The Daily Drift

Editorial Note:
Our thoughts are with the families and the people of Brussels. 
The cowardice of the wingnuts of the world was on vivid display in Belgium as their version of wingnuts bombed the airport and subway.
And, YES, to all you howling troglodytes, they are your kindred spirits - wingnuts are all they same ... greedy, selfish, impotent, ignorant and stupid who "demand" everyone be as they are and accuse all others of being what they in fact are.
Wingnuts ARE the cause of the world's ills ...

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Yeah, that's our dogs alright ...! 

 

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Today in History

1657		France and England form an alliance against Spain.
1743		Handel’s Messiah is performed for the first time in London.
1775		American revolutionary hero Patrick Henry, while addressing the House of Burgesses, declares “give me liberty, or give me death!”
1791		Etta Palm, a Dutch champion of woman’s rights, sets up a group of women’s clubs called the Confederation of the Friends of Truth.
1848		Hungary proclaims its independence of Austria.
1857		Elisha Otis installs the first modern passenger elevator in a public building, at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway in New York City.
1858		Eleazer A. Gardner of Philadelphia patents the cable street car, which runs on overhead cables.
1862		Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson faces his only defeat at the Battle of Kernstown, Va
1880		John Stevens of Neenah, Wis., patents the grain crushing mill. This mill allows flour production to increase by 70 percent.
1901		A group of U.S. Army soldier led by Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston capture Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine Insurrection of 1899.
1903		The Wright brothers obtain an airplane patent.
1909		British Lt. Ernest Shackleton finds the magnetic South Pole.
1909		Theodore Roosevelt begins an African safari sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
1917		Austrian Emperor Charles I makes a peace proposal to French President Poincare.
1920		Great Britain denounces the United States because of its delay in joining the League of Nations.
1921		Arthur G. Hamilton sets a new parachute record, safely jumping 24,400 feet.
1927		Captain Hawthorne Gray sets a new balloon record soaring to 28,510 feet.
1933		The Reichstag gives Adolf Hitler the power to rule by decree.
1942		The Japanese occupy the Anadaman Islands in the Indian Ocean.
1951		U.S. paratroopers descend from flying boxcars in a surprise attack in Korea.
1956		Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic, although it is still within the British Commonwealth.
1967		Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. calls the Vietnam War the biggest obstacle to the civil rights movement.
1970		Mafia boss Carlo Gambino is arrested for plotting to steal $3 million.
1972		The United States calls a halt to the peace talks on Vietnam being held in Paris.
1981		U.S. Supreme Court upholds a law making statutory rape a crime for men but not women.

Teen says having breast exposed by Madonna was the 'best moment of my life'

Teen says having breast exposed by Madonna was the 'best moment of my life' 

Madonna shocked fans on Thursday by exposing the breast of a young fan she invited to join her onstage in Brisbane, Australia.
The singer inadvertently pulled down 17 year old Josephine Georgiou’s tube top after bringing the girl on stage for one of her songs. She said, “She's the kind of girl you just want to slap... on the ass... “ Adding, “And pull,” Madonna then appeared to yank Georgiou’s top down and expose her breast.
The lascivious behaviour continued as the 57-year-old star said, "Oh shit. I am so sorry, sexual harassment. You can do the same to me." Gesturing to her crotch she added, “You want to make my hole big again?”
As fan footage disseminated online, Georgiou insisted she won’t sue and defended the singer and said the incident was the “best moment of my life.”
 

We actively forget as we learn

We actively forget as we learn

They say that once you’ve learned to ride a bicycle, you never forget how to do it. But new research suggests that while learning, the brain is actively trying to forget. The study, by scientists at EMBL and University Pablo Olavide in Sevilla, Spain, is...

Your brain might be hard-wired for altruism

Your brain might be hard-wired for altruism

It’s an age-old quandary: Are we born “noble savages” whose best intentions are corrupted by civilization, as the 18th century Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau contended? Or are we fundamentally selfish brutes who need civilization to rein in...

Psychedelic Mushroom Compound Found to Grow and Repair Brain Cells

They are known as psilocybin mushrooms, shrooms, magic mushrooms, and so forth but they are not known as medicine.  Though it is a natural plant it is been banned by the U.S. Government, but it may hold medicinal properties.  These mushrooms might find their place on the natural medicine shelves has they have the abilities eradicate mental illness, improve cognition, and treat depression.
The University of South Florida as released research stating that the active component in psychedelic mushrooms, psilocybin, is the ability to grow new brain cells.  
The study was published in Experimental Brain Research and states the psilocybin can attach to receptors in the brain that specializes in growth and healing.  Researchers found that psilocybin helped mice relieve or even cure depression and PTSD while repairing damaged brain cells.
Dr. Juan R. Sanchez-Ramos, lead researcher, was able to test the effects of psilocybin on mice by training them to fear a noise that is associated with an electric shock.  When given psilocybin, the mice stopped reacting to the noise-trigger at a faster rate than the mice who did not receive the substance.
Dr. Sanchez-Ramos stated that, “The proposition that psilocybin impacts cognition and stimulates hippocampal neurogenesis is based on extensive evidence that serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) acting on specific 5-HT receptor subtypes (most likely the 5-HT2A receptor) is involved in the regulation of neurogenesis in hippocampus,” and continued with, “the in vitro and in vivo animal data is compelling enough to explore whether psilocybin will enhance neurogenesis and result in measurable improvements in learning.”
Psilocybin is a ‘nootropic’ agent, meaning that it can enhance cognitive functions or memory.  The health of the hippocampus, the area of the brain used for converting short-term memory to long-term as well as learning, can be improved by this compound which will lead to an overall healthier brain.
Like marijuana the research on these mushrooms has been limited, but that may change now that a medicinal use has been found.  Though psychedelic mushrooms are in the Schedule I classification of illegal substances we may start to see more research to place them into a medical classification.

Greater use of recycled water would benefit environment, human health

Greater use of recycled water would benefit environment, human health

Expanding the use of recycled water would reduce water and energy use, cut greenhouse gas emissions and benefit public health in California — which is in the midst of a severe drought — and around the world. A new study by the UCLA Fielding School of...

Here’s How The NFL Will Punish This State If It Passes Anti-Gay Law

Here’s How The NFL Will Punish This State If It Passes Anti-Gay Law

Being anti-gay is very bad for business.

‘Newtown’ Documentary Sheds New Light On Gun Violence In America

‘Newtown’ Documentary Sheds New Light On Gun Violence In America

A new documentary on the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Connecticut will make you truly understand the implications of gun violence in America.

Grab Your Popcorn: Ryan Bundy Pretty Much Just Volunteered For Prison

Grab Your Popcorn: Ryan Bundy Pretty Much Just Volunteered For Prison

This wasn’t a very smart move.

Beverly Hills realtor fired for calling Mexicans ‘dirty’ in pro-Dumbass Trump Instagram posts

BUSTED: Beverly Hills realtor fired for calling Mexicans ‘dirty’ in pro-Dumbass Trump Instagram posts

Supporting The Dumbass has consequences and NO Benefits.

Illinois state rep’s daughter arrested for attacking political opponent with a staple gun

Illinois state rep’s daughter arrested for attacking political opponent with a staple gun

Wingnut Elites Declare Total War On Poor White Communities

Wingnut Elites Declare Total War On Poor White Communities

For decades (centuries?), the winguts have perpetuated the myth of white superiority by pointing at black communities that are being crushed by poverty and...

Wingnut Terrorist Planned To Overthrow West Virginia Government With Violent Coup

Wingnut Terrorist Planned To Overthrow West Virginia Government With Violent Coup

This is what Republicans have created by embracing lunatic fringe wingnut extremism. They own this.

Rape Kit-Opposing Sheriff Gives Non-Apology For Calling Most Rapes ‘Consensual Sex’

Rape Kit-Opposing Sheriff Gives Non-Apology For Calling Most Rapes ‘Consensual Sex’

This man has no business being anywhere near sexual assault victims, or in law enforcement at all.

Wingnut Resigns After Arrest For Drugs, Solicitation Of A Minor

Wingnut Resigns After Arrest For Drugs, Solicitation Of A Minor

Wingnut busted trying to sell drugs, have sex with a 14-year-old girl.

What is shocking about all this is that it was a girl and not a boy he was after as wingnuts are wont to do. 

The fact the wingnut solicited a minor is no shock - it is what wingnuts do.

Sorry, Wingnuts: Kids Raised in Same-Sex Households Are Doing Fine

Sorry, Wingnuts: Kids Raised in Same-Sex Households Are Doing Fine

Parents' sexual orientation has no bearing on children's development.

This Proof Of Evolution In Humans Will Make Religio-Wingnut ‘Christians’ Explode With Rage

This Proof Of Evolution In Humans Will Make Religio-Wingnut ‘Christians’ Explode With Rage

Religio-wingnuts constantly insist that there is no proof of human evolution, but after watching this video they might tear their own bodies apart just to...

Early Homo sapiens mated with both Neanderthals and extinct 'Denisovans' species

An exhibit shows the life of a neanderthal family in a cave in the new Neanderthal Museum

Our species, Homo sapiens, has a more adventurous sexual history than previously realized, and all that bed-hopping long ago has left an indelible mark on the human genome.
Scientists said on Friday an analysis of genetic information on about 1,500 people from locations around the world indicated at least four interbreeding episodes tens of thousands of years ago, three with our close cousins the Neanderthals and one with the mysterious extinct human species known as Denisovans.
People living on the remote equatorial islands of Melanesia represented the only population found to possess an appreciable level of Denisovan genetic ancestry. These Melanesians, like most human populations, also had Neanderthal genetic ancestry.
The researchers found some of the genes inherited from these extinct species were beneficial for our species.
Many are involved in the immune system and likely helped protect against pathogens, and some play important roles in skin and hair biology, said University of Washington evolutionary geneticist Joshua Akey, who helped lead the study published in the journal Science.
The researchers analyzed DNA sequences from 35 people living on Northern Island Melanesia off the coast of New Guinea. These Melanesians were found to have about 2 percent Neanderthal ancestry plus an additional genetic contribution of roughly 2 to 4 percent from Denisovans.
The non-African populations studied had roughly 1.5 to 4 percent Neanderthal genetic ancestry, Akey said. African populations do not have either Neanderthal or Denisovan ancestry because those two species were never on that continent.
Denisovans, discovered in the past decade, are known only from a pinky finger bone and two teeth from a northern Siberian cave.
The robust, large-browed Neanderthals prospered across Europe and Asia from about 350,000 years ago until disappearing shortly after 40,000 years ago. Less is known about the Denisovans.
The fact that the only known Denisovan remains come from northern Siberia but that their genetic contribution is seen in people living far away in Melanesia suggests Denisovans had a broad geographic range extending across Asia, Akey said.
Binghamton University molecular anthropologist D. Andrew Merriwether said the researchers also detected a contribution to people’s genome from a fourth, unknown source.
“So this paints a picture of probably at least four species of hominins (our species and extinct human species) alive at the same time and interbreeding at times over the last 100,000 years. Definitely not something most people supposed before 10 years ago,” Merriwether said.

Animal Pictures