The Daily Drift

It's that time again ...

Carolina Naturally is read in 194 countries around the world daily.
 

Zero means Zero ... !

Today is Zero Tasking Day 

 

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Some of our readers today have been in:

The Americas

Winnipeg, Pikangikum, Byward Market, Mississauga, Blainville, Toronto, Ottawa, Britannia, Longueuil, Woodbridge and Halifax, Canada

Lima, Peru

Ivyland, Shamokin, Timberwood Park, San Luis Obispo, Bellair Bluffs and Tifton,  United States

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Managua and Tipitapa, Nicaragua

Mexico City and Oaxaca De Juarez, Mexico

Santiago, Chile

Europe

Salon-De-Provence, Lyon, Rouen and Cerny, France

London and Crawley, England

Stare Mesto, Czech Republic

Venice, Rome, Ivrea and Terlizzi, Italy

Lausanne, Switzerland

Oslo, Norway

Nuremberg, Rothe Erde, Hamburg and Grunhufe, Germany

Dublin, Ireland

Bucharest, Romania

Nicosia, Cyprus

Zhovti Vody, Ukraine

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Madrid, Ourense, Cardedeu, Palma, Basauri and Teo, Spain

Niva, Denmark

Kista, Sweden

Saint Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Mosrentgen and Moscow, Russia

Zaventem, Belgium

Bratislava, Slovakia

Nokia, Finland

Tallinn, Estonia

Reykjavik, Iceland

Ruse, Bulgaria

Riga, Latvia

Gdynia, Poland

Ankara, Turkey

Asia

Al Khubar and Ad Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Chengdu, China

Patna, Thiruvananthapuram, Shillong, Indore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pondicherry, Bhubaneshwar, Ciombatore, Udaipur and Jodhpur, India

Tokyo, Japan

Bangkok, Chon Buri and Dusit, Thailand

Pita Kotte and Colombo, Sri Lanka

Pontianak and Jakarta, Indonesia

Taipei, Taiwan

Tel Aviv, Israel

Dubai and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Singapore, Singapore

Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan

Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Tehran, Iran

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

Algiers, Oran, Algeria

Kampala, Uganda

Cairo, Egypt

Tunis, Tunisia

Pacific

Cebu City, Philippines

Sydney and Homebush, Australia

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Today in History

1570		A tidal wave in the North Sea destroys the sea walls from Holland to Jutland. More than 1,000 people are killed.
1772		The first Committees of Correspondence are formed in Massachusetts under Samuel Adams.
1789		The property of the church in France is taken away by the state.
1841		The second Afghan War begins.
1869		Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok loses his re-election bid in Ellis County, Kan.
1880		James A. Garfield is elected the 20th president of the United States.
1882		Newly elected John Poe replaces Pat Garrett as sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory.
1889		North Dakota is made the 39th state.
1889		South Dakota is made the 40th state.
1892		Lawmen surround outlaws Ned Christie and Arch Wolf near Tahlequah, Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). It will take dynamite and a cannon to dislodge the two from their cabin.
1903		London's Daily Mirror newspaper is first published.
1914		Russia declares war with Turkey.
1920		The first radio broadcast in the United States is made from Pittsburgh.
1920		Charlotte Woodward, who signed the 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration calling for female voting rights, casts her ballot in a presidential election.
1921		Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett form the American Birth Control League.
1923		U.S. Navy aviator H.J. Brown sets new world speed record of 259 mph in a Curtiss racer.
1926		Air Commerce Act is passed, providing federal aid for airlines and airports.
1936		The first high-definition public television transmissions begin from Alexandra Palace in north London by the BBC.
1942		Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrives in Gibraltar to set up an American command post for the invasion of North Africa.
1943		The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in Bougainville ends in U.S. Navy victory over Japan.
1947		Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose flies for the first and last time.
1948		Harry S Truman is elected the 33rd president of the United States.
1959		Charles Van Doren confesses that the TV quiz show 21 is fixed and that he had been given the answers to the questions asked him.
1960		A British jury determines that Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence is not obscene.
1963		South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated.
1976		Jimmy (James Earl) Carter elected the 39th president of the United States.
1983		President Ronald Reagan signs a bill establishing Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.
1984		Serial killer Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the US since 1962.
2000		First resident crew arrives at the International Space Station.

Non Sequitur

America’s Least Favorite Neighbors: Renters

Why homeowners don’t want you to move in next door

Most Americans know their neighbors by name, new research finds, and might even invite them over occasionally for tea. That is, unless the neighbor is — gasp — a renter.

Indeed, people are more prejudiced against renters than any other group living on their street, according to a survey of over 3,000 adults released Thursday by research firm Harris Interactive on behalf of Trulia, a real-estate firm. Of those picky neighbors, 33% want people on their street to speak the same language, 16% want their neighbors to have the same family structure and 10% prefer the same race or ethnicity. But 35% (even those who are renters themselves) said it was most important that their neighbors be homeowners. In fact, 51% of homeowners say they prefer to have other homeowners as neighbors.
That may be disheartening news for the large proportion of renters who can’t actually afford to buy a home. Homes in just eight of the 25 largest urban areas are within reach of median-income households, according to data released last week by Interest.com, which tracks consumer credit. “Millions of owner-occupied, single-family homes that went into foreclosure in 2008 became rentals,” says Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia. The home ownership rate now hovers at 65%, the lowest level since 1995, after peaking at over 69% in 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
Other surveys give renters an even harder time. About three-quarters of homeowners in a recent survey by NeighborsFromHell.com say that renters are bad neighbors. “Renters are less likely to adapt to local customs concerning noise, trash, parking and lawn upkeep,” says Robert Borzotta, founder of the website NeighborsFromHell.com, which consistently rates noise as the No. 1 complaint about neighbors in its annual surveys. “Homeowners are perceived to care more about their property, its appearance, safety of the community and property values,” he says.
A face-off between neighbors can often be reduced to homeowners versus renters, even if the renter is in the right. When Christopher Taylor-Edwards, a digital strategies manager at a New York-based non-profit, was moving from Washington D.C., his neighbor was unhappy that the moving truck was taking up space on the street. “I explained that we needed to move and use the parking space and told him, ‘I live here and pay taxes too,’” he says. His soon-to-be-ex neighbor screamed back, “Well, I’m a homeowner!” Taylor-Edwards says singling him out as a renter upset him more than the moving van issue. “I was enraged by the arrogance of that attitude,” he says.
Americans have long preferred to live near “people like us,” studies suggest. There has been a marked increase in “residential segregation” by income over the past three decades, according to a 2102 survey released by Pew Research Center, which cross-referenced household income and “census tracts” by the U.S. Census Bureau. The share of middle class areas in the U.S. is down to 76% in 2010 from 80% in 1980, Pew found, with the share of lower-income neighborhoods rising to 28% from 23%, and upper-income areas doubling to 18% from 9%.
On the upside, two-thirds of people say they do like their neighbors and only 4% care about their neighbors’ political views. And there’s evidence that plenty of people don’t know the first thing about their neighbors: Only 46% of urbanites know their neighbors by name, according to Trulia. Plus, some folks are increasingly likely to spend more time in their cyber-community than in their traditional neighborhood, Borzotta says, despite the downsides: “Try borrowing a cup of sugar from your Facebook friend four states away,” he says.

Don't Forget ...

Bill Maher Explains How Women Are Going To Make Obamacare a Big Success

Bill Maher explained on CNN that the ACA is going to be successful because unlike healthy men who think that they are invincible, women have more at stake and will sign up.

Transcript via CNN:

MORGAN: Right, but I agree with you. And I support the principles of ObamaCare. But that’s why I’m even more frustrated the system has failed allowing perhaps the whole thing to collapse. We don’t know how is going to this play out. But it’s the very people they need to get enrolled. The young people who are pretty healthy now how may have 30, 40, 50 years. They’re the ones that have to get — if they are turned away from this.
MAHER: They’re going to get — first of all, every program of this size was headache at first. So was the shrub’s Medicare Prescription Drug Program for the old folks. Remember that, hey free Viagra. I have a boner on the shrub, remember me at the polls.
Yeah. They didn’t like that at first. Now it’s very populous, Social Security, Medicare, all these programs have this kind of problems when you start with them. But the reason why it’s going to work is women. Yes, young men do not want to sign up because they think they’re invincible. Women get it because women a little more complicated, you know? They want contraception. They want breast exams. They’re a little smarter about that, too. They don’t think they’re invincible.
Look, it has a lot of problems. But you know what? Even with the all the problems in four polls last week, ObamaCare is more popular than even. And repugicans like to say statistics that something like 54 percent of people are against ObamaCare. It’s very, very, misleading. That includes the 16 percent of people who think it doesn’t go far enough.
So, Americans really want coverage, of course, it’s going to be popular. It’s about Your health. The health of your family. It’s a life and death issue. And again, it was there. It was created because people we’re dying in the country was going broke. It’s going to be a rocky birth, but, it’s not going to fail.

Maher’s correct. repugicans can hold their hearings, spread their misinformation, try to discourage people from signing up, but in the end people want affordable access to healthcare. Everyone has always known that healthy young men would be most difficult group to enroll, but it will be women who make the law a big success.
The repugicans have been engaging in an assault of women’s healthcare rights and decisions for years. Because of this, many women have been given an easy choice. Do they want to side with the party that wants to control their bodies and their healthcare decisions, or are they going to support a law that doesn’t consider their gender a preexisting condition?
President Obama has been a champion for women rights during his presidency. He has walked the walk, and the ACA can be seen as this president staying consistent on his view of women’s rights. It is most likely that Republicans will continue to cater towards white men and wingnuts. They don’t understand that by opposing the ACA, they are once again opposing women.
The media and the repugican cabal don’t realize it, but women are going to sign up. It will be women who make the ACA a big success.

A Pittsburgh Woman Picks Up the Phone and Saves Big Thanks to ObamaCare

 

Gail Roach, a 57-year-old retired Pittsburgh School Board employee, is going to pay just $1.11 a month for health insurance thanks to ObamaCare, according to Pittsburgh Channel 4 News. She used to pay $509. But wait, it’s even better. She’ll have a $20 copay and a $26.50 deductible.
Gail has Type 2 diabetes, so she never expected to get insurance for so cheap. She told Channel 4 Action News in Pittsburgh that she took advantage of the ACA tax credits and the Cost Sharing Benefit in order to get her price down from the $70.00/month price on the exchange to $1.11/month.
As pundits and repugicans make much ado about glitches, even investigating the glitches in the website for the ObamaCare exchanges and concern trolling how a person was supposed to sign up if they couldn’t get online, Gail did what any logical person would do.
She picked up the phone instead. And that’s how Gail ended up a big winner in the health insurance department. Gail’s story just goes to show that concern trolling the website glitches is just another circus act from the repugican cabal, brought to you courtesy of the media.
“I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it. But it was within my budget,” Roach told Pittsburgh Channel 4 Action News reporter Sheldon Ingram.
Roach says people should be patient because it’s worth it, “I’m telling people they need to look into it. They need to be patient about it. Go to the website. If you can’t get on, call the number on the website and just be very patient because it’s very much worth it.”
Let’s just ponder for a moment all of the repugican and media squealing about the hassles of the website and contrast that with the BFD of paying just $1.11 for health insurance. If you make $400-500 a week takehome, this is huge. An entire week’s worth of pay saved.
Ms. Roach’s experience isn’t unusual. A study from the DHHS, for example, shows that “Almost half of young, single, uninsured adults in 34 states could pay $50 or less a month for insurance through the online exchanges after receiving subsidies, according to a study released by the Department of Health and Human Services Monday.”
Were there glitches? Yes. Do they need to be fixed? Yes. Do we really think they wouldn’t have been fixed without repugicans putting on another very expensive back seat driving show, all to pretend upset over a program they just shutdown the government to kill? No, no sane person believes that repugicans are a part of any serious solution to any problem currently facing this country.
As repugicans and the media concern troll about website glitches, smart people are just picking up the phone. And in time the website will be fixed, and all repugicans will have left is a dwindling base who still believe in the repugican cabal's lies about ObamaCare, demanding that they defund it even though they can’t and won’t.

For the Last Time, the Constitution is Not Based on the bible

Tom DeLay says "god created the nation and god created the Constitution; it is written on biblical principles."…

 

Like a bad penny, Tom DeLay is back. And because nobody loves a story of false redemption more than the religio-wingnuts, you know he will be doing his best to make his presence felt. John Hagee, who said recently that “we are a Pagan nation without shame” has been thundering on about divine wrath of course, forecasting doom and gloom for the godless, by which he apparently means people too smart to fall for his shtick:

The bible says that all nations that forget god are turned into Hell. I assure you that if America continues to reject the way of god, god will lift the hedge of protection from this nation and we’re going to experience a hellish nightmare unlike anything we’ve ever known before. Wake up, America! Let us return to the god of our fathers; the god of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

How do these two intersect? Hagee interviewed Tom DeLay last weekend. Hagee introduced DeLay as “A brother in christ who has been tried by fire,” who has triumphed over “the world, the flesh, and the devil.”
DeLay told Hagee he had a “conference call with the lord” and the divine dispense of wealth told him to cash in on his experiences by writing a book. god even gave him a name for it: “Shut it Down” and a topic: a revival of Constitutional principles.
Why Constitutional and not biblical? Silly question, infidel defilers:
“jesus died for our freedom. And jesus destroyed satan so we could be free and that is manifested in what is called the Constitution of the United States. god created the nation and god created the Constitution; it is written on biblical principles.”
For the last time, the Constitution is not based on biblical principles. The two have nothing in common. Ancient Israel and Judah were kingdoms, ruled by kings. When the kings were gone, the Jews were ruled by corrupt high priests. Monarchy or theocracy. Some choice.
I’m pretty sure that is not the fate the Founding Fathers had in mind for America when they penned the United States Constitution.
No religio-wingnut figure, Hagee and DeLay included, has ever explained how the Constitution can be based on biblical principles without so much as mentioning god, jesus, the bible, or the ten commandments. They have not explained how the Constitution can be based on biblical principles when it in fact enshrines English Common Law, which owes more to Pagan Roman civil law than the bible. And let’s not forget the Iroquois influence on the Constitution. Iroquois who were – oops – not christians either.
Some, like Bryan Fischer make a big deal of the document being dated “in the year of our lord” but that is just how they dated documents then, an artifact of a millennium-and-a-half of forced conversion. It is how we still date documents simply by writing down a number dated from the supposed year of jesus’ birth, like “2013.”
Here is Fischer ranting on the subject (it sounds as though he is trying to convince himself):

You go to the end of the Constitution, what do you find? It’s dated from when? It’s dated from the first christmas! From the birth of jesus christ, ‘the year of our lord.’ So we dated our Constitution, we dated the Declaration of Independence. We dated them from the very first christmas! In other words, christmas is IN the Constitution. christmas is IN the Declaration of Independence. Because those documents are dated from the birth of what the Founding Fathers referred to as ‘our lord.’ In the year of our lord. All of them said, ‘jesus christ is our lord.’ Our history began with the first christmas. People say, ‘Hey, the Constitution’s a godless Constitution, god’s not in there. There is no mention of christ.’ Absolutely wrong. It is an explicitly christian document.

Bryan Fischer is explicitly dishonest. But you knew that.
Fischer also claims because “muslim students at Trinity University in Texas are complaining about the phrase ‘In the year of our lord’ on their diplomas,” they are “inadvertently proving that this is a christian nation in the process.”
To which I can only say Bryan Fischer needs to take a college level course in logic. And in history. And not from David Barton.
All this fuss is, as Shakespeare would say, much ado about nothing. We are locked into this dating system whether we like it or not. We can change B.C. to B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and A.D. (Anno Domini/Year of our lord) to C.E. (Common Era) but we are still dating from jesus’ presumed birth. By Fischer’s logic, Portugal, which did not adopt Anno Domini until 1422, was not a christian nation until that date, which is an absurdity. By Fischer’s logic, every atheist and every Pagan like myself who writes the year 2013 is a christian. Another absurdity.
While we’re on the subject of things that are not true being true, god told DeLay, “My awakening is beginning.” Better yet, he told DeLay that the former House Majority Leader would play a role in that awakening. Probably in fleecing the flock.
And speaking of wealth transference, I wonder if god told DeLay about his plans for Ted Cruz, already anointed as Money Messiah by his sinister minions on the right, or revealed any plans for former messiahs like Michele Bachmann, who might have a hard time managing her messiah duties from federal prison. Rest assured, if Bachmann escapes prison, she’ll be on stage with Hagee telling us all about her conference call with god (maybe he will break the news to her that her husband is gay).

NSA spokesmen told to just say "9/11" to deflect criticism

Al Jazeera used the Freedom of Information Act to get the NSA to disclose its talking points for public speaking events. The least surprising of these is the cheap invocation of 9/11 as an excuse for any wrongdoing, phrased thus: "I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent." It's the Giuliani Gambit, and it's as repellent as it is obvious.

Under the subheading “Sound Bites That Resonate,” the document suggests the statement “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.”
NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander used a slightly different version of that statement when he testified before Congress on June 18 in defense of the agency’s surveillance programs.
Asked to comment on the document, NSA media representative Vanee M. Vines pointed Al Jazeera to Alexander’s congressional testimony on Tuesday, and said the agency had no further comment. In keeping with the themes listed in the talking points, the NSA head told legislators that “it is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked.”

Revealed: NSA pushed 9/11 as key 'sound bite' to justify surveillance

Ziggy

Do You Have Missing Money?

Say you open a bank account while you're a college student and let the account go dormant when you move out of state and open a new account elsewhere. Or you leave a job and forget to cash your final check. Or you pay a deposit to your utility company and fail to leave a forwarding address when you move. Or a relative passes away and fails to list stocks or other assets in his or her will. These are just a few scenarios that can lead to unclaimed money, according to Mark A. Paolillo, an abandoned and unclaimed property practice leader at tax services firm Ryan.
When bank accounts, insurance payouts, pensions or other property go dormant, companies are required to contact the owner at the last known address and, if unsuccessful in reaching the person, turn the property or money over to the state's unclaimed property program. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators estimates that $41.7 billion in unclaimed property sits waiting to be reclaimed.
Many consumers have no idea they could have money waiting for them. Most states have a ratio between 1 in 6 or 1 in 10 people who have unclaimed property, according to Carolyn Atkinson, deputy treasurer for unclaimed property in West Virginia and a past president of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. That's why she encourages consumers to check state online databases, even if they're doubtful that they've let anything go unclaimed. To check, go to Unclaimed.org and click on each state you've lived in to check for money that is due to you. The majority of states also partner with MissingMoney.com, a combined database of those states.
The rules on unclaimed property vary by state and depend on the type of property. It often takes three to five years of dormancy for an account to be considered unclaimed. Many states have a Nov. 1 deadline each year for businesses to remit unclaimed property to the state. Typically, the claims process involves submitting a form proving you are the rightful owner or heir of the unclaimed property.
Depending on the type of unclaimed property and the amount, you could receive a check as soon as 30 days after filing a claim form. In Connecticut, for instance, it should take no longer than 90 days to be reunited with your property, according to Connecticut Treasurer Denise Nappier.
There is no fee to file a claim for unclaimed property. However, finder companies offer to reunite heirs or owners with unclaimed property for a fee. In many cases, this is unnecessary because you can file a claim yourself. "For the average person, you shouldn't pay anyone to do that for you," Paolillo says. "There are corporations that are very complex in nature, and it gets a little bit more complicated, so some firms assist in filing claims and doing the research on their behalf."
Atkinson also advises against using a for-profit finder company. "The ones that are more nefarious are the ones that actually defraud people of their money," she says. Stick with legitimate websites like Unclaimed.org and MissingMoney.com because some private locator sites aren't as reputable. "At least every other week we hear about some supposed locator that is actually a scam or fraud," Atkinson says.
In many cases, property can be reclaimed in perpetuity, even by heirs, but once property is liquidated, the value won't increase. "If it's not an asset that is accruing interest, then you're losing money on the value of those assets," Nappier says. "Connecticut law states that some assets do accrue interest, but if you had some expensive artwork and then it was liquidated, the value stops there."
While reclaiming a forgotten bank account or uncashed dividend check may feel like getting a windfall, keeping track of accounts ensures that you won't have to file a claim in the first place. For your own sake and the sake of your heirs, Nappier suggests keeping an inventory of all your assets. "You need to be sure to properly cash all checks for dividends, wages and insurance settlements," she says. "If you stop receiving dividends, contact the company immediately."
Also stay in contact with your bank and other financial institutions to prevent dormancy. Making an online inquiry to your bank or investment accounts may count as a contact. "If you register, log into your account and see what your balance is that would prevent that from being unclaimed," Atkinson says. "If we can get the property back to the owner before it comes to the state, we consider that a success."

Man buys $27 of bitcoin, forgets about them, finds they're now worth $886k

"Kristoffer Koch invested 150 kroner ($26.60) in 5,000 bitcoins in 2009, after discovering them during the course of writing a thesis on encryption. He promptly forgot about them until widespread media coverage of the anonymous, decentralised, peer-to-peer digital currency in April 2013 jogged his memory."

More

Sriracha Fumes Grip Town

Huy Fong Foods began production of their Sriracha sauce last year in a new 655,000-square-foot factory in Irwindale, California. The company had previously made Sriracha in smaller facilities in Rosemead. The company processes a year's worth of chili between September and December. But the chili-processing season is proving to be too much for some residents of Irwindale.

…residents are complaining of burning eyes, irritated throats and headaches caused by a powerful, painful odor that the city says appears to be emanating from the factory during production. The smell is so aggressive that one family was forced to move a birthday party indoors after the spicy odor descended on the festivities, said Irwindale City Atty. Fred Galante.
The city of Irwindale filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, claiming that the odor was a public nuisance and asking a judge to stop production until the smell can be reduced.

Galante said the court action is necessary because Huy Fong representatives, after cooperating in the beginning, now deny there is a problem. After all, their employees worked closely with the chili and reported no problems. But about 30 Irwindale residents have filed complaints with the city, which wants the factory to come up with a plan to mitigate the odors. A judge is expected to rule on the matter Thursday.

How Pain Works

How Pain Works

Pain is a pain. Too much of it, and it can really make life hard. But imagine none of it. That can be bad too, as you'd never know if you're hurt. That's the reality for a select few who carry a rare genetic mutation. Trace explains all about pain.

Random Celebrity Photos

Barbara Eden

Nazi Gestapo chief died in Berlin

It was one of the great remaining mysteries surrounding the final days of World War II — what happened to Heinrich Mueller, the head of the Gestapo secret police and the highest-ranking Nazi never to have been captured or located.

But a leading German researcher said Thursday he has uncovered historical documents indicating Mueller never made it more than a few hundred meters (yards) from Hitler's bunker in downtown Berlin and was eventually buried in a common grave in a Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis.

Though Mueller's body hasn't been found, Johannes Tuchel, the director of Berlin's German Resistance Memorial Center, said the evidence he uncovered is "clear-cut."

He said that, according to a death certificate he found, Mueller died in the final days of the war in 1945 near the Luftwaffe headquarters.
Tuchel said other evidence shows that about three months after the end of the war Mueller's body was found by a work crew cleaning up corpses and buried along with about 3,000 others in a communal grave on the site of a Jewish cemetery that the SS had destroyed in 1943.
The documents show "with near certainty" that Mueller was buried in August 1945 in the garden of the Luftwaffe headquarters, then brought to the Jewish cemetery on Grosse Hamburger Strasse, said Tuchel, whose story was first reported by Bild newspaper.

Mueller, who was an SS Gruppenfuehrer — roughly equivalent to a major general — was sought for decades after the war by investigators around the world, including Israel's Mossad, the U.S. Office of Special Investigations, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Tuchel said he had no explanation for why they hadn't come up with the same information. "That is a part of the puzzle I can't answer," he said.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center's top Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, sounded a note of caution, saying only DNA evidence could prove Mueller was buried in Berlin.

"The Nazis who wanted to escape very often took measures to create false documents faking their death," he said in a telephone interview from London. "I would be very wary of reports like that without forensic evidence."
He cited the case of Aribert Heim, a Mauthausen concentration camp doctor who allegedly died in Cairo in 1992.
"Heim was buried, according to his son, in a mass grave for poor people in Cairo, and it's a perfect story because it's impossible to verify," Zuroff said.
It's not yet known whether any efforts will be made to find Mueller's bones in Berlin.
According to the Berlin Jewish Community's website, the cemetery included the grave of philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and was destroyed by the SS in 1943, when they built trenches through the area. At war's end, it was used to bury bombing victims and other war casualties that littered the German capital.
Tuchel came across the documents when researching an incident in which Mueller ordered the execution of 18 resistance members at the end of the war. In addition to a December 1945 death certificate for Mueller, Tuchel said he has evidence that the identity papers and medals were later turned over to military authorities to return to his family.
And in 1963 — when authorities were looking into a rumor that Mueller had been buried in West Berlin's Neukoelln district — a gravedigger told police in testimony Tuchel found that he had buried Mueller in the former Jewish cemetery, and had matched his identity papers to the face of the body.
Tuchel said the man did not give any indication as to Mueller's cause of death.
According to an article in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies journal in 2001, the gravedigger's story was known but could never be checked out because the graves were on the other side of the Berlin Wall.
Though there were persistent alleged sightings of Mueller in the decades after the war, including in Czechoslovakia, Cuba and Argentina, experts have always maintained that he most likely died in Berlin at the war's end.
That was the fate of Hitler's private secretary Martin Bormann, who was thought to have escaped the capital until his bones were unearthed during construction in 1972 in downtown Berlin. DNA tests in 1998 confirmed they were his.
Zuroff said that, if the information on Mueller does turn out to be true, it would be a "comforting thought" that Mueller — who attended the notorious 1942 Wannsee Conference in which plans were coordinated for the genocide of the European Jews — didn't escape.
"This is the biggest fish that got away," Zuroff said.
Still, if his final resting place is a Jewish cemetery, Zuroff said it would be "absolutely horrifying."
"It's the last place on earth where he should be buried," said Zuroff. "If this is ever verified, they'd better move very quickly to make sure it doesn't become a shrine for neo-Nazis."

Apartment manager claims sous-chefs are stealing his weeds

The apartment manager of a Southeast Portland apartment complex says he can't get employees from local restaurants to stop climbing his fence and picking weeds from his property. Martin Connolly thinks random weeds and plants are going into dishes because he lives around plenty of trendy restaurants.

Man charged with stealing same car twice in one week in extortion bid

A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing the same car twice in a single week. Erich Simpson, 20, first stole the vehicle from the driveway of a home in Shippensburg on Oct. 24, police said.

The following day police found the vehicle without it’s keys and returned it to the owner. On Saturday the victim contacted police saying they found a letter from Simpson demanding $500 for the keys to be returned.

Authorities say the letter stated if the demands were not met the victim would never see the car again. According to police reports, Simpson returned to the victim’s home on Oct. 27 and took the car again. Officers were able to catch up with him in the stolen car and took him into custody.

Simpson faces numerous charges including theft by unlawful taking, theft by extortion and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was taken to Cumberland County Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 4.

There's a news video here.

Daily Comic Relief

Listen to a Performance from the Western World's Oldest Surviving Song

This is the Seikilos Column. It’s a marble tombstone from the first or second century A.D. A railroad engineer found it 1883 in Tralleis, Turkey. He sliced off the bottom so that his wife could use it as a flower display. Fortunately, the damage did not destroy the essential parts of this archaeological wonder. The Seikilos Column has an inscription of the Greco-Roman world's oldest surviving completely intact song—both the lyrics and the musical notation.
Here are the Greek lyrics in modern English:

While you live, shine
Have no grief at all;
Life exists only a short while
And time demands its toll

It is a timeless sentiment. Along these words, archaeologists found the notes for the song. Below, you can watch a video of ancient musical researcher Michael Levy performing it on a lyre. Or you can go here, scroll down, and listen to a performance of it being both sung and played at the same time.

(Video Link)

The Worst Nicknames for Medieval Rulers

How would it feel to go down in history as Alfonso the Slobberer, Ivar the Boneless, or Justinian the Slitnosed? Back when surnames weren't universal, nicknames were the way to distinguish this Henry from the other Henry you knew, and those nicknames were even more important when kings and warlords inherited both realms and given names from their predecessors. Medievalists.net compiled a list of the worst names for medieval rulers they've found, with the stories behind each. For example, take Henry the Impotent:

Henry IV of Castile ruled the Spanish kingdom from 1454 to 1474, but he got to the throne he he was known for a royal scandal. When he was fifteen, Henry was married to Blanche II of Navarre. Thirteen years later, Henry sought a divorce, stating that they had never consummated the marriage. The catholic cult held a trial, where they confirmed Blanche’s virginity and received testimony from several prostitutes who explained that Henry’s sexual prowess was just fine, except when it came to his wife. The divorce was granted, and Henry married his cousin Joan of Portugal – she bore him one daughter (although later on his subjects had their doubts on whether he was the father) and then Joan spent most of her time having affairs with various lovers.

Read about ten such awfully nicknamed rulers in the list at Medievalists.net.

The Eagle has landed

Rare Roman Eagle Sculpture Found in London

Experts say the sculpture -- of an eagle with a snake in its beak -- is the finest by a Romano-British artist ever found in London.

Earth's Hellish 'Twin Sister'

Earth's Hellish 'Twin Sister' Discovered

An Earth-sized planet circling the sun-like star Kepler-78 has Earth-like amounts of iron and rock -- unfortunately it's far from 'habitable.'

Earth News

Daylight Doesn't Matter: Native Trees Need Cold

Colder winters are needed to cause native Northern trees to bloom on time for spring, not increased daylight.

Say 'Ah': Satellite Stares Down Volcano's Maw

A new satellite view down into the fiery mouth of one of the world's most active volcanoes.

Fall Colors From Space

Even astronauts can enjoy fall colors, if they know where to look.

Redwoods Record Ancient Ocean Climate

The tallest trees on the planet, the coastal redwood, trapped a record of the Pacific Ocean within their ancient wood. 

Gold Rush's Poisonous Legacy: Mercury

Even though the California Gold Rush took place more than a century ago, it left a toxic legacy of mercury pollution.

Retro Photos

Rare Monsters From Around The World

Everyone is familiar with the classic monster dream team of zombies and vampires that come out once a year and get down the 'Monster Mash.'

So, to shake things up and find some new frights this Halloween, the Fliki Team researched a few of the rarer legendary creatues and beasts from Japan to Central America and created some wickedly spooky illustrations to haunt your imagination.

Five Animals With An Extraordinary Sense Of Smell

The albatross, the Eastern American mole, silkworm moths, sharks and dogs are five animals with an extraordinary sense of smell.

Animal News

What Do Dogs Tell Each Other by Wagging?

What do different wags mean? Canines know, and thanks to a new study, humans do too.

Kraken Theory Resurfaces With New 'Evidence'

Could a gigantic octopus have devoured ancient marine giants?

Largest Dino of All Time Is Digitally Recreated

A virtual recreation of the world's biggest known terrestrial animal shows that it lumbered along at around 5 miles per hour.

Ancient Mini-Sharks Lived Longer than Thought

The species actually survived the mass extinction event of 250 million years ago and lived another 120 million years.

Reindeer Eyes Change to Blue as Christmas Nears

The eyes of reindeer change from gold to winter blue to cope with seasonal darkness. 

Bug Photos That Will Haunt Your Dreams

Close-up photography reveals some of the spookiest spiders and insects anywhere on the planet.

Giant Oarfish Dissection Reveals Worms, Eggs

One was about to have babies and the other was teeming with parasites.

Look If You Dare: Ancient Spider Family Album

Spiders from deep time have surfaced in images of unprecedented detail this week at a geological meeting in Denver.

More Animal News

Animal personalities are more like humans than first thought

A Deakin University study has found for the first time that, just like humans, un-predictability is also a consistent behavioral trait in the animal world. Animals are known to show consistent individual differences in behavior, […]

Listen Up: Oysters May Use Sound to Select a Home

Oysters begin their lives as tiny drifters, but when they mature they settle on reefs. New research from North Carolina State University shows that the sounds of the reef may attract the young oysters, helping […]

Animal Pictures