The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of  
Carolina Naturally

You know you want to ...! 

 

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

   
Swing your partner ... !

Today is - Square Dance Day

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Today in History

1760
Major Roger Rogers takes possession of Detroit on behalf of Britain.
1787
Louis XVI promulgates an edict of tolerance, granting civil status to Protestants.
1812
The last elements of Napoleon Bonaparte‘s Grand Armee retreats across the Berezina River in Russia.
1863
The Battle of Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Tenn., ends with a Confederate withdrawal.
1864
Colonel John M. Chivington’s 3rd Colorado Volunteers massacre Black Kettles’ camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians at Sand Creek, Colo.
1903
An Inquiry into the U.S. Postal Service demonstrates the government has lost millions in fraud.
1923
An international commission headed by American banker Charles Dawes is set up to investigate the German economy.
1929
Commander Richard Byrd makes the first flight over the South Pole.
1931
The Spanish government seizes large estates for land redistribution.
1939
Soviet planes bomb an airfield at Helsinki, Finland.
1948
The Metropolitan Opera is televised for the first time as the season opens with “Othello.”
1948
The popular children’s television show, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, premieres.
1949
The United States announces it will conduct atomic tests at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1961
NASA launches a chimpanzee named Enos into Earth orbit.
1962
Algeria bans the Communist Party.
1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints Chief Justice Earl Warren head of a commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
1967
US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation.
1972
Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game.
2007
Armed forces of the Philippines besiege The Peninsula Manila in response to a mutiny led by Senator Antonio Trillanes.

Editorial Comment

Awhile back we posted about maybe starting to list some of our recent comments after the first of the year.
The jury is still out on this.
We have a ton of spam and some putrid attempts by wingnuts and other perverts attempting to clog up the inbox, so sifting through to genuine comments is a time consuming ordeal which is why we ceased publishing comments several years ago.
However, we decided to post a few of the positive comments we have received now to see what the response will be.

I am one of your great fans. - Sonja Olegsdottir, Malmo, Sverige (Sweden)
Your blog is amazing! - Janis DeLuca, Sacramento, California, USA
Many thanks to the author. - Mary Johnson, Battle Creek, Michigan, USA
Very interesting blog. - Pablo y Isabella Garcia de Tores, Barcelona, España (Spain)
Nice blog, thank you. - Ansa Kumar, Rajahmundy, Andhra Pradesh, India
Looking forward to your usual awesomeness. - Jimbo, Austin Texas, USA
Your site is very informative and your articles are wonderful - Kerry Lundgren, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Wow! This is awesome! Great job! - Wesley Hesthstead, London, England
Keep on writing, great job! - Juana Guzman, Belo Horizonte, Brasil (Brazil)
I don't know what to say. This blog is fantastic. That's not really a really huge statement, but its all I could come up with after reading this. You know so much about this subject. So much so that you made me want to learn more about it. Your blog is my stepping stone, my friend. Thanks for the heads up on this subject. on Peering Into the Heart of a Supernova.- Zudzy Bhano, Harare, Zimbabwe

Now before the trolls begin let us just say that these are comments we have received and the names of the authors of those comments - or at least the names those commenting gave.
As to the names' authenticity we can only take them at their word because most people who post positive comments actually are proud to use their real names ... unlike the trolls who spew negativity and bile under false names like cowards.
Also before asking, we will never post negative comments: Critical comments made in a positive or neutral manner, yes, negative, no.
Derogatory, slanderous and libelous comments are forwarded to the authorities and quite a few wingnut/pervert trolls have discovered this, much to their dismay.
Oh, and by the way ...

We begin our annual Xmas Tree countdown in two days.

Untangling the History of Xmas Lights

The long Thanksgiving holiday weekend is the perfect time to get out the Xmas decorations and put up the colored lights that illuminate the dark winter nights. Those beautiful strings of electric lights replaced candles, which didn't last long, came only in flame color, and were extremely dangerous. The dawn of electric Xmas lights had a lot to do with Thomas Edison, as you might guess, but even more with Edward Hibberd Johnson, who was the first to use Xmas lights.

In 1871, Johnson hired Edison, then a 24-year-old inventor, as a consultant for the Automatic Telegraph Company. Edison “ate at this desk and slept in a chair,” Johnson later recalled. “In six weeks he had gone through the books, written a volume of abstracts, and made two thousand experiments...and produced a solution.”
So impressed was Johnson that when Edison left to start a new company, he followed, quickly making himself useful turning Edison’s brainstorms into cash. In 1877, after Edison invented the phonograph, Johnson took the machine on tour, charging crowds to drum up excitement. When Edison patented the light bulb in 1880, its exact value was hard to gauge; widespread electrification was still decades away. Still, Johnson, Edison and others invested $35,000 to form the Edison Lamp Company to sell the bulbs.

So you see, the guy who strung the first electric Xmas lights in 1882 had a financial stake in their success. Read how it all came about in the December issue of Smithsonian magazine.

The Development of the Proper Medicine Cabinet

When toilets went from outside somewhere to having its own room in the house, it brought a lot of changes. The actual design of such a room was first considered as luxurious and comforting, but easy-to-clean and sanitize design win out. Then there's the medicine cabinet. Medicines were previously kept in the kitchen, where Mom could keep up with them. Then the medicine cabinet was invented, which was at first just a medicine box on the wall. What to keep in this cabinet was a question enthusiastically answered by those who sold such products, and it was Mom's duty to keep it well-stocked, as we learn in an interview with historian Deanna Day.

Right, there’s the familiar image of the snoopy house guest who goes into the bathroom and starts poking around in the medicine cabinet to see what sort of pills you have or what kind of lotion you use, only to be discovered when things start falling out and crashing to the floor. You write about a James Thurber short story that plays on this.
Yes, “Nine Needles.” It plays on the idea that the medicine cabinet holds tools that you use to take care of your very private bodily needs, and they’re sort of hidden away. But at the same time that the medicine cabinet is a private space, it also has a public dimension; it’s a hideaway but—unlike perhaps other closed-off spaces in the home—it’s in a room that guests are actually invited into. Then it becomes a private space that guests are actually given a private opportunity to explore, if they want to. It feels like a minor transgression to open the cabinet and see what kinds of things your hosts are using on their bodies, a relatively low-stakes form of gaining secret knowledge about them.

I believe that's a little naive, as there are friends, acquaintances, and even family members who will look in there to see what they can take. But all that aside, the story of the development, expectations, and curation of the medicine cabinet can be found at (appropriately) Cabinet Magazine.

Daily Comic Relief

It’s Iceland vs Iceland ...

It’s Iceland vs Iceland as trademark row erupts between country and frozen supermarket chain

Get Your IUD While You Can

Get an IUD While You Can

California considers ban on sex between lawyers and clients

The nation's largest state bar association is overhauling ethics rules for attorneys for the first time in 30 years, and some lawyers are not happy about a proposal that would open them up to discipline for having sex with clients. Supporters of an all-out ban say the relationship between a lawyer and client is inherently unequal, so any sexual relationship is potentially coercive.

 Read more 

Amid a media blackout of the Standing Rock protests, law enforcement targets the rare journalists on the scene

Amid a media blackout of the Standing Rock protests, law enforcement targets the rare journalists on the scene

The history of sanctuary spaces and why they matter?

What’s the history of sanctuary spaces and why do they matter? 

Black-White Earnings Gap Returns to 1950 Levels

After years of progress, the median earnings gap between black and white men has returned to what it was in 1950, according to new research by economists from Duke University and the University of Chicago. … Read more

Random Photos

The Disgusting Ways Actors Gained Weight

It's common knowledge that actors often have to gain or lose a few pounds depending on the roles they are cast in. But when they have to gain 30 pounds or more for a role -often in only a handful of months, the weight gain gets seriously intense. In fact, it seems that many of them resort to chugging melted ice cream just to get as many calories in as quickly as possible (though why Jared Leto thought it was necessary to add olive oil and soy sauce into the mix is a mystery). The worst part is how often it doesn't even pay off. In fact, many actors went through all this suffering only to see their movies fail and be panned by critics and poor Ryan Gosling gained 60 pounds for the movie The Lovely Bones only to get fired since he didn't clear the weight gain with director Peter Jackson beforehand.

Read more about actors gaining weight for their roles at Mel Magazine.

5 Things That Happened When I Ate a Big Breakfast Every Day for a Week

5 Things That Happened When I Ate a Big Breakfast Every Day for a Week

"I learned that my definition of big was way too big."

Got Gas?

6 Reasons You’re So Gassy

If your flatulence level has reached an all-time high, one of these culprits could be to blame

Link Dump

16 Tools to Create Better Images

Everything you need to know about those ‘Gilmore Girls’

Original Gerber Baby, Ann Taylor Cook, turns 90

The Child Eater of Bern

Amazing white rainbow snapped over Scottish moor

30 pretty awesome wives

The Sweet and Not-So-Sweet History of Saccharin

40 Secrets Fast Food Places Will NEVER Tell You

The Cards Against Humanity Holiday Hole

The Driving Dead – Vehicles of The Walking Dead

What ‘The Brady Bunch’ taught me about science

What makes cinema popcorn taste better than home popcorn?

Video poker bug made these guys rich

More Than 100 Million Trees Have Died in California's Drought

More Than 100 Million Trees Have Died in California's Drought

Living Relics

Siberian Moose carry genes believed to have vanished with the Ice Age

by Doug Williams

Siberian moose not only look mysterious and abnormal; they even carry the genes of ancient Elks that are thought to have vanished or gone extinct some 24,000 years ago.
Researchers have claimed that they have discovered the genetic gems found hidden deep in the DNA of modern-day gangs of moose have remarkable similarities with the genes found in the remains of the ancient animal. The match was found after sequencing against the records kept in the International Computer Database GenBank.
The genetic variations are believed to have been widely spread among the ancient moose sometime between 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. However, as the Ice Age started reaching its Zenith; around 18,000 to 24,000 years ago to be more precise, these genetic lines also disappeared.
According to Olga Nemoikina, who is the researcher at the Biological Institute of Tomsk State University, the Western Siberia can be classified as a white spot; which means that no molecular study of animals has ever been held in this region. She added that the discovery of the moose’s ancient gene seemingly confirms the existence of regugia.
Regugia is the name associated with the theoretical places where populations (of animals and even humans) can evolve to survive in extremely hostile and unfavorable conditions like glacial areas or deserts.
Nemoikina believes that the Western Siberian region can be considered as fairly ideal plain, as the absence of any large natural barriers allowed the moose were able to spread wide and pass very rare genetic lines.

Olga believes that the moose were saved in the western Siberia and same applies to other animals that existed in prehistoric time. The conditions were hostile, but the overall environment and life’s ability to thrive in those conditions must have contributed in preserving these genetic lines.
When the population of these Elks grew again, these genetic lines returned to the common gene pool that effectively increased the biodiversity and adapted to change their habitat.
Talking about the wildlife of the region Nemoikina said that the animals found in the region are a sort of genetic repository for those species which live and thrive in these harsh conditions.
Olga Nemoikina was also involved earlier in a joint research project with specialists from the A N Sieverts Institute of Ecology and Evolution in Moscow. She had found out during the course of her research that the moose found in the western Siberia contained American Haplogroup, challenging the previously held notion that western Siberia was home to only European moose.

Animal Pictures