Richard Garriott, the creator of Ultima, was successful in his Kickstarter fundraiser.

What was Richard Garriott raising money for, you ask? His ultimate RPG Shroud of the Avatar has raised over $1.9 million, nearly double the original goal, and is set for an October 2014 release.

Richard Garriott is the man who created the mega successful RPG series Ultima back when the biggest competitors were The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy. Richard Garriott has always had the quirk of putting himself in the games he makes as a King, calling himself “Lord British.”

As for Final Fantasy, it is worth knowing that in the US, we have not seen every game in the series, and certain sequels were omitted. This made it necessary to renumber the games we saw in the US. The sequel numbering went back to normal with Final Fantasy VII.

Getting back to the spiritual successor to Ultima, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is being called the ultimate RPG. The Ultima successor is a videogame that Richard Garriott hopes will revolutionize the genre like Final Fantasy VII and relative newcomer The Elder Scrolls.

Developer Portalarium, seeing the contributions of over 22,000 backers, wrote on its Kickstarter blog, ”A sincere thank you goes out to all our backers for pledging your support to ‘Shroud of the Avatar‘ and helping us raise almost double our Kickstarter goal. This game would not be possible without your dedication and feedback — what a fantastic experience it’s been to interact with all of you, learning what is most important and desired in our new world.”

Considering the nature of how Shroud of the Avatar was conceived, we think it would be a great fit for the Android based Ouya, with its “for gamers, by gamers” mentality. It could easily make Ouya a must-buy console for PC gamers.

Richard Garriott’s ultimate RPG Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is planned as the first of five games for PC.

How do you feel about the upcoming Ultima successor Shroud of the Avatar?

‘Ultima’ Creator Richard Garriott’s Kickstarter Campaign A Success is a post from: The Inquisitr

Joe Flacco is about to enter the world of acting. The Super Bowl winning quarterback will play Johnny Unitas in a new biopic, Unitas We Stand.

Flacco, who recently signed a $120 million contract following his Super Bowl, will soon be stepping in front of a movie camera. According to the LA Times, the Baltimore Ravens QB will star in a new movie based on the Tom Callahan book “Johnny U: The Life And Times Of Johnny Unitas.”

Joe Unitas, who co-wrote the screenplay and is co-producing the movie, said that Flacco’s playing style and personality were very similar to his father’s.

Joe told the LA Times: “A lot of the way Joe plays and his demeanor reminds me a lot of my dad … He’s not a rah-rah guy. He throws a touchdown and maybe there’s a little fist pump … He does things the right way and is a good role model for kids and he gets what hard work is and does everything he can for the team. There are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between Joe and my dad.”

Joe said that production will start this July and will last for about three months. The movie will be filmed around Flacco’s schedule with the Ravens.

Flacco, who isn’t exactly known for being Mr. personality, said in a statement: “I’m excited and honored by the opportunity to play Johnny Unitas.”

What do you think about Joe Flacco playing Johnny Unitas? Do you think Flacco has what it takes to be a movie star?

According to SB Nation, Flacco won’t have to do to much acting for the film. The Ravens quarterback will by playing Unitas during the 1958 Championship Game and will spend most of his screen time in a helmet.

Joe Flacco To Play Johnny Unitas In New Movie is a post from: The Inquisitr

Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z are celebrating the fifth anniversary of their April 4, 2008 wedding in Havana, Cuba.

Mr. and Mrs. Carter, reigning King and Queen of hip-hop and R&B and parents of Blue Ivy Carter, have caused quite a stir in the country.

Attracting huge crowds outside their hotel and pretty much everywhere they go, local police have had to step in several times when things threatened to get out of hand.

Now, some Cuban-American members of Congress have formally questioned the legality of the couple’s trip.

Rep. Ileansa Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, both Republicans from Florida of Cuban descent sent a letter to Adam Szubin, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department.

In it, the representatives asked for information about Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s visit to Cuba pointing out that there has been an embargo on American tourism to the South American country since the 1960′s.

The representatives’ letter can be seen here.

As yet there is no word on a reply from Szubin or whether or not the trip itself breaks any US laws.

Meanwhile, the couple have been spotted enjoying the many delights Cuba has to offer, including a meet and greet with local school children and pictures with the local populace.

Beyoncé has reverted to a braid hairstyle while she vacations, while Jay-Z has been pictured smoking a cigar.

The “Single Ladies” singer is now just eight days from beginning her world tour, “The Mrs. Carter Show,” which kicks off on Belgrade, Serbia April 15 and finishes at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on August 5.

Hot on the heels of the mixed reception to her album teaser “Bow Down/I Been On,” the Houston native has just debuted her new track “Grown Woman” as part of an advertising campaign for Pepsi.

In the video, titled “Mirrors,”a present day Beyoncé comes face to face with her past song incarnations, from the Bootylicious era, Crazy in Love — to now.

Jay-Z is set to headline London’s Wireless festival in July during which he and tour-mate Justin Timberlake will also preview their “Legends of the Summer” Stadium set on July 14 before US dates commence.

Minor Trivia: The Sun is reporting that that the rapper will be making use of an on-hand cigar-expert while he tours to roll cigars for guests backstage.

It makes a change from M&M’s on the rider.

[Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]

Beyoncé And Jay-Z Cuba Trip Prompts GOP Congress Questions Over Legality is a post from: The Inquisitr

A Russian shoved his foot up a man’s butt, killing his sleeping friend while in a drunken rage.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, alcohol, drunkenness, and other influences can lead to strange circumstances. One man received a DUI ticket for being under the influence of music. Texting and driving has been found to be more dangerous than drunk/buzzed driving, but studies have found adults text and drive more than teenagers.

Still, this latest story about alcohol and drunk Russians probably takes the cake. According to Russian reports, Vladimir Krasnov, age 28, of Nizhny Novgorod decided to make good on the oft-heard drunken bar threat of “I’m going to shove my foot up your ass.”

Krasnov had a drunken bar fight with his 48-year-old friend Sergei over Krasnov’s girlfriend, Yelena. Russian police say Krasnov waited until his friend passed out and, in a drunken rage, shoved his right foot “into the victim’s anus and rectum.” Sergei died at the scene, suffering from severe internal bleeding.

Krasnov is in jail now and police are saying the act of shoving his foot up his friend’s rectum will be considered homicide. In a jailhouse interview, Krasnov is repentant and blames alcohol for his actions.

The original Russian video was posted on March 22, making it too early to be an April Fools’ joke, but the Huffington Post thinks there is good reason to be skeptical. They say, “A quick search in Cyrillic returned no other stories about the incident.”

Do you think the video of a Russian shoving his foot up a man’s rectum is real?

Russian Shoves Foot Up Man’s Rectum, Kills Sleeping Friend In Drunken Rage [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook Home will soon allow Google Android users to skin their devices with a suite of Facebook enabled apps. According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg the new home screen and app launcher will finally start “putting people first, instead of apps.”

But what would happen if Facebook built an actual home out of brick, pipes, electrical, etc?

The team at The Joy of Tech imagine what a Facebook Home would look like in real life.

From the homes foundation to a dying squirrel in the homes front yard the Joy Of Tech team really does think of everything.

Would you like to live in a Facebook Home?

Facebook Home In Real-Life, A Humorous Look At A Socially Built House [WebComic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

How do you turn a story about physical abuse into comedy? You give Melissa McCarthy a t-shirt gun. During her stint as host on Saturday Night Live, the Bridesmaids actress mocked the Rutgers basketball scandal by hurling toasters, bricks and pieces of bread at her players.

The skit came a few days after Mike Rice was fired from Rutgers for physically abusing his players.

A video surfaced online last week showing the former Rutgers coach screaming, hitting and throwing basketballs at his players. McCarthy and the crew at SNL took things to another level and had the comedienne use everything from golf carts to baseball bats to intimidate her players.

When McCarthy is confronted by one of ESPN’s Outside The Line reporters, she explains her actions, saying:

“When someone blows by you you’re toast. And when you get toast and you are toast you get hit by a toaster.”

And the players weren’t the only ones who fell victim to McCarthy’s wrath. The actress gave black eyes to her assistant coach, to the ESPN reporter, and used a tazer on one of the fictional school teachers during the sketch.

Here’s the video of Melissa McCarthy spoofing the incident at Rutgers.

That wasn’t the only basketball sketch from last night’s SNL. The show also got a special visit from Dennis Rodman during a sketch making fun of Kim Jong Un.

Melissa McCarthy Mocks Rutgers Basketball Scandal On ‘SNL’ [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Senator Lindsey Graham told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that a North Korean attack would lead to immediate retribution and “the North loses and the South wins with our help.”

According to Graham:

“I could see a major war happening if the North Koreans overplay their hand this time because the public in South Korea, the United States, and, I think, the whole region is fed up with this guy.”

Graham is referring to North Korean leader Kim Jung Un who in recent days has been promising to attack the United States with nuclear weapons.

Speaking of North Korea’s potential folly Senator Graham says his “biggest fear” is that the North Korean regime will fail to understand South Korea’s current impatience with the country. Grama reveals that the South Koreans are “not going to put up with this anymore. If there were a South Korean naval vessel sunk this year, any time soon, or shelling of a South Korean island by North Korea, I think the new president of South Korea would be compelled to act. I think the North Koreans are overplaying their hand.”

Senator  Graham, a member of the Armed Services Committee member, tells David Gregory that the public in South Korea are fed up with North Korea’s constant threats and will no longer allow the North’s transgressions to continue.

Graham also admits that the Chinese government is actively working against the South. According to Graham:

“They don’t want a democratic Korea next to China, so they’re propping up this crazy (North Korean) regime – and they can determine the fate of North Korea better than anybody on the planet.”

When asked why Japan and South Korea have not developed their own nuclear weapons Graham explains:

“They trust us. As long as South Korea and Japan trust us to be in the fight, they won’t go down the nuclear road. It’s important that they always believe we have their back, it’s important that North Korea knows what happens if they engage anybody in the region associated with us – including with our own troops. They (the North Koreans) lose.”

Here is the full Lindsey Graham interview on Meet The Press:

Senator Graham: South Korea’s New President Won’t Hesitate To Attack North Korea is a post from: The Inquisitr

Skowhegan, ME – Judge Charles LaVerdiere of the Skowhegan District Court has proclaimed an 11-year-old girl not competent to stand trial at this time. Due to the accused being a minor, she is not being publicly named in reports.

The defendant was charged last year as a juvenile with reckless or criminally negligent manslaughter in the death of 3-month-old Brooklyn Grace Foss-Greenaway.

The decree was assessed on the state’s inability to meet the burden, demonstrating the juvenile as competent to proceed under the legal standards imposed by the Maine Juvenile Code.

However, this motion does not mean the child can’t be declared competent and tried in the foreseeable future.

The competency hearing was initiated at the behest of the girl’s defense attorney, John Martin. He urged that the child be evaluated to see if she understood how the court process functioned and if she knew the difference between right and wrong before ensuing with a criminal trial.

Arguments from both attorneys involved were submitted in writing to the judge, and Dr. Debra Baeder, the State Forensic Service’s Chief Forensic Psychologist, examined the girl and submitted a report on her findings. The document was sealed by the judge and Baeder was the only witness to testify at the competency hearing.

The judge was quoted in BDN Maine saying, “The court orders that the proceedings on the juvenile petition shall remain suspended and the court refers the Juvenile to the Commissioner of Health and Human Services for evaluation and treatment of the mental health and behavioral needs identified in the State Forensic Service examiner’s report.”

At this time, the State Forensics Service will reevaluate the child and remit a report to LaVerdiere within 60 days, again in 180, and again in 365 days to establish if future proceedings are possible in this case. If by the end of March 2014 the girl is still not found competent to stand trial, it will be difficult for the state to proceed with prosecution. Until then, the 11-year-old will remain in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

The goal of the state in this case isn’t necessarily to put the 11-year-old offender behind bars. They are more concerned she receives the proper treatment that will allow her to become a productive, law-abiding member of society.

The accused, the youngest person to be charged with manslaughter in the state of Maine in over 30 years, was 10 at the time of the alleged crime. Both the girl and her mother were babysitting the infant in their Fairfield home on July 8, 2012.

The infant was kept in the same room with the juvenile overnight. The following morning her mother called police to report the infant was not breathing, according to CBS News. Emergency workers arrived minutes later and found the child unresponsive.

Nicole “Nicki” Greenaway, Brooklyn’s mother, revealed that an official toxicology report disclosed the presence of medication in her daughter’s system – the same ADHD medication prescribed to the 11-year-old. There were also suspicious bruises on the infant’s nose and cheeks, indicative of suffocation.

Although Greenaway holds the mother of the 11-year-old somewhat responsible in the death of her child, the state is not intending to charge the mother in the death of Brooklyn, as there is insufficient evidence to pursue her criminally.

Judge Rules 11-Year-Old Incompetent To Stand Trial On Manslaughter is a post from: The Inquisitr

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings novels may have been inspired by a true story.

At The Vyne in England, a golden Roman ring has been rediscovered with an interesting history. A 12 gram gold ring bears an inscription which says, “Senicianus live well in God.” The ring was supposedly found in 1785 by a farmer a few miles from the walls of Silchester, one of Rome’s most mysterious towns, abandoned around the seventh century and never occupied again.

A tablet found in Gloucestershire, at a site known locally as Dwarf’s Hill, seems to state that a curse was placed on the golden ring, much like the fabled One Ring from The Lord of The Rings.

According to The Guardian, the tablet has the words inscribed in it, “A Roman called Silvianus informs the god Nodens that his ring has been stolen. He knows the villain responsible, and he wants the god to sort them out: ‘Among those who bear the name of Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens.’”

So apparently, unless the name Senicianus was more common in that area than we thought, the two artifacts appear to be connected. But how is this connected to J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy? For one, the ring on display at The Vyne has an inscription connected to the tablet, cursing anyone who wears it. The tablet was found at a place called Dwarf’s Hill, remarkably similar to the Shire (possibly named after Gloucestershire). Finally, J.R.R. Tolkien himself was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford with information on the diety Nodens.

An archaeologist, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, had re-excavated Dwarf’s Hill in 1929 and had asked for help with the mystery of Nodens, and had turned to J.R.R. Tolkien. The legendary fantasy novelist would years later write the Lord of The Rings series of stories.

Could it be that J.R.R. Tolkien had based his writings on a true story? Could The Lord of The Rings be mirroring what at the time was very real?

Was Tolkien’s One Ring … real? This cursed, ancient Roman ring may have inspired the Lord of the Rings author: go.ign.com/Z1F4sp

— IGN (@IGN) April 7, 2013

‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Creator J.R.R. Tolkien Inspired By True Story? is a post from: The Inquisitr

He’s got the moves like Jaguar. Adam Levine should be very jealous.

I’ve Got The Moves Like Jaguar [Animal Humor] is a post from: The Inquisitr

A fish with gin-clear blood has gone on display at the Tokyo Sea Life Park in Japan. The pair was caught by krill fishermen in the Antarctic, who had to keep them alive for months at temperatures near freezing to bring them back. They’re the only specimens of Ocellated Icefish, Chionodraco rastrospinosus, known to be displayed in captivity anywhere in the world.

So far, so impressive. But let’s dispel a myth or two right away. Despite a report — multiplied endlessly around the internet the way these things get multiplied — that it’s the only vertebrate (let alone fish) with gin-clear blood, that’s not exactly true.

There’s an entire family of such fish, called the crocodile icefish or white-blooded icefish. Far from being just one whackadoo weird species, the ocellated icefish is just part of a decent-sized group of at least 25 recognized species — and maybe more waiting to be found — that live in the icy waters of Antarctica. For whatever reason, their ice-colored blood fits right into the frigid scenery when they’re hunting the mighty krill or other small fish.

As, you might expect from a fish with ice running in its views, they like it brisk. In fact, they seem to prefer a temperature that’s right around the freezing point of salt water — a cool -1.9^o C. Brrrr.

They’ve lost almost all of the hemoglobin in their blood, which is what gives our blood its red color. As a result, they have what biologists have described as “reduced cardiac performance.” That means that they have to have much larger hearts to get their gin-clear blood a-pumping through their inefficient little veins.

Even if they’re not the one and only, the icefish in Japan are indeed special, since they have survived being transported by guys who normally catch and eat fish to make their way to the safety of a public aquarium. Check out this video.

I like that bit at the end where the aquarium expert says that ocellated icefish tastes like chicken. Kidding. But apparently the fish with the gin-clear blood tastes pretty good.

[icefish larvae photo Professor Dr. habil. Uwe Kils via Wikipedia Commons "Picture of the Day"]

Fish With Gin-Clear Blood In Captivity [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Actor Jeremy Irons, who created controversy over his recent remarks about gay marriage, is no fan of paternalistic nanny state policies implemented by New York City Mayor Michel Bloomberg and other politicians.

In the same interview in which he spoke about same-sex marriage, Irons called Bloomberg-initiated policies such as banning smoking in restaurants or prohibiting large sugary drinks “terrible.”

Irons is a much-honored British actor who won an Academy Award for his role as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune.

Irons believes, for example, that bar owner should have the choice to allow smoking on their premises, and customers in turn can decide if they want to have a drink a bar that smells of cigarettes. The same principle should apply to what he called “fizzy drinks.” Similarly, he worries about the possibility of a government mandate that would only allow restaurants to offer meals below a certain calorie count.

“I’m a complete libertarian. I think it’s very, very dangerous. I really mean that. I think the smoking ban is a tip of an iceberg of society — the leaders of society telling us how to be. I think it’s not their business. I think it is their business to tell us to care for and respect each other and each other’s happiness and each other’s health, and we are responsible enough to do that … It’s the nanny state. It is terrible.”

Irons insisted that the government has non-coercive ways to discouraging people from socially-undesirable behavior but using the power of law is not the way to go. “It’s the tip of the iceberg, because it’s an attitude, it’s an attitude where the governors think ‘we know what’s best for people, and they’re so stupid that they would only not do it if we ban it.’ ”

Interestingly, according to IMDB, in the past Irons gave a lot of money to the UK Labor Party, which stands for a lot of the nanny state policies that he is now decrying.

You may also recall that among his many movie credits, Irons portrayed a high-level government official in Damage (1992) who was having a wild affair with his son’s girlfriend (Juliette Binoche).

Specifically on the subject of smoking (and apparently Irons is a smoker, which can’t help much in preserving his fantastic speaking voice), he opined that smoking tobacco suits some but not others. He also claimed that “A lot of people who are bored or unhappy smoke cigarettes;  if you’re bored and unhappy, you’ll die early.”

Do you agree with Irons’ views (see video below) about the dangers of the nanny state? What is your opinion on tobacco smoking being a manifestation of boredom?

[Top image via cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com]

Jeremy Irons: Michael Bloomberg’s Nanny State Policies Are Terrible [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

It was recently reported that Joel Osteen, the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and a televangelist whose ministry reaches millions of viewers, has resigned from Christianity, citing a lack of faith in the validity of the Bible as the word of God.

Images of articles on CNN, Drudge Report and Yahoo News show headlines announcing Osteen’s resignation, but actual links to those articles were unable to be found. Instead, the announcement seemed to originate from a WordPress blog named Joel Osteen Ministries in which the only post is an alleged article from CNN claiming that the megachurch pastor released a statement on his website, Joel Osten Ministries.

Osteen’s “statement” reads in part, “I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God.” He goes on to say that he has informed his closest colleagues that he is leaving the church, which will continue in a “bare-bones fashion as we liquidate our assets and fulfill various financial obligations.”

The second clue that something is off about Osteen’s reported resignation is the final paragraph, which states that Osteen is having trouble transferring ownership of some of his ministry’s websites. So in case you were wondering why the website has only one “e,” it’s because it was the only website Osteen is able to control.

“I’m dealing with some church leaders who refuse to accept my resignation,” he says. “They are refusing to change or alter any of our many web sites, and this is the only one I have control over.”

A look at Joel Osteen’s official website reveals no indication that the 50-year-old, who has led Lakeview Church since 1999, has any intention of resigning.

The most recent article about Joel Osteen on CNN discusses the televangelist’s dismissal of the controversy over History Channel’s The Bible miniseries. Osteen, who is a consultant on the show, said he is not surprised by the show’s success.

“There are a lot of people of faith still in our country and when somebody takes a step of faith like Mark [Burnett] and [co-executive producer Roma Downey] did, people want to get behind it and see good quality, you know, production of something that’s … dear to all of our hearts, and that is the scripture and the Bible,” Osteen said. He also dismissed the idea that the actor who plays Satan bears a resemblance to President Obama.

“I felt like it was nonsense,” says Osteen. “People can draw funny conclusions.”

The CNN article was posted on March 29, the same day Osteen’s “resignation” was posted on his website.

Did you see reports that Joel Osteen resigned? Did you believe them?

Joel Osteen Resigns? Hoax Says Famous Pastor Has Lost His Faith [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

HTC posted its March 2013 revenue figures on Monday morning, and it’s not good news for shareholders. The Taiwanese based company reported sales of NT$15.88 billion or approximately $530 million. While those numbers are still better than February’s NT$11.37 billion ($384 million USD), they are still lower than expected.

Based on Monday’s numbers, HTC is still suffering through a revenue decline of 48 percent year-over-year.

HTC also posted its lowest quarterly profit to date in Q1 2013. The company’s first-quarter net income fell 98 percent to NT$85 million ($2.8 million USD). Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the company to post NT$600 million.

HTC has now suffered through six quarters of declines. The company is pegging the hopes for its future on the HTC One, a smartphone that was due by the end of the month but was delayed because of a shortage in crucial camera components.

According to February numbers, HTC was holding onto a 9.3 percent share of US smartphone subscribers, a 1.7 percent decrease from the previous quarter.

Along with the HTC One, the smartphone manufacturer is also rolling out the Facebook Home platform via the mid-ranged HTC First smartphone.

The HTC One is already available for pre-order from AT&T; the smartphone will arrive on April 19.  HTC will receive some steep competition on April 26 when the Samsung Galaxy S4 debuts.

The smartphone manufacturer has already won praise for its aluminum case build, crisp camera, and high-end hardware and software features.

Conditions at HTC have become so dire that CEO Peter Chou has promised to resign if conditions worsen.

While HTC will be the first smartphone manufacturer to receive Facebook Home pre-installed on a device, the platform will also be available to download for existing Android devices.

The key now will be for HTC to convince Samsung and iPhone users to try a new device.

Will you be heading out to pick up the HTC One?

HTC Sales Cut In Half Through March 2013 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Chelsea Clinton is considering following in her parents’ political footsteps with her own bid for office.

Clinton was out helping the annual Clinton Global Initiative University, a meeting that her father’s agency holds for college students. She moderated panels and hosted sessions at the St. Louis meeting, which covered a broad area of topics including human trafficking and child mortality.

Since Chelsea Clinton rarely takes a step into the public spotlight, reporters took the opportunity to ask her whether she’s considering her own run for public office some day. She responded:

“Right now I’m grateful to live in a city, a state and a country where I strongly support my mayor, my governor, my president and my senators and my representative,” she said. “If at some point that weren’t true and I thought I could make a meaningful and measurably greater impact, I’d have to ask and answer that question.”

She’s already off to a good start, what with all that not giving a definitive answer stuff.

Still, she has taken a more active role in public service, something she credits Dorothy Rodham, her maternal grandmother, for.

“She probably didn’t think of it as urging – she definitely thought of it as, you know, grandmotherly nagging, and she exercised that prerogative often,” she said.

Chelsea Clinton also addressed the persistent rumors that her mother, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will be making her own White House run in 2016.

“I deeply respect and appreciate all of the admiration and respect and gratitude for my mother’s service,” Clinton said of her mother. “As a daughter, I very much want her to make the right choice for herself, and I know that will be (the) right choice for our country, and I’ll support her in whatever she chooses to do.”

You can check out a video of Chelsea Clinton’s interview with TODAY below. What do you think? Should she make a run for office?

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

[Image via: Gbcue, Wikimedia Commons]

Chelsea Clinton Considering A Run For Office is a post from: The Inquisitr

How much would pay for a red bowl? What if it had a lotus pattern on it? What if it came from the 1600s? The Ruby-Ground Double-Lotus “falangcai” bowl sold for over $9.5 million at a Sotheby’s Auction this weekend.

According to Reuters, the bowl sparked a bidding war which was ultimately won by Hong Kong ceramics dealer William Chak. The buyer paid HK$74 million (about $9.5 million) for the bowl, beating the pre-sale estimate by about $20 million. The bowl also set a world record for Chinese Kanxi ceramics.

Sotheby’s writes: “This outstanding bowl is the only ever recorded with this design. Thrown and fired by potters at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, it was then painted in the Imperial palace workshops in Beijing and fired a second time, to admirable perfection. It is one of the earliest decorated in the newly introduced Western enamelling technique, with a combination of opaque colours contrasting with a bright coloured ground; yet it already displays complete mastery.”

Nicolas Chow, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, said that the auction, which involved five days of wine, jewelry, art and ceramic sales in Hong Kong, brought in more than 400 potential bidders.

Chow said: “Of course, at the very, very top of the market, you do have lots of participation from overseas and other parts of Greater China. But in terms of quantity, the largest quantity of objects traded today of Chinese art go back towards the mainland.”

The Ruby-Ground Double-Lotus “falangcai” bowl, which was crafted during the Kangxi period of 1662-1722, was first sold by Sotheby’s in 1983 for $70,000. It was sold again in 1999 for about $1.5 million. Today’s record breaking sale shows that demand for Chinese ceramics is growing at an incredibly fast rate.

Chow said: “That helps draw more people towards Hong Kong and makes Hong Kong an even greater center for the art trade, particularly in this field.”

Surprisingly, this isn’t the only bowl of note to hit the auction block recently. A “Ding” bowl that was purchased at a garage sale recently sold for more than $2.2 million.

$9.5 Million Bowl Sets Record At Sotheby’s Auction is a post from: The Inquisitr

Kansas City police have found an underground city of homeless people on the city’s northeast side, with residents there believed to be responsible for a crime wave locally.

The elaborate camp was built in a wooded area within the city, and contained a number of tents as well as tunnels that led to underground rooms.

“One of the tunnels probably went 20 to 25 feet underground towards the back and veered off in another direction about six feet or so, and there was some bedding and some candles,” said police Jason Cooley. “It was kind of in a little hill and probably four feet beneath the surface.”

Many of the holes were concealed, Cooley said, and at least one had wood stacked around it. The underground tunnels even had PVC pipe to provide ventilation.

Police entered the homeless camps last week to break them up, evicting the people who lived there because of the squalid conditions.

“We’re working to find out if in fact they’ve got kids down here because this is not a safe environment for that,” Cooley. He noted that there’s been a rash of crime in the area due to the underground homeless city, including thefts at a nearby grain mill.

Cooley said officers became concerned when they noticed piles of soiled diapers, indicating that some of the homeless residents may have had children living in the unclean conditions.

Evicting the homeless people living underground will actually be much better for them, homeless outreach groups operating out of Kansas City say.

“By providing help for these people in this manner, maybe they won’t feel the need to go out and steal because they’re getting services they need to be able to live and survive,” said Carla Brewer of Hope Faith Ministries.

Both Kansas City police and Hope Faith Ministries said they have never seen a camp as large as the underground homeless city.

Kansas City Police Find Underground City Of Homeless People is a post from: The Inquisitr

“Marvel #1s” was a free giveaway of more than 700 digital comics that was first offered up in early March. Marvel Comics didn’t seem to understand just how popular their brand would be and pretty soon the demand for the free comics caused their servers to go belly up.

The fact that the company had teased the release with intriguing promo art and then had a big announcement about the deal didn’t help their servers out any either.

After Comixology’s (the company handling the digital side of the promotion) servers crashed over and over again the company finally had to pull back on the giveaway.

Marvel #1s ended up seemingly being ignored over the last few weeks, but now the company has finally announced that they are going to go ahead with the promotion and they seem to have gotten smarter about it.

Starting on April 11, Comixology will be sending out emails to people who have signed up for the privilege of getting these massive amounts of free comics.

By sending out invites, they are going to be controlling just how many people will be able to access this database at one time. No longer will everyone be trying to download a ridiculous number of comics at one time.

In order to take advantage of the giveaway, users must register and get on the list by tomorrow. The company announced a sort of “waiting list” back when the problems first reared their ugly head and has been allowing people to sign up since then.

We know you’ve been waiting… #MARVEL1 is back!Sign up for your FREE comics now: promo.comixology.com

— comiXology (@comiXology) April 8, 2013

Once someone gets their email invitation, they will have 48 hours to pick out the books they want to add to their Comixology library. This too will work to keep the load from being too hard on the servers.

Comixology also wants to be clear that not everyone will be getting their invitations on April 11, that is simply when the invites will start going out.

If you are on the list, it could be several days before you get access.

Will you be taking advantage of the Marvel #1s promotion?

‘Marvel #1s’ Promotion Finally Moving Ahead is a post from: The Inquisitr

Pockmarks are craters found on the seafloor where fluids and gas are seeping out of the earth and into the ocean, causing the collapse of the ocean’s crust and a resulting dimple. In recent years, many thousands of such pockmarks have been discovered on the sea floor. Now, a team of New Zealand, German, and American scientists returning from a voyage on the German research vessel Sonne say that they have discovered the three largest pockmarks ever reported. One of them is roughly seven miles in diameter — large enough to contain lower Manhattan, New York within its over 300 feet high walls.

The pockmarks were found in an area of sea known as the Chatham Rise offshore New Zealand. Many smaller such crater-like structures were first noticed in the area in 2007, but they were covered in layers of sediment, making it more difficult to find and identify the big guys than you might think. The structures are believed to have been caused by an outgassing of methane, and it’s possible the release came in a violent volcanic explosion that could have taken only days or even hours.

“Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the escape of big volumes would have significant implications for climate change and ocean acidification,” said University of Auckland researcher Ingo Klaucke, one of the expedition leaders.

There has been a renewed interest in studying greenhouse gases like methane to determine the potential effect of a future release on the already-warming global climate.

Energy producers are also interested in the possibility of alternative energy sources that could be produced from methane deposits. For instance, Japanese officials recently announced that they’d performed the first successful test to drill offshore for methane hydrate, the so-called “fire ice” that could eventually be a new source of energy for the resource-poor nation.

Clearly, the ocean still has wonders left to reveal. A more light-hearted discovery was the ocellated icefish, the so-called fish with the gin-clear blood, which recently went on display at Tokyo’s Sea Life Park in Japan.

The Sonne team noted that the largest of the new pockmark craters they discovered is twice the size of the previously reported largest pockmark recorded in scientific literature.

[underwater volcano photo courtesy NOAA/National Science Foundation via Wikipedia Commons]

World’s Biggest Pockmark Craters Discovered Offshore New Zealand is a post from: The Inquisitr

Joe Flacco is being called an “embarrassing choice to portray Johnny Unitas in a movie by a grandson of the Baltimore Colts legend.

J.C. Unitas blasted the pick of Joe Flacco on his Facebook page, writing “If you want a real movie, hire a real actor.”

The grandson of Johnny Unitas and a former quarterback at Villanova, J.C. Unitas added that he doesn’t have the most faith in Flacco as a quarterback, calling him a “goofball.”

“My grandfather and his legacy deserves only the best, and this is not it. Has Baltimore forgotten that Trent Dilfer also won a Super Bowl while playing for Baltimore?”

J.C. Unitas added that there would have been a lot better choices than Joe Flacco to play Johnny Unitas in a movie. He wrote: “If you want a quarterback, go with Peyton Manning. My father was just like that. This is a joke.”

It isn’t known how much acting Joe Flacco will have to do in the Unitas movie, which is based on the Tom Callahan book Johnny U: The Life And Times Of Johnny Unitas. He is reportedly only playing Unitas in the 1958 championship game, so Joe Flacco will spend most of his time behind a helmet.

The movie is co-written and co-produced by Joe Unitas, son of Johnny Unitas. Joe apparently didn’t share the same reservations about Flacco in the Unitas movie.

“A lot of the way Joe plays and his demeanor reminds me a lot of my dad … He’s not a rah-rah guy,” Joe Unitas said. “He throws a touchdown and maybe there’s a little fist pump … He does things the right way and is a good role model for kids and he gets what hard work is and does everything he can for the team. There are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between Joe and my dad.”

Joe Flacco will film the Johnny Unitas movie over the summer, with the filming schedule based around his commitments to the Ravens.

Joe Flacco Called ‘Embarrassing Choice’ To Play Johnny Unitas In Movie is a post from: The Inquisitr