The Daily Drift

Dragon Nerds ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 204 countries around the world daily.   

  
Yeah, that pretty much covers it ... !

Today is - There is no particular celebration today

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Today in History

1520		Montezuma II is murdered as Spanish conquistadors flee the Aztec capital of Tenochtilan during the night.
1857		Charles Dickens reads from A Christmas Carol at St. Martin’s Hall in London–his first public reading.
1859		Jean Francois Gravelet aka Emile Blondin, a French daredevil, becomes the first man to walk across Niagra Falls on a tightrope.
1908		A mysterious explosion, possibly the result of a meteorite, levels thousands of trees in the Tunguska region of Siberia with a force approaching twenty megatons.
1934		Adolf Hitler orders the purge of his own party in the "Night of the Long Knives."
1936		Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone With the Wind, is published.
1948		John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley demonstrate their invention, the transistor, for the first time.
1960		Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, opens.
1971		Three Soviet cosmonauts die when their spacecreaft depressurizes during reentry.

Non Sequitur

Take A Look Inside Mexico City's Massive, Gorgeous Library

Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City is gigantic. The gorgeous structure holds more than 470,000 books. Designed by Alberto Kalach, the library features transparent walls, hive-like bookshelves, and mismatched floors.
The giant library, which took three years to build, is actually five libraries melded into one, with each section dedicated to some of Mexico's greatest thinkers. It's hard not to feel miniscule when walking through this unusual, massive structure.

Migration Crisis: The EU's Shipwrecked Refugee Plan

by Ullrich Fichtner, Maximilian Popp, Christoph Schult and Alexander Smoltczyk

When 800 refugees drowned on their way to Europe this April, leaders promised to act. Just over two months later, the EU's attempts at real reform have all but failed -- and thrown up some dark moral questions. More...

Lifting the Veil: How Working Women Are Remaking Saudi Arabia

by Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Samiha Shafy

A growing number of women in Saudi Arabia are joining the workforce and chipping away at discrimination enshrined in its laws. But they face conservative opposition and -- even now -- a ban on driving. More...

Residents surprised by wheel from jet crashing through their kitchen ceiling

Residents of an apartment building in Montreal, Canada, say they were shocked when a jet wheel fell from the sky, crashing through the roof and leaving a hole in one woman’s kitchen ceiling. People living in the building, located in the city’s Saint-Laurent neighborhood, said they heard a loud thud just before 2am on Wednesday. A woman living on the top floor found a hole in her roof and a jet wheel in her apartment.

Family flees new home and sues after receiving frightening letters from 'The Watcher'

Terrifying letters forced a New Jersey family to flee their new home, and what happened left residents in a quiet community more than a little unnerved. The large six-bedroom home in Union County is being watched, according to a lawsuit filed by its new owners. They paid $1.3 million for their "dream home" in the picturesque town of Westfield.

They claim the previous owners were aware of a man who calls himself "the Watcher" but they never said anything. "I would be pretty upset if I bought a house and found out that the previous owners knew about it," said Robert Hagen of Westfield. Since moving in, the owners said they have received numerous letters from the mysterious person.

 

"The Watcher" claimed the home "has been the subject of my family for decades" and "I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming." The new owners have several children, and other letters asked, "Have they found out what's in the walls yet?" and "I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me." The bone-chilling letters were enough to send the new family packing.

YouTube link.

The incident was so unnerving that Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky addressed the issue at a Town Council meeting on Tuesday night. "Our police department conducted an exhaustive investigation based on the factual circumstances and evidence available," Skibitsky said. No charges have been filed in the case. Whether the owners have any legal case remains to be seen. The mayor said under New Jersey law, the letters are classified as a disorderly person's crime.

Whole Foods Under Investigation After Hugely Overcharging Customers For Food

“The potential number of violations that Whole Foods faces for all pre-packaged goods in the NYC stores is in the thousands,” the DCA states.

Lowest Water Levels EVER In Lake Mead May Trigger Rationing

Still Think Climate Change Is A Hoax? 

Lake Mead, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam, is at its lowest level ever. People in Las Vegas may be looking at rationing if this continues.

Read full story 

What We Can Learn From A Massive Meteor Crater

50,000 Years ago, a dense chunk of nickel and iron, over 100 feet across, entered the Earth's atmosphere. It slammed into the lush woodlands of North America. The impact left a giant hole - 590 feet deep and three-quarters of a mile wide - in the landscape of what is now northern Arizona.

Today, we know the site as Meteor Crater. It has fascinated generations of people, but we are still only just beginning to understand asteroids, the phenomenon that excavated this remarkable location. To really get the scope of this natural wonder, Popular Science sent extreme science correspondent Jake Roper to take us on a video tour.

Video Link

Nasa Spots 'Intriguing' Pyramid On Dwarf Planet Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. New images taken by Nasa's Dawn spacecraft have captured an odd, pyramid-shaped peak protruding from the flat surface of Ceres.
Although there are yet to be any explanations for the pyramid's origins, previous studies of the planet have revealed a whole host of active phenomena on its surface, from landslides and rock flows to remnants of crumbled (natural) structures.

Random Celebrity Photos

 Recognize this young lady - her name is Norma Jean - 

you might know her as Marilyn Monroe

A guide to penis worm teeth

Palaeontology has published a detailed study of the teeth of priapulids in the Burgess Shale.

"As teeth are the most hardy and resilient parts of animals, they are much more common as fossils than whole soft-bodied specimens," he explained. "But when these teeth - which are only about a millimetre long - are found, they are easily misidentified as algal spores, rather than as parts of animals. Now that we understand the structure of these tiny fossils, we are much better placed to a wide suite of enigmatic fossils."

Not familiar with penis worms?  An article in Nature explains that understanding the anatomy of the priapulids is central to a proper understanding of evolution:

...a major step in evolution occurred when an embryonic ball of cells formed two indentations as opposed to one, giving way to a separate mouth and an anus rather than the single opening that creatures such as jellyfish and sea anemones have. In 1908, animals with a mouth and anus were divided into two groups. In the protostomes (from the Greek for ‘mouth first’), the mouth formed first, and the anus second. In the other, the deuterostomes (‘mouth second’), the mouth formed after the anus...

Today, the protostomes include priapulids and most other invertebrates. The deuterostomes include vertebrates such as humans and a few spineless animal lineages... Now, using molecular techniques to analyse gene expression, Hejnol and his team have revealed that a primitive protostome, the priapulid Priapus caudatus, develops like a deuterostome...

More details at the link, and at the Washington Post, where there is a video of a penis worm.  You learn something every day.

Man arrested for illegal possession of ferrets

A 23-year-old Santa Ana man was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of illegally possessing 16 ferrets, which are banned in California.

Sebastian Alexander Swisher was arrested at his home where he was cited and released for the importation and transportation of live restricted animals, Santa Ana police said.
Santa Ana police received a tip that Swisher had been buying the ferrets in Nevada and bringing them back to California, where they are banned, to sell.
The 16 ferrets were taken to OC Animal Care.

Exotic animal auctions

As reported in the Texas Observer:

The crowd, a couple hundred strong, oohs and ahhs as the wallaby hops from one side of the enclosure to the other. A woman asks her family, “Wouldn’t it be fun to have one of those?”...
Kifaru is one of a handful of exotic animal auction houses in Texas, part of a robust billion-dollar U.S. trade in exotic animals... Saturdays are reserved for exotic hoofstock (blackbucks, fallow deer, zebras, giraffes, oryx, gazelles), domestic farm animals such as goats and alpacas, and primates and other unorthodox pets. Sundays are for birds—some exotic, some less so—and small animals including reptiles and rodents...
Exotic animals in Texas—including but not limited to monkeys and primates that don’t fall under the state’s dangerous wild animal laws—are in a sort of legal blind spot. Pet capuchin and macaque monkeys are often purchased as infants, but when the males reach sexual maturity and become aggressive, many are either handicapped (by removing their teeth and nails), chained or discarded. The lucky ones end up in animal sanctuaries. The Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary alone houses nearly 20 big cats, almost all of which came from private owners or facilities condemned by the USDA. According to Executive Director Patti Clark, the Austin Zoo receives lots of calls about exotic birds; she said buyers often don’t understand how long the birds live, how loud they can be and how messy they are...
Provost said that though he tries to weed out inexperienced or unqualified bidders, he can’t stop people from doing what they want with their money. “I would say there are probably some irresponsible purchases, but you can do that at Walmart. You can do that anywhere else, and I don’t know how to control or stop that other than what I do, which is to [warn people about special requirements]. However I can help the situation, I certainly do that verbally,” he said. “But if a 90-year-old grandma wants to come in and buy that big, bad water buffalo bull, it’s her money and this is America and she’s free to do that.”

"Goldfish the size of dinner plates are multiplying like bunnies."

The Alberta government is launching a campaign this summer to stop people from flushing their aquariums down their toilets. Goldfish the size of dinner plates are multiplying like bunnies from Lethbridge to Fort McMurray, the province says...
In one case, the municipality of Wood Buffalo pulled 40 of the domestic fish species from a stormwater pond.
"That's really scary because it means they're reproducing in the wild, they are getting quite large and they are surviving the winters that far north," said Wilson.

Further details at CBC News

The Secret To How Parrots Talk

Scientists have discovered how parrots talk, as they believe it's down to the wiring in their brains. And the same brain region controls movement which may explain why some parrots 'dance' to music.
Scientists of Duke University found key structural differences in the brains of parrots that may explain the birds' unparalleled ability to imitate sounds and human speech. The findings could lend insight into the neural mechanisms of human speech too.

Wild goat apparently believes he's a kangaroo

A wild goat in south Adelaide, Australia, appears to be suffering an identity crisis, believing he’s a kangaroo.
Nestled comfortably alongside the boomer, or dominant male of the mob, the horned goat has been spotted living among the community of about 60 kangaroos in a large paddock in Seaford Meadows. After years of believing the mystery resident was a donkey, Naomi Will this week captured a photo of the goat and his best mate.
“He hangs around this big male kangaroo and the two of them are tight as, when I took that photo a couple of days ago it’s the first time he was sitting up and looking at me because normally he’s lying down fast asleep,” Ms Will said. Ms Will said she believed the unlikely friendship between goat and kangaroo was a lesson for humans. “Black and white, that sort of thing.
“Two completely different animals that in the real world shouldn’t get on, but they do, which is a great thing,” she said. Ms Will said she and other residents were hoping the goat would be left to live out his days among his adopted mob. “I’m told the council has tried to get him a couple of times, and I tell you what there would be an outrage if they ever did do anything to him, because it’s just so amazing ... he’s almost a protected species down here,” she said.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Lawd we've seen everything there is to see, now that we've seen an elephant in a tree ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 204 countries around the world daily.   

  
Yeah, that pretty much covers it ... !

Today is - There is no particular celebration today

You want the unvarnished truth?

Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told

Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Colombia - Ecuador - Nicaragua - Peru - Puerto Rico - United States  Uruguay
Europe
Albania - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - England - France - Germany - Greece
 Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Lithuania - Netherlands - Poland - Portugal - Russia - Scotland - Slovenia 
Spain - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
China - India - Indonesia - Korea - Malaysia - Mongolia - Pakistan - Qatar - Sri Lanka
Africa
South Africa - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines

Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.

Today in History

1236		Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon take Cordoba in Spain.
1652		Massachusetts declares itself an independent commonwealth.
1767		The British parliament passes the Townshend Revenue Act, levying taxes on America.
1862		Union forces, falling back from Richmond, fight at the Battle of Savage’s Station.
1880		France annexes Tahiti.
1888		Professor Frederick Treves performs the first appendectomy in England.
1903		The British government officially protests Belgian atrocities in the Congo.
1905		Russian troops intervene as riots erupt in ports all over the country, leaving many ships looted.
1917		The Ukraine proclaims independence from Russia.
1925		An earthquake ravages Santa Barbara, California.
1926		Fascists in Rome add an hour to the work day in an economic efficiency measure.
1932		Siam’s army seizes Bangkok and announces an end to the absolute monarchy.
1938		Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, and Olympic National Park, Washington, are founded.
1950		President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea.
1951		The United States invites the Soviet Union to the Korean peace talks on a ship in Wonson Harbor.
1955		The Soviet Union sends tanks to Pozan, Poland, to put down anti-Communist demonstrations.
1966		The U.S. Air Force bombs fuel storage facilities near Hanoi, North Vietnam.
1967		Israel removes barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem.
1970		U.S. troops pull out of Cambodia.
1982		Israel invades Lebanon.

This is how ...

In case you've ever wondered where and how 'Fox News' got their 'reporters'

Impatient Toddler Shoves Little Girl into Swimming Pool

In 15 years, this little boy will be the guy behind you who honks as soon as the stoplight turns green. He's been waiting in line long enough--all of 5 seconds!--and is ready for traffic to keep moving.

Hundreds of Vintage Sea Flags Hidden away in a Museum

This flag had nothing to do with Nazi Germany or any other Nazi organization. The swastika long predates the Nazi use of that symbol and remains in use in India.
In this case, the swastika is part of the house flag of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company operating out of Bombay, India. That shipping company operated from 1919 until the 1980s. This flag was made in about 1951. It’s one of hundreds of maritime flags owned by the Royal Museums in Greenwich, UK. You can find other notable selections at Messy Nessy Chic.

Should We Still Prosecute WWII Nazis?

Should We Still Prosecute WWII Nazis?

Eight decades after the horrors of the holocaust, some are still living with its memory. Among these survivors are victims who escaped, but also those that perpetrated the war crimes.

Bank robber caught after signing his own name on note demanding money

A man suspected of robbing a bank in Yuba City, California, on Monday morning was arrested by police trying to board a Greyhound bus to New York hours after the alleged robbery.

Yuba City police responded to Umpqua Bank on Colusa Highway just after 9am when they received notification a robbery had just occurred.
Bank employees said the robber handed the teller a note which read, in part, "Give me $10,000 dollars or I will kill you". The note was signed John Chapman.
The man then fled the area, and employees were able to positively identify the suspect as John Chapman. Yuba City detectives found and arrested Chapman at around 5:30pm in Marysville, where he was waiting to board a Greyhound bus to New York.

Man hit opponent in face with cooking pot during friendly game of dominoes

A friendly game of dominoes turned violent in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday night when a 71-year-old man hit a 57-year-old man in the face with a cooking pot, according to an arrest report.

Keith Fitzroy Campbell and the other man began yelling at each other when one of them repeatedly made an illegal move, the report said.
The argument escalated until Campbell picked up the pot and hit the man causing him to bleed heavily from the head. Campbell told police he hit the other man before the man could hit him.
Both men said they were drinking alcohol while playing the game. Campbell faces a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and was released from Palm Beach County Jail on $5,000 bond.

Global Food Shock

Are We Perilously Close to a Global Food Shock?

Insurer Lloyd's warns that three weather-related disasters in a row could create a starve-amageddon.

Jet Contrails Alter the Weather

Jet Contrails Actually Do Alter the Weather

It's not just a conspiracy theorist's fever dream. The wispy trails in the sky actually do influence surface temperatures.

New Era for Wildfires

Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires

Rising temperatures are expected to increase wildfire risks in Alaska, just as in the rest of the western U.S.

Night-Shining Clouds

Bizarre Night-Shining Clouds Form High in Atmosphere

These mysterious electric blue wisps, which form on the edge of space, could be a sign of climate change.

Brothel lamb returned to her flock

A lamb that was stolen from Nuremberg Zoo and found in a Munich brothel nine days later has finally been returned to her flock. Rosi is barely two months old but she's had quite the adventure in her short life. She's lived in a zoo and a brothel, spent time in police custody, and now at last she's back among her own. “She's doing wonderfully,” a spokesperson for the zoo said. “She's fully integrated back into the herd.” And she's showing no signs of stress from her adventure, the spokesperson added.
Born at the end of April at Nuremberg Zoo, little Rosi had to be fed by the keepers when her mother didn't suckle her properly. But, two weeks she disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The keepers presumed she had been captured by a fox or had drowned in a stream that runs through the grounds. It appears that thieves, under orders from a Munich-based prostitute, took advantage of the keepers going on their lunch break and smuggled the little lamb undetected out of the premises.
She was to endure nine days of captivity before finally being released, and even then by a stroke of luck. Munich police were out on operation, carrying out a drug bust on a brothel. They found marijuana as well as assorted drug paraphernalia. But to their surprise there was also a three-week-old lamb in the prostitute's room. Both escort and lamb were taken into custody. But while the sex worker was released a few hours later, Rosi stayed at the station where she was nourished with milk from a bottle.

YouTube link.

The prostitute was handed a ban on owning animals. Apparently, Rosi wasn't the first little lamb she'd taken hostage. “Where she used to live in Wuppertal, the authorities had already confiscated 25 lambs from her,” a police spokesperson said. “It seems she really likes sheep.” Rosi was returned to the zoo in Nuremberg shortly afterwards, but she was quarantined for a month. But now at last she has been returned to her flock.

Confused emu thinks he's a horse

An emu in Australia's Northern Territory thinks he's a horse. Almost three years ago the emu shacked up with horses from the Alice Springs mounted police and liked it so much it decided to stay. The flightless bird runs with the horses, eats with the horses and, according to Senior Sergeant Melinda Edwards, acts likes the horses.

"Emu is just called Emu and certainly by his behaviour we get the impression that he thinks he is a horse," she said. "He has taken on the equine lifestyle. He follows the horses in and out of the paddock. As the horses gallop away, he gallops off with them." Senior Sergeant Edwards said Emu was free to roam and it was not by police choice that Emu was there.
"Emu stays whether we want him here or not," she said. According to Senior Sergeant Edwards, inquiries had been made about repatriating Emu. "But there are issues associated with that because Emu came to us when he was quite young and has become domesticated," she said.
Senior Sergeant Edwards said despite Emu's desire to be a horse, not all the police horses were convinced. "We've got five horses out here and there are two he is friendly with and the other three are not so keen on him," she said. "But Emu has made his choice and decided to make the mounted police unit his home for now at least."
With audio interview with Senior Sergeant Edwards. There's a short news video here.

Scientists Found New Species of Hairy-Chested Yeti Crab

Its land dwelling namesake is still at large, but scientists have discovered a third species of the yeti crab. Meet Kiwa tyleri, a deep-sea crustacean that belongs to the yeti crab family.
Ecologist and study leader Sven Thatje explored the hydrothermal vents in East Scotia Ridge, Antarctica, using remotely-piloted submersible and discovered a thriving community of yeti crab living more than 8,500 feet under water.
"We knew immediately that we'd found something tremendously novel and unique in hydrothermal vent research," Thatje said as reported by National Geographic.
Thatje noted that the Antarctic waters where the crabs live are so cold that they're just above freezing. The liquid that spews out of the hydrothermal vents, however, can reach 700 °F (400 °C). That means the yeti crab has only a tiny space where the water temperature is just right: too close to the vents and they'll fry. Too far and they'll freeze.
That's why the crabs pile on top of each other, Thatje said, "like beans in a jar, filling every available space." Some 700 crabs are found in just one square meter.
View more over at National Geographic

Built-to-Last

Built-to-Last Beastie Gave Rise to Insects, Spiders and Shellfish

The prehistoric animal is so bizarre that, for years, scientists couldn’t figure out which side of it was the front and which was the back.

Grandfather Turtle Had No Shell

Grandfather Turtle Had No Shell, But Link to Snakes

Eight-inch-long Grandfather turtle did not have a shell, but it had the makings of one. 

Adorable Baby Pygmy Hippo Takes His First Dip

This precious baby pygmy hippopotamus named Obi recently went for his first-ever swim under the close and caring watch of his mama. The hippos, who reside at Melbourne Zoo, are especially dear to zoo staff and visitors due to their endangered status. According to the zoo staff,

"The name Obi means heart in the Nigerian Igbo language, and he is certainly melting a few hearts here at Melbourne Zoo. Obi has grown quickly from his birth weight of around 5 kilos, putting on roughly 500 grams a day and now weighs over 13 kilos. He has been leaning to swim in the nursery yard pool and passed with flying colours. Today marked an important milestone for Obi as he ventured into the deeper water of the exhibit. Wild Sea Manager, Justin Valentine said ‘he loves the water and spends hours in the small pool, so he is ready for the next step."

Vimeo Link

Animals Acting Like Puppies

Dogs have spent thousands of years becoming man’s best friend, and nowadays it can be hard to tell whether some people love their children or their dogs more.
This tight bond formed between dogs and humans has made many other animals feel left out, so these clever critters have come up with a plan to make themselves more appealing to humans.

(YouTube Link)

The way they see it, if they start acting more like puppies then humans will have no choice but to love them, pet them and feed them ‘til they’re full!

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

You always knew it  ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 204 countries around the world daily.   

  
There's nothing like a log cabin ... !

Today is - Log Cabin Day

You want the unvarnished truth?

Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told

Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Ecuador - Mexico - Nicargua - Panama - Puerto Rico - United States  Uruguay
Europe
Albania - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - Denmark - England - Finland - France  Germany - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Lithuania - Macedonia - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal  Russia - Scotland - Slovenia - Spain - Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Bangladesh - China - India - Indonesia - Malaysia - Mongolia - Pakistan - Sri Lanka
Africa
Nigeria - South Africa - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines

Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.