Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Creature from the Green Lagoon
Caddo
Lake in Texas is suffering under an alien invasion. Giant salvinia was
imported from South America as an ornamental plant for aquariums and
lawn ponds, but some escaped in 1998 and invaded a Houston pond. In 2006
it started moving from lake to lake and has become the scourge of Texas
wetlands.
People who live among the lakes have tried many ways to control salvinia: sweeping it up in nets, building barriers, and even blowtorching it. Importing weevils seems to be the best bet, but even that program has drawbacks: lack of government funding, a climate that salvinia survives better than weevils, and the fact that importing one invasive species to get rid of another can have devastating consequences. Read about the invasion of giant salvinia at Texas Monthly.Australian researchers have calculated that, given the right conditions, an M&M-size salvinia plant could blanket 39 square miles of water in just over three months. As the advancing front reaches maturity, it swells into a carpet of vegetation up to three feet thick, smothering other life in its path by consuming nutrients and blocking sunlight from penetrating the water below. Fish can’t survive. Native plants and amphibians struggle. Lake recreation halts as viny roots clog boat engines and become ensnared in propeller blades. In some areas, the dense layer of salvinia can even become a substrate for other opportunistic weeds, making it difficult to tell where the lake ends and the shore begins.
USDA sued for 'barbaric' wild animal killings
The stated goal of the USDA Wildlife Services agency is to “resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist.” Sometimes that involves educating people or scaring birds away from airports. Other times, the agency employs people to kill wildlife, including 2,726,820 animals in 2016.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
The Daily Drift
Welcome to Today's Edition of
Carolina Naturally
Carolina Naturally
Carolina Naturally is read in 210 countries around the world daily.
Games ... !
You want the unvarnished truth?
Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told
Today in History
| 490 BC | Athenian and Plataean Hoplites commanded by General Miltiades drive back a Persian invasion force under General Datis at Marathon. | |
| 1213 | Simon de Montfort defeats Raymond of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon at Muret, France. | |
| 1609 | Henry Hudson sails into what is now New York Harbor aboard his sloop Half Moon. | |
| 1662 | Governor Berkley of Virginia is denied his attempts to repeal the Navigation Acts. | |
| 1683 | A combined Austrian and Polish army defeats the Turks at Kahlenberg and lifts the siege on Vienna, Austria. | |
| 1722 | The Treaty of St. Petersburg puts an end to the Russo-Persian War. | |
| 1786 | Despite his failed efforts to suppress the American Revolution, Lord Cornwallis is appointed governor general of India. | |
| 1836 | Mexican authorities crush the revolt which broke out on August 25. | |
| 1918 | British troops retake Havincourt, Moeuvres, and Trescault along the Western Front. | |
| 1919 | Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers’ Party. | |
| 1939 | In response to the invasion of Poland, the French Army advances into Germany. On this day they reach their furthest penetration-five miles. | |
| 1940 | Italian forces begin an offensive into Egypt from Libya. | |
| 1940 | The Lascaux Caves in France, with their prehistoric wall paintings, are discovered. | |
| 1944 | American troops fight their way into Germany. | |
| 1945 | French troops land in Indochina. | |
| 1969 | Nixon orders a resumption in bombing North Vietnam. | |
| 1977 | Steve Biko, a South African activist opposing apartheid, dies while in police custody. | |
| 1980 | A military coup takes place in Turkey. | |
| 1990 | East and West Germany, along with the UK, the US and the USSR—the Allied nations that had occupied post-WWII Germany—sign the final settlement for reunification of Germany. | |
| 1992 | The Space Shuttle Endeavor takes off on NASA’s 50th shuttle mission; its crew includes the first African-American woman in space, the first married couple, and the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spacecraft. | |
| 2003 | The UN lifts sanctions against Libya in exchange for that country accepting responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and paying recompense to victims’ families. | |
| 2007 | Joseph Estrada, former president of the Philippines, is convicted of plunder. | |
| 2011 | In New York City, the 9/11 Memorial Museum opens to the public. | |
Haunted Hotels
Is
there a haunted hotel in your hometown? Historic hotels become haunted
because so many different people have slept there over a long period of
time, and some those folks go to a hotel to keep nefarious activities
out of their own homes. Or else there's an even scarier history in the
building's past. For example, take the historic Marshall House in
Savannah, Georgia.
Yeah, that's weird, but it's only one story of 13 from hotels across the US at Buzzfeed. You'll want to remember these while planning your next vacation trip.The Marshall House used to be a hospital during the Civil War and then a medical ward during yellow fever epidemics. Rumors such as faucets turning on by themselves and sounds of children running down the hallway haunt this hotel. If that isn't enough, many TripAdvisor reviews claim to have had ghost encounters, such as this person who "was woken from a deep sleep by a loud whirring noise that made her hair move. She then heard what sounded like drums from a marching band for a while."
Harvest Traditions and Folklore
The last sheaf of corn was always saved. This was believed to contain the corn spirit, which was gradually condensed as harvest progressed until it reached the final sheaf to be cut. Often the sheaf was scattered on the fields in spring, returning the spirit to the fields. In some areas it was hung up for the hungry birds to peck on New Year’s Day; in others it was made into a corn dolly. This tradition exists across Europe and it is believed by many in the pagan tradition that this is a relic of the millennia-old belief in the Dying-and-Rising God or God of the Green, who dies in Autumn to be reborn the following Spring.Read all about a traditional harvest at Foklore Thursday
The Hidden Memories of Plants
At the center of the experiment was the plant Mimosa pudica, which has a dramatic response to unfamiliar mechanical stimuli: Its leaves fold closed, perhaps to scare away eager herbivores. Using a specially designed rail, Gagliano introduced her M. pudica to a new experience. She dropped them, as if they were on a thrill ride in an amusement park for plants. The mimosa plants reacted. Their leaves shut tight. But as Gagliano repeated the stimulus—seven sets of 60 drops each, all in one day—the plants’ response changed. Soon, when they were dropped, they didn’t react at all. It wasn’t that they were worn out: When she shook them, they still shut their leaves tight. It was as if they knew that being dropped was nothing to freak out about.This kind of learning is what plants do to the best of their ability, in order to survive in a world with changing temperatures, amount of sunlight, and water supply. But how? Is it genetic, epigenetic, or some secret chemical process? Read about the research into plant memory at Atlas Obscura.
Three days later, Gagliano came back to the lab and tested the same plants again. Down they went, and … nothing. The plants were just as stoic as before.
This was a surprise. In studies of animals such as bees, a memory that sticks for 24 hours is considered long-term. Gagliano wasn’t expecting the plants to keep hold of the training days later. “Then I went back six days later, and did it again, thinking surely now they forgot,” she says. “Instead, they remembered, exactly as if they had just received the training.”
There is no one reason for why alcoholics drink
‘Your boobs are bigger – you have to try harder’
Take pity on forensic scientists ...
A blackmailer steals a compromising letter from a woman of
high standing. The police know he is keeping this letter in his home,
but they cannot find it. Using the latest forensic tools they search
every inch of the apartment, recording their efforts as follows: We examined the rungs of every chair …. and, indeed, the jointings of every description of furniture, by the aid of a most powerful microscope. Had there been any traces of recent disturbance we should not have failed to detect it instantly.Back in 1844, this description of the police using a powerful microscope with the promise of instant detection would have dazzled readers of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Purloined Letter. Yet this is not what solves the mystery. Instead the private investigator, Auguste Dupin, correctly surmises that the best place to hide such a letter is in plain sight. He finds it on the blackmailer’s mantelpiece.
A single grain of gimlet-dust, for example, would have been as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the glueing – any unusual gaping in the joints – would have sufficed to insure [sic] detection.
The story is one of the earliest and best examples of crime fiction. It suggests that science and technology are sometimes not as powerful as empathy or intuition in solving crimes. Indeed, Poe queries science throughout his writings. In one poem he calls it a vulture that preys on the poet’s heart, replacing the magic of a writer’s imagination with its “dull realities”.
Protecting the Lynchers
Black Driver Bravely Shames Cop Who Drew His Gun Over A Turn Signal Infraction
When you are Black in America, getting pulled over by a cop – even
for the smallest infraction – is a very scary thing. As we have seen
repeatedly,...
Fox Viewers Go Berserk After Smith Preempts Fox & Friends For Storm Coverage
Why people believe in conspiracy theories
The others soon chip in with their thoughts on the Dumbass’ fondness for conspiracy theories. The chatter quickly turns to other conspiracies and I enjoy eavesdropping while the group brutally mock flat Earthers, chemtrails memes and Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest idea.
Bear vs. Flamingo
Everyone inside was just waiting to see the flamingo deflate, but mama bear was in a hurry to leave, so baby bear just took it with him.
Monday, September 11, 2017
The Daily Drift
Welcome to Today's Edition of
Carolina Naturally
Carolina Naturally
Carolina Naturally is read in 210 countries around the world daily.
Loving your Rock ... !
You want the unvarnished truth?
Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told
Today in History
| 1297 | Scots under William Wallace defeat the English at Stirling Bridge. | |
| 1695 | Imperial troops under Eugene of Savoy defeat the Turks at the Battle of Zenta. | |
| 1709 | John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, wins the bloodiest battle of the 18th century at great cost, against the French at Malplaquet. | |
| 1740 | The first mention of an African American doctor or dentist in the colonies is made in the Pennsylvania Gazette. | |
| 1777 | General George Washington and his troops are defeated by the British under General Sir William Howe at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. | |
| 1786 | The Convention of Annapolis opens with the aim of revising the Articles of Confederation. | |
| 1802 | Piedmont, Italy, is annexed by France. | |
| 1814 | U.S. forces led by Thomas Macdonough route the British fleet on Lake Champlain. | |
| 1847 | Stephen Foster’s “Oh! Susanna” is first performed in a saloon in Pittsburgh. | |
| 1850 | Soprano opera singer Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” makes her American debut at New York’s Castle Garden Theater. | |
| 1864 | A 10-day truce is declared between generals William Sherman and John Hood so civilians may leave Atlanta, Georgia. | |
| 1857 | Indians incited by Mormon John D. Lee kill 120 California-bound settlers in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. | |
| 1904 | The battleship Connecticut, launched in New York, introduces a new era in naval construction. | |
| 1916 | The “Star Spangled Banner” is sung at the beginning of a baseball game for the first time in Cooperstown, New York. | |
| 1944 | American troops enter Luxembourg. | |
| 1962 | Thurgood Marshall is appointed a judge of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. | |
| 1965 | The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) arrives in South Vietnam and is stationed at An Khe. | |
| 1974 | Haile Selassie I is deposed from the Ethiopian throne. | |
| 2001 | In an unprecedented, highly coordinated attack, terrorists hijack four U.S. passenger airliners, flying two into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon, killing thousands. The fourth airliner, headed toward Washington likely to strike the White House or Capitol, is crashed just over 100 miles away in Pennsylvania after passengers storm the cockpit and overtake the hijackers. | |
| 2005 | Israel completes its unilateral disengagement of all Israeli civilians and military from the Gaza Strip. | |
| 2007 | Russia detonates a nano-bomb; dubbed the “Father of All Bombs,” it is the largest non-nuclear weapon developed to date. | |
| 2012 | The US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, is attacked and burned down; 4 Americans are killed including the US ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens. | |
Woman manages to give birth despite being set on fire hours earlier
According to ABC7, the Maryland woman came running from her home screaming and on fire. Her neighbors rushed to help put her out, but the stress may have caused her to go into labor.
Reports reveal that despite burns, the woman was able to give birth successfully and the child is healthy and fine. The mother is in critical condition, however.
The gig economy is nothing new ...
The diaries of three men in 18th-century Britain that I have found give a fascinating insight into how middle class people – the supposed beneficiaries of today’s gig economy – made multiple employments work.
Eight foods that (nearly) last forever
‘Gluten-free water’
For example, you can now buy “premium” water that’s not only free of GMOs and gluten but certified kosher and organic. Never mind that not a single drop of water anywhere contains either property or is altered in any way by those designations.
While some labels provide useful information that is not readily detectable by consumers, others contain misleading claims that exploit a knowledge gap with consumers and take advantage of their willingness to pay a premium for so-called process labels. For example, details on a product’s country of origin are helpful; labeling a bottle of water “gluten free” and “non-GMO” much less so.
Prosecutor indicted on 17 counts of misconduct
Holy Freeloading!
Have you ever thought about starting a new religion or perhaps a
hometown franchise of an old one? Perhaps you’re just looking for a
career ladder in a religious enterprise that already exists. No? Maybe
you should. Religion is big business.
Alt-righters pushing horrid theory Heather Heyer died of weight-related heart attack
The violence of the ’60s is nothing like what we are about to face
“This country is going so far to the right you’re not going to recognize
it.” Those memorable words were uttered by Richard Nixon’s Attorney
General John Mitchell, who proved to be off by almost 50 years.
New York City paramedic threatened after firehouse noose incident
Tracking the history of the universe's expansion
How many alien planets can see Earth?
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