The Daily Drift

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Thought for the Day ..! 

 

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Today in History

1542		Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, is beheaded for adultery.
1689		British Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights.
1692		In the Glen Coe highlands of Scotland, thirty-eight members of the MacDonald clan are murdered by soldiers of the neighboring Campbell clan for not pledging allegiance to William of Orange. Ironically the pledge had been made but not communicated to the clans. The event is remembered as the Massacre of Glencoe.
1862		The four day Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, begins.
1865		The Confederacy approves the recruitment of slaves as soldiers, as long as the approval of their owners is gained.
1866		Jesse James holds up his first bank.
1914		The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is founded.
1936		First social security checks are put in the mail.
1945		The Royal Air Force Bomber Command devastates the German city of Dresden with night raids by 873 heavy bombers. The attacks are joined by 521 American heavy bombers flying daylight raids.
1949		A mob burns a radio station in Ecuador after the broadcast of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds.“
1951		At the Battle of Chipyong-ni, in Korea, U.N. troops contain the Chinese forces’ offensive in a two-day battle.
1953		The Pope asks the United States to grant clemency to convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
1968		The United States sends 10,500 more combat troops to Vietnam.
1970		General Motors is reportedly redesigning automobiles to run on unleaded fuel.
1972		Enemy attacks in Vietnam decline for the third day as the United States continues its intensive bombing strategy.
1984		Konstantin Chernenko is selected to succeed Yuri Andropov as Party General Secretary in the Soviet Union.

‘Most Beautiful Girl In The World’ Is Only Ten ...

‘Most Beautiful Girl In The World’ Is Only Ten – And Already Dealing With Sexist Attacks

This 10-year-old girl is already being objectified, simply because she’s beautiful.

When Negotiating a Price, Never Bid with a Round Number

When you're negotiating the price of something, you should offer a precise amount, not a round number. The other party is more likely to accept your bid. Proposing a round number signals that you don't really know the value of the good being priced. Carmen Nobel explains the Harvard Business Review:

Here’s an easy tip for anyone negotiating to buy a car, a house, or even a company. When you make an initial offer, don’t bid with a round number like $10,000 or $1 million or $15 per share. Rather, bid with a more precise number, like $9,800 or $1.03 million or $14.80 per share.
According to a recent study of mergers and acquisitions, investors who offer “precise” bids for company shares yield better market outcomes than those who offer round-numbered bids
“It turns out that if you make a precise bid, the targets are more likely to accept it, and more likely to accept it at a cheaper price. And with cash bids, they’ll generate a more positive market reaction,” says Matti Keloharju, a visiting scholar at Harvard Business School and co-author, with Petri Hukkanen, of the paper Initial Offer Precision and M&A Outcomes.

What Book That You Have NOT Read Has Most Influenced and Shaped Your Life?

This is a fascinating question tweeted by Venkatesh Rao which I encountered through economist and polymath Tyler Cowen.
The question flips over the classic "What book have you read that has most influenced your life?" into a different realm. What text as more subtly influenced you simply by being present in your society? Cowen responds:

I suppose if you haven’t read the bible or quran those are easy answers, but let’s say you have.
I’ve only read snippets of Mein Kampf, so that has to stand as a contender.  But has the book really influenced and shaped my life?  Maybe you can attribute the relevant marginal product to the life of Hitler, with the book being intermediated by Hitler himself.  Therefore I am not sure that answer is true to the spirit of the question.
How about a training manual of some kind, which perhaps my early teachers read but I have never seen or even heard of?  Might my mother have read Dr. Spock or other parenting books?  That would be my best guess.

Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care greatly altered (or reflected a developing trend) in American parenting. Many adults would have been necessarily influenced by it, so that's a pretty good pick. Cowen's normally very intelligent commenters also have great suggestions, including Isaac Newton's Principles of Natural Philosophy and the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Meet the 71-Year Old Librarian Who Commutes to Work by Rowing

Gabriel Horchler is the Head of Cataloging at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He likes to row. 15 years ago, he realized that most of his daily commute from his home in Cheverly, Maryland, ran parallel to the Anacostia River. He could drive through heavy traffic . . . or he could row along the almost vacant river.
Now, even at the age of 71, Horchler begins his day by biking to a neighborhood park, then pushing his rowing shell into the water. He pilots it down the river to a community boathouse, where he keeps his second bike. He takes that bike to the Library of Congress.
The entire trip takes him 90 minutes. He loves it, and the daily workout has kept him in fantastic physical condition. The Washington Post reports:

Some say he’s insane. In Horchler’s mind, the daily ritual of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic is what’s insane.
“I don’t feel that I’m superior to these people in the traffic jam, but I definitely appreciate the quiet and . . . the water and the sound of the oars in the water,” he said. “It changes every day. You see different wildlife. . . . The quality of the water, sometimes it’s filthy, sometimes it’s amazingly clean. And then, with the seasons, the vegetation changes. It’s wonderful.”

17-Year Old Honor Student Killed By Impoverished Living Conditions

This is heartbreaking.

Victory For Net Neutrality! India Says No To Facebook

India Chooses Net Neutrality, Facebook's Free Basics Is Ruled Net Discrimination

"MacGyver" to be Turned into a Movie

Lionsgate has announced their plans to make a film from the popular TV series MacGyver, which ran from 1985-1992 and starred Richard Dean Anderson and Dana Elcar. Sources said that the announcement wasn't heavy on detail, which was similar to their October 2015 announcement of a MacGyver TV series. The television show is intended to be a prequel of the 1980s series, in that it focuses on MacGyver as a mechanically crafty twentysomething.

Read more on both the MacGyver movie and television projects here.

Bananas May Help Detect, Cure Skin Cancer

Bananas May Help Detect, Cure Skin Cancer

An enzyme found in overripe bananas is also prevalent in people with melanoma.

Meet the psychiatrists who are bringing LSD back to the medical mainstream

Meet the psychiatrists who are bringing LSD back to the medical mainstream

Celebrity Sikh Actor Barred From Boarding Flight To New York Because Of His Turban

"It’s like asking someone to remove their underwear in public.”

When Margaret Chase Smith Ran for President

Margaret Chase Smith was the first of many things in American politics. She was the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate (representing Maine). When she retired from the Senate in 1973, she was the longest-serving woman senator until 2011. And she was the first woman to be placed in nomination at a major party convention to run for president of the United States. Smith did not achieve the nomination at the Republican convention in 1964, but she made Americans sit up and consider the idea of a woman president.

Smith’s entry into the race sparked hundreds of newspaper stories. They invariably mentioned her appearance and her age. “Trim as a model, she carries herself more like a clubwoman than a politician,” one story noted. “At 66, she is an exceedingly attractive figure,” another reported, praising Smith as “slender, silver haired,” sincere, and quick to laugh. But if commentators and reporters admired her figure, they expressed reservation about her length of years. A columnist for the Los Angeles Times identified Smith’s age as one of the biggest obstacles she faced. Richard Wilson wrote that “Mrs. Smith has qualifications and experience for the Presidency no less than many men who have served in the office.” But her age “tends to be a disqualifying factor.” This was especially true given that she would be not only old but also an old woman. The optimum age for presidents, in Wilson’s view, was late forties or early fifties. Alas, at this time in life, “the female of the species undergoes physical changes and emotional distress of varying severity and duration.” The author never used the indelicate term “menopause” in his article. But he underscored the change in a woman midlife “is known to have an effect on judgment and behavior.” The steady allusions to age were not lost on the candidate herself. “Since my candidacy was announced, almost every news story starts off ‘the sixty-six-year-old senator,’ ” she observed. “I haven’t seen the age played up in the case of the male candidates.”

Smith was extremely popular in her state and had powerful allies in Congress, but she didn’t want to play the campaign game. She didn’t fundraise, and she didn’t campaign much because she refused to miss Senate votes, decision which doomed her race no matter her sex. But her story is one of ambition and ethics and hard work. Smith is especially remembered for a 1950 speech in which she condemned fellow Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy for his tactics while never mentioning him by name. Read the story of Margaret Chase Smith at The New Yorker.

Asked Why He’s Defending Abortion Group Pro-Bono, Lawyer Drops Truthbomb Anti-Choicers Will HATE

He was brutally honest, but it needed to be said.

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This Michigan wingnut is attempting to ban sodomy while the Flint water crisis rages on

This Michigan wingnut is attempting to ban sodomy while the Flint water crisis rages on

The Michigan Senate passed a law outlawing anal sex and labeling it as a felony.

The secret history of Hitler’s ‘Black Holocaust’

The secret history of Hitler’s ‘Black Holocaust’

A ruling confirmed that black people (like “gypsies”) were to be regarded as being “of alien blood” and subject to the Nuremberg principles. Very few people of African descent had German citizenship, even if they were born in Germany, but this became irreversible when they were given passports that designated them as “stateless Negroes.”

Florida neo-Nazi gets probation for trying to buy bomb to kill black brother-in-law

Florida neo-Nazi gets probation for trying to buy bomb to kill black brother-in-law

Harold “Hippie” Kinlaw was arrested with 19 other neo-Nazi bikers and skinheads as part of an undercover FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation.

Outrageous Bill Exempts ‘Religious’ People From Laws

Outrageous Bill Exempts ‘Religious’ People From Laws

Texas tabloid deluged with death threats over plan to publish cops’ names and addresses

Texas tabloid deluged with death threats over plan to publish cops’ names and addresses

According to the paper's publisher, too often police officers go unpunished because they are allowed to remain anonymous. She then compared them to the Ku Klux Klan.

Intoxicated mother and her boyfriend let her nine-year-old daughter drive them home

A Wisconsin mother and her boyfriend are facing felony charges for allowing her nine-year-old daughter drive them home in their pick-up truck after they appeared too drunk to drive. Jason Roth and Amanda Eggert pleaded not guilty on Friday to a number of felony charges including child neglect and second degree recklessly endangering safety. The couple were arrested about a week ago after authorities say they took a 911 complaint about erratic driving on rural Wisconsin roads. By the time law enforcement caught up to Eggert and Roth’s truck after it had pulled into a public boat launch along the Apple River in Polk County.
Deputy Jeff Hahn told the court he was stunned when he realized driver was nine years old and that the couple’s 11-month-old baby was strapped into a car seat. “As the nine-year-old exited the truck, it was still running and in drive when Mr. Roth was sitting in the truck by himself,” Hahn testified in court. “He turned the ignition off and the truck began rolling backwards down the hill towards the river. I jumped into the truck to hit the brakes and put the truck in park.”
Hahn said both adults appeared highly intoxicated, with one of Roth’s preliminary breath tests coming back at .25, more than three times the legal limit to drive. The nine-year-old allegedly drove the truck for miles, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic. Fortunately, there were no accidents and no one was hurt. The two young children are now staying with extended family as Eggert and Roth remain jailed. Both their cases are now headed towards trial.

No, the Ancient Greeks Didn't Have Laptops

No, the Ancient Greeks Didn't Have Laptops

It's a shallow chest, not an ancient laptop depicted in that ancient Greek carving.

Human culture, not smarts, may have overwhelmed Neanderthals

Human culture, not smarts, may have overwhelmed Neanderthals

What happened to the Neanderthals? They left their African homes and migrated into Europe 350,000 to 600,000 years ago, well ahead of modern humans, who showed up only about 45,000 years ago. But within about 5,000 years of our arrival, the indigenous Neanderthals had...

Climate Chamge News

Managed Forests Accelerate Climate Change

Replacing broad-leaved forests with evergreen trees is contributing to climate change, even when tree coverage increases.

Climate Change Is Leaving Native Plants Behind

Animals and weeds are bounding up California's warming hills, while native plants are stuck in place.

The US Southwest May Already Be Drying Up

The US Southwest May Already Be Drying Up

The weather patterns that normally bring rain to the Southwest have been disappearing and climate change could be the cause.

Meteorite Kills Man in India

Meteorite Kills Man in India, Authorities Say

If proven, it would be the first such death in recorded history.

More Gravitational Wave Rumors

More Gravitational Wave Rumors: Colliding Black Holes?

More gravitational wave discovery rumors are flying, but this time they've taken a specific -- and, possibly, really exciting -- new twist.

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Editor's Note: They have been proven. So the "rumors" are true. Einstein was correct.

Earth-like planets have Earth-like interiors

Earth-like planets have Earth-like interiors

Every school kid learns the basic structure of the Earth: a thin outer crust, a thick mantle, and a Mars-sized core. But is this structure universal? Will rocky exoplanets orbiting other stars have the same three layers? New research suggests that the answer is yes...

Wolf species have ‘howling dialects’

Wolf species have ‘howling dialects’

The largest ever study of howling in the ‘canid’ family of species — which includes wolves, jackals and domestic dogs — has shown that the various species and subspecies have distinguishing repertoires of howling, or “vocal...

Rainforest Now Safe for 'Spirit Bear'

Rainforest Now Safe for 'Spirit Bear'

An immense portion of the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia has just gained new protections.

Animal Pictures