The Human Epoch

The Human Epoch: What We'll Leave Behind

In 1 million years, the epoch that we are now living in will likely be characterized by animal and plant remains, along with a strange mess of industrial pollutants.

This Wall Protects the Village from Avalanches

Flateyri is a fishing village of 300 people in northwestern Iceland. In 1995, it was devastated by an avalanche from the neighboring mountain of Kollahvilft that killed 20 people. This was the second deadly avalanche that year in Iceland. Another one in a different village killed 16 people. That's a lot for a nation of 300,000 people.
So the Icelanders decided to do something about the avalanche menace. For Flateyri, the country built an enormous earthen wall to shield it from snow. The wedge cuts into a flood of snow, driving it away from the village and into the ocean. Amusing Planet describes it:

In 1998, a special A-shaped earthen dam was built up the mountain to protect Flateyri from future avalanches. The structure consist of two deflecting dams that form a wedge or A-shaped structure in the mountain side. There is a small catching dam that extends between the two deflecting dams in the lowermost part. The walls are 600 meters long and 15-20 meters tall, while the catching dam is 10 meters high and 350 meters long.

The design worked, saving the village from another avalanche the next year:

Only a year after the dam was completed, in February of 1999, a large avalanche from the mountain came crashing down into the eastern side of the dam and went into the sea. The village was saved. The next winter, in March, another huge avalanche from the mountain slammed into the western wall and the village was protected again. Other smaller avalanches have occurred regularly, and each time the protection wall has deflected the snow safely away from the village.

The Calypso Sails Anew

Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau's iconic ship to sail again after 20 years

There are a lot more microplastics in the oceans than we thought

There are a lot more microplastics in the oceans than we thought

Dog born without front legs that hops like a kangaroo has become local celebrity

Born without her front legs and abandoned on the street by her original owners, Estrella, a one-and-a-half-year-old dog, has not let her disability hold her back.

Adopted by a couple running an animal shelter in the small town of Tinga Maria in Peru, Estrella has gained celebrity status by hopping around like a kangaroo.
An increasing number of visitors have been to the shelter since her arrival. This has enabled the shelter to raise funds and take in more abandoned animals.

YouTube link.

Ivan Escobar and his wife Elva Carhuaz say they found Estrella when she was six months old. The couple hope that Estrella will serve as an example to families who abandon their animals because of birth defects.

Dinosaurs Danced in Bird-Like Mating Rituals

Dinosaurs Danced in Bird-Like Mating Rituals

The dinos danced with such enthusiasm that they left behind fossilized footprints as evidence of their moves.

Jurassic 10-Armed 'Squid' Were Speedy Swimmers

Jurassic 10-Armed 'Squid' Were Speedy Swimmers

Three extremely rare fossil specimens of an extinct squid-like animal provide new evidence of the creature’s body structure.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Damn, Straight ...!

 

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Egypt - South Africa
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Today in History

1236		Henry III marries Eleanor of Provence.
1526		Francis of France, held captive by Charles V for a year, signs the Treaty of Madrid, giving up most of his claims in France and Italy.
1797		Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at Rivoli in northern Italy.
1858		Emperor Napoleon and Empress Eugenie escape unhurt after an Italian assassin throws a bomb at their carriage as they travel to the Paris Opera.
1864		Confederate President Jefferson Davis writes to General Joseph E. Johnson, observing that troops may need to be sent to Alabama or Mississippi.
1911		The USS Arkansas, the largest U.S. battleship, is launched from the yards of the New York Shipbuilding Company.
1915		The French abandon five miles of trenches to the Germans near Soissons.
1916		British authorities seize German attaché Franz von Papen’s financial records confirming espionage activities in the U.S.
1917		A Provisional Parliament is established in Poland.
1920		Berlin is placed under martial law as 40,000 radicals rush the Reichstag; 42 are dead and 105 are wounded.
1942		President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders all aliens in the U.S. to register with the government.
1943		Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Charles DeGaulle meet at Casablanca to discuss the direction of the war.
1943		Italian occupation authorities refuse to deport Jews living in their territories in France.
1969		A blast on the U.S. carrier Enterprise in the Pacific results in 24 dead and 85 injured.
1980		The United Nations votes 104-18 to deplore the Soviet aggression in Afghanistan.
2000		UN tribunal sentences 5 Bosnian Croats to prison for up to 25 years; they were charged with killing some 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village in 1993.
2004		The Republic of Georgia restores the “five cross flag” as its national flag after some 500 years of disuse.
2005		Huygens probe lands on Saturn’s moon Titan.
2010		Yemen declares war on al-Qaeda terrorist group.
2011		Zine El Abinine Ben Ali, former president of Tunisia, flees to Saudi Arabia after a series of demonstrations against his regime.

Intelligent people have one thing in common

According to a few different studies, intelligent people are more likely to be nocturnal than people with lower IQ scores. In a study run on young Americans, results showed that intelligent individuals went to bed later on weeknights and weekends than their less intelligent counterparts.
In “Study Magazine,” Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at the London School Of Economics And Political Science, reported that IQ average and sleeping patterns are most definitely related, proving that those who play under the moon are, indeed, more intelligent human beings.
The data supports the notion that all night owls feel: the only real time for living is after everyone’s gone to bed.

Stats

Very Dull (IQ < 75)
Weekday: 11:41 pm -7:20 am
Weekend: 12:35 am -10:09 pm

Normal (90 < IQ < 110)
Weekday: 12:10 am -7:32 am
Weekend: 1:13 am -10:14 am

Very Bright (IQ > 125)
Weekday: 12:29 am -7:52 am
Weekend: 1:44 am -11:07 am

Are you a night owl and you think there is a correlation?

People who swear actually smarter than everyone else

Fuck, yeah! People who swear may actually be smarter than everyone else

8 Signs Americans Are Moving Towards a Healthier, Saner Diet

8 Signs Americans Are Moving Towards a Healthier, Saner Diet

Health News

Older and sicker: How America's homeless population has changed

Doctors must send ultrasound pics to North Carolina officials under 'creepy' new anti-abortion law

The First City To Guarantee Paid Sick Leave In 2016

The momentum to pass paid sick leave legislation keeps going in the new year.

ISIL Executes First Female Journalist In Syria

For her work as a journalist, ISIL placed Hassan under surveillance and arrested her in August last year, accusing her of being in contact with the Free Syrian Army.

How Our Warped Legal System and Law Enforcement Culture Lets Cops Get Away With Murder

How Our Warped Legal System and Law Enforcement Culture Lets Cops Get Away With Murder

The Koch evil empire was built with Nazi money after their dad built an oil refinery for Hitler

The Koch evil empire was built with Nazi money after their dad built an oil refinery for Hitler

The father of billionaires Charles and David Koch helped the Nazis build a major oil refinery, according to a new book about the rise of wealthy and demented wingnut agitators.

Fox News To Viewers: Key To Winning Jackpot Is Buying As Many Lottery Tickets As You Can Afford

Fox News To Viewers: Key To Winning Jackpot Is Buying As Many Lottery Tickets As You Can Afford

The same group of people who believed Fox when the network was telling them President Obama was a Kenyan are now rushing to drain their bank accounts for...

Bristol Being Sued For Custody And Child Support

Bristol Being Sued For Custody And Child Support, Probably Wishes She Had Practiced Abstinence Now

Bristol brought this upon herself. After all, she could have just practiced what she preached. Now, it’s her turn to take responsibility. But...

Father Furious When TSA Agent Frisks 10-Year-Old Daughter In Two-Minute Pat Down

Perverts at the airport ...

Father Furious When TSA Agent Frisks 10-Year-Old Daughter In Two-Minute Pat Down

A 10-year-old girl’s awful experience with a TSA agent is now making national headlines after she was forced to undergo an inappropriately long...

Women In Baltimore Public Housing Were Forced To Trade Sex For Basic Repairs

"Their comments made me feel broken," one victim said.

Nebraska routinely holds children in solitary confinement for ‘relatively minor infractions’

Nebraska routinely holds children in solitary confinement for ‘relatively minor infractions’

Solitary confinement is a commonplace experience for children held in Nebraska juvenile detention facilities, a report has shown, with minors routinely detained in isolation for days, weeks, even months at a time.

Woman beats disabled man with his own cane for saying he doesn’t believe in dog

Woman beats disabled man with his own cane for saying he doesn’t believe in dog

The jesus freak, Laura Reid, 49, was visiting the victim in his home, and at one point she asked him if he believed in dog, police said.

‘Repent’ the gay away

And the insanity continues ... 

‘Repent’ the gay away: Wife of mormon wacko tells gays to pray for ‘sexual harmony’ with Dog

Wendy Nelson, the wife of a top Mormon official, asserted recently that LGBT people should “repent” to have their “sexual feelings be in harmony” with dog’s law.

The Stupidity - It Burns

Oklahoma official opposes LGBT housing protections because gays might try living over his garage

Alabama chief justice Roy Moore says same-sex marriage licenses should not be issued

Oklahoma bible 'study' leader charged with more than 50 counts for molesting 14-year-old girl

Oklahoma bible 'study' leader charged with more than 50 counts for molesting 14-year-old girl he ‘brainwashed’

An Oklahoma 'bible' study leader who has been charged with dozens of sex crimes against a 14 year old girl had a history as a sex offender before joining the cult.

'Christian' couple who spank kids for ‘biblical’ reasons denied right to adopt by Massachusetts Supreme Court

'Christian' couple who spank kids for ‘biblical’ reasons denied right to adopt by Massachusetts Supreme Court

Melanie and Gregory Magazu have argued that they only spanked their children in the bathroom so that they would not be humiliated. They said that the Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) decision to reject their application in 2012 was “arbitrary and capricious” and infringed upon their religious delusions.

Luxurious Doughnut Is Literally Covered with Gold

This isn't a simple cake donut from your local shop. The Manila Social Club, a restaurant in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, offers only the finest donuts for the most elite tastes. Chef Björn DelaCruz made this doughnut with a Cristal champagne frosting, filled with an ube mousse, and coated in 24 karat gold. Each one costs $100.
In an interview with First We Feast, DelaCruz explained why he devised this novel take on the humble doughnut:

We have this doughnut program where we make doughnuts every Friday, and you can only order them online on Thursday. The reason why we do this is because we’re not a doughnut shop. The Golden Cristal Ube Donut came along because there is a brewery in Bushwick called Braven Brewery, and we know the owners Marshall and Erik. We both started our businesses around the same time. We had a doughnut event where I unveiled a doughnut with icing made with Braven White IPA, dusted with gold. That was the beginning of the golden doughnut [idea].
The reason that gold leaf and Cristal were added was because I love all different champagnes. I wanted to add something [to the menu] for the new year to celebrate how long we have been going. I didn’t know people would go and order a dozen [of these] at a time! But then again, it is New York, and there are people willing to put down a grand for a dozen doughnuts.

A Lost Michaelangelo Painting Has Been Hanging In A Living Room In Queens

Lost paintings are rarely recovered because "lost" is just a nice way of saying they were either stolen or destroyed, but sometimes famous works of art really are somehow lost in the shuffle.

Michaelangelo is one of history's most famous artists, and yet at least a half dozen of his sculptures, paintings and drawings are still lost, but there may be hope for one of his paintings.

The Kober family from Buffalo, New York claim to have a genuine Michaelangelo painting depicting the Madonna and Jesus hanging in their living room, and according to Italian art historian Antonio Forcellino they may be telling the truth.

Martin Kober has been trying to get the painting accepted as an authentic Michaelangelo painting since 2009, and while Italian art historians spent three years scientifically proving it's the real deal the rest of the art world isn't convinced.

What is it about "The Mike" that has American art historians refusing to accept its authenticity? Maybe they're waiting for Michaelangelo to come back from the grave and sign a Certificate of Authenticity?

Read more about the "Kober Michaelangelo" here

Archaeology News

Dig Reveals 18th-Century Shipwreck

Remains of the ship were found as work began to build a new hotel in Alexandria, Va.

3,400-Year-Old Citadel Found in Basement

The find was made as a construction company started building a residential high-rise with underground parking.

Underwater Greenhouses

To grow, plants need stable temperatures, exposure to sunlight, water, and protection from parasites. While scuba diving off the coast of Italy, Sergio Gamberini had an idea about how he could provide all four: he could build greenhouses underwater.

Thus was born Nemo's Garden. This project has erected lightweight offshore greenhouses. The plants are close enough to the surface of the water that they receive sunlight. The seawater evaporates inside the canopy to provide fresh water. And predatory insects can't reach the plants.
This sustainable form of agriculture can make previously unused coastal areas agriculturally productive. Nemo's Garden offers large greenhouses like the ones you see above, as well as smaller, hobbyist greenhouses that house single plants.

Greenland's Meltwater Is Raising Sea Level Faster Now

A team of multinational scientists found that the vast amounts of water melting off Greenland’s glaciers in recent seasons have inundated this spongy layer in places, filling it up beyond what it could absorb.

Mega-Star Eta Carinae Isn't a Cosmic Loner

Mega-Star Eta Carinae Isn't a Cosmic Loner

Once thought to be in a class all by itself, astronomers have discovered the monster star's distant cousins.

Rare galaxy with 2 black holes has 1 starved of stars

This image provided by CU-Boulder shows the galaxy SDSS J1126+2944 taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, with an arrow placed by the source pointing to a black hole that lost most of its stars. The University of Colorado's Julie Comerford has discovered something even rarer than a double-black hole galaxy: a skinny black hole. Her findings were reported Tuesday, Jan 5, 2016 at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting.

An astrophysicist has discovered something even rarer than a double-black hole galaxy: a skinny black hole.
The University of Colorado at Boulder's Julie Comerford reported her findings Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting in Kissimmee, Florida.
To date, only 12 galaxies are known to exist with two black holes in their midst, Comerford said. Normally galaxies have a single supermassive black hole at the center, equivalent to 1 million to 1 billion times the mass of our sun.
But in this newly identified galaxy about 1 billion light-years away, one of the two black holes is significantly smaller than the other and apparently starved of stars. Black holes typically are surrounded by stars; this one appears "naked."

Comerford speculates the slim black hole lost mass in the collision of two galaxies that merged into this one —" a crash diet." Or it's a rare example of an intermediate-sized black hole that likely will morph over time into a supermassive monster.

Astronomers have yet to confirm an intermediate-size black hole, which makes Comerford's streamlined target extra tantalizing. Intermediate black holes are 100 to 1 million times the mass of our sun.

Comerford used the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in her study. She discovered this latest two-black hole galaxy — her fourth — last year. Finding a potential intermediate-size black hole inside was "an extra bonus," she told reporters.

The first double-black hole galaxy was found in 2003 by accident, according to Comerford. She is trying to systematically uncover more. The findings should shed light on the evolution of black holes.

This particular galaxy is cataloged as SDSS J1126+2944.

29 Facts about Dinosaurs

(YouTube link)

We all like to learn about dinosaurs, and there’s always something new to learn! Seriously, the body of knowledge about those extinct reptiles is growing and changing every day. You can’t count on movies to keep up with the latest dino findings, and those of us who went to school long before the latest research tend to carry misconceptions that have since been debunked. Learn some new things about dinosaurs in the latest episode of the mental_floss List Show.

Animal News

Tourists Save Lion from Poacher's Snare

An African lion is safe and sound thanks to the diligence and kindness of a group of travelers.

Sharks Navigate by Nose

Two new experiments are the first to prove that sharks smell tiny amounts of chemicals in the water as a homing device.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Today happens to be Rubber Duckie Day ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.   

  
Dreams do come true ... !

Today is - Make Your Dreams Come True Day

You want the unvarnished truth?

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Some of our readers today have been in:
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Argentina - Canada - Colombia - Dominican Republic - El Salvador - Honduras - Mexico 
Nicaragua - Puerto Rico - United States - Venezuela
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Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - England - Finland - France - Georgia - Germany  Greece - Hungary - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Moldova - Netherlands -  Poland - Romania - Russia  Scotland - Serbia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
China - India - Indonesia - Japan - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius - Sri Lanka - Thailand - Vietnam
Africa
Algeria - Egypt - South Africa - Tunisia - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia - New Zealand

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

Today in History

1397		John of Gaunt marries Katherine Rouet.
1846		President James Polk dispatches General Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops to the Texas Border as war with Mexico looms.
1862		Lincoln names Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War.
1900		To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary decrees German the official language of the Imperial Army.
1919		California votes to ratify the prohibition amendment.
1923		Hitler denounces the Weimar Republic as 5,000 storm troopers demonstrate in Germany.
1927		A woman takes a seat on the NY Stock Exchange breaking the all-male tradition.
1931		The bridge connecting New York and New Jersey is named the George Washington Memorial Bridge.
1937		The United States bars Americans from serving in the Civil War in Spain.
1943		General Leclerc’s Free French forces merge with the British under Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery in Libya.
1944		Plants are destroyed and 64 U.S. aircraft are lost in an air attack in Germany.
1945		The Red Army opens an offensive in South Poland, crashing 25 miles through the German lines.
1947		British troops replace striking truck drivers.
1955		Chase National and the Bank of Manhattan agree to merge resulting in the second largest U.S. bank.
1965		Two U.S. planes are shot down in Laos while on a combat mission.
1968		U.S. reports shifting most air targets from North Vietnam to Laos.
1976		Argentina ousts a British envoy in dispute over the Falkland Islands.
1980		The United States offers Pakistan a two-year aid plan to counter the Soviet threat in Afghanistan.
1982		Air Florida Flight 90 Boeing 737 jet crashes into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge shortly after takeoff, then plunges into the Potomac River; 78 people, including 4 motorists, are killed.
1990		In Virginia, Douglas Wilder, the first African American elected governor of a US state, takes office.

The cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran that's tearing apart the Middle East, explained

by Max Fisher · Monday, January 04

The supposedly ancient Sunni-Shia divide is in fact very modern — and it's not really about religion.
Only a few days into the new year, the Middle East has already taken a significant turn for the worse. The region's greatest rivalry, between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has become rapidly and significantly more toxic in the past few days, and it could have repercussions across the Middle East.
On Saturday, protesters in Tehran attacked the Saudi embassy, ransacking and burning it as Iran ignored or refused Saudi requests to protect the building. Saudi Arabia formally broke off diplomatic relations with Iran on Sunday, on Monday saying it would cut commercial ties and ban Saudi travel to Iran as well. Sudan and Bahrain, both Saudi allies, severed ties as well.
In some ways, this sort of diplomatic confrontation was perhaps inevitable: Saudi Arabia and Iran see one another as enemies, and are locked in an escalating competition for influence and dominance of the Middle East. That rivalry goes far beyond just words, with both countries backing militant groups and proxy forces throughout the region, particularly in Syria. Their competition is a major driver of conflict in the Middle East, including the growing violence along Sunni-Shia lines.
There had been hints that Saudi Arabia and Iran, perhaps exhausted by their conflict, might be willing to deescalate in 2016, maybe even finding peace deals for the wars in Syria and Yemen. But this week's events have ended those hopes, and suggest things may rather get worse. That's not just bad for Saudi Arabia and Iran — it is bad for the entire Middle East, as both regional conflicts such as Syria and generalized Sunni-Shia tension are likely to increase.
We are only four days into 2016, and already it is a year in which things in the Middle East have taken, impossible though it may seem, a significant turn for the worse. Here's how it happened and why this has Mideast analysts so worried.
This began with an execution in Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday that it had executed more people in a single day than most death penalty countries, including the United States, kill in an entire year: 47, at 12 different sites across the country. Some were killed by beheading, according to the Guardian, and others by firing squad.
What makes the mass execution most significant is not its scale but rather the name of one man among the 47, many of whom were Sunni jihadists and al-Qaeda terrorists. That name is Nimr al-Nimr: a prominent religious leader from Saudi Arabia's Shia minority.
Nimr's execution outraged the Middle East's Shia communities and the leaders of Shia-majority countries. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi condemned the execution, warning of "repercussions" for regional security. Iran threatened vague consequences, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards telling Saudi Arabia to expect "harsh revenge." Protests broke out in Bahrain, Pakistan. In Iran, protesters set fire first to a Saudi consulate building in Mashhad and then to the embassy in Tehran.
The government's choice to kill Nimr wasn't just about this one religious leader. For Saudi Arabia, Nimr represented the danger of internal Shia dissent, behind which it saw Iran's nefarious hand — and perhaps also an opportunity to generate more support for its struggling war in Yemen. For Shia throughout the region, though, Nimr was a symbol of Saudi Arabia's oppression of Shia, and of the dangers that Shia face in the mostly Sunni Middle East.

More

Are We Heading to a Global Economic Catastrophe?

Paul Krugman: Are We Heading to a Global Economic Catastrophe?

Experts Think Gas Prices About To Go Lower Than EVER – You Won’t Believe How Low

Now, this is LOW. Thanks, Obama!
Read more 

You Should Pay Attention To The 'Friedrichs' Supreme Court Case

Why You Should Pay Attention To The 'Friedrichs' Supreme Court Case

The Supreme Court has again decided to reconsider "settled law." The goal is to bankrupt public employee unions by denying them funding for services they are legally bound to provide to every worker – including nonmembers.