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Race to salvage fire-ravaged cargo ship drifting with thousands of supercars on board

Race to salvage fire-ravaged US-bound cargo ship drifting in the Atlantic with thousands of supercars on board including Porsches, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis with blaze fueled by batteries in electric vehicles The Felicity Ace caught ablaze on Wednesday and 22 of its crew members were airlifted to safety There are 4,000 cars onboard the ship including 189 Bentleys, 1,100 Porsches, and multiple Lamborghinis The cargo ship was carrying vehicles from Emden, Germany, to Davisville, Rhode Island Lithium-ion batteries in electric cars have caught fire and require specialist equipment to extinguish Rescuers are racing to salvage a US-bound cargo ship in the Atlantic engulfed in flames with 4,000 cars on board including Bentleys, Audis, and Lamborghinis. The operation is taking place off the Azores archipelago where the ‘Felicity Ace’ cargo ship caught ablaze at sea on Wednesday. Lithium-ion batteries in the electric cars on board have caught fire and the blaze requires specialist equipment to extinguish. Investigators are probing whether the batteries started the onboard inferno. The ship is still ablaze and plumes of white smoke are billowing from the vessel as a Portuguese navy ship works to stop it from sinking with the 3,965 Volkswagen AG vehicles on board, including 1,100 Porches and 189 Bentleys. One man said his custom-ordered Porsche Boxster Spyder, whose base models sell for at least $100,000 was on board the ship. Captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the port of Hortas said: ‘The ship is burning from one end to the other… everything is on fire about five meters above the water line.’ What is on board the cargo ship? The Felicity Ace is believed to be carrying 3,965 vehicles on board on its route from Germany to the US. Volkswagen has not confirmed the number of cars on board, but Porsche said around 1,100 models are on the ship. Porsches range in price from around £45,000 to £200,000 for their standard models. Bentley said 189 of its cars were also on board. A new Bentley Continental GT V8 would set a driver back £157,000. There were reportedly 21 Lamborghinis on the doomed vessel last month, but the current number is unknown. A limited-edition Lamborghini can cost as much as £2.5million, while a standard SUV from the Italian supercar maker costs around £150,000. Rescuers believe the 650ft longship may be too large to be towed to a port in the Azores, which is more than 900 miles from the European mainland. Towing boats were en route from Gibraltar and the Netherlands, with three due to arrive by Wednesday. A sixteen-person salvage team from Smit Salvage, owned by Dutch marine engineer Boskalis, was sent to the ship to help control the flames. The Portuguese Air Force has rescued 22 crew members from the burning ship after they abandoned the vessel and were taken on board the Resilient Warrior tanker after it diverted its route to assist with the rescue. They were then airlifted to safety in a military helicopter and taken to Faial Island. The Felicity Ace sounded the alarm after a fire broke out in the hold, the Portuguese Navy said in a statement. The cause of the fire is not known. The ship was sailing from Emden in Germany and had left on February 10 and was heading to the Port of Davisville in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, according to online vessel trackers. The ship was originally expected to arrive at Davisville on February 23. Portugal’s navy said one of its patrol boats and four merchant vessels were helping with the rescue. The Portuguese Air Force aircraft were also mobilized. After transmitting the distress signal, a Portuguese Navy patrol boat together with four other merchant ships in the area headed toward where the distressed ship was located. The crew abandoned the ship and got into lifeboats. Eager Porsche buyers logging into the Track Your Dream service, which details the progress of the car’s delivery, stated how the company was ‘aware of an incident on the Felicity Ace carrying certain Porsche vehicles.’ Matt Farah, the man behind The Smoking Tire YouTube channel, posted Wednesday regarding his own Porsche that was apparently on board the ship. ‘I ordered a Boxster Spyder in August, and I was very excited to get it at the end of this month, and now it seems like it might become an artificial reef,’ said Matt Farah who runs the Smoking Tire YouTube channel, which has more than 1 million subscribers. ‘I’m only saying this because I know no one was hurt, which is obviously more important.’ Bentley said 189 of its cars were also onboard the blazing ship. That could work out at around a total loss of £22million in Bentleys alone. ‘We are working with the shipping company to find out further information,’ said a spokesman. Lamborghini has refused to comment on the number of its vehicles on board the doomed ship, but last month 21 supercars were being transported by the vessel. The majority of the rest are likely to be Volkswagens or Audis. On Wednesday, Porsche released a statement over the stricken ship. ‘Our immediate thoughts are of the 22 crew of the merchant ship Felicity Ace, all of whom we understand are safe and well as a result of their rescue by the Portuguese Navy following reports of a fire on board. ‘We believe a number of our cars are among the cargo onboard the ship. No further details of the specific cars affected are available at this time – we are in close contact with the shipping company and will share more information in due course.’ Volkswagen also released a statement: ‘We are aware of an incident today involving a cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. At this time, we are not aware of any injuries. We are working with local authorities and the shipping company to investigate the cause of the incident.’ A Portuguese Navy spokesperson said there were no more details about the ongoing operation. Read more at DailyMail.co.uk
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Phantom of Heilbronn

The case exposed glaring problems in forensic science and what happens when biases taint an investigation. “The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.” — Publilius Syrus Fear compelled her heart to build up to a terrifying and deadly 100 mph crescendo… Shallow, rapid half gasps emanated from the 62-year-old widow as her skin turned a pallid blue… the Monster garroting her with steel wire from her kitchen. Slow… Fast! … Slow… Fast! … Slow. The hands of the Monster were possessed by the brute strength of a seasoned bare-knuckle boxer and the dexterity of an accomplished concert pianist — completely enveloped by fury spawned in the latter circles of hell. Fast! (and sustained as the widow squirmed, trying in vain to fight back) Lieselotte Schlenger expired on the floor of her beloved kitchen that day in 1993. Her death marked the opening of Pandora’s box that was the Phantom of Heilbronn case — though no one would realize this for another eight years. The Phantom of Heilbronn case exposed glaring problems in forensic science and what happens when universal cognitive biases taint an investigation — all wrapped up in a tale that rivals the best crime fiction. Like a malevolent Proteus in Greek mythology, the Phantom was a ghostly, shapeshifting boogeyman (or woman) terrorizing the populations of three countries. The Phantom changed and became lesser-known when (s)he was pursued by law enforcement. It would take more than mere mortals to catch this Monster. Law enforcement would have to use the best of science at the time, combined with questioning their own cognitive biases and the deepest logical connections between both forensic and behavioral evidence. That last part gets even harder when one of your own is assassinated while eating and the alt-right hurls itself — Nazi salutes first — into your investigation. The Scene and the Intervening Years The day before her murder, Schlenger emptied nearly all cash from her savings account — something very unusual for the normally frugal widow. Police found none of the money in her home. Though 1993 did not yet see the wide use of DNA, officers did manage to take a sample from Schlenger’s house — that of an unknown female — from Schlenger’s coffee cup. With that unfortunate lack of proper technology, the sample was cataloged and forgotten about. The case soon went cold. Joseph Walzenbach: March 26, 2001 Joseph Walzenbach was a 61-year-old antique dealer from the town of Freiburg (population 230,241) — almost 300 km and three hours from the first scene eight years earlier at Idar-Obserstein. He had been savagely beaten with an undetermined blunt object and strangled with a belt. Like the Schlenger case, cash had been taken from the Walzenbach crime scheme. The same unknown female DNA found at the Schlenger scene was found on a drawer at the Walzenbach scene. These clues gave the investigators the idea of a murderous female robber. That is until they realized their series — this crime spree — was far from over. Gerolstein, Germany — the Playground and the Junkie’s Needle: October 2001 On October 24, 2001, a child stepped on a syringe containing heroin near a playground in the city of Gerolstein, Germany (population 7520, Gerolstein is about 363km — a little over four hours — north of Freiburg). Heroin was a big problem in this area of Germany at the time, so the police cataloged the syringe and did little else with it — thinking it was yet another faceless junkie. This upset local parents to the point that they demanded a DNA test on the syringe. The test ended up finding the same unknown female DNA on the syringe that was found at the Schlenger and Walzenbach crime scenes. Police started building their profile from this point: a female double murderer who engages in criminality to fund her habit. Sounds simple, right? Logical? Predictable? Not so much. There is ZERO consistency to the Phantom’s behavior so far. Which makes it tough. A profile may be useful if it updates with new information — like anything else. Bayesian reasoning is essential here. Still, this story gets demonstrably weirder in every conceivable way. DNA Everywhere and not a Soul to Pin it on After the syringe at the Gerolstein playground, police began noticing the same unknown female DNA everywhere. Our Phantom DNA showed up in car and motorcycle thefts; “settling of scores” in Germany (more on this below), and at a dozen burglaries and attempted burglaries in Austria. She even took a bite out of a cookie during a breaking and entering in Budenheim, Germany (population 8534, and 86.9km or one hour and ten minutes from the 1993 Schlenger crime scene at Idar-Oberstein). Like the chameleon-like Proteus, the Phantom of Heilbronn seemed to shed her skin, face, and every shape as police gave chase. She thus earned the nickname, “the Woman Without a Face.” Still, we have not even begun to see the truth, compellingly weird in this case. The Vietnamese Precious Gemstone Traders: 2004 Arbois, France (population 3407 and about 500km, or five and a half hours, south of Gerolstein) was rocked to its core when a group of Vietnamese precious gemstone traders was brutally attacked by a gang of robbers. The robbers made off with about 3,000 Euros, jewelry, and gold bullion. The most interesting find — however — was a reproduction of a Beretta FS92 pistol. Once ran through both the French and German databases, the DNA of our unknown female master criminal was found on it. All four male robbers were arrested soon after the heist. None copped to the involvement of a female accomplice, even while under intense and protracted interrogation by French and German authorities. If you’re keeping track so far, that’s three countries our murderous, female, waif-like, junkie, cookie-loving, criminal mastermind has terrorized. She has also apparently scared several hardened street toughs into absolute silence about her existence. And she’s far from done. A Fuller Scope of the >>Read more
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Calculate Your Basal Metabolic Rate to Lose Weight

BMR is short for Basal Metabolic Rate. Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories required to keep your body functioning at rest, also known as your metabolism. What affects my BMR? Anything that results in an increase to your metabolic rate will increase your BMR. This includes exercise, stress, fear and illnesses. Your BMR is relative to body mass, age, weight and height. It is also affected by your gender; as it widely regarded that men need more calories than women. BMR formula There are 2 formulae used to calculate BMR, in [kcal / 24hrs] for men and women respectively: BMR for Men = 66.47 + (13.75 * weight [kg]) + (5.003 * size [cm]) − (6.755 * age [years]) BMR for Women = 655.1 + (9.563 * weight [kg]) + (1.85 * size [cm]) − (4.676 * age [years]) Harris Benedict Formula Once you’ve calculated your BMR, this is then put into the Harris Benedict Formula , which calculates your total calorie intake required to maintain your current weight. This is as follows: Little/no exercise: BMR * 1.2 = Total Calorie Need Light exercise: BMR * 1.375 = Total Calorie Need Moderate exercise (3-5 days/wk): BMR * 1.55 = Total Calorie Need Very active (6-7 days/wk): BMR * 1.725 = Total Calorie Need Extra active (very active & physical job): BMR * 1.9 = Total Calorie Need Typical Calorie per Kilogram Needs Calorie needs per kilogram vary by activity level, with people typically needing between 12 and 15 calories per pound if they’re sedentary, 14 to 17 calories per pound if they’re moderately active, and 16 to 18 calories per pound if they’re very active. Women are at the lower end of this range, and men are at the higher end. This translates to people needing somewhere between 26.4 and 39.6 calories per kilogram to maintain their weight, depending on gender and activity level. To lose 1 kilogram of body weight, you would need to create a deficit of about 7,700 calories. Calculating BMR to Estimate Calorie Needs For a more individualized estimate of your calorie needs per kilogram, you can calculate your resting metabolic rate, or RMR, and multiply it by the appropriate activity factor. For men, RMR equals 88.362 + (4.799 x your height in centimeters) + (13.397 x your weight in kilograms) – (5.677 x your age). For women, it is 447.593 + (3.098 x your height in centimeters) + (9.247 x your weight in kilograms) – (4.33 x your age). Next, multiply this number by activity factor: x 1.2 for sedentary people х 1.375 for light activity х 1.55 for moderately active х 1.75 for very active people x 1.9 for physical jobs You can divide the result by your weight in kilograms to get the number of calories per kilogram you should consume to maintain your current weight. Effect of Exercise on Calorie Needs Aerobic exercise burns a significant amount of calories, increasing calorie needs. For example, a man between the ages of 30 and 59 who weighs 75 kilograms would need about 34 calories per kilogram if he wasn’t very active, about 40 calories per kilogram if he was active, and about 47 calories per kilogram if he was very active. The more intense the exercise, the more calories you’ll burn per minute and the greater your calorie needs. Running at a 10-minute-mile pace burns about 0.28 calorie per minute per kilogram, while walking at a 15-minute-mile pace only burns about 0.08 calorie per minute per kilogram. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense aerobic exercise most days of the week. Although strength-training exercise doesn’t burn a lot of calories, it can increase your calorie needs because it helps build muscle, which boosts your metabolism. Try to fit in at least two strength-training sessions per week. Body Composition Considerations As you get heavier, you tend to need fewer calories per kilogram to maintain your weight, even at the same activity level. This is because heavier people tend to have more body fat, and it takes fewer calories to maintain fat than muscle. A 30-year-old man who weighs 50 kilograms and isn’t very active needs about 42 calories per kilogram, but a similar man weighing 90 kilograms would only need about 31 calories per kilogram. Because the different ways to estimate your calorie needs don’t take into account whether weight comes from fat or muscle, they may underestimate calorie needs for people who have more muscle than average, such as body builders or elite athletes. Effect of Aging on Calorie Needs People tend to gain fat as they get older, at least in part due to the slowing down of their metabolism. This means that as you age, you’ll need fewer calories per kilogram to maintain your weight. Continuing to eat the same number of calories will lead to weight gain. Every 10 years, you’ll need to eat about 150 calories less per day to avoid this potential weight gain. Participating in strength-training workouts to build muscle may help limit these declines, which may be at least partly due to declines in muscle mass and increases in fat mass. Muscle takes more calories to maintain than fat.
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How to protect your home from water damage

Avoid soggy disasters with these tips Water damage is one of the most common and costliest disasters your home can experience, costing billions of dollars annually. Safeguard your most important asset against water damage with the right insurance coverage and the following practical advice. Water damage and insurance Different types of water damage are insured by different types of policies. Homeowners and renters insurance provides coverage for burst pipes, wind driven rain and damage resulting from ice dams on your roof. Generally speaking, water that comes from the top down—such as rainfall and burst sprinklers—is covered by a standard homeowners policy. Some policies cover sewer and drain backups, but many do not; however, you can purchase a sewer backup rider to your homeowners or renters coverage. Typically, water that comes from the bottom up—such as an overflowing river—is covered by a separate flood insurance policy, which can be purchased from the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and from some private insurers. If you live in a flood prone area, learn more about appropriate coverage. Properly maintaining a home is one of the best ways to prevent water damage from water disasters. Prevent basement water seepage Reseal your basement. Water in the basement is often caused by cracks in building foundations or floor slabs. If you notice water seepage after heavy rain when you’ve never had a problem, it may mean that your once-waterproof cement floors and basement walls have deteriorated. Painting vulnerable areas with water sealant can prevent seepage. Make sure water drains away from the building. Seepage is exacerbated by soil that has settled in a way to make water flow toward the building. After a storm, and especially if the ground is already saturated, rainwater that flows towards the building goes down the outside of the foundation wall potentially through any cracks. Install a backwater valve. Though less common than other causes of basement water, sewer backups are messy. Learn more about your sewer responsibilities and install and maintain a backwater valve, which allows sewage to go out, but not come back in. Maintain and understand your indoor plumbing systems Inspect appliance hoses and faucets. Make it a practice every year to check hoses leading to water heaters, dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerator icemakers. You may also want to invest in a water leak monitoring and shut-off system that can alert you to any leakage issues. Immediately replace any hoses that have cracks or leaks, and replace them all every five to seven years. Inspect showers and tubs. Check the seal and caulking around showers and tubs to make sure they are watertight and reseal if necessary. When away on vacation, shut off the water supply to the washing machine and never leave the house while the washer or dishwasher is running. Know the location of the main water shut-off valve in your home. A damaged hose or a burst pipe can send water racing into your home. Being able to locate and shut off the main water supply quickly will save stress, money and time. Install an emergency pressure release valve in your plumbing system. This will protect against the increased pressure caused by freezing pipes and can help prevent your pipes from bursting. Check plumbing and heating pipes. Look closely for cracks and leaks and have any necessary repairs made immediately. Repair and protect your home’s exterior Caulk and seal windows to guard against water seepage. Inspect your roof for missing, damaged and aging shingles and make necessary repairs. Check your downspouts. Remove debris that may have accumulated in downspouts and rain gutters. Position downspouts so that they direct water away from the house. Check sprinklers and irrigation systems to be sure they are not creating water damage to the walls and foundations of the house. Turn off and drain outside faucets to protect against frozen pipes. Install gutter guards to prevent gutter clogs and keep water flowing away from the house instead of accumulating on the roof. Protect your possessions Store off-season and other bulk belongings in waterproof bins, especially in areas where there are plumbing pipes or that are prone to dampness, such as basements and attics. Never store valuables or memorabilia where there is risk of destruction from water. Water and damp also brings with it the threat of mold damage. Keep belongings stored on shelving off the floor in basements. In case of water seepage or sewer backup, they’re less likely to get damaged. Keep an up-to-date home inventory. Having a comprehensive list of your possessions will save time, trouble and stress in case of loss from water damage.
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Charlie Chaplin’s children reveal their fear of the film pioneer

He was perhaps the most famous star of the silent movie era, whose on-screen buffoonery and slapstick antics sent a generation of cinema-goers into uproarious laughter. Now, a new film is set to give a voice to Charlie Chaplin’s much whispered private life, as four of his children with his final wife Oona O’Neill share their thoughts on their father’s checkered history. The Real Charlie Chaplin, released in cinemas today, tells the hidden story of the world’s first superstar comedian, who was married four times and is alleged to have slept with over 2,000 women. Intimate home videos depict an elderly gentleman laughing and at ease with his family with O’Neill who was 36 years his junior, The Mirror reports. But son Michael, 75, tells viewers: ‘I was kind of frightened of my father. He was so powerful, you couldn’t argue with him, because he couldn’t be wrong.’ Born in Lambeth, south London in 1889, Chaplin was a penniless music hall actor when he traveled to the US aged 24. Five years on, he contracted his first marriage with 16-year-old vaudeville actress Mildred Harris in Los Angeles in 1918 after a false pregnancy alarm His sister Geraldine, 77, added: ‘My father wasn’t Charlie Chaplin. I knew they were the same person but they looked nothing alike – except when he had an audience, he would become Charlie Chaplin, that other man.’ Born in Lambeth, south London in 1889, Chaplin was a penniless music hall actor when he traveled to the US aged 24. Five years on, he contracted his first marriage with 16-year-old vaudeville actress Mildred Harris in Los Angeles in 1918 after a false pregnancy alarm. The pair had a baby son called Norman the following year, but he died just three days after birth and Chaplin quickly left Harris. When they divorced in 1920, she cited his ‘mental cruelty’ among the reasons for their split. By this stage, Chaplin’s star was on the rise and he became a huge hit with audiences with films The Kid and The Gold Rush, attracting vast crowds to his public appearances. In 1920, he spotted 12-year-old Lillita Louis MacMurray on the set of The Kid and set about modeling her into an actress. He changed her name to Lita Grey and is thought to have seduced her in 1924 when she was 15 and he was 35, which could have led to a charge for statutory rape even then He met 22-year-old former child model Paulette Goddard in 1932, although she claimed to be just 17. They were married from 1936 to 1942, after which Goddard received a settlement and kept quiet about their union This quickly led to a growing reputation for young girls, which seems to have been deemed acceptable to his acquaintances. In 1920, he spotted 12-year-old Lillita Louis MacMurray on the set of The Kid and set about modeling her into an actress. He changed her name to Lita Grey and is thought to have seduced her in 1924 when she was 15 and he was 35, which could have led to a charge for statutory rape even then. The pair’s brief marriage ended with an acrimonious divorce in 1927 and a settlement of £625,000 – believed to be worth around £38million today and the most expensive split in Hollywood history at the time. Grey filed for custody of their two children and alleged cruelty and forced sex acts in her petition, while Chaplin referred to her as a ‘blackmailer, gold-digger and little whore’. Within a year of divorce, he moved on to his fourth and final wife Oona O’Neill, who bore him eight children and stayed with him until his death in 1977 In her 1966 memoir My Life with Chaplin, Grey wrote: ‘We were married in Mexico because Charlie didn’t want much said about the marriage. On the way back on the train he was quite nasty. ‘We were standing out on the platform between cars while the train was traveling and he said, ‘We could just end this whole situation if you just jump’.’ He met 22-year-old former child model Paulette Goddard in 1932, although she claimed to be just 17. They were married from 1936 to 1942, after which Goddard received a settlement and kept quiet about their union. Within a year of divorce, he moved on to his fourth and final wife Oona O’Neill, who bore him eight children and stayed with him until his death in 1977. Their daughter Jane, 64, describes her difficult relationship with him. ‘He was inaccessible. ‘Your father is working, don’t disturb him, he’ll lose his inspiration’ – our world revolved around my father’s wellbeing,’ she recalls. ‘He spoke about having huge amounts of doubt, he said he had had doubts all his life. ‘He accomplished his life’s dream but I don’t think he ever really got over his doubts. Does one ever really get over where you come from? I don’t think it ever leaves you.’ Source: DailyMail.co.uk
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