The Daily Drift

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Today in History

757		Stephen II ends his reign as catholic pope.
1478		Pazzi conspirators attack Lorenzo and kill Giuliano de’ Medici.
1514		Copernicus makes his first observations of Saturn.
1564		William Shakespeare is baptized.
1607		The British establish a colony at Cape Henry, Virginia.
1865		Joseph E. Johnston surrenders the Army of Tennessee to General William T. Sherman.
1915		Second Lieutenant William Rhodes-Moorhouse becomes the first airman to win the Victoria Cross after conducting a successful bombing raid.
1929		The first non-stop flight from England to India is completed.
1931		New York Yankee Lou Gehrig hits a home run but is called out for passing a runner, the mistake ultimately costs him the home run record.
1937		The ancient Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain is bombed by German planes.
1941		The first organ is played at a baseball stadium in Chicago.
1968		Students seize the administration building at Ohio State University.
1983		The Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks 1,200 for first time.
1986		The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl power plant in the Soviet Union.
1994		Nelson Mandela wins the presidency in South Africa’s first multiracial elections.

There be dragons?

Creatures you might find on a real journey to the center of the Earth

Young Farmers Are Aiming to Change the Face of Local Farming

Young Farmers Are Aiming to Change the Face of Local Farming

10 Famous Voice Actors Who Helped Shape Hollywood

You probably don't know their faces, but millions of people know their voices better than they do the voices of their own family. For nearly the past century, these performers brought life to iconic cartoon characters and excited audiences about upcoming films and shows, all without having to spend any time in the hair and makeup department.

The Mainstream Media’s Big Disconnect

The Mainstream Media’s Big Disconnect: Why They Don’t Get Middle America

It Takes A Village To Bully A Transgender Kindergartner

It Takes A Village To Bully A Transgender Kindergartner

Chris Wallace destroys myth of transgender predators

Chris Wallace destroys myth of transgender predators: ‘This is a solution in search of a problem’

Alabama preacher says sex is the biggest reason for homelessness, abuse and lowers your IQ

Alabama preacher says sex is the biggest reason for homelessness, abuse and lowers your IQ

A preacher in Alabama wants you to know that sex will kill your brain cells, make you homeless and was brought by Dog as a means of punishing people.

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The County Home called: Your padded room is ready.

Man has built a giant windmill as 50th wedding anniversary present for his wife

It took Dutch immigrants Theo and Jeanne Zoetemelk about four years to get the permits, but they finally have a 40-foot windmill at their home in Norco, California.

Years ago Theo promised his wife he would build her a windmill for her garden. She was happy with the the scale model he made for her.
However, she was surprised when he told her he was planning a full-size version. With some help from friends, the retired boat builder has finally put up the last sail.
The windmill, a 50th wedding anniversary present, has gears and a generator inside. When fully operational, Theo says it will produce eight kilowatts of electricity.

City installs floor traffic lights for preoccupied phone users

A German city has come up with an innovative way of saving the skin of preoccupied phone users, by embedding traffic lights in the pavement. In the age of the smartphone, wide-eyed tourists and dead-eyed local commuters alike are spending ever more time gawping into a screen as they wander around town, and ever less time paying attention to the world around them.
The phenomenon has even been given its own German name, “smombie” - a combination of smartphone and zombie - which was voted “youth word of the year” in 2015. In March, a 15-year-old girl in Munich was run over by a tram while looking at her smartphone with headphones in. She was dragged along by the train and died. In nearby Augsburg, meanwhile, on two recent occasions pedestrians have been hit by the quiet electric street trains while looking at their phones, but both luckily came away with only light injuries.
The city of Augsburg in Bavaria have now decided that it’s time to act, and has installed ground level traffic lights to warn people who are looking down at their screens that a tram is approaching. The lights have been in operation at two tram stops in the city since Tuesday and flash red when a tram is approaching or when the normal traffic light turns red. Tobias Harms for the city administration said: “We realized that the normal traffic light isn’t in the line of sight of many pedestrians these days.

YouTube link.

“So we decided to have an additional set of lights - the more we have, the more people are likely to notice them.” Locals seem to be largely pleased with the innovation, with one saying: “I think it makes sense. One always sees young people these days running over red lights. This makes it more obvious that you need to stop.” But another local couldn’t help feeling a sense of angst at what this said about modern society. “I find it scary that smartphone users are so addicted that they need to install lights in the ground so that they notice the tram coming,” he said.

Officials say city's most experienced employees will be assigned to painting straight lines

A borough of Montreal, Canada, is calling on its most experienced workers to paint straight lines. Cyclists have been complaining about linearly challenged bike paths in the Plateau, Ahuntsic and Rosemont–La Petite–Patrie.

The squiggly lines are the work of crews from Rosemont–La Petite–Patrie, which is responsible for tracing bike paths around the city. Officials from the borough issued a new release on Friday promising it will straighten things out.
Workers will be dispatched in the coming days to re-paint the paths. "The most experienced employees will be assigned to those streets that are more difficult to paint," the borough said. "A reminder session about alignment techniques will also be conducted with the concerned personel."
In all, more than 90 blue-collar employees will be re-trained in painting straight lines. At the same time, however, the borough is unsure how it will remove the existing, crooked lines. Borough staff are looking at various possibilities with experts.

Mother says she was investigated for letting children play alone in her backyard

A mother from Winnipeg, Canada, says she was investigated by Child and Family Services simply for letting her children play in her backyard. Jacqui Kendrick, a stay-at-home mother, says a CFS worker showed up unexpectedly at her door in early April. The worker told her they were doing a “well-being check” after receiving a complaint about her children being left unsupervised. Kendrick has three children ages two, five and 10, who love to play in the family’s backyard after school. The backyard is fully fenced in, with a wood fence covering three sides, and a portion of the front covered by a chain link fence and gate.

Kendrick says she's always either with her kids or looking in on them from her living room windows. She says she feels “completely comfortable” letting her kids play outside. “We’ve taught both the (older) kids so far that you look after each other. That’s kind of the point. The older ones should be looking after the younger ones,” Kendrick said. “My 10-year-old is very responsible. We’ve taught the older ones already the whole stranger danger, and they know what to do. When my five-year-old’s out there, she knows she’s not supposed to go up to the gates.”
Still, the worker with the CFS, the provincial body that apprehends abused and neglected children, insisted she was obligated to investigate and ask a few more questions. “We had to go through a whole interview asking so many questions, asking me about if we’ve ever dealt with CFS before, what my childhood was like, how I punish my children, whether we drink or do drugs... She had to look to see where my kids slept. She had to see if we had enough food in the house,” Kendrick said. “The whole time I’m sitting there, pretty much in tears, because I couldn't understand what was going on."

YouTube link.

She said the worker seemed to feel that everything was fine and she’s heard nothing further from them. Still, Kendrick doesn’t understand why whoever called authorities didn’t speak to her directly. “If you really had a concern, you could have knocked on my door,” she said. Manitoba's Child and Family Services Act states a child 12 or older can be left home alone unsupervised; it doesn't mention anything about children unsupervised in a backyard. In a statement, a spokesperson said the CFS is obligated to follow up on all reports of children at risk. No one would speak specifically about this case.. Now, Kendrick worries that her name is on CFS files, and that further complaints could lead to her kids being taken away. “Anyone else ever wants to complain for any reason, there's always going to be a file there,” she said.

Attorney threatens to sue restaurant after it failed to serve him soup

Benji Arslanovksi has spent most of his adult life in the restaurant business, but he has never seen anything like this. "Not this. Definitely a first," he said. Last weekend, he says a customer at the Our Place Restaurant in Mansfield, North Texas, became upset when he ordered the Saturday special but wasn't given a cup of soup.
The special usually includes an entree, two sides and the soup. "I mean the soup is great,” Arslanovski said. “People love it.” But he says it's pretty well understood that the soup is a "freebie," kind of like a pickle. Arslanovksi even makes sure it's clearly spelled out on the restaurant's menu that the soup is only served "while supplies last." The customer didn't want to accept that, he says.

"He was upset we wouldn't substitute some veggies or a side item for his soup," said the owner. On Thursday, a demand letter from attorney Dwain Downing arrived, saying he wanted $2.25 in damages and $250 in attorney's fees, or that the restaurant would be sued. It turns out, Downing was the customer. In the letter, Downing says the menu is an offer of a contract, and that the restaurant uses a deceptive trade practice.
The letter demands that restaurant respond within 10 days. "I really don't know what to think," said Arslanovksi. "I mean, it's a cup of soup." Contacted on Friday, Downing said he thinks the restaurant should prepare for running out of soup if it happens regularly. He conceded the menus state the soup is only available "while supplies last." "I contacted my own attorney,” Arslanovski said. “I think he thought I was joking.”

Dental hygiene hoodlum hunted by police

Police are looking for a man accused of stealing teeth whitening kits from stores all around Franklin County, Ohio. The Columbus City Attorney’s office says that in the last two months, Sean Patrick Burk has racked up six theft charges, three open cases, two guilty pleas and two arrest warrants.

The only targets of the thefts are boxes of Crest White Strips. The City Attorney’s Office has dubbed Burk the “Dental Hygiene Hoodlum.” “Serial thieves generally target certain items but it is unusual for us to see such brand loyalty where an offender only steals large quantities of a single product, over and over again,” said Columbus City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer, Jr.

On February 3, 2016, Burk is accused of stealing seven boxes of Crest White Strips valued at $420 from a Polaris area store. According to police, Burk fled with an accomplice in a beige-colored sedan. Burk allegedly returned to the same store the next day and stole 14 more boxes worth a total value of $610, according to the City Attorney’s office. Burk is also accused of stealing the white strips from stores in Grove City, Easton and an Ohio State area pharmacy.
“Mr Burk has stolen so many teeth whitening strips, he may be literally on his way to having a million-dollar smile,” said First Assistant City Prosecutor Bill R. Hedrick. “However, we believe it’s more likely he’s not using the white strips personally, but selling them on the black market to feed a drug habit.” The City Attorney’s office asks that anyone with information on Sean Patrick Burk contact them.

Pink Moon?

Pink Moon? More Like Mini-Moon

The 'pink moon' is named after flowers, but the moon, itself, will appear to be smaller than usual because it is at its furthest point from the Earth.

'Axion-like Particles' Probably Not a Dark Matter Answer

'Axion-like Particles' Probably Not a Dark Matter Answer

Astronomers are highly aware that the vast majority of matter in our universe is invisible, or 'dark.' So what the heck is it? Well, now we have a good idea as to what it probably isn't.

Fox Airhead Says Stuffed Armadillo Disproves Climate Change

Fox Airhead Says Stuffed Armadillo Disproves Climate Change

During an April 24 Fox News segment, climate-change denial 'expert' Marc Morano unveiled top secret proof that 97 percent of real scientists are wrong about...

Police called to report of domestic dispute found man arguing with his pet parrot

A man from Ontario, Canada, was visited by police earlier this week while he was spending a night at home with his pet parrot.

Police in Brighton, between Toronto and Kingston, said they were originally called to a home at 8pm on Tuesday after neighbors heard what they believed to be a domestic dispute. Northumberland OPP Const. Steve Bates said the neighbors knew the home was usually occupied by a couple.
But police found only one person when they arrived. "They heard him yelling and saying, 'I hope you die," and so on and so forth," Bates said. "So we attended and we located the male of the household alone in the house screaming at his pet parrot who apparently was 'beaking off' at him, in his words."

The man had been drinking, Bates said, adding that the parrot did not appear to be hurt in any way. Police did not lay any charges. Bates described the call as a "very interesting" one for attending officers, adding such incidents sometimes create a welcome diversion. "These are the kinds of stories that police run into all the time," he said. "It just adds some levity to the job."

Animal Pictures