The Daily Drift

The 'Fuck It' attitude aptly displayed ...!

 

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Today in History

1498		Christopher Columbus leaves on his third voyage of exploration.
1546		The Peace of Ardes ends the war between France and England.
1654		Louis XIV is crowned king of France.
1712		The Pennsylvania Assembly bans the importation of slaves.
1767		Daniel Boone sights present-day Kentucky.
1775		The United Colonies change their name to the United States.
1863		Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1900		The Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China.
1903		Professor Pierre Curie reveals the discovery of Polonium.
1914		The first vessel passes through the Panama Canal.
1932		Over 7,000 war veterans march on Washington, D.C., demanding their bonus pay for service in World War I.
1942		The Japanese invade Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.
1968		In Operation Swift Saber, U.S. Marines sweep an area 10 miles northwest of Danang in South Vietnam.
1981		Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroy Iraq’s only nuclear reactor.
1994		The Organization of African Unity formally admits South Africa as its fifty-third member.

Researchers find mysterious vessels in your brain

Researchers find mysterious vessels in your brain — and it’s going to change everything

Researchers have discovered tiny vessels connecting the brain to the immune system – which could profoundly alter the treatment of autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

Mermaid tail enthusiasts unhappy about swimming pool ban

Krista Visinski is determined to be a mermaid, even if she's not allowed in the water right now. The mother from Edmonton, Canada, has been preparing for more than a year to become a professional sea nymph and teach exercise classes, host children's parties and appear at public events. But her plan was recently put on hold when the city announced a ban on mermaid tails, a trendy swim accessory, in all its pools. The 24-year-old delivered a petition to the city this week with nearly 600 names, some of them parents of children who dream of swimming like Ariel from the Disney movie The Little Mermaid. Others, calling themselves mermaid advocates, say anyone should be able to swim with a tail.

"Other mermaids in Canada are afraid that a ripple effect is going to happen, more bans will happen," Visinski says. Mermaid tails have been on the market for a few years but recently started gaining popularity in Canada. Several companies make different versions, but most tails consist of a colorful fabric around the legs that stretches from the waist and over a neoprene monofin that holds both feet. They can cost $100 or more. A City of Edmonton spokesman says there is concern the tails promote holding one's breath under water for long periods of time and can lead to blackouts and drowning. Christopher Webster says the Edmonton has no plans to lift its ban, but may allow for an exception so Visinski can continue her tail training.
Perry Fulop, a manager with the City of Surrey in British Columbia, says officials there have also banned tails during public swim times, because they appear to be hazardous for inexperienced swimmers. But if there is demand, pools may hold specific mermaid swim times, he says. "I think we like the idea of children using mermaid tails. We're just trying to figure out the best method of implementing it." Other communities require swimmers with tails to complete a swim test before they can flop around in their pools Eric Browning with Fin Fun Mermaid, a US company that produces tails, says in a letter that his company has never heard of swimmers blacking out in its four years of operating. "I guess if a person holds their breath long enough, they can black out even if they are not in a pool," he says.

Visinski says she understands why there might be a safety concern with children. But if they're properly supervised and taught how to swim with bound legs, there shouldn't be a problem. "If you're playing hockey, you have skates strapped to your feet. If you're going sledding, you're sitting on a piece of plastic and going down the hill at crazy speeds ... There's inherent risk with everything associated with kids." Some defenders have compared mermaid tails to snowboards, which were banned from some ski hills when they first hit the slopes. Marielle Chartier Henault, founder of AquaMermaid Academy in Montreal, says she thinks tails will eventually gain acceptance. Her company started teaching mermaid classes in February and plans to expand to Toronto and Ottawa this summer. The tails combine fun with exercise and, for many, make fantasies come true, she says. "It makes people happy. You can't be mad or sad when you see a mermaid."

Student spent 375 hours knitting 4,000ft-long art work with her arms

A student knitted almost 4,000 ft (1.2km) of waste material using her arms as needles for for her final year degree show at Nottingham Trent University's School of Art & Design.

Sandra Charles spent 375 hours, the equivalent of more than two weeks day and night, knitting 350 strands out of thousands of recycled label transfers Ms Charles, 22, from Yeovil in Somerset, got the idea while at a recycling center.
BA (Hons) Fine Art student Ms Charles said: "I wanted to develop my sculpture work and my knitting. I looked at different techniques and saw arm knitting. It's very difficult to describe but basically uses your arms as needles. It took three hours to make each strand at first.
"I got repetitive strain injury at one point and couldn't do any more for a couple of days." Her piece, named Material Disposition, is now on public display alongside a host of other student design works during the 2015 NTU Degree Show at the university's City site.

Traffic disrupted by human traffic cones

A collection of human traffic cones temporarily caused a stir amongst motorists in Newquay, Cornwall, at around around 5pm on Friday.

The group, said to be on a stag-do, briefly brought traffic to a halt. Although their actions were generally well received, one cone either appeared to be hit by a car or had jumped on its bonnet.
Leanne King said: "To be fair they were hilarious and quite polite to me when I tried to drive off." However, the antics of the group didn't go down as well with other members of the public.
Mike Lyon said: "They prevented a lorry from passing through by acting out their cone costumes." Chris Woodfinden added: "I saw these guys blocking the road including lying in the middle of it while the other 15 or so swayed across. I don't think the guys sat in congested traffic thought it was much fun."

Driver captured strange encounter with creepy hooded man on dark lonely road

A lone driver cruising along a deserted road at night had a terrifying encounter after slowing to help a man. The driver, who gave his name only as Peter, was driving near Cessnock, New South Wales, Australia, in the early hours of Sunday morning when he came upon a hooded man standing near a parked pick-up.

As the driver slowed to see if the man needed help, the hooded man bizarrely stood still for a few seconds staring at the ground, before suddenly lunging and yelling, but the motorist stepped on the gas and sped away.His dashcam recorded the encounter and he was forced to try and call his wife, who was traveling about a minute behind with a girlfriend. He couldn't reach her, and the women were forced to encounter the same horror show.
"I almost stopped before I could go around this guy, and as we went past he just lunged at our door," the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. "We still don't know what he was trying to do, whether he was trying to rob us, was he trying to take our car or was he trying to hurt us. It has really shaken us up." The couple said their reports to police had received a cold reception and were concerned what the man had tried to do to other people - and whether he would try it again.

LiveLeak link. Original Facebook video.

"For starters, we need to find out what the bloke's intentions were, whether he might even have mental health issues," the woman said. "The bottom line is we need to know what was going on." Central Hunter duty officer Inspector Greg Lindsell said police had seen the footage and identified a man who was located living in bushland at nearby Elrington. He was arrested on Sunday afternoon after police had allegedly seized drugs in the bush. Inspector Lindsell said the video was horrifying but he did not believe it was an attempted carjacking and no charges would be laid regarding the traffic incident.

Judge rules that driver was too drunk to know he’d hit cyclist

A volunteer firefighter was convicted in Ontario, Canada, on Monday of impaired driving causing bodily harm in an October 2012 collision that left a cyclist alone in critical condition at the side of the road. But Trevor Clarke, 37, whose blood-alcohol level at the time was almost four times the legal limit, was spared a second criminal conviction of leaving the scene of an accident because he was too drunk too know he had hit anyone, Justice David Paciocco ruled. “I must, however, find Mr. Clarke not guilty of the failing to stop offense,” the judge said.

“I am left in a reasonable doubt about whether Mr. Clarke knew or was willfully blind to having collided with a person, precisely because he was so drunk. He cannot, therefore, be convicted of this offense, but he can be punished for getting himself to that point of intoxication and thereby harming (the cyclist).” Jennifer Leonard, a 45-year-old nurse, suffered a traumatic brain injury and has no memory of the afternoon crash near Carp, Ottawa. Clarke, at the wheel of a big Ford pickup truck, side-swiped the cyclist from behind. She was hit so hard by the passenger-side mirror that it snapped off. Leonard testified at trial that she still struggles with physical and emotional problems.
Clarke was also found not guilty of driving with a blood-alcohol level over .08 per cent causing bodily harm because the police violated his Charter rights when he wasn’t given full information about his drunk-driving arrest, and again when a constable failed to tell his lawyer that his client was a suspect in a hit-and-run with serious injuries. Clarke’s Charter rights were also breached because police didn’t advise him of his right to a lawyer when detained, and because they questioned him before he had a reasonable opportunity to consult a lawyer. The judge said the serious breaches by police “reflect either unacceptable ignorance of basic Charter rights, or a reckless disregard for those rights.”
The judge also ruled statements that Clarke made to police as inadmissible because of the breaches, and “most significantly” excluded Clarke’s breath samples. “Their admission would bring the administration of justice into disrepute, given the seriousness of the breaches and the fact that he provided those samples after legal advice based on misinformation,” Paciocco ruled. The judge said he convicted Clarke on impaired driving causing bodily harm based on civilian evidence and “the few police observations” that showed he was “significantly impaired” when the crash happened. The judge also noted that it was remarkable that two police officers who initially interviewed Clarke didn’t bother to record any of his answers. Neither officer could recall any of his answers at trial. A sentencing hearing for Clarke, who is free on bail, is scheduled for September.

Motorist fined for traveling at the speed limit Motorist fined for traveling at the speed limit

A man in Queensland, Australia, was sent a fine for driving at 100km/h in a 100km/h zone.
Zac Murray, 24, received the $151 fine after he was snapped by a speed camera on the Sunshine Motorway at Mooloolaba on May 14.
The fine stated that he had exceeded the limit by less than 13km/h but below it listed his "Alleged speed" as 100km/h in the 100km/h "Speed zone". "I am deeply saddened by my actions," Mr Murray said.
"Clearly I did not think of the children or consider the consequences of my actions as I drove at an alleged speed of 100km in a 100km zone. I hope you can all forgive me. But most importantly I hope I can forgive myself for the monster I have become." Queensland Police withdrew the fine at around lunchtime on Tuesday.

Spanish police seize cocaine-stuffed pineapples

Spanish police seized 200 kilos (440 pounds) of cocaine found inside hollowed-out pineapples that arrived by ship from Central America, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

The drug-stuffed fruit was found among 10 shipping containers filled with pineapples that arrived in the southern port of Algeciras, one of Europe's largest ports, the ministry said. Among the thousands of fresh pineapples inside the containers, they found fruit that had been hollowed out and stuffed with drugs and then covered with a yellow wax that simulated the color of pineapple pulp.
The pineapples arrived from an undisclosed country in Central America and were en route to two companies, one based in Madrid and the other in Sant Quirze del Valles near Barcelona. Both companies were said to be run by Spanish nationals of Colombian origin. The police detained three people as part of their investigation and have not ruled out more arrests.

YouTube link.

Spain's close ties to its former colonies in Latin America have made it a key entry point for cocaine smuggled across the Atlantic to Europe. Smugglers have used increasingly ingenious methods to get the drug past Spanish customs. In recent years police have found cocaine inside breast implants, a wig, a plaster cast encasing a man's broken leg as well as inside a 42-piece crockery set, consisting of bowls, plates and saucers.

Nacho cheese and trail of snacks led police to burglary suspect

A cheese covered shirt and a trail of snacks implicated an Iowa City man in a Friday night burglary.

Iowa City police were called to the Creekside Market at around 11:20pm for a report of a burglary. Responding officers discovered 20-year-old Francisco J. Munoz about 100 yards from the convenience store carrying two cases of beer.
Police said Munoz’ shirt was covered in nacho cheese and there was a trail of snack foods and lottery tickets between him and the store. Munoz had bloodshot, watery eyes and showed other signs of intoxication, police said.
A post-arrest breath test showed Munoz had a blood alcohol content of .270 percent. Munoz used a brick to smash the entry door of the convenience store, causing $1,000 in damage. He was arrested and faces charges of third-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief and public intoxication.

Man accused of punching dog walker in face because he wasn't allowed to pet his animals

A 22-year-old Florida man was arrested late on Saturday on suspicion of punching another man over the petting of dogs. Shae Olea was arrested on battery charges.

According to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, a man and a woman were walking on Ocean Shore Boulevard in Ormond Beach when Olea tried to pet their dogs.
The man said he didn't want one of his dogs to bite Olea, so he told Olea not to pet them. The man then stepped between his dogs and Olea, who punched the man in the face, deputies said. Olea then rode off on a bike but was found a short time later by a deputy.
Olea claimed that he "did not batterize anybody" before saying, "It's a good thing I got money", according to the Sheriff's Office. Olea , from Ormond Beach, said he had consumed three beers but said he wasn't drunk. He was arrested and taken to the Volusia County Jail.

KFC sues Chinese companies over rumors its chickens have eight legs

KFC chickens are "genetically modified and have six wings and eight legs". The fast food giant say three companies in China have been posting these rumors on social media.

KFC are not happy about this and has filed lawsuits against all of them for their posts on the mobile phone app WeChat. KFC is demanding 1.5 million Yuan (£159,000, $242,000) and an apology from each. The Shanghai Xuhui District People's Court has accepted the case.
With more than 4,600 restaurants in China, KFC is the country's biggest restaurant operator. KFC's China CEO Qu Cuirong said in a statement that it was hard for companies to protect their brands against rumors because of the difficulties in collecting evidence.
"But the stepped-up efforts by the government in recent years to purify the online environment, as well as some judicial interpretations, have offered us confidence and weapons," she said. The companies being sued are Shanxi Weilukuang Technology Company Ltd., Taiyuan Zero Point Technology Company and Yingchenanzhi Success and Culture Communication Ltd.

Court rules that poo smell in the country is legal

The highest administrative court in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, ruled on Monday that bad smells are part-and-parcel of agriculture. The ruling was made after neighbors complained about a farmer’s plans to extend his chicken hatches.

The poultry’s poo, they argued would pollute their air. The judges had discussed whether there should be an upper limit on just how bad the countryside can smell. At first an administrative court in Düsseldorf came down on the side of the plaintiffs. But the senior court was having none of it.
They argued that the countryside is the countryside and people there are already used to the smell of dung, or had better get used to it fast. The decision was a so-called Grundsatzurteil, a ruling which establishes a judicial principle. The judges argued that the plaintiffs were themselves farmers or at least had been and in this respect had done their own share of muck shoveling in the past.
They said that in places where bad smells are a fact of life, stronger and longer lasting smells are something which inhabitants should be able to cope with. In this regard they distinguished between farming areas, where the inhabitants have built a certain tolerance for bad odors, as opposed to villages and larger settlements.

Woman with two ponies and a dog rescued from mountain top

A woman has been rescued after getting stuck up a mountain trying to find a phone signal with two ponies and a dog. The hiker was making a 210-mile charity trek between Buckie and Edinburgh when she became lost in Blair Atholl on Sunday.

In an attempt to find a phone signal and call for help, she led the animals up the 2500ft mountain in Glen Tilt. The walker then contacted the police, who asked Braemar and Tayside mountain rescue teams to attend.
A spokesman for Braemar MRT said: “It's a unique situation to get to the top of a 770-metre hill and find a walker, two ponies and a large dog up there all needing recovered off the hill. They went up a hill to get phone reception.
“A cold night with snow on the tops down to 500 meters.” The hiker was undertaking the month-long trip to raise awareness of grass sickness, a disease which affects the nervous systems of ponies and hoses. The illness causes gut paralysis and is frequently fatal.

Rare white-faced fawn rejected by his mother

Born about a week and a half ago at Deer Tracks Junction farm in Cedar Springs, Michigan, a fawn named Dragon was unique from the start. His birth mother, "Bunny" is a special type of whitetail deer known as the Piebald, which carries a genetic defect causing it to have large areas of white in its coat.

The defect reportedly occurs in less than 1 percent of the whitetail deer population. Dragon was rejected by his mother after birth, likely by natural instinct because he looks different than other fawns. His white coloring would cause him to stand out rather than blend in when trying to hide in nature, Hilary Powell says.
Dragon spent his first few few nights inside Powell's home being bottle-fed before graduating to his own small pen in her yard. Powell still handles his feedings. Later this summer, as he grows and becomes stable, he'll join the other deer in a large fenced-in pasture area. This could happen as early as July, Powell said.

YouTube link.

Dragon was a masculine name chosen by Powell's son because so many of the other animals have softer-sounding names. The fawn has a white face, legs and underside, blue eyes and a pink nose. He was walking right after birth, Powell said, and will grow significantly just in his first year. Deer Tracks Junction opened in 2012. It's a working farm that offers educational opportunities for children and families.

Family held hostage by swarm of vultures

A family have been dealing with an infestation of vultures at their rural home. Rick Mize said he and his wife, step-daughter, and their dog enjoy living in quiet Buncombe, Southern Illinois. But for the past month, Mize said he and his family have been wildly interrupted by dozens of vultures.

Snake descended into couple's kitchen before eating an egg

Robert Hildreth and Laura Neff of North Carolina saw a long black snake slithering from their spice cabinet to their egg basket on Sunday evening.

Neff said they heard a bang from the kitchen at around 6pm. They saw a cinnamon jar on the floor and a rat snake about 4 feet long descending toward the eggs.
They let the snake finish the egg, then caught it between two brooms and moved it unharmed to the outdoors, Neff said.

YouTube link.

Hildreth and Neff, who live between uptown Charlotte and Mountain Island Lake, later found a hole in their laundry room where they believe their visitor entered and covered it with “a VERY heavy concrete block.”

Ducklings rescued from sewer using a recording of their quacking mother

Two ducklings who became stuck in a sewer were rescued when quick-thinking workers coaxed them back into daylight by using an iPad recording of their mother's quack. Mark Hyde said he raised the alarm after a duck came to the door of their holiday home last week in Dorset quacking for help. He said: “My wife and I were staying in Burton Bradstock for a week’s holiday and we were made aware of the impending tragedy by the mother duck quacking loudly at our cottage door.
“We went out to investigate and saw the mother with eight ducklings which were only a few days old. The mother wouldn’t leave the area. We heard a squeaking noise coming from a nearby drain cover and it became apparent a duckling was trapped in the storm drain.” Mr Hyde said they couldn’t move the drain cover so he contacted Wessex Water, hoping someone could use a key to remove it. Within an hour, Wessex Water sewerage technicians Brendan Sutcliffe and Keith Carter were on the scene.
When they looked inside the manhole, they found the two ducklings had already crept away from the manhole and down the drain. But they cleverly lured the pair back towards the exit using their high-tech equipment to record the mother's quacking, lowering the tablet into the drain so the youngsters could hear it properly. As they ventured near, they were then caught using a plastic kitchen colander and a badminton racket.
Mr Hyde said: “The mother duck and the other ducklings were relaxing in the rear garden when this was happening, but when the two siblings were reunited with them the excitement was incredible and was actually very touching. The ducklings were scooped into a cardboard box and taken down to the nearby stream with the mother in tow, before they all swam away,” he said. “It was a very happy ending and a great story of a community coming together to reunite a lovely little family.”

Animal Pictures