CAROLINA NATURALLY

Friday, May 28, 2010

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
You need to pay strict attention to the input that you're receiving, instead of just hearing what you want to hear.
If you can just remove your ego from today's situation, you should find it surprisingly helpful -- and not nearly as distasteful or difficult as you had imagined.
You should also see immediate ways to improve your life and the way you live it.
Improved finances and a somewhat more public role at work may lie ahead.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Quebec, Quebec, Canada

London, England, United Kingdom

Coffs Harbor, New South wales, Australia

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Harpenden, England, United Kingdom

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Como, Lombardia, Italy

Osaka, Osaka, Japan

Taiping, Perak, Malaysia

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

as well as Mexico, Scotland, Hong Kong Wales, and the United States in such cities as Miliani, Moorpark, Monahans, El Sobrante and more

Today is Friday, May 28, the 148th day of 2010.

There are 217 days left in the year.

Today In History May 28

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Slugs Return From Capistrano Day

As The World Turns

As The World Turns

Mexico embraces bottled water

Thanks to enticing ads and aging water systems, locals now heed "don't drink the tap water" advice.

Record amount

Also:

Coast Guard Grounds Ships Involved in Spill Cleanup After 7 Fall Ill

At least seven fishermen involved in the cleanup of the BP oil spill were hospitalized on Wednesday after reporting nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains. The fishermen were likely exposed to both the leaked oil and chemical dispersants. As a precautionary measure, the Coast Guard has ordered all 125 commercial ships helping with the cleanup to return to land. For weeks, cleanup crews hired by BP have been reporting health issues, but their complaints have largely been ignored.

BP Preventing Fishermen from Wearing Respirators

Harsh Hurricane Season Ahead

Gloomy prediction for hurricane season

Storms could match the record numbers of 2005, when Katrina hit, according to experts.

Impact on Gulf cleanup

Also:

Katla is rumbling in Iceland

You know the other one ... the BIG one.

Here we go again.

An initial research paper by the University College of London Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction said: "Analysis of the seismic energy released around Katla over the last decade or so is interpreted as providing evidence of a rising ... intrusive magma body on the western flank of the volcano."

"Earlier seismic energy release at Katla is associated with the inflation of the volcano, which indicates it is close to failure, although this does not appear to be linked to seismicity around Eyjafjallajökull," it added.

"We conclude that given the high frequency of Katla activity, an eruption in the short term is a strong possibility," the report said. "It is likely to be preceded by new earthquake activity. Presently there is no unusual seismicity under Katla."

Big volcanic eruptions in Guatemala, Ecuador

Rocks spewing from a volcano overlooking the Guatemalan capital killed a television reporter and crushed roofs in villages near the peak, authorities said Friday.

Full story

Culinary DeLites

Culinary DeLites

6 tasty twists for grilled burgers

Easy meat and cheese variations create surprising flavors for a summer standard.

Top with pizza ingredients

Also:

Come Together

Come Together from the film Across The Universe

Bagpipes scare off sewer rats

Tour bosses have come up with a way of frightening off rats on their trips round the historic drains of the Austrian capital Vienna - bagpipes.

The Third Man tours - which walk the sewers made famous in Orson Welles' cult film - were closed down after health and safety chiefs said the risk of rat bites was too great.

Now they're back on after organizers proved how the squeal of Scottish bagpipes from a kilted piper send the rats scurrying for cover.

Tour boss Peter Ryborz explained: "We get rid of the rats by taking a bagpipe player down with us, and they sound really great in the catacombs that tunnel all under the city. You can hear them coming out of drains as the tours walk around under the city."

Invisible Drum Kit

America's best beach a 'well-kept secret'

The top beach in the U.S. features sand "like baby powder," a concession stand, and easy parking.

Annual top 10 list

Also:

One of our beautiful North Carolina beaches made the list.

Non Sequitur

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=2784ec1d24adb5f73c88b1f78ba160b2

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Image via KQED

Jellyfish are weird, cool, and scary all at once. But what might be even more weird, cool, and...well not all that scary? Siphonophores, jellies' glow-in-the-dark cousins, are being studied more as researchers look to uncover the mystery of how and why they use light and iridescence as part of their survival strategy. Dozens of species exist off the California coast and scientists at Monterey Bay Aquarium are hard at work figuring out what makes them tick, and even how they can be used for medicine for humans. Check out a fascinating short video about jellies and their strange cousins after the jump.

Article continues: Glow-in-the-Dark Invertabrates Off the California Coast

"Space Jam" and Mayan mythology

The Popol Vuh is the creation story of the ancient Maya. One of the main plot threads involves hero twins who are summoned to the underworld to take on the gods in a high-stakes ball game.

In a 2001 paper, linguist Michal Brody points out some surprising similarities between the Popol Vuh and ... yes ... the Michael Jordan/Bugs Bunny team-up, Space Jam.
Never saw the connection before, but Brody makes a pretty good case for the Mayan influence on Warner Brothers.

Drunker than a nine-eyed cooter.

We Southerners have a way with descriptive language:

1. Drunker than a nine-eyed cooter.
2. Colder than a witch's teat in a brass bra.
3. Harder than day old fruitcake.
4. As useful as teats on a bull.
5. Easy as pushing a rope.
6. More stubborn than a Missouri mule.
7. Crazier than a loon.
8. Like a frog on a June bug.
9. Interesting as yesterday's news.

That's nine.
Colorful turns and twists in the language that are still in use in the gentile climes of the South but that are becoming used less and less.
There are more and as time goes by they are less.

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe

When dealing with wingnuts ... Remember the rule:

If they accuse someone of something, then they're already guilty of it.

Liars and Fools

Faux's Glen Brick lies that anti-terror policies — including assassination — will soon be used against "tea party goers".

Only from one of their own which would be a pity now wouldn't it.

Wingnut Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment website lies: Obama "doesn't really want to plug the oil leak in the Gulf".

That would be the Dick (as in Satan aka Cheney) - it is his fault in the first place and now that it is loose he's making even more money from it

Newt Gingrich (reptile-Georgia) lies: Obama "engaged" in "racist dialogue to try to frighten Latinos away from the Republican Party".

Nope, there is no need ... you Bozos are doing a mighty fine job of that all by yourselves.

Lush Dimbulb lies: Democrats "don't mind" and "want" oil spill because it is "something they can use".

Wrong, that'd be you morons and you are trying to use it and failing miserably - just as you always do.

Erick Erickson's baseless lies Obama "doesn't like the military".

Nope that'd be the shrub and the cabal and their ilk who keep proving it over and over and over ...

In rant on "evil," "crypto-fascist" Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, wingnut loudmouth Michael Savage lies: she would "stop certain speech and certain talk".

Unfortunately she would not - even though she should

Faux's Glen Brick says he's "sick and tired of people believing the lie" that Obama "has respect for the soldiers".

Remember kiddies, if a wingnut claims it is a lie, it is the truth ... Our president has a great deal of respect for our troops whereas the aforementioned wingnut(s) continually prove they do not.

Michael Savage lies: President Obama didn't have the "honor" or the "right" to speak to West Point cadets.

Not only did he have the honor and the right to do so - he did, so tough. You on the other hand do not have any right much less honor to speak to or about our troops - we don't appreciate loud mouth fools.

http://www.sensibleerection.com/images/entry_thumbnails/1272658436_

Bryan Fischer, director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy at the Un-American Anti-Family Association said:

So Hitler himself was an active homosexual. And some people wonder, didn’t the Germans, didn’t the Nazis, persecute homosexuals? And it is true they did; they persecuted effeminate homosexuals. But Hitler recruited around him homosexuals to make up his Stormtroopers, they were his enforcers, they were his thugs. And Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual solders basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whomever Hitler sent them after. So he surrounded himself, virtually all of the Stormtroopers, the Brownshirts, were male homosexuals.

TPMMuckraker’s Zachary Roth writes:

There is very little hard evidence that Hitler himself was gay — though a bevy of historians has examined the question. The iota of truth behind Fischer’s view is that several leaders of the SA — the tightly organized band of street brawlers hat helped Hitler rise to power — were gay. That included Ernst Rohm, the unit’s founder and leader. But after Hitler began to doubt the SA’s loyalty, Rohm was arrested on the “Night of Long Knives” in 1934, and executed soon after. The SA subsequently took a backseat in the movement to Heinrich Himmler’s SS, whose allegiance to the Fuhrer was unquestioned.
And, if it needs pointing out, straight Nazis showed plenty of savagery and brutality

Wingnut: Hitler Used Gay Soldiers Because They Had ‘No Limits’

File under: Examples of fascists of the present trying to paint fascists of the past as “liberals.”

Ha! Sarah Palin's Neighbors Sought Out McGinniss, Rented Him House Because Palin Stiffed Them.

Susie Madrak posted this over at Crooks and Liars:

I thought this was pretty funny and hey, we can all use a good laugh these days, right?

Sarah Palin has been whining all over the place about author Joe McGinniss, calling him a stalker for renting the house next door while he's writing a book about her. And of course Fox hacks like Steve Doocy have been whipping themselves into a self-righteous frenzy, while ABCNews breathlessly regurgitates Palin's "stalker" narrative.

Turns out there's a little more to the story.

From Gawker:

Earlier this year, Palin used her clout with Alaska State Police to get 16-year-old Willow Palin off the hook after she and some high school buddies trashed a vacant home during a bender. The other kids were hung out to dry, and Alaska's Mat-Su Valley boiled at the injustice of Willow's preferential treatment. We warned that Palin should watch her back lest small-town high school drama explode in national scandal.
So, another instance of the Lamestream Media trying to ruin Sarah Palin's life, right? Actually, it appears this whole situation was orchestrated by a vengeful neighbor. McGinniss' son said in an email reprinted by Politico that his dad was offered the spot by Palin's neighbor because the Palins owed her money:
"A woman was renting her house and sought out the author because the Palins had crossed her (owed her money for renovations she had done at their request and never paid her for). So she knew McGinniss was writing the book and found him and offered him the house."
The Palins apparently tried renting the place all winter to head off any Liberals. Not only did her neighbor refuse, she called up McGinniss and was like, "Hey, got this awesome house right across from Sarah Palin. Want?" There's no purer form of small-town drama than the stiffed contractor out for non-monetary revenge. Unlike those in New York or LA, where the elitists settle their labor disputes with fancy lawyers, small-town builders have the means to hit back in way more satisfying ways. (Momof3wildkids points out that the email may actually be saying that Palin asked her neighbor to fix up her own house, promised to pay for it, then stiffed her in the end. Nervy!)
Palin's rise was based on a creation myth that had her springing from a fantasy Real America that loves guns and embryos and hates immigrants and socialists. But the Real America Palin really inhabits just wants her to stop acting like a diva and to cough up the 1500 bucks or whatever she owes them for building her deck. Do not cross your people, Sarah Palin! Your speaking career and presidential prospects don't stand a chance against their hard-won sense of frontier justice. Installing a sworn enemy in your own backyard is just the beginning. They will destroy you.

Bwahahahahahahaha.