The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of  
Carolina Naturally

Sleep we all need it ...! 

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 210 countries around the world daily.   

  
Roller Coaster Ride ... !

Today is - National Roller Coaster 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 - Barbados - Bolivia - Brazil - Canada - Dominican Republic 
Mexico - Nicaragua - Peru - Puerto Rico - United States - Venezuela
Europe
Austria - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Czech Republic 
England - Finland - France - Germany - Hungary - Ireland - Italy 
Latvia - Montenegro - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal 
Romania - Russia - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain 
Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Bangladesh - Brunei - China - Hong Kong - India - Indonesia 
Israel - Japan - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius - Nepal - Pakistan 
Saudi Arabia - Sri Lanka - Taiwan - Thailand - Vietnam
Africa
Libya - South Africa - Tunisia - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia - New Zealand - Philippines

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

Today in History

1513		Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian defeat the French at Guinegatte, France, in the Battle of the Spurs.
1777		France declares a state of bankruptcy.
1780		American troops are badly defeated by the British at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina.
1812		American General William Hull surrenders Detroit without resistance to a smaller British force under General Issac Brock.
1858		U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain’s Queen Victoria exchange messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line.
1861		Union and Confederate forces clash near Fredericktown and Kirkville, Missouri.
1863		Union General William S. Rosecrans moves his army south from Tullahoma, Tennessee to attack Confederate forces in Chattanooga.
1896		Gold is discovered in the Klondike of Canada’s Yukon Territory, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
1914		Liege, Belgium, falls to the German army.
1945		Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright, who was taken prisoner by the Japanese on Corregidor on May 6, 1942, is released from a POW camp in Manchuria by U.S. troops.
1965		The Watts riots end in south-central Los Angeles after six days.
1977		Elvis Presley dies of a heart attack in the upstairs bedroom suite area of his Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
1984		The safe of the sunken ocean liner Andrea Doria is opened on TV after three decades, revealing cash and certificates but no other valuables.
1986		Sudanese rebels shoot down a Sudanese Airways plane, killing 57 people.
1987		Astrological alignment of sun, moon and six planets marks what believers maintain is the dawning of a New Age.
1988		IBM introduces artificial intelligence software.
1990		Iraq orders 2,500 Americans and 4,000 British nationals in Kuwait to Iraq, in the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion of that country.
2012		In South Africa police fire on striking mine workers, killing at least 34.

Olympic Proposal

The bar has been raised for big public proposals. Chinese Olympic diver Qin Kai dropped to one knee in front of billions of people to propose marriage to fellow diver He Zi as she stood on the podium after winning a silver medal in the women’s three meter springboard event in Rio.

(YouTube link)

So He Zi will go home from the Olympics with a silver medal and a diamond ring. You won’t be able to watch the video if you aren’t in the United States, but you can see more pictures at Buzzfeed.

Pay Like A Wizard With This Almost-Magic Wand

Samsung Pay seems like magic to some extent -seeing as how you can use it almost anywhere with a wave of your phone. But there's something distinctively "meh" about using your phone to pay -especially when you could be using a magic wand instead.
The Ollivander19 is a brilliant invention that claims to be (and probably is) the first contactless payment wand. And because magic can't be bought, but only inherited, the only way to get one of the eight wands in existence is to win one on the Card Cutters website. So if you think you've got what it takes to do magic, head to the site and try your luck today.

US Fertility Rates Are Lower than Ever Recorded

US Fertility Rates Are Lower than Ever Recorded

Teaching Kids Empathy

Teaching Kids Empathy: In Danish Schools, It’s … Well, It’s a Piece of Cake

This is your brain on sentences

This is your brain on sentences

Researchers at the University of Rochester have, for the first time, decoded and predicted the brain activity patterns of word meanings within sentences, and successfully predicted what the brain patterns would be for new sentences. The study used functional magnetic...

High and low levels of ‘good cholesterol’ may cause premature death

High and low levels of ‘good cholesterol’ may cause premature death

Commonly touted as “good cholesterol” for helping to reduce risk of stroke and heart attack, both high and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol may increase a person’s risk of premature death, according to new research at Washington University...

Musician 'prevented from traveling on flight because her cello needed a visa'

A musician has said she was prevented from traveling with her cello on a British Airways flight because the instrument apparently needed a visa to travel in the extra seat she had booked for it. Jane Bevan, 35, was attempting to board a flight from Zurich to Baltimore, when she was told at check-in that her cello needed a US ESTA travel visa. Ms Bevan, who booked her cello in its own seat under the name "Chuck Cello", said she called BA a month before her flight and was told that the second seat followed airline policy. "When I arrived at the airport I was told by a BA steward there was a problem with the booking," she said. "I waited for half an hour while she spoke with her supervisor and was then told the check-in for the extra seat could not be completed because the system needed an ESTA visa."
Ms Bevan said she waited in the airport for two-and-a-half hours and ended up missing her flight. The amateur musician said she did not receive any compensation from BA, and flew out the following day with United Airlines. “I had no problems with United Airlines,” Ms Bevan said. “The staff were very friendly and even offered to put my cello in first class. I’ve flown with my cello before using easyJet and Swiss Airways.
"I’m used to the situation being unfamiliar to staff and having to wait for them to speak with their supervisors, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before." BA said in a statement: "This was a highly unusual incident which arose after the customer booked a seat for her cello as a named passenger. This is what triggered the requirement for an ESTA from the US government. The ticket the customer booked through a third party website was non-refundable."

Nebraska bikini boxing devolves into brawl

Nebraska bikini boxing devolves into brawl — police forced to use pepperball guns to break it up

Omaha police were forced to use pepperball guns to disperse a crowd, after various audience members broke into fights in the arena hosting a bikini boxing event.

Lunatic Fringe Wingnut Agitator Tells Milwaukee ‘Patriots’ To Shoot Black ‘Women And Children’

Lunatic Fringe Wingnut Agitator Tells Milwaukee ‘Patriots’ To Shoot Black ‘Women And Children’

‘In the backs.’ Yes, he thinks it’s a great idea to hunt down black women and children and shoot them in the backs.

Woman run over by own car walked away

A woman who was accidentally run over by her own car survived and walked away. The incident was seen by the driver behind her who caught the entire mishap on his dash cam. The accident happened on Tuesday in the parking lot of Costco in Burlington, Washington, as the woman waited in her vehicle at a red light.

Another driver pulled up to signal that her gas cap was loose. She then stepped out and walking to the back of the car. David Alger is the driver who was behind her and watched as his camera recorded. "She just went to pick up the gas cap and realized the car was moving, so she went back to jump back into the car and grab the steering wheel," he recalled.
"And as she grabbed the steering wheel with the car still moving forward, I would imagine the wheel turned to the left and that's when she was dragged underneath the left rear tyre and run over. Both legs. Went right up over her buttock and over both legs." Alger jumped out of his car to help, and was astounded when the woman got right to her feet. "She wanted to take off after the vehicle and run through the intersection and I said, 'Whoa, hold on here. How are you, let me help you, hold on to me.' And she said, 'I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me I'm fine,'" he said.

YouTube link.

Other drivers tried to stop her rolling vehicle, but a tree did the trick. Alger said he feels terrible for the woman, but blames the unusual accident on simple distraction. "She was distracted so she got out. I remember her looking up at the red light, 'Oh, I got plenty of time, go screw the cap in,' " he said. "But she forgot one thing. And that was putting the car in park." After police and paramedics checked her out, the woman drove away in her own vehicle. He did not get her name, and police are protecting her privacy, concerned she may be embarrassed.

Police Have a History of Making Up Threats to Justify Crackdowns

Police Have a History of Making Up Threats to Justify Crackdowns–Why Does the Media Keep Repeating Them?

Couple accused of attacking man's grandmother for refusing to drive them to house for sex

A Florida man and his girlfriend allegedly beat up his grandmother after she refused to drive them somewhere so that they could have sex, police said.

Michael Rubio, 25, and Jacquelyn Carrasquillo, 27, were arrested in Miami on Thursday on charges of battery to a person 65 or older.
According to Miami-Dade police reports, Rubio and Carrasquillo were arguing with the woman because she wouldn't take them to a home for sex. Instead, she stopped her car and got out to walk home.
Police said the couple got out of the car and hit her multiple times, causing lacerations on her face and throwing her to the ground. The woman ran towards her home, and the couple drove away, the report said. Rubio and Carrasquillo were later arrested and taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Police didn't say whether they ever had sex.

Assistant District Attorney who prosecutes DWI cases arrested on DWI charge

An assistant District Attorney who prosecutes DWI cases was arrested in Waco, Texas, early on Saturday morning on a charge of suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Kristen Parker, 27, was arrested by a Baylor University police officer before she was booked into the McLennan County Jail shortly before 4:45am.
Parker was released later the same day after posting a $1,000 surety bond. Parker joined the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office about a year ago.
She is typically responsible for prosecuting misdemeanor DWI cases. Parker is a 2010 Vanderbilt University graduate and got her law degree from Baylor Law School in 2014, according to her LinkedIn page.

Man who mistakenly drove to police office to pay utilities bill arrested on suspicion of DUI

Police arrested a 49-year-old man who mistakenly drove to a Washington State Patrol office after smoking marijuana in an attempt to pay a public utility bill.

The man arrived at the Burlington WSP office at around 6am on Friday, WSP Sgt. Mark Francis said. The man parked his car and walked into the office, where he attempted to pay his PUD bill.

Troopers told the man state patrol had nothing to do with public utilities, WSP said, but the man insisted he had paid his bill at the office before. The man appeared confused, and smelled of marijuana.
When asked if he had been smoking marijuana, the man said he had and that “it was a lot,” according to troopers. The man was arrested on suspicion of DUI involving drugs, although the trooper never saw him drive.

Woman faces burglary charge after attempting to open stolen safe by driving over it with her car

A woman from Berwick, Maine, was arrested early on Saturday after she allegedly stole a safe from a business, tried to open it by running over it with her car, and then led police on a high-speed chase before she was stopped.

Maine State Police reported that Tatiana Gagnon, 33, was charged with burglary. They said the incident began at about 4am when police responded to a burglary alarm at a Hometown Mobil convenience store in Lebanon. Someone had smashed in the side door of the business and removed a safe.
They had then tried to run it over with a car in an attempt to open it. The safe became lodged under the car and dragged along the road, where it was abandoned. Police said witnesses reported seeing a small blue sedan with New Hampshire plates running over the safe. Surveillance video captured the car’s plate. Police spotted the car at about 6:20am near the Hometown Mobil store .
Maine State Police Sgt. Kevin Rooney, who tried to stop the car, was led on a high-speed chase before he managed to stop the car. Gagnon was taken to Southern Maine Health Care in Sanford for evaluation before being booked at the York County Jail on $10,000 bail. State police said more charges may be brought by the York County District Attorney’s Office. Gagnon is a suspect in three stolen vehicle cases in Lebanon and in New Hampshire, police added.

Ancient Bones Found On Greek Mountaintop May Confirm Chilling Legend

The find gives credence to the idea that human sacrifice was part of ancient Greek culture. ​

by Nicholas Paphitis

This undated photo released Wednesday Aug. 10, 2016, provided by the Greek Culture Ministry, shows the 11th century B.C. skeleton of a teenager excavated recently at Mount Lykaion in the southern Peloponnese region of Greece, the mountaintop sanctuary of Zeus

Archaeologists have made a sinister discovery at the top of a Greek mountain which might corroborate one of the darkest legends of antiquity.

Excavations this summer on Mount Lykaion, once worshiped as the birthplace of the god Zeus, uncovered the 3,000-year-old skeleton of a teenager amid a mound of ashes built up over a millennium from sacrificed animals.

Greece's Culture Ministry said Wednesday that the skeleton, probably of an adolescent boy, was found in the heart of the 30-meter (100-foot) broad ash altar, next to a man-made stone platform.

Excavators say it's too early to speculate on the nature of the teenager's death but the discovery is remarkable because the remote Mount Lykaion was for centuries associated with the most nefarious of Greek cults: Ancient writers — including Plato — linked it with human sacrifice to Zeus, a practice which has very rarely been confirmed by archaeologists anywhere in the Greek world and never on mainland Greece.

According to legend, a boy was sacrificed with the animals and all the meat was cooked and eaten together. Whoever ate the human part would become a wolf for nine years.

"Several ancient literary sources mention rumors that human sacrifice took place at the altar, but up until a few weeks ago there has been no trace whatsoever of human bones discovered at the site," said excavator David Gilman Romano, professor of Greek archaeology at the University of Arizona.

"Whether it's a sacrifice or not, this is a sacrificial altar ... so it's not a place where you would bury an individual. It's not a cemetery," Romano told The Associated Press. A very unusual detail, he said, was that the upper part of the skull was missing, while the body was laid among two lines of stones on an east-west axis, with stone slabs covering the pelvis.

The mountaintop in the Peloponnese region is the earliest known site where Zeus was worshiped, and even without the possible human sacrifice element it was a place of massive slaughter. From at least the 16th century B.C. until just after the time of Alexander the Great, tens of thousands of animals were killed there in the god's honor.

Human presence at the site goes back more than 5,000 years. There's no sign yet that the cult is as old as that, but it's unclear why people should otherwise choose to settle on the barren, exposed summit.

Zeus was a sky and weather god who later became the leader of the classical Greek pantheon.

Pottery found with the human remains dates them to the 11th century B.C., right at the end of the Mycenaean era, whose heroes were immortalized in Greek myth and Homer's epics, and several of whose palaces have been excavated.

So far, only about 7 percent of the altar has been excavated, between 2007-2010 and again this year.

"We have a number of years of future excavation to go," Romano said. "We don't know if we are going to find more human burials or not."

Bananas for Miss Baker

If you’ve ever been to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, you might have noticed a gravestone right there in the parking lot. it’s a monument to an early NASA astronaut you may have never heard of, known as Miss Baker.

She was one of many animals sent to space, but the first ever recovered alive by NASA. In 1959 Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, and Miss Able, a rhesus monkey, were outfitted in tiny space suits and shot out of Earth's atmosphere. Their flight lasted a mere 16 minutes.
The monkeys landed in the Atlantic Ocean, and were recovered with much excitement by NASA. Their safe return meant that primates could survive space travel. Miss Able died just four days later due to being given too much anesthesia during surgery, but Miss Baker lived a long life after her pioneering mission into space. She spent her retirement in captivity at Huntsville's U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and upon her death in 1984 was buried in the parking lot. Visitors to her grave typically pay their respects with bananas.

This is just one of many locations you can visit that fill in obscure stories of the space race between the US and the USSR. If you have time for a road trip, or a flight to Russia or Kazakhstan, you can take your own space history tour. Or you may have a weekend to check out one of these locations near you. Read about these places at Atlas Obscura.

Animal Pictures