The Daily Drift

Hello Carolina Naturally readers to today's edition.
You may not have noticed, because we work hard not to miss our publication schedule, but the Holiday Season has already impacted our schedule.
All the parties and dinners have us booked solid for the season - with still more late invitations arriving daily. The intensity will only increase over the next two weeks.
On top of all the parties thrown by others we are in the midst of organizing our annual New Year's Eve Bash (granted it is an annual event so a lot of the major details are already in place and ongoing from years past ... it is the little details that are forever causing consternation - as always).
Wonder if this is the year we set the party record for most PhDs, MDs, DDs in the same room - 
Hopefully we will be able to maintain our schedule throughout the holidays, but it looks like tomorrow's schedule is blown all ready ... we will see how the day plays out.

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Our eighteenth Xmas Tree of the month ...!

 

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Today in History

1118		Afonso the Battler, the King of Aragon captures Saragossa, Spain, causing a major blow to Muslim Spain.
1812		Napoleon Bonaparte arrives in Paris after his disastrous campaign in Russia.
1862		Nathan Bedford Forrest engages and defeats a Federal cavalry force near Lexington in his continued effort to disrupt supply lines.
1862		Union General Ulysses S. Grant announces the organization of his army in the West. Sherman, Hurlbut, McPherson, and McClernand are to be corps commanders.
1865		Slavery is abolished in the United States. The 13th Amendment is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution, ensuring that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
1915		In a single night, about 20,000 Australian and New Zealand troops withdraw from Gallipoli, Turkey, undetected by the Turks defending the peninsula.
1916		The Battle of Verdun ends with the French and Germans each having suffered more than 330,000 killed and wounded in 10 months. It was the longest engagement of World War I.
1925		Soviet leaders Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev break with Joseph Stalin.
1940		Adolf Hitler issues his secret plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union–Operation Barbarossa.
1941		Defended by 610 fighting men, the American-held island of Guam falls to more than 5,000 Japanese invaders in a three-hour battle.
1941		Japan invades Hong Kong.
1942		Adolf Hitler meets with Benito Mussolini and Pierre Laval.
1944		Japanese forces are repelled from northern Burma by British troops.
1951		North Koreans give the United Nations a list of 3,100 POWs.
1956		Japan is admitted to the United Nations.
1960		A rightist government is installed under Prince Boun Oum in Laos as the United States resumes arms shipments.
1965		U.S. Marines attack VC units in the Que Son Valley during Operation Harvest Moon.
1970		An atomic leak in Nevada forces hundreds of citizens to flee the test site.
1972		President Richard M. Nixon declares that the bombing of North Vietnam will continue until an accord can be reached (Operation Linebacker II).
1989		The European Economic Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and economic communication.
2002		California Gov. Gray Davis announces the state faces a record budget deficit; the looming $35 billion shortfall is almost double the amount reported a month earlier during the state’s gubernatorial campaign.
2005		Civil war begins in Chad with an rebel assault on in Adre; the rebels are believed to be backed by Chad’s neighbor, The Sudan.
2008		United Arab Emirates holds it first-ever elections.
2010		In an opening act of Arab Spring, anti-government protests erupt in Tunisia.

Non Sequitur

How to Be Less Outraged

How to Be Less Outraged—4 Strategies to Calm Down About Stuff that Doesn't Matter

Saudi women vote for first time

Saudi women vote for first time, sending 14 women to council seats: 'We need more'

'We've Forgotten How to Laugh'

Interview by Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Christoph Scheuermann

Turkish author Elif Shafak sees her country as a "wobbly democracy," increasingly authoritarian, polarized and depressed. And she is disappointed by European silence.  More... 

Tuvalu Prime Minister on Global Warming A Cry for Help from 'the Edge of the Cliff'

The Pacific atoll of Tuvalu is one of the countries most threatened by global warming. Already, people have begun leaving as sea levels rise. Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga fears that the world still doesn't care about the world's most threatened populations. More...

America’s Great Divide

America’s Great Divide: How the U.S. Transformed Into a 'Dual Economy' and What Can Be Done to Reverse It

Twitter Warns Users Of Government ‘Hacking’ Of Accounts

It is the first such warning that Twitter has sent to users regarding online security breaches by suspected government actors. 

Distracted lady drove her car up utility pole

A woman traveling along a street in Youngstown, Ohio, ended up driving her car up a guide wire to a utility pole.

The driver, Amber Johnson, said she turned around for a second to give her 2-year-old child a snack and hit the wire. The car went up the guide wire, resting vertically.

“My first thought was him, so I jumped straight out,” she said. “I just opened the door, jumped straight out, ran to the back, made sure he was okay. He was a bit shaken up, but he was okay overall.”

YouTube link.

Ms Johnson, 30, was able to exit the vehicle and get help. She and her child were not injured. It took two wreckers to get the car down. Ohio Edison was also called to the scene to fix the damaged wires. Ms Johnson was not given a citation by police.

Batshit Crazy NC Town Says No To Solar Panels That Will ‘Suck Up All The Sun’s Energy’

If your faith in humanity is on a downward turn due to the incredible ignorance of the front-runners for the wingnut pretender nomination and you fear for...

Town rejected solar farm plan amid fears that it would 'suck up all the energy from the sun'

A proposal for a solar farm has been rejected by the town council in Woodland, North Carolina, following public concerns. Members of the locality expressed their fear and distrust of solar panels before a vote on whether the land in question should be rezoned to allow Strata Solar Company to build a solar farm off US Highway 258.
One local man, Bobby Mann said that businesses would stop going to Woodland, the community would suffer as a result and the farms would suck up all the energy from the sun. “You’re killing your town,” he said. “All the young people are going to move out.” A retired science teacher, Jane Mann, expressed concerns that plants in the vicinity of the panels would not photosynthesize which would prevent the plants from growing.
She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn’t cause cancer. Woodland is a popular choice for solar farms because it has an electrical substation which the solar power generated by the panels can be hooked up to. Three other solar farms have been approved by the council. One of them has started installing solar panels.
A petition rejecting solar farms coming to the area was handed to the council and it was requested that any future solar farm applications be put to a referendum. Company representatives from Strata then spoke and tried to put the concerns of residents at ease. They told them “there are no toxic materials on site” and “this is a tried and true technology.” The council gave the people what the wanted and voted 3-1 against rezoning the land and later voted for a moratorium on future solar farms.

Religious Kids Are More Selfish and Sadistic

Religious Kids Are More Selfish and Sadistic

Sikh Bronco Fans Denied Entry To Game, Harassed By Bomb Squad ‘Because Of Their Turbans’

No one should be subjected to this kind of treatment.
Read more 

Minnesota man charged with firebombing Muslim-owned restaurant — and police can’t find him

Minnesota man charged with firebombing Muslim-owned restaurant — and police can’t find him

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Minnesota man suspected of breaking glass and firebombing a Somali restaurant in North Dakota several days it was targeted with Nazi graffiti.

Ohio seventh-grader threatened to use dad’s gun to shoot Muslim boy he called ‘son of ISIL’

Ohio seventh-grader threatened to use dad’s gun to shoot Muslim boy he called ‘son of ISIL’

An Ohio seventh-grader is accused of threatening to shoot a Muslim classmate he called a terrorist and a “towel head.”

Mock Mass Shooting By Pro-Gun Nut Agitators Drowned Out By Farts

"A choice between fear and a little bit of good humor"

Women’s Bodies Are More Regulated Than Firearms ...

... And That Needs To Change

Read More

Tennessee woman nearly dies trying coat hanger abortion

Tennessee woman nearly dies trying coat hanger abortion — and then gets jailed for attempted murder

Yocca, who is employed at an Amazon fulfillment center, was indicted on charges of first degree attempted murder by a grand jury last week.

Kentucky 'Christian' Homeless Shelter Just Banned Women And Girls Because ‘The Bible’

A 'christian' homeless shelter kicked women and girls out just before the holidays because the director says the bible told him to.

Read full story 

Ziggy

Naked man attempted to go swimming in hotel pool with stolen chicken

Police in Bavaria, Germany, received a strange call on Tuesday afternoon after a 19-year-old man stole a chicken and plunged naked with it into a hotel swimming pool. A hotel manager in the town of Bodenmais alerted police at around 4.30pm. Someone had just jumped naked into the outdoor swimming pool with a chicken in his arms. "The man wasn't in the pool for long," a spokesperson for Lower Bavaria police said. "The hotel manager saw him as soon as he jumped in." But the outdoor pool was covered, they said. "He broke the cover when he jumped in," the spokesperson said. The 19-year-old was an asylum seeker from Mali, police reported.
After jumping, the naked would-be swimmer clambered out and began to run down the road towards a local glazier, before being stopped by patrol officers. The man violently resisted arrest, police said, but officers were able to overpower him and escort him back to his accommodation. After his arrest, the chicken was found unharmed by the roadside.
Police identified and alerted the owner, who came to pick the bird up and return it to its pen. As well as the chicken, the man was also carrying a whiskey bottle when he jumped into the pool, the police spokesperson said. An investigation is currently under way, with the man facing accusations of theft, criminal damage, trespass and resisting a police officer. The damage to the swimming pool cover could amount to a four-figure sum.

Man in trouble for keeping live anti-tank rocket on roof of his home

A former soldier has been charged with illegally possessing a live anti-tank round at his home in Tacoma, Washington, causing the evacuation of a nearby elementary school and an order for nearby residents to lock down inside their homes.

Seemingly joyful man arrested for growing magic mushrooms

A western Pennsylvania man has been arrested after state troopers responding to a disturbance call say they found psychedelic mushrooms growing in the man's public housing apartment.

Forty-one-year-old David Kalb faces a preliminary hearing on Dec. 15 on a felony charge that he possessed with the intent to manufacture 70 mushroom plants and 10 jars with related ingredients on Monday evening.
Police say Kalb was involved in the disturbance and invited troopers who responded into his apartment, where they saw the mushrooms, and a small amount of marijuana, in plain view.
Kalb lives in Hempfield Towers, a high-rise owned by the Westmoreland County Housing Authority for low-income elderly and disabled residents. It has not been officially confirmed if he was under the influence of any of the illicit substances before he had his mugshot taken.

Pot-growing man turned himself in to police after hearing hovering helicopter on unrelated activity

Jasper Harrison was in a storage unit he allegedly used to grow marijuana when he heard a helicopter hovering overhead in Edgewater, Florida. Worried that police would soon barge in and arrest him, he called 911.

"I'm the guy they're looking for,"he told the dispatcher. But Edgewater police were not in the neighborhood for Harrison early on Wednesday afternoon. They were investigating a man's suspicious but unrelated death on the same street.
The helicopter Harrison heard belonged to a TV station reporting on the death, said Edgewater police Capt. Joe Mahoney. Harrison told police where he was – locked in his rented storage unit, Mahoney said.
Police found marijuana growing inside the storage unit and arrested Harrison. Harrison, 47, faces charges of cultivating cannabis within 1,000 feet of a school and possession of the drug with intent to sell. He was later released on bond from Volusia County Jail.

Hating wingnut police chief accused of pointing gun at woman who passed his Hummer

Hating wingnut police chief accused of pointing gun at woman who passed his Hummer

A former Pennsylvania police chief infamous for his profane video rants — punctuated by gunfire — against Liberals has been arrested on harassment and terrorist threat charges.

Oregon sheriff's corporal arrested for sexually assaulting co-worker and forcing her to stay in relationship

Oregon sheriff's corporal arrested for sexually assaulting co-worker and forcing her to stay in relationship

Missouri police chief resigns after caging family’s lost puppy at a gun range and shooting it

Missouri police chief resigns after caging family’s lost puppy at a gun range and shooting it

Owner Womack wrote on her Facebook page how she attempted to contact the police and was lied to on several occasions about the incident. Eventually, she was told by the police chief that he shot and killed her dog, and that they would be free to identify him if they wanted to go dig him up.

Stingray Gives Birth by C-Section

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tennessee houses several stingrays. A stingray pregnancy usually lasts a year, after which the mama gives birth to live young known as "pups."
The staff at the aquarium routinely performs sonograms on pregnant stingrays. They noticed that one pup was overdue to be born, but wasn't leaving his mother. So they performed a cesarean section surgery to remove him. WBIR reports (auto-start video):

She didn't give birth with the rest of the rays. They estimated that she was 6 to 8 weeks overdue, and that both lives in danger.
With an ultrasound, the staff determined that the baby was alive and well (and amazing video released by the aquarium shows the little sting ray swimming around in utero!)
They decided to perform a c-section to save both the baby and the mother, and the risky procedure was a success! They believe this is the first time that a cownose stingray has been successfully delivered by c-section.

Both mother and baby are alive and well. They're now swimming around the stingray tank without complications.

Zoo chimpanzees confronted wayward raccoon

A wild raccoon probably didn't expect a big chimp challenge when he wandered through the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee. A few days ago, "Downtown" Randall Brown was visiting the zoo with his son, Will White, when they spotted something unexpected in Chimp Ridge.

A raccoon had somehow got inside the chimpanzee enclosure, and had been "treed" by the youngest and most inquisitive member of the group, 7-year-old George. While the other chimps looked on from nearby, George grabbed a stick and was trying to poke the raccoon. Brown started recording the scene, and he and other visitors are amazed at what they are seeing.
"Chimps use tools, so that's unique in the animal kingdom that they do that," said Lisa New, zoo president. "He was extending his reach." But he wasn't touching the small intruder. New believes the chimps were curious but wary. They weren't looking for lunch, either. In the wild, chimps do hunt and kill for food, but these chimps have never eaten meat.

YouTube link.

"I don't think they would kill it. He was acting like he was a little bit afraid of it, which was why he had the stick, and wasn't grabbing with his hands," said Leigh Rickey, the Great Apes keeper.George continued to poke at the raccoon, which eventually decided to make a break for it. George and another chimp took off in hot pursuit, but the raccoon ran up another, even taller tree, that even George and his stick couldn't reach. Eventually, zoo keepers got all of the chimps into their inside enclosure. They opened a back door and the raccoon finally made it's escape.

Animal Pictures