Flying Backward

Wasps Fly Backwards to Ensure They Can Get Home

When sand wasps leave home in the morning they capture snapshots of the landscape around their nest, a study using high-speed video has found.

national bird.

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These guys give "Wrong-Way" Corrigan  a run for his money.

Let's Go to Orangutan Preschool

All aboard the school wheelbarrow! It's time for all little orangutans to go preschool.
International Animal Rescue operates an orangutan orphanage in Indonesia. It rescues orangutans that have been kept illegally as pets or have lost their mothers in the wild. On the 163-acre forested facility, young orangutans socialize with each other and learn essential skills that they'll need when they're grown up.
Without their mothers, orangutans don't learn what's safe to eat, how to climb trees, and how to survive in the wild. Human caretakers do their best to prepare their students for independent life.

(Video Link)

Mouth organ-playing elephant amuses visitors at rejuvenation camp

A temple elephant has become the center of attraction at a 48-day elephant rejuvenation camp.

14-year-old Lakshmi, from the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, south India, has won the hearts of visitors at the camp.
According to its mahout’s command, Lakshmi plays a mouth organ and grooves to its tune.

YouTube link.

The camp, that started on 7 February, is currently playing host to over 30 elephants.

Diver Frees Whale Shark from Rope

The whale shark is the largest fish known. This one got a fishing line caught around him and continued to grow while the rope tightened. Seeing the condition of the rope, it has most likely been there a long time. A diver takes the opportunity to free the shark.

(YouTube link)

You’d expect the big fish to either attack or swim away, but this one sits still long enough for the diver to do his work. A happy ending, for now!

Butt Ugly: Deep-Sea Assfish Is Aptly Named

Acanthonus armatus, the bony-eared assfish, is a bathypelagic species of cusk-eel found in tropical and sub-tropical oceans. The deep sea dwelling bony-eared assfish is as butt-ugly as a fish can get, has virtually no brain to speak of, and no doubt has a charming personality.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

Today is Pluto Day ..! 

 

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Algeria - Kenya - South Africa - Tanzania
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Australia - New Zealand - Vanuatu

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Today in History

1478		George, the Duke of Clarence, who had opposed his brother Edward IV, is murdered in the Tower of London.
1688		Quakers in Germantown, Pa. adopt the fist formal antislavery resolution in America.
1813		Czar Alexander enters Warsaw at the head of his Army.
1861		Victor Emmanuel II becomes the first King of Italy.
1861		Jefferson F. Davis is inaugurated as the Confederacy‘s provisional president at a ceremony held in Montgomery, Ala.
1865		Union troops force the Confederates to abandon Fort Anderson, N.C.
1878		The bitter and bloody Lincoln County War begins with the murder of Billy the Kid‘s mentor, Englishman rancher John Tunstall.
1885		The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is published in New York.
1907		600,000 tons of grain are sent to Russia to relieve the famine there.
1920		Vuillemin and Chalus complete their first flight over the Sahara Desert.
1932		Manchurian independence is formally declared.
1935		Rome reports sending troops to Italian Somalia.
1939		The Golden Gate Exposition opens in San Francisco.
1943		German General Erwin Rommel takes three towns in Tunisia, North Africa.
1944		The U.S. Army and Marines invade Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1945		U.S. Marines storm ashore at Iwo Jima.
1954		East and West Berlin drop thousands of propaganda leaflets on each other after the end of a month long truce.
1962		Robert F. Kennedy says that U.S. troops will stay in Vietnam until Communism is defeated.
1964		The United States cuts military aid to five nations in reprisal for having trade relations with Cuba.
1967		The National Art Gallery in Washington agrees to buy a Da Vinci for a record $5 million.
1968		Three U.S. pilots that were held by the Vietnamese arrive in Washington.
1972		The California Supreme Court voids the death penalty.
1974		Randolph Hearst is to give $2 million in free food for the poor in order to open talks for his daughter Patty.
1982		Mexico devalues the peso by 30 percent to fight an economic slide.

Scientists identify cells that represent feelings of isolation, loneliness

Scientists identify cells that represent feelings of isolation, loneliness

Humans, like all social animals, have a fundamental need for contact with others. This deeply ingrained instinct helps us to survive; it’s much easier to find food, shelter, and other necessities with a group than alone. Deprived of human contact, most people become...

$15 Minimum Wage Is a Deciding Factor for Many Low-Wage Voters

$15 Minimum Wage Is a Deciding Factor for Many Low-Wage Voters

This Woman Was Body Shamed By Her Boss And Her Response Was PERFECT

This Woman Was Body Shamed By Her Boss And Her Response Was PERFECT

Her response was absolutely PERFECT.

Indian police to use slingshots loaded with marbles and chili balls against violent protesters

Police in India's Haryana state say they will soon begin using slingshots to control violent protesters. Policemen are being trained to use the weapons, despite concerns over their safety for crowd control.
Abhishek Jorwal, chief of police in Haryana's Jind district, said that the slingshots "were made after a lot of research and development". The "specially-designed" slingshots would be in addition to batons, tear gas and other weapons currently in use.
Mr Jorwal said the "idea is to avoid the use of lethal weapons against the protesters". "Officers have been instructed to use slingshots and tear gas shells, and keep guns and bullets as the last option." Marbles and chilli balls will be used as ammunition for the slingshots.
"Marbles and chili balls won't cause any permanent damage but will pack enough punch to push protesters back," he said. Handmade weapons, such as slingshots, are rarely used as a weapon by security forces in India. There are concerns marbles and other objects fired from police catapults could badly injure civilians.

Basketball team's t-shirt launcher seized by police after being deemed a weapon

For more than a decade an air-powered piece of PVC pipe has, without fear or favor, fired t-shirts into a delighted crowd at home games of the Townsville Crocodiles in Queensland, Australia. But no more. The National Basketball League team was this week forced to surrender its homemade t-shirt cannon to police, after it was deemed a category B weapon. It was an order that left many at the club scratching their heads, general manager Rob Honan said, after it had enlivened home crowds with the promise of free t-shirt for more than a decade without incident.
"The ballistics unit informed the venue that essentially it was a category B weapon and it needed to be handed in, otherwise people in possession of it would be prosecuted," he said. "It was bewildering but it is what it is. But it makes it harder for people to have fun. There is no mechanism that engaged the crowd as much as the t-shirt launcher, which is almost a foundation piece of game day entertainment." Another person's query about obtaining a launcher similar to that owned by the club reportedly alerted police in Townsville to the weapon. In a statement, Queensland Police Service said subsequent inquiries determined it to be a category B weapon.

"A recent determination has been received from the QPS ballistics section that they are category B weapon," the statement read. "Category B weapons need to be licensed and registered, having established a genuine need for possession. Weapons of any category can only be manufactured by a licensed armorer." The determination puts the homemade pipe launcher in the same category as a single shot center-fire rifle, a double barrel center-fire rifle, a repeating center-fire rifle, a break action shotgun and center-fire rifle combination. Mr Honan said the cannon was powered by a compressed air canister that could shoot light items, such as t-shirts, about 40 meters.
He believed it would struggle to shoot anything heavier with any significant force. "I think you would be clutching at straws to think you could hurt someone," he said. "I think you would not get enough buildup of gas, it's just a PVC pipe, so it is not like a gun as such. This is really just a mechanism to get giveaways to the back of the crowd." With the club's next home game due to be played on February 11, Mr Honan said the mad scramble was on to replace the popular weapon. "There's a lot of brainstorming happening at the moment, there is no easy solution," he said. "There is potentially a slingshot version, potentially we just pull people from the crowd and gives things away but it really did engage the crowd."

The Koch Brothers Now Bankrolling The Bundy Anti-Government Agenda To Sell Off Public Land

The Koch Brothers Now Bankrolling The Bundy Anti-Government Agenda To Sell Off Public Land

Two of the worst families in America are now joining forces.

Is 20 Years Stiff Enough For Anti-Planned Parenthood Agitator Daleiden?

by James Conrad 

On February 4, 2016, notorious anti-choice agitator, self-proclaimed “citizen journalist” and Center for Medical Progress founder Daleiden, wearing a stylish suit, a skinny tie and a confident smile, surrendered to authorities at the Harris County criminal courthouse in Houston, Texas. Shortly afterward, he posted bail, thanked his supporters, particularly the 110,000 and counting who signed a petition demanding his release, and vowed to continue his demagogic smear campaign against Planned Parenthood, still alleging that they illegally traffic in tissue from aborted fetuses for profit.

“They are sending a message that the state of Texas right now is open for business in baby body parts.”

To be sure, nothing could be further from the truth. Texas has gone the farthest to defund and close Planned Parenthood clinics, what with the enaction of HB 2, which bans abortions taking place twenty weeks after fertilization and has precipitated an increase in Medicaid births in that state.
Although the long-debunked propaganda videos produced by Daleiden’s organization accusing Planned Parenthood of profiting from the sale of organs harvested from aborted fetuses prompted Texas’ Lieutenant Moron teabagger Patrick to request a grand jury investigation of Planned Parenthood, the jury instead turned their focus toward Daleiden, indicting him and Sandra Merritt, his collaborator on the videos, on felony charges such as tampering with governmental records in the form of making and presenting false driver’s licenses in order to disguise their identities from the interviewees in the videos.
Ironically, Daleiden was also indicted for violating a law prohibiting the purchase and sale of human organs and making offers thusly. Though Daleiden has plead innocent, when convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison. He also has been served with numerous lawsuits, including a claim from Planned Parenthood for racketeering on his part.
Indeed, Daleiden deserves to be prosecuted, but will 20 years behind bars be enough? It must be taken into account that immediately after the first video was distributed in July 2015, a fire was set outside the front door of the Planned Parenthood facility in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Illinois. The following month, an arson was attempted at a construction site for a new Planned Parenthood clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana. Though both of those fires were contained, the month after the fire in New Orleans was set, a Planned Parenthood building in Pullman, Washington was gutted by an intentional fire. The next month, a fire was set at a Planned Parenthood facility in Thousand Oaks, California, but was extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system before any major damage had occurred.
Most devastating of all, on November 27, 2015, an unhinged 'christian' fanatic named Robert Lewis Dear Jr. went to the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado armed with a semiautomatic rifle. He opened fire, killing three and wounding nine. Following a five-hour standoff, Dear was arrested. As he was taken into custody, he remarked, “No more baby parts.”
Because Dear was clearly referencing the videos produced by David Daleiden and distributed by the Center for Medical Progress, there is no doubt that he was radicalized by the propaganda therein. Therefore, David Daleiden should be held just as accountable for the arsons and shooting deaths following the circulation of the deceptive videos, being that he essentially catalyzed these atrocities. The same goes for the wingnut political figures who have helped spread Daleiden’s libelous falsehoods, particularly Fiorina, Cruz and Huckabee.

Muslim man beaten to death by construction worker he hired

Muslim man beaten to death with shovel by construction worker he hired: police

Woman sues megacult after they stiff her for $3,000 hush-money payoff over affair with pastor

Woman sues megacult after they stiff her for $3,000 hush-money payoff over affair with pastor

Cults, conspiracies and the utterly bizarre history of Sleepytime tea

Cults, conspiracies and the utterly bizarre history of Sleepytime tea

There’s a peculiar story lurking in your cup of Sleepytime tea, one that concerns involuntary trances, communication with aliens and a eugenics plot to eliminate the “inferior races” of our great nation.

Why is marijuana banned?

Why is marijuana banned? The real reason is worse than you think

Across the world, more and more people are asking: Why is marijuana banned? Why are people still sent to prison for using or selling it?

This insane 1969 anti-drug propaganda video is unintentionally hysterical

‘I was pretty jacked up on marijuana’: This insane 1969 anti-drug propaganda video is unintentionally hysterical

The laws of nature make life on other planets inevitable

The laws of nature make life on other planets inevitable — according to this groundbreaking theory

The idea that there are other sentient beings out there far more technologically advanced than us is not only intriguing, but also increasingly probable based on what we have observed about our universe.

Have UFO Hunters Just Spotted An Alien Ship Orbiting An Asteroid?

A huge asteroid which sailed safely past Earth had an unusual hitchhiker - which internet conspiracy fans claim is clearly an alien spacecraft.
The tiny, disc-like object was observed using a massive radar array, NASA’s Deep Space Network in Goldstone California.
Tireless alien hunter Scott C Waring of UFO Sightings Daily says, ‘Below, you see the close up view of the UFO that is orbiting asteroid 2004 BL86 right now. The UFO is 70 meters long. They call the UFO a small moon, but its not.
‘As you see from the focused photos below, The UFO has a long metallic cylinder hull and two more smaller cylinder sections on opposite sides.  The UFO is spinning, which gives us a great view of it from different angles as you see below. It came 750, 000 miles from Earth.
There are a couple of problems with this sighting, though - one of which is that alien-hunters are touting it as happening this year, when in fact it happened on January 27 in 2015.
The asteroid is not expected to make such a close pass again for the next 200 years.
NASA’s own explanation is a little more down to Earth.
NASA said (last year) that the radar images showed that asteroid 2004 BL86 had its own moon, saying that such moons are actually quite common.
‘In the near-Earth population, about 16 percent of asteroids that are about 655 feet or larger are a binary (the primary asteroid with a smaller asteroid moon orbiting it) or even triple systems (two moons),’ the space agency said.

Baby Goat Yoga

Rachel Bratham gracefully slipped into the crow position while Penny, her baby goat, climbed over her back.
This is nothing new for them. Bratham and Penny are regular workout partners:

Neatorama has more...

Town invaded by swarm of moths

Thousands of moths have invaded Winton in western Queensland, Australia, feasting on fresh grass that sprouted from recent rainfall.
Winton resident Frank Standfast was on his way to work early on Wednesday morning when he discovered the swarm under a light post in front of the hardware store. Mr Standfast said he had never seen anything like it. "I've never seen it that thick, but it was obviously under a pretty bright street light," he said.
"We presume because there's actually some green grass here. It hasn't rained here for a week or two, but now we've got some grass we seem to have a heap of moths." He said council workers spent hours trying to clean them up. Mr Standfast said the town's baker, whose shop is across the road from the hardware store, said the swarm looked like a "cloud".
"[The baker] comes to work at like two o'clock in the morning and he didn't know what it was when he come to work," he said. "In the light it was just like a cloud - he thought it was like a haze or something, he reckons. It was when they were all still flying because it was dark."

Spider Eats Snake

The caption on this photograph at Aussie Farmer says “Death by Daddy long legs.” Now, what they call Daddy Long Legs in Australia is a different creature from the fairly harmless insects we call Daddy Long Legs in the U.S. This is a cellar spider, which is sometimes called a Daddy Long Legs in Australia. And it’s captured a brown snake. Farmer Patrick Lees took the picture on his property in Weethalle, New South Wales. He said a group of spiders later gathered around the snake.

The Australian Museum's arachnology collections manager Graham Milledge said while it was not clear exactly how the snake had died, it was quite possible the spider was responsible.
"The most likely scenario is that the snake got entangled in the spider's web. Usually what happens then is the spider will try to wrap the snake and then they'll bite it," Mr Milledge said.
The Australian Museum lists the daddy-long-legs spider as carnivorous and predatory. The venom is not particularly potent, despite rumors it is one of the world's most poisonous.

It’s pictures like these that get those rumors started, I’d bet.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Editor's Note: We have had over 2.4 million readers so far in the first 47 days of 2016.

Thank you.

Welcome to Today's Edition of Carolina Naturally.

More going to the Dogs ..! 

 

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Today in History

1454		At a grand feast, Philip the Good of Burgundy takes the “vow of the pheasant,” by which he swears to fight the Turks.
1598		Boris Godunov, the boyar of Tarar origin, is elected czar in succession to his brother-in-law Fydor.
1720		Spain signs the Treaty of the Hague with the Quadruple Alliance ending a war that was begun in 1718.
1801		The House of Representatives breaks an electoral college tie and chooses Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr.
1864		The Confederate submarine Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
1865		The South Carolina capital city, Columbia, is destroyed by fire as Major General William Tecumseh Sherman marches through.
1909		Apache chief Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
1919		Germany signs an armistice giving up territory in Poland.
1925		The first issue of Harold Ross’ magazine, The New Yorker, hits the stands, selling for 15 cents a copy.
1933		The League of Nations censures Japan in a worldwide broadcast.
1935		Thirty-one prisoners escape an Oklahoma prison after murdering a guard.
1938		The first color television is demonstrated at the Dominion Theatre in London.
1944		U.S forces land on Eniwetok atoll in the South Pacific.
1945		Gen. MacArthur’s troops land on Corregidor in the Philippines.
1951		Packard introduces its “250” Chassis Convertible.
1955		Britain announces its ability to make hydrogen bombs.
1959		The United States launches its first weather station in space, Vanguard II.
1960		Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in the Alabama bus boycott.
1963		Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visits the Berlin Wall.
1969		Russia and Peru sign their first trade accord.
1973		Nixon names Patrick Gray director of the FBI.
1975		Art by Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir, and van Gough, valued at $5 million, is stolen from the Municipal Museum in Milan.
1979		China begins a “pedagogical” war against Vietnam. It will last until March.
1985		Murray Haydon becomes the third person to receive an artificial heart.

Non Sequitur

A Kayaking Trip through Tham Khoon Xe

A Kayaking Trip through Tham Khoon Xe, One of the Largest River Caves on Earth

Tham Khoun Xe, a cave on the border of Laos and Vietnam, contains a 4-mile long river. Imagine the experience of paddling down its full length!
Ryan Deboodt, a nature photographer, doesn’t have to imagine. He lived that experience when he and his companions spent 2 days kayaking through the cave. He took many photos of the natural wonders of this enormous cave complex. In an interview with Smithsonian, Deboodt described the expedition:

Describe your journey to the cave.
It’s a pretty big journey. We started in Vietnam and crossed the boarder to Laos. Once we got to Laos, the road condition was quite poor. Dirt roads, and the bridges were damaged from floods from the previous years. It took a day of driving to get to the cave. When we got to the cave, we set up camp by the downstream entrance. From there, we spent two days kayaking inside the cave. We started at the downstream entrance and then went to the upstream entrance. Through the caves there are about seven to eight small waterfalls where we had to get out and carry our kayaks.

You can see more of Deboodt’s photos of the cave at Colossal.

Slovenian Town Plans to Build Europe’s First Beer Fountain

Zalec, a town in Slovenia, is known for its large hops plantations, which ensure the flow of beer through Europe. In fact, the town crest includes an image of a budding hops plant.
To promote itself and its contributions to civilized life, the town plans to build a public beer fountain. Visitors will be able to view the flow of life’s most precious liquid and drink from it for a small fee. The fountain will cost about $400,000 USD to build. Sadly, the Daily Telegraph reports, not all residents are keen to the project:

Half of the funds are to be contributed by the local council, with the rest provided by commercial partners and public donations.
The plans are not universally popular; at an extraordinary council session last week a third of delegates voted against the fountain, with opponents voicing objections to its proposed site, and the fact that the required funds could be better used elsewhere - such as in improving the state of water supply to local villages.
However, two thirds of Councillors voted in favor, and the project is set to go ahead, although it does not yet have a completion date.

Do You Spit Pink After You Brush Your Teeth?

Do You Spit Pink After You Brush Your Teeth? Read This Now

If your gums bleed every time you brush, it could signal a serious dental problem

Is Your Tap Water Safe?

Is Your Tap Water Safe?

Is Flint the only city that needs to worry about lead?

Anti-Gay Texas Attorney General Faces Disbarment For Telling Clerks To Defy Supreme Court

Anti-Gay Texas Attorney General Faces Disbarment For Telling Clerks To Defy Supreme Court

The Texas Bar Association is stepping up to the plate to nail Ken Paxton for violating legal ethics. After the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal...

Vatican training tells bishops they don’t have to report clerical sexual abuse to authorities

Vatican training tells bishops they don’t have to report clerical sexual abuse to authorities

“Don’t help people who molest kids” seems like a simple enough proposition, right?

Women in combat are ‘masochistic’ sexual deviants acting out ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

And now from the Dark Side

Pat Robertson: Women in combat are ‘masochistic’ sexual deviants acting out ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

Mississippi wingnut wants to let creationist and climate skeptic 'teachers' push their delusions in class

Mississippi wingnut wants to let creationist and climate skeptic 'teachers' push their delusions in class

Formby (R) said a constituent approached him with concerns about a teacher that was questioned for bringing up the lies of creationism.

Neanderthal Genes Make Us Depressed, Smoke

Neanderthal Genes Make Us Depressed, Smoke

A new survey links depression, nicotine addiction and other traits to Neanderthal genetic lineage.

New Heart-Shaped Hawaiian Fruits Discovered

New Heart-Shaped Hawaiian Fruits Discovered

The fruits, which look like chubby red Valentines when fully ripe, were recently discovered on the island of Maui.

Decade of rising seas slowed by land soaking up extra water

Decade of rising seas slowed by land soaking up extra water

New measurements from a NASA satellite have allowed researchers to identify and quantify, for the first time, how climate-driven increases of liquid water storage on land have affected the rate of sea level rise. A new study by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion...

Gravitational waves are the physics discovery of the century

Gravitational waves are the physics discovery of the century — here’s how it happened and what it means

One hundred years ago Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity predicted the existence of a dark side to the cosmos.

A star’s moment in the spotlight

A star’s moment in the spotlight

The glowing region in this new image from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope is a reflection nebula known as IC 2631. These objects are clouds of cosmic dust that reflect light from a nearby star into space, creating a stunning light show like the one captured here. IC...

Socialized Sparring

Ants Are Good Boxers, Video Shows

Ants not only box, but some can deliver over 40 blows per second, new slow motion video shows.

Ants Were Socializing – and Sparring – Nearly 100 Million Years Ago

Like people, ants have often fought over food and territory. But ants began fighting long before humans: at least 99 million years ago, according to Phillip Barden, a fossil insect expert who works in the Insect and Evolution Lab of Jessica L. Ware, an assistant...

Fish Can Sense Touch with Their Fins

Fish Can Sense Touch with Their Fins

A bottom-dwelling fish species demonstrates touch-sensitivity to both pressure and motion.

Speed Dating for Rabbits

Wild rabbits live in communities. They’re naturally social animals. Domesticated rabbits are no different—they want to live with other creatures, preferably other rabbits.
But not all rabbit pairs are good matches. That’s why Amy Odum of the Animal Care Centers of New York City arranges for housed rabbits to find good companions among the shelter rabbits that she cares for. The shelter on East 110th Street has a room set aside for dating encounters. Rabbit owners can bring their bunnies in to meet that special somebunny to complete their family. Odum watches the rabbits together to gauge their behavior. The New York Times describes the first date that rabbits Tonya and Moo had:

Tonya sat in a litter box chewing a stalk of hay. Moo stretched, twitching a little, and sniffed her face. Tonya was motionless. Moo jumped back.
“They’re both a little tense,” Ms. Odum said.
The goal, Ms. Odum had said, is not any sort of magical chemistry.
“What I’m looking for is peaceful coexistence,” she said. “We want acceptance of the other bunny in their space without any drama.”
After a while, Tonya hopped over to Moo and gave him a little kiss. He jumped over her like the cow over the moon. They broke into a playful chase, stopped, sniffed each other’s faces. Then Moo approached Tonya and lowered his head.
“That can be a submissive move,” Ms. Odum said. “On the other hand, it can be a demand by a superior to be groomed by a subordinate.”
Moo kept his head low, then pushed it into Tonya’s side. “She’s making him beg — it’s pretty pitiful,” Ms. Odum said.

Animal Pictures