The critter had held the dire designation since 1967.
The marine mammals in Tampa Bay seem to have very selective musical tastes.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
The Daily Drift
Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.
Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.
Yummy ... !
Today is - Homemade Bread Day
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Saudi Arabia - Sri Lanka - Taiwan - Thailand
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Algeria - Djibouti - Libya - South Africa - Zambia
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The Americas
Brazil - Canada - Costa Rica - Mexico - Nicaragua - Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Belgium - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - England - France - Germany - Hungary - Ireland
Italy - Latvia - Luxembourg - Nepal - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania
Russia - San Marino - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia - Spain - Sweden - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Burma - China - India - Indonesia - Iran - Israel - Japan - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius
Saudi Arabia - Sri Lanka - Taiwan - Thailand
Africa
Algeria - Djibouti - Libya - South Africa - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines
Today in History
| 375 | Enraged by the insolence of barbarian envoys, Valentinian, the Emperor of the West, dies of apoplexy in Pannonia in Central Europe. | |
| 1558 | Queen Elizabeth ascends to the throne of England. | |
| 1558 | The Cult of England is re-established. | |
| 1636 | Henrique Dias, Brazilian general, wins a decisive battle against the Dutch in Brazil. | |
| 1796 | Napoleon Bonaparte defeats an Italian army near the Alpone River, Italy. | |
| 1800 | The Sixth Congress (2nd session) convenes for the first time in Washington, D.C. | |
| 1842 | A grim abolitionist meeting is held in Marlboro Chapel, Boston, after the imprisonment of a mulatto named George Latimer, one of the first fugitive slaves to be apprehended in Massachusetts. | |
| 1862 | Union General Ambrose Burnside marches north out of Washington, D.C., to begin the Fredericksburg campaign. | |
| 1869 | The Suez Canal is formally opened. | |
| 1877 | Russia launches a surprise night attack that overruns Turkish forces at Kars, Armenia. | |
| 1885 | The Serbian Army, with Russian support, invades Bulgaria. | |
| 1903 | Vladimir Lenin’s efforts to impose his own radical views on the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits the party into two factions, the Bolsheviks, who support Lenin, and the Mensheviks. | |
| 1913 | The first ship sails through the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. | |
| 1918 | Influenza deaths reported in the United States have far exceeded World War I casualties. | |
| 1918 | German troops evacuate Brussels. | |
| 1931 | Charles Lindbergh inaugurates Pan Am service from Cuba to South America in the Sikorsky flying boat American Clipper. | |
| 1941 | German Luftwaffe general and World War I fighter-ace Ernst Udet commits suicide. The Nazi government tells the public that he died in a flying accident. | |
| 1951 | Britain reports development of the world’s first nuclear-powered heating system. | |
| 1965 | The NVA ambushes American troops of the 7th Cavalry at Landing Zone Albany in the Ia Drang Valley, almost wiping them out. | |
| 1967 | The American Surveyor 6 makes a six-second flight on the moon, the first liftoff on the lunar surface. | |
| 1970 | Soviet unmanned Luna 17 touches down on the moon. | |
| 1980 | WHHM Television in Washington, D.C., becomes the first African-American public-broadcasting television station. | |
| 1986 | Renault President Georges Besse is shot to death by leftists of the Direct Action Group in Paris. | |
| 1989 | Student demonstration in Prague put down by riot police, leading to an uprising (the Velvet Revolution) that will topple the communist government on Dec. 29. | |
| 1993 | US House of Representatives passes resolution to establish the North American Free Trade Agreement. | |
| 1993 | Gen. Sani Abacha leads a military coup in Nigeria that overthrows the government of Ernest Shonekan. | |
| 2000 | Controversial President of Peru Alberto Fujimori removed from office. |
Scientists Just Confirmed the Single Best Way to Prevent Colds
by Melaina Juntti
Sleep and Sickness
A new study proves that the number on defense
against colds is getting enough sleep. Although doctors have long known
that lack of sleep can make you more prone to illness, a pivotal new study proves
just how crucial sufficient shuteye really is. After being exposed to
the common cold virus, healthy adults who regularly got less than six
hours per night were four times more likely to actually get sick than
those who slept seven hours.While most sleep studies have participants self-report their sleep patterns, which is notoriously inaccurate, this trial was far more advanced. For one week, 164 otherwise healthy men and women, average age 30, wore a FitBit-like wrist sensor at home while they snoozed. This measured their sleep quality and duration and provided the researchers with a picture of what a normal week of sleep looked like for these folks. Next, they were quarantined in a hotel and given nasal drops laced with rhinovirus. Then every day for the following week, the researchers collected mucus samples to determine, via the number of antibodies present, whether the infection had taken hold. To gauge cold symptoms, they also measured the volunteers' levels of congestion and collected and evaluated every tissue they blew their noses on throughout the week.
Of the participants who'd slept at least six hours per night the week prior to being exposed to the virus, only 18 percent actually got sick. By contrast, 39 percent of those who logged less than six hours wound up with a cold. Looking at the data another way, the researchers determined that if you sleep seven or more hours per night and you become exposed to the virus, your odds of catching the cold are only 17 percent. The risk jumps up to 23 percent if you get six to seven hours of sleep, 30 percent if you log five to six hours, and a whopping 45 percent if you sleep for less than five.
"What can I say? Sleep is a hugely important health behavior and one that's oftentimes neglected," says study author Aric Prather, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Francisco. "Sleep bolsters the immune system in several ways. When you're deprived, T cells — the body's army against viruses — don't proliferate. Inflammation also increases throughout the body." Prather says these results also prove that insufficient sleep influences cold susceptibility more so than body weight, age, smoking, and even excess stress.
Lack of sleep is a chronic problem for too many of us. According to a recent National Sleep Foundation survey, American adults average just 6 hours and 31 minutes of shuteye on workdays, while the amount needed to function optimally is 7 hours, 13 minutes. Sixty-nine percent of us get less sleep than we need during the workweek; 42 percent don't even sleep enough on the weekends.
"Sleep too often takes back seat to nutrition, exercise, and other healthy behaviors we spend time investing in," Prather says. "After we fill up our whole day, we allocate whatever time is left over for sleep — and studies like this show that's a big detriment to our health."
5 Ways to Instantly Make Chicken Mind-Blowingly Delicious
Because there’s so much more to life than lemon pepper
World's first fully-automated coin-operated car vending machine has opened
Used–car business Carvana have opened what it describes as the world's
first, fully-automated, coin-operated car vending machine in Nashville,
Tennessee.
“We are delighted to launch the world’s first robotic Vending Machine
for cars,” Ernie Garcia, founder and CEO of Carvana, a Phoenix-based
company, said.“Our new Vending Machine is a state-of-the-art, multi-story structure that delivers our customers’ cars by merely inserting a custom coin," he added. The vending machine, which is a five-story glass tower, can store up to 20 cars at a time. Inside the glass structure there’s a "welcome center," an automated delivery system and three delivery bays.
Impersonator caused motel management to break windows
Boone County fire crews and deputies responded to a call for a gas leak on Friday night.
When they arrived at the Budget Inn at Midway, Missouri, it was apparent
that there was no gas leak after talking to motel staff.
Battalion Chief Chuck Leake said someone dressed as an official told motel management there was a gas leak and they needed to evacuate the place.
Management broke a few windows of rooms, per that person's orders. The sheriff's department is now investigating the incident, although they currently have no suspects.
Battalion Chief Chuck Leake said someone dressed as an official told motel management there was a gas leak and they needed to evacuate the place.
Management broke a few windows of rooms, per that person's orders. The sheriff's department is now investigating the incident, although they currently have no suspects.
'Gooseman' arrested for suspected insurance fraud in connection with fire at his home
A man known as “The Gooseman” has been arrested in connection with a
July fire at his home in Modale, Iowa.
Paul Messerschmidt, 58, has been arrested on suspicion of insurance
fraud for allegedly giving a false report about items lost in the fire,
according to the Iowa Fire Marshal’s Office.
Messerschmidt travels the state and country with a flock of geese
dressed in a variety of outfits for parades and county and state fairs. He also takes along his pet skunk.
While he was at a fair in Malvern on July 11, his home burned to the
ground in what the fire marshal’s office has called a suspicious fire.
No animals were injured in the fire.
John Ticer of the Fire Marshal’s office said an investigation revealed
items Messerschmidt reported lost in the fire were not destroyed. Ticer
said he was unable to say what those items were.
In July, Messerschmidt said he lost half of his roughly 20 outfits for his geese and his sewing machine.
Messerschmidt also allegedly “provided false information to the
insurance company and criminal investigators in the case,” Ticer said.
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office arrested Messerschmidt on Monday.
He posted a $1,500 bond. An investigation into what caused the fire
continues. Ticer called the circumstances suspicious.
“At this time, we don’t have a specific cause or a specific suspect for
who set the fire, if it was set,” he said.
In August, Ticer noted two reasons why the fire is suspicious.
It was the third fire on the property. In 2013, an outbuilding burned
down, and in 2014, a machine shed burned down.
Messerschmidt’s home had been foreclosed upon. A day before the fire, on
July 10, a bank had closed on a purchase of the house. The house sold
at a sheriff’s sale, Ticer said.
Messerschmidt was still living at the house at the time despite the
sale.
In July, Messerschmidt said he bought the house about 10 years ago and
spent the first year working with his daughter and son-in-law to
renovate it. He said then he was staying with his daughter and her
family.
While he was at a fair in Malvern on July 11, his home burned to the
ground in what the fire marshal’s office has called a suspicious fire.
No animals were injured in the fire.
John Ticer of the Fire Marshal’s office said an investigation revealed
items Messerschmidt reported lost in the fire were not destroyed. Ticer
said he was unable to say what those items were.
In July, Messerschmidt said he lost half of his roughly 20 outfits for his geese and his sewing machine.
Messerschmidt also allegedly “provided false information to the
insurance company and criminal investigators in the case,” Ticer said.
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office arrested Messerschmidt on Monday.
He posted a $1,500 bond. An investigation into what caused the fire
continues. Ticer called the circumstances suspicious.
“At this time, we don’t have a specific cause or a specific suspect for
who set the fire, if it was set,” he said.
In August, Ticer noted two reasons why the fire is suspicious.
It was the third fire on the property. In 2013, an outbuilding burned
down, and in 2014, a machine shed burned down.
Messerschmidt’s home had been foreclosed upon. A day before the fire, on
July 10, a bank had closed on a purchase of the house. The house sold
at a sheriff’s sale, Ticer said.
Messerschmidt was still living at the house at the time despite the
sale.
In July, Messerschmidt said he bought the house about 10 years ago and
spent the first year working with his daughter and son-in-law to
renovate it. He said then he was staying with his daughter and her
family.
Man arrested for accidentally shooting woman during 'freaky sex'
Paramedics took her to a hospital where she died.
The man in the room identified himself as Tyrone Fields, 21. He told
police he accidentally shot the woman. In several unsolicited statements
before the arrest he said it was an accident during ‘freaky sex.’
When officers took him to the police headquarters, he explained what had
happened. He said he had only known the victim for a couple of days
before their date at the hotel.
He told detectives the woman had asked him to put a gun to her head as a part of what he described as ‘role-play scenario’ during sexual activity. Fields took the magazine out of the 9mm semi-automatic pistol but forgot about one bullet in the chamber, according to the TPD report. Fields said they were not having sex yet, he was just laying on top of the victim, when he put the gun to her head as part of the role-play and pulled the trigger.
First-responding officers found a single fired projectile and a
cartridge casing in the hotel room. The gun was also located.
According to TPD, Fields leased the room in person on Nov. 6. The hotel
surveillance video shows him and the victim walking into the room
consensually.
The victim was identified as Christina Meagher, 18, of Tampa. According
to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Department, she didn’t
have any injuries consistent with sexual battery.
Tyrone Fields is in the Hillsborough County jail. His bond is set at
$30,000.
He told detectives the woman had asked him to put a gun to her head as a part of what he described as ‘role-play scenario’ during sexual activity. Fields took the magazine out of the 9mm semi-automatic pistol but forgot about one bullet in the chamber, according to the TPD report. Fields said they were not having sex yet, he was just laying on top of the victim, when he put the gun to her head as part of the role-play and pulled the trigger.
Jail for man who squirted children with semen-loaded water pistol
Samples taken from two of the victims later confirmed that the substance was in fact semen. He was accused of squirting seven children and an 18-year-old woman.
On Friday, before Judge Stan Whitaker, Jaramillo plead no contest to six
counts of child abuse, one count of battery, two counts of criminal
sexual contact of a minor under 13 and one count of sexual exploitation
of a child. This was a plea deal.
The fathers of two young female victims spoke before the court after he
entered his plea.
“I wanted her to have good memories of her childhood, now she has to remember this,” one man said. “He’s tooken [sic] away her sense of security, she still hasn’t gone outside to play since that day,” the other dad said. Jaramillo then spoke before the court. He apologized for what he did. “I thought about everything, I realized that I needed to take responsibility for certain actions,” he said. “Also, I did, myself, consider these individuals having to go to trial and testify, and I didn’t think that was fair.”
Thousands Of Mormons Resign From Cult Over LGBT Discrimination
Palin: Bristol Is Pregnant Again Because Dog Gives People 3rd, 4th, 5th Chances
Hypocrisy at its finest.
Ten Unsolved Mysteries with Creepy Surveillance Footage
The public has spent collective millions on surveillance cameras in private homes, public areas, retail establishments and the like. The goal is to have video footage as backup in case of accident, theft or other emergency. Sometimes these videos pay off, perpetrators are apprehended and once unclear circumstances are understood. Yet occasionally the video footage not only doesn't clarify things, it deepens the mystery. Such is the case with the following story.
"In 1987, 50-year-old Dale Kerstetter was employed as a security guard at the Corning Glassworks plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania. On the evening of September 12, Dale arrived at the plant to work the graveyard shift. The following morning when another security guard showed up to relieve Dale, he was inexplicably missing.
Dale’s truck was still in the parking lot, and his keys and other personal items were left behind. It was soon discovered that $250,000 of platinum pipe had been stolen from the plant. The situation became even more perplexing when investigators checked the plant’s security tapes.Surveillance footage showed that an unidentified masked man had entered the plant sometime during the night. At one point, Dale was seen leading this man through the building and staring directly at the camera. Upon first glance, it seemed like the intruder was forcing Dale to take him to the area where the platinum was stored, but the footage made it impossible to determine whether Dale was under duress or working in conjunction with the thief.
Dale was in debt at the time, so there was speculation that he may have been involved in the heist and skipped town with his share. The plant’s management seemed to think that Dale stared directly at the camera to taunt them. However, Dale’s family never believed that he was involved and suspected that he was an innocent murder victim.
Indeed, the surveillance footage also showed the masked intruder wheeling a large bag out of the plant, which could have contained Dale’s body. Whatever the truth, Dale Kerstetter has not been seen in nearly 30 years."
DNA from centuries-old Incan mummy provides scientists with clues to genetic diversity
Monday, November 16, 2015
The Daily Drift
Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.
Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.
Red Button ... !
Today is - National Button 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:
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Bolivia - Brazil - Canada - Colombia - Costa Rica - Mexico - Nicaragua - Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Belgium - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - England - France - Georgia - Germany - Hungary
Italy - Latvia - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Russia - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
China - India - Indonesia - Iran - Japan - Jordan - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius - Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Africa
South Africa
The Pacific
Australia - Guam - Philippines
The Americas
Bolivia - Brazil - Canada - Colombia - Costa Rica - Mexico - Nicaragua - Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Belgium - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - England - France - Georgia - Germany - Hungary
Italy - Latvia - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Russia - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
China - India - Indonesia - Iran - Japan - Jordan - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius - Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Africa
South Africa
The Pacific
Australia - Guam - Philippines
Today in History
| 1798 | British seamen board the U.S. frigate Baltimore and impress a number of crewmen as alleged deserters, a practice that contributed to the War of 1812. | |
| 1813 | The British announce a blockade of Long Island Sound, leaving only the New England coast open to shipping. | |
| 1821 | Trader William Becknell reaches Santa Fe, N.M., on the route that will become known as the Santa Fe Trail. | |
| 1846 | General Zachary Taylor takes Saltillo, Mexico. | |
| 1864 | Union General William T. Sherman departs Atlanta and begins his "March to the Sea." | |
| 1892 | King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), leads soldiers against the French. | |
| 1902 | A cartoon appears in the Washington Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot during a hunting trip to Mississippi. | |
| 1907 | The Indian and Oklahoma territories are unified to make Oklahoma, which becomes the 46th state. | |
| 1913 | Swann’s Way, the first volume of Marcel Proust’s 7-part novel Remembrance of Things Past, is published. | |
| 1920 | Metered mail is born in Stamford, Connecticut with the first Pitney Bowes postage meter. | |
| 1945 | Eighty-eight German scientists, holding Nazi secrets, arrive in the United States. | |
| 1948 | President Harry S Truman rejects four-power talks on Berlin until the blockade is removed. | |
| 1953 | The United States joins in the condemnation of Israel for its raid on Jordan. | |
| 1955 | The Big Four talks, taking place in Geneva on German reunification, end in failure. | |
| 1960 | After the integration of two all-white schools, 2,000 whites riot in the streets of New Orleans. | |
| 1965 | In the last day of the fighting at Landing Zone X-Ray, regiments of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division repulse NVA forces in the Ia Drang Valley. | |
| 1967 | U.S. planes hit Haiphong shipyard in North Vietnam for the first time. | |
| 1979 | American Airlines is fined $500,000 for improper DC-10 maintenance. | |
| 1982 | The space shuttle Columbia completes its first operational flight. | |
| 1989 | Salvadoran Army death squad kills six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University. | |
| 1992 | Eric Lawes, while using a metal detector to search for a friend’s lost hammer near Hoxne, Suffolk, England, discovers the Hoxne Hoard, the largest hoard of Roman silver and gold ever found in Britain, and the largest collection of 4th and 5th century coins found anywhere within the bounds of the former Roman Empire | |
| 1997 | Pro-democracy Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng released from prison after 18 years, for health reasons. |
Millennials should stick to renting and ignore advice to buy a home
Copyfraud: Anne Frank Foundation claims father was "co-author," extends copyright by decades
The Anne Frank Foundation -- a Swiss nonprofit that supports children's
charities and provides a stipend to gentiles who hid Jews during WWII --
has claimed that Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father, is the legal
co-author of her diaries, a move that will have the effect of extending
copyright on the diaries to at least 2030.
Another editor of a different edition of Frank's diaries, Mirjam Pressler, claims that she is also a co-author. Ms Pressler is still alive, meaning that if she died today, the copyright on the diary would end in 2065.
The Anne Frank Foundation unquestionably conducts good works, but their arguments are spurious ones. First, they argue that they and they alone are qualified to serve as stewards of Anne Frank's memories. This is manifestly untrue. The Dutch charity that runs Anne Frank House have done a pretty good job, and the two foundations have been locked in eternal struggle. If two organizations can represent Frank to the world, why assume that no more exist? The 20th century vogue for extending eternal exclusive rights to descendants or foundations is an aberration in history: virtually every historical person, from St Francis to Shakespeare, is in the public domain. The martyrs of every purge and pogrom, the heroes of every war -- all in the public domain. Some people have made tatty or tasteless things with their legacy, but the titanic outpourings of art, remembrance, scholarship, philosophy and adaptation that have flowed from the freedom of all to share in our common heritage are the foundation of culture, of shared human experience, of heritage itself. Heritage isn't owned -- once it is, it's not heritage anymore. To treat the words of Anne Frank, who inspired so many millions around the world, as an eternal money-spinner for one organization's purposes is to cheapen them. They're not an annuity: they're an inspiration. They can't be both.
The question of whether we should create perpetual ownership of ideas in order to accomplish good works only makes sense if you presume that the ownership costs nothing -- or costs less than the benefit from the good works. There is an undeniable cost to affording ownership to ideas. Every franc made by the Foundation from exclusive commercial rights to Frank's Diaries comes at the expense of the ability of people who labor under privation, slaughter, and exile to read, interpret, adapt and reproduce Anne Frank's words.
The question of giving copyright protection to editors undermines the rights of authors. If my editors are co-proprietors of all my works, then they get the right to trump how I may use those words. My ability to resell my books after they go out of print would be contingent upon approval of my editor, who works for a competing house. No creator should support this view -- it represents eternal corporate bondage for all authors.
Finally, there's the implication of the claimed co-authorship of Otto Frank: by claiming that Otto Frank is co-author (rather than "compiler" or "editor") of his daughter's diaries, the Foundation is arguing that the diaries don't represent Anne's views and thoughts, but rather, that they have been intentionally distorted by her father to the point where they can no longer be said to be a faithful rendition of her diaries.
The decision has also set the foundation on a possible collision course with the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam, a separate entity that for years has sparred with the Anne Frank foundation over legal questions, such as ownership of archives and trademark issues.
The museum has been working for five years with historians and researchers on an elaborate web version of the diary intended for publication once the copyright expires. The research is still progressing with a historical and textual analysis of her writing, including deletions, corrections and stains.
“We haven’t decided yet when or how the results will be published,” said Maatje Mostart, a spokeswoman for the Anne Frank House. “Any publishing will always be done within the legal frameworks.” She added pointedly that neither “Otto Frank nor any other person is co-author.”
One of Anne’s own astute diary entries seemed to anticipate the disputes: “Why do grown-ups quarrel so easily?”
How Japan Remembers the Alamo
Onderdonk's The Fall of the Alamo
Have
you visited the Alamo? You won't be able to access the basement, but
you can explore the beautifully preserved remains of the battle site,
explained in rich detail by tour guides and signs.
Now how did that happen? How did people in Japan learn about the Alamo? Franz-Stefan Gady explains at The Diplomat.
In the 1870s, American Civil War veteran William S. Clarke, formerly the colonel of a Massachusetts regiment of volunteers, taught at an agricultural college in Japan. Among other courses, he taught on military history. In it, he told the story of the Alamo to young student Shiga Shigeta.
Oda Nobunaga as he was depicted in the anime series Battle Girls - Time Paradox)
Shigetaka
felt moved by that story, especially its resemblance to a similar
incident in Japanese history. In 1575, at the Battle of Nagashino, a
small garrison withstood a siege by a massive enemy force until relief
came from the famed general Oda Nobunaga. So Shigetaka began his poem
with these words:One hundred fifty are besieged by five thousand;The determination of these brave foreigners so far away from Japan was familiar to Shigetaka and other people in Meiji Japan. Franz-Stefan Cady writes at The Diplomat:
Not only the provisions but the ammunition is all gone.
Thirty-two men hear the news and hurry to the scene.
The heavy strokes of their sabers lead them into the fortress, through the ranks of the enemy to see
The commander of the fortress wet with blood,
And his men reeling against the walls with exhaustion but with swords in hand.
Shigetaka grew up during the Meiji Restauration in Japan, a time of sweeping social upheaval when many Japanese felt that Western influences would supplant their country’s traditional culture. Perhaps then, he saw the battle as an opportunity to dispel some of the fears held by the Japanese about the West by illustrating that traditional (i.e. heroic or warrior) culture was comparable in both the United States and Japan.
The Japanese scholar’s effort to mythologize the Battle of the Alamo was thus on the one hand to emphasize a commonality of culture, and on the other hand a response to the dawn of Japanese Modernity. […]
Emphasizing the heroism of white Anglo-Texans and their dedication to ideals of freedom (and disregarding the contribution of Mexicans fighting for Texas in the 1830s) thus served to comfort Anglo-Texans in their struggles with Modernity, when they, like the Japanese during the Meiji Restauration, feared to lose their traditional identities amidst the social changes that were occurring in Texas during that time.
Fifteen Non-Sexual Uses For Condoms
Soon their bedside drawer is overflowing with safe sex products, and the time comes to thin out the "collection" before it scares away potential partners. But what's a guy to do with all those extra condoms?
Gigantic bath plug stolen from garden
A gigantic bath plug weighing 30kg (66lb) has been stolen from a man's
front garden.
The plug, which fits inside a half-meter-round plughole, was a cherished
water feature on the patio of Richard Mudditt's Bristol home.
But Mr Mudditt said somebody walked off with the huge resin plug last
weekend.
He said: "Maybe somebody thought it was actually bronze and had scrap
value but it's of no use to anybody at all and I'd love it back."
Mr Mudditt, from Clifton, said he was 'very sad that it was gone'. "It's pretty heavy for somebody to run off with but whoever wanted it was determined to have it," he said.
"I suspect they drove up in the dead of night and put it in the back of their car." The plug probably has no commercial value, Mr Mudditt said, but to him it was 'priceless'. "We're offering a reward of a couple of hundred pounds, no questions asked, but we would love it back."
Mr Mudditt, from Clifton, said he was 'very sad that it was gone'. "It's pretty heavy for somebody to run off with but whoever wanted it was determined to have it," he said.
"I suspect they drove up in the dead of night and put it in the back of their car." The plug probably has no commercial value, Mr Mudditt said, but to him it was 'priceless'. "We're offering a reward of a couple of hundred pounds, no questions asked, but we would love it back."
Couple devastated by theft of their fairy garden
A couple from Katikati in New Zealand are devastated after thieves took
their "fairy garden".
On Wednesday morning, Terry and Roz Cooke noticed 15 different objects
from their garden had been taken including solar lights, garden
ornaments and a fairy bridge.
The collection of garden objects was worth about $400 but had a great
sentimental value.
They created the garden for their two granddaughters, who visit from
Australia, when they first moved to the property about 18 months ago. It
included gnomes, terracotta snails and a fairy bridge.
"It's annoying, it really annoys me," Mr Cooke said.
Initially they did not realize how much had been stolen, he said.
"The more I looked, the more I saw we lost.
"They just took the lot. It was a total wipeout of everything. Everything that could be moved, right up to the shed - they did the whole area. If they came any further the security lights would have gone on. For what reason, I don't know. We don't think they could have done it at night-time but I don't know how they could have done it in the day without someone seeing."
Objects which were left in the garden were too heavy to be carried, he said. Mrs Cooke said all the garden pieces had been collected over time. Mrs Cooke thinks the thieves would have scouted out the garden days before the pieces were taken yet none of the neighbors in the area have had issues with things being taken from their properties, she said. The Cookes would not be putting ornaments out in their garden for the next few months, she said.
"They just took the lot. It was a total wipeout of everything. Everything that could be moved, right up to the shed - they did the whole area. If they came any further the security lights would have gone on. For what reason, I don't know. We don't think they could have done it at night-time but I don't know how they could have done it in the day without someone seeing."
Objects which were left in the garden were too heavy to be carried, he said. Mrs Cooke said all the garden pieces had been collected over time. Mrs Cooke thinks the thieves would have scouted out the garden days before the pieces were taken yet none of the neighbors in the area have had issues with things being taken from their properties, she said. The Cookes would not be putting ornaments out in their garden for the next few months, she said.
Identical twins accused of shoplifting identical items
Identical twin brothers are facing identical theft charges after they
stole identical items from a Walmart in South Carolina on Wednesday,
police allege.
Malik and Shamel Toppin, 17, were caught after a store security officer
spotted them each taking two items from the health and beauty
department.
When subsequently confronted by police, the Toppins each removed a container of facial cream and deodorant from the pockets of their shorts, according to a police report.
The brothers were arrested for shoplifting, the second time in recent months that they were arrested for retail theft. Malik and Shamel were booked into jail on the misdemeanor charge. They were released from custody at around 4:30am on Thursday.
When subsequently confronted by police, the Toppins each removed a container of facial cream and deodorant from the pockets of their shorts, according to a police report.
The brothers were arrested for shoplifting, the second time in recent months that they were arrested for retail theft. Malik and Shamel were booked into jail on the misdemeanor charge. They were released from custody at around 4:30am on Thursday.
Teenager armed with potato peeler threatened to stab men while riding bicycle with no tires
A hooded teenager who robbed a man at potato peeler-point has
been jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Black-clad Connor Berry, 18, got off a mountain bike with no tires and
menaced two men with his mouth covered and his hood up.
The street raider held a potato peeler to a man’s side and demanded:
“Give us your money or I’m going to stab you.”
Berry and two younger boys aged 15 and 16 accosted two friends heading
home from playing football in Stockton north east England.
The first victim was “patted down” and jabbed with the potato peeler
when he could only hand over £2, Teesside Crown Court heard on Thursday.
He was punched to the head by the 15-year-old when he said he would not
hand over his phone, said prosecutor Jenny Haigh.
Berry rifled through his pockets and took the phone, the court was told.
The second man was pushed, his pockets searched and his phone and £5
taken. He was told by Berry to go away “before I stab you”.
Both of the victims ran off and later said they were left nervous,
scared and reluctant to go out.
“This has ruined my life,” said one of the men in a statement. “I’m petrified to go out on my own." Berry and the two younger boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all from Stockton, admitted two counts of robbery. Berry also admitted possession of a bladed article. He had six previous offenses including burglary though none for violence. Alex Bousfield, defending Berry, said he showed a concerning amount of bravado. He said Berry “seems to talk the situation up”, claiming he held a potato peeler to the victim’s neck. Berry described himself as schizophrenic - though he has not been diagnosed and would not be assessed or take medication.
And he showed “paranoid thoughts” that he needed to possess a weapon for protection. “He’s been found in possession of a weapon in prison,” added Mr Bousfield, suggesting Berry could become institutionalized. Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, told Berry: “You are clearly a disturbed young man. You had a knife. There was a group of you who attacked both men. You were disguised. They were terrified.” Berry was locked up for three-and-a-half years - his first custodial sentence. Each of the younger boys was given a one-year intensive referral order. All three received a five-year restraining order banning them from approaching the victims.
Young lady told police that her fake ID was legal if she were acting
An 18-year-old Florida girl informed a police officer her fake driving license was not illegal because it could be legally possessed if she
were acting, according to her arrest report.
Abbie Caay Huff of Pensacola, was stopped for speeding by a Fort Walton
Beach police officer on Oct. 24. During the stop, officers noted open
containers of alcohol in the vehicle and all the passengers appeared to
be under the age of 21.
Officers searched the vehicle and found a Mississippi driver license for Huff that listed her as being over the age of 21. It turned out the license was false, the arrest report indicated. Huff’s Florida license indicated she was 18.
Huff had an Escambia County warrant out on her for battery. While in custody Huff said, “the license wasn’t illegal because it was not used and it can be legally possessed if she were acting,” the officer wrote in the report. She is charged with possession a fake ID and has a Dec. 8 court date.
Officers searched the vehicle and found a Mississippi driver license for Huff that listed her as being over the age of 21. It turned out the license was false, the arrest report indicated. Huff’s Florida license indicated she was 18.
Huff had an Escambia County warrant out on her for battery. While in custody Huff said, “the license wasn’t illegal because it was not used and it can be legally possessed if she were acting,” the officer wrote in the report. She is charged with possession a fake ID and has a Dec. 8 court date.
Woman arrested after becoming angry about all-you-can-eat pancake deal small print
A Chicago woman is facing assault and property damage charges after
becoming angry when a Denny’s waitress explained that she was not
allowed to share her $4 all-you-can-eat pancake special with her
friends.
Natasha West, 27, was dining on Friday at a Denny’s in Oak Lawn, a
Chicago suburb, when a server explained that the unlimited pancake offer
was good for a single diner.
This did not sit well with West, who was apparently was under the
impression that her $4 bought everyone at the table and unending pancake bounty.
According to the Oak Lawn Police Department, West cursed at the waitress
and threw several punches at the employee (though the blows did not
land). West and her party then left Denny’s without paying their bill,
but not before she repeatedly kicked a door on the way out.
West was subsequently arrested after Denny’s workers gave police a description of the car in which she and her friends had fled. West was charged with assault and damage to property. One of West’s friends, Jerome Ivory, 31, was also arrested, for providing police with false identification.
According to the Oak Lawn Police Department, West cursed at the waitress
and threw several punches at the employee (though the blows did not
land). West and her party then left Denny’s without paying their bill,
but not before she repeatedly kicked a door on the way out.
West was subsequently arrested after Denny’s workers gave police a description of the car in which she and her friends had fled. West was charged with assault and damage to property. One of West’s friends, Jerome Ivory, 31, was also arrested, for providing police with false identification.
New Sports
These silly sports might not make it to the Olympics, but they'll make you wish they would.
Skier Miraculously Survives 1,600-Foot Fall Down the Side of a Mountain
McIntosh,
24, set off from his perch at the top of a mountain with an incredibly
steep drop. All was well until he fell into a five-foot trench during
one of his turns, which led to a 1,600-foot long tumble down the
mountain, during which he was unable to stop. According to TGR,"TGR Co Founder, Todd Jones, says [the accident] “was the most terrifying crash I’ve ever seen.” While filming for Paradise Waits up in the Neacola range of AK, Mac dropped into a line he thought he had studied thoroughly enough, only to fall into an unseen five foot deep trench on one of his first turns.
'From there, my slough took over and their was no way to stop, I pulled my airbag to help prevent against any possible trauma injuries as I tumbled to the bottom,' he said. While attempting to regain his footing, Mac lost a ski and cartwheeled over 1,600 feet in under a minute."
Argument: The Rebels Had a Really Stupid Strategy to Blow up the Death Star
The Battle of Yavin is the event Star Wars fans most commonly think of as the destruction of the first Death Star at the end of Episode IV. The Rebels concocted a risky plan to take out a much more powerful force. It was, through skill, courage, and a lot of luck, successful. The Empire faced a major setback in its plans as a result.
Hooray! And Jordan Freiman of Death and Taxes magazine joins you in the celebration. But he also argues that the Rebel Alliance demonstrated extraordinary stupidity in its battle plan.
The crux of his argument is that the famous trench run, which was modeled after a real-life bombing campaign by the Royal Air Force during World War II, was completely unnecessary. As Spock commented upon Khan's tactics in the Battle of the Mutara Nebula, it demonstrated two-dimensional thinking. Instead of flying down a long and dangerous trench toward the Death Star, the Rebel fighters should have flown directly at it, perpendicular to point of impact. Frieman explains:
Just because the exhaust port is at the end of the trench, that doesn’t mean you have to use the trench to get there. You have spaceships! And the exhaust port is facing upward! You even show it facing upward in your little diagram. Why not just fly straight down towards it? Flying through the trench makes everything more difficult. You have no room to maneuver and, more importantly, rather than hitting the port with a straight shot, you now have to angle the proton torpedoes to go straight and then curve down. That’s so much more difficult!If I remember correctly, the point of the trench run was to get so close to the surface of the Death Star that the space station's anti-ship weapons could not be brought to bear against it. The trench run began at the point closest to the Rebel fleet. Flying directly toward the exhaust port would have required the X-wing squadron to be exposed for a much longer time
Also, you know how everyone groans when he says “the shaft is ray shielded, so you’ll have to use proton torpedoes.”? Why is everyone groaning? How would you even hit that thing with a laser if you’re approaching it from the side? USE YOUR HEADS!
Dinosaur Puke Mystery Deepens
An unusual skeleton discovered in fossilized dinosaur yak might not be the creature we thought it was after all.
The World According to Orangutans
These often solitary great apes with soulful eyes can look like philosopher-kings.
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