The Daily Drift

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And I Quote ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 201 countries around the world daily.   

    
An apple a day ... !

Today is  - Johnny Appleseed Day

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Hamilton, Bermuda

Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Pocao de Pedras, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo e Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil

Montreal and Quebec, Canada

Bogota y Neiva, Colombia

Guayaquil, Ecuador

Mexicali, Mexico City, Monterrey y Tijuana, Mexico

Boaco, Nicaragua

Catano y Ponce, Puerto Rico

The Bottom, Sint Eustatius-Saba

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Europe

Brussels, Belgium

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Ruse, Sofia и Varna, Bulgaria

Karlin, Prague a Stare Mesto, Czech Republic

London, England

Bordeaux, Calais, Cerny, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Roubaix, Rouen, Saint-Agnant, Salon-De-Provence, Strasbourg et Velizy-Villacoublay, France

Frankfurt Am Main, Hamburg, Nuremberg und Unterpfaffenhofen, Germany

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Athens, Greece

Rathcoole, Ireland

Agliana, Arcugnano, Florence, Palermo, Torino e Torre del Greco, Italy

Koknese, Riga, Ventspils, Latvia

Chisinau, Moldova

Haarlem en Houten, Netherlands

Biala Podlaska, Myslowice i Warsaw, Poland

Lagoa e Porto, Portugal

Bucharest și Timisoara, Romania

Bol'shoy Kamen и Ryazan, Russia

Bratislava a Prešov, Slovakia

Madrid, Valencia y Vigo, Spain

Kista, Sweden

Asia

Beijing, China

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Bokaro, Calicut, Chetput, Jodhpur, Mumbai ਅਤੇ Muzaffarpur, India

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Tehran, Iran

Tokyo, Japan

Amman, Jordan

Al Fahahil, Kuwait

Kajang, Kota Bharu, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Papar, Seremban dan Victoria, Malaysia

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Doha, Qatar

Sanaa, Yemen

Africa

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Today in History

537 
The Goths lay siege to Rome.
1649
The peace of Rueil is signed between the Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government.
1665
A new legal code is approved for the Dutch and English towns, guaranteeing religious observances unhindered.
1702
The Daily Courant, the first regular English newspaper is published.
1810
The Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise.
1811
Ned Ludd leads a group of workers in a wild protest against mechanization.
1824
The U.S. War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Seneca Indian Ely Parker becomes the first Indian to lead the Bureau.
1845
Seven hundred Maoris led by their chief, Hone-Heke, burn the small town of Kororareka in protest at the settlement of Maoriland by Europeans, in breach with the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
1861
A Confederate Convention is held in Montgomery, Ala., where the new constitution is adopted.
1863
Union troops under General Ulysess S. Grant give up their preparations to take Vicksburg after failing to pass Fort Pemberton, north of Vicksburg.
1865
Union General William Sherman and his forces occupy Fayetteville, N.C.
1888
A disastrous blizzard hits the northeastern United States. Some 400 people die, mainly from exposure.
1900
British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury rejects the peace overtures offered from Boer leader Paul Kruger.
1905
The Parisian subway is officially inaugurated.
1907
President Teddy Roosevelt induces California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.
1930
President Howard Taft becomes the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
1935
The German Air Force becomes an official organ of the Reich.
1941
President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes the Lend-Lease Act which authorizes the act of giving war supplies to the Allies.
1942
General Douglas MacArthur leaves Bataan for Australia.
1965
The American navy begins inspecting Vietnamese junks in hopes of ending arms smuggling to the South.
1966
Three men are convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.
1969 
Levi-Strauss starts to sell bell-bottomed jeans.
1973
An FBI agent is shot at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
1985
Mikhail Gorbachev is named the new Soviet leader.
1990 
Lithuania declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Girl in Wheelchair Wants to Score a Hockey Goal - Hockey Player Makes It Happen

Duncan Keith plays for the Chicago Blackhawks, a hockey team. His biggest fan is Cammy Babiarz, who is 5 years old. She can't walk or speak because she was born with Rhett syndrome.
The Blackhawks have a social media campaign called #WhatsYourGoal. It encourages people to share their personal goals in all dimensions of life. Cammy had one: she wanted to score a hockey goal. Her favorite player helped her do just that.

(Video Link)

Cammy's parents placed ice skates on her, then strapped her to Keith's body. Keith took her out on the ice and helped her slap a shot into a goal.

Random Celebrity Photos

Marilyn Monroe

Gun collector killed after accidentally shooting himself with a cannon

A man from Northland, New Zealand, who accidentally shot himself with a cannon was a trained firearms instructor who had been around weapons all his life. Derek Allan Kelly, 74, a gun collector from near Dargaville, was killed on Sunday afternoon by what police described as a small, single-shot cannon.

Police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said Kelly was killed when he attempted to move the cannon from the back of his pick-up and it accidentally discharged. Kelly died at the scene in front of his wife who was "very distressed". Kennett said the barrel of the cannon was about 40mm in diameter. Police were still investigating the circumstances and couldn't reveal more because the matter was with the coroner, she said.
Barry Shine, a friend of Kelly's for 20 years, described him as an "upstanding citizen". "You'd go a long way to find as nice a guy as Derek," he said. "It's an absolute tragedy, and my thoughts are with his wife and family." Kelly was a trained firearms instructor, who was heavily involved with the local community, Shine said. "He's been around firearms all his life."
Kelly was a member of the New Zealand Antique & Historical Arms Association, and proficient with pistols and bolt-action rifles. Shine could not recall Kelly using or having any cannon-type weapons. Another friend, Neil Black, described Kelly as "a great guy". "He had a big collection of firearms - all sorts of things." Black was not familiar with the cannon involved in Kelly's death, but said: "There are groups that build these sorts of things, they're perfectly legal."

Woman cut into 9-month-old baby’s throat with power saw to stop her crying

The Chicago Tribune reported that police found the child at a home on Chicago’s West Side at around 9:40 a.m. on Monday.

More

Man arrested for assaulting his brother with Jesus license plate

State police in Pennsylvania say a metal vanity license plate reading "Jesus" was used as a weapon in a fight between two brothers in Springhill Township.

Police said James Edward Wiles, 45, of Point Marion was charged with simple assault and harassment.
Wiles allegedly threw the state license plate at his 47-year-old brother, name not provided, during a domestic dispute at a residence on Fallen Timbers Road.
Wiles' brother sustained a severe laceration and bleeding, so he needed treatment by Point Marion EMS at the scene, police said. Wiles was arraigned by Magisterial District Court Judge Randy Abraham, who set bond at $25,000.

Athletic club hopes to reunite prosthetic eye with its owner

A customer was walking out of the Memorial Athletic Club in Houston, Texas, recently when something on the ground caught his eye. The man who found it turned it in to lost and found at Memorial Athletic Club, thinking someone was missing a ring or necklace. "Didn't even look to see what it was.

Controlling mothers ...

Controlling mothers add to anxiety risk for young children

Researchers have found a strong link between maternal intrusiveness and child anxiety in young children from low-income families. A team of psychologists found first graders from low-income families are susceptible […]

Reverse Heart Failure

Antidepressant could reverse heart failure

Paxil, a commonly prescribed antidepressant, restored heart function in mice with heart failure. That finding by a team led by researchers at the Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM) could […]

Cognitive Skills

The rise and fall of cognitive skills

Scientists have long known that our ability to think quickly and recall information, also known as fluid intelligence, peaks around age 20 and then begins a slow decline. However, more […]

Random Photos

Cary Grant from Alice in Wonderland, 1933.

Spelunkers Unearth More Rare Objects in Israeli Cave

A month after the discovery of the largest cache of ancient coins ever hauled from the Mediterranean, spelunkers have unearthed another treasure trove of rare coins, silver and bronze objects in a cave in northern Israel.

Three members of the Israeli Caving Club, Reuven Zakai, Chen Zakai and a Lior Haloney recently lowered themselves into a well-hidden stalactite cave, wriggled through a narrow passageway and happened upon the shiny objects.

A handful of coins, rings, bracelets and earrings were all discovered together inside a cloth pouch dating back some 2,300 years ago.

Archaeologists say the coins were likely minted during the reign of Alexander the Great, and the artifacts first date to the Chalcolithic period about 6,000 years ago; from the Early Bronze Age roughly 5,000 years ago, the Biblical period 3,000 years ago and the Hellenistic period approximately 2,300 years ago.

“The valuables might have been hidden in the cave by local residents who fled there during the period of governmental unrest stemming from the death of Alexander, a time when the Wars of the Diadochi broke out in Israel between Alexander’s heirs following his death,” according to archaeologists at the Israel Antiquities Authority. "Presumably the cache was hidden in the hope of better days, but today we know that whoever buried the treasure never returned to collect it."

Working off this discovery, archaeologists and geologists will be able to accurately date both the archaeological finds and the process of stalactite development, according to the Authority’s statement.

Amir Ganor, director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery in the Israel Antiquities Authority, thanked the cavers for their “exemplary civic behavior," praising the "citizens' awareness." Following last month’s discovery by civilian scuba divers, Ganor welcomes this "important trend."

Descendants

Millions of modern men found to be descendants of 11 Asian dynastic leaders, including Genghis Khan

Geneticists from the University of Leicester have discovered that millions of modern Asian men are descended from 11 powerful dynastic leaders who lived up to 4,000 years ago – including […]

Ancient Stone Tool Brings New Ideas About Early Americans

by Jacqueline Howard

An ancient stone tool recently discovered in the high desert of southeast Oregon has archaeologists raising their eyebrows.
The tool, a hand-held scraper chipped from a piece of agate, was unearthed from beneath a layer of volcanic ash near the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter outside Riley, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced on Thursday. Archaeologists have linked the ash to a major eruption from Mount St. Helens that occurred about 15,800 years ago.
“When we had the volcanic ash identified, we were stunned because that would make this stone tool one of the oldest artifacts in North America," Dr. Patrick O’Grady, an archaeologist at the University of Oregon and the leader of the excavation, said in a written statement. "Given those circumstances and the laws of stratigraphy, this object should be older than the ash.”

The scraper was found at an ancient rock shelter in the high desert of eastern Oregon. It could turn out to be older than any known site of human occupation in western North America.

The new finding may rewrite the story of early human migrations, as it was once previously thought that the first humans in the western hemisphere arrived about 13,500 years ago.
“For years, many in the archaeological field assumed that the first humans in the western hemisphere were the Clovis people – dating to around 13,000 years ago. While a handful of archaeological sites older than Clovis cultures have been discovered in the past few decades, there is still considerable scrutiny of any finding that appears older,” Stan McDonald, the bureau's Oregon/Washington lead archaeologist, said in the statement.
If humans arrived more than 15,800 years ago, as the stone tool suggests, it would place humans in America's West around the end of the Pleistocene era, when mastodons, mammoths, camels, horses, and bison roamed the region, the Associated Press reported. But some scientists remain skeptical.
"No one is going to believe this until it is shown there was no break in that ash layer, that the artifact could not have worked its way down from higher up, and until it is published in a convincing way," Donald K. Grayson, professor of archaeology at the University of Washington, who was not involved in the excavation, said. "Until then, extreme skepticism is all they are going to get."
Archaeologists plan to continue excavations at the Oregon site this summer, O'Grady said in the statement, adding "that’s the next step."

Extinct human species had diverse body structures

1.9 million-year-old pelvis and femur bone fossils of an early human.

Recently released research on human evolution has revealed that species of early human ancestors had significant differences in facial features. Now, a University of Missouri researcher and her international team of colleagues have found that these early human species also differed throughout other parts of their skeletons and had distinct body forms.

The research team found 1.9 million-year-old pelvis and femur fossils of an early human ancestor in Kenya, revealing greater diversity in the human family tree than scientists previously thought.
Experimenting with physical traits
“What these new fossils are telling us is that the early species of our genus, Homo, were more distinctive than we thought. They differed not only in their faces and jaws, but in the rest of their bodies too,” said Carol Ward, a professor of pathology and anatomical sciences in the MU School of Medicine. “The old depiction of linear evolution from ape to human with single steps in between is proving to be inaccurate. We are finding that evolution seemed to be experimenting with different human physical traits in different species before ending up with Homo sapiens.”

Three early species belonging to the genus Homo have been identified prior to modern humans, or Homo sapiens. Homo rudolfensis and Homo habilis were the earliest versions, followed by Homo erectus and then Homo sapiens. Because the oldest erectus fossils that have been found are only 1.8 million years old, and have different bone structure than the new fossil, Ward and her research team conclude that the fossils they have discovered are either rudolfensis or habilis. Ward says these fossils show a diversity in the physical structures of human ancestors that has not been seen before.
Coexisted for about a million years
“This new specimen has a hip joint like all other Homo species, but it also has a thinner pelvis and thighbone compared to Homo erectus,” Ward said. “This doesn’t necessarily mean that these early human ancestors moved or lived differently, but it does suggest that they were a distinct species that could have been identified not just from looking at their faces and jaws, but by seeing their body shapes as well. Our new fossils, along with the other new specimens reported over the past few weeks, tell us that the evolution of our genus goes back much earlier than we thought, and that many species and types of early humans coexisted for about a million years before our ancestors became the only Homo species left.”
A small piece of the fossil femur was first discovered in 1980 at the Koobi Fora site in Kenya. Project co-investigator Meave Leakey returned to the site with her team in 2009 and uncovered the rest of the same femur and matching pelvis, proving that both fossils belonged to the same individual 1.9 million years ago.
This study was published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Conservation Paradise

Half of Suriname Now a Conservation Paradise: Photos

The indigenous people of Suriname have taken unprecedented action to conserve the forests, headwaters and animals of the small South American country.

Big Digs

A $50 Billion Canal and 6 Other Big Digs: Photos

The controversy over construction of Nicaragua's Interoceanic Grand Canal makes it a good time to look at the some of the biggest man-made waterways on the planet.

Earth Shots

Earth Shots: Must-See Planet Pics

A massive mitten is spotted in the Arctic, a winter storm covers much of the United States and a stunning ice cave in Alaska is captured just before it disappeared.

A Star Is Born

A Star Is Born: Galactic ‘Rain’ Could be Key to Star Formation

Some of the galaxies in our universe are veritable star nurseries. For example, our own Milky Way produces, on average, at least one new star every year. Others went barren […]

Good Question ...

Sex and Insecurity

Male beetles that have more sex are more insecure

Males that mate more often are more insecure about their social status than those mating less, according to new research on the behaviour of burying beetles. The study, published in […]

Endangered Species Watch

Endangered Species Watch: Giant Pandas

With just 1,600 giant pandas left in the wild, the iconic creature needs all the help it can get from conservation efforts.

Jaws of life used to free dog that got itself stuck between two heavy metal storage containers

A dog that got wedged between two large storage containers while playing with children on an elementary school playground in Oceanside, California, was rescued by firefighters on Sunday who used the "jaws of life" to move the heavy steel boxes.

Someone called emergency crews around noon to report that the 12-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback named Spike had wedged himself between the containers at South Oceanside Elementary School, said Oceanside Fire Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence.
At first, crews from the Carlsbad Fire Department went to the school but they were unable to move the heavy containers so they summoned a ladder truck from Oceanside Fire Department.
Firefighters were able to move the containers about six inches, providing enough room for the dog to free himself, Lawrence said. After turning off their equipment, Spike's owners were able to coax the dog to safety.

Giant P.E.I. great white shark just a ‘teenager’

New research suggests that legendary white shark–at 17-plus feet one of the largest ever measured–was only 20 years old and 'still had a lot of growing to do'

Famous P.E.I. Great white shark after its capture in 1983; photo via Canadian Shark Research Lab

A great white shark caught off Canada’s Prince Edward Island in 1983 was listed as one of the world’s five most legendary sharks last summer by the Discovery Channel. At 17-plus feet it was and remains one of the largest white sharks ever measured.
“It was a pretty huge monster to see, and a great collection of teeth,” Doug Fraser, a fisherman who was present during the catch, told CBC. “The girth of it was probably over six feet.”

Now new research suggests that the famous P.E.I shark, a female that was hauled up dead in a net by David McKendrick, was not even an adult, but a “teenager” with plenty of growing years ahead.
The revelation comes after the discovery of new methods used to determine the age and maturity of sharks: radiocarbon analysis, or looking for radioactivity exposure caused by nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 60s.

The new research suggests that white sharks grow more slowly than previously thought, and do not mature until about the age of 30.
A skeletal study of the P.E.I shark, one of a very small number of large great whites ever caught or spotted off Canada’s Maritime Province, determined its age to be about 20 years old.
“It’s a teenager in shark years,” Steven Campana, who runs the Canadian Shark Research Lab in Nova Scotia, told CBC. “If it would have lived longer, it would have gotten a lot bigger…. It was a big shark, but it still had a lot of growing to do.”

P.E.I. great white shark being hauled away in a dump truck; photo via Canadian Shark Research Lab

The P.E.I shark was buried in a gravel pit, but later recovered so its skeleton could be collected for science.

Two white sharks whites might have been larger. A great white caught off Cuba in 1945 was said to measure 21 feet and weigh 7,000 pounds, and a great white caught off Malta in 1987 was said to measure 23 feet. (Most adult white sharks measure to about 16 feet.)
Both of those measurements, however, have fallen under scrutiny and might have been exaggerated

Sheep, Brains and Water

Sheep Use Their Brains to Save Water

Sheep can reduce water loss by using a heat exchange system in their brain to cool down their blood.

Dogs and Thyroid Cancer

Dog Sniffs Out Thyroid Cancer in Human Urine

A trained scent dog accurately identified whether patients' urine samples had thyroid cancer or were benign 88.2 percent of the time.

Bred in Captivity

New Poison Dart Frog Bred in Captivity for First Time

The newly described amphibian from Panama makes the leap from petri dish to full-fledged frog.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Don't forget to check out the new The Truth Be Told today

Lizard Got The Blues ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 201 countries around the world daily.   

    
The Pipes are calling ... !

Today is  - International Bagpipe 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

Hamilton, Bermuda

Fortaleza, Poaco De Pedras, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo e Vitoria Da Conquista, Brazil

Quebec and Toronto, Canada

Bogota, Colombia

San Jose, Costa, Rica

Azcapotzalco, Mexico City y Tijuana, Mexico

Boaco, Nicaragua

Ayacucho y Lima, Peru

Catano y Ponce, Puerto Rico

The Bottom, Sint Eustatius-Saba

Europe

Vienna, Austria

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Aksakovo, Silistra и Sofia, Bulgaria

Zagreb, Croatia

Stare Mesto, Czech Republic

Lancaster and London, England

Cerny, Grenoble et Velizy-Villacoublay, France

Hamburg und Nuremberg, Germany

Athens, Marousi, Greece

Milan, Palermo, Terlizzi e Torino, Italy

Koknese, Riga, Latvia

Amersfoort, Amsterdam en Roosendaal, Netherlands

Arendal, Norway

Biala Podlaska, Poland

Porto, Portugal

Botosani, Bucharest și Saschiz, Romania

Vladivostok, Russia

Belgrade, Serbia

Bratislava, Slovakia

Madrid y Valencia, Spain

Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

Asia

Tungi, Bangladesh

Beijing 和 Guangzhou, China

Bhubaneshwar, Calicut, Patna, Pune ਅਤੇ Ranchi, India

Pacarkeling, Indonesia

Tehran, Iran

Alor Setar, Kajang, Kota Bharu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Papar dan Victoria, Malaysia

Islamabad এবং Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Khon Sawan, Thailand

Africa

Cotonou, Benin

Nairobi, Kenya

Monrovia, Liberia

Lagos, Nigeria

The Pacific

Homebush and Sydney, Australia

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

Today in History

241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
418 - Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire
1535 - Bishop Tomés de Berlanga discovers Galapagos Islands
1578 - Queen Elizabeth I gives Johan Casimir £20,000 to aid Dutch rebellion
1629 - King Charles I dissolved Parliament; he recalled it 11 years later
1661 - French King Louis XIV ends office of premier
1697 - Tsar Peter the Great begins a tour of Western Europe
1734 - Spanish army under Don Carlos (III) draws into Naples
1735 - An agreement between Nadir Shah and Paul I of Russia is signed near Ganja and Russian troops are withdrawn from Baku.
1762 - French Huguenot Jean Calas, who was wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform
1783 - USS Alliance under Captain Barry fights and wins last naval battle of US Revolutionary War off Cape Canaveral
1789 - Franklin College founded
1791 - John Stone, Concord, Mass, patents a pile driver
1801 - First census in Great Britain
1830 - The KNIL also known as the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
1831 - The French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria.
1847 - 1st money minted in Hawaii
1849 - Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent  for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
1861 - El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali.
1862 - Great Britain & France recognize independence of Zanzibar
1862 - US issues 1st paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000)
1864 - Red River campaign LA
1865 - Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, NC
1874 - Purdue University (Indiana) admits its 1st student
1876 - 1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)
1880 - General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
1888 - 1st performance of Caesar Franck's "Psyche"
1888 - HW Boxing champ John L Sullivan draws Charlie Mitchell in 30 rounds
1891 - Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1893 - Ivory Coast becomes a French colony
1893 - New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony; its only graduand Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before
1896 - Bronx acquires O'Brien Square
1896 - Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 [OS]
1896 - After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs much larger Jim Corbett to win world HW championship he says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"
1900 - Battle at Driefontein, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)
1900 - Regents for the King of Uganda and leading chiefs sign a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to the organization of the government, taxation, courts, military, and other functions of their country, which is under British protection.
1902 - Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri
1902 - A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera.
1903 - Harry Gammeter, Cleveland, patents multigraph duplicating machine
1903 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Montreal AAA in 2 games
1905 - Japanese Army captures Mukden (Shenyang)
1906 - 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine"
1906 - Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France
1906 - Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opens, constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London. The contraction Bakerloo became the official name in July 1906.
1909 - Jack Johnson fights Victor McLaglen to no decision in 6 for box title
1910 - China ends slavery
1910 - Pittsburgh Courier begins publishing
1913 - Stanley Cup: Quebec Bulldogs sweep Sydney (NS) Millionaires in 2 games
1913 - William Knox becomes 1st in American Bowling Congress to bowl 300
1914 - Suffragettes in London damage Rokeby's painting Venus of Velasquez
1915 - British Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle
1917 - Batangas was formally founded as one of the Philippines's earliest encomiendas.
1920 - NHL's Quebec Bulldog Jim Malone scores 6 goals vs Ottawa Senators
1920 - The Home Rule Act is passed by the British Parliament, dividing Ireland into two parts; it is rejected by southern counties, where the Ango-Irish war continues for a year
1922 - KLZ-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
1922 - State of siege proclaimed during mine strike Johannesburg South Africa
1925 - Walter Mittelholzer is 1st to flies over Demawend mountain, Iran
1926 - Run on Belgian banks
1927 - Albania mobilize by threat of Serbian, Croatian & Slovenes
1927 - Bavaria lifts ban on Hitler's speeches
1928 - Christine Collins' son, Walter Collins, disappears in Los Angeles
1931 - British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley
1933 - Major earthquake in Long Beach, Calif
1933 - Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics
1934 - Longest undefeated streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (18 games)
1934 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Suzanne Davis
1934 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
1938 - 10th Academy Awards - "The Life of Emile Zola", Spencer Tracy & Luise Rainer win
1939 - 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India
1940 - 1st US opera telecast, W2XBS, NYC, I Pagliacci
1941 - Lee MacPhail, Dodger GM predicts all players will wear batting helmets
1944 - U-575 sinks HMS Asphodel
1945 - Fieldmarshal Albert Kesselring succeeds Gerd von Rundstedt as commander of German Army Command in the West
1945 - Germany blows-up Wessel Bridge on Rhine
1945 - Japan declares Vietnam Independence
1945 - Patton's 3rd Army makes contact with Hodge's 1st Army

1945 - Tokyo in fire after night time B-29 bombings, more than 100,000 people die, mostly civilians.
1945 - US troops lands on Mindanao
1946 - Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil
1948 - 1st civilian to exceed speed of sound-Herb H Hoover, Edwards AFB Ca
1949 - Detroit Tiger pitcher Art Houtteman is critically injured in an auto accident but recovers to win 15 games in 1949
1951 - "Where's Charley?" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 56 perfs
1951 - FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner
1952 - Military coup led by General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
1956 - General strike in Cyprus protesting exile of archbishop Makarios
1956 - Peter Twiss sets new world air record 1,132 mph (1,823 kph)
1957 - Thousands of soccer fans riot in Italy
1959 - Dorothy Comiskey Rigney, sells 54% of White Sox to Bill Veeck
1959 - Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" premieres in NYC
1959 - Uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa Tibet
1960 - USSR agrees to stop nuclear testing
1962 - Due to its no black policy, Phillies leave Jack Tar Harrison Hotel & move to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater, Florida
1963 - Pete Rose debuts with hits in his 2 1st at bats in spring training
1963 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA SF Warriors scores 70 points vs Syracuse
1964 - US reconnaissance plane shot down over East Germany
1965 - Dutch Princess Margriet & Pieter van Vollenhoven get engaged1966 - 5 time Horse of the Year, Kelso, retires
1966 - North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
1969 - James Earl Ray pleads guilty to murder of Martin Luther King Jr
1970 - Barbra Streisand records "The Singer" & "I Can Do It"
1970 - South Africa complete 4-0 series drubbing of Australia
1970 - Members of the Stormont (Parliament of Northern Ireland) given police protection
1971 - US Senate approves amendment lowering voting age to 18
1971 - Three members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers (a regiment of the British Army) are killed by members of the Irish Republican Army
1972 - 1st black US political convention opens (Gary Indiana)
1972 - Gen Lon Nol becomes pres & prince Sirik Matak premier of Cambodia
1972 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1973 - BPAA US Open by Mike McGrath
1973 - Morocco adopts constitution
1974 - "Sextet" closes at Bijou Theater NYC after 9 performances
1974 - Carol Mann wins LPGA S&H Green Stamp Golf Classic
1974 - Christian Democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
1974 - Lawrence Rowe completes 302 v Eng Bridgetown, 36 fours 1 six
1975 - "The Rocky Horror Show" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 45 performances
1975 - Dog spectacles patented in England
1975 - Sanyo Shinkansen open between Osaka and Fukuoka.
1977 - Rings of Uranus discovered during occulation of SAO
1978 - Soyuz 28 returns to Earth
1978 - "The Incredible Hulk", starring Bill Bixby as David Banner, premieres on CBS
1980 - Willard Scott becomes the weather forcaster on the Today Show
1982 - Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya
1982 - Salim Malik scores 100 in 2nd inning of Test Cricket debut (v SL)
1982 - Sygyzy: all 9 planets aligned on same side of Sun
1982 - Travis Jackson & Happy Chandler elected to Hall of Fame
1982 - The United States places an embargo on Libyan petroleum imports because of their support of terrorist groups.
1982 - 8th People's Choice Awards: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field & Jane Fonda win (Motion Picture) and Alan Alda & Barbara Mandrell win (TV)
1983 - Walter Alston, Dodgers manager, elected to Hall of Fame
1984 - Heavyweight Tim Witherspoon KOs Greg Page
1985 - Bonnie Lauer wins Uniden LPGA Golf Invitational
1985 - Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games
1985 - French socialists lose election (National Front 9%)
1985 - Ice Pairs Championship at Tokyo won by Elena Valova & O Vasiliev (URS)
1985 - India beat Pakistan to win "World Championship of Cricket"
1985 - Mens Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Alexandr Fadeev (URS)
1986 - Ernie Lombardi, NL MVP in 1938, & Bobby Doerr, elected to Hall of Fame
1987 - Vatican formal opposition to test-tube fertilization & embryo transfer
1988 - Avalanche at Swiss Ski resort Klosters nearly kills Prince Charles
1988 - NY Islanders celebrate Mike Bossy night
1990 - 4th American Comedy Award: When Harry Met Sally
1990 - Ice Dance Championship at Halifax won by Klimova & Ponomarenko (URS)
1990 - Ice Pairs Championship at Halifax won by Gordeeva & Grinkov (URS)
1990 - Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Halifax won by Jill Trenary (USA)
1990 - Lt Gen Avril resigns as president of Haiti
1990 - Mens Figure Skating Championship in Halifax won by Kurt Browning (CAN)
1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1991 - Eddie Sutton is 1st NCAA coach to lead 4 schools into playoffs
1991 - Laura Davies wins LPGA Inamori Golf Classic
1991 - Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg clinches his 4th slalom World Cup
1991 - Merlene Ottey runs world record 200 m indoor (22.24 sec)
1991 - Rico Lieder/Jens Carlowitz/Karsten Just/Thomas Schonlebe walk 4x400m indoor world record (3:03.05)
1992 - 6th Soul Train Music Awards: Natalie Cole, Color Me Badd win
1992 - Sandra Seuser/Katrin Schreiter/Annet Hesselbarth/Grit Breuer walk female indoor world record 4x400m (3:27.22)
1994 - 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral
1995 - Car bomb explodes in Karachi at shiite mosque, 17+ killed
1995 - Chiel Meijering's "St Louis Blues" premieres in Arnhem
1995 - Dow-Jones hits record 4035.64
1996 - 22nd People's Choice Awards: Tom Hanks & Demi Moore win (Dramatic Motion Picture) and Tim Allen & Candice Bergen win (TV)
1996 - NYC Mayor Guiliani visits Israel
2000 - The NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.
2000 - 16th Soap Opera Digest Awards - General Hospital wins
2006 - The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
2006 - Mass unrest by the PCC started in São Paulo (the biggest city in Brazil) which would eventually kill more than 152 people.
2007 - 21st Soul Train Music Awards: Jermaine Dupri, Jennifer Hudson win
2012 - At least 130 rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza
2013 - Aung San Suu Kyi is re-elected leader of the Burmese National League for Democracy
2014 - German Chancellor Merkel warns Russia's Putin that making Crimea part of Russia is illegal and in violation of Ukraine's constitution

Random Celebrity Photos

Mae West, 1916

The Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Was Germany’s ‘Over-Engineered’ Tank

The Germans are a polarizing people, and so are their products. Sort of like when journalists review a BMW — people either love ‘em or hate ‘em. This is because Germany’s engineering prowess is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it enables Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche, etc., to lead the pack when it comes to performance. On the other hand, the Germans are notorious for letting their reach exceed their grasp. They rush new and innovative products to market without giving them a proper shake-down first.
Not only does this odd duality explain Germany’s mixed record in building fine automobiles, it also sheds light on designs going as far back as World War II. Case in point: the Panzerkampfwagen Tiger battle tanks the Fatherland built to counter Allied armor. They were either deadly killers, clunky death traps, or both, depending on who you ask.
A Sobering Reality Check
German morale was high as the Wehrmacht launched operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941. Military leaders anticipated a quick, easy conquest of Stalin’s Soviet Union. They were shocked when the Russians proved far tougher than Hitler or his advisers had bargained for. Particularly troubling were the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks that easily outclassed German armor. Save for the 88 mm flak gun, Ivan’s armor was virtually unstoppable.

To counter this threat, Ferdinand Porsche and his rivals at Henschel and Son submitted competing designs for a new tank. The Henschel design eventually won out, largely because Porsche’s vehicle used a hybrid gas-electric power unit that required large amounts of copper, a metal that was in short supply in wartime Germany.
As with most German designs, the first Tiger model was impressive on paper. 3.9 inches of armor protected the front hull, with 2.4 inch plating on the sides and 1 inch armor top and bottom. The interlocking plates were welded together rather than riveted. This, combined with its sheer bulk, made the Tiger immune to the American M4 Sherman tank and its 75 mm gun. The Tiger’s builders outfitted the new model with the formidable German 88 mm KWK 43, perhaps the most effective tank-mounted weapon to see service during World War II.
The Tiger was originally powered by a 1303 in.³ 12 cylinder gas-powered engine that turned out 650 horses at 3000 RPMs. This choice lacked the necessary power for the job, however, and the engine was soon upgraded to a 1409 in.³ version that turned out 700 horses at 3000 RPM. The latter engine also had a cast-iron block as opposed to the original’s aluminum one, which allowed for larger cylinders and, hence, added power.

Supporting the tank’s substantial weight required tracks almost 2 ½ feet wide. The Germans added a submersion system that enabled the Tiger to traverse streams as deep as a 4 m, or around 12 feet US.

Predictably, the Tiger was both loved and hated by its crews. When it ran well, it was unstoppable. Shells from opposing American and British tanks did little more than dent the frontal armor, while the Tiger’s 88 mm gun could take out a Sherman tank from a distance of 2 miles. The Tiger soon gained a fearsome reputation on the battlefield, winning the respect of Allied forces.

Luckily for the Allies, the Tiger was beset with a host of problems. It weight caused it to bog down in all but the driest ground, leaving it a sitting target for anti-tank crews armed with M3 90 mm cannons. The tank’s high production cost limited the number built, while America’s factories were churning out weapons at a breakneck pace. But perhaps the Tiger’s greatest weakness was its over-design, which caused frequent and time-consuming breakdowns.

Aware of the tank’s weaknesses, designers went back to the drawing board in 1943. The result was the Tiger II, which first saw action in 1944. The second generation Tiger was a vast improvement over its predecessor, with armor up to 7 inches thick in spots. It also featured sloping sides that improved its survivability. Early models suffered from leaking seals and gaskets, but builders quickly remedied these problems.

The Tiger II was amazingly agile for a tank of its size, giving it a commanding place on the battlefield. It stretched 33 feet and 9 inches in length including the barrel, was 12 feet wide, and reached 10’2” in height. Total weight was around 69 tons.
Ultimately, however, the new model failed to revive the Third Reich’s waning fortunes. Less than 500 were built, due largely to Allied bombing raids that destroyed most of Henschel’s production facilities. This, along with upgraded Allied armor and Hitler’s shortsighted mismanagement of his nation’s resources, sunk Germany’s bid to build a world empire.

As for the Tiger, a handful of both versions are on display in military museums across the globe. While its builders were on the wrong side of history, the insights they lent to tank design are still bearing fruit today. In many ways, modern US armor owes a debt to the German tanks American GIs fought more than 70 years ago.

When It Comes to Our Veterans’ Mental Health, We Ought to Spare No Expense

by Shawn Drury

If I were to form a line of people most deserving of help in the form of tax dollars, veterans with mental illnesses would be right at the front.

But those who need help are often afraid to ask for it.

Consider what happened to thirty-year-old Air Force Reserve Capt. Jamie Brunette, who was found dead early last month from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Brunette had a secret struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, but she rarely spoke of her troubles, so her death came as a shock to her family and friends, many of whom gathered last week at a memorial service in Tampa.

If you walk through a city of almost any decent size you will see homeless people, many of whom are veterans, many of whom have serious mental illness. The statistics are staggering. On average 22 veterans a day take their lives. Female veterans are three times as likely to commit suicide as women who did not serve.

When news broke last year of the failings of the Veterans Administration, Republicans were quick to point the finger at President Obama. Yet it was Republicans who supported the sequester, which cut much-needed funding for mental health services. It was Republicans who blocked a mental health bill.

Our government is too big, they say. We have to make difficult budget decisions, they say. Let the market fix this problem, they say. Actually, no. If there is one thing we ought to spend public money on it is to help our veterans overcome the horrors that resulted from their service to our country.

The next time an elected official extols the many virtues of our veterans, check his or her record. The worst kind of politician is the one who cavalierly sends troops off to risk their lives, only to vote against funding to help many of those same members of our military fight an even more pernicious enemy, one we can’t see.

“We owe our service members the very best and that means assuring that they always have access to high-quality services and care, including mental health care.” -Sen. Elizabeth Warren