torpedo to slip off the spar," they said in a statement.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph57" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Instead, research showed the submarine was less than 20 feet from her torpedo when it exploded.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph58" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"There is overwhelming evidence to indicate this was not a suicide mission. The crew no doubt knew the dangers facing them, but still, they hoped to make it back home. They must have believed this was a safe enough distance to escape any harm," says South Carolina Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell, head of the Hunley Commission.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph59" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">It's possible that the force of the explosion incapacitated the crew, eventually causing the sub to slide down into the chilly depths. Even a small hole or holes could have allowed water to seep or pour in.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph60" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Everything we have tried to explain (as to) how the submarine worked, we were naïve in our approach," says Mardikian.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph61" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Researchers at the lab, while excavating the sub's interior silt that held the the human remains, found the eight Hunley crew members were still at or near their stations, despite an unsealed forward hatch.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph62" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We don't see evidence of anyone trying to get out of the submarine. It could have been something catastrophic or they died with a certain amount of resignation," Neyland says.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph63" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Detailed examinations of the well-preserved remains of the crew looked for the tiniest of fractures or evidence of concussion. "We did not find any unhealed injuries to their skeletons," says Scafuri, the Hunley Project archeologist.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph64" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The team is still gathering and analyzing data on the physics and effects of the detonation on the Hunley and its doomed crew, he says. It also continues to analyze the source of holes in the hull, possibly from battle damage or exposure to currents and underwater conditions.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph65" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ongoing efforts to learn more about sub, crew</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph66" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 1995, the Hunley was finally located by a group led by author Clive Cussler. It rested in several feet of silt, largely protected from strong currents and the most corrosive effects of saltwater. The environment, mostly free of oxygen, left the skeletal remains and artifacts in amazing condition.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph67" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The submarine was brought to the surface five years later and was quickly placed back in protective water at the Lasch laboratory.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph68" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The federal and South Carolina governments have contributed an estimated $9 million or so between them on the recovery, lab and research. The Hunley, considered a spoil of war, is the property of the U.S. Navy.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph69" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">About 40,000 visitors a year marvel at the Hunley, see exhibits and peer at facial reconstructions of the crew members.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph70" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Researchers found personal artifacts, including a wallet, watch, bandana, matchsticks and remains of tobacco pipes.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph71" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">One mystery was answered relatively early in the excavation and conservation process.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph72" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"They didn't know whether these guys had escaped and tried to swim to shore," genealogist Abrams says of the Hunley crew. "Or whether they had been taken captive. There was no concrete knowledge that they were still inside."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph73" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Inside the sub, scientists found human hair, complete skeletons and skulls of eight people -- debunking one part of the legend that held that nine men were on board.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph74" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Abrams has spent years trying to learn more about the crew. She has learned a great deal, but is hampered by the fact that only one is known to have married and have children. And there are no known photographs of any.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph75" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kellen Correia, executive director of Friends of the Hunley, says she expects a permanent museum to be built around the end of the decade, with expanded days of operation, instead of the current weekends.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph76" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">For the anniversary of the attack, the first 150 visitors on Saturday and Sunday receive free replicas of Lt. Dixon's gold coin, which is on permanent display. Admission on Monday, the actual anniversary, is $1.50, compared to the normal $12 ticket.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph77" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Abrams, the genealogist, was to share her latest research on the crew at a $50 Saturday evening reception.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph78" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">At 7 p.m. Monday -- timed to the hour the Hunley was making its way toward the Housatonic -- a memorial service will be held at Sunrise Presbyterian Church near Breach Inlet for those killed on both warships. Participants will then drop flowers into the water in remembrance.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph79" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Correia is accustomed to debates over the Hunley's demise.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph80" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I love that it engages people," she says. "You know why the Titanic went down. With this, you don't have that known factor."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph81" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div>

The Hunley: Zeroing in on what caused Civil War submarine's sinking (BLOG)

(CNN)  -- Born and built amid gray-cloaked secrecy during the American Civil War, the H.L. Hunley -- the  first submarine to sink an enemy s...

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This Warms The Cockles Of My Black Little Heart

If I had more room in my garage I think I would start making torches by the truck load, we're going to need 'em.<br /><br /><br /><br />Even though this is Portland, home of the weird and proud of it, I gotta give 'em points for style.<br /><br />Excessive homelessness is a symptom of the economic disaster currently underway and Portland has been going round and round with this issue for many years now.<br />The city would allocate a place for a homeless camp and then bad things would happen and they would close it.<br />For years now they have been playing cat and mouse with this issue and last year it got so bad they were sleeping in front of City Hall, blocking foot traffic.<br /><br />Can't be having that you know.<br />Then the Mayor got his knickers in a bunch and sent in the cops and here we are, yet again, except this time they decided to get a better visual to send their message. <br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/14/portland-homelessness-illegal_n_4790205.html"><b><br /><blockquote>Angry Residents Wave Pitchforks, Torches In Protest Of Mayor's Crackdown On Homelessness</blockquote></b></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaYghUZ6oFgZehFxo_wMaUXUGMxdDht8bA8xs0X38j8JZvJ30ORF-38cp1SAHLpX27ZC8G0GqkDAD2HM3375IiNscEiwECnT2U9kAd2XgU4pjTTAzIrQKx1o5QTBPGQwAtQRujM6oLRsu/s1600/BgQqvOPCUAAu54D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaYghUZ6oFgZehFxo_wMaUXUGMxdDht8bA8xs0X38j8JZvJ30ORF-38cp1SAHLpX27ZC8G0GqkDAD2HM3375IiNscEiwECnT2U9kAd2XgU4pjTTAzIrQKx1o5QTBPGQwAtQRujM6oLRsu/s640/BgQqvOPCUAAu54D.jpg" /></a></div><blockquote>A group of fired-up activists in Portland, Ore., who were tired of seeing homeless people being mistreated staged the kind of protest that will be difficult for the mayor to ignore.<br /><br />An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them.<br /><br />So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," organizer Jessie Sponberg told The Oregonian. <br /><br /><br /><br />Porltand Homelessness Portland Oregon Portland Homeless Protest Portland Criminalizing Homelessness Criminalizing Homelessness Portland Film the Police Portland Impact News<br /><br />A group of fired-up activists in Portland, Ore., who were tired of seeing homeless people being mistreated staged the kind of protest that will be difficult for the mayor to ignore.<br /><br />An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them.<br /><br />So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," organizer Jessie Sponberg told The Oregonian.<br /><br />Portland appears to be gearing up to revive a bill that would allow police to rouse homeless people sitting on sidewalks, The Oregonian reported at the end of last year. In July, Mayor Charlie Hales launched an effort to clear out homeless campsites, according to the Portland Mercury.<br /><br />Sweeping campsites often exacerbates the situation for people living on the streets because the police discard homeless people’s few possessions, which may include their only warm clothing and blankets, advocates noted in a Change.org petition.<br /><br />But Hales told The Oregonian in August that he plans on balancing the crackdown on homeless camps with increasing funding for overnight shelters. But he didn’t commit to a spending figure.<br /><br />"This is not about homelessness," the mayor told the paper about the anti-camping law. "It's about lawlessness."<br /><br />Hordes of advocates have continued to voice their concerns about the extensive measures, but Film the Police Portland -- a grassroots advocacy group -- took their protest beyond just handing out petitions.<br /><br />The group of about 50 protesters set up shop at City Hall on Tuesday, waving pitchforks and torches. They turned the surrounding gardens into a cemetery scene to signify the number of homeless people who have frozen to death, Sponberg wrote on his Facebook page. </blockquote><br />The current Mayor needs to realize that this issue is not going to be swept under the rug and ignored yet again and should find a more permanent solution.<br />There have been many good ideas floated over the years but it always comes down to money.<br /><br />Seems to be a circle here, that's why the homeless people are there in the first place.<br /><br />

This Warms The Cockles Of My Black Little Heart

If I had more room in my garage I think I would start making torches by the truck load, we're going to need 'em. Even though this is...

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Trapped miners being freed from South African mine (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgacRq7kDOFGD0hb0Ph04giHnp-SALEIJaFIrXuTVzwImaKoEarEl0ROszevEQpnxxhT8u2nb39Ol705FcUR_9yd3mO_qbcDhJwv1GAXbtSjTff43_XUP5dufM04atRvnt0mFWmYXRjSes/s1600/miners.jpe" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgacRq7kDOFGD0hb0Ph04giHnp-SALEIJaFIrXuTVzwImaKoEarEl0ROszevEQpnxxhT8u2nb39Ol705FcUR_9yd3mO_qbcDhJwv1GAXbtSjTff43_XUP5dufM04atRvnt0mFWmYXRjSes/s1600/miners.jpe" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(CNN)</strong> -- Rescuers are gradually freeing more and more miners Sunday who have been trapped in a mine in South Africa since Saturday.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The mine is an abandoned gold mine in Benoni, just outside Johannesburg, and it was being worked illegally. Boulders blocking the miners from exiting the mine have been removed, according to South Africa's rescue service ER24. It is unclear if rescue crews can now assist all the trapped miners, or only those trapped closer to the top of the shaft.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Earlier, 30 miners at the top of the shaft told emergency teams that more than 200 other miners are trapped farther down the mine's shaft.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Initially ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said that a rockslide trapped the miners. But Govan Whittles, a reporter for South Africa Eyewitness News at the scene, said the miners told rescuers that a rival group dropped boulders down the shaft to trap them.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police looking for illegal dumping heard the men crying for help. The miners said they had been trapped since Saturday afternoon, ER24 said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gold-rich South Africa has repeatedly warned its citizens against trying to dig into old mines. Illegal mining "poses a danger not only to the miners themselves, but to the communities, as well as the economy and existing mines," Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said in September.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">South Africa's Parliament has discussed legalizing the illegal mines to allow the miners to earn a living, but the cost of bringing the mines up to modern safety codes could be prohibitive.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div>

Trapped miners being freed from South African mine (BLOG)

(CNN)  -- Rescuers are gradually freeing more and more miners Sunday who have been trapped in a mine in South Africa since Saturday. The min...

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Powerball estimated jackpot surges to $400M (BLOG)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixR7cwVtlKtwiaBAVhaJU-mHwhv0fWw4qhpMwt9bOMudhReL20Tlp1ejCt58wL4cE-7GTa1cjR-yCVQL03AaufUTimYlXVLeRrSeWN_-bteZZ4keqYqPqj9HHo6MmAJa06BxoR1kNEaqw/s1600/po.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixR7cwVtlKtwiaBAVhaJU-mHwhv0fWw4qhpMwt9bOMudhReL20Tlp1ejCt58wL4cE-7GTa1cjR-yCVQL03AaufUTimYlXVLeRrSeWN_-bteZZ4keqYqPqj9HHo6MmAJa06BxoR1kNEaqw/s1600/po.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16143" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Without a Powerball jackpot winner this weekend, the prize has climbed to $400 million.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16153" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Lottery officials said no one matched all six numbers for Saturday's $330.8 million drawing.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16169" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The next drawing — worth $400 million or $227.8 million in cash value — is Wednesday. The current jackpot began its ascent at the end of 2013.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16179" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Changes to the top lottery games have the jackpots reaching fantasy-inducing levels. In the case of Powerball, officials increased the ticket prices from $1 to $2 in January 2012, as well as raising starting jackpots to $40 million.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16189" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">More than half of the top 10 prizes in U.S. lottery history have occurred since 2012, according to statistics provided by the Multi-State Lottery Association.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16199" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The second-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history came in December, a $636 million Mega Millions prize. There were two winning tickets in that drawing, one in San Jose, Calif., and the other in Atlanta.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16283" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The odds of matching all six numbers in Powerball are 1 in about 175 million, according to statistics from the Multi-State Lottery Association in Iowa.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1392529577478_16268" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Powerball is played in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.</div>

Powerball estimated jackpot surges to $400M (BLOG)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Without a Powerball jackpot winner this weekend, the prize has climbed to $400 million. Lottery officials said no on...

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China's Growth Story: Running on Vapor (Musical Tribute)

The following chart shows the US trade deficit with China divided by the price of crude oil (annualized billions of barrels).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3V0gnDdfGa6qb8oWMnpWLQQsPtnbuNWIx_xVnyio_oQpcQJGoXTtjhXZfIeRgrMNUHToXS-65TN5rpVZhNNqLW97mP5fDbwOO19JiJ5Rvi4LGY_0HNl9U5sjezKW-haIiqtxZpB9LZI/s1600/China%2527s+Growth+Story+-+Running+on+Vapor.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3V0gnDdfGa6qb8oWMnpWLQQsPtnbuNWIx_xVnyio_oQpcQJGoXTtjhXZfIeRgrMNUHToXS-65TN5rpVZhNNqLW97mP5fDbwOO19JiJ5Rvi4LGY_0HNl9U5sjezKW-haIiqtxZpB9LZI/s320/China%2527s+Growth+Story+-+Running+on+Vapor.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />It shows the amount of oil China could buy if they were to use their entire trade surplus with us to do so. That's assuming the price of oil would not be driven even higher in response to increased purchases of course, which is no doubt a bad assumption.<br /><br />The next chart plots the natural log so that constant exponential growth can be seen as a straight line.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHB86O9CPyf2LVL7KNZau4DA9Mz4x8pZ6q0tZQSjslQNQGP6k7S10XvuLYwY8Yewovofhl11cL2pXxabck0FZnQEckJ_8Fa9PPw5uZJw9ipOC6iuDONEVtcAl6I3ERmy0OA21o36CU-Tw/s1600/China%2527s+Growth+Story+-+Running+on+Vapor+%2528Natural+Log%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHB86O9CPyf2LVL7KNZau4DA9Mz4x8pZ6q0tZQSjslQNQGP6k7S10XvuLYwY8Yewovofhl11cL2pXxabck0FZnQEckJ_8Fa9PPw5uZJw9ipOC6iuDONEVtcAl6I3ERmy0OA21o36CU-Tw/s320/China%2527s+Growth+Story+-+Running+on+Vapor+%2528Natural+Log%2529.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />China "sent" us ever increasing amounts of stuff that we want, yet we do not seem to be returning the favor by sending them ever increasing amounts of the stuff that they want (barrels of oil). Note that I used "sent" instead of "sends." The next chart explains why. It shows the annual growth rate of imports from China.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hbFLfMltgoOmYPEdeAn62ImRwb_NBaqpkgXlH3UmWHBFVIfRYDMjj9AyluZWKVrJLyuBf7KOaQnG8DjuxOUevqBBptdi048Z7ef_vVwL5fD4HvmZrmcFSZ5qGaiKEY-DyJ-gMW336BE/s1600/Imports+from+China+%28YoY+Growth%29.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1hbFLfMltgoOmYPEdeAn62ImRwb_NBaqpkgXlH3UmWHBFVIfRYDMjj9AyluZWKVrJLyuBf7KOaQnG8DjuxOUevqBBptdi048Z7ef_vVwL5fD4HvmZrmcFSZ5qGaiKEY-DyJ-gMW336BE/s320/Imports+from+China+(YoY+Growth).jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />As seen in the chart, the nominal growth rate is just about dead now. The growth rate in the middle of the channel is roughly 0%, which oddly enough is what the Fed feels short-term interest rates should be over an "extended period."<br /><br /><b>ZIRP-a-Dee-Doo-Dah</b><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="236" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/6bWyhj7siEY" width="420"></iframe><br /><br />For what it is worth, I am not even remotely bullish on China (<a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2007/11/savvy-chinese-know-exactly-when-bubble.html">nor have I been since starting this blog in 2007</a>). I also don't believe that I will ever feel the need to bribe a border guard to let me on the last plane to China. You know, as a desperate attempt to protect my future standard of living and freedoms (Patriot Act notwithstanding). Sigh.<br /><br />This is not investment advice.<br /><br /><b>Source Data:</b><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=saw">St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart #1</a><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=sax">St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart #2</a><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=saE">St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart #3</a>

China's Growth Story: Running on Vapor (Musical Tribute)

The following chart shows the US trade deficit with China divided by the price of crude oil (annualized billions of barrels). Click to enlar...

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Meet the man who doesn't believe a collapse is coming

<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The United States of America is too big to fail</span></b><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiifUy3JgNchcLu4PQQCuqI_BbaAXKt-Ab9Ks91lLlcbeOEHZPvB_G1mvddEGO0M3vJj69KKop7KqWSTs2ELkJDoX9fmNMiIVE0pOL64TqG4gTD86rb4gJ-Rmc1uOPuE2DL6ZM5py9ECYc/s1600/american-flag1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiifUy3JgNchcLu4PQQCuqI_BbaAXKt-Ab9Ks91lLlcbeOEHZPvB_G1mvddEGO0M3vJj69KKop7KqWSTs2ELkJDoX9fmNMiIVE0pOL64TqG4gTD86rb4gJ-Rmc1uOPuE2DL6ZM5py9ECYc/s1600/american-flag1.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b><span style="font-size: large;">unlimited debt reserves </span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size: large;">largest military in the world</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size: large;">largest economy in the world</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size: large;">the reserve currency of the world </span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size: large;">largest brand name in the world</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-size: large;">largest energy reserves in the world</span></b></li></ul></div><b>Kerry Lutz is one of the Liberty Masterminds that will speak at the Liberty Mastermind Symposium in Las Vegas on February 21 and 22nd soon.  I wonder if he will be well received after this interview?  He might have some explaining to do:</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2Al_uFHLimA?feature=player_detailpage" width="640"></iframe></div>

Meet the man who doesn't believe a collapse is coming

The United States of America is too big to fail unlimited debt reserves largest military in the world largest economy in the world the rese...

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