The Daily Drift

Van Gogh Poppies ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 199 countries around the world daily.   

Bare Foot Is Best ... !

Today  is  -  National Go Barefoot  Day

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Some of our reader today have been in:

The Americas

Saint John's, Edmonton, Ottawa, L'ancienne-Lorette and Toronto, Canada

Lawrenceville, Greenville, Mooresville, Huntersville, Simpsonville, Williamsville, Jaksonville, Statesville, Pineville and Charlottesville, United States

Sao Paulo, Campos and Natal, Brazil

Barquisimeto, Venezuela

The Bottom, Sint Eustatus and Saba

Managua, Nicaragua

Bogota and Sibate, Colombia

Colegiales and Buenos Aires, Argentina

Freeport, Bahamas

Europe

Warsaw, Kielice and Tarnobrzeg, Poland

Madrid and Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Spain

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Athens, Greece

Ryazan, Mosrentgen and Moscow, Russia

Ivrea, Naples and Rome, Italy

Oslo, Norway

Espoo and Vantaa, Finland

Bucharest, Romania

Amersfoort, Netherlands

Dublin, Ireland

Dresden, Nuremberg and Bad Homberg Var Der Hohe, Germany

Salon-De-Provence, Boulogne-Billancourt, France

Frederiksberg, Denmark

Uppsala, Sweden

Riga, Latvia

Rowley Regis, England

Cacak, Serbia

Asia

New Delhi, Bikaner, Kolkata, Bangalore, Nasik, Suratgarh, Hyderabad and Pune, India

Nong Chik, Thailand

Singapore, Singapore

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Colombo and Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

Baku and Belokany, Azerbaijan

Abu Ghurayb, Iraq

Port Louis, Mauritius

Tehran, Iran

Beijing, China

Rangoon, Burma

Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Islamabad, Pakistan

Seoul, Korea

Africa 

Bizerte, Tunisia

Cairo, Egypt

The Pacific

Baliuag, Philippines

Sydney, Australia

Today in History

193		The Roman emperor, Marcus Didius, is murdered in his palace.
1533		Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's new queen, is crowned.
1774		The British government orders the port of Boston closed.
1789		The first U.S. congressional act on administering oaths becomes law.
1812		American navy captain James Lawrence, mortally wounded in a naval engagement with the British, exhorts to the crew of his vessel, the Chesapeake, "Don't give up the ship!"
1862		General Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate army outside Richmond after General Joe Johnston is injured at Seven Pines.
1864		The Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, begins as Confederate general Robert E. Lee tries to turn Union general Ulysses S. Grant's flank.
1868		James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, dies.
1877		U.S. troops are authorized to pursue bandits into Mexico.
1915		Germany conducts the first zeppelin air raid over England.
1916		The National Defense Act increases the strength of the U.S. National Guard by 450,000 men.
1921		A race riot erupts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing 85 people.
1939		The Douglas DC-4 makes its first passenger flight from Chicago to New York.
1941		The German Army completes the capture of Crete as the Allied evacuation ends.
1942		America begins sending Lend-Lease materials to the Soviet Union.
1958		Charles de Gaulle becomes premier of France.
1963		Governor George Wallace vows to defy an injunction ordering integration of the University of Alabama.
1978		The U.S. reports finding wiretaps in the American embassy in Moscow.

Non Sequitur

The American Man Who Found His Mother Living in an Amazonian Tribe

On the right is David Good, a man from Philadelphia. One the left is his mother, Yarima of the Yanomami people of Venezuela.
How this relation came to pass is a long story told in detail at the New York Post. David's father, Kenneth Good, was an anthropology student at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1970s. In 1975, Kenneth went on an expedition to a remote jungle area on the border of Venezuela and Brazil. Arrogant and stubborn, he separated from the group he was traveling with and set out on his own into the unknown.
There Kenneth found the Yanomami tribe. He befriended them and made further visits. On one visit in 1978, the tribe gave Kenneth a young girl as a wife. Her name was Yarima.
Kenneth went in and out of the jungle and did not provide the protection that a husband owes his wife in the Yanomami culture. By 1986, she was pregnant with his child, so he brought her back to the United States. It was impossible for her to adjust:

In November 1986, within a week of arriving in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Yarima went into labor and was panicked by the American hospital: the gurneys, the monitors, the machines, the needles. Once admitted, she sprung herself out of bed and attempted to give birth by squatting in the corner of the hospital room.
“It was so unnatural to her,” Kenneth says. “It went against ­everything she ever learned.” […]
Meanwhile, his wife was becoming ever more isolated and desperate. While Kenneth was teaching, Yarima would take the $20 he left every morning and go to Dunkin’ Donuts, then the $10 store, where she never knew how much she could buy. She had to adapt to wearing clothes every day and thought that running cars were animals on the attack. She had no friends.
“I miss my family,” Yarima told People magazine. “I want to go home.” Kenneth was her translator.

In 1991, Yarima went back to her people, leaving her young son, David, with his father. Two decades later, David journeyed into the jungle to find her:

He arrived in August 2011, the tribe expecting him. When his mother emerged, he recognized her immediately. She wore wooden shoots through her face and little clothing, and he felt immediately that he was her son in every way.
He’d thought a lot about whether to hug her — he wanted to, but he was too nervous, and the Yanomami don’t hug — so he put his hand on her shoulder and told her what he’d wanted to for years.
“I said, ‘Mama, I made it, I’m home. It took so long, but I made it.’ ” Yarima wept.

Willie and George Muse: The Men From Mars

Willie and George Muse were black albino brothers born in the 1890s in Virginia. They had an unusual look, but not nearly as unusual as what they would later be made out to be. Circuses and sideshows tried to recruit them, and when that failed, the two young boys were kidnapped by sideshow agents in 1899 and shopped around to various traveling shows.

The brothers began to tour. To accentuate their already unusual appearance, their handler had the brothers grow out their hair into long white dreadlocks. In 1922 showman Al G. Barnes began showcasing the brothers in his circus as White Ecuadorian cannibals Eko and Iko. When that gimmick failed to attract crowds the brothers were rechristened the ‘Sheep-Headed Men’ and later, in 1923, the ‘Ambassadors from Mars’.

As the ‘Men from Mars’ the two traveled extensively with the Barnes circus. Unfortunately, while they were being fed, housed and trained in playing the mandolin, they were not being paid.

For almost 30 years, the brothers were kept in slavery, earning only their room and board from the thousands of people who paid to see them. Then in 1927, they played their hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, where their mother found them and stood up for their rights. Read the rest of the story of “the Ambassadors from Mars” at The Human Marvels. 

Why Does Bacon Smell So Good?

(YouTube link)

Bacon smells so good that it’s even been used as an alarm clock. More than once. But what causes that delicious aroma?

Turns out there are about 150 volatile organic compounds that contribute to bacon's meaty aroma, many of them hydrocarbons and aldehydes, with some nitrogen-containing compounds thrown in for good measure.

That sounds like a lot of science, so you just might want to make a BLT to enjoy while you watch this video from Reactions.

Eggs in the UK are Different from Eggs in the US

If you recall the post on Big American Refrigerators, it was mentioned that Americans refrigerate eggs because regulations require the removal of the protective outer layer, while Australians do not. It’s the same in the UK, and an article at HuffPo explains the differences in egg washing procedures before the product arrives at the grocery. But that’s not the only difference between how eggs are handled in the US and the UK.

Due to the different washing philosophies, the U.S. and UK also have different storage procedures. If you've ever bought eggs in Europe, you might have noticed that eggs are not refrigerated in the supermarket. In the U.S., however, eggs are always kept in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. The different methods stem from the different washing methods, and more specifically, the potential for moisture on the egg. In the UK, there is the worry that refrigerating eggs before consumers take them home will lead to a change of temperature drastic enough during transportation to cause moisture to collect. If eggs sweat when moved from a cold fridge to a warm car, for example, unnecessary bacteria could form.

Then there’s the matter of salmonella, which isn’t much of a problem in Britain. Read all about it, which may or may not explain the difference in how eggs taste on either side of the pond.

Bikes Are Best ...

Bikes are best: Mode of transportation affects how we feel

What mode of transportation makes you happiest? Clemson researchers investigated […]

Measles At A 20 Year High

Measles Infections in U.S. Reach 20-Year High

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received 288 reports of measles between Jan. 1 and May 23, 2014, the most in that time period since 1994.

Unexpected Death and Psychiatric Disorders

Study links unexpected death of a loved one with onset of psychiatric disorders

The sudden loss of a loved one can trigger a […]

Ziggy

Picture of Ellen DeGeneres has Pennsylvania catholic school destroying its own dance invitations

by Arturo Garcia

The principal of a catholic school in Newtown, Pennsylvania apologized to parents and asked that the invitations she made to a school event be returned because they included a picture of comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Nancy Matteo contacted parents via email saying she was “obviously NOT thinking” when she included a promotional picture of DeGeneres in the invitations for the graduation dance at St. Andrew Elementary School.
“I need every single invitation returned and I will personally destroy them,” Matteo wrote.
Matteo also described DeGeneres, who publicly announced she was gay in 1997, as a “poor role model” and suggested that she was “distracted” by the photo of her holding an Academy Award in the picture. The invitation did not mention DeGeneres by name. This year’s dance reportedly has an Oscars-related theme.
“A role model, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is a person who is unusually effective or inspiring in some social role, job, position, etc.,” Matteo stated in her email. “This does not describe her at all. We work so hard to be good role models and then I go and do something stupid!”
The archdiocese of Philadelphia spokesperson Ken Gavin told the Inquirer in a statement that Matteo apologized on her own accord after complaints from parents.
“All catholic schools in the archdiocese are firmly rooted in gospel-based fantasies and the delusions of the cult,” the statement read. “As such, it is expected that any promotional materials developed by these schools would feature images and themes that correspond with their core mission and identity. That approach is logical and our school families have a right to expect it.”

***

In other words because a delusional idiot who is not and never will be any sort of 'role model' (even a bad one) seeks to foist their delusions on others has a conniption over a photo of a real and positive role model and has to 'destroy' it for fear it will influence positivity thus causing others to abandon their delusions or the gods forbid, not subscribe to them in the first place ... Oh, the horror !

In surprising twist, Mitch McConnell calls for his own retirement

Maybe Mitch shouldn't make "change" his campaign theme.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who appears headed to victory in Kentucky's repugican cabal primary as he seeks to extend his 30-year career in the U.S. Senate, may want to rethink this campaign pitch:

    "If you want to change America, the first step is to change the Senate," McConnell said.

Given the amount of legislation that has been bottled up the repugican cabal's abuse of the Senate's arcane rules, I can't really disagree with Mitch. And if you want to change the Senate, getting rid of him would be a pretty good place to start.

The repugican cabal is overly fond of using catch-phrases that sound good, but they never say what they mean

Darrell Issa Throws a Temper Tantrum After Being Outsmarted By Obama’s White House

Rep. Darrell Issa put out a seething statement that reeked of a temper tantrum after Sec. of State John Kerry and the Obama administration outsmarted him, and forced the repugican to back off of having Kerry testify on Benghazi.

Here is Issa’s statement announcing that he has released Sec. Kerry from his obligation to testify at the June 12 Benghazi hearing:

“Seeing Secretary Kerry and others, who have worked to obstruct critical oversight of Congress’ investigations into Benghazi, attempt to use the upcoming June 12 hearing as a shield against the Select Committee tells me it’s time to reassess. It’s been disappointing to watch a long serving former Senator, like Secretary Kerry, squirm his way to what I’m doing today – releasing him from the upcoming hearing commitment he made only after we issued him a subpoena.

“No matter how long the investigation of a terrorist attack that killed four Americans takes, getting the full truth is what matters. The Select Committee is the House of Representatives’ commitment to getting this truth. It will conduct its investigation in the face of an all-hands-on-deck effort by defenders of the principal actors to further obscure the facts. While Speaker Boehner and I had both originally concluded that Secretary Kerry needed to promptly testify and explain why his Department had withheld subpoenaed documents, neither of us immediately recognized how opponents of congressional oversight would use this as an opportunity to distract from the Select Committee’s effort.

“I am extremely proud that the Oversight Committee’s investigation led to a bipartisan vote to establish the Select Committee. Our work pierced the original false accounts introduced by senior Administration officials in the immediate aftermath of the attack, and gave the American people many essential facts about events prior to, during and after that terrible night in Benghazi. As much as we fought to learn what we could, bring critical witnesses forward, and shame the Administration into disclosing more than it originally intended, I expect the Select Committee’s unified jurisdiction will afford it better access to the complete picture than any of its investigative predecessors. In attempting to cover up documents like the September 14 e-mail from Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, President Obama, Secretary Kerry, and other officials have no one but themselves to blame for the increased scrutiny they should soon expect.”

Issa’s statement reads like a bad movie villain who is promising that he will have his revenge. I don’t know how scrutiny could be increased any more than the six previous House repugican Benghazi investigations already have. Issa comes off in this statement like a spoiled child who has had his favorite toy taken away from him. Rep. Issa threw quite a tantrum. He accused Sec. of State Kerry of squirming and the administration of lying.

The California repugicans had been trying for weeks to sabotage the House Select Committee on Benghazi after he was left off the panel. Sec. Kerry and the White House used the dueling repugican committees to split the repugican cabal by declaring that Kerry would only testify before one House committee, not both.

House Republican leaders were forced to make a decision. Either they continue to let Issa run wild, or completely take his prized Benghazi investigation away from him.

The truth is that the Obama administration outsmarted Darrell Issa and the House repugicans. Issa can try to put a good face on this, but the reality is that he has been demoted and the repugican Benghazi circus has taken another turn towards revealing itself as a partisan freak sideshow.

Texas gun agitators scrub videos after shaming from restaurant customers: 'You're a dumbass'

by David Edwards

Open Carry Texas has removed several videos from its YouTube account after members were forced to leave two San Antonio restaurants for carrying assault-style rifles.
In one video obtained by Mother Jones, several gun agitators are perplexed when an employee at Sonic tells them that they will not be served.
One rifle-toting moron agitator with a toddler child explains that he's leaving because it's "not safe to be here" with his daughter if guns are not allowed. (Child Services should be taking that child away from him soon).
In a second video, the gun-loving posse visits a Chili's restaurant, and is confronted by a woman, who calls them "Texas retards."
"There's children here," she says as she makes a video of each of their faces. "And you're a dumbass."
"I'm a dumbass," one of the agitators agrees.
"Me too," another notes.
After several minutes, a Chili's manager tells the men that they will need to leave the firearms outside if they want to be served.

Average Americans with brains fighting back against asshole gun nuts

Cops caught on tape slamming Georgia man into a wall as he moved into his new home

by Arturo Garcia

An Atlanta-area man filed a formal complaint against local authorities on Monday after video surfaced of an officer slamming him to the ground in front of his own home, WAGA-TV reported.
"I assumed - apparently incorrectly, and naively - that they were pursuing someone on foot that had fled through my yard, and I was unaware of it," 69-year-old Dhoruba Bin-Wahad said at a press conference Monday afternoon. "I thought that that's why they had their guns drawn."
The May 2 encounter began when Clayton County police were called to Bin-Wahad's residence by a neighbor who reported seeing a "suspicious" male on the vacant property. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that another witness thought Bin-Wahad was a "pervert trying to look at her or her children from the vacant location through the woods."
According to a police report of the incident, officers described Bin-Wahad's behavior as "uncooperative and verbally argumentative." He was accused of taking "a bladed stance with his right side of his body" and allegedly refused to sit down when ordered to do so by them.
"When I came out of the house, the first thing I said was that 'I'm moving in. I have the key,'" Bin-Wahad said on Monday. "They asked me why was my car in the back. I said, 'It's my house. I was loading boxes.'"
The footage, which does not contain audio, shows Bin-Wahad eventually sitting down and making no aggressive motions toward the officers before being grabbed by the arm, dragged to the ground and handcuffed. The police report indicates that Bin-Wahad's head and left shoulder hit a brick wall. The video eventually showed officials leave the scene without arresting Bin-Wahad.
"The way they treated me, I think, is indicative of how the police behave in the poor and Black communities," Bin-Wahad said.

The repugican fueled environment of fear is fueling an outbreak of aggression

Our ancient caveman instincts may explain our belief in gods and ghosts

by Steve Kelly, Strathclyde University

Notions of gods arise in all human societies, from all powerful and all-knowing deities to simple forest spirits. A recent method of examining religious thought and behaviour links their ubiquity and the similarity of our beliefs to the ways in which human mental processes were adapted for survival in prehistoric times.
It rests on a couple of observations about human psychology. First, when an event happens, we tend to assume that a living thing caused it. In other words, we assume agency behind that event. If you think of the sorts of events that might have happened in prehistoric times, it's easy to see why a bias towards agency would be useful. A rustling of a bush or the snapping of a twig could be due to wind. But far better to assume it's a lion and run away.
The survivors who had this tendency to more readily ascribe agency to an event passed their genes down the generations, increasingly hard-wiring this way of making snap decisions into the brain. This is not something that people need to learn. It occurs quickly and automatically.
The second trait is about how we view others. While living together in a tribe would have had many advantages for survival in prehistoric times, getting along with everyone would not always have been easy. Comprehending others' behavior requires you to understand their thoughts and beliefs, especially where these may be incorrect due to someone not knowing the full facts of a situation.

The origins of religion in our species - a possible explanation

Atheism is really just a side effect of being rational.

Solar Is Greener ...

Solar panel manufacturing is greener in Europe than China

Solar panels made in China have a higher overall carbon […]

The Greenland Summer Thaw ...

Greenland Summer Thaw: Will It Be a Big Melt?

Scientists are closely tracking Greenland's 2014 summer thaw to see if it will repeat 2012's impressive meltdown, or return to a more mundane trend.

Ancient Rock Hints at Early Continent Formation

Ancient Rock Hints at Early Continent Formation

Four-billion-year-old sample suggests modern-day Iceland is our best bet for an example of how Earth's continents first formed.

Daily Comic Relief

Spanish woman bitten on the ass by snake lurking in her toilet

Spanish hairdresser Iris Castroverde, 30, ended up in hospital after she was bitten on the backside by a bright green and yellow snake when she went to have a pee in her bathroom. The mother-of-two Iris said: "I had just been talking to my husband on Skype. I was on my own with the children because he's away working in the Netherlands. After we finished talking I wanted to use the bathroom before watching a film on television. She said that she had just sat down on the toilet when she heard a strange noise coming from the pipes in the wall at her home in the town of Naron, in north-western Spain.

She said: "I could hear something behind the wall and I was trying to work out what it might be as I hadn't heard it before. After that everything happened really quickly, I became aware that there was something moving in the toilet bowl, then I heard a splash and then an intense pain on my backside. I stood up with the snake still hanging onto my backside but then it dropped back into the water, and disappeared back up the pipes from where it had come." Mrs Castroverde grabbed two bottles of bleach and put them down the toilet and said she was pretty certain that the snake had gone by then.
She said: "I flushed the toilet to send the bleach after it but I don't know if I got it. I guess the snake was about 30 centimetres long, and once I poured the bleach down the toilet I realised it was probably poisonous because my backside started to go numb." She said she had then called an ambulance and arranged for her husband's parents to come and look after the kids while she was taken to hospital in an ambulance where she was given several injections to counter the venom from the snake. A hospital spokesman said: "We found four incisor marks in the buttock near the perineal area, and we followed standard practice for snake bites which includes a tetanus and rabies shot as well as administering an antidote.

"We had to remove the poison from the wound but some of it had spread into the body and we needed to give her an injection to counter that." Police and firemen closed the block of flats where Iris lived and searched for a sign of the snake but after finding nothing allowed locals back, including kids from a kindergarten on the ground floor of the building. Iris added: "I still feel really ill from the snake bite and the injections I got at the hospital. By the time I had arrived at the hospital I couldn't move my leg at all. I was back at work after 24 hours though because there so much to do, and in any case I can't sit down at the moment."

Woman tried to steal hermit crab by putting it in her pocket

The attempted theft of a hermit crab from a pet shop in the Balgowlah suburb of Sydney, Australia, was nipped in the bud when a member of staff saw a woman, 41, acting suspiciously.

The employee saw the woman walk around the aisles and approach the hermit crab aquarium. The Balgowlah woman then allegedly removed one hermit crab valued at $17 and put it in her pocket.

She selected two other items and proceeded to the cash register to pay for them. During this time, the woman was invited to sign a membership form, on which she wrote her name and address. The staff member asked the woman if she was going to pay for the crab in her pocket.
The woman quickly handed over the hermit crab and ran away. Using the membership form the woman had helpfully filled in, the police had no trouble tracing her. The pet store staff did not want the woman charged but she has been banned from returning to the store.

Random Photos

Depressed goat ended hunger strike after being reunited with donkey best friend

Earlier this year, animal welfare officials seized dozens of dogs and three farm animals from the home of a hoarder. The animals were living in squalor and taken to a variety of animal care facilities.

Mr G the goat and Jellybean the donkey were separated for the first time in their lives when they were taken to separate animal sanctuaries in Northern California. Officials at the Animal Place in Grass Valley took in Mr G, but noticed immediately that something was wrong.
Animal Place officials said it didn’t matter what the staff did, the goat refused to eat and just lay in the corner of his stall. They offered him treats like sweet grain and apples – favourite foods for a goat. But that didn’t work. Mr G was given a thorough physical exam and appeared to be completely healthy. After four days, officials said something drastic needed to be done.

YouTube link.

They decided to reunite him with the donkey. It took three days to go get Jellybean and transport him to Grass Valley. When Jellybean finally arrived, as he was being unloaded from the animal trailer, Mr G heard him and immediately leapt to his hooves and ran to the door. Soon the two were reunited. They are now happily sharing a pen, and Mr G is eating again.

Fox and hedgehog have become unlikely mealtime companions

A fox and a hedgehog have been captured sharing food on webcams set up by wildlife enthusiast Jason Alexander, at his home in Rushmere St Andrew, Suffolk. "You naturally think the fox will see the hedgehog as prey, so I was surprised to see them feed side by side," Mr Alexander said.

"I think there have been several of each using the feeding stations. They seem to tolerate each other." Mr Alexander, 43, has been adding to his collection of webcams over the past two years and now has about 30 - monitoring nest boxes along with visitors to his garden's feeding stations.
He said the hedgehogs feed about 10 times a night, and are most likely to be joined by a fox between 1am and 3am. "One of the first things I do each day is to sit with a cuppa and take a look at the footage from the night before," Mr Alexander said. Suffolk Wildlife Trust says that foxes "generally don't pose a threat to hedgehogs, but aren't completely benign".

Simone Bullion, senior conservation adviser, said: "There are rare incidents where foxes can prey on hedgehogs, using learned behavior." She said some foxes had been known to wait for a hedgehog to unroll from its defensive ball, before taking a bite at it. "In this individual case, however, the fox does not appear to view the hedgehog as prey."

Jason Alexander's webcam website.

Plenty To Chew On ...

Huge tooth fossil shows marine predator had plenty to chew on

A fossilised tooth belonging to a fearsome marine predator has […]

Lyme Diease Older Than Humans

Amber discovery indicates Lyme disease is older than human race

Lyme disease is a stealthy, often misdiagnosed disease that was […]

Lyme Disease Bacteria Older than the Human Race

The bacteria that cause the illness may have been lurking around for 15 million years -- long before humans walked on Earth.

Canine Domestication and Human Success

Domestication of dogs may explain mammoth kill sites and success of early modern humans

A new analysis of European archaeological sites containing large numbers […]

Animal Pictures