Jet Slams A Building

Officials have confirmed that a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet has crashed in Virginia after taking off from U.S. Naval Air Station Oceana, with the two pilots believed to have ejected before impact.

U.S. Navy Captain Mark Weisgerber has confirmed that the jet suffered a "catastrophic mechanical malfunction," shortly after takeoff but has not released specifics of what may have caused the crash. Weisgerber said that both pilots are reportedly conscious and "doing well."
There are currently no reports of fatalities on the ground. Several photos have emerged from the crash, showing the wreckage and black smoke rising from nearby buildings. Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms has said that rescue crews have completed a search of two of the five buildings impacted by the crash.
Virginia Beach EMS division chief Bruce Nedelka said several witnesses saw the pilots dumping fuel from the jet before ejecting, which likely avoided a massive fireball and fire.
Yahoo News has made several calls to the Virginia Fire Department but has been unable to obtain an official statement. In an interview with CBS News, Tim Riley of the Virginia Beach Fire Department said:
"We are confirming that there is one aircraft from Oceana that has crashed into the apartment behind us. Both pilots were transported to a local hospital and both were conscious, that's all I'm going to report on that."
"In the apartment complex we do not have any confirmation yet of injuries. We are still in the stages of extinguishing the fire and we have to do some extensive searches in those buildings."
Riley said the department is working on an unified press release that will be issued to the public shortly.
Additional updates posted after the jump...

Virginia Department of Transportation traffic cameras showed black smoke rising from the Birdneck Road area of Virginia Beach at 12:30 p.m. local time, FoxNews reports.

MSNBC is reporting that a local witness told the network the jet crashed into a local two-story apartment building. They are also reporting that two individuals have been admitted to nearby Sentara Virginia Beach Hospital in connection with the crash, according to a public information officer at the facility. One of the individuals is reportedly one of the two pilots who ejected from the plane, while another is a civilian who is suffering from smoke inhalation.

"He was in shock and still strapped to his seat," Volunteer rescue squad member Pat Kavanaugh told CNN affiliate WTKR.

David Schleck of the Virginian Pilot tells MSNBC that several witnesses saw both parachutes descending in the air, with both parachutes being caught in buildings above ground. One of the pilots was reportedly still attached to his parachute, which was entangled with the burning apartment building. Schleck says a local neighborhood child was able to obtain a knife that was reportedly used to free the Navy pilot.

Source:CNN FOX 9 NEWS AND CBS NEWS

Superstar Sucide

One of the nation's top baseball prospects, a bright student headed to Vanderbilt, was found dead along the side of a Tennessee road on Tuesday after an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, sending shockwaves throughout the Volunteer State baseball community. Riverside pitcher Stephen Gant — Flickr As reported by the Jackson Sun, the Nashville City Paper and a variety of other Nashville-area news sources, Parsons (Tenn.) Riverside High ace Stephen Gant was found dead in Perry County shortly after the local sheriff's office had been called about a man walking up and down the road with a gun threatening to commit suicide. "We found the body of Stephen Gant about 30 feet from the roadway with a gunshot wound," Perry County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Nick Weems told the Sun. "We do believe at this time that it was self-inflicted; however, we will continue to investigate to look at other possibilities to make sure it was suicide." To call Gant's death a stunning turn of events is a vast understatement. The senior was a Vanderbilt signee with what many anticipated would be a bright future at one of the nation's most impressive college baseball programs. In all three of his prep seasons he had been named the Sun's Baseball Player of the Year, a remarkable achievement in a tough Tennessee baseball region. In fact, Gant's arm was so strong that some had even penciled the senior in as a likely first round draft pick in the forthcoming MLB draft. On Tuesday, the communities that knew him and were looking forward to his arrival were still struggling to come to grips with the teenager's tragic death, as Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin made clear in a statement released to the press. "This stops you right in your tracks," Corbin said in the release. "These are life occurrences that can't be explained ... there are no 'do-overs.' "We are all deeply saddened for Gloria, Tony, his brothers and sister as well as the many friends that Stephen had. All we can do is be supportive for the family and be there for them."

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Romney vs Obama who will win?

(Justin Sullivan/Getty)

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum verbally circled April 24 (the Pennsylvania primary, 71 delegates at stake) and May 29 (the Texas primary, 155 delegates at stake) on his nomination calendar Tuesday night in his speech to supporters. But those goals fail to reflect the reality that he has now slid into irrelevancy in the race.

Perhaps the most important words from the Santorum camp Tuesday night  came not from the candidate, but from his senior strategist. "We think regardless of results today, Pennsylvania becomes the make-or-break state for both candidates," John Brabender told the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza.

That certainly invites the Romney campaign and its Super PAC allies to unload a ton of cash to dominate the TV airwaves in the Keystone State in hopes of delivering a knockout punch on April 24. A Quinnipiac University poll out this week showed Santorum's lead in his home state has dwindled down to six points as he heads into a three week stretch without any debates or intervening primary nights to inject new momentum into his bid.

[Related: Wisconsin, Maryland voters still mixed on GOP nominee]

However, after Romney's clean sweep in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, a Santorum knockout is not required for Romney to take on the role of presumptive Republican nominee. And both Romney and President Barack Obama have shifted their attention, and their rhetoric, to November.

For all the positive talk from Romney about his private sector experience and Obama's boastful ticking through his first-term accomplishments before adoring and financially generous Democrats at fundraisers around the country, it became clear this week that the beginning stages of the general election battle will be largely presented through the negative frames each side is building around the other.

Romney has put forth a three-pronged characterization of President Obama aimed at sowing serious doubt among Americans about his stewardship of the country.  In Romney's telling, President Obama is an enemy of business and free enterprise willing to pile on more debt to fund a larger federal government, a failed leader who constantly attempts to assign blame for the country's economic woes, and (in an act of political jujitsu) a man who has lost touch with most Americans.

[Related: Obama assails Ryan budget as 'thinly veiled social Darwinism']

"It's enough to make you think that years of flying around on Air Force One, surrounded by an adoring staff of True Believers telling you what a great job you are doing, well, that might be enoughto make you a little out of touch," Romney said last night in Milwaukee.

Romney's personal wealth has been a major target for the Obama campaign and its allies, who paint him as a candidate unable to relate to middle class Americans. In his Tuesday victory speech, Romney made clear he had no plans of ceding that ground to the president.

For his part, President Obama used his speech before publishers and editors at the annual Associated Press conference in Washington, D.C., Tuesday to frame Romney as interested in protecting the privileged class with lower taxes at the expense of decimating government programs upon which the elderly and the low-income rely and investments in education, energy and infrastructure.

"So we tried this theory out. And you would think that after the results of this experiment in trickle-down economics, after the results were made painfully clear, that the proponents of this theory might show some humility, might moderate their views a bit," President Obama said. "But that's exactly the opposite of what they've done. Instead of moderating their views even slightly, the Republicans running Congress right now have doubled down, and proposed a budget so far to the right it makes the Contract with America look like the New Deal," he added, and then went on to tie Romney to the House Republican budget.

[Related: Palin's advice for Romney: Don't be afraid to go 'rogue' with VP choice]

The Obama team has made clear it has no intention in letting up on the caricature of Romney as a car-elevator-owning, offshore-account-possessing man so rich he couldn't possibly understand the economic plight facing most of his fellow citizens. And Romney made clear Tuesday he's just as willing to go negative on the president.

It is through those opposing negative narratives, far more than either candidate's prescriptive positive vision for the future, that the general election contest between Romney and Obama will take shape.

Source:ABC

Is George Zimmerman Racist?

Enhanced video footage of George Zimmerman being taken into custody less than 30 minutes after he shot and killed Florida teenTrayvon Martin shows the neighborhood watch captain with an injury to the back of his head.
The never-before-seen evidence of an injury to Zimmerman, in this case a gash or mark to his head, would appear to back his claim that he shot Martin in self defense after he was attacked by Martin on the night of Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla
Zimmerman, 28, claims Martin, 17, punched him in the nose, knocked him down and repeatedly slammed his head into the ground.
The police surveillance video, first obtained exclusively by ABC News last month and clarified by Forensic Protection, Inc., shows Zimmerman exiting the police cruiser with his hands cuffed behind his back. Zimmerman is frisked and then led down a series of hallways, still cuffed. At one point, one of the officers stops to look briefly at the back of Zimmerman's head.
There was no obvious sign of any injury to Zimmerman's head or face on the video until it was enhanced. But the enhanced video does not show any visible injury to Zimmerman's nose, nor any signs of blood on his shirt.
Police Video Surveillance of George Zimmerman
The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose, and his lawyer later claimed that Zimmeran suffered a broken nose. After receiving medical attention at the scene of the shooting, it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford, Fla., police station for questioning. He did not check into the emergency room following the police questioning.
The surveillance tape of Zimmerman, later released by the Sanford Police Department, could be used as evidence if Zimmerman is brought up on charges, sources tell ABC News.
Zimmerman's lawyer, Craig Sonner, has said his client felt "one of them was going to die that night," when he pulled the trigger.
The case has gained national prominence with rallies across the country demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with murder.
Lawyers for Martin's family sent a letter to the Justice Department today asking that the federal probe into the killing look into the fact that Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee met with State Attorney Norm Wolfinger on the night of shooting. Lawyer Benjamin Crump also claims in the letter that members of Zimmerman's family were also present in the police station that night.
The lead homicide investigator, Chris Serino, wrote in an affidavit that he recommended manslaughter charges be brougth against Zimmerman but was advised by the prosecutor not to file charges because there was not enough evidence for a conviction, sources have told ABC News.

"We look forward to your thorough and comprehensive review of the suspicious circumstances surrounding this meeting," Crump wrote.

State prosecutors are expected to go before a Seminole County grand jury on April 10 to determine what, if any, files should be charged.
An analysis of a 911 call done over the weekend by the Orlando Sentinel determined that screams for help overhead on a 911 came from Martin, although Zimmerman's family insist they recognize his voice in the screams.
Two evidence experts consulted by the Sentinel found the voice heard in a 911 call placed by a woman in a home near where the shooting occurred was only a 48 percent match to Zimmerman's voice. One of the experts, Tom Owen, told the Sentinel to reach a positive match he would expect higher than 90 percent.

"As a result of that, you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it's not Zimmerman," Owen told the paper.

Owen,the chair emeritus at the American Board of Record Evidence, was not able to determine if the voice was that of Martin, the Sentinel reports, because he did not have audio of the teen's voice to compare to the shouts for help in the 911 call.

Source: ABC

High Speed Travel?

, David Miller & Mark Monroy | This Could Be Big – 7 hrs ago

Let's say it's the fourth of July, and the Clintons have invited you to their house in Westchester, New York to shoot off some fireworks and have a barbeque. From Grand Central station in New York City, it would take you an hour to get there by train. Well, imagine being able to travel to London in less time to meet the Queen for tea at Buckingham palace.

A licensing organization called ET3 believes that day isn't far off. They hold a patent to Evacuated Tube Technology or ETT and say that with their tubes, you will eventually be able to get you from New York to Beijing in 2 hours and from New York to London in less than an hour.

Their six person capsules would travel on frictionless magnetic levitation tracks, through air-less vacuum tubes reaching a maximum speed of 4,000 miles per hour. At that speed you could spend the day comparing noodles in China to Pasta in Italy and back to New York in time for cheesecake, all in the same day.

Now before you start making dinner reservations in Tuscany and sending out an RSVP to the Royal Family, this technology is still a concept and it's not clear when it will be operational. The first prototype is being built by researchers at Southwest Jiaotong University in China, who licensed ET3's technology and have worked with the founder of the company to build it.

If you're interested in getting involved, it's an open source technology and you can buy a lifetime license for a hundred dollars allowing you to propose and bid on related construction of the rails.

Source: ABC News

Trayvon Martin v.s George Zimmermen

What can I say about Trayvon Martin, well he was 17 years old and played for his school's varsity football team . But in just a few minutes he lost everything he worked for throughout his life. It all happened during the half time of a big ten game he left the game to buy a snack for himself. On his way back the neighborhood patrol officer George Zimmerman saw Trayvon walking back to the stadium with his hoodie on. He called 911 and explained the situation, but was told to stop pursuing Trayvon. He ignored the officer who spoke to him and kept on pursuing Trayvon. When Trayvon saw that George was after him he started running away from him. George ran after him and shot him in the backyard of some one's house. That person heard the gunshot and called 911. Minutes later there were police officers, ambulances and detectives on the scene that is after Trayvon died just minutes before that he was having fun possibly watching the first live big ten game of his life. It is said that George Zimmerman was already known as a racist. But after that night of February 26th 2012 he is known as a racist cold blooded murderer all across the U.S. After reading a few articles and watching people speaking about this topic on t.v, I believe that George Zimmerman should be charged for 2nd degree murder and hate crime.

Sources: CNN, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, ABC News, New York Times and Huffington Post.

Hunger games v.s Twilight

Making history, Lionsgate's The Hunger Games opened to an astounding $155 million at the domestic box office, the third-best debut of all time and the best for any film opening outside of summer.

Hunger Games -- the big-screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling young-adult novel starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth -- also reeled in the biggest opening for a nonsequel.
"It was the perfect storm. Having the first film in a franchise to be so gigantic is amaing. We had a great book and a great director in Gary Ross," said Lionsgate president of marketing Tim Palen, whose team is credited with a savvy campaign.
Domestic box-office revenues were up a whopping 78 percent from a year ago, thanks to the might of Hunger Games, which changes the fortunes of Lionsgate and gives the studio an instant tentople franchise. Lionsgate will make three more films by splitting the final book in Collins' trilogy into two movies.
Overseas, Hunger Games turned in a more muted performance for a solid bow of $59.3 million from 67 markets. The foreign tally, which came in ahead of the international debut of the first Twilight film, puts Hunger Games' worldwide opening at $214.3 million.
Hunger Games is projected to place No. 1 in virtually every foreign market, but it did best in English-speaking territories, particularly Australia, wehre it debuted to $6.7 million. Hunger Games turned in $7.5 million in the U.K. despite unseasonably warm weather, which often keeps consumers outside.
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes of THR's 'Hunger Games' Cover Shoot
In North America, the tentpole came in not far behind the $158.4 million earned by The Dark Knight in its July 2008 debut. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 holds the record for best debut with $169.2 million in summer 2011.
Among the past films that Hunger Games surpassed in its opening weekend were Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million in 2007), The Twilight Saga: New Moon ($142.8 million in 2009) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 ($138.1 million last year).
PHOTOS: 'Hunger Games' Mall Tour
Hunger Games drew an A CinemaScore overall on Friday night, with those under age 25 giving it a glowing A+ and those over 25 an A-. Tweens and teens turned out in force for the film, with 39 percent of the audience younger than 18, according to CinemaScore exit polling.
Part of the movie's strength is that it is appealing to males as well as females, unlike the femme-heavy Twilight franchise, another blockbuster film property based on a young-adult book series. Males made up 39 percent of Hunger Games' Friday night audience.
"The numbers just kept growing and growing. And based on the trajectory of the weekend, we are going to have an unbelievable hold. We are going to play and play," Lionsgate executive vp distribution David Spitz said. "I think that when we initially looked at this property, we thought we were going to have Twilight numbers in terms of females, but we didn't."
Hunger Games also played like a family film, evidenced by its strong Friday to Saturday hold. The film fell a narrow 25 percent, while the Twilight and Harry Potter films fall anywhere from 44 percent to 60 percent.
According to CinemaScore, 49 percent of those showing up to see Hunger Games were under age 25; Lionsgate's exit polling showed that 44 percent were under 25.
PHOTOS: 10 Pre-'Hunger Games' Top International Film Franchises
Hunger Games played in  4,137 theaters at the domestic box office, including 268 Imax theaters, which turned in a hefty $10.6 milion for a per-screen average of $40,000, a record for a 2D nonsequel.
Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Sony and MGM's Jonah Hill-Channing Tatum comedy 21 Jump Street stayed strong its opening weekend despite Hunger Games. The R-rated pic fell 41 percent to $21.3 million, putting its domestic cume at a heady $71.1 million.
Universal and Illumination's Dr. Seuss' The Lorax came in No. 3, grossing $13.1 million in its fourth weekend for an enviable domestic gross of $177.3 million.

-Yahoo

N.E.R.F

A stalwart of toy store shelves for over four decades, the soft, safe foam of Nerf has proven a huge boon to indoor active play, saving countless fragile ornaments from being smashed to bits by kids who ignore the whole "don't play ball in the house" rule.
But who came up with the squishy stuff in the first place? What's the best Nerf gun around? And just where does that strange name come from? Read on, and find out.

What does Nerf mean, anyway?

Styled in Hasbro's trademarks as "NERF," this monosyllable is actually an acronym. And tempting though it is to think up creative guesses for what the letters actually stand for, the truth is a little more prosaic. It's actually "Non-Expanding Recreational Foam," after the supple, air-bubble-filled plastic foam that gives Nerf its characteristically cushy feel.
It shares an inventor with Twister.

Inventor Reynolds Guyer struck upon Twister in 1965 while working on an ad campaign for children's shoes. It was an immediate hit. Flushed with success, he then came up with a caveman-themed game involving hiding money under rubber rocks, and throwing said rocks at other players. Predictably, players found that chucking rocks was far more fun than hiding money, and Nerf as we know it was born.
[New Twister coming this fall]
So the story goes, anyhow. The details are a little sketchy, but this much is certain: the Nerf line started with a four-inch ball marketed on its safety for indoor play, and was a massive success; four million were sold in its first year of availability. Over the last 40 years, the range expanded to include sports toys, water guns, video games, and toy swords, but these days it's all about the award-winning Nerf toy guns.
What's the best Nerf gun?

Fortunately for fans, this is one hobby where getting the best isn't all that expensive; even the fanciest of Nerf shooters stays well under $100.
But for our money the most impressive Nerf shooter is easily the Vulcan. Battery-powered, tripod-mounted, holding 25 darts, and with both single-shot and full-auto fire modes, it's every bit as potent as its butch, action-movie looks imply. Just make sure you have plenty of ammo, because it'll blow through all 25 shots in just over eight seconds. If you're standing at the pointy end of this behemoth, you'll know.
Today's Nerf gun is tomorrow's TV prop.

Nerf guns sports seriously cool looks. So much so, in fact, that they've shown up as props in at least one big-budget TV show: alongside the dinosaurs and time-traveling shenanigans in last year's Terra Nova. Both altered and unaltered Nerf weapons were used as futuristic firearms in various episodes of the show, although the production team at least went to the trouble to paint the day-glo toys black. Perhaps they didn't want to startle the dinos.
It's part of gamer slang.

In the confusing lingo of massively-multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft or Star Wars: The Old Republic, "nerf" has taken on a new meaning. Used as either a noun or a verb, it refers to a deliberate change to the gameplay that substantially weakens a powerful weapon, character type, or ability. In other words, it's been "nerfed" -- rendered as harmless as a Nerf weapon, or nearly so.
Unsurprisingly, it's a divisive practice, with opinions on whether or not a particular nerf was good or bad depending largely on whether or not you were one of the people benefiting from the imbalance in the first place.

Sean Payton's suspension

- Suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton will have a lot of free time in the upcoming season -- he's out of the game for the entire 2012 campaign, and he's $5.8 million lighter in the pocket after Roger Goodell told him that he was not needed this year as a result of BountyGate. Fox Sports would like to fill Payton's Sundays by making an analyst for the network's NFL broadcasts.

"Our feeling about Sean is that he's bright, articulate and obviously contemporary," said Lou D'Ermilio, FOX's senior vice president for communications in a statement. "Any network with NFL rights would have to consider it."

While the league can prevent Payton from finding gainful employment in a coaching or administrative position until his one-year suspension is done, there's no mandate to keep him out of the booth.
"He is suspended from the NFL for the season," the league said in a statement to The New York Times. "His involvement in any non-NFL employment or business matters is not our decision."

-NFL

MLB player arrested for fleeing after crashing motorcyclist

Such a catastrophe happened Thursday night when Bush was arrested for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.

Bush was driving an SUV that allegedly struck a motorcycle driven by a 72-year-old man near Tampa Bay's spring training home in Port Charlotte, Fla. Bush reportedly fled the site of the crash that left Anthony Tufano in serious condition. Bush's blood alcohol level was measured at .180, more than twice the legal limit.

A witness said "Bush showed "an absolute disregard for human life"

-Yahoo

Fighter wins 100k Without lifting a finger

Eric Prindle won Bellator's heavyweight tournament, which includes a $100,000 prize and a shot at Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad. Prindle did this without having to step in the cage for a rematch of his final with Thiago Santos.

How did this happen? In the latest of weird bumps in the road between the two competitors, Santos missed weight by 12 pounds. With Santos so far over the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds, the fight was called off, and Prindle was declared the winner of the tournament.

Last week, their fight was delayed after Prindle came down with the flu. In November, they met in the cage for their first attempt at a final. That bout was declared a no contest when Santos threw an illegal kick to Prindle's groin.

-Yahoo

World's first all-diamond ring

Switzerland's Shawish Jewelry has created the world's first diamond ring.
Not impressed? Well, consider that the entire ring  is carved from a diamond, whereas most other diamond rings are composed of a precious-metal band with a diamond centerpiece. Styleite writes that the 150-carat ring runs laps around some other famous diamond competitors, including Beyoncé's 18-carat engagement ring from Jay-Z and the even better known 30-carat ring given to the late Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton.
The ring was created by Shawish's president and CEO Mohamed Shawesh using lasers (yes, lasers!) along with traditional diamond cutting and polishing techniques. It took a full year to carve the ring, which has been copyrighted and is expected to sell for $70 million.


-Yahoo News

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                                    The Boy Who Cant Eat

Joshua, a 9-year-old who lives with a disease called eosinophilic esophagitis, is allergic to nearly all foods. Pizza, hot dogs, you name it, and Joshua likely cannot eat it, or even be allowed to taste it or smell it.

Joshua gets most of his nutrients through a formula prescribed by his doctor, and through a feeding tube in his stomach. Because of his disease, Joshua is homeschooled by his mother, and needs to live his life with extra caution.



By: Anderson Cooper