pyrelight
Initiate
I am currently: falling off my rocker.
Posts: 255
|
Post by pyrelight on Oct 6, 2008 14:40:52 GMT -5
It's about time. He's had way too many charges to not be guilty of SOMETHING.
|
|
|
Post by Raven on Oct 16, 2008 20:17:26 GMT -5
Titanic survivor sells mementos to pay for care* LONDON - Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when she was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat from the doomed Titanic. Now 96, the last survivor of the tragic sinking is selling mementos of the disaster to help pay her nursing home fees.
Rescued from the bitterly cold Atlantic on that April 1912 night, Dean, her 2-year-old brother and her mother were taken to New York with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Before returning home to England, they were given a small wicker suitcase of donated clothing, a gift from New Yorkers to help them rebuild their lives.
Now, Dean is selling the suitcase and other Titanic mementos to help pay her nursing home fees. They are expected to go for $5,200 at an auction of Titanic memorabilia Saturday in Devizes in western England.
Among the items are rare prints of the Titanic and letters from the Titanic Relief Fund offering her mother one pound, seven shillings and sixpence a week in compensation.
But the key item in the sale is the suitcase, said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge. "They would have carried their little world in this suitcase," he said Thursday.
Dean has lived at Woodlands Ridge, a private nursing home in the southern city of Southampton — Titanic's home port — since she broke her hip two years ago.
"I am not able to live in my home anymore," Dean was quoted as telling the Southern Daily Echo newspaper. "I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees and am selling anything that I think might fetch some money."
A spokeswoman for Woodlands Ridge said Dean was too tired Thursday to speak to The Associated Press.
She said rooms at the nursing home cost between $1,000 and $1,550 a week, depending on the level of care the resident needs, but declined to discuss Dean's situation, saying it was a private matter.
Although Britain has a free health care system, private providers offer more comprehensive services for a fee. In the case of nursing homes, state-run facilities are available and cost much less than private ones. But they are more spartan and offer fewer amenities, such as shared rooms and no private TVs.
Local authorities often pay a portion of the costs of private nursing home care based on an individual's assets; anyone with more than $39,000 in assets has to pay their own fees.
In 1912, baby Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean and her family were steerage passengers emigrating to Kansas City, Mo., aboard the Titanic.
Four days out of port, on the night of April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg and sank. Billed as "practically unsinkable" by the publicity magazines of the period, the Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for all 2,200 passengers and crew.
Dean, her mother Georgetta and brother Bertram Jr. were among 706 people — mostly women and children — who were rescued by the steamship Carpathia and survived. Her father, Bertram Dean, was among more than 1,500 who died.
Dean did not know she had been aboard the Titanic until she was 8 years old, when her mother, who was about to remarry, told her about her father's death.
She has no memories of the sinking and said she preferred it that way.
"I wouldn't want to remember, really," she told The Associated Press in a 1997 interview.
*Click the title for the full article. This story breaks my heart.
|
|
|
Post by vampyre on Oct 18, 2008 6:36:17 GMT -5
Maybe we could set up an account, donate to it and send her some money. Set it up with PayPal pr something.
|
|
|
Post by Raven on Oct 18, 2008 10:53:03 GMT -5
I'm sure, by now, that's already been done.
|
|
|
Post by MsKay on Nov 9, 2008 15:11:20 GMT -5
Family cat found cut to pieces
A family's pet cat has been found cut to pieces at a Queensland primary school, sparking a search for the killers who may have used a chainsaw to commit the gruesome crime.
Horrified students found the remains of four-year-old Basil last week at Northview State Primary School in Mackay.
Basil's devastated owner, 22-year-old Kylie Matthews, said he was "the perfect pet".
"He really was a part of the family," the Courier Mail quoted her as saying.
The autopsy results found that the cuts were "clean" suggesting Basil's was attacked by a human and sliced with a saw or knife, according to the family.
However it was not known if the cat was butchered before or after its death.
Mackay police are investigating the grisly attack.
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said acts of cruelty towards animals must be treated seriously.
"Torturing an animal is only one step away from torturing a human — the links have been clearly established."
Ms Matthews, who bought her pet as a kitten, is determined to see the killers brought to justice.
"What type of sick person unleashes that brutality on a helpless animal? I just want the police to find the people who did this," she said.
|
|
|
Post by vampyre on Nov 9, 2008 15:36:14 GMT -5
I could of went all day with out reading that. I find animal cruelty especially disturbing. I also feel very badly for the owner of the poor cat. I know how much space my pets take up in my heart. finding one dead is one of the things I dread most.
|
|
|
Post by MsKay on Nov 9, 2008 15:40:04 GMT -5
I felt the same way when I saw it Vampy... I love my pet bunny if I came home to that I would be sick to my stomach but seriously they need to catch the person or even people who did this and punish them to the full extent of the law! And seriouls is what type of sick person does this.
|
|
pyrelight
Initiate
I am currently: falling off my rocker.
Posts: 255
|
Post by pyrelight on Nov 9, 2008 21:19:12 GMT -5
I am at a loss for words at how that makes me feel. I own 4 cats myself... someone needs to exhibit the same kind of brutality against the perp. Then we'll see how willing they are to do it again.
|
|
pyrelight
Initiate
I am currently: falling off my rocker.
Posts: 255
|
Post by pyrelight on Nov 13, 2008 16:06:07 GMT -5
I thought this was pretty cool for any science buffs out there- Scientists have confirmed the presence of a star system outside our own solar system. Even cooler? They can SEE it. Here's the link to the article and some pictures: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27702538/Very cool. The article says they're younger than Earth, basically just out of the astronomical oven at 65 million years old.
|
|
|
Post by Raven on Nov 13, 2008 16:12:34 GMT -5
OMG creepy. I wonder if anybody's looking at us!
|
|
|
Post by MsKay on Nov 13, 2008 16:16:31 GMT -5
LMAO - Probably Raven... super cool pyre
|
|
pyrelight
Initiate
I am currently: falling off my rocker.
Posts: 255
|
Post by pyrelight on Nov 13, 2008 19:35:18 GMT -5
I actually found a bit of good news. If you hate spam, this article is a must read: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27689714/Good to see these spammers getting what's been coming to them for a LONG time. And in addition to the good news above: Ever dreamed of finding your very own treasure chest? This guy did- and it was full of ancient celtic coins from 1st century, BC. Right around the time Caesar was running for office. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27701894/
|
|
pyrelight
Initiate
I am currently: falling off my rocker.
Posts: 255
|
Post by pyrelight on Nov 14, 2008 12:14:34 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Raven on Nov 19, 2008 20:23:12 GMT -5
Man nabbed after hitting girlfriend with sandwichA man faces a domestic battery charge after allegedly hitting his girlfriend with a sandwich as she was driving on Interstate 95 on Friday. Police said the 19-year-old man became angry and hit the woman in the arm and face with a sandwich, knocking her glasses off.
The victim nearly lost control of the car because she couldn't see the road and the man then allegedly ripped off the rear-view mirror and used it to shatter the windshield.
The man was freed on $7,500 bail.
Police haven't said what type of sandwich was involved.
(The last line of the article makes me LMAO. Does it matter what type? He hit her with a sammich!)
|
|
pyrelight
Initiate
I am currently: falling off my rocker.
Posts: 255
|
Post by pyrelight on Nov 22, 2008 14:48:05 GMT -5
Hey, some sandwiches are heavier than others. Did he hit her with a double extra meaty sub, or a meatball sub, or a tuna with extra mayo sub... all of which would have made a rather large mess...
|
|