The Daily Drift

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Today in History

1099		At the Battle of Ascalon 1,000 Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, route an Egyptian relief column heading for Jerusalem, which had already fallen to the Crusaders.
1687		At the Battle of Mohacs, Hungary, Charles of Lorraine defeats the Turks.
1762		The British capture Cuba from Spain after a two month siege.
1791		Black slaves on the island of Santo Domingo rise up against their white masters.
1812		British commander the Duke of Wellington occupies Madrid, Spain, forcing out Joseph Bonaparte.
1863		Confederate raider William Quantrill leads a massacre of 150 men and boys in Lawrence, Kansas.
1864		After a week of heavy raiding, the Confederate cruiser Tallahassee claims six Union ships captured.
1896		Gold is discovered near Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. After word reaches the United States in June of 1897, thousands of Americans head to the Klondike to seek their fortunes.
1898		The Spanish American War officially ends after three months and 22 days of hostilities.
1908		Henry Ford’s first Model T rolls off the assembly line.
1922		The home of Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C. is dedicated as a memorial.
1935		President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Social Security Bill.
1941		French Marshal Henri Philippe Petain announces full French collaboration with Nazi Germany.
1961		The erection of the Berlin Wall begins, preventing access between East and West Germany.
1969		American installations at Quan-Loi, Vietnam, come under Viet Cong attack.
1972		As U.S. troops leave Vietnam, B-52’s make their largest strike of the war.
1977		Steven Biko, leader of the black consciousness movement in South Africa, is arrested.
1977		Space shuttle Enterprise makes its first free flight and landing.
1978		Tel al-Zaatar massacre at Palestinian refuge camp during Lebanese Civil War.
1979		Massive book burnings by press censors begin in Iran.
1981		Computer giant IBM introduces its first personal computer.
1985		Highest in-flight death toll as 520 die when  Japan Airlines Flight 123  crashes into Mount Takamagahara.
1992		The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is concluded between the United States, Canada and Mexico, creating the world’s wealthiest trade bloc.
2000		Russian Navy submarine K-141 Kursk explodes and sinks with all hands during military exercises in the Barents Sea.
2005		An LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) sniper mortally wounds Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, at the minister’s home.
2012		Summer Olympics come to a close in London.

Apartheid Israel Building ‘Jews Only’ Apartment Complex

Remember when Israel was supposed to be a bastion of democracy and sanity in the horrible wasteland of Islam dominated Middle East? That is, after all,...

Apartheid Israel

Lowe’s Manager Fired For Honoring Racist Customer’s Request For White Delivery Driver

Well, at least the manager was fired.
That’s something, I guess.
Read more 

New Jersey mother of bisexual teens responds to ‘I’m gay’ graffiti vandals in a colorful and awesome way

New Jersey mother of bisexual teens responds to ‘I’m gay’ graffiti vandals in a colorful and awesome way

“Our kids are our everything, and to see them hurt is worse than being hurt ourselves,” said Erin who used the block design of the door to create a rainbow color palette.

Embalming Recipes

Ancient Egyptian Mummies Embalmed With Unusual Recipes

Royal architect Kha and his wife Merit underwent different, but not necessarily worse, mummification than higher officials.

Anti-Choice Agitators Trying To Pretend Women In Texas No Longer Have Right To Choose

A big misinformation gap is confusing patients in one of the country's most expansive states.

Cheating Hormones

Could Busted Test Cheaters Blame It All on Hormones?

Cheating on a test at school is often looked at as a moral issue, but a recent study suggests the bad behavior could be linked to hormones.

A 'Nigerian Prince'

The Long, Strange History of the 'Nigerian Prince' Scam

If you have an email address, there is a good chance that at some point you received a message from a member of the Nigerian royal family. But it's a con, and you may be surprised to learn how far back its roots go. 

Garden gnome and toy gun used in robbery

Police are appealing for assistance following the report of a motorist being robbed in Sydney, Australia, early on Saturday morning. At about 2.30am a 33-year-old man was sitting alone in his car parked in Smithfield.

The man told police he heard footsteps approaching and then the sound of windows smashing. He turned to see four males next to his car and one of the men was smashing the car windows with a garden gnome.

One of the men then punched the driver several times in the face before he produced what was believed was a black-colored gun. The driver was punched again by the man before cash was taken from the driver’s wallet. The four men then ran from the scene. The driver returned to his house and contacted police who attended a short time later.
Officers from Fairfield Local Area Command established a crime scene at the location and secured the victim’s car. A garden gnome and a toy black pistol were found nearby and secured for forensic examination. Fairfield detectives are conducting investigations into the robbery and are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the robbery to contact police.
There's a news video here.

Tarzan Arrested

Shirtless man claiming to be Tarzan arrested after swinging from trees at California zoo

Woman caught at airport with $38,500 hidden inside her body

A fashion designer was arrested at an airport in Colombia with at least $38,500 hidden in latex-covered capsules inside her body.

The unnamed 39-year-old arrived at the capital’s El Dorado airport on a flight from Mexico on Wednesday with 46 of the capsules in her stomach and 14 in her vagina. She had also hidden some cash inside sanitary pads in her suitcase.
Scanners picked up the capsules and she was taken to a hospital, where she remains because she has been unable to expel the final six capsules, General Gustavo Moreno, head of the customs police, said.
Colombia supplies around 90% of the cocaine consumed in the US and drug mules often swallow small capsules of cocaine. However, it is much rarer to find people using the tactic to smuggle cash in excess of the $10,000 legal limit. Moreno said instances have increased recently because the strength of the US dollar encourages drug criminals to repatriate profits.
There's a short video here.

Man faces jail after fraudulently selling dirty socks as marijuana

A couple looking to buy a pound of marijuana gave up $2,800 for a backpack stuffed with dirty socks. The police will apparently end up with the money while a man from Ypsilanti, Michigan, loses his laundry and freedom. The July 8 fraudulent marijuana sale in Raisin Township was described on Wednesday in Lenawee County Circuit Court when Michael Rafael Suarez pleaded guilty to false pretenses between $1,000-$20,000. Suarez faces up to a 7½ year prison term with a habitual offender count added to his fraud conviction. He admitted having two prior felony convictions.

A Ypsilanti couple who admitted accompanying Suarez on the early morning trip to Lee Villa mobile home park in Raisin Township also pleaded guilty to reduced charges. They were released on personal recognizance bonds pending their sentencing hearings next month. The three were stopped by a Raisin Township police officer as they sped away from the mobile home park and ran a stop sign at about 1:30am. During the traffic stop, a man pulled up in a car and told the officer his girlfriend was just robbed by the people in the vehicle. Suarez said the whole thing started with a telephone call from a friend who told him to bring a pound of marijuana.
The friend had some people waiting to buy. “I didn’t bring any weed,” Suarez said. “I brought a bag of dirty socks.” Public defender John Glaser told the court that is the fraud Suarez is admitting in the plea bargain. “He brought socks instead of marijuana. That’s the false pretenses,” Glaser said. A purse containing $2,800 cash taken from the would-be marijuana buyers was found in the car with Suarez, Joshua Wayne Cope, 37, and Rebecca Sue Sharp, 34, also of Ypsilanti. Cope and Sharp, who are married, both pleaded guilty to attempted possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.
Suarez said he tricked the couple into driving him to the mobile home park. “I actually lied to them about what we were going there for,” he told Judge Anna Marie Anzalone. During her plea hearing, Sharp said she believed Suarez had a bag of marijuana in their car when they drove to Raisin Township. Her attorney asked for a personal recognizance bond so Sharp can return to her job as a manager at a McDonald’s restaurant in Ann Arbor and to care for her four children, left in the care of Cope’s parents. The $2,800 impounded as evidence will now be subject to a civil drug seizure claim, said Raisin Township Police Chief Kevin Grayer.

Welsh mountain downgraded to hill after experts say it is 23mm too short

A mountain has been officially downgraded to a hill after missing out on the title by 23 millimeters. Surveyors ruled that Moelwyn Mawr in the Snowdonia range is no longer a mountain after it failed to measure up to the guidelines set out for summits.

A survey team comprised of John Barnard, Graham Jackson and Myrddyn Phillips followed the criteria set out in the definitive guide The Mountains of England & Wales and used the latest GPS technology to measure the mountain. However, under the guidelines, a peak needs to be 2,000ft high and have a 15m height difference between the summit and the land that connects it to the next higher hill.
Moelwyn Mawr was 23 millimeters short of the 15m height difference needed to be officially called a mountain. Mr Barnard said: "The science worked on this one and we have been quite successful. We haven't had one as close as this. But we now have four sets of data - the most data we've had on any hill. The locals are not going to be pleased with us. This wasn't my idea!" He said the testing process was tricky thanks to the Welsh weather.
Mr Jackson said: "When up high in cold and windy weather, doing high staff measurements you have to wait to catch your moment to get a decent reading, those are the difficulties involved. As soon as you step up from sheltered areas you get gusts of 30 to 40 miles per hour. We needed three matching results with three different sets of modern equipment to be definitive, as measuring this marginal nuttall." The downgrading of Moelwyn Mawr means that Wales now only has 189 official mountains, instead of the previous 190.

Earth News

Balanced Rocks Hint at San Andreas Secret

A mysterious group of delicately balanced rocks that should not exist has led to a revelation about the San Andreas Fault. 

Lightning Actually Reshapes Rocks at the Atomic Level

Bolts from the sky can have an effect that was previously thought only to be created by a meteorite striking Earth.

Vet saved woman's life after stress of having family dog put down gave her a cardiac arrest

A woman has been reunited with the vet who saved her life when the stress of having the family dog put down gave her a cardiac arrest. Lizzie Bevis "turned blue" after Matthew Fry fatally injected Daisy the dog at the vets in Lincolnshire. The vet performed CPR on her while veterinary nurse Sarah Mainwaring dialed 999.
She later discovered she had long QT syndrome, a heart condition where stress can bring on cardiac arrest. "I'm very lucky," the 30-year-old said. "It's amazing that a vet saved my life. It's usually doctors and paramedics. Obviously they helped of course, without the paramedics I wouldn't be here either." Vets are trained in CPR because they have to perform it on animals, but Mr Fry had never given CPR to a human.

Ms Bevis was also given oxygen, using a mask usually used on cats and dogs. She had taken Daisy the Jack Russell to the vets on 13 July with her mother, who owned the dog, and her sister. She was unable to remember what happened to her. "They said that I sat on the floor because I felt faint," said Ms Bevis. "And the next thing my sister told me is that I was starting to breathe funny and making rasping sounds and I started turning blue."

YouTube link.

Mr Fry, who works at Quarrington Veterinary Surgery in Sleaford, said it was 'the most stressful Monday morning I've ever had'. "It's nice to have you back, quite literally to have you back," he told Ms Bevan when they were reunited. "Given the stress, I had considered banning you from the surgery. I thought we can't do that again but we'll make an exception, particularly as you bought us a very nice cake."

Dog hailed a hero after calling 911 and saving blind owner from house fire

A service dog is being hailed a hero after she jumped into action and saved her blind owner’s life by alerting authorities to a house fire in Philadelphia on Thursday morning.

Iconic Arizona Wild Horses Under Extermination Threat By U.S. Forest Service

First they outlaw pictures of nature, now they send nature to the slaughterhouse?
Folks, we better get organizing on the double.

Read full story 

Animal News

5 Fun Frogs: Photos

With the discovery of some new, highly venomous frogs in Brazil, we take a look at a few more amazing hoppers.

'Downright Scary-Looking' Anglerfish Found in Deep Sea

Nearly 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface is a fish so creepy looking that researchers were taken aback by its “scary” appearance and unusual way of hunting.

Animal Pictures