Cutting down wide swaths of forests could reduce rainfall in South America dramatically by 2050.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
El Derecho
The Midwest saw thunderstorms, severe winds and tornadoes in a rare derecho event this week.
Liquid Rainbow
The Caribbean’s crystal clear waters and white sands don’t
have anything on Colombia’s mind-blowing Cano Cristales.
Old Water
Analysis of water samples from Earth’s deep mantle suggest
that the planet’s water has been present since Earth’s formation, a
finding that has implications for other rocky bodies in the solar system
and planets beyond as well.
Psychedelic Dwarf
Is this an Andy Warhol interpretation of Pluto?
Actually, it's a beautiful example of when scientific data can imitate art.
Actually, it's a beautiful example of when scientific data can imitate art.
Four Masked Bandits Caught in the Act
There was a disturbance at an art gallery that led to an investigation. Four intruders were apprehended. A Facebook post by the Newport (Oregon) Police Department takes the burglary report to the next level.
Four masked bandits burglarized Inscapes Gallery on SW Bay Blvd recently. Officers responded to a report of suspicious activity after midnight and cornered the suspects immediately upon entering the business. The suspects, known only by their street names of ‘Home Dog’, ‘Da Nails’, ‘Squeaky Feets’, and ‘2-Toes Todd’, attempted to elude officers on scene. After a brief scuffle, all suspects were captured without further incident or injuries.“Squeaky Feets” found fame from the caper, and now has his own Facebook page.
‘Squeaky Feets’ told officers they had no intention of taking anything from the gallery; they were only trying to straighten a few pieces of art on the wall. Tell it to the judge, ‘Feets’. Tell it to the judge.
Animal News
Life just got better for some 3,000 species of plants and
animals that gained protection after a 3.3-million-acre park was
approved.
Actions taken by the United States, Mexico and Canada to protect the migratory species are having a positive effect.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
The Daily Drift
We
wish to express our sympathy with the people of France who have
experienced to horror of the demented lunatics who attacked their lives
and to express our disgust at the domestic lunatics here attempting to
turn this horrific event into their own demented political delusion
Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.
Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.
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Australia - Philippines
Today in History
| 1501 | Arthur Tudor of England marries Katherine of Aragon. | |
| 1812 | As Napoleon Bonaparte’s army retreats form Moscow, temperatures drop to 20 degrees below zero. | |
| 1851 | Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick is published in New York. | |
| 1882 | Billy Clairborne, a survivor of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, loses his life in a shoot-out with Buckskin Frank Leslie. | |
| 1908 | Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light. | |
| 1910 | Lieutenant Eugene Ely, U.S. Navy, becomes the first man to take off in an airplane from the deck of a ship. He flew from the ship Birmingham at Hampton Roads to Norfolk. | |
| 1921 | The Cherokee Indians ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review their claim to 1 million acres of land in Texas. | |
| 1922 | The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) begins the first daily radio broadcasts from Marconi House. | |
| 1930 | Right-wing militarists in Japan attempt to assassinate Premier Hamagushi. | |
| 1935 | Manuel Luis Quezon is sworn in as the first Filipino president, as the Commonwealth of the Philippines is inaugurated. | |
| 1940 | German bombers devastate Coventry in Great Britain, killing 1,000 in the worst air raid of the war. | |
| 1951 | The United States and Yugoslavia sign a military aid pact. | |
| 1951 | French paratroopers capture Hoa Binh, Vietnam. | |
| 1960 | New Orleans integrates two all-white schools. | |
| 1960 | President Dwight Eisenhower orders U.S. naval units into the Caribbean after Guatemala and Nicaragua charge Castro with starting uprisings. | |
| 1961 | President Kennedy increases the number of American advisors in Vietnam from 1,000 to 16,000. | |
| 1963 | Iceland gets a new island when a volcano pushes its way up out of the sea five miles off the southern coast. | |
| 1963 | Greece frees hundreds who were jailed in the Communist uprising of 1944-1950. | |
| 1965 | The U.S. First Cavalry Division battles with the North Vietnamese Army in the Ia Drang Valley, the first ground combat for American troops. | |
| 1968 | Yale University announces its plan to go co-ed. | |
| 1969 | The United States launches Apollo 12, the second mission to the Moon, from Cape Kennedy. | |
| 1979 | US President Jimmy Carter freezes all Iranian assets in the United States in response to Iranian militants holding more than 50 Americans hostage. | |
| 1982 | Lech Walesa, leader of Poland’s outlawed Solidarity movement, is released by communist authorities after 11 months confinement; he would win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and be elected Poland’s president in 1990. | |
| 1984 | The Space Shuttle Discovery‘s crew rescues a second satellite. | |
| 1990 | Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany sign a treaty officially making the Oder-Neisse line the border between their countries. | |
| 1995 | Budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress forces temporary closure of national parks and museums; federal agencies forced to operate with skeleton staff. | |
| 2001 | Northern Alliance fighters take control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. | |
| 2008 | First G-20 economic summit convenes, in Washington, DC. | |
| 2012 | Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip. |
Baby Monitor Catches Toddler Singing Star Wars Music
Jonathan H. Liu recently watched Star Wars with his kids. His toddler, who is 2 and a half, really enjoyed it--especially the Imperial March,
which is also known as the Darth Vader theme. After she went to bed for
a nap, the cutest little Sith began singing that piece of music.
Here she is with a captured piece of Rebel equipment. At Geek Dad, Liu explains that his daughter is fascinated with Darth Vader:
When he first appeared on the screen, she started mimicking the sound of his breathing. When the Imperial March started playing, she stood up and danced! Lately she keeps asking us to sing the “Star Wars song”–sometimes she means the theme song, but quite often what she really wants to hear is Darth Vader’s theme instead.She has chosen her path wisely.
The Art of Driftwood
Photographer and sculptor James Doran-Webb puts drift and waste wood to novel use.
The 10 Most Expensive Cognac Bottles of All-Time
10. Hennessy EllipseThat’s just number ten. The prices get astronomical as you go up the list of the 10 Most Expensive Cognac Bottles of All-Time.
Our number ten spot comes from one of the most well known names in cognac production, Hennessy. Bottled in an updated version of the classic Thomas Bastide crafted Baccarat crystal decanter, which was made popular by another member of the Hennessy family and predecessor to Ellipse, Hennessy Timeless, Ellipse is said to taste of crystallized fruit, wild roses, and earth tones, a whittling down of Hennessy’s trademark taste to its barest, most essential, and most wonderful. Blending the most Spectacular eaux-de-vie Hennessy Ellipse is made by seven generations of blend masters. Bottles of Hennessy Ellipse can range from $12,000 to $13,000 online.
The Worst Cars of the 20th Century
You
may have seen lists of terrible cars, but this one tells the story of
each in almost poetic terms. You know the Trabant is going to be on it.
Here’s what they have to say about it.
Believe it or not, the Trabant is only number three on the list. See the entire top ten at How Stuff Works.As if bleak Communism and barbed wire weren't enough to break the spirit of the East Germans, they also had to endure the Trabant. The cars had bodies made of recycled cotton and wood fibers backed into plastic called Duroplast, they lacked such fancy refinements as brake lights and they smoked like they were electing a Polish pope. The Trabant also emitted an eau du two-stroke scent, since like a chainsaw, their engines required an oil and gas mix. Getting one of these cars was as easy as putting your name on a 10-year-long waiting list at the government-run factory. Getting rid of one was as easy as waiting for the Berlin Wall to fall, puttering across the border and then running like hell away from that horrible little car toward freedom.
Mayor To Residents: Sorry You Lost Your Homes, But I Have A Pizza Party To Attend
A Michigan Mayor refused to hear from residents who lost their homes because he had a pizza party to attend.Men face fines for transporting van on roof of car
Two men have been arrested after a Ford Focus was filmed driving with a
white van balancing on its roof on an industrial estate in Segovia, near
Madrid, Spain.After the video was posted on YouTube, police tracked down the two men after identifying both the driver of the car and the man filming.
The pair could receive minimum fines of €500 for dangerous driving. They are due to appear in a Segovia court.
Man allegedly assaulted his elderly grandmother after being denied the ability to buy cake
A Florida man pushed his 82-year-old grandmother to the ground on
Saturday night after he was denied a “debit card he needed to buy cake,”
police allege.
Adam Tanzer, 26, was arrested for battering the elderly victim during a
dispute inside a residence in Palm Harbor, a community about 25 miles
west of Tampa.
According to police, Tanzer pushed Barbara Bliss to the ground “in an aggressive way,” causing her to fall on her hands and hip. Tanzer was allegedly angry that his mother “took away his debit card he needed to buy cake.”
Bliss, officers noted, was yelling at Tanzer, so he “pushed her away from himself and caused Bliss to fall on her hip.” The report does not indicate what injuries were suffered by Bliss, who required medical treatment. Tanzer was charged with battery on a person 65 or older, a felony. He has been ordered to have no contact with his grandmother.
According to police, Tanzer pushed Barbara Bliss to the ground “in an aggressive way,” causing her to fall on her hands and hip. Tanzer was allegedly angry that his mother “took away his debit card he needed to buy cake.”
Bliss, officers noted, was yelling at Tanzer, so he “pushed her away from himself and caused Bliss to fall on her hip.” The report does not indicate what injuries were suffered by Bliss, who required medical treatment. Tanzer was charged with battery on a person 65 or older, a felony. He has been ordered to have no contact with his grandmother.
Couple called 911 five times to report possums and people jumping out of fridge and microwave
Police officers in South Carolina responded to several 911 calls on
Sunday from a couple who said they were seeing possums and people
jumping out of their refrigerator and microwave.
Spartanburg County deputies said they could not find the address the
couple initially gave the 911 dispatcher, but eventually found Brandon
Terry and Casey Fowler. The couple said they accidentally gave the wrong
address, but had called 911 several times throughout the night.
The incident report said the couple had called 911 five times during the
night.
The deputy who responded to the calls asked the couple if they were on
drugs and they told him no.
Terry and Fowler told the deputy they had pictures of worms coming out
of the floor of their vehicle and had pictures of "midgets" and other
people dressed in camouflage.
The deputy said Terry showed him several pictures of a basketball hoop
and tree. Terry and Fowler told the deputy that there was a person
standing beside the tree in camouflage.
The deputy told Fowler he could not see the person and Fowler told the deputy it was because only he could see them. Officials said Terry had six felony warrants for narcotics charges and was put in investigative detention. Terry agreed to a field sobriety test. During the test, Terry stopped and said the deputy was touching his eyes. The deputy told Terry he was not and restarted the test. The deputy said Terry had rapid eye tremors. Terry admitted he had smoked marijuana in the past, but not for a month. He denied being under the influence of any drugs at the time.
EMS checked Terry and Fowler and said they had accelerated heart rates. EMS said the couple seemed to be fine mentally. The deputy spoke to Fowler's mother on the phone who said she was on her way because she thought the couple were on drugs. She told the deputy Fowler and Terry had a history of drug abuse. Terry and Fowler were both arrested. The deputy said he believed Terry and Fowler were under the influence of "gravel", also known as flakka, which has effects similar to those of bath salts. Terry and Fowler was both charged with unlawful use of 911. Terry was also charged with being a fugitive from justice.
The deputy told Fowler he could not see the person and Fowler told the deputy it was because only he could see them. Officials said Terry had six felony warrants for narcotics charges and was put in investigative detention. Terry agreed to a field sobriety test. During the test, Terry stopped and said the deputy was touching his eyes. The deputy told Terry he was not and restarted the test. The deputy said Terry had rapid eye tremors. Terry admitted he had smoked marijuana in the past, but not for a month. He denied being under the influence of any drugs at the time.
EMS checked Terry and Fowler and said they had accelerated heart rates. EMS said the couple seemed to be fine mentally. The deputy spoke to Fowler's mother on the phone who said she was on her way because she thought the couple were on drugs. She told the deputy Fowler and Terry had a history of drug abuse. Terry and Fowler were both arrested. The deputy said he believed Terry and Fowler were under the influence of "gravel", also known as flakka, which has effects similar to those of bath salts. Terry and Fowler was both charged with unlawful use of 911. Terry was also charged with being a fugitive from justice.
Police seek twerking woman and her tactile accomplice accused of sexually abusing man
Police have asked for help identifying two women accused of sexually
abusing a man at around 4pm on Oct. 7. in a Washington, D.C. convenience
store.
The video posted by police captures an interaction on surveillance camera that shows the two women invading the space of a man. It appears the man didn’t know the women.
He can be seen on camera with money in his hand, talking on the phone.
The first woman backs up on him and starts grinding and he quickly moves away from her, but another woman slides up and appears to grab at the man’s crotch several times, moving towards his money and phone. He keeps moving away from both women. The woman in red also puts her arm around him and he steps forward to try and shake her off.
Both face third-degree sexual abuse charges. The charge includes inappropriate touching and according to state code “involves actual force, threats putting the person in fear of death, bodily injury or kidnapping, or rendering the person.” The penalty for someone convicted of third-degree sexual abuse is a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years imprisonment.
The first woman backs up on him and starts grinding and he quickly moves away from her, but another woman slides up and appears to grab at the man’s crotch several times, moving towards his money and phone. He keeps moving away from both women. The woman in red also puts her arm around him and he steps forward to try and shake her off.
Both face third-degree sexual abuse charges. The charge includes inappropriate touching and according to state code “involves actual force, threats putting the person in fear of death, bodily injury or kidnapping, or rendering the person.” The penalty for someone convicted of third-degree sexual abuse is a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years imprisonment.
Intoxicated man accused of recruiting 9-year-old driver to get barbecue sauce for chicken dinner
Police say an intoxicated man, Cory D. Mathias, 27, recruited his
9-year-old neighbor to drive him to buy barbecue sauce for a chicken
dinner on Saturday night.
Employees at the Pit Stop, in Tiffin, Ohio, objected to the underage
chauffeur and wouldn’t let the boy drive back home, police said.
So Mathias took the wheel, but police pulled him over.
Police said Mathias had been imbibing before he went on the barbecue sauce expedition: His blood alcohol content was .300, nearly four times the legal limit. Mathias is facing seven charges, including two counts of child endangering, police said.
He’s also charged with driving while intoxicated, refusing a breath test, driving under suspension, wrongful entrustment of a motor vehicle, and obstructing official business, police said. Police said Mathias was having the child over for a chicken dinner when he realized he didn’t have barbecue sauce and decided to go and get some. The child’s parents, who are neighbors of Mathias, did not know he was drunk, police said.
Police said Mathias had been imbibing before he went on the barbecue sauce expedition: His blood alcohol content was .300, nearly four times the legal limit. Mathias is facing seven charges, including two counts of child endangering, police said.
He’s also charged with driving while intoxicated, refusing a breath test, driving under suspension, wrongful entrustment of a motor vehicle, and obstructing official business, police said. Police said Mathias was having the child over for a chicken dinner when he realized he didn’t have barbecue sauce and decided to go and get some. The child’s parents, who are neighbors of Mathias, did not know he was drunk, police said.
Wrestling coach busted for faking cancer to get money is now charged with raping a teenage boy
‘Poverty pay’ leads Walmart employees to skip lunch – or steal it from coworkers
Greedy Megacult Pastor Builds $1.6 Million Mansion, Says Disclosing Salary Is Anti-Jesus
This is why we should tax the megacults.
'Christian' Homeschooling Parents Abused, Starved And Imprisoned Child Because Dog
Diana and Samuel Franklin claim locking their daughter in a chicken
coop for days, withholding food and clothing, and using a dog shock
collar to ‘train her’ was part of their “sincerely held religious
beliefs.”Texas Police Respond To Attempted Suicide, Shoot Hispanic Man, Then Learn He’s A Cop
Texas police shot a suicidal Hispanic man as his mother begged them not to, then later learned they murdered a fellow cop.
Georgia police chief reinstated despite blaming rape claims on women ‘being stupid’
Oklahoma cop attacks woman in parked car, drags her by hair and punches her
Astronomers are freaking out over this newly discovered Earth-sized planet — and for good reason
by Jessica Orwig
A newly discovered exoplanet has a lot of astronomers excited, and for good reason.
The exoplanet, dubbed GJ 1132b, is about the size of Earth and
lives in a solar system roughly 39 light-years from Earth, a team of
scientists reported in the November 12, 2015, issue of the journal Nature.Furthermore, the exoplanet is the closest rocky Earth-sized exoplanet ever discovered, by far.
The next closest is about three times farther away.
GJ 1132b's size and distance are what have astronomers like Drake Deming at the University of Maryland — who was not part of the study — saying that this planet is "arguably the most important planet ever found outside the solar system," he told The Guardian.
The reason is because GJ 1132b is close enough for astronomers to point their telescopes at it and sniff out any traces of an atmosphere.
Atmospheric signatures of life
Studying the atmospheres of exoplanets for signs of life is the next big step in the search for extraterrestrial life beyond our solar system.
But it's an extremely difficult
project because most Earth-sized planets — the exoplanets that
astrobiologists think are most likely to harbor life — are too distant
to study in any detail.
One of the ways astronomers
determine the chemical composition of gases on planets in our own solar
system is by studying the light passing through their atmospheric
layers, like Earth's shown in the photo below with our crescent moon in
the foreground:
A significant stepping stone
Now, GJ 1132b has changed that, offering astronomers a perfect
specimen to test their instruments and methods for detecting life.
"It's nearby, it's Earth-like, and its star won't interfere," Deming told The Guardian.
This newly discovered exoplanet is, however, just a stepping stone.The possibility of finding life on it is practically zero. GJ 1132b might be only 16% larger than Earth, but it's surface temperature is a balmy 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Our ultimate goal is to find a
twin Earth, but along the way we've found a twin Venus," David
Charbonneau, a co-author on the new paper and an astronomer at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said in a press release. "We suspect it will have a Venus-like atmosphere, too, and if it does we can't wait to get a whiff."
The reason for these toasty
temperatures is because GJ 1132b sits just 1.4 million miles from its
host star — 26 times closer than Mercury is to our sun.
It takes just 1.6 days for GJ 1132b to complete a single orbit around its star, which is very different from our sun.
The most common star in the galaxy
The star is what is called a red dwarf, which astronomers suspect is
the most common star throughout our home galaxy, the Milky Way.
Red-dwarf stars are cooler,
smaller, and dimmer than our sun. The one that GJ 1132b is orbiting is
about one-fifth the size of our sun and only emits about 1/200th the
amount of light.
Here's a diagram comparing, to scale, the size of our sun with a red dwarf (second from the left) and Jupiter (far right):
Some astronomers estimate
that red-dwarf stars comprise 75% of all stars in the galaxy. This
means that most of the exoplanets in our galaxy are likely orbiting
red-dwarfs.
Whether any of those planets are
habitable, however, is a subject of intense debate, which is why the
discovery of GJ 1132b is so exciting. And while GJ 1132b is not likely
habitable, it's possible that it has some neighbors that are.
To first spot GJ 1132b as it
passed in front of the star, scientists used the MEarth-South array, a
group of telescopes at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory in
Chile.
Now that they know it's there,
the researchers have requested time on the Hubble Space Telescope (which
observes the same type of light we see with our eyes) and the Spitzer
Space Telescope (which observes longer wavelengths than Hubble, in the
infrared range) to study GJ 1132b more fully.
With the viewing powers of
Hubble and Spitzer combined, the scientists could get a much broader
spectrum of light to study even more chemical compounds than they
otherwise would with just one of the telescopes.
800lb alligator sent to reserve after shopping center visit
An alligator dubbed Godzilla who tips the scales at more than 800lb is
being taken to a gator reserve to live out his days, after being found
wandering outside a Texas shopping center. 
Godzilla was discovered on Saturday by people arriving for work at the center in the Sugar Land area of Houston. It’s believed he wandered over
to the plaza from a nearby creek.Christy Kroboth is licensed by the state as a “nuisance alligator trapper”. She was called to help subdue Godzilla and take him away.
Woman wonders if she photographed Bigfoot in West Sussex park
A woman who snapped a mystery image whilst out walking her dog in a West
Sussex park says she believes it could be Bigfoot.
Caroline Toms was taking her border collie Ash through the Angmering
Park Estate when she says a huge ape-like beast ran across her path.
Caroline Toms, 34, from Rustington, said: “It all happened so fast. Ash started acting a little bit bemused and barking. Then she quick as a flash shot off into the undergrowth – then I saw this big black thing flash out in front of me. I only had my camera out because I was taking pictures of Ash playing.
“She came running back quick-as-a-flash though. I don’t know what it was, but when I had a closer look at the pictures, it certainly does look like Bigfoot to me.” She said the incident was over in seconds, and she has no idea what it is that she photographed. Now she wants to ask others if they have come across the unusual sighting.
“I think it could be Bigfoot, but it happened so fast I cannot be absolutely certain,” Caroline said. “It was just luck I had the camera out. It was so big and massive, I don’t know if it could be anything else. That’s what it looked like – I don’t know for sure, but I’ve seen other pictures of supposed Bigfoot, and what I saw looks like the other ones.”
Dark Matter Dinos
We have the whole dinosaur extinction thing figured out,
right? A big rock smashed into Earth and wiped them all out. But an NYU
geophysicist wonders what sent the rock Earth's way in the first place
and pins the deadly event on a novel culprit.
The First Beekeepers
Animal News
The pesky insect's jaws can grind five times stronger than a human.
Why eat when you can love? That appears to be the decision of many wild birds that choose loyalty to mates over food.
The distinctive, 19-year-old reptile passed his yearly physical exam at the South Carolina Aquarium.
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