The Daily Drift

Welcome to the Friday Edition of  Carolina Naturally.

 Way, way too many morons ...!

 

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Tesla ... !

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Today in History

4004 BC		According to 17th century divine James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, the world was created on this day, a Sunday, at 9 a.m.
1641		Rebellion in Ireland. Catholics, under Phelim O’Neil, rise against the Protestants and massacred men, women and children to the number of 40,000 (some say 100,000).
1694		American colonial forces led by Sir William Phips, fail in their attempt to seize Quebec.
1707		The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
1783		Virginia emancipates slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.
1861		President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.
1918		President Wilson feels satisfied that the Germans are accepting his armistice terms and agrees to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans have agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.
1929		The first transcontinental air service begins from New York to Los Angeles.
1942		The Western Task Force, destined for North Africa, departs from Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1952		The Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded to Ukranian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery of an effective treatment of tuberculosis.
1954		In Paris, an agreement is signed providing for West German sovereignty and permitting West Germany to rearm and enter NATO and the Western European Union.
1973		A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Syria.
1983		A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem terrorist, crashes into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The bomb kills 237 Marines and injures 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurs at French military headquarters, where 58 die and 15 are injured.
1989		The Hungarian Republic replaces the communist Hungarian People’s Republic.
1998		Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
2002		Chechen terrorists take 700 theater-goers hostage at the House of Culture theater in Moscow.
2004		An earthquake in Japan kills 35, injures 2,200, and leaves 85,000 homeless or displaced.
2011		Libiyan National Transition Council declares the Libyan civil war is over.
2012		The world’s oldest teletext service, BBC’s Ceefax, ceases operation.

Centerfold

Relax and Color

Coloring Books Help Adults Relax Too

Coloring is not just for kindergarteners anymore. The practice has many benefits for adults. Here's what's behind the boom in adult color.

Near and Far

Things That Look the Same Close Up and Far Away

One of these things is a lot like the others.

Aging Hearts

Male and female hearts don’t grow old the same way

A federally funded analysis of MRI scans of the aging hearts of nearly 3,000 adults shows significant differences in the way male and female hearts change over time. Results of the research, led by investigators at Johns Hopkins, do not explain exactly what causes the...

Will Colorado Become the First State to Implement Single-Payer Health Care?

by Michael Corcoran

The woeful state of politics in Washington is one of the major reasons why single-payer activists have targeted reforms in the states.

Colorado citizens are about to put single-payer health care up to a vote on a 2016 statewide ballot referendum. If voters approve, Colorado's constitution will be amended to create a statewide, publicly financed, universal health system for the first time in US history.

Read more...

Escort Details Sex Parties Thrown For Louisville Basketball Recruits

Escort Details Sex Parties Thrown For Louisville Basketball Recruits

Science Says Lesbian Mommies Are Better Than Good 'Christian' Heterosexual Parents

Science Says Lesbian Mommies Are Better Than Good 'Christian' Heterosexual Parents

HAHAHA, TAKE THAT, WINGNUTS. It is some new Science for us to throw at you and shove in your face and rub in your hair and whatever else we decide to do with Science....

Pregnant and behind bars

Pregnant and behind bars: how the US prison system abuses mothers-to-be

Texas illegally cuts Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid reimbursements

Texas illegally cuts Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid reimbursements

Louisiana has already been ordered to resume reimbursements pending the completion of a court case.

LA prosecutors won't charge Saudi sheik with multiple sexual assaults because “insufficient evidence”

Prosecutors for the county of Los Angeles say they will not file charges against a Saudi prince recently arrested for sexual assault at a gated mansion on the edge of Beverly Hills.
A civil lawsuit filed in L.A. County Superior Court on Sept. 25 says he attacked multiple women inside the home for several days.
The prosecutors say insufficient evidence. More like, sufficiently a Saudi sheik.
Not even a screaming, half-dressed, bloodied and battered houseworker literally climbing an 8-foot wall of his gated compound to escape would suffice. Because that actually happened.
Insufficient evidence.
The multiple female workers who told authorities they had been sexually assaulted by the sheik must have been faking it or must have asked for it, and besides, what were these women wearing, and by the way, what was their immigration status?

From Joseph Serna's report for the Los Angeles Times today:

Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud, 29, was arrested last month after a female worker accused him of trying to force her to perform a sex act on him inside a Beverly Glen residence he was renting, police said. Police alleged there were multiple victims, and within days of Al-Saud’s arrest three women sued him in civil court.
Although prosecutors said there was not enough evidence for felony charges, the case was referred to the L.A. city attorney’s office, which could charge him with a misdemeanor. Officials in that office said they would have to review the case before making any decisions.
Al-Saud has said he was innocent, his attorney Alan Jackson said.
“The allegations against him are false,” Jackson said. “The decision by the D.A.’s office not to file charges shows that the accuser’s stories cannot be substantiated. The sheik is very happy to put it behind him and move on with his life.”

Al-Saud been in Southern California since the arrest, free on $300,000 bail. A court appearance scheduled for Monday didn't happen, because he wasn’t charged, officials told the Times.

Saudi prince avoids felony charges in sex assault case near Beverly Hills

Fleeing Segway board thief sent flying by have-a-go hero

The dramatic moment a have-a-go-hero stepped in to trip up a man sprinting down a street carrying a Segway board that had apparently been stolen seconds earlier was captured on video.

The man, who appears to be with a young child, was walking up the street in south London, when he spotted the man fleeing around a corner clutching the device.

He immediately stretched out a foot to trip him up and then pushed him to the ground. After tumbling and shouting the would-be thief dropped the Segway and fled whilst another man, who appears to be the original owner, picked it up.

YouTube link.

The footage was captured by motorcyclist László Csőke on his ride through Grange Road, Bermondsey. A fortnight ago police released a statement confirming Segway boards, the hands free version of the scooters, were illegal to ride under 180-year-old legislation.

Recovering alcoholic won stein holding contest

A man from Taranaki, New Zealand, who won a beer stein holding competition is used to holding alcohol at arm's length as he's a recovering alcoholic. Adam Hope hasn't drunk a beer in 18 years and didn't even realize he was headed for the competition before his win on Saturday night. He said a friend picked him up on and took him to Decanta Tapas Bar in New Plymouth where the competition was held.

"I thought 'well okay'," he said, and entered. He said holding the beer at the right height for seven minutes was far more difficult than ignoring any temptation to take a drink. "It was getting hard physically. It was quite a challenge," he said. Because he didn't know about the competition, Hope didn't have the chance to do any training for it, but said he'd had enough before he became sober.
"I think I did all my training for it two decades ago," he said. "Lots of training." He said the only rules for the competition were that entrant's arms had to be kept straight at the elbow and the beer had to be kept above shoulder height. He said he started out fine, but began to feel the strain towards the five minute mark. However his competitive nature saw him through to the win. "I hate losing," he said.

Hope won tickets to Mike's Oktoberfest, but said he would be giving them away to a family member of a friend. "When I heard what the prize was I thought that could be good to go to," he said. "But when I was waiting for the competition to start, I thought it could be a bit threatening. I would have got a bit brassed off at all the drunks." Instead of celebrating with a drink, Hope said he went home and watched a cop show. "It was really exciting," he said.

Pizza shop raided by police for delivering booze hidden in boxes

Police temporarily shut down a pizzeria in Edmonton, Canada, after officers discovered the shop was delivering more than just pop and pizza.

Officers allege store employees hid cans of beer and bottles of hard liquor inside cardboard pizza boxes and paper bags, and delivered the booze after hours. In a raid of the property, police say they confiscated 240 beer cans and 100 liquor bottles, amounting to thousands of dollars' worth of alcohol.
"We did a quick approximation, it's about $1,800 to $1,900 worth of booze," Edmonton Police Services Sgt. Curtis Hoople said. But sold illegally, Hoople said that amount of alcohol could fetch much more. "We estimated about $4,000 of street value for this booze," he said.
"So they're more than doubling profits on illegal sales of alcohol." Police are not naming the business involved in the case, but say the store was shut down for a day and four employees are facing fines. It's now up to the courts to decide whether to press for additional penalties, which could include revoking the store's business license.
There's a short news video here.

Australian man in India harassed and forced to apologize for tattoo of Hindu Goddess on shin

An Australian couple were allegedly harassed in Bangalore on Saturday over a tattoo of Hindu Goddess,Yellamma, and then forced by the police to apologize for "hurting religious sentiment". On Facebook, Matthew Keith, 21, has posted the letter of apology he claims he was forced to write before the police let him and his girlfriend go.

Mr Keith added on Facebook: "Forced letter of apology before I could leave the police station ... traumatizing situation where it is apparently acceptable to be harassed, threatened and mobbed ... I respect India and Hinduism completely. That's why I spent 35 hours getting a massive Ganesha put on my back and 4 hours getting the Goddess (Yellamma) on the only bit of space I had left on my body .. my girlfriend ... does not deserve sexual abuse."
The young tourists were at a restaurant when a group came to their table and started harassing them about the tattoo on Mr Keith's leg and allegedly threatened to "skin him". A policeman came to the spot but instead of helping the couple, allegedly told them off for the tattoo. The tourists were then taken to the police station and allegedly detained for hours. Mr Keith alleges that for his freedom, he was forced to write an apology letter to his harassers. A local politician denied the allegations and said that it was the tourists who had been rude.

YouTube link.

"We told him, please don't wear shorts, the tattoo can be seen. Navratri poojas are on and if he walked on the streets like this, he would have faced lots of difficulties. So we just asked him to wear pants and go around," said RV Ramesh Yadav. A senior police officer, Sandeep Patil, said if it is found that the police forced the tourist to apologize, "the Bangalore city police will not tolerate such things and take very strict action." The Australian High Commission, in a statement, expressed concern and said the consulate general is speaking to the authorities: "The Australian Government encourages Australians traveling abroad to research and respect local customs and laws," a spokesperson added.
There's a news video here.

It’s 2015 but US 'christians' are still blaming witches for mass shootings, tax fraud, and headaches

It’s 2015 but US 'christians' are still blaming witches for mass shootings, tax fraud, and headaches

With Halloween just around the corner — now more associated with adults dressing as “sexy whatevers” instead of as a children’s dress-up day — some people are still going old school, warning about witches plying their trade among us.

The Maya 'Life Force' Ceremony

Bloody Arrowhead Reveals Maya 'Life Force' Ceremony

An ancient arrowhead with human blood on it points to a bloodletting ceremony in which a person's life force fed the gods.

Antibiotic-Resistant Mummy

Antibiotic-Resistant Genes Found in Mummy

Genes associated with antibiotic resistance have been found in a mummy’s colon and feces, long before antibiotics were introduced.

Fermi Paradox Solution

Earth Bloomed Early: A Fermi Paradox Solution?

According to observations by Hubble and Kepler, the universe has only just begun to produce habitable worlds -- what does this mean for the evolution of intelligent life?

Thousands in China witness a mirage of a floating city in the sky

No, this isn’t the plot of Bioshock Infinite come to life. IFLScience brings us word that thousands of people in China this week reported seeing a large “floating city” in the sky that actually turned out to be a Fata Morgana, which is a rare type of mirage.

As you can see in this news video, this particular mirage is absolutely massive and really does look like a giant city that’s floating in the clouds.

But how is this possible? This page from San Diego State University offers a nice introduction to mirages and explains how giant mirages such as this one are formed.

“[Mirages] are real phenomena of atmospheric optics, caused by strong ray-bending in layers with steep thermal gradients,” the page explains. “Because mirages are real physical phenomena, they can be photographed.”

Essentially these mirages occur whenever the sun heats up a layer of the atmosphere even as the layer below it remains at a cooler temperature. This causes light travelling through the atmosphere to get refracted and creates the illusion of objects in the sky like the giant city we see in the video.

Video Link

For a much more detailed explanation of how these kinds of mirages work, we recommend checking out San Diego State University’s full page on them here.

New Blue Marble

A New Blue Marble Every Day, Courtesy of NASA

NASA has a killer view of the Earth against the black void of space and now it's sharing that view in real time.

Wormhole Wonders

Wormhole Wonders: Hunting Down Spacetime Shortcuts

Science fiction literature is full of stories in which tunnels in space-time — known as wormholes — are used for time travel. How much fact lies within the fiction? The answer is, more than you might think.

Retro Photos

First Pet Dogs

First Dogs as Pets May Have Come from Nepal, Mongolia

Dogs may have become man's best friend in Central Asia, a new genetic study suggests.

Beluga Whale Wows Navy Team With His Impression Of Human Chatter

I'm not sure if Noc the beluga whale has been watching too much human TV, or if it's a simple case of humans thinking everything sounds human, but Noc really has the whole chattering human routine down pat!

Noc was tamed by the United States Navy in the 1970s so he could help locate and retrieve sunken torpedos and mines, and he has not taken to working with humans like a fish out of water because he loves his human pals.

He likes his human friends so much that Noc even likes to play tricks on them, making divers think they've heard radio chatter telling them to get out of the water, with playful Noc laughing all the while.

If you'd like to read more about an amazing beluga named Noc check out this Smithsonian article from 2014, it's a whale of a tale and it's true!

Exasperated residents vexed by on the loose cockatoo with dinosaur-like screech

A cockatoo with the screech of a dinosaur is vexing residents in Brookline, Massachusetts.

The white bird, named Dino because of how he announces his presence, once bit a man's fingernail and gnaws on the woodwork of the home of Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge and senior lecturer at Harvard Law School. "I mean, it's a really a horrible sound," she said. "But we could have lived with that. It's really only the destruction that was the issue to us."

Gertner says animal control officials were called and no one can trap the bird. She left food in a cage and a string to close the door. Dino refused the bait and squirrels ate the food. "Apparently this is a bird that was loved by its family, so that's story No. 1," she said. "Then there's the fact that the bird is not going to survive the winter, and that's that's story No. 2. The fact that it makes a god-awful screech, I could live with that, and then the other issue of it being destructive."

YouTube link.

Her home isn't just any home, but it's the birthplace of Robert F. Kennedy and the home President John F. Kennedy lived in for six years Loud rock 'n' roll music and a blaring house alarm failed to chase Dino away and trapping efforts fell short. Gertner may have to make peace with Dino: She says she's run out of ideas to get rid of him. "We've had a lot of people coming by," she said. "But no one has figured out how to catch it."

Wayward echidna on visit to shopping center rescued by police

Police officers in Victoria, Australia, used a baton to help rescue a frightened echidna which appeared to have crossed a number of roads before arriving at a busy shopping center in Melbourne's north.

Police constable Laine Bramley said she was driving through University Hill Shopping Center in Bundoora on Monday afternoon when she and her partner saw the echidna crouching against a shop wall. Constable Bramley said they called a local wildlife rescue group for advice on how to move the echidna from the area, before "gently jemmying the echidna out of the corner with a baton".
"It had burrowed itself into the wall so tightly it took me several minutes to get it out of the corner," she said. "Luckily I had my slash proof gloves on." The echidna was then escorted to nearby parkland where he was released without charge. Wildlife Victoria's Amy Amato said it was increasingly common for native animals to be displaced from their natural habitat into suburbia by development on Melbourne's urban fringes.
"Any human interaction for a wild animal is going to be really, really scary so we want to make sure we limit that as much as possible and get help to that animal as soon as possible," she said. "Echidnas are amazing creatures and that little one certainly found itself in a silly spot, so being able to get it out and back to its natural habitat as quickly as possible is fantastic. We really commend the police on being able to do that."

Territorial elephants charged at motorcyclist as he prayed for safety

A motorcyclist in central Thailand got the shock of his life when he disturbed a group of territorial elephants.

The man quickly disembarked the bike as he rode up the road in Khao Yai National Park.

He then clambered nervously behind the bike for protection as he put his hand up to one of the elephants. The man then prayed as the elephant backed away.

YouTube link.

More of the herd including another adult and two baby elephants then joined in to see what was going on. The man seems to have had a very lucky escape.

Animal News