The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Today also happens to be International Day of Forests ...! 

 

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A Rhyme In Time ... !

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Today in History

1556		Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is burned at the stake at Oxford after retracting the last of seven recantations that same day.
1617		Pocahontas (Rebecca Rolfe) dies of either small pox or pneumonia while in England with her husband, John Rolfe.
1788		Almost the entire city of New Orleans, Louisiana, is destroyed by fire.
1806		Lewis and Clark begin their trip home after an 8,000 mile trek of the Mississippi basin and the Pacific Coast.
1865		The Battle of Bentonville, N.C. ends, marking the last Confederate attempt to stop Union General William Sherman.
1851		Emperor Tu Duc orders that Christian priests are to put to death.
1858		British forces in India lift the siege of Lucknow, ending the Indian Mutiny.
1906		Ohio passes a law that prohibits hazing by fraternities.
1908		Frenchman Henri Farman carries a passenger in a bi-plane for the first time.
1910		The U.S. Senate grants ex-President Teddy Roosevelt an annual pension of $10,000.
1918		The Germans launch the ‘Michael’ offensive, better remembered as the First Battle of the Somme.
1928		President Calvin Coolidge presents the Congressional Medal of Honor to Charles Lindbergh, a captain in the US Army Air Corps Reserve, for making the first solo trans-Atlantic flight. On June 11, 1927, Lindbergh had received the first Distinguished Flying Cross ever awarded.
1939		Singer Kate Smith records “Dog Bless America” for Victor Records.
1941		The last Italian post in East Libya, North Africa, falls to the British.
1951		Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall reports that the U.S. military has doubled to 2.9 million since the start of the Korean War.
1963		Alcatraz Island, the federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, California, closes.
1965		The United States launches Ranger 9, last in a series of unmanned lunar explorations.
1971		Two U.S. platoons in Vietnam refuse their orders to advance.
1975		As North Vietnamese forces advance, Hue and other northern towns in South Vietnam are evacuated.
1980		President Jimmy Carter announces to the U.S. Olympic Team that they will not participate in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
1984		A Soviet submarine crashes into the USS Kitty Hawk off the coast of Japan.

The Real Odds of Falling Into Poverty Are Probably Higher Than You Think

The Real Odds of Falling Into Poverty Are Probably Higher Than You Think 

One Chart Destroys The Talking Point Wingnuts Are Using To Protect Their Payday Lender Buddies

A few members of Congress really, really want you to believe that Florida's weak, ineffectual payday lending law is a "gold standard."

Police warn of men challenging others to rap battles

Police in central Massachusetts are warning residents to be on the lookout for men who may be challenging passers-by to a rap battle.

Charlton police said a black SUV with two or three men in their late teens or early 20s inside, pulled up to three young teenage boys on Dresser Hill Road at about 3pm on Saturday.
One of the men, described as having brown hair and a pale complexion, wearing a grey T-shirt, grey pants and open-toed sandals, got out of the vehicle and started rapping while the other men asked the boys if they wanted to "spit some bars" with them.
When the boys declined, the SUV drove off. "Although this was suspicious behavior and frightening to the boys, nothing made this appear to be an attempted abduction," Charlton police posted on Facebook. Anyone with credible information about the incident is asked to call the police.

Man guilty of shoplifting cigarettes while naked

A man has pleaded guilty to shoplifting cigarettes from a Peterborough newsagents whilst stark naked after he was caught on CCTV.

The theft took place at the JJ News store in Paston on Monday. James Maguire, 50, of Peterborough, appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning.
He pleaded guilty to theft from a shop and one count of exposure under the Sexual Offences Act. A Cambridgeshire police spokesman earlier said: “We were called at about 3.50pm on Monday, March 14.
“There had been reports of a naked man committing an indecent act in Donaldson Drive, Paston. It was also reported that the same man stole cigarettes from JJ News, also in Donaldson Drive.”

Thief arrested after making her getaway on piece of ice

With police in hot pursuit, an accused thief in Canada fled the scene of her alleged crime on Sunday on an ice floe. Prince George RCMP Corporal Craig Douglass says the 25-year-old woman floated two kilometers down the frigid Nechako River atop the piece of ice before a police dog tracked her down.

"She was located on a piece of ice on the Nechako River, which, at the best of times, is a dangerous place, much less in the winter with all the ice," said Douglass. That's when things took an even stranger turn. The woman had started a fire atop the ice floe she was sitting on, said Douglass. "We believe she was trying to destroy evidence." Douglass says the ice floe was close enough to shore that a Mountie and police dog were able to reach the woman and arrest her, even as she resisted arrest.
Local boaters offered to transport the officer, the police dog and the suspect back up river, where police vehicles were waiting, to avoid a 2 kilometer hike through the bush. Philicity Rhea Lafrenier has been charged with breaking and entering, mischief, possession of property obtained by crime, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest. Police say the pursuit began after a homeowner returned home to her house in rural Miworth, west of Prince George, at midday on Sunday and found an intruder inside.

Police say the intruder fled the scene in a stolen pick-up truck, drove to the nearby river and then jumped on the ice floe. With police on the way and only one road in and out of the rural community, Douglass believes the woman may have just chosen an alternate escape route. "It's definitely a first. It's something we've never come across and probably never will again in our careers," said Corporal Craig Douglass. "We just shake our heads."

Woman arrested after stealing cuckoo clocks from neighbors

A 63-year-old woman is facing multiple charges after allegedly breaking into her neighbors’ homes and stealing cuckoo clocks.

Authorities were called to Oklahoma City Housing Authority apartments about two burglaries. Officers learned that both cases involved cuckoo clocks.
Surveillance cameras allegedly captured Deborah Bowen using a master key to get in to the victims’ apartments and leave with an item. Apartment officials told police that Bowen’s mother used to work the complex and had a master key.
According to the arrest affidavit, Bowen admitted to the crimes after being told that surveillance cameras captured the burglaries. The report claims that officers found the cuckoo clocks in her apartment. Bowen was arrested for second-degree burglary and receiving and concealing stolen property.

Wingnut Sheriff: We Don’t Need Rape Kits, Most Allegations False

Wingnut Sheriff: We Don’t Need Rape Kits, Most Allegations False

We definitely live in a rape culture, and one of the most infuriating parts of that is the huge backlog of untested rape kits around the country. For instance,...

Hateful Pastor: Kill Girl Scout Leaders Because They Are ‘Promoting Homosexuality’

Hateful Pastor: Kill Girl Scout Leaders Because They Are ‘Promoting Homosexuality’

Gay-hating, Jackass Cruz-loving Pastor Kevin Swanson is back, and he is calling for more executions. First, he used the bible as a reason to suggest the execution...

Gay Atlanta couple hospitalized after man attacks them with scalding water in their sleep

Gay Atlanta couple hospitalized after man attacks them with scalding water in their sleep

Bus rider reports possible abduction after spotting dad with albinism and dark-skinned son

Bus rider reports possible abduction after spotting dad with albinism and dark-skinned son

Jason Thompson took his 4-year-old son Xavier to see “Zootopia” on Tuesday, but they were targeted for investigation as they went home to play with Lego toys.

Demon delusions not enough to keep guns away from man accused of executing immigrant neighbors

Demon delusions not enough to keep guns away from man accused of executing immigrant neighbors

A Milwaukee man accused of gunning down three of his neighbors because they spoke a foreign language had his guns taken away over mental health concerns — but the weapons were later returned.

Ohio 4-year-old dies after stepmother dunks his legs in scalding water to punish him

Ohio 4-year-old dies after stepmother dunks his legs in scalding water to punish him

Iowa customer stiffs Zombie Burger waitress

Iowa customer stiffs Zombie Burger waitress: ‘Tips are only for normal looking people’

Methane Emissions Are Spiking ...

... But It Might Be More Cow Than Car

A new study pinpoints agriculture, not fossil fuels, as the cause of rising methane levels since 2006.

Man woke up at bus stop to find a fox trying to pull his trousers off

A man who fell asleep at an east London bus stop claims he woke up to find a fox chewing at his foot and trying to pull his trousers off. Steve Gould, from Thurrock in Essex, had been out drinking with friends in Soho but, after falling asleep on the train on the way home, missed his station and woke up in Leyton.
The 35-year-old said he was a in a "drunken state" and, realizing there were no more trains, wandered out to find a bus stop. He said: "I passed out, basically. About an hour later I woke up and looked down and there's a fox chewing my trainer and my trousers. He didn't even blink. He just looked up at me as if to say 'what am I doing wrong?'
"He wasn't trying to bite me or anything. It was like he was pulling my trousers to say 'come with me' or trying get them off." Mr Gould, who works on the Tube, said the quickly scarpered across the road where it was joined by another fox, who eyed Mr Gould for several seconds before the pair ran off together into the night.
He said: "Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't woken up. I could have lost a leg, I don't know. But he was doing no harm. He was quite calm, he wasn't going to attack me." Mr Gould added: "It was just the most remarkable thing I've ever seen. It's up there with my best ever experiences, most definitely."

Escaped flamingo running through traffic corralled by police officers

Officer Jose Romero from Hialeah police in Florida was on routine patrol when he spotted a flamingo running through traffic. He gave chase, but not before calling for back-up.

The flamingo “lost its way and ended up dodging traffic,” said Hialeah police spokesman Sgt. Carl Zogby, who said the flamingo escaped from Hialeah Park, where there is a colony of the pink tropical birds. “It took three officers to corral it.”
The flighty flamingo ended up in the intersection of East Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street at about 8:30pm on Sunday. With the help of a traffic vest, covering the flamingo’s eyes to calm him down, Zogby said, the officers rounded up the scared bird.

YouTube link.

After the ordeal, the flamingo was loaded in the back seat of a patrol car for a ride home. “We were just lucky it didn't get hurt," Zogby said. “He was in the middle of traffic in Hialeah, poor guy.”

Woman fights to keep her trained pet alligator at home

A Florida woman is fighting to keep her 6-foot-long pet alligator in her home. The 125-pound reptile named Rambo wears clothes, rides on the back of a motorcycle and has a bedroom in Mary Thorn's home in Lakeland.

Thorn has had a license for the alligator for 11 years, but the gator recently grew to 6 feet. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said an alligator of that size must have 2.5 acres of land. But Thorn claims that, even if she had land available, Rambo can't be left outdoors because of sensitivity to sunlight.

"This is really important to me," she said. "Rambo isn't just another gator; he's part of my family. Thorn said Rambo is "human more than he is gator." She said he's been raised inside a house all his life and is scared of the outside. "People think I'm crazy, but there were four when I started out," she said.
Thorn, who takes Rambo to schools and charity events to teach people about reptiles, said the other gators died. She said Rambo will die if he is exposed to the sun. "Rambo is the last one," she said. Thorn said she has trained Rambo not to bite. FWC spokesman Gary Morse said Thorn's case is under investigation.

Animal Pictures