The Daily Drift

Spring begins with the Vernal Equinox at 6:45pm today ...!

 

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Today in History

1413		Henry IV of England is succeed by his son Henry V.
1739		In India, Nadir Shah of Persia occupies Delhi and takes possession of the Peacock throne.
1760		The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings.
1792		In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approves the use of the guillotine.
1815		Napoleon Bonaparte enters Paris and begins his 100-day rule.
1841		Edgar Allen Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue, considered the first detective story, is published.
1852		Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
1906		Army officers in Russia mutiny at Sevastopol.
1915		The French call off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front.
1918		The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union ask for American aid to rebuild their army.
1922		President Warren G. Harding orders U.S. troops back from the Rhineland.
1932		The German dirigible, Graf Zepplin, makes the first flight to South America on regular schedule.
1939		President Franklin D. Roosevelt names William O. Douglas to the Supreme Court.
1940		The British Royal Air Force conducts an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany.
1943		The Allies attack Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.
1965		President Lyndon B. Johnson orders 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.
1969		Senator Edward Kennedy calls on the United States to close all bases in Taiwan.
1976		Patty Hearst is convicted of armed robbery.
1982		U.S. scientists return from Antarctica with the first land mammal fossils found there.
1987		The United State approves AZT, a drug that is proven to slow the progress of AIDS.

Irish Town Builds Memorial To Thank Native Americans Who Helped During Famine

A sculpture of nine eagle feathers will be installed in Bailic Park, in Midleton, Co Cork to thank the Choctaw Indians for their kindness and support during the Great Irish Famine.

Despite the oppression faced by the Choctaws in the years preceding the famine, on hearing of the plight and hunger of the Irish people in 1847, they raised $170 to send to the Irish people and ease their suffering. This figure is equivalent to tens of thousands of dollars in today’s currency.

Looks Matter ...

A Century Of Iconic Food Packaging

We take the packaging our food comes in for granted. Yet many of the boxes, bags and bottles that protect our edibles were once groundbreaking - both in their design and in how they changed our perception of what's inside.
Sometimes, packaging is so distinctive, it transforms food from mere consumer product to cultural icon. Here are some of the best examples of food packaging design over the past century, with help from experts in the field.

Waking Up Is Hard to Do

Waking Up Is Hard to Do: Here's Why

Okay, riddle us this one: How come it's so easy to fall asleep but SO hard to wake up? You'd think we'd be ready to bounce up and meet the day, but nope. Trace explains what's behind our attempts to drag ourselves out of bed, and why timing matters.

Enough Is Enough: Ashley Judd ‘Pressing Charges’ Against Twitter Trolls

Ashley Judd has had just about enough of the Twitter trolls who think they can hide behind their computer screen while writing insults and threats.

Read full story

Anti-Gay Bigotry In Alabama Costs University $15 Million, Because Republicans Are Jerks

The University of Alabama is feeling the pain inflicted on the state by anti-gay Republicans after a longtime gay couple and former alumni reconsidered leaving the school their $15 million estate.

Read more  

Oops: 'Responsible' Gun Nut ‘Accidentally’ Kills Wife While Cleaning Gun In The Kitchen

A 67-year-old Mason County, Washington man ‘accidentally’ shot his wife in the chest on Monday, while cleaning his gun in the kitchen.

Read more

Another ‘Remarkable’ Hoo-hah ...

Pregnant Woman Hides 89 Bags Of Heroin In Her Lady Bits

There’s something you don’t read every day. . .
Read more

Mom Calls Cops To Teach Kids Lesson About Stealing; Cop Arrests Mom, Gives Lesson In Bad Cops

A simple request to have an officer talk to her children about right and wrong ended with a young mother’s arrest and her family ripped apart.

Read more 

Wingnuts Go Nuts After RedState Actually Tells Truth On Ferguson PD

RedState.com contributing editor Leon Wolf discussed with Chris Hayes the DOJ report and that ‘No Wingnut On Earth’ can defend the Ferguson PD.

Read more 

Virginia limits how long cops can hang on to automated license plate reader data: 7 days

VA Dept. of Transportation

Virginia has become the first U.S. state in America strictly limit how long data from automated license plate readers can be retained by law enforcement.
Cops in Virginia will now only be permitted to keep license plate data captured by the devices known as LPRs or ALPRs for seven days, unless there is an active, ongoing criminal investigation.
Cyrus Farivar at Ars Technica:

New Hampshire previously banned the devices outright, while Maine has imposed a 21-day limit. However, many jurisdictions nationwide, ranging from the New York State Police to the Oakland Police Department, have no formal data retention limit. That means the location data—often resulting in millions of records collected over years—is effectively kept forever.
Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) signed the Virginia bill into law on March 10, and it will take effect on July 1. His spokesman did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.
"It is great to see that Virginia legislators have recognized the threats to privacy posed by longer ALPR retention periods and also recognized that longer retention periods aren’t necessary to serve the main purposes of ALPRs—finding wanted and stolen vehicles," Jennifer Lynch, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Ars by e-mail.

"Virginia passes shortest limit in US on keeping license plate reader data"

Guess Which State Will Have the First White Collar Criminal Registry?

One of the lingering effects of the 2008 financial crisis is a distrust of financial services in general and bankers in particular. To date, no Wall Street types…

White Collar Criminal Registry

Here’s What’s Being Done About the 400,000 Untested Rape Kits

There are an estimated 400,000 rape kits sitting in police storage rooms and crime labs across the country, collecting dust and allowing rapists to go free. But thankfully,… 

Untested Rape Kits

Catholics Claim Religious Liberty To Refuse Compensating Sex Abuse Victims

In an ironic twist, as a result of catholic justices on the nation's highest court, for the second time in six months high-ranking catholics are exercising religious…

There is little argument that the Constitution’s Framers intended religious freedom to mean exactly that; freedom to worship without government intrusion or interference. However, due to a deceitful plot by the United States coven of catholic bishops (USCCB) in the early 1980s, the concept of religious liberty has become a powerful tool to impose religion on the people and disregard the nation’s laws, including the Constitution. In an ironic twist, as a result of catholic justices on the nation’s highest court, for the second time in six months high-ranking catholics are exercising religious supremacy over the nation’s judicial system.

Last November the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese claimed that according to its distorted interpretation of the Supreme Court’s definition of “free exercise” of religious liberty, it had no obligation and would not go to court; at all.  The issue was over a catholic-affiliated school violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that bans all employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The school fired a female teacher for going through fertility treatments (in vitro fertilization) and informed the woman that because she wanted to give birth, she was “a grave, immoral sinner” and was also now unemployed. The woman rightly filed a lawsuit against the school for violating her Title VII Civil Rights.  The cult said it did not have to acknowledge the lawsuit, or go to court for a discrimination jury trial on the basis that doing so violated its religious liberty; the same religious liberty granted by 5 catholic justices on the nation’s highest court just a few months earlier.

It is telling  then, and no surprise, that the cult claims it does not have to abide by a court-ordered settlement to compensate victims of ‘priestly’ sexual abuse (apparently not a grave, immoral sin) because it is exercising its High Court-approved religious liberty. It is also likely violating bankruptcy laws; but the cult’s religious liberty means no federal laws apply and that is particularly true when there is the cult’s taxpayer-provided money involved.

The case concerns the catholic archdiocese of Milwaukee that hid $55 million to shield the money from compensation after at least 45 Milwaukee priests ‘allegedly’ sexually abused children; including one accused of molesting about 200 deaf boys. The diocese agreed to a $17 million settlement involving only 10 of the victims, but after a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision allowed other lawsuits to move forward, now-cardinal Anthony Dolan quickly transferred $55 million into a cemetery trust to “protect these funds from any legal claim and liability” according to a letter he wrote to the Vatican celebrating the despicable act.

Then, in 2011, the archdiocese did what any despicable business would do and promptly filed bankruptcy “due to the financial burden” of having to pay the agreed settlement to the sexual abuse victims.  When the sexual abuse victims sought redress and the compensation the catholics agreed to during the archdiocese’ bankruptcy proceeding, the catholics said no way because it “had a canonical obligation to properly maintain cemeteries and mausoleums funded through the trust.” The archdiocese complained vehemently that if it had to compensate the victims of sex abuse out of the funds Cardinal Dolan hid away, “there will be insufficient funds to care for the catholic cemeteries;” thus the archdiocese claimed adhering to the agreed settlement means it will be unable to fulfill its religious obligation and the victims were out of luck.

In 2013 a federal district judge agreed with the archdiocese that its religious freedom certainly included the right not to compensate sexual abuse victims, but last week a bipartisan panel of the Seventh Circuit reversed the decision noting there is still an unresolved “issue of whether the Archdiocese made a fraudulent, preferential or avoidable transfer” to avoid paying out the agreed settlement. The Court did not dare address the issue of accusing the archdiocese of breaking the law. It did, however, note that the “religious liberty” ploy the archdiocese proposed would lead to “absurd consequences” and “favor dishonest debtors by preventing courts from inquiring whether a religious entity made a fraudulent transfer” in order to dodge its debts, but it did not in any way say the catholics were “dishonest” debtors. There is that unwritten American law that ‘thou shalt utter an unkind word about christians” that no court or politician (except President Obama) dare violate.  The Seventh Circuit said it could not allow the cult set a precedent that would “undermine the compelling interest of the [bankruptcy] Code by allowing a debtor who made fraudulent and avoidable transfers to intentionally harm its creditors,” or in the case of the Milwaukee catholic archdiocese; hundreds of victims of “priestly sexual abuse.”

It is highly likely the nation’s High Court will have a much different opinion of Cardinal Dolan’s dishonest actions and preserve the archdiocese’s religious liberty to “not compensate sexual abuse victims” based on the cult’s religious liberty. This is in spite of the Seventh Circuit’s warning that “if an exemption to the Code is created in the name of religious beliefs, we can envision scenarios where individuals join religious sects to circumvent the law.” Obviously, the Seventh Court is as unaware the preponderance of state legislation giving religious individuals the legal right to circumvent the law as it is of the High Court’s predilection to give religious corporations exemptions to circumvent the law; all in the name of the fundamentalist version of the christian religion.

It is noteworthy to repeat that the entire “religious liberty” ploy is a USCCB machination to exert theocratic control over every aspect of American society; not just to control women, discriminate against the LGBT community, or refuse to honor court settlements for “priestly sexual abuse” by illegally transferring taxpayer-provided welfare. It was a well-conceived, well-executed, and concerted effort to help the Southern religious right abandon a doomed racist and illegal school segregation program and embrace a desperately needed new cause célèbre for their theocratic electoral movement.  It turned out to be the same moral majority movement that empowered Republicans power to install the Vatican-5 on the Supreme Court and push America closer toward a dirty christian-extremist theocracy founded on an even dirtier definition of “religious liberty.” A definition the Constitution’s Framers never intended because they knew it would lead to exactly where America is heading; an ISIL-like christian theocracy.

ABC Nightline On Jehovah’s Witnesses: Major Child Rape Cover-Up Exposed

The catholic cult isn’t the only religious cabal covering up child rape.

Read full story

Four people on trial for 'selling' US embassy in Rome to German businessman

Four people have gone on trial for allegedly tricking a German businessman out of €1.3 million, by pretending to sell him the US embassy and the UN food agency headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Wolfang Kroll, 57, appeared in a Rome court along with three accomplices on Friday. Kroll, also German, presented himself as a real estate broker with prized property in his hands. He allegedly approached the businessman, a Monaco resident, by first offering to sell the Porta di Roma shopping center.
With the help of Donato Perazzolo, a fake bank representative, Kroll was able to convince their victim to send €400,000 to buy the Rome complex. When it came to selling the US embassy building on Via Veneto, and the headquarters of the UN food agency, Fao, the group needed more help.
Walter Baccini was brought in to impersonate a government official, while Anna Lisa Morganti is also accused of taking part in the scam. The price of the embassy was set at €580,000, while Fao was supposedly on sale for €600,000. The German businessman transferred a further €900,000 to the group, before realizing he had been tricked.

Police surprised to find thousands of allegedly stolen second-hand shoes at man's home

Thousands of allegedly stolen pairs of shoes have been discovered by police at a home in Kilsyth, in the east of Melbourne, Australia. Police said there had been a series of shoe thefts from homes and charity bins in the Kilsyth and Mooroolbark areas over the past three months.

They said when they visited a house to question someone over the thefts they "unexpectedly" discovered thousands of second-hand shoes. A 57-year-old man has been arrested over the incident. Senior Constable Peter Baker said the man had since confessed to taking the shoes. "We went and spoke to the male, asked him if he knew anything about it and he said, 'yes, I do'," Senior Constable Baker said.
"We asked if we could see the shoes, he showed us, he invited us into his house. Once we got inside we saw multiple pairs of shoes; once we went into the bedroom there were about 10 times as many as that, so it was a bit of a shock, but there were shoes throughout the unit. There are a number of expensive shoes in there - Vans, Adidas, Asics, that sort of thing.
"His explanation was that he just likes shoes, so he just went out most mornings on his bike and would find shoes that he liked, put them in a plastic bag and take them home." Senior Constable Baker said while theft was a crime, it was unusual to prosecute over such matters as stealing from charity bins. Police said they were now "playing the charming prince" in order to find the owners of the shoes, and had invited people to attend Mooroolbark police station this Sunday "to see if the shoe fits".
There's a news video here.

Man formerly known as 'underwear bandit' now renamed 'shoe bandit' following arrest for thefts

A man with a long criminal history of stealing women's clothing, underwear and shoes in Iowa has apparently made his way to Florida and is accused now of doing the same thing again. Over the past week, multiple Pinellas Park families have been victimized by the man who apparently has been going up to families who like to leave shoes outside their homes, and is stealing the shoes, sometimes replacing those shoes with other shoes.

Two of the victims shared their home surveillance video which clearly shows a man running up to their homes and taking shoes. Fed up by the strange criminal activity, one family took action into their own hands, saying they watched and waited as the man returned again, catching him in the act, then confronting and restraining him as they called police officers. According to Pinellas Park police, the man responsible is Rusty Wayne Sills, 56 of Largo, was arrested on Saturday morning after the family caught him.

The van that Sills drove to the Pinellas Park home had approximately 100 pairs of women's shoes inside, according to police. Despite the fact that he denied every being to the woman's home, officers did recover the shoes that were stolen from her home on Thursday. Sills is charged with burglary and remains in the Pinellas County Jail and his bond is set at $10,000. Pinellas Park police say there are several more similar cases regarding the theft of women's shoes.

YouTube link.

Records show Sills was once described as an underwear bandit in West Des Moines, Iowa. 10 years ago he was arrested for allegedly stealing hundreds of pairs of women's underwear and shoes from an apartment complex's laundry room. Back in 1979, West Des Mois police charged Sills with burglary of women's underwear. In 1999, it was reported he stole shoes from female students at Iowa State University, where ISU Police reportedly found 185 pairs of shoes in his Des Moines apartment. He was convicted of theft that time, as well as many any other times in Iowa and in Florida over the past 30 years or so.

Thirsty man caught trying to shoplift 27 cases of beer

A Florida man loaded 27 cases of beer into a shopping cart and walked out the door of the Walmart in North Lauderdale on Tuesday, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.

A loss prevention officer spotted 58-year-old George Lainez filling up the cart just before 11am.
He then watched as he walked past the checkout lines and outside, officials said.

YouTube link.

Lainez, of North Lauderdale, was caught in the parking lot with $485.15 worth of beer and was arrested on a charge of retail theft. Bond was set at $1,500 at his first appearance in court on Wednesday.

Random Pictures

Stonehenge's Origin Is Subject Of New Theory

Whether it was a Druid temple, an astronomical calendar or a centre for healing, the mystery of Stonehenge has long been a source of speculation and debate. Now a dramatic new theory suggests that the prehistoric monument was in fact 'an ancient Mecca on stilts.'
The megaliths would not have been used for ceremonies at ground level, but would instead have supported a circular wooden platform on which ceremonies were performed to the rotating heavens, the theory suggest.

NASA study reveals new threat to rapidly melting East Antarctic glacier

Aerial photo of Totten Glacier’s ice shelf edge taken during one of the team’s geophysical survey flights. Image: Jamin Greenbaum, U. Texas Researchers at NASA and the University of Texas at Austin, along with other research organizations, have discovered two seafloor troughs that could allow warm ocean water to reach the base of Totten Glacier, East Antarctica's largest and most rapidly thinning glacier. The discovery may explain the glacier's extreme thinning, and raises new concern about its impact on rising sea levels.
The Totten Glacier catchment (outlined in blue) is a collection basin for ice and snow that flows through the glacier. It’s estimated to contain enough material to raise sea levels by at least 11 feet. Image: Australian Antarctic Division. From NASA:

The result, published in the journal Nature Geoscience today, March 16, has global implications because the ice flowing through Totten Glacier alone is equivalent to the entire volume of the more widely studied West Antarctic Ice Sheet. If Totten Glacier were to collapse completely, global sea levels would rise by at least 11 feet (3.3 meters). As in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, complete collapse of Totten Glacier may take centuries, although the timing of retreat in both places is the subject of intensive research.
East Antarctica has appeared to be stable compared with the rapidly melting western side of the continent. The new finding shows that "Totten Glacier and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet are a much more interesting and dynamic part of the sea level rise story than we'd previously thought," said co-author Dustin Schroeder, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Schroeder helped analyze data from an ice-penetrating radar to demonstrate that ocean water could access the glacier through the newfound troughs.
In some areas of the ocean surrounding Antarctica, warm water can be found below cooler water because it is saltier, and therefore heavier, than the shallower water. Seafloor valleys that connect this deep warm water to the coast can especially compromise glaciers, but this process had previously been seen only under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Deep warm water had been observed seaward of Totten Glacier, but there was no evidence that it could compromise coastal ice.
The newly discovered troughs are deep enough to give the deep warm water access to the huge cavity under the glacier. The deeper of the two troughs extends from the ocean to the underside of Totten Glacier in an area not previously known to be floating.
The data for this study were gathered as part of the International Collaboration for Exploration of the Cryosphere through Airborne Profiling (ICECAP) project, which, together with the East Antarctic component of NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, made the first comprehensive survey of the Totten Glacier Ice Shelf and nearby regions between 2008 and 2012. Other coauthors of the study come from research organizations and universities in Australia, France and England.

Here's more information on the new study.
Learn more about Operation IceBridge and ICECAP.
The paper is available here.

A map showing the previously-hidden landscape beneath Totten Glacier. Orange arrows indicate seafloor valleys deep enough to allow warm water to enter beneath the floating ice. The solid orange arrow leads to the deeper of the two gateways, a three-mile-wide seafloor valley. Image: Jamin Green

Magician upset at the disappearance of his doves

Magician Dane Certificate, from the Brunswick suburb of Melbourne, Australia, has been left heartbroken after his beloved doves were snatched in a brazen theft. The two doves, which Certificate used in his performances, were stolen from the front of the magician’s store, Dane Certificate’s Magic Tricks, Gags and Theater, on March 3.

“The doves brought excitement to both the children and the adults at my shows,” he said. “They didn’t do any tricks, but I would bring them out and they would sit in people’s hands and they (the audience) absolutely loved them.” Certificate said he had put the cage containing the doves out the front of his store, as he did every day, to give his doves some fresh air.
When he returned, the cage had been taken. Certificate said he was concerned whoever took the doves might treat them poorly. “I am a supporter of Animal Liberation, so I didn’t really consider them my pets and I did not force them to perform tricks, but I looked after them,” he said.
“My only concern is about their welfare. I’ve had one of the doves for four years - they know me and I make a special food mix for them. I am worried they are not going to be looked after.” Certificate said he had CCTV footage of activity at his store during the day, which he had handed to police for investigation.

Bringing the Lynx Back to Britain

Canada Lynx were almost wiped out in the Western U.S., until a program to re-introduce them to Colorado was initiated in the 1990s. After a few false starts, the lynx learned to hunt squirrels and other prey instead of relying on the snowshoe hare. Can a similar program bring lynx back to Britain?
The Eurasian lynx was a part of the British forest ecosystem until about a thousand years ago. Conservationists at Lynx UK Trust plan to ship lynx from Eastern Europe to preserves in England and Scotland. The program is expected to benefit the forests themselves, by restoring the balance of nature with an apex predator. That is, if the environment is found to be suitable for them. The territory must be big enough, natural prey must be abundant enough, and the neighbors have to be okay with it. Read about the “rewilding” plan for lynx in Britain at Wired.

Top Predators May Be The Most Important Animals on Earth

Humans have always had a complicated relationship with other predators. Grizzly bears, crocodiles, great white sharks - these are among our planet's most awe-inspiring creatures. Still, we'd never want these deadly animals in our backyards. But new scientific evidence suggests that we need them far more than we realized.

Appeal to stop feeding bread to ducks but give them oats, corn, carrots and frozen peas instead

Every year over six million loaves of bread, equal to the size of 20 double decker buses, are thrown into British canals and rivers by well-intentioned people feeding the ducks.
However, this bread isn't great for them or their habitats and so the Canal & River Trust are asking people to swap the bread for healthy snacks and to exercise some portion control. Throwing bread into a canal or river can create overcrowding of bird populations, as the birds will flock to the same location in search of their starchy treat.

YouTube link.

Too many ducks or waterfowl in one place can stress the birds and lead to their habitats being damaged. It also creates excessive amounts of bird poo, which can impair water quality and create harmful algae which can clog the waterway. So the next time you’re heading out to feed the ducks try to avoid the crowds. Go and find a new flock and spread the love.

Instead of feeding ducks large quantities of white bread think about feeding them healthier snacks and less of them. It’s simply kinder to them. Peter Birch, national environment manager for the Canal & River Trust explains: "Bread’s not great for a duck’s health as it’s nothing like their natural diet so don’t over feed them with large quantities of it. Try to vary what you give them and swap it for healthier more natural treats like oats, corn, or defrosted frozen peas. And exercise portion control."

Chinese man awarded payout after being bitten by wild panda

A Chinese man who sued local government officials over an attack by a wild panda has been awarded 520,000 yuan (£56,000, $83,000) in compensation, his lawyer said. The animals are renowned for their lovable appearance but despite their placid, bamboo-chewing image they are members of the bear family and have a fearsome bite.

The animal wandered into Liziba village, in the northwestern province of Gansu, where local officials trying to capture it chased it onto Guan Quanzhi’s land. “I saw a panda jump out in front of me, its body completely covered in mud,” he said. The creature bit him in the leg and only released its grip when another villager covered its head with a coat.
The incident in March last year left Guan with injuries requiring seven hours of surgery. Guan’s son sued local forestry officials and the nearby Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve, which is home to more than 100 wild pandas. Following “negotiations”, officials agreed to pay the compensation, his lawyer Wang Chaohui said.
Guan is “satisfied with the amount”, which will cover his medical bills, he said, adding that he may need further operations. The nature conservation organization WWF says on its website: “As cuddly as they may look, a panda can protect itself as well as most other bears,” using its heavy weight, strong jaw muscles and large molar teeth. It cautions: “Although used mainly for crushing bamboo, a panda bite can be very nasty.”

Snake rescued after getting its head stuck in a beer can

A deadly Eastern Brown snake has been found in a backyard in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, Australia, with its head stuck in a beer can. Mawson Lakes resident Lauren Lehman said she walked outside to find the four-foot snake in her yard.

"I screamed, I cried, I felt sick, I didn't know what to do," she said. Ms Lehman called in Ian Renton from Snakes Away to remove the deadly creature. "In the last 30 years that I've been in the industry I've probably only seen six to seven of these issues," he said.  
Mr Renton's son Corey was filmed carrying out the delicate operation to free the trapped snake. "I'm now going to try and cut his head free and hopefully I can do this without getting bitten," he says in the video.

YouTube link.

Eastern Brown snakes are found across Adelaide and the suburbs, with Mawson Lakes one of the most common places for snake catcher call-outs. Experts say they are being seen near homes more often.

Animal Pictures