Blog Posts by Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News

The Triumph is towed into the Mobile shipyard in February. (AP)The bad news just keeps coming from the seemingly cursed Carnival cruise ship Triumph.

Strong winds unmoored the Triumph from a dock in Mobile, Ala., where it was undergoing engine repairs, and blew a guard shack two docks over into the water.

"Due to strong winds in Mobile, Ala., Carnival Triumph, which was docked at a Mobile shipyard, broke away from its moorings," Carnival said in a statement. "The ship drifted and is currently resting against a cargo vessel. Tug boats and the U.S. Coast Guard are on site."

Back in February, some 3,100 passengers were stranded on the Triumph for days after an engine room fire left the cruise ship stranded at sea. In March, 17 passengers from the ship filed a federal lawsuit against Carnival, saying they suffered physical harm and feared for their lives during the ordeal.

Mobile Fire-Rescue announced on its Twitter account that a guard who had been in the shack was rescued, but that a second shipyard worker remains missing. (It's unclear whether he

Who among us hasn’t daydreamed about performing the infamous “Vader choke” on someone?

For those who haven't, a quick primer: In the "Star Wars" saga, Darth Vader uses his Force abilities to choke another person (usually one of his inept colleagues) into submission. And now, “Vadering” has become the day's most-popular Internet meme, with thousands of social media users creating their own versions of the classic Vader move. It's even resulted in a number of mentions on Twitter from the official "Star Wars" account.

The meme has taken off so quickly that it has ignited speculation that the whole thing is actually a stealth marketing campaign by Chick-fil-A (and no, we don’t think that’s actually the case).

However, Vadering is not a risk-free endeavor. After all, a disturbing lack of faith in the Force has had repercussions for at least one real-life actor who fell victim to Vader on screen.

Actor Richard LeParmentier was the first on-screen recipient of Vadering, after unwisely

In the new "Star Trek" movie, Spock traverses an active volcano. It looks like pretty heralding stuff, but still, it’s only a movie—and three real-life adventurers have done it for real.

According to the video above, posted by Barcroft TV, three documentary adventurers paddled their kayaks alongside an active volcano—even stepping out for a hike on top of the still-smoldering mass of volcanic rock—for an episode of a new Brazilian TV show, “Kaiak,” on the Canal Off network.

“The goal of our expedition was to find rivers and waterfalls in Hawaii. And the possibility of finding a river of lava was so enticing,” said Pedro Oliva, who co-stars on the program.

They chose Kilauea Volcano, which has been actively erupting since 1983 and is the most active of the five known volcanoes on the Big Island. Home to Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Kilauea, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, may even be the most active volcano in the world. Because of the ongoing lava flow, a

A guest on Tuesday’s edition of “Fox and Friends” claims she smelled God during a recent near-death experience.

“I saw an immense brightness. A brightness I could feel, touch, taste, hear, smell that infused me.” Not like I had five senses but more like I had 500 senses,” Crystal McVea, author of a new e-book, “Waking Up in Heaven: A True Story of Brokenness, Heaven, and Life Again,” told Fox host Gretchen Carlson.

A recent university study found that people who recount their near-death experiences (NDE) have more vivid memories of the events, whether they be the imagined events that take place during the NDE or the real ones from earlier in life.

In 2009, McVea was being treated for pancreatitis. After having an adverse reaction to pain medication, her heart stopped for nine minutes before doctors were able to revive her.

“The moment I closed my eyes in that hospital room, I immediately opened them and was standing in heaven,” McVea said. “I fail to find human words to described what

Just as the name of his new video states, Jumpy is one “badass dog,” performing 20 incredible stunts in this 1-minute clip.

The Australian border collie walks through a series of traffic cones on his front paws, leaps through the air into his trainer’s arms and even a number of stunts on a skateboard that most humans would find beyond their ability.

His owner, Omar Von Muller, has a long-history of training exceptional dogs. He's best known for training “Uggie” from the Academy Award winning film, “The Artist.” In a 2012 interview, Von Muller said there is no magic to his incredible dog training results, that it simply comes down to finding the right dog and putting in the hours. Still, that's easier said than done for most dog owners.

“My advice would be train and make sure you practice consistency,” he said. “I’ve been training for about 30 plus years myself.”

Though, let's give credit where credit is due. Mainly, to Jumpy himself. Or, as Linnet1936 commented on YouTube, “You're an

Fallen trees have long been a risk but trees themselves rarely return gunfire (AP)Using a tree for target practice sounds harmless enough, right? That wasn't the case for an Iowa man who is recovering at a hospital after the tree he aimed his gun at fired back.

No, this isn’t an April Fools’ Day prank playing on the much-maligned M. Night Shyamalan film “The Happening.”

An Iowa man is expected to survive but will have one heck of a story to tell after he fired his pistol at a tree only to have the shot ricochet and impact upon himself.

27-year-old Logan Bunn transported himself to a nearby hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office says the incident happened at about 4:30am on Sunday morning.

In the ongoing war between man and nature, many more trees have fallen at the feet of their human counterparts. But there have been notable exceptions. Last month, an Illinois man was killed when a tree he was attempting to cut down fell upon him.

And on Christmas Day 2012, a Houston man was killed when he was attempting to clear a fallen tree from

YouTube trends expert Kevin Allocca, who keeps track of what’s clicking on YouTube over at 4 at 4AM posts, chatted with Yahoo News today, about how the ever-growing and evolving online video community has transformed April Fools’ Day.

“I’m a big comedy fan. April Fools’ Day is especially nice in the tech world where people get to do these fun things,” Allocca said. “YouTube has become a purveyor and piece of pop culture. It’s fun to watch how it plays out and see people react.”

To help mark the occasion, YouTube has compiled a list of its Top 10 Prankster channels (list is at the bottom of story) and provided Yahoo with a list of the top-viewed April Fools' videos from those channels:

The 5 most-viewed new videos from the top 1o prankster channels:

From March 18—April 1, 2013. Video views are accurate as of April 1, 2013, 10 a.m. PT

1) “Imaginary Friend Photo Prank” from Magic of Rahat (2,802,475 views)

2) “Little Buzz Prank” from Roman Atwood (1,695,134 views)

3) “St. Patrick’s Day”

The annual Wondercon convention brings out thousands of comic, movie and TV fans of sci-fi and fantasy (Eric Pfeiffer/Yahoo)ANAHEIM, Calif. - The last weekend in March marked the 28th annual Wondercon. The convention is best known as Comic-Con's smaller sibling. And while Wondercon doesn't bring out the same barrage of Hollywood stars or the ensuing tidal wave of attendees, it has become a large and important setting for diehard fans of fantasy and science fiction across a number of platforms, including comics, games, TV and film.

Part of Wondercon's charm in being the slightly smaller version of Comic Con is that grassroots fans have a greater opportunity to stretch their legs and show off their costume work. In advance of the annual Masquerade Ball, hundreds of attendees wandered around the Anaheim Convention Center to show off their best outfits. Here is a sampling of some of our favorite sights from the weekend.

(Eric Pfeiffer/Yahoo)These two guys dressed as X-Men rivals Deadpool and Wolverine. didn't come to Wondercon together. But when they crossed paths outside the convention center, attendees begged insisted that the