The Daily Drift

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Carolina Naturally

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Today in History

1626		The Danes are crushed by the Catholic League in Germany, marking the end of Danish intervention in European wars.
1776		The Americans are defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island, New York.
1793		Maximilien Robespierre is elected to the Committee of Public Safety in Paris, France.
1813		The Allies defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden.
1861		Union troops make an amphibious landing at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1862		As the Second Battle of Bull Run rages, Confederate soldiers attack Loudoun County, Virginia.
1881		New York state’s Pure Food Law goes into effect to prevent “the adulteration of food or drugs.”
1894		The United States congress passes an income tax law as part of a general tariff act, but it is found unconstitutional.
1910		Thomas Edison demonstrates the first “talking” pictures–using a phonograph–in his New Jersey laboratory.
1912		Edgar Rice Burrough‘s Tarzan of the Apes first appears in a magazine.
1916		Italy declares war on Germany.
1928		Fifteen nations sign the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, outlawing war and calling for the settlement of disputes through arbitration. Forty-seven other countries eventually sign the pact.
1941		The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumimaro Konoye, issues an invitation for a meeting with President Franklin Roosevelt.
1945		B-29 Superfortress bombers begin to drop supplies into Allied prisoner of war camps in China.
1963		Cambodia severs ties with South Vietnam.
1975		Veronica & Colin Scargill of England complete tandem bicycle ride around the world, a record 18,020 miles (29,000.4 km).
1979		Lord Mountbatten is killed by an Irish terrorist bomb in his sail boat in Sligo, Ireland.
1984		Reagan announces NASA Teacher in Space project, intended to inspire students and honor teachers and spur interest in the fields of science, mathematics and space exploration.
1989		Chuck Berry performs his tune Johnny B. Goode for NASA staff in celebration of Voyager II‘s encounter with the planet Neptune.
1991		Moldavia declares independence from USSR.
1993		The Rainbow Bridge, a 1,870-foot suspension bridge over Tokyo Bay, completed.
2003		Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km).
2008		Democrats nominate Barack Obama for president, first African American nominated by a major political party for the office of President of the United States.
2012		First interplanetary human voice recording is broadcast from the Mars Rover Curiosity.

400 Years of Equator Hazings

The subject of crossing the equator came up in a discussion of the Rio Olympics, and we all slightly recalled that you had to go through some kind of ritual, but no one could recall what they heard it was. We figured it varied by the organization you were with. Ben Marks went through that experience recently on a French research vessel and lived to tell about it. Then he did more research on such rituals, which are really a form of hazing. Marks talked to Dr. Simon Bronner of Penn State University, author of Crossing the Line: Violence, Play, and Drama in Naval Equator Traditions.

“Well, I can give you a manifest reason and a latent reason for the practice,” Bronner begins, referring to the obvious and subconscious justifications for the tradition. “The manifest reason is around the idea that the equator itself is some kind of a liminal twilight zone, if you will, because its latitude is 0, 0, 0. There is a certain religio-magical connotation to the equator, so the ceremony is a way to indicate that one is traveling not only through space but also time, through some kind of a liminal reversal zone.”
For the record, Pascal never mentioned anything about liminal reversal zones when he was binding my wrists, smashing raw eggs on my head and face, or offering me a sip of water after I’d been standing in the sun for an hour, only to find out that it was seawater. After I realized what I was about to swallow, I spat the stuff in his face, which elicited from Pascal a loud, staccato laugh, and earned me another wink.
“Latently,” Bronner continues, “there is a lot of tension when you’re on a ship because you’re in this master-servant role. On a ship, the idea of discipline and obedience is much more emphasized than in other branches of the armed forces because a ship is a danger zone—discipline and obedience can save lives. So, I think the ceremony is partly a release from all that. Often the officers who are crossing the equator for the first time are treated the harshest. But there is a sense among the participants that there is license to do many of the ceremony’s activities within the framework of play that you couldn’t do anywhere else. The activities serve as an equalizer and ice breaker, especially in institutions, organizations, or groups whose members are strangers to one another.”

Collectors Weekly has a history of equator crossing rituals, and a blow-by-blow description of Marks’ two-hour ordeal -with pictures.

There's A Section Of Yellowstone Park Where You Can Get Away With Murder

People go to Yellowstone National Park for many different reasons, but it's safe to say murder isn't one of them.
But as it turns out there's a 50 square mile section of Yellowstone where the jurisdictional boundaries grow a bit blurry, a place where people could conceivably get away with murder.

Like all national parks, Yellowstone is federal land. Portions of it fall in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, but Congress placed the entire park in Wyoming's federal district. It's the only federal court district in the country that crosses state lines.

This is purely theoretical, of course, and when Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt proposed the concept in his 14-page article "The Perfect Crime" he feared someone might test his theory:

Kalt knew that Article III of the Constitution requires federal criminal trials to be held in the state in which the crime was committed. And the Sixth Amendment entitles a federal criminal defendant to a trial by jurors living in the state and district where the crime was committed. But if someone committed a crime in the uninhabited Idaho portion of Yellowstone, Kalt surmised, it would be impossible to form a jury. And being federal land, the state would have no jurisdiction. Here was a clear constitutional provision enabling criminal immunity in 50 square miles of America's oldest national park.

So he immediately sent a copy to the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney in Wyoming, and the House and Senate judiciary committees, and you know what they did?
They told Brian they'd wait and see if the issue ever came up, and according to Idaho senator Jim Risch "This is all very romantic and a great fictional thing," he said, "but I'm telling you, the states have jurisdiction." Except this statute seems to state otherwise...

Read There's A Section of Yellowstone Where You Can Get Away With Murder here

This Desert Lagoon Is No Mirage

Amid the rolling sand dunes of this Peruvian desert, an oasis springs from nowhere, adding life to the landscape. Legend has it that the lagoon was created when a princess fled her would-be captor and left the water she had been bathing in, which became the lagoon.

YouTube link

Vietnam By Drone

Explore the amazing mountains of Vietnam.

YouTube link

This is better than the last time.

Mylan Pushed for Law to Make EpiPens Mandatory in U.S. Schools—Then Fled Overseas to Avoid Taxes

Mylan Pushed for Law to Make EpiPens Mandatory in U.S. Schools—Then Fled Overseas to Avoid Taxes

Why Mylan's Alleged Solution to Its EpiPen Price-Gouging Scandal Is a Scam

Why Mylan's Alleged Solution to Its EpiPen Price-Gouging Scandal Is a Scam

Vets Lose When Big Pharma and Defense Corporations Rake in the Big War Bucks

Vets Lose When Big Pharma and Defense Corporations Rake in the Big War Bucks

5 Conspiracy 'Theories' Hatched by Alex Jones That Dumbass Trump Uses to Pollute Our Airwaves

5 Conspiracy 'Theories' Hatched by Alex Jones That Dumbass Trump Uses to Pollute Our Airwaves

Letter To Grandmother: 'This Neighborhood Does Not Need Any Blacks In It'

Witchita, Kansas grandmother receives an anonymous hate letter because her grandchildren are biracial.

A Shocking Story of How a Chicago Cop Killed a Teen—Then Locked Up His Best Friend for the Murder

A Shocking Story of How a Chicago Cop Killed a Teen—Then Locked Up His Best Friend for the Murder

Man unhappy about sap from neighbor's tree cut it down causing it to fall onto his own home

A man in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, cut down his neighbor's tree over the weekend because he thought it was ruining his car. The tree ended up hitting his own apartment house. Police said Raymond Mazzarella grabbed a chainsaw and cut down the tree in his neighbor's yard on Saturday afternoon. The tree sat in his neighbor's yard, but it had branches above his parking space. Those branches would drip sap onto his car.

When he cut through the 36-inch wide trunk, the tree fell onto part of his own apartment building. “He decided it was the best thing to do, to get rid of the tree, where he thought it was going to go, I don't know,” said Terry Best, a Pittston Township code enforcement officer. Authorities condemned the building in Pittston Township, and five people have to find new places to stay. Rick Woods also lived in the apartment house until it was condemned.
When the tree fell, Woods was in his apartment, sitting on his couch, watching TV. All of a sudden, he heard a big crash. “I thought a tractor trailer lost his brakes and ran into something, not realizing it was the house,” he said. Police said Mazzarella was then checked out at a hospital. Upon his release on Monday afternoon, a neighbor saw Mazzarella trespassing near the apartment house and called police. When the neighbor confronted him, Mazzarella punched him. The neighbor pulled out a stun gun to protect himself.

YouTube link.

Mazzarella then started hitting him with a baseball bat. Mazzarella is charged with assault and harassment and is locked up in the Luzerne County jail on $10,000 bail. The Red Cross is helping the others who lived in the apartment building with temporary places to stay. That's all Woods is hoping for. “I find a place to live. That's about it,” he said. Officials aren't sure when or if people will be allowed back in the building because the foundation has shifted. “It's going to be a long time before somebody gets back in here,” Best said.

Pantless woman accused of DUI called friend for a lift who was also pantless and arrested for DUI

Police in Troy, Michigan, stopped a black Impala driven by 23-year-old Samantha Alfaro of Lansing for suspected DUI earlier this month. The female officer who made the stop was surprised to find that Alfaro was naked from the waist down. Police dash cam video filmed what happened. "Where's your clothes? Where's your pants?" the officer asked.

Asked how much she had to drink, Alfaro responded, "Too much. Just take me to jail already!" The officer was more than willing to grant Alfaro's request, but there is a dress code. "Try and put your pants on. You're going to be getting out of the car," the officer said. The dash cam shows the officer probing the car and questioning a 19-year-old passenger.
Alfaro remained half-naked and unafraid during much of the encounter. But with the pending arrival of another male officer, a "cover-up" ensued. "Just put your pants on okay cause there's a male officer coming and I don't want you to be exposed, you know?," the female officer said to Alfaro. Alfaro complied and was arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, first offense.

YouTube link.

When Alfaro called a friend for a lift home the story took another strange twist. Jocelyn Reardon, 20, was stopped for DUI 200 yards from the Troy police station when she arrived to pick up Alfaro. Reardon was wearing a T-shirt and little else. "Are you wearing any clothes other than the shirt?," an officer asked. Reardon wasn't wearing any pants either. She was also charged with DUI.

Woman stabbed husband for drinking her beer

A woman from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, is facing charges after state police say she stabbed her husband for drinking her beer. Tracey Giffin, 45, is accused of stabbing her husband, Joseph Giffin, inside their home in North Union Township on Sunday night.

When state police arrived, they said Joseph Giffin had blood on his chest and stomach that was coming from cuts to his neck, chest and head. "(Joseph Giffin) related that he was drinking with the defendant and she had gone to bed.
"She had gotten up and was upset that he had drank one of her beers," state police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. "He related (that) an argument took place, and she then grabbed a pair of scissors. He related (that) she then put cut marks on his chest, neck and head. He related (that) she then bit him on the arms and thumb."

YouTube link.

Tracey Giffin was taken to the Fayette County Jail in lieu of posting bail. Tracey Giffin was also arrested in 2013 after state police said she fought with her then-boyfriend, William Balas, over barbecue sauce. Investigators in that case said Balas apparently forgot to pick up the condiment from the store on Christmas Eve and that when he returned home, a physical fight occurred. Balas and Giffin were charged after police said Balas hit Giffin and she bit him.

Poor Pluto: 10 Years A Dwarf Planet And Still Our Planetary System Is A Big Mystery

In 2006, Pluto ceased to be a planet. It was degraded by the International Astronomical Union to dwarf planet. But an asteroid called Ceres was 'promoted.' Did it help us learn more about the solar system?

Beavers On The Moon

The Great Astronomy Hoax Of 1835

The Great Moon Hoax refers to a series of six articles that were published in The Sun, a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon. The discoveries were falsely attributed to Sir John Herschel, one of the best known astronomers of his time.
The articles described fantastic animals on the Moon, including bison, goats, unicorns, bipedal tail-less beavers and bat-like winged humanoids who built temples. The author of the narrative was ostensibly Dr. Andrew Grant, the traveling companion and amanuensis of Sir John Herschel, but Grant was fictitious.

Cattle given glow-in-the dark horns in bid to prevent accidents

Police in India have started pasting radium stickers on the horns of cows hoping that the glow will help drivers avoid hitting stray cattle and evade an accident.
Balaghat police in Madhya Pradesh have stuck the stickers, that glow in the dark, on about 100 cattle-heads over the last five days.
“A lot of accidents were taking place at night involving cattle that were either stationary or had strayed,” said Balaghat additional SP Akash Bhuria.
In-charge of Balaghat traffic police station Kailash Chouhan added: “It’s not easy to attach the stickers because some cows chase the policemen.”

Maritime museum has recruited security dog to deter pooing seagulls

Bailey, a rescue working dog is the Australian National Maritime Museum's newest recruit. The border collie was hired three months ago to help the museum scare away seagulls which have been causing a mess on the wharf in Pyrmont, Sydney, as well as the vessels docked there.

"Normally when there are seagulls down here, [Bailey] will spot them and I'll let him off the lead and I'll say, 'Bailey go'," Adrian Snelling, dog handler and head of security, said. "He just automatically chases the birds." Mr Snelling said the museum had tried, unsuccessfully, other methods to deter the seagulls such as using water sprays and fake birds.
They decided to get Bailey after researching that dogs were routinely used in airports to scare away birds. He was formerly a working dog and was living in foster care. While the wharf has definitely seen an improvement in droppings, Mr Snelling said the sneaky seagulls had relocated their roosting sites to the top decks of the vessels where Bailey is unable to reach.

And staff were forced to issue Bailey with a mandatory uniform after he started taking his job too seriously. "He wears a dog flotation device, the same as what any human would wear on a boat," Mr Snelling said. "He has ended up in the harbor four or five times now from being overeager." When he isn't on shift, Bailey sleeps in the security control room and has been a "great morale booster" for the other staff, Mr Snelling added.

Animal Pictures