The Daily Drift

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Carolina Naturally

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Today in History

375 Enraged by the insolence of barbarian envoys, Valentinian, the Emperor of the West, dies of apoplexy in Pannonia in Central Europe.
1558
Queen Elizabeth ascends to the throne of England.
1558
The Church of England is re-established.
1636
Henrique Dias, Brazilian general, wins a decisive battle against the Dutch in Brazil.
1796
Napoleon Bonaparte defeats an Italian army near the Alpine River, Italy.
1800
The Sixth Congress (2nd session) convenes for the first time in Washington, D.C.
1842
A grim abolitionist meeting is held in Marlboro Chapel, Boston, after the imprisonment of a mulatto named George Latimer, one of the first fugitive slaves to be apprehended in Massachusetts.
1862
Union General Ambrose Burnside marches north out of Washington, D.C., to begin the Fredericksburg campaign.
1869
The Suez Canal is formally opened.
1877
Russia launches a surprise night attack that overruns Turkish forces at Kars, Armenia.
1885
The Serbian Army, with Russian support, invades Bulgaria.
1903
Vladimir Lenin’s efforts to impose his own radical views on the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits the party into two factions, the Bolsheviks, who support Lenin, and the Mensheviks.
1913
The first ship sails through the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
1918
Influenza deaths reported in the United States have far exceeded World War I casualties.
1918
German troops evacuate Brussels.
1931
Charles Lindbergh inaugurates Pan Am service from Cuba to South America in the Sikorsky flying boat American Clipper.
1941
German Luftwaffe general and World War I fighter-ace Ernst Udet commits suicide. The Nazi government tells the public that he died in a flying accident.
1951
Britain reports development of the world’s first nuclear-powered heating system.
1965
The NVA ambushes American troops of the 7th Cavalry at Landing Zone Albany in the Ia Drang Valley, almost wiping them out.
1967
The American Surveyor 6 makes a six-second flight on the moon, the first lift-off on the lunar surface.
1970
The Soviet unmanned Luna 17 touches down on the moon.
1980
WHHM Television in Washington, D.C., becomes the first African-American public-broadcasting television station.
1986
Renault President Georges Besse is shot to death by leftists of the Direct Action Group in Paris.
1989
Student demonstration in Prague put down by riot police, leading to an uprising (the Velvet Revolution) that will topple the communist government on Dec. 29.
1993
US House of Representatives passes resolution to establish the North American Free Trade Agreement.
1993
Gen. Sani Abacha leads a military coup in Nigeria that overthrows the government of Ernest Shonekan.
2000
Controversial President of Peru Alberto Fujimori is removed from office.

An Adorable One-Year-Old Snowboarder

The simple act of sliding around atop the snow on a board, also known as snowboarding, isn't all that difficult in itself, so it's not that surprising to see a little kid on a snowboard.
But Sloan isn't technically a kid in this video- she's a 14-month-old who started snowboarding around the same time she started walking.
Sloan's dad Zach Henderson took her out to Park City Mountain Resort in Utah for the first time earlier this year, where she proved age ain't nothin' but a number when it comes to snowboarding.

(YouTube Link)

Sloan will be just over two years old in January 2017, so hopefully her dad will take her out again and shoot another vid so we can see if she's gotten any better in the last year!

The 2500-Year-Old Sword Discovered Untarnished In China

Master blade-smiths claim their weapons will last forever, but then those weapons are used in battle, exposed to the elements and left to rot over time, resulting in the rusty death of a hand forged blade.

But there are a few blades in museums around the world that have stood the test of time, and these ancient swords give us a glimpse into sword-smithing techniques and battle practices of the past.

The Sword of Goujian is one of these ancient swords- it was forged of copper and tin in Hubei, China during the Spring and Autumn period (771 to 403 BCE), discovered in a tomb of the Chu State in 1965.

This beautiful sword has eight ancient script characters printed on the side which archaeologists used to figure out who the sword belonged to, once they were able to decipher the script:

On one side of the blade, two columns of text are visible. Eight characters are written in an ancient script which was found to be one known as Bird-worm seal script (literally “birds and worms characters” owing to the intricate decorations of the defining strokes), a variant of seal script.
Initial analysis of the text deciphered six of the characters, “King of Yue”and “made this sword for [his] personal use”. The remaining two characters were probably the name of this King of Yue.
After more than two months, the experts started to form a consensus that the original owner of the sword was Goujian, the King of Yue made famous by his perseverance in time of hardship. So the entirety of the text reads “[Belonging to] King Goujian of Yue, made for [his] personal use”.

See A 2500-Year-Old Sword Was Discovered In China In Untarnished Condition here

The Delicious History of the Nation's Oldest Chinese-American Restaurant

You know that Chinese immigration to the US exploded during the California Gold Rush and the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. There were fortunes to be made, if not in the industries themselves, then in providing services to settlers of the frontier. Chinese restaurants fed San Francisco from the beginning, so why is the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the United Staes in Montana, of all places?

If it seems strange that the nation’s oldest functioning Chinese restaurant is in Montana, chalk it up to 19th century immigration patterns. Between 1850 and 1900, around 250,000 Chinese people came to the United States. Many of them were fleeing political strife, poverty, and famine; others were lured by the 1849 Gold Rush. Montana Territory was a mining mecca, and thousands of Chinese immigrants flocked there looking for work. By 1870, nearly 10 percent of Montana’s population was Chinese-American.
Eventually, gold reserves dwindled and animosity from white miners grew, so Chinese immigrants then found new jobs building America’s first transcontinental railroad. Once the railroad was completed in 1869, they gained new livelihoods as entrepreneurs, founding small businesses like laundries, groceries, farms, and—yes—Chinese-American restaurants.

The Pekin Noodle Parlor has been serving Butte, Montana, since 1911, and is run by family members of original founder. And they still serve the same dishes they started out with over 100 years ago. Read about the restaurant and its history at mental_floss.

Dungeons & Dragons Inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame

Nothing will make you feel old like seeing new inductees into various Halls of Fame, because that doesn't happen until they've been around a long time. It's hard to believe the game Dungeons & Dragons has been around since 1974, but there it is as a new inductee into the Toy Hall of Fame.

The Hall is housed at the Strong museum in Rochester, which also has a Video Game Hall of Fame. The toy hall, which dates back to 1998, now has 62 entries. D&D was one of three inductees this year alongside Fisher Price’s Little People playsets and the humble garden swing. Inductees are selected based on having “inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period.”

Get the whole story at Geeks Are Sexy

Will There Ever Be a Movie With a $1 Billion Budget?

At one time, a movie budget of a million dollars made Hollywood cringe, but that was a lot of inflation ago. Still, movie budgets have far outpaced the rate of inflation for several reasons. These reasons came together to get us where we are today: fewer movies with bigger budgets. That makes sense as long as you are betting on a sure thing.

Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 are the follow-ups to The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which are scheduled for release in 2018. Like their name suggests, they will be making use of plot elements that have been brought up in previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning that in a real sense, they are meant to be a sort of climax that the series of movies have been building towards. As a result, it is no wonder that a lot of people are prepared to believe that the two movies will have a combined production budget of $1 billion.

Even if true, that would be for two movies. But we are getting closer to the day that a billion can be spent on a "sure thing" in Hollywood (like maybe a Marvel superhero movie starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson directed by James Cameron). Read about how and why movie budgets are ballooning beyond all reason at TVOM.

Photographer Tracks Down People He Photographed Nearly 40 Years Earlier For A Reshoot

Creatives who are lucky enough to live long and artistically productive lives may have the rare opportunity to revisit their early works decades later.
This revisitation not only gives them the chance to revisit or recreate their original work, it also lets them relive their early days and remember what it was like to be a young, budding artist.
Photographer Chris Porsz used to go around Peterborough, Cambridgeshire shooting pics in the late 70s and 80s while working as a paramedic, and at the time the neighborhood was full of colorful characters.
Chris never forgot those creatively formative years he spent taking photos on the streets of Peterborough, so he decided to track down the people he photographed nearly forty years earlier for a reshoot.
Chris spent seven years tracking down and convincing the stars of his favorite photos to pose for him again, publishing the then and now shots in his new book "Reunions".

See Photographer Tracks Down People He Snapped In His Hometown Almost 40 Years Ago here

15 Old-Fashioned Ways Of Keeping Time

Figuring out the time is easy these days, whether with inexpensive wristwatches or the ubiquitous cell phone clock.
But in centuries past, humans had to rely on shadows from the sun, the melting of a candle, or even the varying smells of incense. Here are some examples of antiquated timekeeping.

The Canadian Mint Was Robbed of 165K in Gold in a Very Uncomfortable Way

Leston Lawrence worked at the Canadian Mint for over seven years melting gold, purifying it and then testing it. The test samples are scooped out with a ladle and the resulting gold pieces (about the width of an Oreo and three time as thick) are then returned to the vat. Or at least, that's how things are supposed to work, but Lawrence smuggled out over 22 of those pucks over the course of 3 months. He even set off the metal detectors while leaving the mint, but the smaller handheld detectors never went off.
It turns out that Lawrence kept latex gloves and Vaseline in his locker and he smuggled the gold out in his backside. The mint's handheld detectors weren't sensitive enough to detect the gold inside of his body.
Lawrence only got caught when a bank teller noticed he was cashing checks from an overseas gold buyer and that he worked at the mint. I guess they need some stronger metal detectors or a more hands-on approach if they want to stop this from happening again.

Neo-Nazis throw a tantrum after New Balance denies being the ‘official shoes of white people’

Neo-Nazis throw a tantrum after New Balance denies being the ‘official shoes of white people’

Andrew Anglin, founder of the neo-Nazi and white supremacist sewer-site  Daily Stormer, melted down Tuesday after the shoe brand New Balance rejected his endorsement.

Laughing men assault Ohio student after telling her ‘Dumbass Trump says this is OK’

Laughing men assault Ohio student after telling her ‘Dumbass Trump says this is OK’: report

Brittany Daughenbaugh sought treatment at a nearby hospital, where she was found to have a minor concussion, along with a bruised face and ribs.

‘Aliens are invading’

‘Aliens are invading’: CA man arrested for punching Latino and biting cops during racist rampage

Since Election Day, a number of minority Americans have reported threats, assaults, racist graffiti and other bullying tactics employed by racists emboldened by the theft by wingnut candidate Dumbass Trump.

Man cites Dumbass Trump in threat to grab student ‘by the pussy’ at Georgia Waffle House

Man cites Dumbass Trump in threat to grab student ‘by the pussy’ at Georgia Waffle House: police report

A University of Georgia student told police that a man threatened to sexually assault her, justifying himself with the words of Pretender-elect Dumbass Trump.

Dumbass Trump’s theft emboldens agitator behind effort to ‘make rape legal’

‘This is our moment’: Dumbass Trump’s theft emboldens agitator behind effort to ‘make rape legal’

The spokesperson for a group which agitates for “legal” rape praised the 'election' of Dumbass Trump for legitimizing the “masculine behaviors that were previously labelled sexist and misogynist.”

Woman who tried to induce abortion with coat-hanger charged with aggravated assault with a weapon

Woman who tried to induce abortion with coat-hanger charged with aggravated assault with a weapon

When a judge asked her if she understood the charges against her, she replied, “Uhh, vaguely.”

Man accused of terrorizing neighborhood with an air horn that sounds like a train

A man with an air horn that sounds like a train has allegedly been terrorizing the residents of El Segundo, California, for weeks, and police have just made an arrest after finding the man accused of the noise with air horn equipment inside his car. The noisy bust came early on Sunday, specifically 4am, around the time many of the alarmingly loud incidents would occur.
"The sound is like a train coming through the neighbourhood," said El Segundo Police Lt. Ray Garcia. Often, officers couldn't catch the air horn blower because the person would blare the horn and then "beat feet." At times, officers on the east side of town could hear the noise and would hurry over, only to find that the person had taken off. On Sunday morning, officers heard the noise that's been plaguing residents on the west side of the city for weeks.
Police had received numerous reports of an extremely loud air horn going off, then residents would spot a car, a blue four-door sedan driven by a man. Officers heard the horn, then directly afterwards made a traffic stop. After pulling over a blue 2006 Chevrolet Aveo, they spotted air horn equipment inside the car. The commotion drew several residents from their homes, claiming they were victims of the air horn aggravator.
They initiated a citizen's arrest. John W. Nuggent was then taken into custody by police. He was booked at El Segundo jail on suspicion of disturbing the peace and his car, with horn inside, was impounded. The charge was a misdemeanor. Garcia said the air horn aggravator has been sounding his horn almost every single night. "He's been doing this for weeks, and we've been chasing him for weeks, but we got him," Garcia said. Garcia said they aren't exactly sure why the man allegedly has an "axe to grind," but believe that he thinks someone in the area has wronged him in some way, and this was his way of getting back at them.

Car thief ran himself over while fleeing from the police

Police in Pasco, Washington, say a car chase ended after a man ran himself over with the vehicle he'd been driving.
Officers were dispatched to a report of a loud crash just after midnight on Sunday and found a silver Toyota Camry pulling out of an alley and running on a flat tire. The driver refused to stop and the chase started.
The flat tire eventually fell off the left front wheel and rolled down the street, but the chase continued. It finally came to an end on when the driver bailed out of the car. He opened the door, jumped out and tried to run around the front of the car.
The car was still rolling, hit the man and dragged him for a short way. Pursuing officers quickly grabbed him. The man, identified as 20-year-old Brandon E. Arrieta, was booked in to Franklin County Jail for vehicle theft and eluding. He's also being investigated for additional misdemeanors like hit-and-run.
You can watch the video here.

The 7 Wonders of the Solar System

You've heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but as we learn more about our universe, the more we find things to make your jaw drop. Its a pity so few people know about them. In 1999, the magazine Astronomy named 7 Wonders of the Solar System. Let's take a look at one of them.

Imagine a mountain that soared so high Everest was a mere blip beside it. A peak so wide that the entire United Kingdom could vanish within its sprawling, impossible mass. A mountain that had its peak permanently outside its planet’s atmosphere, so high no clouds could ever reach it. Welcome to Olympus Mons on Mars, the largest peak known to man.
A long-dead shield volcano, Mons sits on the Martian equator, surrounded by other volcanoes hundreds of times larger than anything on Earth. The cones abruptly rise from a flat, desolate plain, suddenly looming 16 miles into the sky, dominating everything around them. Their size is almost beyond comprehension. Olympus Mons alone could swallow the US State of Arizona whole. Its weight is so vast that it has caused the Martian crust to subside, leaving a strange ‘moat’ around Mons a staggering 2 km deep.

And that's just one of the seven! Urban Ghosts tells us about all of the 7 Wonders of the Solar System, plus three more that should have been included.

Animal Pictures