The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of  
Carolina Naturally

Celebrate ...! 

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 209 countries around the world daily.   

  
Celebrating the Fourth ... !

Today is - Independence Day

You want the unvarnished truth?

Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told

Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Colombia - Mexico - Nicaragua 
Puerto Rico - Sint Eustatius and Saba - United States - Venezuela
Europe
Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - England - Finland 
France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Italy - Latvia - Malta 
Moldova - Montenegro - Netherlands - Portugal - Romania - Russia 
San Marino - Scotland - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden 
Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Burma - Cambodia - China - Hong Kong - India - Indonesia - Japan 
Korea - Mauritius - Pakistan - Saudi Arabia - Singapore - Sri Lanka
Thailand -  United Arab Emirates - Vietnam
Africa
Somalia
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines

Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.

Today in History

1712		12 slaves are executed for starting a uprising in New York that killed nine whites.
1776		The amended Declaration of Independence, prepared by Thomas Jefferson, is approved and signed by John Hancock–President of the Continental Congress–and Charles Thomson, Congress secretary. The state of New York abstains from signing.
1817		Construction begins on the Erie Canal, to connect Lake Erie and the Hudson River.
1826		Two of America’s founding fathers–Thomas Jefferson and John Adams–die.
1831		The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, dies at the age of 73.
1845		Henry David Thoreau begins his 26-month stay at Walden Pond.
1855		Walt Whitman publishes the first edition of Leaves of Grass at his own expense.
1861		Union and Confederate forces skirmish at Harpers Ferry.
1862		Charles Dodgson first tells the story of Alice’s adventures down the rabbit hole during a picnic along the Thames.
1863		The Confederate town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant.
1881		Billy the Kid is shot dead in New Mexico.
1894		After seizing power, Judge Stanford B. Dole declares Hawaii a republic.
1895		The poem America the Beautiful is first published.
1901		William H. Taft becomes the American governor of the Philippines.
1910		Race riots break out all over the United States after African American Jack Johnson knocks out Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match.
1931		Novelist James Joyce and Nora Barnacle are married in London after being together for 26 years.
1934		Boxer Joe Louis wins his first professional fight.
1946		The United States grants the Philippine Islands their independence.
1960		The 50-star flag makes its debut in Philadelphia.
1976		An Israeli raid at Entebbe airport in Uganda rescues 105 hostages.

College Professor Attends Staff Meeting Naked, Colleagues Pretend Not to Notice

(Victoria Bateman)

Dr. Victoria Bateman teaches economics at Cambridge University in the UK. She has a strong opinion about a current political controversy in Britain. So before walking into a meeting of 30 colleagues to discuss teaching materials and course curricula, she stripped off her top and wrote a message across her breasts.
Bateman's nudity was not a distraction. If these academics even noticed it, they gave no sign. The Telegraph  reports:

A source who took part in the meeting told the Daily Telegraph: “It is well known to the faculty that she has posed naked but obviously the behaviour here was different. One thing is to pose naked and another to show up naked.
“This was a standard meeting about the teaching of economics and we moved away from her state of dress. We remained silent on that issue and managed to get through the agenda in the meeting.”

If seeing Bateman's breasts made any impression on the chair of the meeting, it was only a practical one:

Nigel Knight, director of studies at Churchill College and the chair of the meeting, glanced at her and then said to his secretary: “I think we need some cups for the coffee” and everyone else just stared straight ahead.

Van Halen’s “No brown M&M’s” contract rider

The 1970’s saw the rise of Van Halen. Like every band, when Van Halen was hired to play a show, they provided the promoter with a contract “rider” that outlined specific things the promoter would be responsible for. Standard riders include sound and lighting requirements, instructions for the set up of the backstage area, security needs and nutritional requests for the band and crew.
Buried amongst dozens of points in Van Halen’s rider was an odd stipulation that there were to be no brown M&M’s candies in the backstage area. If any brown M&M’s were found backstage, the band could cancel the entire concert at the full expense of the promoter. That meant that because of a single candy, a promoter could lose millions.
For decades this stood as a humiliating act of self-indulgence, a rock band forcing someone to search through candy, removing every last brown one, for no apparent reason.
In now-departed arenas such as Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, the original Boston Garden and Chicago Stadium, Van Halen was loading in massive amounts of staging, sound equipment and lighting. Unfortunately, these buildings were never built to accommodate a rock band of Van Halen’s scope. Without specific guidelines, old floors could buckle and collapse, beams could rupture, and the lives of the band, their crew and fans could be at serious risk.
To ensure the promoter had read every single word in the contract, the band created the “no brown M&M’s” clause. It was a canary in a coalmine to indicate that the promoter may have not paid attention to other more important parts of the rider, and that there could be other bigger problems at hand.
Whenever the band found brown M&M’s candies backstage, they immediately did a complete line check, inspecting every aspect of the sound, lighting and stage setup to make sure it was perfect. David Lee Roth would also trash the band’s dressing room to prove a point – reinforcing his reputation in the process.
Van Halen created a seemingly silly clause to make sure that every little detail was taken care of. It was important, both for the experience of the fans and the safety of the band, to make sure that no little problems created bigger issues.

A Rare Smile

It’s pretty rare to see someone from the 19th century smiling in a photograph, and even rarer to see a Native American from the era with a big smile. But this young lady is beaming! According to DrColdReality,

The girl's name is written in the lower left: O-o-be, and she's a Kiowa. The photo was taken in 1894. Background, dress, and physical appearance of the image are all period-authentic.
Smiles were still somewhat rare in photos from that era.

Old Vase Used as a Doorstop Sells for $860,000

According to the family, it had been acquired by a now-deceased relative in the 1930s. For many years, the vase was used as a doorstop at their home in Birmingham, UK.
But this is no ordinary vase. It's Chinese porcelain dating back to the reign of the Quianlong Emperor (1711-1799). It may have been made in the Imperial kilns for the Emperor's summer home. Hansons Auctioneers sold it to a buyer for the equivalent of $850,000 USD. You can read more about it at the Huffington Post.

Man has invented omnidirectional wheels that can make cars move sideways

The age of parallel parking may soon be over thanks to a literal reinvention of the wheel by Canadian man William Liddiard.
“True all-way drive for anything with wheels,” Liddiard, from London, Ontario, says about his successful prototype of “omnidirectional” wheels, a specialized rim and tire that can allow any car the ability to move sideways.
The tire is rounded like a doughnut and sits within a specialized roller-equipped rim that can move the tire horizontally. The result is a wheel that can allow any car to “crab” side to side. “This is a world first bolt-on application for anything with wheels,” says Liddiard.

YouTube link.

“Now you can drive in all directions, and turn on the spot, when needed.” The wheels are merely a “proof of concept” prototype, but Liddiard asserts that his design would allow them to be made as durable and safe as standard automotive wheels. He is currently seeking to sell the technology to a major tire or automotive company.

Fertility Doctors Grow the Eggs of a 2-Year Old Girl

The ravages of cancer treatments can leave a woman infertile. That's why doctors at Oxford University in the UK extracted ovarian tissue from a toddler, then incubated the eggs until they were mature. These eggs can be frozen for future pregnancies once the child grows up.
It's a revolutionary new treatment that's being called "the holy grail of fertility treatments." It offers new hope to prepubescent girls with cancer. The Telegraph reports:

Prof Tim Child, from Oxford University, said: “Cancer treatment can be very successful but the drugs can completely damage the ovaries. This gives hope to young girls who could otherwise be sterilized by chemotherapy or radiotherapy.”
“It’s extremely exciting because it's two simultaneous approaches showing effect,” he said.
While the process was able to identify the most mature of the immature eggs, which were then incubated overnight, to assist their survival, he said he was hopeful that in future, scientists would be able to expand the technique to retrieve thousands more specimens.

How to cope with anxiety, depression without taking meds

Surge in outsourcing wipes out middle-class jobs

Surge in outsourcing wipes out middle-class jobs

Utah Mormon Attempts To Block A Monumental Gift To the American People

Utah Mormon Attempts To Block A Monumental Gift To the American People

The Park Service is set to receive a 87,500 acre donation of pristine land in the Maine Woods from a non-profit organization. Wingnuts say NO!…

North Carolina wingnuts adjourn for the year leaving anti-transgender law unchanged

North Carolina wingnuts adjourn for the year leaving anti-transgender law unchanged

‘Is Lady Liberty a man?’

‘Is Lady Liberty a man?’: Fox worries France ‘pulled a fast one’ with transgender Statue of Liberty

What Idiots!

What does it matter and more importantly, who cares?

Some people really do need to get a life!

Online bigots beware: ‘Hello Racist’ is going to expose you on the Internet

Online bigots beware: ‘Hello Racist’ is going to expose you on the Internet

Hello Bigot shines a light on the racists among us — allowing followers to spread the word via social media of the not-so-secret lives of folks who can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to posting hateful memes and horrific comments.

Lesbian couple still threatened 3 years after being denied cake

Lesbian couple still threatened 3 years after being denied cake

Woman arrested after allegedly threatening neighbor with gun in missing duck dispute

A woman from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of threatening her neighbor with a pistol over a dispute about a missing duck.

According to the Manitowoc Police Department, Sarah Schisel, 69, approached her neighbor at around 7:20pm to prove she did not have his pet duck.
Schisel wanted her neighbor, a 36-year-old man, to search her garage and see that his duck was not on her property. She then drew a pistol from her shirt pocket and pointed it toward his stomach.
The neighbor reacted by disarming Schisel and pushing her to the ground. Schisel later told police she was aware that bullets were in the gun and that the gun safety was off. She was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment and carrying a concealed weapon.

Man accused of repeatedly punching friend because he did not eat his Ramen noodles

A man repeatedly punched his friend for refusing to eat some Ramen noodles, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Brian Douglas Hunter had cooked the noodles at about 11:30pm on Thursday inside a home in Brecknock Township.
Hunter, 23, became angry when his friend refused to eat them and punched him in the right eye 10 to 15 times, state police said.
The victim, Mark Bruce Capwell, 20, suffered bruises, swelling and a one-inch cut under his right eye. Hunter was charged with simple assault and harassment.

Cat and bear have formed an unlikely friendship

A feral cat and a black bear at a zoo in California have formed an unlikely bond. The two furry black mammals have become inseparable at the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary after the cat moved in.

Zookeepers have called the cat "Little Bear," because of how she trails behind the 550-pound bear, Sequoia. Zoo officials said the feral cat showed up at the zoo a few years ago and set up her residency with the black bears, Sequoia and Tahoe.
The cat took a special liking to Sequoia, they said. "The cat pretty much ignored female Tahoe, but apparently the female cat is working to becoming male bear Sequoia’s new best friend," the zoo said. Often when Sequoia takes a hike through the 'bear forest' his cat friend walks with him.

YouTube link.

Although the cat moved in with the bear a few years ago, the unlikely animal friendship has only recently started getting attention. The animal sanctuary has officially become Little Bear's home, and the feral cat no longer lives off of rodents but receives a bowl of canned cat food every day at feeding time.

Brave bunny spotted battling with sinister snake

An employee of City of Golden in Colorado was able to capture footage of a battle between a rabbit and a bull snake.

The employee, who was a safe distance away, filmed the video from a deck looking down along one of the city's trails on Thursday afternoon.
The battle between snake and rabbit went several rounds before the snake slithered back into the prairie grasses alongside the path.

YouTube link.

The City wrote on its Facebook page that perhaps the rabbit was protecting some babies nearby. "Either way, it seems like the bunny won this round," the city determined.
You can watch the full Facebook video here.

Animal Pictures