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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.


Thursday, August 6, 2015

The Daily Drift

Yep, that's pretty much it  ...!
 
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Today in History

1497 John Cabot returns to England after his first successful journey to the Labrador coast.
1863 The CSS Alabama captures the USS Sea Bride near the Cape of Good Hope.
1888 Martha Turner is murdered by an unknown assailant, believed to be Jack the Ripper, in London, England.
1890 William Kemmler becomes the first man to be executed by the electric chair.
1904 The Japanese army in Korea surrounds a Russian army retreating to Manchuria.
1914 Ellen Louise Wilson, the first wife of the twenty-eighth president, Woodrow Wilson, dies of Barite’s disease.
1927 A Massachusetts high court hears the final plea from Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italians convicted of murder.
1942 The Soviet city of Voronezh falls to the German army.
1945 Paul Tibbets, the commander of Enola Gay, drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.It was the second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, that induced the Japanese to surrender.
1962 Jamaica becomes independent, after 300 years of British rule.
1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, outlawing the literacy test for voting eligibility in the South.
1972 Atlanta Braves’ right fielder Hank Arron hits his 660th and 661st home runs, setting the Major League record for most home runs by a player for a single franchise.
1973 Singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder is in an automobile accident and goes into a four-day coma.
1979 Twelve-year-old Marcus Hooper becomes the youngest person to swim the English Channel.
1981 Argentina’s ex-resident Isabel Peron freed from house arrest.
1988 A melee that became known as the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City leads to NYPD reforms.
1991 Tim Berners-Lee publishes the first-ever website, Info.cern.ch.
1993 John Paul II publishes "Veritatis splendor encyclical," regarding fundamentals of the catholic cult’s role in immoral teachings.
1997 Microsoft announces it will invest $150 million in troubled rival Apple Computer, Inc.
2012 New Zealand’s Mount Tongariro erupts for the first time since 1897.

Non Sequitur

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Paramedic Who Makes $15/hr. Destroys Every Complaint About Fast Food Workers Earning The Same Amount

by Joe Fletcher 
The internet is a mighty tool. Occasionally, you come across a person’s perspective on an issue that is so spot on you just have to share it. A paramedic from New York who earns $15/hr. shared his views on New York’s decision to make the minimum wage for fast food workers $15/hr. and it most certainly spot on.
Originally posted to Facebook, Jens Rushing wrote a response to all of those complaining about the raise that fast workers will be receiving. The post eventually made its way to Imgur. Here is what Rushing said:
4eatgCG 
The next time someone starts complaining about people who work so-called “low skill” jobs demanding a $15 show them this. Why would anyone else complain about getting a raise? There are over 15 million people working between $7.25/hr. and 10.88/hr. according to the Brookings Institute.  Only around 12 percent of those people are teenagers, despite claims that minimum wage jobs are mostly worked by teenagers. Those people would benefit greatly from a raise in wages. However, so would an additional 20 million workers who make as much as 150 percent of the minimum wage. This is because of the ripple effect that raising the minimum wage has a ripple effect on wages of people who earn 150 percent or less than the minimum wage. Therefore, if you are near the minimum wage, chances are you are going to see a raise as more people organize and demand an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work.
Of course, the best way a person can guarantee that their wages will go up is if they demand that they do. All over the United States, people are winning the fight to raise wages and receive better benefits. This is the age of income inequality, low wage earners. Stop putting your brothers and sisters down and get  organized.

Health News

We're not just talking bad eggs or rotten apples. These outbreaks are the worst of the bunch.
A vaccine tested in Ebola-stricken West Africa is a resounding success, protecting everyone it was used on against the deadly virus.

Who's Cussing?

Find out which U.S. regions swear like Marines and which are more restrained in this new data dump.

Beloved hitchhiking robot that traveled through Canada destroyed by ‘asshole’ Philadelphia vandals

HitchBOT _ HitchBOT website
Dammit Philadelphia. Sometimes you're a real asshole. #RIP @hitchBOT - Twitter

British Viral 'Ghost Photo'

A ghost photo from the U.K. is going viral this week but in this case psychology—not the paranormal—provides the best explanation.

Some neighbors unhappy with man for parking plane on his driveway

A man from Oceanside, Long Island, New York has parked his plane on his driveway and some of  his neighbors aren't happy. Harold Guretzky no longer wanted to pay $150 a month in storage fees at Republic Airport, so he had his Cessna trucked in and reassembled on his driveway about a month ago. “Why they’re picking on me I don’t understand,” Guretzky said.
“I had inspectors show up. They wrote me summonses,” he added. The Town of Hempstead Department of Buildings said Guretzky faces up to $2,500 in summonses for keep the plane on his property. The tickets cited Guretzky for illegal storage of a plane. The 69-year-old student pilot said he had dismantled the plane at the airport, trucked it to his house, and then reassembled it.
The summons, he said, is something his attorney will fight. “He doesn’t care if this goes all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Guretzky said. Some, but not all, neighbors are amused. His neighbor across the street, Ricky, said he doesn’t mind the 24-foot-long two-seater, but he objects to all the people who keep stopping by to take selfies with the plane. “They think it’s cute and they stand by his plane,” he said.

“Do I need to have traffic back and forth here? It becomes a nuisance after a while.” Neighbor Vicky said she doesn’t think it looks that bad, but town code says you can only park a car or a boat in your driveway. “Where is the limit? If we allow this plane, well somebody else might do something. What’s next a tank - a military tank?” she said. “You have to have limits otherwise let’s face it, people will run amok.”

Some Analysts Think Putin's Downfall May Be Imminent

Could a world leader with as much power as Vladimir Putin really be headed for a toppling in the near future? Trace examines the arguments some are making for exactly that.

Monk pleads guilty to harassing lesbian witches

A monk has pleaded guilty to harassment after getting into a war of words with a pair of lesbian witches. Damon Kelly, 53, from a catholic coven calling themselves the Black Hermits, delivers leaflets campaigning against homosexuality and other things he regards as sins. When a lesbian couple living in Leicester, received his leaflet one of them stopped Kelly further down the street and confronted him and tried to hand him back the leaflet.
Describing the confrontation at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Thursday, prosecutor Nigel Chapman said Kelly, who was dressed in black monk's robes, told the woman, "keep it, urinate on it, defecate on it". The woman's partner joined her outside and defended the couple's sexuality and pagan beliefs. The court heard both parties were quoting scripture at other. Mr Chapman said an "aggressive and fanatical" Kelly told the women: "You know we used to burn people like you. I'm doing dog's work."
The court heard that 15 days later, on October 29 last year, Kelly returned to their home and posted a letter addressed "To the witches from the monk" which described "witches, gays, lesbians and sex-changers" as being part of the "devil's madness". Mr Chapman said one of the women suffered heart palpitations while reading the letter. He said: "She felt she was being targeted by the defendant." Kevin Sayce, defending Kelly, said his client had never aimed to confront the women. Mr Sayce said: "He picks areas and delivers leaflets.
"It was one of the females that approached Damon Kelly and he defended his opinion as he's had to on numerous occasions. Following their disclosures of their practice as witches, Damon Kelly returned - not to seek out a confrontation but to post the letter that put forward his beliefs on pursuing such desires and such acts. His motive, his calling, is to target the sin and not the sinner." Kelly, of St Patrick's cult in Corby, has taken vows of poverty and chastity. District Judge Tim Daber said a fine would not be suitable and ordered the case be adjourned for three weeks to assess whether Kelly was fit for unpaid work. Kelly was released on bail with the condition not to deliver any leaflets.

Norway’s police haven’t killed a single person in nearly 10 years

Happy Norwegian (Shutterstock)
Police in Norway hardly ever use their guns, a new report released by the Scandinavian country’s government shows.

Psychologist who trains cops to shoot first, ask questions later makes big money at their trials

Dr. William J. Lewinski demonstrating techniques to LAPD officers - ScreenshotAccording to attorneys who have faced off with him in court, Lewinski is consistent in his opinion that police acted properly even when videos and forensics evidence say otherwise.

Police investigate tourist lying on speeding car

Footage showing a half-naked tourist spread-eagled across the back of a car speeding along a busy motorway outside Marbella in Spain is being investigated by police.
The stunt was caught on camera by a Spanish driver who remarked: "This is what guiris do. 100kms and look how he is traveling." Guiris is the slang word often used in Spain to describe northern European tourists. "What madness," he adds.
It is not easy to make out the figures in the grainy footage until the convertible car enters a tunnel when streetlights reveal what looks like a man in his shorts sprawled on his back across the rear of the car.

The man filming the video pans down to show his own speedometer as he keeps up with the pranksters and records 99km per hour (61mph). The footage uploaded onto Youtube in the early hours of Friday morning is being investigated by Malaga’s Civil Guard traffic unit. The stretch of road where the footage was filmed appears to be the newly-built tunnel between Marbella and Puerto Banús.

Man found sitting on toilet inside house said he was thinking of buying it but had to try it out first

Found sitting on a toilet inside a house for sale, a 23-year-old Florida man had a simple explanation for police, he was thinking of buying the home but had to try it out first. Police didn’t buy the explanation and charged him with burglary.
An officer said he received a call about a suspicious man with no shirt and white shorts walking to the rear of a house for sale in Tavares. The man passed through a gated privacy fence and did not exit the property, a neighbor said. The officer said he entered the pool area behind the house after arriving on the scene and opened what he thought was a closet.
It was a bathroom, and the man, later identified as Corey Lee Ramsey, was sitting on the toilet with his shorts around his ankles. Ramsey told the officer “he had been reading books on the topic of purchasing homes, and he wanted to try this one out first before buying,” according to an arrest affidavit.
The four-bedroom, three-bath home has a $299,450 asking price. Police said the homeowner was out of town at the time but would be back shortly. Ramsey remains in his new home at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Ziggy

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Nichelle Nichols Will Fly on a NASA Mission

Actress Nichelle Nichols played Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek television series. Now, at the age of 82, she's leaving Starfleet for service with NASA. The tabloid The Mirror reports that Nichols will fly on NASA's SOFIA space telescope. This modified 747 flies at an elevation of 50,000 feet to observe strange new worlds. Nichols told fans about this mission during a reddit AMA. She writes:
SOFIA does not, sadly, fly into space. It's an airborne observatory, a massive telescope mounted inside a 747 flying as high as is possible. I was on a similar flight, the first airborn observatory, back in 1977. It's an amazing experience, you get a totally different perspective than from earth.
I do hope someone gets some great pictures.

74-year-old man accused of hitting his 100-year-old mother with a broom in cat feeding incident

A 74-year-old Florida man was arrested by Volusia County sheriff's deputies after they said he struck his 100-year-old mother with a broom and threatened to kill her. David Corning was charged with aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65, a felony, after deputies spoke to his mother, Ellen Corning, at the hospital on Wednesday.
Ellen Corning, who turned 100 in April, told deputies that her son also threatened to kill her and that she is afraid of him. The row between mother and son occurred on Tuesday evening in their home outside DeLand but Ellen Corning told deputies she was afraid to report it at the time.
The centenarian said she had entered her son's bedroom to feed his cat. When her son walked in and saw his mother, he began yelling. At one point, David Corning said to his mother, "Go back inside you (expletive deleted) or I will kill you." He then grabbed a broom and swung it at his mother, hitting her on the side of the head and breaking her glasses, deputies reported.
Ellen Corning said she went back into her bedroom for the rest of the evening because she fears her son. David Corning told deputies that his mother should be taken into custody under the Baker Act and that he hit her accidentally with the handle of a vacuum cleaner while she was sitting on a chair in his bedroom. Ellen Corning told deputies that she wants to move forward with charges against her son. David Corning is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail with no bail allowed.

Dog reunited with owners seven years after being stolen

A dog has been reunited with her owners, seven years after being stolen. Molly the Jack Russell was taken from her home in Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, when she was three-years-old, along with her eight puppies.
She was found by police wandering alone nearly 100 miles away in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, last week, and has now been reunited with owners Brian and Pauline Berry and her sister Megan. Mr Berry said it was "absolutely brilliant" seeing her again. Mr and Mrs Berry believe Molly was taken for her puppies, who were four-days-old.
Mr Berry said: It took a short while [for her to recognize us] we gave her a cuddle and after about 20 minutes she started licking my face and the side of my cheek. I never ever thought we'd get her back. The puppies will be distributed all over the place, but I'm just so pleased to have her back. It gives you a lump in your throat, it's unbelievable.
"I wish she could talk, but obviously she cannot, but maybe it's something you don't want to hear." The couple believe she has been badly treated over the seven years as she is very thin and needs dental work. Molly was found after police scanned her micro-chip. Mr Berry said: "I hope it works [the micro-chip] for somebody else that is in the same position - it's proof of the pudding really isn't it? I mean it's worked for me and I just hope it works for somebody else."

Animal Pictures