The Daily Drift

Wingnuts and reality - never the twain to meet ...

Carolina Naturally is read in 195 countries around the world daily. 

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Cebu City, Philippines

Today in History

1516		The Hapsburg Charles I succeeds Ferdinand in Spain.
1540		Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado begins his unsuccessful search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the American Southwest.
1574		The 5th War of Religion breaks out in France.
1615		The Estates-General in Paris is dissolved, having been in session since October 1614.
1778		Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge.
1821		Poet John Keats dies of tuberculosis at the age of 25.
1836		The Alamo is besieged by Santa Anna.
1846		The Liberty Bell tolls for the last time, to mark George Washington's birthday.
1847		Forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat the Mexicans at the Battle of Buena Vista.
1854		Great Britain officially recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
1861		Texas becomes the seventh state to secede from the Union.
1885		John Lee survives three attempts to hang him in Exeter Prison, as the trap fails to open.
1898		Writer Emile Zola is imprisoned in France for his letter J'accuse in which he accuses the French government of anti-semitism and the wrongful imprisonment of army captain Alfred Dreyfus.
1901		Britain and Germany agree on a boundary between German East Africa and Nyasaland.
1904		Japan guarantees Korean sovereignty in exchange for military assistance.
1916		Secretary of State Lansing hints that the U.S. may have to abandon the policy of avoiding "entangling foreign alliances".
1921		An airmail plane sets a record of 33 hours and 20 minutes from San Francisco to New York.
1926		President Calvin Coolidge opposes a large air force, believing it would be a menace to world peace.
1936		In Russia, an unmanned balloon rises to a record height of 25 miles.
1938		Twelve Chinese fighter planes drop bombs on Japan.
1942		A Japanese submarine shells an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, the first Axis bombs to hit American soil.
1944		American bombers strike the Marianas Islands bases, only 1,300 miles from Tokyo.
1945		Eisenhower opens a large offensive in the Rhineland.
1945		U.S. Marines plant an American flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
1946		Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita is hanged in Manila, the Philippines, for war crimes.
1947		Several hundred Nazi organizers are arrested in Frankfurt by U.S. and British forces.
1950		New York's Metropolitan Museum exhibits a collection of Hapsburg art. The first showing of this collection in the U.S.
1954		Mass innoculation begins as Salk's polio vaccine is given to children for first time.
1955		Eight nations meet in Bangkok for the first SEATO council.
1960		Whites join Negro students in a sit-in at a Winston-Salem, N.C. Woolworth store.
1964		The U.S. and Britain recognize the new Zanzibar government.
1967		American troops begin the largest offensive of the war, near the Cambodian border.
1972		Black activist Angela Davis is released from jail where she was held for kidnapping , conspiracy and murder.
1991		French forces unofficially start the Persian Gulf ground war by crossing the Saudi-Iraqi border.

Non Sequitur

Meet The Family The Tar Sands Industry Wants To Keep Quiet

by Emily Atkin

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There is an abandoned house in Alberta, Canada, where Alain Labrecque used to live. Tucked in the farming community of Peace River, it is a place brimming with personal history, rooted to his grandfather's land where his parents and eight aunts and uncles grew up, and where Alain's own children were born. Now, Alain's property and the surrounding area are primarily home to large, black cylinders of oil.
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The oil is from Alberta's much-famed tar sands, a large area of land that contains clay, bitumen, and a good deal of sand. Inside the tanks, heavy crude from the sands is heated, until it becomes viscous enough to transport. Many of those tanks currently vent freely into the atmosphere.
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As the third-largest proven crude oil reserve in the world and the key ingredient of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and with production value that is expected to nearly triple by 2018, the Canadian tar sands have become an unseen symbol in America. For some, that symbol represents jobs, energy security, and economic prosperity. For others, it's pollution, addiction to fossil fuels, and a threat to a livable climate. What generally is not conveyed, however, is an image of the families who live there, and who have been there long before the tar sands boom.
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You've gotta understand, I've worked for oil sands, I was a contractor … I've never been negative toward oil. Never thought this would happen.

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Though Alain once thought having the tanks on his property would be a blessing, he now describes them as a curse. After experiencing an unusual kind of sickness - fainting, weight loss, gray skin, strange growths - that he believes was caused by the tanks' unregulated emissions, Alain and his family were eventually forced to move to British Columbia. They have pegged Baytex Energy, the owner of the tanks, as their enemy. Baytex has produced studies claiming innocence, but has also offered to buy the Labrecques' land in exchange for their silence. So, taking their doctor's own advice, the family decided to move, and fight the battle for their home from afar.
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The doctor's words to them? "He said, 'You are just a small, little bolt in this huge robot, and you don't matter. Move.'"

Our energy drilling is killing some of us

Did you know ...

That a Colorado lawmaker leaves loaded weapon in the state capital

About the mobsters of wall street

That women get less paid leave than men

Here's 21 things you can't do while black

Sir David Attenborough says "enough with the creationists!"

About how big pharma turned male aging into a disease

That facebook is mentioned in a third of divorce proceedings

That a pet turtle survives being locked in a store room  for 30 years

Archbishop of Newark builds himself a palace while the cult shuts down schools for lack of funding

The catholic Archdiocese of Newark is shutting down its schools due to lack of funding, but it still has a fortune it can use to build a small palace for its archbishop John J Myers, who is soon to retire after a career whose highlights include dismissing victims of sexual abuse and shielding abusing priests. Also, he insists on being addressed as "Your Grace." He's a made-in-America version of Germany's disgraced "Luxury Bishop."

South Carolina repugicans Cut College Funding Over Gay Themed Books

Red State repugican tyranny has been put on full display South Carolina repugicans have cut funding for two colleges that had freshmen read books that had gay themes. 

According to The State,

Some S.C. public colleges are coming under fire for the books they assign students and whether they follow a state law requiring instruction on the U.S. founding documents.
S.C. House budget writers voted Wednesday to take away nearly $70,000 from the College of Charleston and USC Upstate for having freshmen read books with gay themes
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“One of the things I learned over the years is that if you want to make a point, you have to make it hurt,” repugican Gary Smith said. “I understand academic freedom, but this is not academic freedom. … This was about promoting one side with no academic debate involved.”

This is what limited government looks like under repugican rule. These so called champions of small government have no reservations about misusing their power to punish anyone or anything that dares to differ from their political agenda.
The hypocrisy is that these same repugicans argue that religious freedom must be protected at all costs while stomping all over academic freedom on a daily basis. It is now a punishable offense in South Carolina to assign literature with gay themes. Apparently, repugicans in the state believe that if homosexuality is never discussed, it will go away.
The repugicans have gone from trying to pray away the gay to trying to wipe all mention of it off anything that they control. South Carolina’s college students don’t want an indoctrination. They want an education. Higher education should expand horizons, and encourage students to think independently.
Independent thought is the enemy of the repugican cabal.
South Carolina repugicans are giving the rest of the country a dose of what red state repugican tyranny looks like, and it isn’t a pretty sight.

The repugican cabal abortion foes are criminalizing the doctor-patient relationship

"The doctor-patient relationship." 

For more than 20 years, wingnut propagandists and their repugican allies have used that four-word bludgeon to beat back universal health care reform. In 1994, repugican cabal lacky Bill Kristol warned that "the Clinton Plan is damaging to the quality of American medicine and to the relationship between the patient and the doctor." Kristol's successful crusade to derail Bill Clinton's reform effort was greatly aided by future "death panels" fabulist Betsy McCaughey, who wrongly warned that Americans would even lose the right to see the doctor of their choice. Twelve years later, The shrub proclaimed, "Ours is a cabal that understands the best health care system is when the doctor-patient relationship is central to decision-making."
[...]
But when it comes to abortion and women's reproductive health, the repugican cabal mantra about protecting "doctor-patient" isn't just demagoguery of the basest kind. It is a cruel and vicious hoax. Even as the nation's abortion rate has dropped to a 40 year low, dozens of draconian restrictions enacted in repugican-controlled states are mandating that physicians lie to their patients, perform unnecessary procedures in needlessly regulated facilities and even withhold potentially lifesaving care. Now, repugicans aren't just standing over the shoulders of American doctors who put their patients' health first; they want to put them in prison, too.

The repugican cabal and small government? Nah - they want to be in every aspect of your life.

Crack pipe vending machines

 

Very nice graphic design on this pyrex crack pipe vending machine! It's a project from the Portland Hotel Society, which also runs workshops to teach alcoholics how to make beer and wine. The idea behind both projects is harm reduction — clean pipes prevent the spreading of disease, and alcohol less harmful to drink than rubbing alcohol, hair spray, or hand sanitizer gel.

Selling Girl Scout Cookies Outside a Cannabis Clinic

In a genius marketing move, 13-year-old Girl Scout Danielle Lei, with her mom’s help, set up a cookie stand outside a medical marijuana clinic in San Francisco. The sidewalk in front of the Green Cross turned out to be a lucrative position.

Any patients at The Green Cross with the munchies didn't stand a chance. In two hours on President's Day, Danielle sold 117 boxes outside the clinic — people gobbled up all her Dulce de Leches and blazed through the Tagalongs. According to her mother, Carol, that's 37 more boxes than what she sold during the same two-hour period outside a small Safeway the next day.

It’s not the first time Danielle has sold cookies outside a medical marijuana clinic, although it was the first time at this location. No other Scouts in her troop have tried this method, but the local council has no problem with it. Danielle will return to the Green Cross tomorrow to sell more cookies.

Racks of ribs found in pants of alleged Piggly Wiggly robber

Police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana arrested a man just before noon on Sunday who was caught shoplifting nearly $100 in ribs from a Piggly Wiggly supermarket.

The probable cause report says 54-year-old Eugene Dunn was being held down in the parking lot by two men when officers arrived. The officers reported that there were about four packages of meat lying on the concrete. The officer removed four more racks of ribs from Dunn's pants.

The person who tried to stop Dunn from stealing the ribs told police that Dunn placed his keys between his fingers, made a fist, and tried to cut him with the keys. The man also told police that Dunn was in the store earlier in the week and "got away with several items after threatening to shoot" him.

Dunn told police that he was only trying to eat and live. Dunn was arrested on charges of aggravated battery other deadly weapon and fifth offense of theft of goods. He is being held in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on a $5,000 bond.

Cleaning lady accidentally threw modern art into garbage can

A cleaning lady has mistakenly thrown away contemporary artworks meant to be part of an exhibition in southern Italy. Works made out of newspaper and cardboard, and cookie pieces scattered across the floor as part of Sala Murat's display were thrown out.

Lorenzo Roca, from cleaning firm Chiarissima, said the unnamed cleaner was "just doing her job". He added his firm's insurance would cover the value of the art, estimated to be around 10,000 euros (£8,200, $13,700). Security noticed a number of items were missing when the venue, in the province of Bari, opened on Wednesday morning.

It later emerged the cleaner had handed them over to refuse collectors, thinking it was rubbish left behind by workers who set up the Mediating Landscape exhibition. "We are obviously very sorry for what happened," city marketing commissioner Antonio Maria Vasile said.

"It's clear the cleaning person did not realize she had thrown away two works and their value. But this is all about the artists who have been able to better interpret the meaning of contemporary art, which is to interact with the environment. "In any case, the insurance will cover the damages caused."

Man accused of hitting mother with nunchucks because she wouldn’t give him money for booze

A man from Dudley, Massachusetts is facing a long list of charges after police say he hit his 67-year-old mother on the head with nunchucks because she wouldn’t give him money for alcohol. Christopher Walker, 31, allegedly hit his mother with the martial arts weapon at their home. While breaking property inside the house, he also struck his mother on the left side of her head, police said.

Several police departments, including the State Police were called to the home because Walker is known to police. When police knocked on the door, Walker allegedly opened the door ajar, allowing a large pit bull to run toward the door, nearly biting an officer. Walker then shut the door and locked it, refusing to surrender. The SWAT team was called in and nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution. At one point, Walker was spotted outside his home wearing a red bandana around his face, a camouflage vest and sweat pants.

Police say Walker was acting agitated, nervous, and said he had a gun and wanted to die. A short time later, police say Walker exited the front door of the home, holding a handgun. He allegedly pointed it in the direction of two officers who were positioned across the street from the home. Police say three shots were fired and Walker retreated inside the home. Police believe the shots were fired by officers, they said.

Walker eventually surrendered on his own and was taken to UMass. Medical Center with minor injuries. During a search of the home, police found martial arts weapons, replica BB handguns, a ballistic vest and other items. Walker was not licensed to carry firearms or possess ammunition. Walker is charged with assault and battery on a person over 60 years old, carrying a dangerous weapon (nunchucks), assaulting a police officer, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon (gun), disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, vandalizing property, resisting arrest, body armor used in a felony and unlawful possession of ammunition.

Woman fell out of car while steering with her knees

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said a Taft woman was injured after she fell out of a moving car she was steering with her knees on Wednesday afternoon.

Troopers said Jewel Jones, 22, was southbound on Highway 64 near Haskell when she opened the driver's side door to "roll up the window."

The OHP report states Jones fell out of the 2001 Chrysler Sebring at 1:35pm for "an unknown reason."

The car then went off the road and the passenger, Jemaure Sango, 19, stopped the car in a ditch using the emergency brake. The OHP says he wasn't injured. Troopers said neither Jones nor Sango were wearing a seat belt.

Protestors in bat costumes halted work at coal mine

Police were called to a coal loader at Boggabri Coal Mine, in the north west of New South Wales, Australia, on Tuesday when protestors attached themselves to mining equipment.

Boggabri Coal is operated by Idemitsu Resources Australia and is located 17km north-east of Boggabri. Two activists dressed in bat costumes suspended themselves 30-metres above the ground, temporarily halting operation of the coal loader.

Environmentalists claim Boggabri Coal's expansion will clear the habitat of endangered and vulnerable species, including the Barking Owl, Turquoise Parrot and Greater Long-Eared Bat, living in the Boggabri Coal Biodiversity Offset Area.

The action is part of an ongoing campaign being waged by protestors against miners and coal seam gas explorers in the Leard State Forest and the Pilliga State Forest. More than 20 protestors have been arrested in the two locations in the past month. Protestors say, while Idemitsu claims its offsets are six times the size of the Boggabri Coal Mine, it will take over 100 years before they provide crucially-equivalent habitat.

Trolls are sadistic psychopaths

Lori Dorn of Laughing Squid says: "According to a new study conducted by the University of Manitoba Psychology Department, Internet trolls generally manifest signs of sadism, psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism, a group of personality disorders known as the Dark Tetrad." Trolls just want to have fun

The World Divided into Regions of 100,000,000 People Each

Redditor DMan9797 offers this novel map. It divides the entire world (with the exception of Antarctica) into regions of equal population. Each section represents 100 million people. You can view a larger version here.

How Much Is Your Body Worth On the Black Market?

Organs and tissue are used for millions of transplants and medical products yearly. The traditional path for a transplant is a waitlist, but with thousands of people dying before they make it to the front of the line, some take matters into their own hands.

Every year 100,000+ people join the waiting list for heart, kidney or liver transplants. Half of them die while on the waitlist. Some resort to illicit means. Organ trade is illegal in every country except Iran. How much is your body worth on the black market?

The fight to save Timbuktu's intellectual history

Timbuktu, Mali, has been a seat of culture and learning for hundreds of years. When jihadists moved in last year and threatened to destroy the city's collection of scholarly work dating back to the medieval period, residents banded together to save the manuscripts. 

Ziggy

20 Mildly Amusing Doormats

Doormats are not particularly valued. We have even adopted the noun as a metaphor to describe people who allow themselves to be used by others.

Yet these vital but unsung heroes of a clean house should be more of an everyday treasure than they are. A few well-chosen words (or symbols) can make all the difference. Here are twenty good reasons why doormats shouldn't be such... doormats.

This Sagging House Is Seriously Impressive

Looks like someone had a bad day, and that someone is a building in Cliftonville, England. Ok, so buildings can't really have a bad day, but after eleven years of abandonment, this structure wasn't doing very well and the renovation by artist Alex Chinneck didn't make it much better. But that's what's so great about it. It looks like the building's facade is actually sliding off the front of the building. Next year the building will be converted into council housing, but in the meanwhile, this art installation is a fun attraction.
You can check out all kinds of great photos of the building at Homes and Hues: This House Is In A Real Slump -And We Love It

Cambodia's creaky, funky bamboo trains

It's like riding 'a bat'

Jesse Pesta has a wonderful, colorful piece in the Wall Street Journal about a form of transportation unique to Cambodia: bamboo trains, known locally as "norry." Snip:

In Cambodia, real trains are almost as rare as bamboo trains anywhere else. The impoverished country has a network of tracks left over from French colonial days, but there are hardly any actual trains running anymore. Only one line is in service. The railway never recovered from the horrors of Khmer Rouge murder and war decades ago.

Don't miss his great photos and videos accompanying the article online A six-year-old girl photographed just before her first norry ride is told by her mom that it would be like riding "a bat."

"Creaky Trains Made of Bamboo Still Rule the Rails in Cambodia"

The 10 Most Beautiful Abandoned Places In The World

Many of these places are really something amazing, but they are also sad when you take a closer look at them. Here are the 10 most beautiful abandoned places in the world. You'll see abandoned ships, as well as the abandoned houses, and so many other things, that are really amazing and magnificent.

The sad deflating of the Mars jelly donut mystery

What is the object on the right? And how did it just appear one day, on Mars, without anyone around to move it?

The answer will probably disappoint you.

Daily Comic Relief

The Next Adventure in Agriculture

Deer Farming

Over the past few days, several seemingly unrelated posts lead up to this one. First, we learned about how deer can quickly reproduce and overrun a  national park. Then we learned about how reindeer are raised as livestock in Lapland. Then I also read an article about how beef, pork, and chicken are the only meats found in most American supermarkets. Why do we not have deer ranches? We do! See, venison is lean, tasty, and growing in popularity, so the cervid livestock industry is small, but booming.

LedgEnd Farm in Middlebury, Vermont is home to approximately 400 fallow deer. Hank Dimuzio, farmer and founder of LedgEnd Farm, is not the typical farmer, choosing to farm in addition to his career as an emergency room physician. Dimuzio and his wife, Rhonda, decided to farm deer because he needed a type of farming that would be compatible with his lifestyle. “Deer are, in essence, a very low care animal,” says Dimuzio.

Read about the growing business of deer farming at Modern Farmer.

Mystery over supermarket dog thefts

Police have issued a warning after four dogs were stolen from outside supermarkets - then found near other stores in the south of Scotland.
Three of the thefts took place outside the Morrisons in Dumfries, and the other at the Co-operative in Annan. The dogs were released from their leads, and in one incident an unlocked car. They were later found in other store car parks - one 16 miles away. Police said the motive was not known and urged dog owners to be vigilant.

The three dogs taken from outside the Morrisons store - a Border Terrier, a Jack Russell and a Staffordshire Terrier - were found near a Tesco supermarket some distance away. A Bedlington whippet, which was taken from outside the Co-op in Annan, turned up 16 miles away outside the Morrisons in Dumfries. The dogs were all unharmed.

Pc Judith Richardson, of the Dumfries Community Policing Team, said: "Clearly the dogs are being targeted - for whatever reason. While in these four cases there has been a happy ending, the next dog may not be so lucky. Owners should ensure that they do not leave their pets open to possible theft or interference when out and about shopping."

Dead zookeeper's dream realized as Mila the elephant meets others for first time in 37 years

Helen Schofield's dream is finally being fulfilled, nearly two years after her tragic death. Her former charge, African elephant Mila, is being integrated with a herd at her new home in California. It is the first time the 41-year-old pachyderm has seen other elephants in 37 years. Placing Mila with others of her kind was the long-time goal of Schofield, who cared for her at Franklin Zoo in Tuakau, New Zealand, until the elephant accidentally crushed her to death in 2012.

After her death the cause was taken up by other staff and supporters of the zoo who raised about $1.5 million for Mila's relocation. She was flown to San Diego Zoo last year and spent the Christmas period in quarantine before receiving a clean bill of health in late January. Mila is now being permitted to mingle with other elephants at the zoo's Elephant Odyssey complex, which is specially designed for older pachyderms. Six other African and Asian elephants, ranging in age from 33 to 49, live at the facility.

Mary, the oldest and the matriarch of the herd, was the first to meet Mila. Their initial encounter took place in adjoining yards with a wall as a barrier. Zookeeper Robbie Clark said he was uncertain how Mila would react to meeting another elephant. "Being excited, nervous, scared, aggressive, or submissive were all possibilities we could have expected to observe," he said. "Mary was curious of the newbie while Mila was surprised to find something as big as her on the other side of the wall!"

When Mila met Mary. 41-year-old Mila's first encounter with another elephant in 37 years.

YouTube link.

The pair's subsequent encounters have been relatively calm. It's hoped Mary can teach Mila how to interact with the rest of the herd, Mr Clark said. "We are confident that their relationship will continue to grow stronger as they spend more time together." A spokesperson from the Franklin Zoo Charitable Trust says members are pleased with Mila's progress. "She has shown great wisdom and courage in meeting Mary and they are behaving very gently with each other and may very well become great friends." Mr Clark said Mila is in the peak of physical health and is coping well with her new surroundings. "She continues to amaze us with her ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations."

Animal Pictures