The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

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Today in History

1521		Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam.
1820		The Missouri Compromise is enacted by Congress and signed by President James Monroe, providing for the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state, but prohibits slavery in the rest of the northern Louisiana Purchase territory.
1836		After fighting for 13 days, the Alamo falls.
1853		Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata premieres in Venice.
1857		The Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision holds that blacks cannot be citizens.
1860		While campaigning for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln makes a speech defending the right to strike.
1862		The USS Monitor left New York with a crew of 63, seven officers and 56 seamen.
1884		Over 100 suffragists, led by Susan B. Anthony, present President Chester A. Arthur with a demand that he voice support for female suffrage.
1888		Louisa May Alcott dies just hours after the burial of her father.
1899		Aspirin is patented following Felix Hoffman’s discoveries about the properties of acetylsalicylic acid.
1901		A would-be assassin tries to kill Wilhelm II of Germany in Bremen.
1914		German Prince Wilhelm de Wied is crowned as King of Albania.
1916		The Allies recapture Fort Douamont in France during the Battle of Verdun.
1928		A Communist attack on Beijing results in 3,000 dead and 50,000 fleeing to Swatow.
1939		In Spain, Jose Miaja takes over Madrid government after a military coup and vows to seek “peace with honor.”
1943		British RAF fliers bomb Essen and the Krupp arms works in the Ruhr, Germany.
1945		Cologne, Germany, falls to General Courtney Hodges‘ First Army.
1947		Winston Churchill opposes the withdrawal of troops from India.
1948		During talks in Berlin, the Western powers agree to internationalize the Ruhr region.
1953		Upon Josef Stalin’s death, Georgi Malenkov is named Soviet premier.
1960		The Swiss grant women the right to vote in municipal elections.
1965		The United States announces that it will send 3,500 troops to Vietnam.
1967		President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his plan to establish a draft lottery.
1973		Nixon imposes price controls on oil and gas.
1975		Iran and Iraq announce that they have settled the border dispute.
1980		Islamic militants in Tehran say that they will turn over the American hostages to the Revolutionary Council.
1981		Reagan announces plans to cut 37,000 federal jobs.
1987		The British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in the Channel off the coast of Belgium. At least 26 are dead.

The 10 Strangest Mass Hysterias

Even if mental illness isn’t contagious, sometimes the symptoms are, as people start to believe that something is happening to them because it is happening to others. Throughout history, we find accounts of bizarre beliefs or behavior that grew out of hand when more and more people joined in. Sometimes the “epidemic” would spread from town to town, or even through mass media. Such was the case for the Meowing Nuns.

During the Middle Ages, many nuns were forced into convents by their parents and often stressed by a lifestyle not of their own choosing — one that demanded celibacy, poverty and hard manual labor. Two especially bizarre cases of mass hysteria involved meowing and biting nuns.
In the first case, a nun in a large French convent began meowing one day. Soon others joined in, and eventually every nun in the convent was meowing. The noise became structured; all of the nuns would meow together for several hours at the same time every day. The neighbors could hear the collective caterwauling and were understandably annoyed. Eventually the nuns quieted down after being threatened with a beating by soldiers.    

Mass hysterias are not limited to isolated groups, though, or even people under stress. And it can happen anywhere, at any time. The newest of the ten cases at How Stuff Works is from 2006! And it probably won’t be the last.

Trompe L'Orange

In about 1925, the Parisian perfumer Parfums de Marcy packaged its perfume in this unique arrangement. Each bottle takes the shape of a segment of the orange.
Parfums de Marcy was noted for its clever bottle designs. You can see more of them at Cleopatra's Boudoir.

Two-Thirds of All Shoppers Are Tricked by the Word 'Natural' at the Supermarket

Two-Thirds of All Shoppers Are Tricked by the Word 'Natural' at the Supermarket—Are You One of Them? 

Plumbers found mislaid $50,000 gold bar while renovating bathroom

Home contractors are used to finding odd treasures behind walls and under floors, but in mid-February, Alif Babul and his brand new employee Dean Materi noticed something extra unusual amid a dusty pile of rubble while ripping apart a home’s bathroom in Calgary, Canada. It was Materi’s second day working with Babul as a plumbing apprentice.

“I seen a gold shimmery thing on the ground and I thought it was a copper light fixture,” Materi said. “But when I went to shovel it up, it seemed kind of heavy. I picked it up and it was a gold brick.” Materi inspected the cellphone-sized one kilogram gold bar imprinted with a serial number and the stamp of a well-known jeweler. Babul, the owner and operator of home improvement company Perfection Plumbing & Gas Ltd., couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Finding a gold brick underneath a tub is kind of strange,” he said. The duo’s research led them to believe the brick was worth more than $50,000 and they soon contacted the homeowner, who confirmed a gold bar was unaccounted for in the abode. “We were pumped when we found it, of course,” Babul said. “Seeing the economy the way it is right now, it kind of sucks that we had to give it back. Obviously we were going to do the right thing.”

The gold brick now tops the list of valuables Babul has uncovered while renovating Calgary homes, ahead of several rare original Daredevil comics he found on a previous job. “We always return what we find,” Babul said. Babul believes the gold bar was stashed near the bathroom’s Jacuzzi tub and over time was moved by the vibration of the motor. The homeowners had previously searched their bathroom for the lost treasure and said they were thrilled to be reunited with the missing chunk of change.

For The First Time, Solar Will Be The Top New Source Of Energy This Year

This year solar plants will provide more new energy to the grid than all other sources.

Uranium Mining Is Coming To The Grand Canyon, If Koch-Backed Group Gets It Way

The vast majority of Arizonans want to keep the current ban on mining in place.

A South Carolina Student Stole His Teacher’s Nude Photos, But The School Only Punished Her

A South Carolina Student Stole His Teacher’s Nude Photos, But The School Only Punished Her

US women far more likely than men to be poor in retirement

US women far more likely than men to be poor in retirement, research shows

Oregon Passes Highest Minimum Wage In The Nation Despite Wingnut Temper Tantrum

They whined and fear mongered, but in the end, Republicans had to sit and watch as Oregon took action to help struggling workers make a fair living.

Continue Reading

Wingnuts would rather take guns from kids’ cold dead hands than keep them from being killed

Trevor Noah: Wingnuts would rather take guns from kids’ cold dead hands than keep them from being killed

Quick Hits

NH wingnut on Child Law Committee charged with trying to lure 14-year-old girl for sex while armed

Indiana man charged with ‘scalping’ girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter

Owner of car requested to remove it from roof of house

Police and firefighters were surprised to find a resident's car parked on the roof of a house in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, on Monday.

Police posted pictures of the white Daewoo Matiz without license plates on top of the house's flat roof with the caption: "This is what they call 'the high life' parking."
Authorities were first alerted to the strange parking arrangement by a neighbor. How the car ended up on top of the house remains a bit of a mystery.

Police said they suspect someone could have had the help of a crane. They then examined the house's structure to determine whether there was a risk of the car falling through. The car's owner has been asked to remove it from the roof.

Toddler had a lucky escape after tumbling from back of grandfather's van on busy road

A two-year-old boy had a lucky escape after falling out of his grandfather’s van at a busy road intersection. The child was saved by Du Xiuli, a passenger in the car which captured the frightening experience on its dashcam.

The incident near Wujiang, Jiangsu province, China, happened on February 27 when the van stopped at a traffic light and its back door suddenly opened. The vehicle moved off, and the two-year-old tumbled out of the vehicle onto the road. Apparently uninjured from the fall, the child was left standing on a busy road, as the van left the scene.
The toddler was then left to wander around in busy traffic. Du Xiuli jumped out to save the child, before the child’s grandfather, Yang Defu, returned to the scene having realised that he had been missing the precious cargo. Yang said that the child had fallen out because the back of his van had suffered damage from an earlier collision during Chinese New Year celebrations last month, which resulted in the door sometimes randomly flying open.

YouTube link.

He said that his grandson just happened to climb over the back seat before falling out onto the road. “I was waiting at the red light. After passing the intersection, a car chased after me and kept sounding the horn. The driver told me a kid fell out of my van. I looked back, parked my van aside, and went back to search for my grandson,” said Yang. Du Xiuli has been awarded an honor since the incident.

Indian army candidates made to take exam in their underpants to prevent them from cheating

Candidates at an Indian army recruitment day in Bihar were made to take a written exam in their underwear to prevent them from cheating after a spate of exam cheating scandals in the eastern state.

The men sat and crouched in a field wearing only underpants while uniformed supervisors stood guard. An army source said they took this step to “save time on frisking so many people” after more than 1,000 candidates turned up.
“We had no option but to comply with the instructions even though it felt odd,” one candidate said. There is huge pressure in India to secure good school grades and highly sought-after government jobs.

YouTube link.

A year ago police in Bihar said they had arrested about 1,000 aspiring officers for paying people to sit their exams for them. The high court in the Bihar capital Patna has asked the defense ministry for an explanation of the unusual move, after a lawyer filed a petition against the army. An army spokesman in New Delhi refused to comment.

Woman unhappy about new high-rise apartment block being built centimeters from her balcony

A woman from South Perth, Australia, says she has been "entombed" by an apartment block that is being built just centimeters from her balcony, in the latest example of a series of planning fights taking place in the area.

Hellen Barnaby's apartment balcony on the Mill Point Peninsula used to look out towards the Perth CBD but now her view is of a blank wall. Both Ms Barnaby's property and the development progressing next door appear to have been built right on the boundary, with no space whatsoever left in between.
"I don't own the view and I don't expect to own the view but I am being entombed," she said. "I feel like I am in a concrete coffin." Ms Barnaby and her husband had lived in the building for 26 years and hand delivered a letter of protest against the new development to the South Perth council in 2012, but have since been told the correspondence was lost.

YouTube link.

A large number of high-rise apartment complexes being built in the South Perth have caused residents to protest over the past year, despite them being allowed by a local planning scheme amendment that was put out to public consultation. The pro-development lobby says the area must be of sufficient density to allow a planned train station to be viable. The City of South Perth declined to comment.

Jail for man who duct-taped children to chairs and forced them to watch 'Mommie Dearest'

A man from Nebraska City who duct-taped two boys to chairs and forced them to watch the movie “Mommie Dearest” has been sentenced to three years in prison. Authorities said the mother of the boys, ages 4 and 6, wanted them to watch the movie to show them she wasn’t the world's meanest mom.

Mary K. Lucas' boyfriend, 30-year-old Glenn Oliver, was babysitting in August while she was working. He told police the boys weren't minding him, so he used duct tape to secure them to chairs while the movie played. An acquaintance stopped by, saw the boys and called police, according to court documents.
A picture she took with her phone showed them with their arms, legs and heads strapped and tape over their mouths. Police said the home was filthy, filled with trash and smelled strongly of animal feces and urine. Oliver pleaded guilty to two felony counts of intentional child abuse.

The Otoe County Attorney’s Office dropped two additional felony charges of false imprisonment. District Judge Jeffrey Funke sentenced him to three years behind bars with credit for 178 days served. He also ordered 18 months of supervised probation after Oliver is released. Lucas, 28, pleaded no contest last month to negligent child abuse. Her sentencing is set for April 12.
There's a short news video here.

Man arrested after breaking into store and paying for cigarettes

Police in Las Cruces, New Mexico, arrested a man suspected of breaking into a convenience store on Sunday morning and leaving $6 for the pack of cigarettes he took. Ellis C. Battista, 24, is charged with one count of breaking and entering, a fourth-degree felony. At around 3:30am, Battista and another man went to purchase a pack of cigarettes at Bradley’s convenience store.

The store normally operates 24 hours a day, but the clerk was not on duty and the store was locked. Store surveillance cameras and witnesses confirmed that Battista pounded on the store’s front door several times in an apparent attempt to gain the attention of the store clerk, who was not there.
Battista then allegedly kicked the door’s lower panel, which broke. Battista, believed to be intoxicated at the time, then entered the store. Video surveillance indicates Battista selected a pack of cigarettes and ensured that cameras captured images of him leaving $6 for the merchandise. A witness called 911 to report the break-in, and police officers located Battista nearby.

Damage to the store’s front door was estimated at $800. No charges were filed against his friend, who remained outside of the store. Detectives noted that Walgreen’s, which is open 24 hours a day and also sells cigarettes, is located immediately north of Bradley’s. Battista was booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center. He has since posted bond.

Jail for man who tried to sell stolen goods to man whose house he had taken them from

A thief who tried to sell the goods he had stolen back to the man they belonged to has been jailed. Preston Crown Court heard Daniel Ciamara, 26, was caught out when he went to trade the stolen Blu-ray player and discs in for cash at Park Computers in Blackburn, Lancashire. But when shop assistant David Harrison went to check the items over he noticed they seemed familiar and realized they were from his own home.

Quick thinking Mr Harrison told the burglar he would need to check the Blu-ray player was working and asked him to come back in an hour. Speaking after the case, Mr Harrison, 60, said: “At first I didn’t think because he had all his ID ready. Then I thought ‘this looks a bit familiar and this, and this ... I’d best go and check.’ Once I had my suspicions they got stronger and stronger and that is when we asked him to leave the player with us so we could test it out. It was a decoy.”
The court heard once Ciamara left the store, Mr Harrison hot-footed it back to his house nearby to discover the door had been kicked in and his player and films were missing. The court heard when Ciamara returned to the store he was greeted by the police who arrested him on suspicion of burglary. Ciamara pleaded guilty to the offense, which took place in 2013, at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court. But after being granted bail he returned to his homeland of Poland and failed to return to court to be sentenced.
Officers from Lancashire police applied for a European Arrest Warrant and last week brought Ciamara back to Lancashire to face justice. Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC, sentencing, said: “He has abused his hospitality here. He has committed an offense here. He deserves to go to custody for a period.” He jailed Ciamara for four months with two months to run concurrently for the breach of bail. Speaking after the case, Mr Harrison said: “It sends out a message that the police will track down people who commit burglaries. They can’t get away with it. He’s either the unluckiest thief or the stupidest. I’m just glad I got my property back.”

Man with whiskey bottle in rectum arrested

Satellites Report Hottest February By Far, Confirm Global Warming

Bad news for deniers: The only set of data that seemed to indicate the planet wasn't warming much was in error. Satellites confirm global warming -- and the hottest February on record.

10 things you never knew about the ocean’s deepest places

Here are 10 things you never knew about the ocean’s deepest places

Anglo-Saxon Island Discovered in English Village

Anglo-Saxon Island Discovered in English Village

The site, which is no longer an island, was discovered by a man with a metal detector.

Why Did Ancient Europeans Disappear 14,500 Years Ago?

Why Did Ancient Europeans Disappear 14,500 Years Ago?

Genetic analysis shows some of Europe's earliest inhabitants mysteriously vanished toward the end of the last ice age and were largely replaced by others.

Wondrous fungus

Wondrous fungus: Tiny 440-million-year-old fossils are oldest of any land-dwelling organism

T. Rex Was Likely an Invasive Species

T. Rex Was Likely an Invasive Species

The giant tyrannosaur was likely an invasive species from Asia that dispersed into western North America.

Beer-swilling Australian man spotted enjoying a swim with his pet snake

In what has been described as a very Australian moment, a man was spotted in a creek gently throwing his pet snake with one hand into the water and carefully nursing a VB tallie (or a longie) in the other.

The incident occurred on Sunday at Tallebudgera Creek in Queenland, a popular swimming spot for both tourists and locals. The man in the footage repeatedly threw the snake in the water and waited for the slithering reptile to swim back to him. The unfazed reptile involved is believed to be a carpet python.
At the end of the short clip the man appears to pick up his beloved pet up and hold the reptile high into the air before the pair appear to kiss. The clip was captured by aspiring rocker and Brisbane resident Indiana Bones who was down for the day at the beach with his fellow band mate Matt Itzstein.

LiveLeak link. Indiana Bones' original Instagram video.

“My Dad keeps snakes and I’ve never seen anyone at the beach with one, dancing around, kissing one,” Mr Bones said. When asked his reaction to the unusual incident he said: “I was impressed. I was flat out impressed. We thought we were rock n roll, spending the day on the beach, but this guy was drinking a beer, with his snake out in public."

Animal News

Some Birds Use Alligators as Bodyguards

Alligators scare off nearly all predators, including humans, so some birds use them as bodyguards, paying them with egg rewards.

Tiny Dragonfly Sets Distance Travel Record

A small dragonfly has just shattered the record for long distance insect flight -- even breaking a record set by Charles Lindbergh.

Black Widow's Hourglass Frightens Birds But Not Insects

When it comes to encounters with black widow spiders, birds are warned by their vision while insects are doomed by theirs.

How Snakes Get Around Without Any Legs

We've all seen snakes slithering along. Sure, we're probably running from them, but the slithering thing is hard to miss. How does something with no legs and no feet and no Uber account move over dry land?

Sea Lion Die-Off Tied to 'Junk Food' Fish

Sardines and anchovies are harder for sea lion moms to find, causing them to eat lower calorie rockfish and squid.

Animal Pictures