The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
It's not easy to surprise you, but today proves the exception to that rule.
There's at least one major surprise en route, probably related to communication.
Routine chats and encounters aren't be quite so routine.
This goes for any conversation, whether it's via phone, email, snail mail, or even in person.
If you expect one resolution, it's quite likely that something vastly different turns out to be the case.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia

Bergen, Hordaland, Norway

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Jena, Thuringen, Germany

London, England, United Kingdom

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia

Quebec, Quebec, Canada

Varna, Varna, Bulgaria

Prague, Hlavni Mesto Praha, Czech Republic

Canberra, Australian Capital territory, Australia

Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel

Manisa, Manisa, Turkey

Faro, Faro, Portugal

Karaj, Tehran, Iran

as well as Scotland, Brazil, and the United States in such cities as Dracut, Rapid City, Pleasent Hill, Charlotte and more

Today is Wednesday, May 19, the 139th day of 2010.

There are 226 days left in the year.

Today In History May 19

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Turn Beauty Inside Out Day

Upping the cute factor

Fox cub and dog become best of friends

An abandoned fox cub rescued from certain death after he fell into a quarry is being nursed back to health thanks to an unlikely friendship – with a dog. The male cub tumbled to the bottom of the disused pit where he was stranded and later found cold and severely malnourished.

He was discovered by a family three weeks ago who took him to wildlife expert Gary Zammit at a fox rescue centre. Gary began helping the fox recover but was stunned when the cute cub found a playmate in his his one-year-old lurcher Jack.

Jack and the cub developed a “strong friendship” and regularly play fight on Gary’s sofa and chase each other round his garden and fields. The cub has now been called Copper after a character from the Disney film The Fox and the Hound – where an abandoned fox and puppy also become friends.

Gary, of the Feadon Farm Wildlife Centre in Portreath, Cornwall, said Jack has started to “take over” nursing duties. “They truly seem to have developed a strong friendship and have become inseparable.”

More photos and  video here

The State Of The Nation

The State Of The Nation

Senate icon defeated in dramatic primary

Arlen Specter's party switch backfires as he fails to capture Democratic nod in Pennsylvania.  

Sestak will be nominee 

Also: 

• Tea party win in Kentucky
• Rep. to resign over affair
• Who's in primary trouble

Paul wins meaningless Kentucky primary in test of tea party

Rand Paul defeated repugican establishment favorite Trey Grayson in the repugican primary for U.S. Senate, a closely watched race that was a test of the tea party 's strength.

Full story

It should be noted that the Democratic turnout in Kentucky was much higher than the repugican vote.
And, this is supposed to be a year when repugicans, especially teabaggers, are extremely motivated?!

Democrat Mark Critz won PA-12, a seat the repugicans expected to pick up

This is a huge win for the Democrats .

Mark Critz, the Democrat, won the seat long held by John Murtha. Republicans had considered this a prime pick up opportunity. But, the repugicans lost.

Yep, this was the race that was going to show how John Boehner was on his way to becoming Speaker. Oops.

Critz isn't exactly a progressive. But, given how cocky the Republicans have been about their electoral prospects, this is a sweet win.

You might like to know that there have been seven special elections for U.S. House seats since the president's inauguration 16 months ago: NY20, IL5, CA32, CA10, NY23, FL19, and PA12. 

Democrats have won all seven.

UPDATE: More good news. This race may have put the kibosh on Newt Gingrich's presidential prospects. Newtie was the star at a fundraiser for Burns and some of the attendees wanted him to run for President:

Greeted by many in the crowd who want him to run for president in 2012, Gingrich half-jokingly said he would consider doing that "if you get (Burns) elected."

Voters send insiders a harsh message

Senate primaries in three states reflect clear voter discontent with the political establishment.

Party leaders ignored 

Also: 

• Why Specter was beaten
• Paul's tea party washout
• Runoff set in Arkansas

Broom Hilda

As The World Turns

As The World Turns

Nigerian politician caught with belly full of cocaine

"Nigeria's drug enforcement agency says it has arrested a politician who allegedly swallowed 2 kg (4.5lbs) of cocaine to fund his election campaign." Agents say they found 100 individually wrapped packets of coke inside his belly.

Thai conflict escalates in Bangkok streets

Government troops overrun protesters, who resist despite the arrest of their leaders.  

Images of chaos 

Also: 

• A city in flames
• Curfew enacted
• Search: 'Red Shirts'

CBS News threatened with arrest by US Coast Guard

'BP rules' my ass!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

What the hell is going on? Fuck BP and their rules. Can somebody in Washington please take control and tell BP to go fuck themselves?

Mute boy who spoke for first time after being given puppy falls silent after thieves steal pet

This is the second story of someone robbing a child of their best friend we've had in the last few days - some dognappers needs their gonads twisted off for this!

A mute boy who spoke for the first time after getting a puppy for his birthday has been shocked back into silence after thieves snatched the dog from his back garden. Liam Hainsworth, four, suffers from a learning disability and had never pronounced a word - until the birthday gift of a pug pup named Millie. He uttered his first words 'dog' and 'mummy' just two weeks after the arrival of Milie and over the following weeks the youngster's life appeared to be transforming.

Now the £900 dog has been stolen from the family's back garden in Bradford and little Liam has been plunged into silence. Liam's mother Aimee Hainsworth, 24, said: 'Liam and Milie were inseparable and Liam is heartbroken now. He goes all over the house looking for her, but he knows she's gone.

'He'll go over to Milie's cage and just beat on the bars. There's no words coming out but you just know he's screaming: "Where is Milie? Where is she?" inside. Milie really was his best friend. They would play together happily for hours. None of his toys has ever held his short attention span that long so this was incredible. He loved her.

'Liam has been absolutely distraught. Straight after she was taken he started looking around for her but it was the next morning it really hit him. Now he has just completely gone back into his shell. He's not even tried to say any words since she went missing and he has started having tantrums again.'

Son Leaves 'America's Most Hated Family,' Behind

Son Leaves 'America's Most Hated Family,' Behind

Or how at least one Phelps has a modicum of sanity.

Sudden stock plunge prompts new rules

Sudden stock plunge prompts new rules

As regulators ponder the mysterious May 6 market drop, the SEC suggests trading curbs.

Called 'circuit breakers' 

Also: 

• Stocks take another slide
• What you need to know
• Stock market fail-safe

Sheriff's race decided by playing cards

A deck of cards and a bit of luck helped decide the who will likely be the next sheriff of Morrill County.

Full Deck

Suspect in Texas sect slayings pleads not guilty

A polygamist sect leader's daughter who was a fugitive for nearly 20 years pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges alleging that she helped orchestrate the shotgun killings of three former sect members and an 8-year-old girl.

Suspect in Texas sect slayings pleads not guilty

Women Try To Smuggle Meth Inside Bible

How's that for religion for ya?

Two women have been arrested for attempting to smuggle crystal methamphetamine inside a Bible to a Walker man jailed in the Livingston Parish Detention Center.

Women Try To Smuggle Meth Inside Bible

Barack Obama assassination attempt used as geometry lesson

Full story

An Alabama geometry teacher has used his lesson plans to target Barack Obama, and it turned out to interest the Secret Service. The unnamed Corner High School teacher used the example of where to stand and aim if shooting Obama, to teach about angles.


****

And on a side note to this story ... Today while waiting for the Mrs. to have an MRI we were watching President Obama and President Calderone speak at their joint news conference and some teabagging asshole walked in the door as the president was speaking and said "that's one nigger that deserves a bullet in the head", which he immediately followed with "I can't say that" as a way of mitigating his prior statement. Although his outburst won't be investigated by the Secret Service, he still should be taught a lesson about decorum because after the bruises heal I don't think the impression of the knuckle sandwich he got for his remarks will last - such as it is with all ignoramuses. 

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

(or in this case a liar and a fool)

Faux's Glen Brick lies: President Obama is a Satan-worshiper.
That would be a falsehood there Glen ol'boy although with your penchant for projection - could it be that Satan is your deity of choice?

Faux's Glen Brick says he's "surprised" NRA convention "wasn't a DOJ sting operation where they barred all the doors and gassed us all".
Thus proving once again what a demented fool you are.

Faux's Glen Brick lies: Obama administration is made up of "Marxist revolutionaries that worship Mao".
OK, moron make up your mind (oh, excuse you don't have a mind - never mind) Mao or Satan you can't worship both - or do you?

Faux's Glen Brick lies "The people that we have running the country" are not Democrats, "they are Marxist revolutionaries".
Nope, that would be the ones we ousted when we rid the world of the shrub and the cabal in November 2008.

Lairs and Fools : The Newt Edition

Appearing on Faux News, Newt Gingrich doubles down on the lie that Obama and Democrats are threatening America as much as "Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did".
Wrong. Also, you inner idiot is showing.

Gingrich says religious leaders who support health care reform are socialists

Um, I think he just described Jesus.

GINGRICH: I don’t think being the leader of an organized group necessarily means that you’re going to — you will or won’t understand the critique that I just outlined. … A lot of religious leaders who come out of basically a socialist background. They don’t create wealth. They don’t create jobs. They in fact redistribute wealth and so from their perspective this is just one more opportunity to redistribute — this is sort of compulsory charity, what we used to call taxes.

This Should Go Over Well

Wingnut Mark Williams, chairman of Tea Party Express, unleashes mound of anti-Muslim hate speech.
Calls Islamic deity "monkey-god" and all Muslims "the animals of allah."

Florida mosque bombed; FBI calls for help; national media mute

From Crooks and Liars:

On May 10th, a middle-aged man carried a can of gasoline and a pipe bomb into the Jacksonville Islamic Center of Northeast Florida during evening prayers and detonated it. Fortunately, there were no injuries to people, though the bomb did damage property.
The surveillance video above gives a fairly decent picture of this man, who is clearly white, middle-aged, and on a mission.
The local news is all over it, of course. WOKV.com reports the FBI investigating it as a hate crime and possible domestic terrorism.

"It was a dangerous device, and had anybody been around it they could have been seriously injured or killed," says Special Agent James Casey. "We want to sort of emphasize the seriousness of the thing and not let people believe that this was just a match and a little bit of gasoline that was spread around."
Casey says surveillance video from the Islamic Center shows the arsonist carrying gasoline and the pipe bomb. When the explosive went off, parts of it were found 100 feet away on 9A.

So, a mosque is bombed by a white guy and the bomb isn't exactly small, but the national media sees no value in reporting it? Really? And yet, that is evidently the case.
Anti-Muslim sentiments in Florida have been bubbling to the surface, particularly after repugican Dan Fanelli's campaign commercial was aired asking if a man appearing to be from the Middle East "looked like a terrorist." According to Yahoo News, there were two other ads with even more pointed messages against Muslims:

Another ad has Fanelli saying, "This is a terrorist," as he presents a "Middle Eastern" man strapped with a "bomb" and wearing what appears to be a dish towel "turban."
Yet another ad shows two Arabic-speaking "terrorists" constructing a bomb while discussing "martyrdom" and "killing infidels." The ad also mocks long-standing due process rights such as Miranda warnings and access to lawyers.

These ads air, and a mosque is bombed. The bomb could have killed many people. To further stir the pot, this:

Last month, CAIR reported that a Muslim university professor was appointed to the Jacksonville, Fla., Human Rights Commission despite a prolonged smear campaign by the anti-Islam hate group ACT! for America, whose leader says Muslims should not be allowed to hold public office.

There's a deep pattern of anti-Islam behavior in Florida. CommonDreams.org has the list. It's a story worthy of attention by every single citizen in this country.
I did a quick Google news search. I found lots of local stories. But look what happens when I try major news sites:
FAUX News: Nothing
CNN: Nothing
MSNBC: Nothing
CBS News: Nothing.
Why is that?

Bus driver found baby sitting in middle of the road

In the video, VIA bus driver Mike Hubbard is driving down South Flores when he spots something in the road.

“From a distance I can't tell exactly what it is. It looks like a dog, something moving around, I can't really tell what it was ... I started slowing down and then I noticed it’s a baby in the middle of the street.”

Watch the video and see what happened next here.

Journalist says she confessed in North Korean jail

An American journalist who was imprisoned in North Korea for months after briefly crossing into the reclusive country while reporting about the sex trade says she told interrogators in a ploy for mercy that she was trying to overthrow the government.

Full story

Juvenile Delinquents and Shakespeare

Teens sentenced to perform Shakespeare

A creative program offers teen offenders another way to pay their debt to society.  

 'Henry V' vs. hard time 

Also: 

• Court on teen sentencing
• Criminalizing candy
• Reforming troubled teens

They should have opted for 'Hard Time' ... Henry V is a killer.

Fake pilot says passengers were never at risk

A Swedish pilot who flew commercial airliners for 13 years with a fake license said he never put passengers at risk.

Thomas Salme was caught last month as he was about to pilot a Boeing 737 from Amsterdam Shiphol to Ankara in Turkey.

He was arrested on suspicion of holding a fake pilot license after a tip-off to Dutch authorities. The 41-year-old had accumulated 10,000 unlicensed hours in the air.

He admitted he doctored his expired pilot’s license and was fined £1700 ($2000) and banned from flying for a year.

Judges in Amsterdam rejected prosecution pleas for a custodial sentence last month and even praised his safety record.

"The moral point of view is that I feel ashamed that I did lie but I didn't ever feel, not once, feel that I put passengers in an unsafe position," Mr Salme said.

Non Sequitur

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientists calculate how big the ocean is

Using measurements from satellites, researchers determine its volume and depth.

Much less than thought 

Also: 

• Octopus mystery solved
• Dire ocean fish warning
• Deep sea creatures

Stellar blast sparks controversy Extraordinary stellar blast could be a new class of exploding star, say astronomers, but another team disagrees. Thieving dwarves cause supernovae

New clue to anti-matter mystery A US experiment finds a clue as to why the Universe is composed of normal matter and not its shadowy opposite: anti-matter.

Ancient octopus mystery resolved Trapped air in the shells of rare octopuses is the key to their survival in the deep sea, say scientists.

An ocean oddball Following the ocean migrations of the bizarre sunfish, the world's heaviest bony fish, in pictures.

OTHER TOP STORIES

Gulf oil 'reaches major current'

Canada firms vow to save forests

Indian voting machines 'hacked'

Willetts 'will argue for science'

Smallest man-made pump revealed

Scientists save world's smallest waterlily from becoming extinct

Thermal attraction: How female damselflies prefer hot males

THE BIG PICTURE

CSI 100 million years BC: oldest mammalian hair found

The oldest mammalian hair has been discovered in a 100-million-year-old lump of amber, and it's surprisingly similar to modern-day hair

Foucault's pendulum destroyed

If there were ever any truth in the esoteric tales of Umberto Eco's bestselling novel Foucault's Pendulum, it seems that the key to that knowledge has been lost.

The original pendulum, which was used by French scientist Leon Foucault to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth and which forms an integral part of Eco's novel's labyrinthine plot, has been irreparably damaged in an accident in Paris.

The pendulum's cable snapped last month and its sphere crashed to the marble floor of the Musee des Arts et Metiers.

Full Story

On The Job

On The Job

Serious health hazards in the office

Many American workers are doing devastating harm to their bodies without even knowing it.

6 hidden dangers 

Also: 

• New skills on the cheap
• High-pay, low-stress jobs
• Annoying office habits

Stay-at-home dads' tough task: Find a job

Many at-home fathers who succeed in finding work have to go to extreme lengths.

'Destroyed our social life' 

Also: 

• Do men get 'baby blues?'
• Jobs where men earn less
• Stay-at-home dad tips

10 signs you're an annoying coworker

Giving frequent advice is one way to sabotage your approval ratings in the workplace.

Beware the "k" response 

Also: 

• Lessons from 'The Office'
• Secrets for being on time
• Habits that bosses love

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid

Credit cards still play consumer 'gotcha'

Despite reforms to prevent customer gouging, some banks are using a tactic to rack up charges.

How to fight it 

Also: 

• Banks beat reform bill
• Eliminate credit card debt
• New online scams

Make extra cash without an extra job

Selling unused items around the house can yield surprising amounts of money.

Five simple ideas to earn more 

Also: 

• Take the clutter quiz
• Making kids money-smart
• Save money quickly

Verizon makes a hole in woman's lawn and fills it with bags of rocks

Verizon removed a utility pole from the front lawn of a home in Albany, NY, but the workers filled in the resulting crater by dumping in several sealed bags of rocks and then sprinkling some dirt on top. When the homeowner tried to garden the spot, she discovered the shoddy work:

She found there were big gaps between the bags, and dirt already was starting to settle into them and leave a sinking depression in the soil. Also, because the heavy stone-filled bags were so close to the surface, it would be difficult to plant the rose bush she wanted to put there. Knapp said she has managed to haul out 13 bags but could not reach the bags at the very bottom of the hole. She opened six of the sacks and dumped the loose stones back in.
"This really seems like a pretty shoddy way to fill these holes, and I can't imagine mine is the only one they filled this way," Knapp said. "If they'd only opened the bags, ... ."
Since she wasn't home when the pole was removed, Knapp had no idea who did the work or who to ask to come back and do a better job filling the hole.

No stone unturned in the case of buried bags

No cash allowed at Apple Stores

Full story

Diane Campbell is disabled and on a fixed income. She saved up for an iPad, which she thought would be perfect for her needs. However, the savings she had was in cash, something Apple will not take for iPads and iPhones at their retail stores.

Back In The Day

Snapping Shrimp

Snapping shrimp (Alpheus macrocheles). 

More about this creature here.

Culinary DeLites

Culinary DeLites

Five foods that boost your mood

Incorporating these five mood boosters may also improve your energy and your figure.  

A square of chocolate a day 

Also: 

• Seven snacks that heal
• Secrets of fast food
• Nutrition and mood

In Matters Of Health

In Matters Of Health

Friendly bacteria could evict MRSA in nasal turf wars
Nasal sprays based on harmless bacteria from people's noses could provide a powerful new weapon against superbugs such as MRSA

Elderly people who care for a spouse who has dementia are at increased risk of developing dementia themselves, a study finds. The stress of attending to a mentally incapacitated spouse may somehow contribute to the added risk, scientists report in the May Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
sciencenewsPrevious studies have shown that chronic stress leads to increased levels of the hormone cortisol in the body, which can suppress immunity, says study co-author Peter Rabins, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore who teamed with researchers at Utah State University in Logan to do this study. “It’s long been thought that this might have adverse outcomes psychologically and physiologically.”
Taking care of a spouse with dementia takes a toll in other ways as well, Rabins says. “Caregivers often complain that they lose their friends,” he says, because they don’t have time to socialize. But the biological mechanisms that might link these challenges to heightened dementia risk remain unclear.

Dementia Caregivers More Likely to Also Get the Disease

Bad news for bacon, hot dog lovers

Some types of meat pose greater risk of heart attack and diabetes than others, a new study finds.

The key difference 

Also: 

• Unhealthiest sandwiches
• Heart group supports Wii
• Heart risk factors

Global Warming Not Spreading Malaria As Fast As Humans Are Stopping It

photo: Karunakar Rayker

While global warming is expected to spread tropical diseases into new areas, it appears human action to prevent malaria may be outpacing the spread of the debilitating disease. New Scientist points out a new study coming out of the University of Oxford that examined how much malaria has spread since 1900, when the world was 0.7°C cooler.

Article continues: Global Warming Not Spreading Malaria As Fast As Humans Are Stopping It

Men tell more lies than women

Men are more likely to tell lies than women and feel less guilty about it, says a survey.

In a poll of 3,000 people, researchers found that the average British man tells three lies every day, that's equivalent to 1,092 a year.

However the average woman appears more honest, lying 728 times a year - around twice a day.

Mums are the people mostly likely to be lied to, says the Science Museum who commissioned the survey.

Men's top 10 lies:

1. I didn't have that much to drink
2. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
3. I had no signal
4. It wasn't that expensive
5. I'm on my way
6. I'm stuck in traffic
7. No, your bum doesn't look big in that
8. Sorry, I missed your call
9. You've lost weight
10. It's just what I've always wanted

Women's top 10 lies:

1. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
2. I don't know where it is, I haven't touched it
3. It wasn't that expensive
4. I didn't have that much to drink
5. I've got a headache
6. It was in the sale
7. I'm on my way
8. Oh, I've had this ages
9. No, I didn't throw it away
10. It's just what I've always wanted