The Daily Drift

It is in your hands ...!

 

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Today in History

1500   Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovers Brazil.  
1509   Henry VIII ascends to the throne of England upon the death of his father, Henry VII.  
1529   Spain and Portugal divide the eastern hemisphere in the Treaty of Saragosa.
1745   The Peace of Fussen is signed.  
1792   President George Washington proclaims American neutrality in the war in Europe.  
1861   Robert E. Lee is named commander of Virginia forces.  
1889   The Oklahoma land rush officially starts at noon as thousands of Americans race for new, unclaimed land.  
1898   In the first action of the Spanish-American War, the USS Nashville, takes on a Spanish ship.
1915   At the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans use poison gas for the first time.
1918   British naval forces attempt to sink block-ships in the German U-boat bases at the Battle of Zeeburgge.  
1931   Egypt signs treaty of friendship with Iraq.  
1944   Allies launch major attack against the Japanese in Hollandia, New Guinea.  
1954   The Senate Army-McCarthy hearings begin. They are broadcast on television.  
1976   Barbara Walters becomes the first female nightly news anchor on network television. 
1995  In Africa, Rwandan troops kill thousands of Hutu refugees in Kibeho.

Man Tries to Uproot Tree, Tree Fights Back

(Video Link)

This video, allegedly from Slovenia, shows a man trying to pull up a tree using a tractor. The tree is not going to die without a fight. Maybe the man will think twice before taking on another tree.

14 Reasons The Rich Wouldn’t Exist Without The Poor

Sometimes we have to say “enough is enough” of the poor shaming. There’s nothing to be ashamed of about being poor.

Read more 

Are Ammosexuals Actually Suffering From Paranoia?

All Symptoms Point To Yes

Maybe we need to start looking at the root causes of some people’s firearm admiration, and the overwhelming empty fear they may lose what’s seemingly most important to them…

Read more

Wisconsin Republican Wants To Make Poor People Shop In Separate But Probably Not Equal Grocery Stores

Republicans are always looking for legal ways to discriminate.

Read more 

Non Sequitur

Police In Florida Are Using Bike Laws To Criminalize Being Black

79% of all bike arrests happen to black people in Tampa.
Read more 

White Cops Use Excessive Force On Black Suspect, Break His Spine, And Now He’s Dead

Another senseless death of a black man at the hands of white cops. Time to, once again, teach these uniformed murderers that this will not be tolerated.

Read more 

Over 80% Of Town’s Police Force Resigns After Missouri Town Elects First African-American Mayor

Racism doesn’t get much more obvious than this.
Read more 

Parents charged after both overdosed on heroin while bathing their 3-year-old son

The parents of a 3-year-old boy have been arrested after police in Manchester, New Hampshire, said they overdosed on heroin while the youngster was in the bathtub.

Police said the incident happened late last year at a residence on Bethel Court. Investigators said that on Dec. 4, 2014, police were called to an apartment by the child's grandmother after she found the parents unconscious in the bathroom with the child in the tub.
Police said the boy was unhurt in the incident. Authorities said the grandmother became suspicious when the bathroom grew quiet and went to see what was happening. That's when she found the couple passed out, police said.

YouTube link.

Eric Carter, 21, and Stephanie McCassin, 24, were charged with endangering the welfare of a child. The parents were arrested on Thursday and released on bail. They are scheduled to appear in court on May 22. Police said the child was turned over to the custody of his grandmother.

Teenager arrested after cyclists targeted in misguided revenge for friends’ fatal car crash

A 16-year-old from Travelers Rest in South Carolina is facing multiple charges, including six counts of attempted murder, after he repeatedly targeted cyclists as revenge for the deaths of two friends, even though authorities say cyclists had no role in the accident. Investigators say the teenager thought his friends, Josey Macala Cox, 17, and Timothy Michael Arrowood, 19, crashed last December because they were trying to drive around cyclists in the road. Cox and Arrowood both died at the scene. At that time several people said cyclists caused the crash.

B.C.

Man and his baboon arrested after theft of cash from man leaving bank

A pair of criminals with two baboons waylaid a man as he was leaving a bank in Lagos, Nigeria, recently. The unsuspecting victim who had withdrawn the sum of 230,000 naira (£775, $1,150) from a bank was shocked when he stepped out only to see some roughly dressed young men with two giant-sized baboons starring at him menacingly. The man took to his heels, abandoning his bag of money. The bandits used their baboons to scare the victim after driving close to the banking premises with an unregistered Nissan Primera. It was learned that two of the suspects alighted from the vehicle with two baboons and ambushed the man as he was coming out of the banking hall after withdrawing the money from his account. The victim reportedly was frightened and dropped the bag containing the cash on the ground and ran for dear life. While running, the victim discovered that the suspects who took the bag containing his cash was also running with the baboon towards the opposite direction and he went after him.

On realizing that the victim was coming after him, the suspect took some of the money from the bag and threw it at the victim who immediately bent down to pick the naira notes which littered the floor, a move the suspect capitalized on to escape into a waiting vehicle with his baboon. It was learned that as soon as the suspect and his baboon got into the waiting vehicle, the driver zoomed off abandoning the baboon and his colleague identified as Mohamed Nafiu and at the crime scene. An angry mob that was attracted to the scene nearly lynched both Mohammed and the baboon but the fierce-looking baboon stood stoutly in defense of his master and succeeded in warding off intending attacks, until police arrived the scene and apprehended the suspect. Confessing to the crime, Mohamed Nafiu said: "I am from Gdala Local Government Area in Kano state. I am married with two children. I am a farmer but later, I began to sell herbal medicines for Malaria, typhoid, hypertension and body pains.

"After a while, I decided to relocate to Lagos to enable me have more patronage. But before I came to Lagos, I bought a baby baboon as a pet that was a year and eighteen months and started training him. I came to Lagos almost ten years ago with the baboon and used it for entertainment and for showmanship while selling my herbal medicine. It was during that period that I met Nura, the leader of the gang, who also has a baboon. He was the person that brought the idea of using the baboon to frighten and rob victims. After the first operation, I quit selling my herbal medicine because it was not as lucrative as robbing. I have participated in over ten robbery operations using baboons within Lagos. We use the two baboons each time we want to rob victims. Nura and I would alight from the vehicle with the baboons while a hired driver will be on the alert to drive off. We purposely hire different vehicles for the operation so that we would not be traced.
"We pay the driver in advance before each operation and also pay him after each operation. Usually, we operate in areas where we assume victims will be in possession of cash and where it will be easy to escape after the operation, like: banks and shopping malls. The baboons have been trained to scare victims and snatch their valuables and they do whatsoever we tell them to do. We pay each hired driver based on the time contracted because of the risk involved, once the time is up, he zooms off with or without us. Also before the operation, we agree on the amount, we give the driver advance payment for fuel then pay up after the job. I met Nura in Lagos several years back and my fortunes changed as I was constantly having cash with me. Immediately I saw the police officers, I surrendered myself to them and also assisted the officers in handcuffing the baboon." Lagos police com­mand spokesman, DSP Kenneth Nwosu said that police are still on the trail of Nura, while Mohamed Nafiu and the baboon will be charged in court at the end of investigation.

Man surprised by unexpected cockerel named Humphrey living in his back garden

Being a postman, Chris Kitchen is used to delivering packages of all shapes and sizes. But he had a surprise delivery of his own last week when he got home from work to discover a cockerel named Humphrey had set up home in his back garden in Driffield, Yorkshire. "I had gone to let the dog out in the back garden when I noticed the cockerel," Mr Kitchen said.

"I went to investigate and noticed straw bales and a big chicken shed. Then I found a cereal container with food in it labelled Humphrey. I was just scratching my head, I didn't know what to do." Mr Kitchen phoned his fiancé Sam and his other friends to see if he had fallen foul of a prank, but none of them knew anything about Humphrey. He then discovered a note in the rooster's pen from his "owners", named Andy and Sarah, thanking him for looking after the cockerel.
The note reads: 'Thanks again for looking after Humphrey. We have left him in the garden as discussed. He will need one cup of feed per day and water. I think we covered everything else last week. We arrive home on the 24th, so we will come and pick up Humphrey that afternoon. Any problems, just call us. Thanks again. Andy and Sarah.' "I am just baffled by it all," Mr Kitchen said.
"In the letter, they tell me they will be back off their holidays next Friday to pick Humphrey up, so we will just have to see what happens." Humphrey is now being cared for by a friend of Mr Kitchen's, Annette Guy. Mrs Guy used to keep bantam chickens and is making sure Humphrey is cared for until his owners return. "He was up at 5.30am waking everyone up," she said. "He is a right character and you can tell that he has been looked after by whoever does own him."

Baby sea lion abducted from Los Angeles beach

A sea lion pup was taken from its mother by four suspects at Dockweiler State Beach early on Sunday morning. A witness at the scene told authorities that at around 3am, two women and two men were at the beach harassing a mother sea lion and her two pups. The group, who are all said to be between the ages of 20 and 25, were throwing cinder blocks and trash at the animals.

None of the animals was hit, but a female suspect went to a car nearby, grabbed a blanket and handed it to a male suspect. The man grabbed one of the sea lion pups, wrapped it up in the blanket and placed it in the trunk of the car. The four then entered the vehicle and left with the baby sea lion.
The car is described as a black two-door Honda Civic with the last two digits of the California license plate containing the numbers 5 and 6. The witness called police, who arrived at the scene by 3:15am. Police called Peter Wallerstein, president of Marine Animal Rescue. Wallerstein headed to the scene and was able to find the second baby sea lion hiding in the bushes of a nearby bike path.
The pup was unharmed and taken to safety. Sea lions do not make good pets, Wallerstein said. They bite with 10 times the strength of dogs, and their mouths are dirtier and more bacteria-ridden than any other mammal, he said. Keeping a sea lion as a pet is also a federal offense that carries a fine of up to $10,000 and a year in prison, Wallerstein added.
There's a short news video, where the sea lion is described as a baby seal, here.

Young birds now back down to earth following suspected magic mushroom trip

A group of inquisitive birds were left out of their tree after eating what is believed to be magic mushrooms at a wildlife sanctuary in Wellington, New Zealand. Five rare little hihi, mostly juveniles, were found "sort of paralyzed or spasming" on the ground in the Zealandia Sanctuary in Karori after a ranger noticed them pecking at an unidentified fungus. Zealandia lead ranger conservation Matu Booth said the age of the birds that ate the mushrooms may go some way towards explaining their strange behavior. "Maybe it was a bit of a teenage 'let's try it' mentality. Perhaps one bird was down there trying it and others were encouraged to do it, too," he said.

All the birds recovered after being placed in cardboard boxes and left to come down for a few hours. Booth said the birds were always looking for new food sources. "But for a species to suddenly go from nectar and insect eating to apparently eating fungi, that's a bit of a strange one. One explanation may be that there were some insects on the fungi." The hihi, or stitchbird, is one of New Zealand's rarest birds because of its carefree, friendly nature and propensity to nest in tree holes, making it an easy target for rats and other predators. Zealandia conservation manager Raewyn Empson said hihi usually ate nectar, fruit and insects and consuming mushrooms was unheard of.
It could not be confirmed that the birds' condition had been caused by the fungi, nor what sort of mushrooms they were. "We've never heard of hihi eating mushrooms before, but that's not to say that they don't," she said. "We do know that tui get drunk on the nectar of flax flowers and have been affected by rhododendron flowers, so it's not unusual for animals to have effects from eating something." There was no way to know whether they deliberately consumed mind-altering substances. "We can't get into their heads so we don't really know what's going on," she said.
The hihi was wiped out from New Zealand's mainland by 1885 and at one time the only surviving population was located on Little Barrier Island. After extensive conservation efforts, the birds have been reintroduced to the Karori reserve, Tiritiri Matangi and Kapiti Island. Even if their penchant for hallucinogenic substances cannot be proved, hihi are undoubtedly quirky characters famous for being the only bird known to sometimes mate face to face. Their Maori name translates to "rays of sun", the story being that the demigod Maui threw the bird into a fire after it refused to fetch him water, resulting in the male's yellow breast plumage. "They're a delightful little bird," Booth said. "They are special on lots of levels - they're special because they're endangered but also because they're quite unusual."

Parrots rescued from burning house shouted 'help' and 'fire'

Emergency crews responded to a house fire in Canyon County, Idaho, on Friday night that caused some confusion.

Canyon County Dispatch says the fire was reported just outside Middleton. When firefighters arrived, they heard noises inside the house which lead them to believe there were people inside.
Once they got the flames contained, though, they discovered that the noises were actually coming from two shouting parrots. Firefighters say the birds were saying "Help!" and "Fire!"

YouTube link.

Crews removed the birds from the home and gave them oxygen. They are expected to be all right. No people were found inside the house. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
There's a short news video here.

Elephants block busy road so baby can cross

A family of elephants in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, block traffic then stand guard on the road in order for their baby to cross safely.

YouTube link.

Animal Pictures