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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Monday, February 29, 2016

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.
So, you think you're a Badass ...! 
 
Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.   
  
Transformers ... !
Today is - There is no special celebration today

You want the unvarnished truth?
Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told
Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Bolivia - Brazil - Canada - Chile - Mexico - Peru - Puerto Rico 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - United States - Venezuela
Europe
Andorra - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Czech Republic 
England - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Italy - Latvia - Netherlands 
Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia - San Marino - Scotland - Serbia 
Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Bangladesh - China - Hong Kong - India - Indonesia - Kazakhstan - Korea 
Malaysia - Mauritius - Qatar - Sri Lanka - Thailand - Vietnam
Africa
Senegal - Tanzania
The Pacific
Australia - New Zealand - Philippines
Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.

Today in History

45 BC
The first Leap Day is recognized by proclamation of Julius Caesar. Under the old Roman calendar, the last day of February was the last day of the year.
1692
Sarah Goode and Tituba are accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, sparking the hysteria that started the Salem Witch Trials.
1784
The Marquis de Sade is transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille.
1856
Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease.
1864
Union Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick splits his forces at the Rapidan River ordering Col. Ulric Dahlgren to lead 500 men his men to Goochland Court House, while the remainder followed Kilpatrick in his raid on Richmond.
1864
Lt. William B. Cushing leads a landing party from the USS Monticello to Smithville, NC, in an attempt to capture Confederate Brig. Gen. Louis Hebert, only to discover that Hebert and his men had already moved on Wilmington.
1868
British Prime Minister Benjamin Disreali forms his first cabinet.
1940
Hattie McDaniel is first African American to win an Academy Award–best supporting actress–for her performance in Gone With The Wind.
1944
US forces catch Japanese troops off-guard and easily take control of the Admiralty Islands in Papua New Guinea.
1944
Dorothy Vredenburgh accepts an appointment by the Democratic National Committee becoming the first woman secretary of a national political party in the U.S.
1952
The first pedestrian “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs are installed at 44th Street and Broadway at Times Square.
1956
President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces he will seek second term.
1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson reveals the U.S. secretly developed the Lockheed A-11 jet fighter.
1968
Jocelyn Burnell, of Cambridge University, discovers first pulsar.
1968
The Beatles win a Grammy Award for their album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.
1972
Henry “Hank” Aaron becomes first baseball player to sign a baseball contract for $200,000 a year.
1988
A Nazi document is discovered that implicates participation of Austrian president and former U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim in WWII deportations.

Romantic Couple Held Elegant Valentine's Day Dinner at Taco Bell

As the movie Demolition Man teaches us, eventually all restaurants will be Taco Bells--even the most luxurious. Cassie and Daniel are just 16 years ahead of schedule.
For their Valentine's Day dinner, they dressed formally and plated their food with china, crystal, custom-printed menus, and fine silverware.
Daniel explained to Obsev how they pulled off this romantic scene in such a non-traditional setting:
“We’ve been together for five years now and we’re always looking for new ways to celebrate being together,” Daniel told Obsev.  “With Valentine’s Day coming up, we did what any couple did and thought up a bunch of ideas that we’d either already done or just didn’t feel right.  She finally threw up her hands and jokingly said, ‘Let’s just go to Taco Bell!’ As soon as she said it, I knew we had to make it happen.”
The Taco Bell night out only came together with the help of the staff, who, Daniel said, were “really accommodating” and even “cleaned off a prime window side table and dimmed the lights a bit to set the mood.”
You can see more photos of their fine dining here.

Man Legally Changes His Name to Double Bacon Cheeseburger

The resident of London was born as Simon Smith, but as Bruce Wayne became Batman, so did Simon Smith become Double Bacon Cheeseburger. That name is more than just a new legal appellation, but an expression of his inner identity, which is presumably greasy and delicious. The Evening Standard reports on him and other recent name changes in the UK:
He told the Sunday People: “A name is the least important part of your personality. It’s given to you by someone else.”
“Bacon Double Cheeseburger was the first name I came up with.”
The 33-year-old is one of a record-breaking 85,000 people who changed their name last year.
Others decided to name themselves over popular footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Man Utd star Wayne Rooney.
One couple called themselves Mr and Mrs Amazing, while a man preferred to be referred to as Bruce Wayne, the secret identity of Batman.
So now it will be necessary for the police to get a searchlight for not only the Bat-Signal, but also the Double Bacon Cheeseburger-Signal.
***
And, no, the picture above is not that of the individual - it is just a exemplar photo of generic bacon double cheeseburger. (This disclaimer is provided for the benefit of stupid people i.e., wingnuts)

The Fastest Talkers in America Don't Live Where You Think They Do


Former Snyder Aide Blames Flint Crisis On Misguided Wingnut Philosophy

Duh!?!

Mount Vernon Says It Owns George Washington's Copy Of Don Quixote, Not Glenn Beck



TSA Agents Force Sikh Man To Remove Turban, Make Him Walk Across The Terminal To Put It Back On

America's War on the Border Has Turned Our Backyard into a Graveyard


Army of Pharma Lobbyists in Washington Have Locked in One of the Biggest Corporate Ripoff Schemes in America


Wingnuts Cut Funds For Veterans And Mental Health And Now We Have A Veteran Suicide Epidemic

Republicans claim to love our military veterans, but their decisions not only contradict that claim, it’s killing the men and women they sent to...

Missouri man threatens Muslim family ...

Leonardo Debello accused of threatening Muslims (Screen capture)Missouri man threatens Muslim family shouting ‘You, your wife and your kids have to die’

Colorado woman convicted of cutting fetus from stranger's womb

Colorado woman convicted of cutting fetus from stranger's womb

97-year-old cancer patient faces eviction from California home of 66 years so ‘greedy’ landlord can cash in

A 97-year-old cancer patient is being forced out of her home so her new landlord can cash in on the northern California real estate boom.

How Many Nobel Prizes Could Newton Win?

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, while Sir Isaac Newton died in 1727. But if the prizes had been around during his lifetime, he would have won it hands down in multiple years.
Einstein is renowned for his imagination and ability to intuitively lay out new conceptual models of the universe. Newton's talents were different. His unparalleled logical and mathematical genius allowed him to formulate observations into laws and to prove ideas through rigorous mathematics. When the mathematical machinery he needed didn't fully exist, he invented it. That's what largely inspired RealClearScience Editor Alex Berezow to name Newton the smartest person who ever lived.
While Einstein's physics are still being proved today, Newton's is so monumental, so important, so fundamental, so proven within its realm of validity, that scientists of every sort take it for granted every day. The laws of gravity and motion that Einstein reenvisioned were edits of the commandments first called down from the ether by Newton's blinding brilliance.
Newton formulated laws of physics, and worked in optics and astronomy, too. He was also named Warden of the Mint, and introduced monetary safeguards that would have won a Nobel Prize in Economics as well. Tom Hartsfield figures he could have won up to eight Nobels for his life’s work, and that doesn’t even count inventing the cat flap. However, those don't take into account who his competition would have been in those particular years, which would be an extensive project for someone so inclined. Read about each of Newton's possible Nobels at Real Clear Science.

Putting Lithium Into 7UP

What fun is it when you have a laboratory full of different things you can combine to see what happens! It’s even better when you have a professor around to encourage such shenanigans, then offer some questions to explore and ideas for possible explanations. That’s what’s happening here as they add a bar of lithium to a beaker of 7UP. Why? Because 7UP originally had lithium salts in its recipe.
We wouldn't bother showing you what happened if it weren't interesting. The University of Nottingham School of Chemistry brings us another Periodic Video with Sir Martyn Poliakoff
See more neat videos from The Periodic Table of Videos.

This simple graph shows how long different drugs remain in your blood

One of the troubling implications of this disparity is in the context of prison drug-testing regimes.

Strangers Stink More Than Friends

Sheesh, did something die in here? No, but we're more likely to think that strangers rather than friends in close proximity smell badly.
Researchers at St. Andrews University asked students to assess sweaty t-shirts, one of which was labeled with St. Andrews University, another which was labeled with a rival school, and one with no label. The participants tended to rate the shirt from their tribal group--that is, their own university--as less stinky. Tom Jacobs explains in the Pacific Standard:
The key result: Participants whose identity as a St. Andrews student was made salient "went to wash their hands more quickly, and used more soap," after smelling a shirt with either their rival's logo or no logo.
They rushed to the hand sanitizing station after smelling the shirt with the rival school's logo, getting there in three and one-half seconds (on average). In contrast, those who smelled a shirt with their own school's logo ambled over; it took about six seconds. It seems they were significantly less bothered by the stink.
These results make sense from an evolutionary perspective in that members of a prehistoric tribe couldn't collaborate very easily if they found one another revolting. "Groups involve not only a gathering of minds, but also of sweaty, smelly, tactile bodies," the researchers note. "It is impossible to work with people if you cannot stand their physical presence."

What Type of Light Bulbs Should You Use To Combat Insects This Summer?


Mike and Teresa Justice are behavioral ecologists who conducted a study concerning the types of light bulbs that attract the most and least amount of insects. During the study, which took place over an entire summer, the pair set up a bug trap with one light bulb inside. Each night they changed the type of bulb and used controls for variances such as moonlight exposure and weather.
When the summer nights were over, the mornings yielded a grand total of 8,887 bugs. Types of light bulbs used in the study were incandescent, CFL, halogen, LED with cool color, LED with warm color and standard bug lights. To read the conclusions of the study, follow this link to Gizmodo.

Animal Pictures


Sunday, February 28, 2016

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.
This is why we went from first to worst ...! 
 
Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.   
  
Pretty ... !
Today is - Floral Design Day

You want the unvarnished truth?
Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told
Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Bolivia - Brazil - Canada - Chile - Colombia - Mexico - Nicaragua - Peru 
Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Austria - Belarus - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Czech Republic 
England - Estonia - France - Germany - Hungary - Italy - Latvia - Netherlands - Poland 
Portugal - Russia - San Marino - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden  Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Cambodia - China - India - Indonesia - Japan - Kazakhstan - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius 
Qatar - Sri Lanka - Thailand - Vietnam
Africa
Morocco
The Pacific
Australia - New Zealand
Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.

Today in History

1066
Westminster Abbey, the most famous cult in England, opens its doors.
1574
On the orders of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, two Englishmen and an Irishman are burnt for heresy.
1610
Thomas West is appointed governor of Virginia.
1704
Indians attack Deerfield, Mass. killing 40 and kidnapping 100.
1847
Colonel Alexander Doniphan and his ragtag Missouri Mounted Volunteers ride to victory at the Battle of Sacramento, during the Mexican War.
1861
The territory of Colorado is established.
1900
After a 119-day siege by the Boers, the surrounded British troops in Ladysmith, South Africa, are relieved.
1863
Four Union gunboats destroy the CSS Nashville near Fort McAllister, Georgia.
1916
Haiti becomes the first U.S. protectorate.
1924
U.S. troops are sent to Honduras to protect American interests during an election conflict.
1936
The Japanese Army restores order in Tokyo and arrests officers involved in a coup.
1945
U.S. tanks break the natural defense line west of the Rhine and cross the Erft River.
1946
The U.S. Army declares that it will use V-2 rocket to test radar as an atomic rocket defense system.
1953
Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia sign a 5-year defense pact in Ankara.
1967
In Mississippi, 19 are indicted in the slayings of three civil rights workers.
1969
A Los Angeles court refuses Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan’s request to be executed.
1971
The male electorate in Lichtenstein refuses to give voting rights to women.
1994
U.S. warplanes shoot down four Serb aircraft over Bosnia in the first NATO use of force in the troubled area.

Theme park advertises for lazy people to work as pandas

Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey has released a job advertisement to recruit pandas. The advert hopes to recruit people who have unique qualities such as a fondness for bamboo and who are color-blind. Job hunters keen on applying for the positions will have to wear a specially designed animatronic panda suit for the theme park's new show, called Pandemonium, set to open later this year.
The metal mammals have faces which can move on their own, but includes a suit which someone can get into and control the limbs. The job description reads: "This spring we are looking for those in need of a fresh adventure, willing to take on the bear necessities of life and help us create complete pandemonium at the resort.
"To be part of this bamboozling opportunity, applicants must be able to sit around and act lazy for the majority of the day, have their every need pandered to, have a keen interest in wildlife and enjoy being admired for several hours a day." A Chessington World of Adventures spokesman said: "The cryptic job opportunity is to search for people to become our pandas … arguably the greatest job in the world."

Kurdish special forces rescue Swedish girl from Islamic State jihadists

Kurdish special forces rescue Swedish girl from Islamic State jihadists

Fake Fox News Girls Question Wingnuts With Hilarious Results

Watching a good old-fashioned troll perpetrated against the most uninformed American voter, the wingnut, is always a hoot. This HULU production of...

Bill Gates Has Sent A Letter To High Schoolers That Could Change The World And Piss Off The Wingnuts

Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates has written a letter directly to America’s high school children that could change the world –...

Chemically storing solar power

Chemically storing solar powerChemically storing solar power
Nature shows us how it is done: Plants can absorb sunlight and store its energy chemically. Imitating this on large industrial scale, however, is difficult. Photovoltaics convert sunlight to electricity, but at high temperatures, the efficiency of solar cells...

Biggest Companies in the World

The world's top 500 companies generate more than $30 trillion dollars and employ 65 million people. Which companies are the biggest?

Financial Stress and Physical Pain

Experiencing financial stress may lead to physical painExperiencing financial stress may lead to physical pain
People who feel that their financial outlook is shaky may actually experience more physical pain than those who feel financially secure, according to new research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings indicate...

Low-Income Renters Lose Their Homes To Rich People Because Their Neighborhood Is Trendy

Low-Income Renters Lose Their Homes To Rich People Because Their Neighborhood Is Trendy
Low-Income Renters Lose Their Homes To Rich People Because Their Neighborhood Is Trendy
Dozens of people are being kicked out of an apartment complex with no protection and no place to go because property in their neighborhood has become trendy and desirable.

Tennessee Wingnuts Got Big Money To Approve 279 Percent Interest Rate Loans

In 2014, Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill which legalized an entirely new type of loan in the state, often referred to as a Flex loan. These loans have...

Wingnut bill would allow group founded by anti-gay slavery defender to accredit Tennessee schools

The Tennessee state Senate will consider a wingnut-sponsored bill that would allow cult schools to be accredited by a 'christian' cabal founded by Douglas Wilson — a lunatic evangelical theologian who has defended the institution of slavery and called for the execution of adulterers .

Texans busted for throwing bottles at a random black man while screaming the N-word

The victim explained to officers that the three men threw bottles, narrowly missing his head, while shouting “Fuck you, nigger!”

12-year-old girl shot through the stomach during Idaho 'militia' meeting

Brandon Curtiss (left) and other members of the III% Idaho group (Facebook)
Her mother said the girl was in stable condition Monday morning, and the shooting remains under investigation. It’s not clear who was handling the weapon.

Cops Kills Himself In Jail

Authorities said 43-year-old Tye Downard hung himself inside his cell on Monday morning. The 20-year veteran officer for the Reynoldsburg Police Department had been arrested on Feb. 18.

Alabama man shot and killed after tracking down stolen cell phone



Alabama man shot and killed after tracking down stolen cell phone

Dispute over the merits of strip clubs in Ohio and Florida led to shooting

A Florida man was shot on Saturday morning after a debate over the merits of strip clubs turned violent.
The shooting happened at Lido Lounge in Cleveland, Ohio, at around 2am. The victim, Antonio Cummings, 24, of Orlando, told police he was at the strip club with friends for a birthday party.
While standing outside the club in the parking lot, Cummings got into an argument with another male about the difference between strip clubs in Ohio and Florida.
Their fight turned physical, and the suspect shot Cummings in the left thigh and took off in an unknown vehicle. Cummings was taken to Lakewood Hospital by his friends, where police later interviewed him. The only information about the suspect is that he went by the name "Mike." The shooting remains under investigation.

Sexual Aggression and the Female Brain

Does sexual aggression alter the female brain?Does sexual aggression alter the female brain?
Rutgers scientists have taken a step toward understanding how sexual aggression alters the female brain. In a recent study in Scientific Reports, lead author Tracey Shors, professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience in the...

G-string cyclist was at risk of chafing

A male cyclist wearing only a helmet, shoes and a leopard print G-string was spotted as he biked along State Highway 6 in Marlborough, New Zealand, at about 4.30pm on Saturday.
Blenheim man Chris Lane was driving home after taking part in the Havelock Muddy Buddy race when he spotted the sparsely clad cyclist making his way down the road. "We saw this guy riding and we didn't think anything of it, but when we got closer we realized he was naked except for a helmet and a G-string.
"My kids are 10 and 13 [years-old] and they thought it was the funniest thing," Mr Lane said. The cyclist appeared to be taking the ride seriously, he added. "He wasn't a really scrawny, serious-looking cyclist but at the same time he was gunning along.
"He must have lathered on the sunblock if he was riding for very long otherwise he would have got toasted." Danijel Duvnjak, who owns a cycle shop in Blenheim said he recommended wearing at least two layers of clothing when cycling to limit gravel rash in the event of an accident. Chafing could be an issue if a cyclist was not wearing shorts and they had an uncomfortable seat.
You can watch Chris Lane's Facebook video here.
Update: There's a video interview with the cyclist, fire risk assessor, Nick Lowe, here.

Woman accused of flashing genitals at mother with children following verbal altercation

A Florida woman was arrested last week after she flashed a mother who was with her two young children, police said. Jesse Rodriguez, 29, from Wilton Manors, was arrested on a lewd and lascivious behavior charge.
According to an arrest report, Rodriguez had a verbal altercation with the other woman on Tuesday and began cursing at her. The victim told police that Rodriguez then lifted up her blue dress.
She said Rodriguez wasn't wearing underwear and flashed her buttocks and vagina to the woman and her two children, who are 8 and 9 years old. According to the victim, Rodriguez was about 6 feet away from her and her children when she began exposing herself.
The report said all three victims provided the same story and said Rodriguez spread her legs and began "shaking around and acting crazy." Detectives said Rodriguez refused to answer any questions or provide a statement.

Hitler had a deformed micro-penis and only one testicle

As many have assumed throughout history, Adolf Hitler was blowing up Europe, perhaps, because he needed to compensate for something.

Transgender pageant winner stripped of title after being deemed not transgender enough

The Scottish winner of a national transgender beauty pageant has had her title stripped from her as she is “not transgender enough”. Jai Dara Latto, from Walkerburn, Peeblesshire, was named Miss Transgender UK in a ceremony in London last September.
But Rachael Bailey, who runs the pageant, has now removed Jai’s title and is set to crown another beauty queen, Daisy Bell, the winner after seeing video footage she claims proves Ms Latto is not living as a woman full-time. Jai, however, insists she is transgender and says she has started hormone treatment to become biologically female.
The video, which was taken as part of a documentary about the pageant to be screened by the BBC next month, reportedly shows Jai backstage at the Miss Transgender event in Glasgow wearing a pair of boxer shorts. Ms Bailey said: “When Jai entered the competition, she said she was full-time and she is not – she is a drag queen. The documentary showed her living as a gay male in her boxer shorts.
“Underwear is very important to transgender females – one of the first thing people do is change their underwear” Ms Latto, 23, said she had severed all ties with the pageant, which she claims forces transgender women into a female “stereotype” of long hair, tight clothes and lacy underwear.
 She added: “I am transgender. It seems to me that Rachael has based [her claims] on her subjective opinion from having viewed the documentary.”

Man vigorously waved penis at fast food worker then told police I knew this was going to happen

A Florida man is facing charges after flashing his penis at a female McDonald's restaurant employee, according to authorities. Police responded to a report of indecent exposure at the fast-food restaurant in Fort Pierce. The victim, who police said was visibly shaken, said she was cleaning the bathrooms at the time of the incident.
The worker placed a yellow placard outside the men's bathroom and was inside cleaning a stall when Vincent T. Robinson, 48, appeared in the stall and started "vigorously waving his penis at her," the arrest report said. The victim, afraid for her life, tried to push Robinson back. He refused to move and continued to shake his penis, police said.
The victim, screaming and yelling, said she was finally able to push past Robinson. She immediately reported the incident to her manager. The manager found Robinson sitting at one of the tables and told him to leave. Robinson then left, the report said. An officer recalled making contact with a man matching Robinson's description and traced his identify using 911's call history.
The employee and her manager positively identified Robinson in a photo lineup. Officers found Robinson on Friday. While he was being arrested, Robinson said to police, "I knew this was going to happen," according to the arrest report. Robinson is charged with indecent exposure, lewd and lascivious act and false imprisonment. He was taken to the St. Lucie County Jail. Man who vigorously waved penis at McDonald's employee told police I knew this was going to happen

Man seeks to find woman he caught a glimpse of on a bus in 1986

It was a fleeting meeting of eyes and moment of yearning romance on a bus in Hampshire which lasted just seconds. Vernon Burton first caught a glimpse of a mystery woman on a double decker in a New Forest Waterside town in the 1980s and never saw her again. But the hidden romantic in him has resurfaced three decades later causing his heart to stir and bringing the emotions flooding back.
Now he is urging people to help him make his dream come true and track down the lady who he feels he must make contact with after all these years. Vernon, now a great grandad aged 62, was born and bred in Hythe, Hampshire, but moved to Canada in 1977 when he was around 23 to work as a mechanic But on returning to Britain for a short holiday in 1986 the former Royal Hampshire Regiment drummer took the bus journey he will never forget.
While on the top deck of a Solent Blue Line bus traveling towards Southampton city center he made eye contact with a woman on a bus traveling the opposite way on a late summer morning. Vernon said: “For some reason I looked back at that other bus and saw a woman looking back at me. I came over all light-headed , my stomach felt like it had butterflies and my legs started to shake. The buses started to pull away and I just had to reach my hand out to try not to let her go. To my surprise, she did the same.
“You hear about these things happening in romantic movies - but it really did happen to me.” Vernon said he was in a relationship at the time and had returned to Canada to continue with his life - but now he’s single again and has sent posters of himself to the bus company, now called Blue Star, in the hope of finding the lady. Bluestar assistant marketing manager Stacey Tucker said: “We'd love to help Mr Burton track down this mystery lady. It’s a long shot but let’s hope we can bring them together after all these years.” The woman had long dark hair and wore a dark top and was with two young boys in school uniform.

More than ‘just a theory’

It is important to make it clear that evolution is not a theory about the origin of life. It is a theory to explain how species change over time.

3D-Print Your Own Homo Naledi Skull

A free website lets registered users download digital scans of an enormous library of fossils.

30-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Flowers May Be Toxic

Pretty, but possibly deadly flowers were trapped in amber for some 30 million years ago.