The Daily Drift

Some are clueless ...

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Today in History

439		Carthage, the leading Roman city in North Africa, falls to Genseric and the Vandals.
1531		Bavaria, despite being a Catholic region, joins the League of Schmalkalden, a Protestant group which opposes Charles V.
1648		The signing of the Treaty of Westphalia ends the German Thirty Years' War.
1755		A British expedition against the French held Fort Niagara in Canada ends in failure.
1836		The match is patented.
1861		Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line, putting the Pony Express out of business.
1863		General Ulysses S. Grant arrives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to find the Union Army there starving.
1897		The first comic strip appears in the Sunday color supplement of the New York Journal called the 'Yellow Kid.'
1901		Anna Edson Taylor, 43, is the first woman to go safely over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She made the attempt for the cash award offered, which she put toward the loan on her Texas ranch.
1916		Henry Ford awards equal pay to women.
1917		The Austro-German army routs the Italian army at Caporetto, Italy.
1929		Black Thursday–the first day of the stock market crash which began the Great Depression.
1930		John Wayne debuts in his first starring role in The Big Trail .
1931		Al (Alphonse) Capone, the prohibition-era Chicago gangster, is sent to prison for tax evasion.
1934		Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, called Mahatma or "Great Soul," resigns from Congress in India.
1938		The Fair Labor Standards Act becomes law, establishing the 40-hour work week.
1944		The aircraft carrier USS Princeton is sunk by a single Japanese plane during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
1945		The United Nations comes into existence with the ratification of its charter by the first 29 nations.
1945		Vidkun Quisling, Norway's wartime minister president, is executed by firing squad for collaboration with the Nazis.
1952		Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that if elected, he will go to Korea.
1970		Leftist Salvador Allende elected president of Chile.
1973		Yom Kippur War ends.
1980		Poland's government legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
1992		Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves in the 11th inning of the 6th game, to become the first Major League Baseball team from outside the US to win the series.
2003		The supersonic Concorde jet made its last commercial passenger flight from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport, traveling at twice the speed of sound.
2008		Many stock exchanges worldwide suffer the steepest declines in their histories; the day becomes known as "Bloody Friday."

Non Sequitur

'Krokodil'

Street Drug Rots You from the Inside Out

There's a drug that's spreading in popularity called "Krokodil," and it's absolutely terrifying. It's an injectable drug that gives you scaly, reptile-like skin. Get a bad batch, and it rots your body from the inside out. Laci Green has the details.

Daily Comic Relief

Did you know ...

That we are getting older, growing poorer

Is the teenage brain wired for addiction?

That Alaska sinks as climate change warms permafrost

The IMF suggests countries should tax the rich to fix the deficit

The Debt Ceiling Hike was Just a Pause in Wingnut Anti-Government Efforts

Congress has voted to reopen all of government and raise the debt ceiling. There's a built-in deadline however that renders the vote moot…

Tearing myself away from “Nashville” and Deacon’s latest conquest and the question of whether Rayna Jaymes voice would be restored, I watched the obscenity Wednesday night called the House of Representatives vote on the bill to reopen government and hike the debt ceiling through next February 7th. We all know the final tally; 285 in favor, including, to their credit, no matter their motives, 87 Republicans.
A total of 144 Republicans felt that kicking hundreds of thousands of government workers, plus an additional number of those working for government contractors to the curb and savaging various agency services was a wonderful reflection of democracy. The Senate vote was 81-18 with the predictable likes of repugicans Cruz, Coburn, Lee, Rubio, Paul and Scott among those balking at the idea. The final deal was shamefully struck about 100 minutes before assorted government defaults became a very real possibility. For repugicans, it was poll-struck, not a matter of civic conscience. The president and Harry Reid had held their ground.
But know this is in no way a victory. It’s a political pause. Knowledgeable observers recognize that this is the briefest of fixes extending a few months that are bound to be as contentious as the three year span since the tea party took over an arm of our government with a minority of the vote. Yes, a minority. As pointed out by a feature in The Nation magazine, repugicans took over the House even while losing the total margin by 1.7 million votes to the Democrats. District gerrymandering had carried the day for the radicals.
As early as January 2014, tea party shutdown and debt ceiling fecal matter will once again hit the fan and, on schedule, as they have done before, the radicals will parade out a series of heartless and senseless cuts trying to barter the continued demolition of the federal government. Then things will get worse.
In case you missed it, here’s the tea party strategy. Mess up the government to the extent it’s unrecognizable as a democratic institution. That would entail withholding funding from every worthwhile program and agency in DC. In addition to ACA, the other targets for elimination or virtual worthlessness are the Department of Education, the Energy Department, the Commerce Department and certainly the EPA and any other departments or agencies that have anything to do with regulation and oversight, especially financial and environmental. The National Labor Relations Board is also in the political crosshairs.
Destruction of the Postal Service continues unabated with no citizen pushback. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be (already is) weighted down with so many demands, restrictions and requirements as to be unworkable for most. Billions are being diverted from SNAP by religious zealots who see nothing unholy in letting children and the elderly go hungry.
Let’s not forget continued tax cuts for the wealthy so there are no revenues save the lucre to keep our military machine oiled with, ironically, veterans as victims hugely underserved. So what are we left with going into the 2014 and 2016 elections? A chaotic mess that’s what. A mess of the doing of one party, or more correctly, an extremist faction of one party. Follow closely the strategy these extremists hope to pull off. After they destroy the federal government and for all practical purposes grind it to a halt, they’re going to BLAME THE DEMOCRATS. That’s because they have several things going for them at the polls. The first is a low-information constituency that can’t see beyond Lush and Faux News.
Then there’s the icing on the sleazy repugican contribution cake compliments once again of the wingnut Supreme Court. In McCutcheon vs. the Federal Election Commission, currently before the court, an attempt is being made to raise the two-year limit of an individual contribution from the current $123,200 to as much as $3.5 million or thereabouts. FOR SALE! Every election in America. An earlier similar case brought in September of 2012 before the U.S. District Court for DC by Shaun McCutcheon (an Alabama businessman) and the repugican national roven (rnc) was dismissed.
But with the wingnut cuckoos sitting on the Supreme Court bench, the next obvious move was to bump the case up a judicial notch to the Supremes. And one of the guys making the decision believes the devil is a smart and successful “real” person. Do you suppose Antonin Scalia makes his decisions based on his perceived input from “SAAATAN!!! (as Cult Lady used to say)?” Having read some of his decisions, I’m absolutely convinced the devil is a real person. And how about Clarence Thomas, the strong, silent type who is married to a woman who works 24/7 to rip apart ACA? No conflict of interest there in cases relating to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or health care in general.
No matter the outcome, we’re in for at least a couple of more years of ludicrous political turbulence on the federal and state levels. Until the repugican cabal rids itself of any meaningful tea party influence, nothing the repugican cabal does matters. By that I mean their platform will have no positive influence on the country or its people. Keeping minorities, the poor and the LGBT community in their places isn’t public service for the people, it’s bigoted repression. Bowing to the demands of billionaires has nothing whatsoever to do with Democracy. Obsession with entitlement cuts to deflect a percentage of SS money to Wall Street and trashing Medicare and Medicaid will do great harm to the majority of citizens and ignoring the fact that government cannot function without revenue is just plain stupid.
The “new” repugicans have done this nation an enormous disservice. In my next submission I’m going to give you an example of what a number of members of one profession are going through that would make the most rabid of fascist proud. And the horrific consequences can all be traced back to the right-wing.
There is an obvious answer that I’ve repeated over and over. GOTV! Get Out The Vote, then get out AND vote. Get your kin, friends and neighbors out to vote and your fellow workers and every other Democrat and moderate Independent and moderate repugican. Explain in easily understood terms what a continuation of tea party dominance is doing to them, their families and future generations. Reasonable, informed votes trump huge, dirty money every and radicalism every time.

The truth be told

After the Shutdown, Just 38% Think repugicans Should Be in Charge of the House

The repugicans like to say that America wanted divided government, and that’s why they are in charge of the House, but repugicans fixed that. Americans no longer want the repugican cabal in charge of the House.
As a new CNN/ORC poll shows repugicans losing their only base over their ObamaCare shutdown and indicates that more than half of the country is not happy with repugicans holding majority power in the House, perennially wrong Ted Cruz is claiming that Senate repugicans are the biggest problem heading into 2014.
Cruz told CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash in an interview, “The single-most damaging thing that has happened to repugicans for 2014 is all of the Senate repugicans coming out, attacking the House repugicans, attacking those pushing the effort to defund Obamacare and lining themselves up opposite of the American people.”
Yes, if repugicans lose seats in 2014 it’s because the Senate repugicans attacked House repugicans for shutting down the government over ObamaCare. Got it?
According to CNN’s poll taken between October 18-20th, people who were asked, “Do you think it is good for the country or bad for the country that the repugican cabal is in control of the U.S. House of Representatives?” Fifty-four percent say it’s a bad thing that the repugican cabal controls the House and only 38% think it’s a good thing. This means they plunged down 13 points from the end of 2012 when America was okay with repugicans having their itty bitty power in the House (no Senate or White House please).
Americans have always preferred to have moderation over one party rule. Since 2010, Americans have thought that the repugican cabal being in charge of the House was a good thing by between 48% and 51%, and this was during the time they were waging war on women and staging phony ObamaCare repeal votes while passing no actual legislation to help the country. Divided government makes sense theoretically (I’m a big fan of the idea) – but then common sense met the modern day repugican cabal and got scared straight.
The repugicans are even losing their base. Voters between the ages 50-64 years old say it’s bad for the repugican cabal to be in control of the House by 61% to 35%. Voters over the age of 65 said it’s bad for the repugican cabal to control the House by 47% to 46%. Consider that in the 2010 midterms, this age group voted repugican 59/38 and are credited with putting repugicans in control in the first place.
If these same people had to pick between President Obama or Congressional repugicans to deal with the major issues facing the country, they’ll both take Obama, thanks very much. The over 65 voters prefer Obama 45%- 33%, and those between the ages of 50-64 prefer the president 48%- 28%.
Among those who attended college, 50% prefer Obama handle things over just 30% who prefer congressional repugicans. No college prefer Obama 38% to 33%. Obama wins with those who make over 50k, too, by 46% to 32% and with those who earn less than 50k. In other words, repugicans have just managed to shrink their teeny, tiny tent. They have no one left but the frothing birthers and the crazy birchers.
This is called an epic fail. Oh, and 63% want to replace Speaker Boehner. I’d jump on that bandwagon if the alternative to incompetent bumbler who puts the country second to his career wasn’t scary incompetent bumbler who puts the country dead last to his career.

And I Quote

Of Reason and Treason

Why Ted Cruz is the Common Enemy of Humanity 

When he says he is going to shut down the government and then shuts down the government and then says he never shut down the government but he…

We may never know with any certainty what makes Texas Senator Ted Cruz tick, but by his actions it seems pretty clear that he cares only for making a name for himself and that he will put his overweening ego over the welfare of any one person, or even any country. And when he says he is going to shut down the government and then shuts down the government and then says he never shut down the government but he will do it again, dammit, you better listen.
Because sometimes you just need to laugh, I laughed the other day at Andy Borowitz’s quip in The New Yorker about Cruz finally getting around to actually read the ACA and oh by the way the U.S. Constitution. But laughter won’t protect us from our shared reality. It won’t save Ted Cruz and it won’t save us FROM Ted Cruz.
The fact that Cruz seems bound and determined to destroy the American economy over a single law that has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court, ought to outrage every American. We’re out $24 billion we’re never going to see again and he plans to spend more money he says we don’t have when February rolls around. And he’s not planning to use even a single dime of it to create a by-god-actual-job.
Nossir. And given the threat to the world economy, Cruz’s antics ought to outrage every citizen of every country in the world. Cruz and his tea party seditionists threatened the health, wealth, and livelihood of not only every American but of EVERYONE so he could be a hero to a few gun-totin’ homophobic, islamophobic, racist whack jobs who have lost the last two national elections.
The Cuban anarchist, who, by the way, owes Americans that $24 billion he squandered through petty self-aggrandizement, spoke Saturday at the Texas Medical Association’s fall conference about his “(t)reasoning.”
Watch courtesy of KVUE Television in Austin:

 

What you don’t know CAN hurt you. But as the old saying goes, it’s not what you don’t know that will get you but what you THINK you know, and the tea party repugicans think they know an awful lot of things that are pretty much all in their own minds. The trouble is, those things they think aren’t supported by facts.
America does not exist in a vacuum. America is tied to a complex global economy. If the United States economy had crashed, it would have dragged the world economy down with it. Cruz’s demagoguery is a threat to the whole planet. And he promise us he is not through.
But repugicans – especially tea party repugicans – don’t think about basic facts like this. Cruz scared not only people – liberals AND wingnuts – but fake people – organizations and corporations. He scared the staunchly repugican U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has responded by saying, “Enough silliness.” Scott Reed, who is senior political strategist for the chamber said Friday that, “The need is now more than ever to elect people who understand the free market and not silliness.”
Gee. Ya think? Good luck with that, by the way. We’ve been dangerously exposed to your talent pool.
repugicans say they want to run the United States government like a business – after they sell most of it in a yard sale – but repugicans don’t understand business; they don’t understand the free market.
So now we have Ted Cruz saying he “would do anything” to stop Obamacare and we have John McCain and Mitch “Hey, I got a 2-week paid vacation out of it” McConnell saying there will not be another shutdown over Obamacare. It’s not that McCain and McConnell like Obamacare; they don’t. But in their odd little ways they seem to like America more, at the least understand that if Cruz succeeds in his Cruzade to destroy the federal government they won’t have paying jobs anymore.
Cruz is doing what the American people want him to do, he insists. MSNBC put it thusly:

Cruz insisted he was acting on behalf of Americans who share his position. While his statement is not necessarily supported by national polls, he is able to assert enough anecdotal support, particularly in Texas, to form the basis of a critique of some of his Washington colleagues.

But even Texas Governor Rick Perry, who sought Obamacare funding for Texas before calling Obamacare a criminal act before finally encouraging Texans to enroll in Obamacare, is now essentially endorsing Obamacare and there is anecdotal evidence that Texans LIKE Obamacare.
If he really wants a war, shouldn’t Cruz instead begin his Cruzade in Texas, if all his evidence (sorta) comes from Texas?
Besides being gratuitously greedy and selfish, Cruz is being childish. Not only is he ignoring facts but he is painting himself as some sort of fearless messiah-like character persecuted on all sides not only by his enemies but the allies that have betrayed him.
Why those terrible liberals are even threatening to kill him, he says, and each repugican who says no to him only raises himself higher, at least in his own estimation. He says things like “I don’t work for the cabal bosses in Washington” and “I’m not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate.”
He’s not even doing it because the American people want him to do it because he knows how to read as well as the rest of us, and the polls clearly demonstrate that the American people do not want him to do it. He is doing it for himself, pure and simple, because in his twisted way he thinks this will somehow position him for the presidency in 2016.
We know this won’t happen because unlike Ted Cruz, we don’t reject the world of facts, but another old adage is to never underestimate the stupidity of your enemies. Yet another even more important adage is, never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake.

Ziggy

The Reasons Why Ted Cruz Dreams of Economic Armageddon

Ted Cruz wants to default because it will bring about Economic Armageddon and he thinks the President will get blamed for it.…

Ted Cruz and the sedition caucus never intended to raise the debt ceiling.  The 144 Republican House members and 18 Republican Senators voted against reopening the government and raising the debt ceiling because default was their goal.  Sure, they wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. However, that was an added sugar coating to their objective of destroying our credit rating and ultimately, repudiating our debt.
Debt repudiation originated with Confederates who resented taxation to repay the Union’s war debt, while the Confederate debt was repudiated. That resentment is why section 4 was added to the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution that the tea party always says it loves, but prefers to ignore.
Bruce Barlett explains the connection between the post-war South and today’s debt repudiators.

The Columbia University historian Eric Foner, an expert on the Civil War, recently recounted the debate over the postwar debt and demands by Southerners for repudiating the Union debt, which are echoed by many default advocates today. In those days, it was Democrats who supported default while repugicans opposed it; today it is the reverse.
There are still many in the South, where the repugican cabal is now based, whose hostility to the national debt traces back to those days.

Cancelling the debt was always popular among far right wingnut economists and members of the fringe.  Default enjoys support from 69% of the tea party.
In 1988,  Pat Robertson used religion to advocate for debt repudiation.  He wanted to  declare  a year of jubilee in which the debt would be cancelled. Newt Gingrich advocated default when he tried to crash the economy during the Clinton years. When Dick Cheney said the debt doesn’t matter, he was chanting the debt repudiator’s mantra.
The idea of debt repudiation enjoyed a dramatic increase in popularity when Barack Obama won the presidential election in 2008. Aside from achieving economic Armageddon, the debt repudiators fantasized about history blaming the black guy.
In fact, Donald Trump said it during a 2011 interview on Faux and Friends.

When it comes time to default, they’re not going to remember any of the repugicans’ names. They are going to remember in history books one name, and that’s Obama.

The idea gained legitimacy within the tea party because, according to Bartlett, it was espoused by Nobel Prize winning economist James Buchanan. Buchanan asserted that much debt based government financing and taxing people to pay for it is immoral.  The tea party got its argument that default would force the government to balance the budget from Buchanan.

In his essay on The Ethics of Default Buchanan made an argument often repeated by libertarians and tea party members: if the Treasury were to default, no one would ever lend it money again, thus imposing a balanced budget; the government could only spend as much as tax revenue permitted.

That’s why Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and their House counterparts are trying again. They will keep trying just as their predecessors did as long as they are in Congress.
Ted Cruz and the sedition caucus are the latest to try to achieve what Gingrich couldn’t and what Robertson and Trump dreamed about.
There is nothing new about Ted Cruz or his approach. Cruz claims to be fresh and bold. However, he exploits ideas and resentments dating back to the Civil War. With these old ideas and resentments, he justifies his equally dated strategy of sedition.

Why Is Jesse Ventura Running For President?

Former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura is back in the headlines. He plans to run for President in 2016, if Howard Stern would be his running mate. But why, when he has no chance to win?
The former James George Janos is an interesting man. Jesse “The Body” Ventura has been a former lots-of-things: Navy Seal, Professional Wrestler, Professional Wrestling Color Commentator, Mayor, Governor, Harvard University Lecturer, Actor, Author, Syndicated TV Show Host, Radio Talk Show Host, NFL Color Commentator, and Conspiracy Theorist. Any one of those professions is a career for most people, but not him.  Jesse Ventura Being Impolitic
I had the chance to interview then-Governor Ventura when I was managing editor of a business publication. He was generous with his time and spent  one hour with me. I was impressed about the scope of his knowledge and intensity. Ventura discussed the impact of his property tax reform on business growth, his “contentious” relationship with the Legislature and press, and his efforts to expand agricultural trade relations with Japan. He bristled when I asked if his professional wrestling experience helped with the wrestling-obsessed Japanese. His booming voice rattled me, “Are you insinuating that I’m not capable of negotiating trade deals?”
No, Governor, I wasn’t insinuating anything. I was asking a pertinent question. He went to Japan unannounced and was ignored by the leading Japanese political and business figures. The Minnesota press had great fun at the Governor’s expense on this misadventure.
http://brainerddispatch.com/…
As much as I enjoyed Jesse Ventura’s work in the World Wrestling Federation and respect most of his accomplishments, he’s become just another media whore needing the spotlight. Whether or not he’s being serious about running for President, he’s very serious about getting the attention.
Jesse “The Body” is well known for stating his opinions and making impolitic statements.
He knows he’s a “man without a party.” When he won election in Minnesota, he ran as a Reform Party candidate. Neither the Democrats nor the repugicans wanted him. And he didn’t want them, either. These quotes would come back to haunt him throughout any future election campaign.
“I don’t believe we need the government’s help as much as some think we do. That belief sets me apart from the Democrats, since their way of dealing with everything is to tax and spend.”
“I also believe that government has no business telling us how we should live our lives. I think our lifestyle choices should be left up to us. What we do in our private lives is none of the government’s business. That position rules out the repugican cabal for me.”
Nor would the religio-wingnut evangelicals and the wingnut catholics want him:
“Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people’s business.”
Nor women:
“If I could be reincarnated as a fabric, I would come back as a 38 double-D bra.”
And certainly not the National Rifle Association gun nuts:
“You need to hunt something that can shoot back at you to really classify yourself as a hunter. You need to understand the feeling of what it’s like to go into the field and know your opposition can take you out.”
This quote is not directly political, but it’s my favorite Jesse Ventura quote:
“Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.”
http://www.brainyquote.com/…
RedState.com has a better political translation of that quote.
“Winning is what counts. Your primary and general election opponents will go negative, play wedge issues that work for them, and raise money wherever it can be found. If you aren’t willing to do all three enthusiastically, you’re going to be a high-minded loser. Nobody who listens to the campaign-trail scolds wins. In the general election, if you don’t convey to voters that you believe in your heart that your opponent is a dangerously misguided choice, you will lose.”
http://www.redstate.com/…
Another outrageous, but more sagacious political character, former Bill Clinton adviser James Carville has said, “When you become famous, being famous becomes your profession.”
http://www.brainyquote.com/…
Jesse Ventura is now relegated to that group of desperate men and women who need the spotlight, and the political arena shines brightest of them all.  Is his heart really in running for President? Does he really want to be President? I don’t think so. If he was, he would never have  mentioned his cockamamie idea of having Howard Stern as his running mate. No, Ventura was once famous, he was once powerful, he was once taken seriously. But no longer.
I truly doubt that another former governor’s heart was in being President, either. Willard Romney may have thought he was entitled to be President, and he could have been President, if he really wanted it deep down inside.
The same question needs to be asked about the potential 2016 presidential candidates: Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christie, Paul, Santorum, Huckabee, Cruz, Cain, and so on and so forth. How many are running to get the political media spotlight, albeit briefly? Only three have any serious chance of raising the money and gaining the widespread political support needed to become President: Biden, Hillary and Christie. And, it is not coincidental that only those three have the experience and policy substance to govern as President.
The rest, like the sad Jesse Ventura has become, need to be famous because being famous has become their real profession.

Kids say the darnedest things ...

TV news crew film passed out driver waking up, crashing into several cars then fleeing the scene

Channel 2 Action News was there on Saturday afternoon when a driver, slumped over in his pickup truck on the Buford Connector, Georgia, unexpectedly woke up, then crashed his truck into several vehicles before fleeing the scene.

Channel 2's Atlanta-area reporter Liz Artz called 911 when she and her photographer came across the man behind the wheel. The truck was stopped in a lane of traffic and was still running. The man sat slumped over, drooling.

A Georgia Department of Transportation HERO unit arrived and tried to revive the man and remove the keys from the ignition. The driver awoke, scuffled with a HERO worker and sped off, nearly hitting the HERO worker. The truck then smashed into two cars, causing a chain reaction that resulted in a five-car accident.

YouTube link.

But it wasn't over yet. Atlanta police had still not arrived to the scene when the HERO worker made one more attempt to stop the man. He managed to get the key out of the truck, but the driver was able to flee. The man then climbed a tree and jumped over a barbed wire fence. Police arrived a short time later. they have still not found the driver. No one was seriously injured in the accident.

Sleeping Like a Log Pillow Cushions

Not all of us always sleep like a log. But now you can relax your head and neck with a lightweight Sleep Like a Log Pillow. This novelty pillow looks like a log, but (thank goodness) doesn't feel like one. Instead it has a soft cover and fluffy stuffing. It's made from lycra fabric and styrofoam.

Powerful Ads Use Real Google Searches to Show The Scope Of Sexism Worldwide

Here's a simple and powerful campaign idea from UN Women using real suggested search terms from Google's autocomplete feature. Campaign creator Christopher Hunt offers this summary: 'This campaign uses the world's most popular search engine (Google) to show how gender inequality is a worldwide problem. The adverts show the results of genuine searches, highlighting popular opinions across the world wide web.'

Since its creation, autocomplete has become a popular device for social debate but these ads do a stellar job driving home the daunting fact that enough people around the world share these vile opinions that Google has come to expect them.

What Happens To Coins Tossed In A Fountain?

Ever wondered about what happens to coins that are thrown into water fountains? Countless people all around the world toss coins into fountains to make wishes and for good luck. Well, the coins are removed - at least in most cases.

Thomas Edison's Eccentric Job Interview Questions

Thomas Edison had an encyclopedic memory, and by the early 1920s, he had become increasingly frustrated by the fact that college graduates applying to work for him didn't have a wealth of knowledge comparable to his own.

To test the mental mettle of incoming job seekers, he administered to each a series of 150 questions, tailored to the position for which they were applying. Some were specific to the industry, while others were mysterious. Here's a cheat sheet to help you master some of the finer points.

Man rescued after sleepwalking up cliff

A Chinese man who got himself stuck on a cliff while sleepwalking has been rescued by firefighters.

The Turpan City man had been stuck on the cliff for two days and one night, eating nothing and unable to express himself clearly.

The uneven terrain meant firefighters had to get a construction team to build a 30m-high improvised ladder to reach the man.

YouTube link.

The man is now recovering in hospital.

Police warn thieves that stolen safe may not be particularly safe

Thieves in Stockholm, Sweden, who made off with a safe may have got more than they bargained for when it emerged the safe didn't contain any money, but rather ten kilos of gunpowder that could explode if the safe is opened.

The theft occurred in the Åkersberga region south of the capital on Sunday night. Staff discovered the safe had gone missing and alerted the authorities. According to police, the thieves risk blowing themselves up if they attempt to pry open the safe to discover the contents.

"They probably think it has money but in fact the safe has ten kilos of gunpowder. A man who works at the company said that is enough to move 40 tonnes of rock," said Mikael Pelagalli.

He added that the safe will likely blow up if the thieves use a blowtorch to cut it open. Police are using the media in order to warn the burglars about the risks of their raided goods before it is too late.

Cow rib used to hit schoolboys in 'racially motivated and sectarian attack'

A man has appeared in a Northern Ireland court  accused of clubbing two schoolboys with a foot-long cow rib in an attack police said was "racially motivated and sectarian". Belfast Magistrates' Court heard the teenage boys were walking home along the city's Crumlin Road on Friday afternoon when they were targeted. Daniel Waller, 22, allegedly shouted both racist and sectarian abuse as he launched the "unprovoked attack".

Mr Waller, of no fixed address, was refused bail and remanded in custody. Objecting to his release his bail, a police constable described how one boy was beaten about the head and body, and needed staples for his wounds. His friend's blazer was torn when he tried to step in to protect him. The court heard that the schoolboys ran off, but such was their state of panic that they "narrowly missed" being run over by a lorry.

The judge was told that when Mr Waller was arrested he was so drunk he was not fit for interview. When he was questioned by police the following day, he said he could not remember what happened. The defendant is charged with possessing a weapon, namely an animal rib, with intent to cause actual bodily harm. He is also charged with two counts of causing actual bodily harm and causing criminal damage to a school blazer.

The police officer said she was objecting to bail because in her view, "he is a danger to the public" given the allegations that he had launched an unprovoked, "racially motivated and sectarian" attack. Refusing the bail application, the judge said he shared police concerns and had "no confidence that there is any term I could put in place that would adequately protect the public". The defendant was remanded in custody to appear again in court on 7 November.

Random Photos

Why Do We Have an Internal Skeleton?

Why Do We Have an Internal Skeleton?

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The 10th annual bolving championships held on Exmoor

A competition to find out who can best mimic the mating call of a stag has taken place on Exmoor. The event for the sport known as bolving started 10 years ago and organizers said competitors took it "very seriously".  The challenge for the participants imitating the low bellowing sound of the red deer is for a real stag to answer their call.

This year 45 people took part in the event held near Dulverton, Somerset. Exmoor National Park ranger, former competition winner and organizer Richard Eales said bolving referred to the noise made by red deer during the rutting season, which normally starts from early to mid-October. He said: "The red deer make a roar - a challenge - and you can mimic it and get the red stag to answer you.

"It's a deep sort of roar from the belly, it's got to come from the belly. You open your throat, put your hands up and it's got to be a blood curdling roar from inside." He said the bigger stags rounded up the females known as hinds. "One stag will keep his harem of hinds together, but this is his challenge - this roar. The basic line is 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough'.

YouTube link.

"You'll get two big stags and they'll be bolving, running around sizing each other up, then they'll have a bit of a tussle and the weaker stag normally gets pushed off.  Or if they're evenly matched then that's when you get the classic rutting scene of the red deer stags going down and locking antlers and having a bit of a battle." The competition was won by Rob Follett, 35, from Withycombe, Devon, who was among the competitors who got a response call from a stag.

There's an additional video here.

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