CAROLINA NATURALLY: Mar 30, 2016

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Yeah, that's our dogs alright ...!

Carolina Naturally is read in 206 countries around the world daily.

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Today in History

1492		King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sign a decree expelling all Jews from Spain.
1840		“Beau” Brummell, the English dandy and former favorite of the prince regent, dies in a French lunatic asylum for paupers.
1858		Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patents the pencil with an eraser attached on one end.
1867		Russian Baron Stoeckl and U.S. Secretary of State Seward completed the draft of a treaty ceding Alaska to the United States. The treaty is signed the following day.
1870		The 15th amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, passes.
1870		Grant signs bill readmitting Texas to the Union, the last Confederate state readmitted.
1885		In Afghanistan, Russian troops inflict a crushing defeat on Afghan forces Ak Teppe despite orders not to fight.
1909		The Queensboro Bridge in New York opens. It is the first double decker bridge and links Manhattan and Queens.
1916		Mexican bandit Pancho Villa kills 172 at the Guerrero garrison in Mexico.
1936		Britain announces a naval construction program of 38 warships. This is the largest construction program in 15 years.
1941		The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel begins its first offensive against British forces in Libya.
1943		Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration, Oklahoma, opens on Broadway.
1944		The U.S. fleet attacks Palau, near the Philippines.
1945		The Red Army advances into Austria.
1946		The Allies seize 1,000 Nazis attempting to revive the Nazi party in Frankfurt.
1950		President Harry S Truman denounces Joe McCarthy as a saboteur of U.S. foreign policy.
1957		Tunisia and Morocco sign a friendship treaty in Rabat.
1972		Hanoi launches its heaviest attack in four years, crossing the DMZ.
1975		As the North Vietnamese forces move toward Saigon, desperate South Vietnamese soldiers mob rescue jets.
1981		Reagan is shot and wounded in Washington, D.C. by John W. Hinkley Jr.
1987		Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers is bought for $39.85 million.

The Lost City of Benin

While medieval Europe was dealing with feudalism, barbarian invasions, and the plague, the African kingdom of Benin boasted a magnificent city with straight roads, record-breaking fortifications, and even street lamps. The streets, houses, and villages were laid out in a planned fractal design, which went over the heads of visiting Europeans. Benin City, in what is now Nigeria, was a sight to behold.

When the Portuguese first “discovered” the city in 1485, they were stunned to find this vast kingdom made of hundreds of interlocked cities and villages in the middle of the African jungle. They called it the “Great City of Benin”, at a time when there were hardly any other places in Africa the Europeans acknowledged as a city. Indeed, they classified Benin City as one of the most beautiful and best planned cities in the world.
In 1691, the Portuguese ship captain Lourenco Pinto observed: “Great Benin, where the king resides, is larger than Lisbon; all the streets run straight and as far as the eye can see. The houses are large, especially that of the king, which is richly decorated and has fine columns. The city is wealthy and industrious. It is so well governed that theft is unknown and the people live in such security that they have no doors to their houses.”

But the city is no more. It was totally destroyed, and the few vestiges left are mostly ignored. Read the story of Benin City at The Guardian.

Creek-Powered Rotisserie

Do you need to power your rotisserie while camping? Forget a generator. Nature provides all the force you need. Here's a rack of beef ribs rotating on a water wheel. The fire is in a metal pan so that it doesn't get wet.

(Video Link)

Casual Googling suggests that this is not a new idea, though it is a clever one. You can find instructions on how to make your own courtesy of DJ BBQ.

Hospital Patient Turns Her Treatments into Glamour Shots

Going to the see the doctor? That's not icky at all. And Karolyn Gehrig wants you and everyone else to feel that way. That's why she created a series of sensuous and fashionable photos of herself in real-life medical settings. Gehrig calls the project #HospitalGlam.
Dealing with medical issues doesn't make you less beautiful. Gehrig explains:

#HospitalGlam is a movement for and by people with disabilities that started by appropriating fashion imagery and reinserting it into medical environments using bodies that don’t outwardly present as sick or disabled.

One Small Fix To Help People Who Leave Their Jobs To Care For Loved Ones

"This bill would acknowledge that taking care of a child or a parent is work too."

Michigan Wingnuts Pass Law Forcing Women To Buy ‘Rape Insurance’

Michigan Wingnuts Pass Law Forcing Women To Buy ‘Rape Insurance’

Michigan has passed a new laws which requires women to get special ‘rape insurance’ in the state if they want to be covered in the event of sexual assault.

A mere 4% of Michigan voters, with the cooperation of the legislature, just forced a measure onto the state’s women that requires them to get a separate rider on their health insurance if they want abortion coverage. Even if a woman is impregnated through rape or incest, her insurance won’t pay for an abortion unless she already has a rider in place.

Even Michigan's moron Snyder thinks the law is too extreme.

Police left cheeky note after discovering drug dealer’s hidey-hole

When officers with the Metropolitan Police uncovered some hidden drugs in Camden, north London, they left a note behind for whoever left it there.

Sgt Paul Taylor explained a colleague discovered the dealer’s hiding place near the Grand Union Canal and removed the two bags of cannabis on Wednesday.
“Drugs found by the team today in the dealer’s latest sneaky hidey-hole,” he wrote. “Found by PC 'Sniffer' Simmond's snout.”

“This note left in the place of the early seizure from the canal towpath.” A piece of paper with ‘Metropolitan Police Service’ at the head, sported the brief handwritten word: “Unlucky.”

Non-smoking woman forced to pay £650 fine for dropping cigarette in town she’d never been to

A woman from Monmouthshire in Wales was forced to pay a £650 fine for dropping a cigarette butt in Wigan, England, despite not smoking and never visiting the town. Emma Caresimo, 40, from Magor, was "horrified" after a bailiff arrived at her home and threatened to tow her car. She said the "upsetting" ordeal was for an offense committed by someone with her maiden name from Liverpool.

Wigan council said the court instructed the bailiff while HM Courts & Tribunals Service blamed "human error". Mrs Caresimo said she was at home with her three-year-old son when the bailiff clamped her Volkswagen Golf, which he told her was worth £3,700. "I said 'I have never been to Wigan and I don't smoke' but he wasn't having any of it. He didn't believe me and said he'd heard it all before," she explained.
"He said he would take the clamp off only if I paid the outstanding fines of £650. I had no other choice; it was awful." Mrs Caresimo called the police who, on arrival, said the bailiff was working within the law. "They should not be able to get the wrong person like this, it's very distressing," she said. Paul Barton, assistant director of operational services at Wigan council, said: "Following an unpaid fixed penalty notice last year we issued court proceedings to an Emma Smith with a Liverpool address.

"We prosecuted under this Liverpool address and have never issued any proceedings to a Welsh address or instructed any court or bailiff to visit a Welsh property." An HM Courts & Tribunals Service spokeswoman said: "As a result of human error HMCTS wrongly took enforcement action against an individual with the same name and date of birth as an offender. We are deeply sorry for any distress caused by this regrettable incident and have arranged for the money to be refunded. We have taken steps to avoid this happening in future."

Man arrested for egging elderly former neighbor's house more than 100 times

A man from Euclid, Ohio, faces charges that accuse him of egging an elderly former neighbor's house more than 100 times in a single year. Jason E. Kozan, 30, is charged with vandalism in the incidents that happened between May 20, 2014 to June 26, 2015, according to court records. Kozan egged former neighbor Albert Clemens, Sr.'s house more than 100 times.

The attacks damaged Mr Clemens, Sr.'s house and kept his family on edge, he said last year. Mr Clemens, Sr., 85, told how his home had been pelted several times a week in the past, sometimes more than once a day. The eggings usually happened after dark and lasted around 10 minutes. He also said he felt the eggs were somehow being launched at the house. Mr Clemens, Sr. and his wife bought the two-story house 60 years ago.

Although she has since passed away, he still lives there with his 49-year-old daughter and 51-year-old son. Detectives began investigating last year and obtained a warrant to search Kozan's former house. Authorities visited local restaurants and businesses to find the suspect’s supply. They traced the eggs used in the attack to an Amish farm, but weren’t able to link them to anyone. They even tried getting fingerprints, but once the eggs crack, protein dissolves any possible prints.
They eventually found evidence they presented to a prosecutor who ultimately decided to file charges, Euclid Lt. Mike Knack said on Wednesday. Detectives have not identified a motive for the eggings, which largely ceased after Kozan moved out of the neighborhood, Knack said. Judge Deborah LeBarron set bond at $2,000 during Kozan's initial appearance on Tuesday in Euclid Municipal Court. The case will be reviewed by a Cuyahoga County grand jury, police said.

Woman assaulted husband with an onion

A Florida woman was arrested after being accused of throwing an onion at her husband.

The husband of Terri Bramlett, 59, told a Martin County Sheriff’s investigator that Bramlett threw an onion at him during an argument at their home in Palm City.
Bramlett told investigators that “she felt threatened by her husband who was across their living room and threw an onion at him, striking his face.”
The onion injured her husband’s lip. “Bramlett had no signs of injury and only expressed annoyance of our investigation,” an affidavit states. Bramlett was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery.

'Bloody box' labelled ‘human remains’ found at side of road contained a tomato and an onion

A seemingly bloody box marked “human remains” was found at the side of a road in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Thursday morning but contained only a tomato and an onion. Multiple bright labels with the words “medical shipment” and “handle with extreme care” were stamped all over the box and red smears that looked like blood were also on the cardboard container found at about 8am. The red fluid on the outside of the box was not blood.

Horry County police say someone alerted them after they found the box. EMS claimed the box until Horry County Coroner Robert Edge came to the scene and collected it. Now authorities believe the incident could be a prank, according to Lt. Raul Denis with Horry County Police. “I don’t think we’re going to spend the time and resources to investigate something so silly where all we’re looking at is maybe a littering charge,” Denis said.
Denis said police will look at the coroner’s report when it becomes available and determine their next step. The box appeared to be a human waste decontamination box and could have held some type of human medical waste, Edge said before he discovered the two vegetables inside. He opened the box at about 10:30am and examined its contents with Forensic Pathologist Edward Proctor Jr.

Proctor also tested the fluid that looked like blood on the box’s outside and determined it wasn’t. Edge said they hadn’t determined what exactly the fluid was, but said it looked like it may be water mixed with red food coloring. Edge said he wasn’t sure if someone who worked in a medical office simply put trash inside the sealed box and lost it along their route to throw it away, or if the entire situation was a hoax.

Explaining That “Cosmic Ice Sculptures” Photo

You may have seen this image in your Facebook feed or some other internet forum. Or maybe an email from your aunt Gladys. The caption is usually something along the lines of

“Via Hubble: The cosmic "ice sculptures" of the Carina Nebula. Scientists are still trying to explain the beautiful spires.”

But it’s not. Yes, it’s an astronomy image, but it wasn’t taken by Hubble, isn’t the Carina Nebula, and the original doesn’t quite look like that. The finished image is an artwork by Adam Ferriss, who never intended it to be construed as anything else. Bad Astronomer Phil Plait tells the story of a neat image manipulation that took on a fictional life of its own. It’s an example the many things on the internet that turn out to be something other than what it claims, while the true story behind them is interesting anyway.

Inflatable air dancers used to scare off sea lions

Inflatable air dancers placed on the docks at Port of Astoria, Oregon, to scare off sea lions appear to be working. Colorful inflatable air dancers, were placed on the docks and the sea lions moved - initially.

“It’s about as anticipated. We know that were would be initial surprise and random movement and the bright colors we know actually deters the sea lions,” said Rob Evert of the Port of Astoria. The port has attempted several methods of scaring off the animals in the past. Last year’s fake orca whale sank and thrown beach balls, streamers and plastic fencing have all failed.
According to port officials, the sea lions are causing between $100,000 - $150,000 in damages every year. Vanessa Montoya with The Sea Lion Defense League suggests the port let the sea lions stay as they draw tourists who want to see the animals. She said the port could have built new docks with the money they could be charging people to see the sea lions.

YouTube link. Additional YouTube news video.

“These guys are such a huge draw for tourists and we have 24 cruise ships coming to town,” Montoya said. Astoria has been suffering from a sea lion problem as the populations surge at the mouth of the Columbia River. The sea lions are back to eat migrating salmon and this influx of an estimated 25,000 sea lions has the fishing economy in danger. For now, the Port of Astoria is going to wait and see if the air dancers continue to keep the sea lions away.

Police officers rescued miniature horse stuck in cattle grid

Deputies from the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office found themselves making an unusual rescue early on Wednesday morning. A miniature horse somehow got herself stuck in a cattle grid built into a road outside Clarkdale, Arizona.

It was still dark, so drivers were apparently having a hard time seeing the horse. Enlisting the help of a ranch hand and neighbor in the area, YCSO deputies worked to free the little horse.

Although the use of a tractor was considered to help lift the animal, they decided to attempt lifting her out by hand, using straps placed under her mid-section. Luckily, the effort was a success.
Rescuers learned her name was "Coffee" and that she lived on a ranch in the area. The ranch hand returned her to a secure area on the ranch. A large-animal vet arrived a short time later to check on Coffee’s injury. Coffee had a minor flesh wound on one of her legs, apparently caused when she fell into the grid. But otherwise, she was fine.

Puppy was all smiles after being rescued from burning home

A puppy was all smiles after being rescued from his burning home last Friday.
The Baltimore County Fire Department in Maryland responded to a fire that started in an apartment building in Parkville.
Firefighter and EMT Walter Sanders carried the dog out of the home to safety. He was then given some water.
Captain Geoffrey Donahue captured a few photos of the moment and posted the pictures to the Providence Volunteer Fire Department's Facebook page