The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of  
Carolina Naturally

Tragically  ...! 

 

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Today in History

363		Roman Emperor Julian dies, ending the Pagan Revival.
1743		English King George II defeats the French at Dettingen, Bavaria.
1833		Prudence Crandall, a white woman, is arrested for conducting an academy for black women in Canterbury, Conn.
1862		Confederates break through the Union lines at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill–the third engagement of the Seven Days’ campaign.
1864		General William Sherman is repulsed by Confederates at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
1871		The yen becomes the new form of currency in Japan.
1905		The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin mutinies.
1918		Two German pilots are saved by parachutes for the first time.
1923		Yugoslav Premier Nikola Pachitch is wounded by Serb attackers in Belgrade.
1924		Democrats offer Mrs. Leroy Springs the vice presidential nomination, the first woman considered for the job.
1927		The U.S. Marines adopt the English bulldog as their mascot.
1929		Scientists at Bell Laboratories in New York reveal a system for transmitting television pictures.
1942		The Allied convoy PQ-17 leaves Iceland for Murmansk and Archangel.
1944		Allied forces capture the port city of Cherbourg, France.
1950		The UN Security Council calls on members for troops to aid South Korea.
1963		Henry Cabot Lodge is appointed U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam.
1973		Nixon vetoes a Senate ban on the Cambodia bombing.
1985		The U.S. House of Representatives votes to limit the use of combat troops in Nicaragua.

The Deep-Fried Burger

Considering how much we report on fair food, the title might make you think that this is an entire hamburger -bun and all- breaded and deep-fried on a stick as an extreme dish. No, this is a method for cooking your hamburger patties that’s been around for at least 100 years. You can do it at home to make the same kind of burgers your family expects. It began at Dyer’s in Memphis.

In my travels throughout the United States I have since discovered other deep-fried burger joints, stands, and carts, and they all share one very important component—rich hamburger history. The method for deep-frying burgers was actually born of laziness: an accident-turned-tradition. One day, in around 1912, Elmer Dyer was too busy to drain the skillet he was using to cook burgers. Eventually the rendered fat became a deep pool of grease. Elmer discovered that if he strained the grease and used it to cook with, the result was actually a better-tasting burger.
Now I know what you are thinking—“Yikes! I’m not eating a deep-fried burger!” But trust me, you should, and you will. The deep-fried burger cooks in just 1 minute and, if the temperature of the oil is just right, the patty deflects most of the oil. These factors allow the patty to retain a moist composition and lend it a slightly crispy exterior.

The method is not difficult, but may take a little practice. That means more cheeseburgers! The instructions are at Lucky Peach.

House on fire swept away in floodwaters

A house burning ferociously was washed away in floodwaters on Thursday afternoon in the worst floods to hit West Virginia in a century.

Amanda Carper posted the video to Facebook with the message: "Please everyone pray!!! We are stuck in the car with our precious dogs". The flaming house brushed past trees before colliding with a bridge in White Sulphur Springs.
"Please pray for our neighbors. They are trapped in their attic with small children," Ms Carper added. "Our other neighbors are on their kitchen counter." Ms Carper later wrote that she is now safe at a friend's home.

YouTube link. Amanda Carper's original Facebook video.

At least 20 people have died in the flooding, and hundreds more rescued from homes filling up with water. National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira said West Virginia had received a quarter of its annual rainfall in a single day.

Inventing the Beach ...

The Unnatural History of a Natural Place

Going to the beach for a vacation is a common, but relatively recent, practice. Throughout most of history, the seashore was a place to be feared, with sea monsters, pirates, and destructive storms. The people that lived and worked there knew different, but they didn’t think of the beach as a treat, either. How did all that change? Historian Alain Corbin fills us in.

Around the mid-18th century, according to Corbin, European elites began touting the curative qualities of fresh air, exercise and sea bathing. Especially in Britain, home of the Industrial Revolution, aristocrats and intellectuals became preoccupied with their own health and hygiene. They viewed workers, whose numbers were multiplying in factories and new industrial towns, as strengthened through labor. By comparison, the upper classes seemed fragile and effete: lacking in physical prowess and destined for decline. The notion of the “restorative sea” was born. Physicians prescribed a plunge into chilly waters to invigorate and enliven. The first seaside resort opened on England’s eastern shore in the tiny town of Scarborough near York. Other coastal communities followed, catering to a growing clientele of sea bathers seeking treatment for a number of conditions: melancholy, rickets, leprosy, gout, impotence, tubercular infections, menstrual problems and “hysteria.” In an earlier version of today’s wellness culture, the practice of sea bathing went mainstream.

The view of the beach as a restful, restorative place took some time to spread to other places and classes. But there have been consequences of our fascination with beach getaways, both culturally and environmentally. Read about the history of beach vacations at Smithsonian.

Self-steering ships likely to be in commercial use by 2020

'It's not if, it's when': Self-steering ships likely to be in commercial use by 2020 

Jack Daniel was taught by minister’s slave how to distill signature whiskey

Jack Daniel was taught by minister’s slave how to distill signature whiskey

The company had previously stated that Daniel was taught by a Lutheran minister, Dan Call, when he was 15 years old.

An Investigation of Asparagus Pee

It has been noticed for centuries -if not longer- that eating asparagus gives one’s urine a distinctive smell. Describing the smell is a problem, though. Some people (Proust) liked it, others didn’t (Ben Franklin), while some have never encountered the smell. Those who recognize it just call it “asparagus pee smell.” And there’s some difference in our knowledge as to whether everyone produces the smell after eating the vegetable, and whether everyone has the ability to detect it, particularly since smelling urine is a subject many people just don’t talk about.

One thing most scientists agree on: asparagusic acid (which, as its name suggests, is only found in asparagus) is metabolized into sulfur-containing compounds, like methanethiol—the most prominent smell in your asparagus pee. These chemicals usually have a low boiling point, becoming smelly gases at room temperature, and hitting us in the face with that familiar odor.
But who makes asparagus pee, and who smells it?
According to Professor John H. McDonald in the biology department at University of Delaware, a 1980 study found that all participants produced asparagus pee, but only some smelled it. A 1987 study found the opposite; only some participants produced asparagus pee, but everyone could smell the difference. And a 1989 study found that 103 French people all produced asparagus pee and all of them identified it as stinky.

Then there are the people who aren’t sure which category they fall in, because they don’t like asparagus and don’t prepare it for the family. Read more about the effects of asparagus on urine at First We Feast.

How George Orwell's Dystopian Novel '1984' Illuminates the U.S.'s Endless War on Terror

How George Orwell's Dystopian Novel '1984' Illuminates the U.S.'s Endless War on Terror

Diagnosed with nonexistence ...

Diagnosed with nonexistence: How bias deprives medicine of integrity

What kind of a society is willing to kill its neighbors and loved ones just because they don’t understand?

Pentagon To Repeal Ban On Transgender Troops

Pentagon To Repeal Ban On Transgender Troops

Teen held on $6 million bail for nightclub attack with a paintball gun

Teen held on $6 million bail for nightclub attack with a paintball gun — on same day as Orlando

Texas Supreme Court Rules That 'Christian' Parents Can Keep Their Kids Stupid

Texas Supreme Court Rules That 'Christian' Parents Can Keep Their Kids Stupid

The Texas Supreme Court basically just ruled in favor of what amounts to child abuse and neglect and the people of Texas should be embarrassed.

Hate Crimes Against LGBTQ People Are a Public Health Issue

Hate Crimes Against LGBTQ People Are a Public Health Issue

Tennessee judge says only husbands — not women — get parental rights in same-sex divorce

Tennessee judge says only husbands — not women — get parental rights in same-sex divorce

Fourth Circuit Court Judge Greg McMillan ruled that because Erica Witt “has no biological relationship with this child, [she] has no contractual relationship with this child.”

Copulating couple on arch of bridge shut down Autobahn

A drunk 28-year-old man and his equally inebriated 18-year-old girlfriend clambered onto one of the arches of the Kaiserlei Bridge in Frankfurt, Germany, at around 11am on Thursday.
“They didn’t just enjoy the view,” according to police. Drivers approaching the bridge, which crosses the Main river, spotted the couple and alerted the local police.
Officers decided they would have to close down two lanes of the Autobahn in order to make room for the ladders which fire services used to approach the love-makers.
Shortly after, the firemen managed to bring the pair back to the ground, and within 20 minutes traffic was running as normal. After taking down their details, officers sent the couple away with an order not to return to the scene of the crime.

Man who broke into home before eating a piece of string cheese and passing out arrested

A man was arrested after breaking into a woman's home in Roseburg, Oregon, on Wednesday.

Police say Michael Ray Dimock, from Roseburg, climbed onto the garage overhang at the residence and broke two windows and three window screens.
"He entered through one of the windows, ate a piece of string cheese from the refrigerator and passed out on the living room floor from intoxication," police said.
29-year-old Dimock was charged with Burglary I, Theft III and Criminal Mischief II and lodged at the Douglas County Jail.

Man arrested after attempting to scan his genitals at grocery store

A Seattle man is facing an indecent exposure charge after allegedly attempting to scan his genitals at a grocery store on Wednesday afternoon. According to police, Christian Fisher, 31, entered the Quality Food Center market in Capitol Hill at around 5pm and proceeded to a self-checkout scanner. He then summoned over a female employee, a Seattle Police Department report states.

When the woman approached Fisher, officers noted, “she saw that his penis was out on the stand.” The employee said she “reacted with surprise,” which caused Fisher to laugh. A male employee said that when he saw his female coworker “reacting to something on the checkout stand,” he “walked over to see what the issue was.” The “issue,” he told police, was Fisher’s penis, which was “resting on top of the scanner.”
The suspect, the report notes, “was laughing and did not make any attempts to stow away his blatantly exposed genitalia.” Fisher fled the business before police arrived, but he returned several hours later and was confronted by workers who recognized him from the earlier incident. Fisher, officers say, ignored employee demands that he leave the store and got into a shoving match with security trying to escort him from the premises.
Police subsequently apprehended Fisher about a block from the store. Told that he was under arrest for indecent exposure, Fisher “became agitated and yelled ‘I didn’t whip my cock out!’” He was later booked into the county jail on the misdemeanor count and an assault rap. According to jail records, Fisher’s arrest on Wednesday night was his fourth this month. He has previously faced on burglary, assault, and obstruction charges.

Birds in Scotland Are Stealing Skinny Dippers' Underwear

A swimming hole in an isolated party of Angus, Scotland is popular with local skinny dippers. It's also a hunting ground for red kites who nest nearby. Lately, they've been waiting for the humans to get naked and into the water, then stealing their clothes. The Herald reports that these birds appear to have a special affinity for high fashion branded underpants, which they use as nesting material:

Gamekeeper Dave Clement last year found that a pair of red kites on his estate at Gannochy in Glen Esk near Edzell had stolen pants and socks from a popular local wild swimming spot, to to use in the building of their nest. […]
Dave Clement, member of the Angus Glens Moorland Group, said it appeared that the Kites had become more discerning in 2016, choosing branded undergarments.
“The licences ringer who went up the tree to the nest said there were Armani pants and another brand as well as socks, which they must have pinched off the swimmers at the local gorge.
“It seems they will take anything to line the nest, then lay the eggs on top, and someone must have gone home minus some underwear.

Animal Pictures