The Daily Drift

Damn, What He Said ...!

 

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The Bottom, Sint Eustatius-Saba
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Today in History

1558		Mary, Queen of Scotland, marries the French dauphin, Francis.
1792		Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle composes "La Marseilles". It will become France's national anthem.
1800		The Library of Congress is established in Washington, D.C. with a $5,000 allocation.
1805		U.S. Marines attack and capture the town of Derna in Tripoli from the Barbary pirates.
1833		A patent is granted for first soda fountain.
1877		Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1884		Otto von Bismarck cables Cape Town, South Africa that it is now a German colony.
1898		Spain declares war on United States, rejecting an ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1915		Turks of the Ottoman Empire begin massacring the Armenian minority in their country.
1916		Irish nationalists launch the Easter Uprising against British occupation.
1944		The first B-29 arrives in China, over the Hump of the Himalayas.
1948		The Berlin airlift begins to relieve surrounded city.
1953		Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1961		President John Kennedy accepts "sole responsibility" for the failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
1968		Leftist students take over Columbia University in protest over the Vietnam War.
1980		A rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages held in Iran fails when a plane collides with a helicopter in the Iranian desert.
1981		The IBM Personal Computer is introduced.
1989		Thousands of Chinese students strike in Beijing for more democratic reforms.

The Last Dalai Lama

Could this Dalai Lama be the last one, ever?

A Malady for Millennia

Allergies: A Malady for Millennia

While allergies have frequently been mistakenly cited as a consequence of modern civilization, they have been around for thousands of years.

Suing the Government

Supreme Court makes it easier for people to sue the government

South Carolina to change license photo policy

South Carolina to change license photo policy after transgender teen's lawsuit

Grandmother given dressing down for visiting prison while wearing too short shorts

A grandmother visiting an inmate at a prison in Australia's Northern Territory was “mortified” when a guard gave her a public dressing-down over the length of her shorts. Darwin Family Law office manager Alison Duke, 64, later lodged a complaint with Darwin Correctional Precinct and emailed photos of herself wearing the shorts. She received the response: “Thank you Alison. Can I just say you look great for a 64. Have a great day.”
Ms Duke said she had been wearing the same style of shorts on prison visits for 18 months. “Suddenly they’re unsuitable,” she said. “They aren’t torn or hot pants, they’re from the kids’ section of a department store.” Ms Duke said she felt uncomfortable when the officer singled her out and told her the shorts were too short when arrived for a scheduled prisoner visit at Holtze, in rural Darwin, on Sunday, April 12.
“He pointed to a poster about the dress code,” she said. “It’s not what they did, it’s the way they did it. There was little explanation and everyone was looking at me. I was mortified.” Ms Duke was allowed to remain in the prison after she was served the warning. NT Corrections spokesman David Harris said: “The visitor dress code includes prohibiting clothes that are excessively tight or revealing. Correctional officers determined that Ms Duke was wearing a pair of shorts that did not meet this standard.”
Prison Superintendent Bill Carroll wrote to Ms Duke to explain the code and “apologised for any inconvenience”. Mr Harris said the dress code would be “strictly enforced”. Ms Duke said Corrections should “reassess” how it treated visitors. “They should be encouraging visitors, not making them feel like criminals,” she said. “We are in an essential part of the inmates rehabilitation and eventual re-entry into the community.”

Rabbis Convicted

Three New Jersey rabbis convicted in bizarre forced divorce scheme involving kidnapping 

Naked woman crashed car into store after leaving restaurant following happy hour

A south west Houston Kohl's closed early on Monday night after a naked woman drove her car into the front of the store.

Driver who traded a trailer full of luncheon meat for crack cocaine given drug treatment sentence

An Arkansas driver has been sentenced for trading a tractor-trailer filled with more than $50,000 of luncheon meat for crack cocaine.

45-year-old Larry Bowen was sentenced to one year of in-patient drug treatment and six years of probation. The Mabelvale man also was ordered to pay $18,500 in restitution. Bowen had been hired to deliver the luncheon meat in Alabama and Florida last June.
When the meat was not delivered, the company used the truck’s GPS and found it at a service station in Memphis, Tennessee. Gone was the truck’s refrigerated trailer. The truck’s tires had been replaced with cheaper ones. Police officers found Bowen, sitting near the truck and eating a luncheon meat sandwich.

Bowen finally admitted that he was the driver of the truck. He then led them to the trailer hidden in a storage facility nearby. About a third of the shipment was missing. Bowen told officers he had stopped at the station three days earlier and “inadvertently” traded the trailer and the luncheon meat to two men for crack cocaine.

B.C.

Mayan Climate Change

Finding signs of climate change and adaptation in the ancient Maya lowlands

A new study pinpoints the devastating effects of climate change on ancient Maya civilization, despite attempts to adapt to it. Researchers found that markers of historic droughts in Central America […]

Daily earthquakes linked to the oil and gas industry

Oklahoma scientists say daily earthquakes are linked to the oil and gas industry

Magnetic Activity

The Sun Rumbles With Bright Magnetic Activity

This beautiful portrait of our nearest star was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), picking out the powerful and elegant loops of magnetized plasma reaching high into the sun's corona.

Pets and Diseases

Pets Can Transmit Infections to People

Discouraging pets from licking your face is just one of many guidelines that researchers hope will help prevent infections spreading from pets to people.

Dogs took owner's car for a joyride outside animal hospital

Harry d'Entrement and his friend went for a coffee in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Friday morning. While they were driving past the Parade Street Animal Hospital a car started to pull out of the parking lot. Mr d'Entrement said something didn't look right.

"At a glance, I thought it was a couple of old ladies driving a little car," he said. As the car got closer, he couldn't believe his eyes. "I was kind of speechless. I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing," he said. It turned out, the drivers were dogs. One was in the driver's seat and the other was in the passenger's seat, making what looked like a getaway from the animal hospital.
"My friend said, 'Man, what's that? A dog driving?'" said d'Entrement. The owner of the car had apparently left his Pontiac Vibe in neutral and it coasted out of the driveway and onto the street. "The car was just kind of rolling, not too fast, coming right in the road," d'Entrement said.
The two men got out of the car and watched while the two dogs looked back at them from inside the car. They snapped a photo before the owner of the dogs ran out of the animal hospital. The men said they were in hysterics as the dog owner apologized. "It's the funniest thing I'd seen in years," d'Entrement said. No one was hurt.

Man given a fright when chased by big lizard

Bradley Arington, 24, from Orange Park, Florida, had never heard of heard of an Argentine tegu lizard before. Last weekend he was taking the rubbish at his home when he heard some sort of hissing behind him. "I heard this very loud hissing sound and I boogied back inside," said Arington. "And it kept coming at me so I ran."

Arington was then chased back into his garage by a four-foot black and white lizard with a long tail. Arington lives in a suburban neighborhood, not the woods, but he was being chased by a Tegu. While it was hiding in his garage, Arington called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commission. FWC contacted Rod Smith of House of Reptiles who captured the lizard.
"I do not know where it came from," said Arington, "but I don't want to see anymore of them." For the past year, the Argentine tegu has become a concern among conservationists in Florida. The lizard is not indigenous to the state and has quickly made the list of troublesome invasive species. "They are a problem in South Florida," said Mark Beshel, senior herpetology keeper at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.

YouTube link.

"Most tegus that are found up here are probably escaped pets. Tegus are not aggressive, they don't hunt anything as large as us," he said. But they do eat small, mammals, eggs, and fruit. Rod Smith now has the tegu in quarantine. He said he will monitor the lizard for thirty to sixty days days for parasites or other disease, then the plan is to put him on the market.

It's All About The Wolves

Wolves Are Kinder, More Tolerant Than Dogs

The finding has animal experts puzzling over what led to domestication of man's best friend.

Only Three Wolves Remain on Michigan's Isle Royale

Since 2009 the wolves have been rapidly declining in numbers, dropping from 24 to just 3 in six years. 

Busy Beaver

Beaver Knocks Down Tree, Thousands Lose Power

A Maine beaver was just doing what beavers do -- but its busy work happened to knock down a major transmission line. 

Animal Pictures