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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Saturday, June 20, 2015

The Daily Drift

So true, so very true ...!
 
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Today in History

451 Roman and barbarian warriors halt Attila’s army at the Catalaunian Plains in eastern France.
1397 The Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under one monarch.
1756 Nearly 150 British soldiers are imprisoned in the ‘Black Hole’ cell of Calcutta. Most die.
1793 Eli Whitney applies for a cotton gin patent.
1819 The paddle-wheel steamship Savannah arrives in Liverpool, England, after a voyage of 27 days and 11 hours–the first steamship to successfully cross the Atlantic.
1837 18-year-old Victoria is crowned Queen of England.
1863 President Abraham Lincoln admits West Virginia into the Union as the 35th state.
1898 On the way to the Philippines to fight the Spanish, the U.S. Navy seizes the island of Guam.
1901 Charlotte M. Manye of South Africa becomes the first native African to graduate from an American University.
1910 Mexican President Porfirio Diaz proclaims martial law and arrests hundreds.
1920 Race riots in Chicago, Illinois leave two dead and many wounded.
1923 France announces it will seize the Rhineland to assist Germany in paying her war debts.
1941 The U.S. Army Air Force is established, replacing the Army Air Corps.
1955 The AFL and CIO agree to combine names for a merged group.
1963 The United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish a hot line between Washington and Moscow.
1964 General William Westmoreland succeeds General Paul Harkins as head of the U.S. forces in Vietnam.
1967 Boxing champion Muhammad Ali is convicted of refusing induction into the American armed services.
1972 President Richard Nixon names General Creigton Abrams as Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
1999 NATO declares an official end to its bombing campaign of Yugoslavia.

The Little Boy Who Should’ve Vanished, But Didn’t

In the 18th and 19th centuries, vanilla from Mexico was all the rage. Planters tried to get the plant to grow in other parts of the world, but while the vine grew, it would not pollinate and produce vanilla beans. Growers couldn’t even find the sexual parts of the plant, which would enable them to hand-pollinate it.
They kept trying. One plantation owner, Ferréol Bellier-Beaumont, on the island of Réunion halfway between India and Africa, had received a bunch of vanilla plants from the government in Paris. He’d planted them, and one, only one, held on for 22 years. It never fruited.

The story goes that one morning in 1841, Bellier-Beaumont was walking with his young African slave Edmond when they came up to a surviving vine. Edmond pointed to a part of the plant, and there, in plain view, were two packs of vanilla beans hanging from the vine. Two! That was startling. But then Edmond dropped a little bomb: This wasn’t an accident. He’d produced those fruits himself, he said, by hand-pollination.
The 12-year-old’s technique worked, and he taught it to other slaves of Réunion. Exports of vanilla exploded. What’s most amazing about the story is that Edmond received credit for the discovery, although his story had its ups and downs. Read about the discovery of vanilla pollination and find out what happened to Edmond at National Geographic’s Phenomena blog.

French letter eventually delivered after 138 years

A woman in her eighties in northern France has more reason than most to grumble about the country's postal service after receiving a letter destined for her great grandfather 138 years ago. The letter was sent on January 27th, 1877 from Sains-du-Nord, 10 kilometres from the intended recipient in Trélon.
Despite the short distance, the letter took 138 years to arrive at its destination. It was finally delivered a few days ago to Thérèse Pailla, the great-granddaughter of the addressee, who was as surprised as the postman. “The postman brought it to me. He and his colleagues were surprised. Me too,” Pailla, who is in her eighties, said.
In the letter, the sender refers to an order of yarn from a spinning mill that once owned by Pailla’s great-grandfather, who died in 1897. It is as yet unclear whether the belated arrival was due to a postal error or if the letter was recently found and re-posted. France’s postal service La Poste has said it will investigate.
In a statement, the regional post service described the late delivery as a “very exceptional” case, pointing out that it wasn’t necessarily the same postal service as today. “It can sometimes happen that a letter gets lost when a locker is dusted, tidied or moved. A letter can fall accidentally and is found years later. But, generally, it’s quite rare.”

Wal-Mart hides $76 billion in overseas tax havens while taxpayers help feed low-wage workers

Currency, Bribing, Wealth (Shutterstock.com)
A study from the University of California Berkeley Labor Center found earlier this year that poverty-level wages paid by companies like Wal-Mart were costing U.S. taxpayers $153 billion a year.

The Business Model That Lets Uber Shaft Drivers Was Just Ruled Illegal In California

The spiritual home of surge pricing may face a massive jump in its own costs after California labor officials found that drivers are company employees, not independent contractors.

Nutella Sparks War Of Words Between European Environmental Ministers


Survey Of Big Investment Companies Shows Why We Might Be On The Verge Of A Solar Power Boom


A new survey has also found that about two-thirds of big investment companies plan to make investing in solar a priority in the five years.

India Just Upped Its Solar Target Five-Fold, Will Install More Solar This Year Than Germany


In a diverse country of more than 1.2 billion residents, this task is tantamount to a second green revolution.

Bomb scare after man robbed bank with sex toy

A man accused of robbing a bank with a bomb told police it wasn’t a bomb at all, just an adult toy and cell phone cable wrapped in duct tape. Nevertheless, roads were shut down and the bomb squad deployed when police pulled him over as a precaution.

Man fatally shot after checking if gun was loaded by putting it to his head and pulling the trigger

A man from Volusia County, Florida, fatally shot himself in the head on Sunday after questioning aloud to a friend if the gun was loaded, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Charles Cooper, 49, had been drinking beer next to a bonfire with a woman at his property in Mims about 40 miles south of Daytona Beach, deputies said. The two had plans to fish and barbecue, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Cooper retrieved a handgun at some point, took out the magazine and then questioned aloud whether there was still a round in the chamber. “Cooper then raised the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, discharging a fatal round,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
“Cooper fell to the ground right next to a bonfire and was pronounced dead at the scene.” The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was notified about the shooting at 1:50 a.m. and the medical examiner will perform an autopsy, but all signs point to the shooting being an accident, the Sheriff’s Office added.

Delaware prosecutor avoids lengthy prison term for teen’s rape after lawyer claims he’s suffered enough

Daniel Simmons
Daniel Simmons pleaded guilty in March to one count of fourth-degree rape, which carries a potential 15-year sentence, after his former employer agreed to drop three other counts of the same charge.

Lower caste girl severely beaten up by women after her shadow fell on higher caste muscleman

A young Dalit girl was allegedly beaten up by higher caste women in Ganeshpura village in Madhya Pradesh, India, after the victim's shadow fell on a muscleman belonging to their family, police said on Tuesday.
The incident took place on June 13 and the complaint was filed on the same day at Gadi Malhera police station, Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Neeraj Pandey said. According to the complaint lodged by the girl's father, the problem began when his daughter was fetching water from a village hand pump and her shadow fell on muscleman Puran Yadav (belonging to a higher caste) when he happened to pass by, the ASP said.
The episode enraged the family of the muscleman to such an extent that the women of the family severely beat the girl and threatened that if she was spotted again at the hand pump, they would kill her, he said. Yadav's family also prevented the victim from going to police station, but they somehow managed to reach there. A case has been registered against the accused and further investigation is under way.
In several remote pockets of India, where untouchability is still prevalent, people from the lower caste are forbidden to come in contact with those belonging to the higher rung so much so that they can't share their food, cook for them or even look them in the eye. It is even forbidden for their shadow to fall on higher caste people, who consider it as defiling or polluting.

10 Of The World's Best Dinosaur Museums

Jurassic World hit over 4,200 theaters last week, reintroducing the man-meets-dinosaur disaster to a new generation of fans. While real-life scientists have yet to resurrect the terrible lizards from mosquito DNA, they say it'll be a long time before a Jurassic Park-style theme park is feasible.
Fortunately there are already plenty of museums worldwide that (safely) bring humans face to face with dinosaurs - and not always just their skeletons.

How Much Would It Cost To Build Jurassic Park?

Jurassic Park is the coolest, most epic theme park we've ever seen. Everyone would buy a ticket to this park. But how could a park like this be built? How expensive would it be?

Police called out to deal with garden ornament

Police officers were called to a report of a snake lurking on a patio garden area next to a block of flats in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton last Friday. Police were called at 06:36hrs by the RSPCA who had received a call from a member of the public, who was especially concerned because the snake was spotted near local schools. Officers attended and viewed the reptile from the street about 2-3 meters away and repositioned themselves to take a photograph of it from above about 1.5 meters away. It seemed to have blended in with the colour of its surroundings - as if for its own protection. One of the officers attending observed: “It wasn’t moving but they can stay still for a long time.
“We didn’t want to move in too close in case we disturbed it.” Officers then made inquiries at the flats - only for a resident to reveal it was a garden ornament. Sutton Chief Inspector Julian Hagley said the RSPCA had informed them it was out of hours and the snake might have disappeared by the time their officers had arrived.
“It’s the job of the police to protect the public and it only took a few minutes to establish that the snake wasn’t real. For all we know, the consequences of not attending might have resulted in word spreading and understandable concern from local residents,” said Chief Insp Hagley.

Firefighters rescued duck trapped in tree

A crew from Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue were called to the Welsh Wildlife Center near Cardigan last week after a birdwatcher spotted a Mallard duck stuck in an empty owl nesting box.
The firefighters used a ladder to get to the stuck fowl and cut it free. The duck then flew-off, seemingly none-the-worse for its ordeal. Gareth Williams, head chef at the center's cafe, said he had been approached by the concerned twitcher.
He said: "We've had Tawny owls nesting in the box for many years but it is empty at the moment. The tree is over-hanging the marshes we have here, and we couldn't get to it.
"I called the fire service and told them it wasn't an emergency or anything, but they came straight away. I don't know why she thought an owl box would be a good place to build a nest." The empty owl box has since been taken down to avoid any repeat incidents.

Elephants enjoy classical music concert

Pairi Daiza zoo in Belgium have released a video which seems to show their elephants swaying in time to classical music. In preparation for a series of nights where live music would be played around the park, zoo staff decided to make sure the elephants would not be worried by the new noises.
Far from being worried the animals seemed to listen carefully to the music before starting to sway their trunks and their whole bodies in unison and in time with the music.

Watch the original Facebook video here.

Escaped tiger kills man in Georgia

by Irakli Metreveli
Escaped Tiger Kills Man in Georgia
Search for New York Prison Break Escapees Expands
A rare white tiger that escaped from Tbilisi zoo in a freak flood mauled a man to death in the Georgian capital on Wednesday before being shot dead by police, officials said.
The interior ministry had initially said the animal was a lion and deployed special forces to hunt down the beast, which had been on the loose since the weekend flooding that killed at least 17 people.
But ministry spokeswoman Nino Giorgobiani later told AFP: "It was one tiger. It has been liquidated."
There were fears that a second tiger was still at large after reported sightings, and the director of the zoo acknowledged that some animals were still unaccounted for.
"We still don't know where another young tiger is and a hyena," said director Zurab Gurielidze. "We don't know if they drowned or are still loose."
"We did a count of all drowned or killed animals, and a tiger that we previously considered shot turned out alive and hiding," he told AFP. "I fully recognize my responsibility."
Police said they had searched a parking garage in a fashionable central neighborhood after receiving a tip that a second tiger was sighted there, but ultimately dismissed it as a false alarm.
But a local resident told AFP that she saw the animal out of her window. "It was an average-sized tiger, not a large one," she said. "I cried out in fear and it ran away."
The deadly attack came just two days after the country's prime minister said all the animals which were swept from the zoo in the flood -- including lions, bears and a hippo -- had been killed or captured.
Witnesses told Georgian television they saw a person being mauled by a white tiger near Heroes Square next to the zoo.
"It was a white tiger, a big one. It attacked a man, it seized him by the throat," one agitated witness told the Imedi channel.
The victim, a 43-year-old man, "was hospitalized with cardiac arrest and a severed carotid artery," the head of Tbilisi's Republican Hospital, Avtandil Imedadze, told AFP.
"The injuries were fatal, doctors were unable to restore his heartbeat to save him," he said.
The Georgian government had initially warned residents to stay indoors after the disaster, which wrecked the zoo after the Vere river burst its banks on Sunday after heavy rain.
The flooding claimed the lives of at least 17 people, including three zoo workers, and caused massive damage to the city's central districts, with five people still missing.
The escaped animals were seen roaming the flood-ravaged streets in the wake of the disaster, but Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced Monday that all the escaped animals had been killed or captured.
"I want to apologise for giving the wrong information, although it was based on the information from the zoo administration," Garibashvili said in televised comments after the attack.
Over half of the zoo's 600 animals were either drowned in the muddy waters or were later shot by police.
Georgian media said the tiger had been hiding in a warehouse and escaped the citywide hunt for the escaped creatures.
A witness told local television that the man mauled to death had been assessing the damage to the building.
Haunting pictures of frightened or dead animals made headlines around the world and stirred controversy over the government's handling of Georgia's deadliest floods in decades.
Animal rights activists have demanded an investigation into suggestions that some of the animals shot dead by police could have been spared.
But zoo director Gurielidze -- who nearly lost his life trying to save the animals from the flood -- has defended the government's response, saying officials did their best to protect people.
Garibashvili said Wednesday that rebuilding the damaged roads and infrastructure could cost the government up to $45 million (40 million euros). 
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For those that are intellectually challenged this piece is about Georgia - the country, not Georgia - the redneck backwater (excuse, us, state).

Animal Pictures