The Daily Drift

True That ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 200 countries around the world daily.   

For those interested: In World Cup play Switzerland bested Ecuador 2-1: France bested Honduras 3-0 and Argentina bested Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 in play on the fourth day of the tourney.

Take a H.O.G. to work ... !

Today  is - Ride (Motorcycles) To Work Day

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Some of our reader today have been in:

The Americas

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mexico City and Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico

Edmonton, L'ancienne-Lorette, Montreal and Brampton, Canada

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Managua and Tipitapa, Nicaragua

Europe

Vinice Sumice and Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

Cerny, Velizy-Villacoublay, Haguenau and Roubaix, France

Rome, Ravenna, Treviso, Milan and Viareggio, Italy

London, England

Gelsenkirchen, Widdern, Kleve and Nuremberg, Germany

Vladivostok, Glazov and Novosibirsk, Russia

Mazarron, Madrid, L'olleria, Spain

Dublin, Ireland

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Lisbon, Portugal

Athens, Greece

Utrecht, Netherlands

Trzciana, Czerwionka-Leszczyny and Warsaw, Poland

Zagreb, Croatia

Bucharest, Romania

Thuro By and Korsor, Denmark

Valletta, Malta

Reykjavik, Iceland

Kharkiv, Ukraine

Zurich, Switzerland

Istanbul, Turkey

Asia

Rangoon, Burma

La Dagotiere, Mauritius

Seongnam, Korea

Kuala Lumpur and George Town, Malaysia

Pune, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bikaner and Madhipura, India

Doha, Qatar

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Beijing, China

Tehran, Iran

Medan, Jakarta and Margahayukencana, Indonesia

Muscat, Oman

Bangkok, Thailand

Osaka, Japan

Africa 

Al Jizah, Egypt

Cape Town, South Africa

Ijebu-Ife, Nigeria

Lusaka, Zambia

The Pacific

Greymouth, New Zealand

Manila, Philippines

Sydney, Australia

Today in History

455		Rome is sacked by the Vandal army.
1815		Napoleon defeats the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny.
1858		Abraham Lincoln, in accepting the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, declares that, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
1864		The siege of Petersburg and Richmond begins after a moonlight skirmish.
1907		The Russian czar dissolves the Duma in St. Petersburg.
1910		The first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane Washington.
1925		France accepts a German proposal for a security pact.
1932		The ban on Nazi storm troopers is lifted by the von Papen government in Germany.
1935		President Roosevelt's New Deal legislation is passed by the House of Representatives.
1940		French Chief of State, Henri Petain asks for an armistice with Germany.
1952		Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl is published in the United States.
1955		The U.S. House of Representatives votes to extend Selective Service until 1959.
1961		Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union while in Paris.
1971		An El Greco sketch, "The Immaculate Conception," stolen in Spain 35 years earlier, is recovered in New York City by the FBI.
1977		Leonid Brezhnev is named president of the Soviet Union.

Non Sequitur

The 'Cool' Kids

What happens to ‘cool’ kids?

Teens who tried to act cool in early adolescence were […]

The Internet Is Full

In April, ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers, announced that it had reached 'phase 4' of its IPv4 countdown plan, with fewer than 17 million IPv4 addresses remaining. There is no phase 5.
Unlike most of the other protocols, which were never intended to underpin global networks, IP is the Internet Protocol, designed to interconnect all kinds of smaller networks into a unified, global one. As such, making the addresses a meager 32 bits was a big failure of imagination. That's only ten digits when written down as a regular decimal number.

10 Reasons Why You Can't Live Without A Particle Accelerator

Physicists use particle accelerators to answer questions of fundamental physics - how our universe was created, why objects have mass, and so on. But if you think these machines have no use outside of research, you're in for a surprise.
Particle accelerators have been winding their way out of research labs and into industry for decades, and new applications continue to be dreamt up. Here are 10 applications of accelerators you probably haven't heard of.

German court rules that dead workers have a right to paid holidays

Dead workers in Germany have a right to any annual leave which they've failed to claim at the time of their death, Europe’s top court ruled on Thursday. In a case brought by a widow from North Rhine-Westphalia, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled she was entitled to money from her dead husband’s employer for the holiday he had failed to claim.
The dead man, named only as Mr Bollacke, worked for the retailer K+K from August 1998 to November 2010, when he died. He had been seriously ill since 2009 and was unable to work for a long period of time. When he died he had 140.5 days of annual leave outstanding, worth €16,000. Mr Bollacke’s widow asked supermarket K+K for the money in lieu of the annual leave not taken by her husband.
But they turned her down, saying she couldn't inherit her dead husband’s unclaimed holidays. In 2011 she took her case to the Higher Labor Court in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, which also rejected her claim. But she then appealed the court’s decision and the Hamm court referred the case to the ECJ in Luxembourg. In a judgment published on Thursday, the ECJ stressed the right to paid holidays was “particularly important”.
"The Court has previously held that where the employment relationship has terminated, the worker is entitled to an allowance in lieu in order to prevent all enjoyment of that right to leave being lost," it said. Overruling German law, which states you lose your right to holidays when you die, the court said: “Receipt of financial compensation if the employment relationship ends by reason of the worker’s death ensures the effectiveness of the entitlement to leave.” It will now be up to the labor court in Hamm to make a decision on the case.

Random Photos

Why The Middle East Is Now A Giant Warzone, In One Terrifying Chart

by Hayes Brown and Adam Peck

What started as a crackdown against democratic protests three years ago, has become a region-wide conflict that now has Iraq descending back into chaos. The countries of the region — along with the United States and various non-state actors — all have a hand in creating this moment, as money, fighters, weapons, and a desire to control the Middle East have come together to produce an extremely volatile and terrifying situation.
What has made the Syrian conflict so difficult to respond to has been the fact that the situation has refused to be tied down as just a civil war. In addition to the top-line fighting between the Syrian government and rebels who’d like to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, there’s also a proxy war ongoing between Sunni-majority states in the Gulf and Shiite-majority Iran and its allies. There’s also struggles for dominance among the rebels, who fight each other almost as frequently as the Assad government these days. Add in disagreements between the countries united against Assad over just which of the Syrian rebels to finance, and the reason a simple solution for the conflict hasn’t been developed becomes more understandable.
And standing out among all of this now is the attempts of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) — to establish its own state within the region. ISIS managed to takeover the city of Fallujah in January, hold it against Iraqi army efforts to dislodge it, and in the last few days take over both the major cities of Mosul and Tikrit. The former al Qaeda affiliate is literally fighting every other actor in Syria in the process, whether through direct fighting or through proxies, diplomatic battles, or other forms of conflict that don’t involve actually shooting at each other. The confusion inherent in this situation is mapped out, as best as possible, in the below chart from ThinkProgress:

As can be seen in the chart, ISIS is the most committed to taking on every single other actor. Their single-minded focus on creating an Islamic state in the “Greater Syria” region — which generally is considered to include Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and parts of Jordan — has led them to completely ignore the borders drawn between the modern states that lie on the territory. As a demonstration of their commitment to the metaphor, ISIS fighters on Tuesday symbolically bulldozed a wall between Iraq and Syria.
The spread of ISIS throughout Iraq has been enough to link up portions of the territory they now hold with the regions they control within Syria as one map that has spread across the internet since yesterday shows. “The conflict is one and the same as far as they’re concerned,” Shiraz Maher, a senior research fellow at the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalisation, told Business Insider. “It’s about restoring Sunni dominance after what they regard as Shi’ite oppression, and resorting power to what they would regard as rightful Islam.
ISIS’ assaults on Mosul and other areas have made things much easier for the terrorists to continue erasing the border between Iraq and Syria. Among the items that ISIS picked up from the fleeing Iraqi security forces — who American spent $20 billion training — are U.S.-made weapons and armored Humvees, along with aircraft from the airport it captured. ISIS fighters also freed all the detainees held in Mosul’s prisons, in a repeat of last year’s assault on Abu Ghraib, upping their numbers yet again. Reports also indicate that ISIS may have managed to loot as much as $400 million from the banks of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Slate’s Joshua Keating, citing terrorism experts, wrote that in capturing Mosul on Tuesday, ISIS may actually be on its way to completing its goal of establishing its own country.

Why The Middle East Is Now A Giant Warzone

Chris Matthews rips Texas repugican platform: 'How wide is this infection of hatred?'

by Arturo Garcia

MSNBC host Chris Matthews blasted Texas repugicans on Monday, saying their adopting an openly anti-LGBT platform at the state cabal convention last weekend showcased a side of the repugican cabal that the cabal, on a national level, would prefer to keep hidden from the public.

"How wide is this infection of hatred?" Matthews asked guests Howard Fineman and Eugene Robinson. "They're going after gays now at this point in our history, when most Americans - including [Sen.] Bobby Casey (D) of Pennsylvania, very traditional people - are moving toward acceptance and, if not celebration, certainly true acceptance. I'm wondering, what's wrong with Texas?"
Robinson described the issue as being particular to the state cabal, pointing out that Texas has three of the biggest cities in the U.S.

"Cities tend to be more tolerant places, tolerant of all different kinds of people who live there," Robinson said. "Houston, in particular, which is the fourth-biggest city in the country, has a very large and active gay LGBT community."

Houston and San Antonio - the seventh-biggest city in the U.S. - have both expanded their local anti-discrimination laws to include the LGBT communities, much to the chagrin of some local religious leaders.
During the convention, which opened with a speaker portraying Davy Crockett calling for a war against "tyrannical dictator" President Barack Obama, the Texas repugican cabal adopted a platform saying that homosexuality "tears at the fabric of society" and endorsed "reparative therapy," a widely-discredited practice that purports to turn gay people into heterosexuals.
"Is this what the repugican cabal plans to run on in 2016?" Matthews asked. "Hate?"

How long will this infection of hatred last

Returning troops help KKK build paramilitary force to 'retake' US in coming race war

The Ku Klux Klan plans to begin military-style combat training under the direction of military troops returning home from overseas deployments, according to a Barcroft Media report.

The notorious hate group has been attempting to recruit new members - children, in particular - in recent months, and the Loyal White Knights faction has begun preparations for a long-awaited race war.

"We're going to do something a little different for probably the next couple of years to try to get our men and women ready for the upcoming battle that we're about to take upon us, and this is something that no Klan has ever done and we're going to start it," said one Klan leader during a rally in Parkersburg, West Virginia. "All our boys are finally coming back home from the military, which is good, and we're getting a lot more military members to join."

Klan members have dropped leaflets and candy in neighborhoods across the United States, and the group has also used social media in hopes of attracting teenage recruits. 

More idiocy - and no need to say it, but ...West Virginia

The Supreme Court has legalized bribery

by Ian Millhiser 

"Money controls Washington," according to Vance McAllister (r-LA), who also told an audience of Louisiana accountants that Congress is caught in a "steady cycle of voting for fundraising and money instead of voting for what is right."
McAllister's comments won't come as much of a surprise to most Americans who do not wear black robes and work at a marble palace across the street from the U.S. Capitol, but there are five unusually powerful individuals who will probably find them baffling. In a pair of Supreme Court decisions - Citizens United v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC - the five wingnut justices dismantled most of America's campaign finance regulation. Citizens United permits corporations to spend unlimited money influencing election, so long as that money is funneled through non-campaign groups such as Super PACs (it also paved the road for the creation of Super PACs and similar groups). McCutcheon legalized various money laundering schemes permitting high-dollar donors to funnel seven-figure donations to contested races.
The rationale of both decisions is that the Constitution only permits campaign finance regulation that targets a very narrowly defined form of corruption. "The fact that [donors] may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that these officials are corrupt," according to Citizens United. Nevertheless, Citizens United and McCutcheon do permit campaign finance regulation that "target[s] what we have called 'quid pro quo' corruption or its appearance." That is, the law is powerless against corrupt lawmakers who trade money for access, but it can punish those corrupt individuals who exchange "dollars for political favors."
Which is why McAllister's statement - a statement he is probably only comfortable making because he is retiring from Congress due to a sex scandal - is so significant. The congressman isn't describing a Washington where lawmakers merely spend extra time with their wealthiest donors - a situation that the Roberts Court somehow does not find problematic - he describes a Washington where lawmakers are trapped in a "steady cycle of voting for fundraising." They are actually casting votes for the very purpose of attracting donors. This comes very close to the kind of "dollars for political favors" that even this Supreme Court claims to find objectionable.

This repugican Demolishes The Supreme Court's Rationale For Killing Campaign Finance Laws

I Accept Bribes from Heritage Foundation

by Tamara Garvey

In an incredibly rare display of honesty, Vance McAllister (r-LA) let the cat out of the hat and revealed that lobbyists literally pay him and other Washington politicians for certain votes, and that he didn't receive his expected check because he had angered and embarrassed the wrong people by cheating on his wife with one of his staffers.
Yes, the situation actually is that unbelievable.
Apparently, at a Thursday event with the Northeast Chapter of Louisiana CPAs, Vance McAllister (r-LA) stated that "money controls Washington" and that national politics is a "steady cycle of voting for fundraising and money instead of voting for what is right."  He admitted to having voted against an unspecified House bill related to the Bureau of Land Management, under the impression that he would receive a political contribution.
It's astounding that McAllister would admit to this in such a blasé manner.  Public officials, such as Congresspersons, are forbidden from "directly or indirectly seeking, accepting or agreeing to receive anything of value in return for the performance of any official act such as voting," as a matter of federal law. McAllister related an anecdote in which an unnamed colleague on the House floor told him that Heritage, a conservative think tank, would send him a $1,200 contribution if he voted against the bill.  From the Ouachita Citizen:

    "I played dumb and asked him, 'How would you vote?'" McAllister said. "He told me, 'Vote no and you will get a $1,200 check from the Heritage Foundation. If you vote yes, you will get a $1,000 check from some environmental impact group.'"

    That answer was a surprise, McAllister said.
.
    "I said, 'Are you serious?' and he told me, 'Yeah, wait and see,'" McAllister said.

The story gets even more unbelievable when the married McAllister goes on to point out that he never actually received the check, which didn't really surprise him, because he got on the bad side of both Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Heritage when he was caught kissing one of his staffers. James Weidman, spokesperson for Heritage Foundation, denies that the think tank backs up its lobbying with actual payoffs:

    If he (McAllister) is wondering why he didn't receive a check from the Heritage Foundation, which does not make political expenditures of any kind, it is because we do not do it….The Heritage Foundation is a think tank and does research and education, but does not get involved with political bills at all….He was just badly misinformed.

For his part, McAllister now maintains that his words have been taken out of context in news reports, and that he personally would never sell his votes; he was just relating a story of what other politicians do.  

This republican admits to taking bribes

Ziggy

California judge rules against due process for teachers

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge struck down California's teacher tenure laws Tuesday in Vergara v. California, a closely watched case funded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch as an attack on teachers and their unions:

    Observers on both sides expect the case to generate dozens more like it in cities and states around the country. David Welch, a Silicon Valley technology magnate who financed the organization that is largely responsible for bringing the Vergara case to court - Students Matter - has indicated that his group is open to funding other similar legal fights, particularly in states with powerful teachers' unions where legislatures have defeated attempts to change teacher tenure laws.

The fact that states with unionized teachers have, on the whole, better educational outcomes than states without binding contracts for teachers makes the political agenda behind Welch's crusade clear. This is not about improving education, it's about attacking teachers. Asked about its likely outcomes after the case had been argued and the judge's leaning became clear:

    "It's certainly not going to improve education," said Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond, who co-directed the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, directed President Obama's 2008/2009 education transition team, and last month testified for the Vergara defense. [...]

    There's a long history in education of teachers being able to be dismissed - and in fact, that's still the case in many states which don't have due process protections - for reasons other than competence. And that can include, you know, politics - not working for the right school board member in the elections. It can include getting pregnant or married, and the school board deciding you're not going to give as much time [to work]. It can include teaching the wrong book, et cetera. And I think if we end up in a place … where we have no protection against firing for reasons other than competence, teaching - which is already a fairly unattractive occupation because of all the teacher-bashing that's going on - will become an even more unattractive occupation.

There was a time when teachers were fired for teaching the facts, not the fabricated story the local board wanted taught. Now there's this.

*** 

OK, this decision is error filled and will lead to many persecutions of many teachers that are really good at their jobs but have run afoul of the narrow and bigoted ignorant fools that are cheering this erroneous decision.
The stated purpose of this case was to make it easier to get rid of bad teachers which is a necessary goal. The question is just what constitute a bad teacher? Other than obvious glaring examples of  bad teaching (and you know those when you see them) it is difficult to determine just who is a bad teacher.
This decision however guts the protection of due process for ALL teachers and will be used by the aforementioned n'er-do-wells who are striving to make this nation even more stupid than they have already.

6 Shockingly Evil Abuses Of Power By School Officials

When you send your kids off to school you’re putting their young lives, and minds, in the hands of many different official school type folks, from teachers to district officials to security personnel, and these folks usually started working in the school system because they liked working with kids.
But, just like any position that comes with a bit of control over other human beings, there are those who take the job because they like being in charge, and sometimes because being in charge means making a lot more money.
Scandals abound in this article which reveals 6 Shockingly Evil Abuses of Power by School Officials, including a case where kids at a vocational school in Rhode Island were being put to work in a sweatshop making and bagging jewelry, and a case of misappropriated school lunch funds in eight California school districts which resulted in $170 million dollars being funneled into staff wages and catered school board meetings, while the kids found the quality of their school lunches lowered through no fault of their own.
It's enough to make you wanna home school your kids!

Children broke into radio station, put on swearing laced show, ate chicken nuggets and dyed their hair

A group of children broke into a radio station in Western Australia's remote Kimberley region and put themselves live on air for an impromptu late-night show full of swearing. The youngsters, aged between eight and 14, broke into the buildings of the Wangki Yupurnanupurru community radio station in Fitzroy Crossing last week. The first police knew of it was a phone call from a listener, concerned at swear words being broadcast.

Station manager Angie Stahl says she had previously given the children lessons in community radio, and they worked out how to make the studio go live. "They were able to turn on all the microphones, turn on the panel and switch everything on in the right way, and decided to do a bit of a show themselves," she said. "But unfortunately their show mainly involved swearing, which was a bit punk, a bit avant-garde, but also breaches the broadcasting laws, and our codes of practice. So the cops got a call from an outlaying station ringing up to say, 'I think you've got some kids on the radio, they're busy swearing, you'd better go bust them'."
Ms Stahl said the children appear to have entered through a window in her house, which adjoins the studios. While in the house they ate some chicken nuggets and dyed their hair. "They were making themselves at home - no damage was done, they were just hanging around the house cooking some chicken nuggets, and they dyed their hair red from some hair dye I had lying around," she said. "But after just enjoying the quiet space of the house, they found the keys to the radio studio and decided to let themselves in." Not long after going on-air with their expletive-ridden jokes, police officers arrived to put a stop to the radio broadcast.
Rather than having charges pressed against them, an agreement was reached with the children, their parents and elders, for them to perform "sorry tasks". "I was quite angry at the time," Ms Stahl said. "But I'm more relaxed about it now and can see the funny side. Criminal charges might have had serious consequences for a couple of the kids, so we decided we could work it out amongst ourselves, and that worked out a lot better." Ms Stahl said the children may have a future in broadcasting. "They'd come in a couple of times before to do a couple of shows and programs, so I'd taught them the basics," she said. "So it's good to see the knowledge was used correctly."

Woman who hid stolen lobster tails in her pants intended to trade them for drugs or Chinese food

A 30-year-old Florida woman was arrested on allegations of stealing seven lobster tails from a Publix in Volusia County by stuffing them down her pants.

Nichole Reed was arrested on Wednesday on a charge of petit theft from a merchant. According to DeLand police, Reed entered the store just before 2pm and stole the lobster tails, valued at $11.99 apiece.
The grocery store’s loss prevention officer said he saw Reed conceal the items and leave the store without paying, according to DeLand police. Reed was found near the store with the lobster tails in the front of her pants, police said.

YouTube link. Original video.

Reed said she was going to exchange the lobster tails with a friend to buy "Chinese buffet or Dilaudid", a prescription drug, according to police. Reed, who has six previous arrests, was taken to the Volusia County Jail. She later posted bond and was released.

63-year-old vandal led police on short chase on child's scooter after spray-painting police station

A 63-year-old man will face court this month accused of spraying the walls of Kingscliff police station in New South Wales, Australia, with graffiti after riding there on a child's scooter.

Just after 2.20am on Wednesday, two police officers walked out of the station on Marine Pd after hearing noises. Tweed Byron LAC crime commander Detective Inspector Brendon Cullen said the man had spray painted a CCTV camera before taking to the walls with various slogans, including "Dumb Cops" and "Kingy Boyz Rule".
Insp Cullen said said a scuffle took place between the officers and the man, after he was chased several hundred metres. Insp Cullen said one of the officer involved will be off work for over a week due to shoulder injuries. The man was charged with assaulting and resisting police, malicious damage and possessing house-breaking implements.

Insp Cullen said the man's motives weren't clear. "The actions we're alleging are quite irrational, particularly with police being in the building at the time," he said. He said police also seized the man's scooter. The man was granted conditional bail to appear in Tweed Heads Court on June 30.

Correcting Historical Myths

Kentucky's $30 Million Castle

Castle Post is a beautiful medieval-style stone castle completely enclosed by a stone wall with turrets on a 50-acre estate in Versailles. Versailles, Kentucky, that is, near Lexington.
Begun as a labor of love, it's now a bed and breakfast, and a lovely place to hold a wedding. But for decades it was a mysterious sight on the side of the road with no one at home.

New Road To Machu Picchu Discovered

The nearly-mile-long road was built over 500 years ago by the Inca, and appears to be intact

by Mary Beth Griggs

A 500-year-old road to the Incan site of Machu Picchu was recently discovered by archaeologists working near the famous site. The road is about a mile long and ends near a site overlooking the ruins of Machu Picchu.

“We don’t know yet exactly how long or how tall the tunnel is,” Astete told Fox News Latino, explaining that much excavation needs to be done. The tunnel was built after 20 feet of earth and rock collapsed over the road, he added. “[The Incas] had to break up all those rocks to construct the tunnel.”

The road includes a tunnel—around 15 feet long and as much as 12 feet high—built with the rocks typical of Inca architecture.

"It is one of the finest examples of Inca engineering,” Astete has said. 

The road, heavily overgrown with vegetation is currently being cleared off by workers, and Fernando Astete, head of the archaeological park, has said that he would like for the road to eventually be restored. 

Machu Picchu is one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the world, topping many people’s travel bucket list. It's possible to get there by bus, by train or by foot—one of the most sought-after options is to hike in via the Inca Trail. The new stretch of road could provide a new way to access the site; just please, the Peruvian government asks, don't get naked once you get there.

A 2,300 year old grave found in Oman

In what could be a major archaeological find for the sultanate, a grave - possibly 2,300 years old from the Iron Age and belonging to a chieftain - has been unearthed during excavations at two ancient burial sites in the niyabat of Sinaw in Mudhaibi. This one is said to be oldest found till now at the site.

Archaeologists believe the 2,300 year old grave may belong to an Iron Age chieftain

The graves, numbering in hundreds, were discovered during digging work for the Sinaw-Mahout-Duqm road project of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC).
Till now, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture (MoHC) has finished excavations of 35 graves along the road project site, 22km from Sinaw. A statement by Sultan bin Saif al Bakri, director of Exploration and Archaeological Studies Department, MoHC, said that the graves are spread over 100km and that survey activities were carried out in cooperation with MoTC.
The graves, some having pottery and soapstone utensils, are in two clusters. The first mound dates back to the third millennium BC, particularly the transitional era between the Hafeet and Om al Nar periods. The second dates back to the first millennium BC.
Bakri called the 2,300 year old burial chamber with the nearly intact skeleton the most important find at the site. It is being believed that the man may have died at age 50. A male and a female camel were sacrificed and buried in adjacent stone-walled chambers. On his right was found an 88cm long sword with its hilt like an eagle’s head, in addition to a robe and conical woolen headgear, suggesting he was a prominent figure. Two daggers were found on either side of his waist.
The iron sword and daggers are lined with steel, a style indicating connections to the Indus Valley civilization where, it is believed, the world’s first iron swords were forged. The technique then spread to other parts of the world including Oman.
A detailed study on the weapons will throw light on mankind’s earliest iron sword makers. The dead man’s head was laid on a pillow, he wore leather footwear and a bronze utensil was found on his left, Bakri said in the statement.
MoHC will soon carry out restoration of these weapons and replicate this rare tomb at the upcoming National Museum, the statement said.

More on that 2,300 year old grave found in Oman

Archaeologists have unearthed a site near Sinaw that could reveal India's ancient Indus Valley civilization's far reaching influence on the Omani society 2,300 years ago, according to officials of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture.

2,000 year old built-tomb discovered near Sinaw

During an excavation, archaeologists have found the tomb of a man who was buried with sword and daggers made of iron and steel that are said to have first been invented in the Indus Valley. It has been scientifically proved that iron and steel arms were made in the Indus Valley civilization first time ever.
Sultan Bensaif Al Bakri, director of Excavations and Archaeological Studies of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture has said that this finding may prove the influence of the Indian civilization on Oman during that period. However, he said that further studies would be carried out on this regard.
Al Bakri has said that a 2,300- year-old underground chamber was found during rescue excavations 22km south of Sinaw. This was the burial chamber of a man in his 50's, buried along with his personal arms. Near his grave, two male and female camels were also buried. They were slaughtered after the death of the man. The walls of the graves of these camels were erected with stones.
He said that the man was buried separately, on the right side of the camels' graves, with his 88cm sword in front of him. In addition, two daggers were tied on the right and left sides of his waist. A robe and woolen cap was also buried along with him. According to the descriptions provided by the archaeologists, the sword and daggers were made of iron and steel which was first made in the Indian civilization from where it spread to the neighboring civilizations, including Oman, said Al Bakri.
He said that the sword was kept in front of the man as the handle of the sword was facing him. Its handle was partly covered with textured ivory shaped like an eagle's beak. It is believed that the man was a chieftain of a tribe, as is evident from the sword and the robe. He was buried as his head was on a pillow and his hat was kept near his head. He was wearing leather shoes.
The Ministry of Heritage and Culture will restore these arms and will display these models in the proposed national museum scheduled to open at the end of this year.
This finding was made during a rescue excavation carried out by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture in coordination with the ministry of transport and communications that was working on the project of Sinaw-Mahout-Duqm road.
While digging, the Ministry of Transport and Communications found a graveyard spread across 100 sq m. This major archaeological finding was made when the ministry excavated 35 graves that came in the way of the proposed road. Archaeologists have concluded that these graves were of two different periods. One is of third millennium BC while the second is of the first millennium BC, which included various tombs, potteries and utensils

Daily Comic Relief

Castaway dog floating on log rescued by New Zealand navy

The crew of Royal New Zealand Navy vessel HMNZS Hawea rescued a distressed dog adrift on a log off Great Barrier Island.

The dog was spotted floating in Smokehouse Bay, believed to have been washed out to sea sometime during the recent Auckland storms.

Able Seaman Combat Specialist Filipe Latu noticed the dog perched on the log and went straight to the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Anthony Norris

Lieutenant Norris deployed one of the ship's inflatable boats with four crew to rescue the dog. The dog was then taken ashore, where the sailors found a friendly face who knew the dog's owners.

Exhausted fawn rescued from flooded creek by concerned onlookers

Incessant rains in Kansas City, Missouri, earlier this week left a little baby deer stranded and struggling to find higher ground, but that's when some local people jumped in to help. Firefighters had hoped that when the waters receded, the fawn would find its way out of the storm drain, but three citizens didn't want to leave it and they instead got the fawn out. The helpless fawn stood patiently on Tuesday morning as it waited for the waters to recede. Rescue crews tried twice to save the deer, but firefighters say every time they tried to go near it, it ran away in the direction of the water flow, putting it at risk of being swept away. So crews stopped.

They then tried again with a rope, but the deer ran away from it. "I was not going to let anyone from animal control go down because they didn't have the proper gear or training. I was pretty concerned with my own people," Battalion Chief Jimmy Walker said. After crews left and the waters went down, a man jumped in. He too had troubles coaxing the little fawn to safety, but his nephew was there to help. After falling into the water a second time, the fawn realized it had no choice and it went in the direction of the men. That's when one of them grabbed its leg. Then came the hard part of getting it out. The drainage ditch is surrounded by concrete and there are no stairs in sight.

A woman helped one of the men up the concrete wall and through the thick brush. Then another stranger offered a hand. Together they formed a chain to get each other out. It was a risky situation that thankfully turned into a happy ending. The strangers took the cold but otherwise unharmed fawn to the Lakeside Nature Center, where authorities take in wildlife. "Made me feel good to save his life. Good experience man," said Durrell Cox. Firefighters say the creek is normally just a trickle of water, but with all the rain, it had really increased the water flow. That could be dangerous for anyone trying to get involved in the rescue. "We do have sympathy for the deer, we're only going to do so much for the deer and not risk anyone else's life,"

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Walker said when they backed away from their rescue attempts. There are concrete walls along the creek, but there are not any others farther upstream. Firefighters guess the fawn wandered into the stream and was swept down the creek. Kimberly Hess with Lakeside Nature Center said the fawn is female and believed to only be about a month old. She will be staying with Lakeside until she's ready to be released and that process will take at least a few months. Because of a disease impacting deer, they can't cross county lines, so because the fawn was found in Jackson County, she will need to remain in Jackson County. Hess said the fawn took her first full bottle, so she's eating well. She's still nursing, so she'll be on bottles awhile. The fawn's four paws were also badly cut, so they've been wrapped until they heel.

Baby moose took a break in hotel lobby

A baby moose that was either very confused, scared or just looking for a little respite from the wild in the lap of luxury found its way into the lobby of the Lionshead Antlers at Vail hotel in Colorado, on Monday.

After taking a spin around the lobby and not being able to find its way out, the moose plopped down in the middle of the lobby and stayed for a spell. “He nestled right in the middle of the floor in the lobby and stayed for probably 10 to 20 minutes,” the hotel’s general manager, Rob LeVine, said.

Only one hotel guest and one hotel employee were in the lobby at the time the moose entered through the lobby’s front doors, kept open to enjoy the Vail weather. “They closed the doors so people wouldn’t come in and out and kept it safe,” LeVine said, adding that the hotel employee also called wildlife officials and police.

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When officers from the Vail Police Department arrived, according to LeVine, they determined that the moose should be let free and opened the doors for the moose to get out. Officials from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife department then responded to the scene outside the hotel, tranquilizing the animal and taking it to a rehabilitation facility in nearby Fort Collins, a department spokesman said. The goal is to eventually return the animal to its natural habitat.

Not Warm, Not Cold

Dinosaur Blood Ran Just Right: Not Warm, Not Cold

Exploiting the middle ground as a strategy may have helped dinosaurs rule the Earth for more than 100 million years.

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