The Daily Drift

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Today in History

November 8

392		Theodosius of Rome passes legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire.
1226		Louis IX succeeds Louis VIII as king of France.
1576		The 17 provinces of the Netherlands form a federation to maintain peace.
1620		The King of Bohemia is defeated at the Battle of Prague.
1685		Fredrick William of Brandenburg issues the Edict of Potsdam, offering Huguenots refuge.
1793		The Louvre opens in Paris. But wasn’t it already a Palace and it merely opens to the people?
1861		Charles Wilkes seizes Confederate commissioners John Slidell and James M. Mason from the British ship Trent.
1864		President Abraham Lincoln is re-elected in the first wartime election in the United States.
1887		Doc Holliday, who fought on the side of the Earp brothers during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 6 years earlier, dies of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
1889		Montana becomes the 41st state of the Union.
1900		Theodore Dresier’s first novel Sister Carrie is published by Doubleday, but is recalled from stores shortly due to public sentiment.
1904		President Theodore Roosevelt is elected president of the United States. He had been vice president until the shooting death of President William McKinley.
1910		The Democrats prevail in congressional elections for the first time since 1894.
1923		Adolf Hitler attempts a coup in Munich, the "Beer Hall Putsch," and proclaims himself chancellor and Ludendorff dictator. .
1932		Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected 32nd president of the United States.
1938		Crystla Bird Fauset of Pennsylvania, becomes the first African-American woman to be elected to a state legislature.
1942		The United States and Great Britain invade Axis-occupied North Africa.
1960		John F. Kennedy is elected 35th president, defeating Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the closest election, by popular vote, since 1880.
1965		Vietnam War, Operation Hump: US 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Bien Hoa Province. Nearby, in the Gang Toi Hills, a company of the Royal Australian Regiment also engaged Viet Cong forces.
1966		Republican Edward Brooke of Massachusetts becomes the first African American elected to the Senate in 85 years.
1977		Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovers what is believed to be the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina in northern Greece.
1983		Wilson B. Goode is elected as the first black mayor of the city of Philadelphia.
1987		A dozen people are killed and over 60 wounded when the IRA detonates a bomb during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, honoring those who had died in wars involving British forces.
2000		Dispute begins over US presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore; Supreme Court ruling on Dec. 12 results in a 271-266 electoral victory for Bush.
2004		More than 10,000 US troops and a few Iraqi army units besiege an insurgent stronghold at Fallujah.
2013		Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded, slams into the Philippines, with sustained winds of 195 mpg (315 kph) and gusts up to 235 mph (380 kph); over 5,000 are killed (date is Nov 7 in US).

Two Men With Jetpacks Fly Alongside an Airbus A380

YouTube Link

In this footage presented by Emirates and Jetman Dubai, ex-fighter pilot Yves Rossy and parachuter Vince Reffet execute a carefully planned and choreographed "dance" around a 238-foot long Emirates A380 — the largest passenger airliner in existence — as it flies over Dubai. Preparation for the stunt took three months. See the details of the project in the video below.

YouTube Link

The Chinese Village of Long-Haired Rapunzels

Huanglou, a village in the Guangxi Province of China, has a unique cultural practice: the women cut their hair only once during their entire lives. Otherwise, they let it grow up to 7 feet long. They are masters of the care of very long hair, using their own particular shampoo developed over the centuries.
The Red Yao women, as they are known due to their red clothing, maintain very precise practices for how their hair is arranged and displayed. It’s cut only once, when a girl turns 18, and eventually becomes a gift to her husband when she marries. The way that she wears her hair indicates her family status. Messy Nessy Chic explains:

For example, if the hair is wrapped like a circular tray on top of her head, it means she is married but has no children. If she is married with children, she’ll wear a bun at the front of her wrapped style– perhaps to represent a baby bump? I’d like to think it’s a play on “bun in the oven”!
If she wears a scarf around her head, with her hair remaining hidden, it means she is looking for a husband, who traditionally, would be the only man with the privilege to see her hair in all its beauty. Nowadays, once she’s married at least, the people of Huangluo seem to be a little more comfortable with sharing that beauty with the world.

Indeed they are. Huangluo has become a popular tourist destination as people travel to see the famous Red Yao women and their luxurious hair. You can see more photos of them at Messy Nessy Chic.

The Awful, Damaging Side Effect Of Working At One Place WAY Too Long

by Suzy Rosenstein

Sometimes a good, stable career isn't what you really need.

I was happy to have landed my first professional job in 1989. I remember it well — fresh out of grad school and ready to move to the big city of Toronto to start my grown-up life, I packed up my 1980 Honda Prelude with all of my worldly possessions and my ornery orange tabby cat, Hundleby. The job I was going to was a one year contract at a health unit as a tobacco use prevention health educator, and this was the first of four contract positions I would come to have. I never thought about a contract job being less than ideal until one of my employees at the third contract position started talking about how thankful she was that she finally landed a full time, permanent job.
Interesting. I guess because I was only in my mid-20s, I didn’t fully appreciate why a permanent position was so desirable. Two jobs later I finally found my full-time (and permanent) position. It was then that I finally understood why permanent jobs were a big deal — I started to feel a different sense of relief and security. I got engaged and my kids came quickly — three babies in three-and-a-half years. I was thankful to have a permanent job with benefits for three maternity leaves, that was for sure. My babies soon after grew into adolescents and the braces soon followed. Again, thankful to have the wonderful benefits package that accompanied my permanent position.
But something started to shift about 15 years on the job.
Maybe it was a combination of dealing with some large and difficult life events — a huge house flood to the tune of $40,000 damage (thanks Hurricane Katrina), my best friend’s sister's death leaving her to care for her young niece, moving to another house. I started to feel different and I couldn't figure out why, so I saw my doctor about it and she said that it wasn't depression, but rather, stress. I needed some time off and with her support, was granted a year off unpaid leave.
The leave from work was just what the doctor ordered. I needed to regroup and slow down — to use the time to reduce chaos in my life and get back to basics. I didn’t “do lunch” with my girlfriends or take on any large projects during that year off.
I just reduced my life to pure simplicity.
I started to feel better, but I also started to question how content I was at my job — I didn't want to go back. Several reorganizations at work, several job description changes made my job start to look very different from the one I accepted way back in 1989. In turn, I started to explore my options. I looked at different courses and careers online, spoke to people about courses, and wondered how I could capitalize and leverage my education, degrees and experience. I knew I needed change but was fearful and I was unable to clue into what I really, truly wanted. I was stuck.
Then I got laid off. So much for permanence and security! Suddenly my fear of leaving my "good", long-term job was gone, and I was forced to move on. My (now non-existent) job had been both a blessing and a curse. It provided me with what I needed while held the position, but it made me fearful and insecure about leaving; I lost my sense of self because I had, for so long, defined myself by my job instead of doing something I really wanted to do.
I had forgotten how to dream.
The experience of taking a break then leaving my job entirely was invaluable. Why hadn't I just chosen to leave a long time ago? I had talked myself into thinking I "needed" this job instead of growing within myself.

Keystone XL Is Dead ...

... Will The Tar Sands Industry Die With It?

Keystone XL has been officially rejected by the Obama administration. What does this mean for the tar sands industry?

3 Reasons Why Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Are Getting Bigger And Deadlier Than Ever

Major outbreaks linked to contaminated meat, produce, or other food products have now become terrifyingly commonplace.

Did the CIA's Experiments With Psychedelic Drugs Unwittingly Create the Grateful Dead?

The title is a long question, but the answer is pretty much yes, although I would use the word “inspire” or “lead to” instead of “create.” The connection between the CIA and the Grateful Dead falls squarely on the shoulders of Ken Kesey. That’s author Ken Kesey, who wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and was later the subject of Tom Wolfe’s nonfiction book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Kesey had volunteered to be a subject in the CIA’s drug experiments in 1959, where he learned about LSD. He was impressed enough to organize a series of parties to share LSD with  others, and opening the events, called Acid Tests, to the public. LSD wasn’t outlawed until 1966. Jerry Garcia and the band that eventually became known as The Grateful Dead played at some of those parties in 1965, where full participation was expected.

For Garcia, the ability of the Acid Tests to stop the world for a while and then remind you that it was still spinning was one of its key lessons. The Acid Tests, he says in Signpost, were “our first exposure to formlessness. Formlessness and chaos lead to new forms. And new order. Closer to, probably, what the real order is. When you break down the old orders and the old forms and leave them broken and shattered, you suddenly find yourself a new space with new form and new order which are more like the way it is. More like the flow.”
To put Garcia’s formulation in terms a contemporary Silicon Valley venture capitalist might understand, LSD was a disruptive technology, except that instead of upending mere transactions such as hailing a cab or renting a hotel room, the things being disrupted were the basic conventions of society, which is why mainstream America was, and remains, so terrified of the drug.

Looking back from 50 years later, it’s hard to determine the date the band began using the name The Grateful Dead, but a chronology of their participation in the Acid Tests tries to nail it down at Collectors Weekly. And aren’t you glad it turned out the way it did: the group that used the name The Warlocks at the time also considered the names Vanilla Plumbago and Mythical Ethical Icicle Tricycle.

10 Ways Acids Affect Your Body

10 Ways Acids Affect Your Body

We wouldn't exist without acids, but, like a well-maintained swimming pool, our bodies have an optimal pH balance.

Trevor Noah Rips ‘Crazy’ U.S. Health Care System After Trip To ER

He perfectly highlights how absurd the system really is.
Read more 

Mutilation and Genitals

Gun shop owner mutilated women and stored their genitals in his freezer

Report Shows ISIL Used Mustard Gas Against Syrian Rebels

American officials have long believed that ISIL possess chemical weapons.

An unhinged Minnesota moron loses it ...

Minnesota woman smashes Muslim in face with beer mug for speaking Swahili at Applebee’s

Domestic Terrorist Group, Oath Keepers, Announce Plot To Infiltrate Fire Departments

Domestic Terrorist Group, Oath Keepers, Announce Plot To Infiltrate Fire Departments

Like all good terrorists know, operating out in the open is a terrible idea. It’s hard to recruit more cannon fodder if you have a well-earned reputation...

Science proves kids with religious upbringings are less generous — and so are adults

Surprise! Science proves kids with religious upbringings are less generous — and so are adults

Instilling a strong sense of religious faith in your children probably won’t turn them into saints.

Mormon cult reacts to marriage equality ruling by punishing children of same-sex couples

Mormon cult reacts to marriage equality ruling by punishing children of same-sex couples

The cult released a major policy announcement that addresses the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

Family hires attorney after 14-year-old girl given detention for hugging classmate

The family of a 14-year-old girl who was given detention for hugging a classmate have hired an attorney. Matt Morgan of Morgan & Morgan, said the law firm had been hired to help raise awareness about the issue. The incident happened on Monday at Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo, Florida. "I'm definitely hoping that we're bringing light to this subject," said Kathy Fishbough, whose daughter, Ella, was punished. "I really didn't expect this."

Why police could seize a college student's life savings without charging him for a crime

Had enough yet? 

Charles Clarke entered the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport last February eager to go back to his mother after a months-long visit with relatives. But instead of a quick, easy trip home to Orlando, Clarke lost his life savings — $11,000 in cash — to law enforcement officials who never even proved he committed a crime.
Clarke, a 24-year-old college student, said losing that $11,000 was "devastating." He's been forced to live with his mom, trumping his plans to move closer to school. He's fallen back on other family for financial support. And he had to take out loans for school instead of paying for it up front — for which he's still in debt. "It's been a struggle for me," Clarke, who's now fighting in court to get his money back, said.
But law enforcement officials may have been working within the confines of the law when they took Clarke's money. Under federal and state laws that allow what's called "civil forfeiture," law enforcement officers can seize and keep someone's property without proving the person was guilty of a crime. They just need probable cause to believe the assets are being used as part of criminal activity, typically drug trafficking. Police can then absorb the value of this property — be it cash, cars, guns, or something else — as profit: either through state programs, or under a federal program known as Equitable Sharing that lets local and state police get up to 80 percent of the value of what they seize as money for their departments.
So police can not only seize people's property without proving involvement in a crime, but they have a financial incentive to do so.
People can get their property back through court challenges, but these cases can often be very expensive and take months or years.
It's these laws that law enforcement officials cited in taking Clarke's cash, and in seizing thousands of other people's property across the country. But Clarke's story shows just how flimsy the initial basis for taking someone's money can be — starting with, simply, how his checked luggage smelled.
Police say Clarke's bag smelled like marijuana
The government is mainly basing its forfeiture of Clarke's $11,000 on one claim: His checked bag and money smelled like marijuana, so, according to law enforcement, the money was very likely obtained or meant for illegal drug activity.
A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Kentucky said it couldn't directly comment on a case with pending litigation, but he pointed to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent's affidavit outlining why police felt justified in seizing Clarke's cash.
The story of what happened at the airport was pieced together with Clarke's account, the affidavit, and other court documents provided by the Institute for Justice, a national nonprofit that runs EndForfeiture.com and is helping Clarke get his money back from law enforcement.

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Not so good Samaritan helped catch armed robber then pocketed £780 of the stolen money

A not so good Samaritan who helped to catch a Post Office robber went on to steal almost £800 of the loot. Cameron McLeod acted like a hero when he and another person grabbed Shaun Dennis, who was armed with a knife and had robbed Owton Manor West Post Office in Hartlepool. But McLeod, 29, was later arrested himself after it emerged he had stuffed £780 of the stolen cash into his own pockets after it fell on the floor during the confusion. The botched robbery by Dennis, 34, who was later jailed for six years, happened at about 2.30pm on August 7 at the combined Post Office and Nisa store, in Owton Manor Lane. Dennis threatened a shop worker at the counter with a kitchen knife and filled a bag with money. But quick-thinking staff rolled the shutters down trapping the robber inside. He proceeded to smash through a glass pane in the door and crawl outside where he was stopped in his tracks by members of the public including McLeod.
Prosecutor Paula Sanderson told Hartlepool Magistrates’ Court: “Thanks to the defendant’s behavior the person involved in this very serious offense was detained but after the heat died down in relation to the robbery the other person assisting in the detention of the robber then approached police and said the person took some of the money as well. Some of the money dropped by the robber the defendant gathered up and kept for himself.” Police went to McLeod’s home and found the money stashed inside someone else’s shoe. Ms Sanderson added: “Finger prints belonging to the defendant were found on the money.” McLeod told police he had been at a cash point when he saw the robbery taking place and helped catch him but went on to admit he had done “a stupid thing” in the spur of the moment and pocket some of the cash.”
He blamed it on going through hard financial times and claimed others had done the same thing. John Relton, mitigating, quoted from a statement from the store which said: “I can’t understand why someone can be so silly in taking money from a robber that he has helped detain. This has just tarnished the excellent work he has done, it’s such a shame.” Mr Relton said: “I don’t think I can better those sentiments. He is doing his best to put this error of judgement behind him. It goes without saying he is certainly remorseful for his actions.” McLeod, of Jedburgh Road, Hartlepool, admitted theft by finding. Magistrates gave him a four-week curfew between 7pm and 7am and ordered him to pay £85 prosecution costs, a £60 victim surcharge and £180 court charge.

Police hunt thieves who stole four tons of cheese

Police in France are trying to sniff out about four tonnes of Comté cheese stolen by thieves in the east of the country. On Monday the owner of the Napier dairy in the town of Goux-les-Usiers, eastern France reported a break-in the previous night. Thieves had helped themselves to approximately one hundred wheels of Comté cheese, a specialty of the region of Franche-Comté.

“We heard nothing,” André, who lives next door to the dairy, said. “The people who did this, they must know the area,” The thieves cut through barbed wire before forcing a back door of the building using that basic burglary accessory - the crowbar. In all they made off with around 100 wheels of the cheese, which can sell up to €40 a kilo for a particularly matured Comté.
Estimates say the loot is worth anything from €40,000 upwards. Comté is officially a protected cheese in France after being awarded the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, which means it can only be produced in that region. The Montbéliarde et Simmental breeds of cow are the only type that produce the milk that is used to make the cheese, that can spend up to 36 months maturing in a cellar.
Police are focusing their inquiries on recent thefts of large vehicles which may have been used to store the cheese. “With such a quantity, you need a means of transport and a distribution network,” said Daniel Prier, Head of the Chamber of Agriculture for the Doubs region. He added that a text message alert system was being put in place so that potential witnesses could supply information.

Workers Discover 19th-Century Burial Grounds Under Greenwich Village, NYC

City workers digging to improve water mains beneath Greenwich Village in Manhattan recently made a historical find when they uncovered two burial sites that date back to the 19th century. The first discovery, a vault containing ten human skeletons, led to the finding of a second tomb, which contained 20 intact coffins.

The site, in an eastern section of Washington Square Park, will be excavated with the help of anthropologists and archaeologists. Those professionals, in cooperation with the New York City Landmarks and Preservation Commission, will work to ascertain the historical significance of the burial place. 

Read more on this story at The New York Post.

Birchbark Message

Birchbark Message Tells Story of Medieval Traveler

The 14th-century story reveals a high level of literacy among Moscow's Medieval population.

Mars Air

The Sun Will Blast Mars' Entire Atmosphere Into Space

A solar storm that missed Earth but smashed into Mars last March dramatically confirmed long-held suspicions that the sun is blasting away the Martian atmosphere, and doing so at a rate that will leave the planet airless in another couple of billion years, if not sooner.

Tiny Fossil Pushes Back Complex Skeleton Timeline

Tiny Fossil Pushes Back Complex Skeleton Timeline

Complex animal life may have begun some 9 million years earlier than previously thought.

Police Arrest Woman Exposing Horrific Dog Abuse on Social Media, Refuse to Arrest Abuser

A woman who wanted to save an abused dog was arrested for posting photos of the emaciated animal to Facebook, while the abuser remains free.

Read more 

Brazilian prison inmates used mouse to courier drugs between cells

Prison guards in one of Brazil's notoriously overcrowded and chaotic jails, Barra da Grota prison, were surprised last week when they spotted a mouse being used by inmates to courier drugs.

The animal was seen scurrying along the corridor with tiny bags of drugs tied to its tail, running between the cells. Gean Carlos Gomes, director of the central Brazil prison, 1770km inland from Recife, said the mouse was being used as a "bridge" between cells.
"They attached a hook to the mouse's tail and then used it to carry the drugs and other goods from one cell to another," he said. "When the animal arrived at its destination, the prisoner took the mouse and removed the hook from its tail."

YouTube link. Alternative video link.

Guards raided the cells and found 29 small packets of marijuana and 23 containing cocaine. They are now scrolling through CCTV footage to try and discover which prisoner was the mouse's master. The mouse was taken outside and released nearby.

Abseiling police dog wasn't scared at all

The Vancouver Police Department posted a photo on Facebook showing police service dog Niko in a harness while clinging to his human partner's leg while the pair abseiled down the side of a building.

Const. Sandra Glendinning, spokeswoman for Vancouver police, said the image was snapped while the five-year-old German Shepherd was attempting his first abseil from a five-story building, his highest elevation yet, with his handler.“When they came over the ledge and they started going down, he was fine for the first little bit,” she said. “Then Const. Dan Ames, who is the handler in the picture, said he could feel the dog wrapping his front legs around his leg about two thirds of the way up, and the dog just kind of hung on.”
Although Niko appears frightened while he clings to his partner, Glendinning said the dog actually took to abseiling very quickly. By wrapping his legs around his handler, she said the dog was able to stabilize himself. Once they both reached the ground, she said the pair played a game of tug of war. It wasn’t long before the pooch, who has served as a police dog for three years, wanted to abseil down the building again, she said. “It’s all positive reinforcement,” she said.

“When they do something that we want them to do, we praise them and play tug of war or fetch … so that they know that they’re doing something that they’re supposed to.” She said it’s important for police service dogs to learn how to abseil, as they need to be prepared for any situation that could arise, including abseiling out of a helicopter. “We originally start training the dog just wearing the harness,” she said. “Then it’s a really slow introduction to the abseil. It starts a few feet off the ground and they gradually work up higher from there.”

Baby Bites Venomous Snake, Killing It

Jaine Ferreira Figueira of Mostardas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil allowed her 17-month old son, Lorenzo, in her garden. She found him with a dead snake in his mouth. She rushed him to the hospital to receive treatment for a bite from the venomous jararaca snake, a species of pit viper.
But he hadn't been bitten. On the contrary, Lorenzo had likely gone on the offensive, grabbed the snake, then bitten it in the head. The International Business Times reports:

The child was taken to a local hospital, along with the snake in a jar so that he could receive the proper anti-venom, where the doctor informed the parents that it was probably Lorenzo who had killed the snake. "He bit the young jararaca close to its head, which immobilized it and prevented it from biting him," the doctor added. "The boy was very shaken up — I think it was a self-defense instinct that kicked in, or he thought it was a toy."

World's Best Leaders Aren't Human

World's Best Leaders Aren't Human

People, with their constant debating and conflicts over leadership, do not give rise to the most powerful, effective rulers in the animal kingdom.

Animal Pictures