Alan Pean is a 26-year-old biology student
with no criminal record and history of violence. But on August 27th, he
was shot in the chest by an off-duty Houston police officer.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Arizona Authorities On The Lookout For Highway Serial Sniper, Possible Nine Shootings In 10 Days
Director of Arizona’s Department of Public Safety, Colonel Frank Milstead, is calling the shooter a “domestic terrorist.”
The Last of the Granny Witches
by Anna Wess
We are a peculiar breed. Our roots grow deeper than the cedars,
and yet we don’t know precisely where or who it is that we grew from. We
are a mystery as old as these hills themselves, and it doesn’t take
much figuring to know that we are enigmas of intentional design and
destiny.
Dog knows our names.We are not Northerners — damn Yankees, the men folks’ Confederate influence called them — and this we know without a doubt. I myself was always preened into believing I was a Southern child, born out of notions of gallantry and romance, but the fact is, I ain’t a low country belle and I’ve never picked a shred of cotton or been to a debutante ball.
We are not peaches.
And these mountain women before us were not delicate flowers or distressed coquettes. In these old heirloom hills, the women are as tough as the men, and then some. There was only one person Papaw was leery of, and that was Mamaw. No, you are not a peach, never mind how long you’ve thought you were or the times your daddy said so. No, you’re not. You are not easily bruised fruit. The blood in our veins is laced with old magic and the secrets of the noble savants before us.
We are the last of the granny witches.
The old ones, the original Appalachian queens, were daughters of the Celts and the offspring of Druids and medieval mavens and the natives of the old world craft, and we are their children. And although we are indeed as mysterious as these old hills, we still have that Celt and Cherokee elder magic in our bones.
I have beheld divination in my grandmother’s kitchen as she would foretell future events spelled out in the remnants of black tea or coffee grounds on the bottom of a common porcelain cup. With my own eyes I have witnessed warts and scars blown clean off the skin with nothing more than a believing breath and a skyward nod towards The Maker. Those magic women, those healers of wounds and tellers of fortunes and hex casters never considered themselves anything but noble and proud and dog-fearing, and it didn’t bother them to be called a granny witch or a bee charmer or a medicine woman. These were gifts to them from the Divine.
And I recall bed sheets over mirrors in rooms where some tired soul had just given up the ghost. Nobody wants to be haunted forever, not even by somebody they once loved, and so they cover up the mirror so the spirit won’t see themselves and linger around. Ain’t a’ one of us needs a specter in the house. That’s why Sister Brown paints her ceiling haint blue. You just never know and can never be too sure. Some folks don’t know when to leave, even after they’re dead. And the horseshoe hanging upright above the front door won’t do a thing for the spirits, but at least your luck won’t ever run out.
And you do such things yourself, too, and likely have never spent a juncture of a thought as to why, or from where or who, or for what consequence. I would wager you’d never pick up a coin that’s face down or cross the path of a black cat without blessing yourself (or at least thinking that you’re not superstitious anyway and you convince yourself there’s no need give that cat a second thought), and your very blood will chill when a broken clock starts a tick-tick-ticking again, for you already know what that means, and it’s not to tell the time.
There once was many more of us, back in the old days when it seemed like dog was sleeping somewhere over on the mountain and the old ones ruled the land and fended for themselves. But that time has long gone. We must work harder to preserve our magic, for it is fading into the background noise of technology and naysayers and law men that tell us we are common simple folk and feed us pills and poverty to quiet us. I fear that we are truly the last of the granny witches, the last tellers of tales, and that will be the end of our magic.
Some of us have already lost it.
Send out your magic. Don’t be the last of your kind. We are the daughters of the Celts and the offspring of Druids and medieval mavens and the natives of the old world craft. And yes, dog knows your name. Tell your tales and bewitch history, just like the mother mountains with her ages of charm and mystery, where peaches have never grown.
England: Construction Workers Discover Skull of William Wallace
by Barbara Johnson
A team of construction workers employed at demolishing an old pub last
month in the Bermondsey district of the London borough of Southwark,
have discovered an ancient and badly damaged wooden crate containing
three pierced human skulls, presumably the severed heads of criminals or
traitors that had been impaled on pikes and displayed at the southern
gatehouse of the Old London Bridge. The remains, which were sent to the
Ireland to be analyzed by a team of archaeologists associated with the
National Museum of Ireland, have turned out to be those of 14th
Century rebel heroes of the Wars of Scottish Independence, including
that of the former Guardian of Scotland, William Wallace.
All three heads have visibly been dipped
in tar and boiled for preservation, before being pierced by pikes or
spears. According to the various tests and analysis realized on
the three heads, two of the skulls have been proven by DNA, to belong
to the brothers, John and Simon Fraser, while the third is strongly
believed to have belonged to William Wallace. All three men were indeed
condemned to being executed in 1305 and 1306, and many contemporary
writers describe how the head of the three men were exposed at the same
time atop the London Bridge, starting a tradition of gruesome dissuasion
that was to continue for another 355 years . The Bermondsey district
was less densely urbanized at the time and it is quite possible that
after their period of public exposure, the heads were simply buried near
the foundation of the bridge.
Two
of the skulls, turned out to have very similar genetics suggesting they
were siblings. DNA comparison with descendants of John and Simon Fraser
of Oliver and Neidpath, have confirmed that these were indeed the
remains of the famous rebel knights banneret.
All three rebels were in fact separately
condemned to being hanged, drawn and quartered, an exceptionally cruel,
long and bloody method of public execution. Convicts were fastened to a
hurdle, or a wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of
execution, where they were hanged almost to the point of death, but
released while still alive. They were then emasculated, eviscerated
and their bowels were burnt before them, before they
were finally beheaded. Their bodies were then cut into four parts, to be
exposed like the head, in different parts of the Kingdom.
In the case of William Wallace, contemporary chronicles state that his preserved head was placed on a pike atop London Bridge while his limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling, and Perth.
Sir William Wallace (from the Gaelic Uilliam Uallas)
was a Scottish member of the lesser nobility who became one of the main
leaders of the rebels during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along
with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of
Stirling Bridge in September 1297, and was appointed Guardian of
Scotland by an assembly of noblemen. He commanded the Scottish army
until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298, when he resigned
from his function. He was captured in August 1305 in Robroyston, near
Glasgow, after the betrayal of the Scottish knight John de
Menteith, and was handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him
tortured and killed for high treason and crimes against English
civilians. He is depicted in the very inaccurate but award-winning
historical drama Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson, that was released in 1995.
According
to most experts, the historical William Wallace most likely wore chain
and plate mail and looked more like a medieval knight than a painted
Celtic warrior with a kilt.
The remains of the three men will be
sent to Scotland in a few weeks, after the scientists have gathered all
possible information from the bones. They should then be placed in the
crypt of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, a Roman catholic
cult located in Edinburgh.
Bones in South African cave reveal new human relative
by Lynsey Chutel and Malcom Ritter
Scientists say they've discovered a new member of the
human family tree, revealed by a huge trove of bones in a barely
accessible, pitch-dark chamber of a cave in South Africa.
The creature shows a surprising mix of human-like
and more primitive characteristics — some experts called it "bizarre"
and "weird."
And the discovery presents some key mysteries: How old are the bones? And how did they get into that chamber, reachable only by a complicated pathway that includes squeezing through passages as narrow as about 7½ inches (17.8 centimeters)?
The bones were found by a spelunker, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Johannesburg. The site has yielded some 1,550 specimens since its discovery in 2013. The fossils represent at least 15 individuals.
Researchers named the creature Homo naledi (nah-LEH-dee). That reflects the "Homo" evolutionary group, which includes modern people and our closest extinct relatives, and the word for "star" in a local language. The find was made in the Rising Star cave system.
The creature, which evidently walked upright, represents a mix of traits. For example, the hands and feet look like Homo, but the shoulders and the small brain recall Homo's more ape-like ancestors, the researchers said.
Lee Berger, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg who led the work, said naledi's anatomy suggest that it arose at or near the root of the Homo group, which would make the species some 2.5 million to 2.8 million years old. The discovered bones themselves may be younger, said Berger, an American.
The researchers also announced the discovery in the journal eLife. They said they were unable to determine an age for the fossils because of unusual characteristics of the site, but that they are still trying.
Berger said researchers are not claiming that neledi was a direct ancestor of modern-day people, and experts unconnected to the project said they believed it was not.
Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution's Natural History Museum, who was not involved in the discovery, said that without an age, "there's no way we can judge the evolutionary significance of this find."
Besides the age of the bones, another mystery is how they got into the difficult-to-reach area of the cave. The researchers said they suspect the naledi may have repeatedly deposited their dead in the room, but alternatively it may have been a death trap for individuals that found their own way in.
Potts said a deliberate disposal of dead bodies is a feasible explanation, but he added it's not clear who did the disposing. Maybe it was some human relative other than naledi, he said.
And the discovery presents some key mysteries: How old are the bones? And how did they get into that chamber, reachable only by a complicated pathway that includes squeezing through passages as narrow as about 7½ inches (17.8 centimeters)?
The bones were found by a spelunker, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Johannesburg. The site has yielded some 1,550 specimens since its discovery in 2013. The fossils represent at least 15 individuals.
Researchers named the creature Homo naledi (nah-LEH-dee). That reflects the "Homo" evolutionary group, which includes modern people and our closest extinct relatives, and the word for "star" in a local language. The find was made in the Rising Star cave system.
The creature, which evidently walked upright, represents a mix of traits. For example, the hands and feet look like Homo, but the shoulders and the small brain recall Homo's more ape-like ancestors, the researchers said.
Lee Berger, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg who led the work, said naledi's anatomy suggest that it arose at or near the root of the Homo group, which would make the species some 2.5 million to 2.8 million years old. The discovered bones themselves may be younger, said Berger, an American.
At
a news conference Thursday in the Cradle of Humankind, a site near the
town of Magaliesburg where the discovery was made, bones were arranged
in the shape of skeleton in a glass-covered wooden case. Fragments of
small skulls, an almost complete jawbone with teeth, and pieces of
limbs, fingers and other bones were arrayed around the partial skeleton.
Berger
handed a skull reconstruction to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who
kissed it, as did other VIPs. Berger beamed throughout the unveiling.The researchers also announced the discovery in the journal eLife. They said they were unable to determine an age for the fossils because of unusual characteristics of the site, but that they are still trying.
Berger said researchers are not claiming that neledi was a direct ancestor of modern-day people, and experts unconnected to the project said they believed it was not.
Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution's Natural History Museum, who was not involved in the discovery, said that without an age, "there's no way we can judge the evolutionary significance of this find."
If
the bones are about as old as the Homo group, that would argue that
naledi is "a snapshot of ... the evolutionary experimentation that was
going on right around the origin" of Homo, he said. If they are
significantly younger, it either shows the naledi retained the primitive
body characteristics much longer than any other known creature, or that
it re-evolved them, he said.
Eric Delson of Lehman College in New
York, who also wasn't involved with the work, said his guess is that
naledi fits within a known group of early Homo creatures from around 2
million year ago.Besides the age of the bones, another mystery is how they got into the difficult-to-reach area of the cave. The researchers said they suspect the naledi may have repeatedly deposited their dead in the room, but alternatively it may have been a death trap for individuals that found their own way in.
"This
stuff is like a Sherlock Holmes mystery," declared Bernard Wood of
George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved
in the study. Visitors to the cave must have created artificial light,
as with a torch, Wood said. The people who did cave drawings in Europe
had such technology, but nobody has suspected that mental ability in
creatures with such a small brain as naledi, he said.
Potts said a deliberate disposal of dead bodies is a feasible explanation, but he added it's not clear who did the disposing. Maybe it was some human relative other than naledi, he said.
Not
everybody agreed that the discovery revealed a new species. Tim White
of the University of California, Berkeley, called that claim
questionable. "From what is presented here, (the fossils) belong to a
primitive Homo erectus, a species named in the 1800s," he said in an
email.
At the news conference in South Africa, Berger disputed that.
"Could this be the body of homo erectus? Absolutely not. It could not be erectus," Berger said.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
The Daily Drift
Welcome to the Saturday Edition of Carolina Naturally.
~ Amanda Marcotte
Our latest comment:
I like how you keep the posts varied and interesting.
Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.
Dos Iguanas ... !
Today is - National Iguana Awareness Day
You want the unvarnished truth?
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
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Puerto Rico United States - Uruguay - Venezuela
Europe
Bosnia/Herzegovina
- Bulgaria - Czech Republic - England - Finland - France - Germany -
Hungary Ireland - Italy - Luxembourg - Netherlands - Norway - Poland -
Portugal - Russia - San Marino Scotland - Serbia - Slovenia - Spain -
Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Bangladesh - Burma - India - Indonesia - Iran - Israel - Laos - Malaysia - Mauritius - Pakistan
Saudi Arabia - Thailand - Yemen
Africa
Djibouti - Morocco - South Africa - Tunisia
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines
Today in History
| 490 BC | Athenian and Plataean Hoplites commanded by General Miltiades drive back a Persian invasion force under General Datis at Marathon. | |
| 1213 | Simon de Montfort defeats Raymond of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon at Muret, France. | |
| 1609 | Henry Hudson sails into what is now New York Harbor aboard his sloop Half Moon. | |
| 1662 | Governor Berkley of Virginia is denied his attempts to repeal the Navigation Acts. | |
| 1683 | A combined Austrian and Polish army defeats the Turks at Kahlenberg and lifts the siege on Vienna, Austria. | |
| 1722 | The Treaty of St. Petersburg puts an end to the Russo-Persian War. | |
| 1786 | Despite his failed efforts to suppress the American Revolution, Lord Cornwallis is appointed governor general of India. | |
| 1836 | Mexican authorities crush the revolt which broke out on August 25. | |
| 1918 | British troops retake Havincourt, Moeuvres, and Trescault along the Western Front. | |
| 1919 | Adolf Hitler joins German Worker’s Party. | |
| 1939 | In response to the invasion of Poland, the French Army advances into Germany. On this day they reach their furthest penetration-five miles. | |
| 1940 | Italian forces begin an offensive into Egypt from Libya. | |
| 1940 | The Lascaux Caves in France, with their prehistoric wall paintings, are discovered. | |
| 1944 | American troops fight their way into Germany. | |
| 1945 | French troops land in Indochina. | |
| 1969 | Richard Nixon orders a resumption in bombing North Vietnam. | |
| 1977 | Steve Biko, a South African activist opposing apartheid, dies while in police custody. | |
| 1980 | Military coup in Turkey. | |
| 1990 | East and West Germany, along with the UK, US and USSR—the Allied nations that had occupied post-WWII Germany—sign the final settlement for reunification of Germany. | |
| 1992 | Space Shuttle Endeavor takes off on NASA’s 50th shuttle mission; its crew includes the first African-American woman in space, the first married couple, and the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spacecraft. | |
| 2003 | UN lifts sanctions against Libya in exchange for that country accepting responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and paying recompense to victims’ families. | |
| 2007 | Joseph Estrada, former president of the Philippines, is convicted of plunder. | |
| 2011 | In New York City, the 9/11 Memorial Museum opens to the public. |
Is This 8-Year Old's Newspaper Better Than Yours?
This is Hilde Lysiak, 8, the founder and chief reporter of The Orange Street News.
It's a monthly newspaper and, in fact, the only newspaper for
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, a town of about 5,000 people. Hilde is and
old-fashioned, gumshoe journalist who focuses on hard news. The Columbia Journalism Review followed her on the job as she investigated the effects of a local tornado strike:An older man with an ample potbelly answered, and apologized for being shirtless. With a mix of affability and confusion, he looked down at the freckly blonde 8-year-old standing before him. She had her pen and pad in hand. Homemade press credentials dangled from her neck. “Hi. I’m Hilde from The Orange Street News, and I was wondering if you could tell me what happened a couple nights ago.”Hilde learned the trade from her father, Matt Lysiak, a former reporter for the New York Daily News. He takes care of the business end of Hilde's reporting, which is a popular source of information in the town. Residents are quite willing to pay to read her work:
He gestured to his neighbor’s property. “This gentleman over here got the worst of it,” he said. “It went through his house and then went out in the middle of the Susquehanna River and went to the south.” Hilde took notes. She asked the man for his name and spelled out the letters in her notebook: “B-O-B M-A-Y-H-E-W.”
Two hundred copies of each issue are distributed around town in local businesses, like a cafe where Hilde is known to hunker down on deadline with her usual toasted bagel and side of bacon. More than 40 people pay $1 to $2 a year to have Hilde hand-deliver The Orange Street News to their doors, many of whom the Lysiaks had never heard of before subscription letters began arriving in the mail. “We are very proud of you for taking on such a big project at such a young age,” wrote Mike Garinger, who enclosed an additional $5 to help with production costs.And it's no wonder. Hilde reports on serious news topics:
In June, after Hilde’s competitors reported there had been a break-in on Orange Street, Hilde paid a visit to the police station to ask for the address. The cops wouldn’t give it out, so she went knocking on doors until she found the right house. Hilde landed an interview with its resident, who gushed that her dog, Zeus, had saved the day: “Hero Dog Thwarts Intruder!” Hilde’s headline proclaimed. As for the perpetrator, Hilde dubbed him (or her) “The Orange Street Bandit.”
It's After Labor Day, So Why Is It Still So Hot?
Unseasonable heat has much of the U.S. in its grip. Global
warming will likely make heat waves more frequent and intense.
Five-year-old boys tunneled out of kindergarten school before attempting to buy a Jaguar
They had slid under the fence after digging out the soil for several
days, having meticulously planned their escape. They fled from under the
noses of their teachers during a late afternoon walk in the grounds of
the school.
Police were alerted immediately, but by then the boys were well on the
way.
A woman noticed them outside the Jaguar showroom as they gazed at the expensive cars. They eagerly told her they were there because they wanted a 'grown up car'. It was unclear how much money they had taken with them. The children were initially taken to the city's Ordzhonikidze Police station.
They were not harmed and were returned safely to their parents, who did
not file a formal complaint. Despite this, the head of the group that
allowed this to happen was fired.
The head of the kindergarten was reprimanded.
Olga Denisenko, acting head of pre-school education, said: "This is a
very serious breach of rules. The head of the group that allowed this to
happen was fired.
The acting head of the kindergarten has been given administrative
notice."
A woman noticed them outside the Jaguar showroom as they gazed at the expensive cars. They eagerly told her they were there because they wanted a 'grown up car'. It was unclear how much money they had taken with them. The children were initially taken to the city's Ordzhonikidze Police station.
Councillor wants pedestrians to give drivers the finger
But instead of the middle finger, Kelly is encouraging people to extend
their arms and point in the direction they want to walk when using
crosswalks.
“3 per cent of pedestrian injuries and fatalities in Toronto occur at
marked crosswalks.
“This is a statistic which could be significantly reduced if pedestrians make the effort to point, pause then proceed,” said Kelly. “Getting the attention of motorists before crossing the street eliminates the possibility of a collision.” Kelly’s words of wisdom come as police departments across the Greater Toronto Area are conducting road safety campaigns this week.
In addition to distracted driving, officers will be paying special attention to motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians who commit offenses in the vicinity of school zones, including offenses related to pedestrian crossovers, crosswalks, intersections and high-risk mid-block crossing.
“This is a statistic which could be significantly reduced if pedestrians make the effort to point, pause then proceed,” said Kelly. “Getting the attention of motorists before crossing the street eliminates the possibility of a collision.” Kelly’s words of wisdom come as police departments across the Greater Toronto Area are conducting road safety campaigns this week.
In addition to distracted driving, officers will be paying special attention to motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians who commit offenses in the vicinity of school zones, including offenses related to pedestrian crossovers, crosswalks, intersections and high-risk mid-block crossing.
Walter Scott Had Cocaine In His System According To Police Smear Campaign
The police have no shame whatsoever when it comes to smearing the reputation of a dead man who can’t defend himself.
Trans woman denied Louisiana driver’s license for wearing a dress and makeup: ‘You are actually man’
Pennsylvania Barber Shop Fined For Refusing To Cut A Woman’s Hair Because She’s A Woman
A Pennsylvania barber was fined $750 for discrimination after he
refused to provide a woman with a haircut simply because she has a
vagina ...Pennsylvania man accused of brutally raping same woman a second time after after judge lowers bond
Sexist School Dress Codes Get Even More Vindictive: Why Do Schools Slut-Shame Girls?
School dress codes are getting stricter.Only for the girls, of course.
Because it’s their fault if a boy can’t pass a test because she’s wearing a tank top.
Black Teenagers Charged As Adults For Having Naked Pictures Of Themselves
Two black teens in North Carolina were charged as adults for exploiting themselves by sexting each other.
Engineering Student Gets Drunk, Designs Airplane, Doesn't Remember Doing It
Keith Fraley is a software engineering student at Michigan Tech University. His roommate, Mark, is a mechanical engineering student. One night, Mark got drunk--very
drunk. While thoroughly sloshed, he designed an airplane in substantial
technical detail, complete with mathematical calculations for the
design. Fraley described the event to The Guardian:My friend Cody and I both looked at Mark as he then began to spew information about his whiteboard designed craft and the calculations behind it. Cody and I were in tears from laughter because the aerospace mathematics he tried telling us about sounded like a slurred robot. I did no encouraging towards the creation of this, but I did encourage him to continue talking because it was hilarious.Later, Mark sobered up. He had no memory of the event. But his roommate did and explained. Mark isn't certain that the plane will fly, but he plans to build an RC model to find out.
The guys that Mark shared drinks with were with him for more of the night than I was. They explained to me that Mark began a tantrum and began creating his design. Alex, a friend of Mark’s, said that he began staring at the ground and said that he asked for pen and paper immediately. After he sketched some designs, he said that he needed to leave and grab his aerospace mathematics textbook and whiteboard.
According to his drinking buddies, he was drawing frantically explaining his thoughts out loud and at the time he was very intoxicated. He was passing out on his whiteboard from time to time as well.
I'm a librarian. If I got completely drunk, then creative at work, what might be the result?
Strange Fast Food Creations From Around the World
We
love some crazy foods here, but I think even the Mrs., would
balk at some of the crazy fast food options available at restaurants
around the globe. This TopTenz article
featuring some of he most outrageous creations out there -like the
questionable lobster burger and lobster and caviar sandwiches above that
are from Wendy's Japan.And if you think KFC's Double Down is crazy, just wait until you see the hot dog versions available in the Philippines that features cheese, honey mustard and a chicken and cheese hot dog all sandwiched in a fried chicken "bun." Then again, as crazy as this is, we expect to see it hit American stores any time now.
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