The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Sherlock Holmes has nothing on you right now.
Whether you're solving a locked-room mystery (check with the butler) or leading your friends on toward a rousing, if puzzling, adventure, you can outfox any fictional detective with ease.
Clues are everywhere, and you have the discerning eye needed to spot them.
Your powers of investigation are unparalleled for now, and you can solve just about any conundrum that comes your way.  

Some of our readers today have been in:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

London, England, United Kingdom

Quebec, Quebec, Canada

Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia

Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Livorno, Toscana, Italy

Bristol, England, United Kingdom

Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Erfurt, Thuringen, Germany

Florence, Toscana, Italy

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Como, Lombardia, Italy

Nancey, Lorraine, France

Sheffield, England, United Kingdom

Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv, Israel

Dnepropetrovsk, Dnipropetrovs'ka Oblast, Ukraine

Lille, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, France

as well as Spain, and the United States in such cities as Mokena, Kearney Paragoulo, Dunedin and more

Today is Sunday, May 23, the 143rd day of 2010.

There are 222 days left in the year.

Today In History May 23

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:

Neighbor Day

National Taffy Day

World Turtle Day

and

Declaration of the Bab Day

Obama outlines a new foreign policy

Obama outlines a new foreign policy

The president called for more diplomacy as he addressed graduating cadets at West Point.

A new direction 

Also: 

• See part of his address
• The cadets' celebration
• More on West Point

Survival stories emerge from India crash

Survival stories emerge from India crash

A few passengers jumped out of a plane that plunged down a muddy slope and killed 158 people.  

'No warning' 

Also: 

• Photos of the crash
• Airline safety records
• Stranded boaters' story

Just thought you'd like to know

The Risk Of Yellowstone's Mighty Volcano

The tourists are showing up as the season gets going at Yellowstone National Park, some of them oblivious to what lies beneath.

Back-to-back quakes felt in San Diego

Ma Nature is definitely trying to tell us something ...

Full story

Saturday's first quake hit near Calexico. Earthquakes measuring 4.9 and 4.8 occurred in quick succession Saturday, generating energy felt across San Diego County.

Study shows why overhearing cell phone calls bugs us so much

Full story

A new study to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science purports to reveal just why overhearing cell phones calls, on the bus, on the subway, or wherever, apparently bother us so much.

Chicken costumes banned at Nevada polling places

Nevada election officials say voters dressed in chicken costumes won't be allowed inside polling places this year.

Full story

Chickens voting must be a real problem in Nevada, then?

Culinary DeLites

Culinary DeLites

Eight packaged foods to avoid buying

Don’t get sucked into purchasing "gourmet" frozen vegetables and pricey bottled water.  

Better alternatives 

Also: 

• Grocery coupons
• Useless kitchen gadgets
• Condiment calories

*****

Organic farmer's market in Australia. Photo by avlxyz via Flickr

Wondering how to green your summer vacation? Seeking healthy places to stay, eat, and visit? Here's a one-stop guide to green smoke-free hotels that don't use toxic cleaning products, and organic eateries from restaurants and delis to groceries serving organic foods, location of local farmers markets, and even pesticide-free parks. No more excuses while on the road to resort to a fast food chain -- or starve. You can hit the road (even the freeways) and eat well thanks to the Organic Travel online source:

Article continues: Organic Tourism Guide: How to Eat Well On the Road

What started 'Liar, liar, pants on fire'

What started 'Liar, liar, pants on fire'

How did the phrase that has become synonymous with bending the truth come about?  

People provide answers 

Also: 

• Most common white lies
• How to tell someone's lying
• Fibs that parents tell kids

Paul and Palin neck and neck with their constituencies

Poll: Rand Paul Surges Ahead of Palin Among Voters Who Describe Themselves as Morons

Key Constituency for Two Hopefuls

In a sign of his increasing prominence in the so-called Tea Party movement, a new poll shows Kentucky senatorial candidate Rand Paul topping former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin among voters who describe themselves as morons.

In the poll, conducted by the University of Minnesota Opinion Research Institute, 42% preferred Paul, 36% preferred Palin, and the remaining 22% were unsure what the word “prefer” meant.

According to Davis Logsdon, who supervised the poll for the University of Minnesota, Paul’s surging popularity among morons is bad news for Palin, who previously had a lock on that important constituency.

“I never thought I’d say this, but if Palin is going to stay competitive with Paul, she’s going to have to start dumbing down her message.” 

Arizona businesses miss their illegal workers

Karma Racism is a bitch!

Ain't it!

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe

When dealing with wingnuts ... Remember the rule: 

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

Police killers identified as agitators on mission to spread anti-government message

Full story

"Without question, Jerry Kane was mouthing some of the core ideas of anti-government, Patriot movement,"

"...I'm going to have to kill. And if I have to kill one, then I'm not going to be able to stop, I just know it." 

In the final moments of their lives, West Memphis Police Department veterans Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans encountered Thursday an old white Plymouth Voyager minivan carrying 16-year-old Joe Kane and his 45-year-old father, Jerry R. Kane -- a man who unbeknownst to them harbored extreme anti-government views. He also had a record of previous trouble with police and a philosophy, which he credited to the bible, of applying overwhelming violence to "conquer" foes

Racism, homophobia and the history of the Rand/Ron Paul family

Joe Conason in Salon:

The last time that anyone examined the details of the Paul family's gamy history was back in 2008, when the New Republic dug up copies of newsletters sent out under Ron's name to raise money, and found that they were replete with ugly references to blacks, Martin Luther King, homosexuals and other targets of the racist far right. At the time, Reason magazine, a libertarian magazine that opposed the "paleo" deviation, gave the most revealing account of its movement's degenerate element in a long article by Julian Sanchez and David Weigel.

According to Sanchez and Weigel, the tone of Paul's newsletters shifted to reflect his political circumstances. Between his first presidential campaign and his return to Congress in 1996 as a Republican, they were filled with slurs against blacks generally and Martin Luther King Jr. in particular, including the accusation that the civil rights leader "seduced underage girls and boys." Rothbard hated King deeply, describing him in November 1994 as "a socialist, egalitarian, coercive integrationist, and vicious opponent of private-property rights ... who was long under close Communist Party control," and concluding that "there is one excellent litmus test which can set up a clear dividing line between genuine conservatives and neoconservatives, and between paleolibertarians and what we can now call 'left-libertarians.' And that test is where one stands on 'Doctor' King." (Then again, he hated Lincoln too, whom he disparaged in the same essay as "one of the major despots of American history.")

No wonder Sanchez and Weigel concluded with a forthright condemnation of Ron Paul's dishonesty on race. "Ron Paul may not be a racist," they wrote, "but he became complicit in a strategy of pandering to racists." The same polite formulation could be applied to the hard-line activists behind the Goldwater campaign in 1964, or the "Southern strategists" of the Nixon White House, or the "populist conservatives" of the George Wallace campaign, many of whom still remain active on the right today.

Despite the persistent efforts of Buchanan, Rockwell and many others on the far right, their deranged "dream" of political advancement through racial conflict never developed into a full-scale national nightmare. Instead, King's dream has since drawn closer to fulfillment with the election of Barack Obama. But the profound resentment of the first black president symbolized by Rand Paul and his Tea Party supporters arose from an old political fever swamp that has never been drained.

Any Questions?

 

Any Questions?

B.C.

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid

Where the average family can afford to buy

In these reasonably priced cities, homes usually sell for less than $100,000.

Also, the priciest markets 

Also: 

• More homes are affordable
• Where prices are sinking
• Current mortgage rates

10 most affordable autos to own

The car with the lowest price tag isn't necessarily the most affordable to own and operate.

More to consider 

Also: 

• Best picks for $200/month
• Research the latest models
• Cheapest cars to insure

Teenage driver prefers jail to writing 2,500 lines

A 19-year-old Clayton County woman says she would rather go to jail than write 2,500 times “I will not dishonor myself by passing a school bus,” her punishment for a March traffic offense. Nancy Nguyen said it would be a lie to write that sentence because she didn’t intentionally pass the stopped bus; two tractor-trailer trucks blocked her view, she said.

So she doesn’t feel she is dishonored. "I'm not going to demean myself and be demeaned by other people." Forest Park’s solicitor said it is common to require drivers younger than 21 to write those sentences if they passed a stopped school bus.

The idea is to impress upon them that it is a serious and dangerous traffic offense. "Writing something that many times ... it wouldn't teach me anything," Nguyen said. A school crossing guard said passing a stopped school bus can be deadly. "Kids will run, they [are] always running. So if you see the stop sign just stop," Pat Harris said.

By May 26, Nguyen is to have the sentences written and have completed 24 hours' community service and a defensive driving course. She also must have paid a $350 fine by then, her next court date. Her licence will be suspended for six months. Nguyen could be sent to jail if she has not completed all her sentence.

Large marijuana seizure turns into simple yard work

Full story

What had been originally pegged as "one of the largest marijuana plant seizures in the police department's history" in terms of a Texas police department, instead turned into a bad day of weeding. It turned out the weed in question was actually just that, a simple weed.

Polish farmer kept wife as carthorse

A woman has been freed from torment after being subjected to 15 years of beatings and being forced to pull a plough across farm fields. Since the age of 19, Irena Buzniak (now 34), was treated as a donkey by her husband and the rest of his immediate family in the small southern town of Limanowa.

It was only a few months ago that Irena decided enough was enough and she finally found the courage to flee her torture in order to find help from the authorities. Such was the extent of her ordeal, that she has been forced to seek help from doctors in a psychiatric hospital. Due to her brave decision to face her problems head-on, her previous family (including her husband) that kept her in a constant state of torment will now be brought to justice.

As well as being forced to carry the plough through the fields, she was kept locked up in a garage and was beaten and taunted with threats that she should be killed, in order to prevent her from begging for help. Her husband Antoni (42), his two brothers Kazimierz (45) and Jozef (39) and their mother, Emilia (81) now face up to 10 years behind bars for their part in the wicked ordeal.

“I honestly believe the punishment that all of them will hopefully be given will be fully deserved,” says Irena. “The past 15 years of my life have been completely horrific and they are 15 years that I would like to forget,” she said with tears in her eyes.

British woman who escaped Venezuelan jail convicted of dealing drugs in UK

A British woman who escaped from a Venezuelan prison after being convicted of trying to smuggle cocaine has been jailed for almost seven years for dealing drugs in the UK.

Natalie Welsh, a mother of two, who wrote a book about her ordeal, had vowed to go straight after spending four years in jail in South America and on her return to Britain got a well-paid job.

Photo from here.

After the publication of her prison memoir, Sentenced to Hell, last year, Welsh, 30, lost her job and began drug dealing to pay her bills. She specialised in what were until recently legal highs such as mephedrone but when police raided her home in Gloucestershire they also found thousands of pounds worth of cocaine.

Sentencing Welsh to six years and nine months, Judge William Hart said her's was a cautionary tale.

He expressed surprise that the "indifferent hospitality" she endured in prison in Venezuela had not been taken as a warning never to get involved with drugs again.

Welsh's barrister, Jason Coulter, told the judge it was frustrating that a talented woman like Welsh had acted as she did. He said she was a "potent advertisement" of the danger of drug consumption.

Landlord told he should evict rather than kill tenants

A Miami Beach landlord has been accused of shooting and killing a tenant who hadn't paid his rent. Father-of-three Vladimir Santos, 25, was blasted in the head on Monday in the front yard of the property he was leasing from Julian Gonzalez.

Police said the 35-year-old landlord gunned down his tenant after a bitter argument over unpaid rent. "You evict your tenants, you don't kill them," North Miami Beach detective Cora Mann said. "It's something quite unusual and extreme."

Mr Gonzalez was arrested shortly after the shooting. He is charged with second-degree murder and assault with a weapon.

Santos was days away from having a fourth child with his girlfriend, Maria Isabel Rivera, with whom he already had children aged one, two and four. Ms Rivera and Santos had been together five years and had been living in the one-bedroom house for two years.

Ziggy

It's Only The Environment After All

It's Only The Environment After All

Risky solutions to save the wetlands

As a toxic oil stew washes ashore, some say Louisiana's marshes should be burned.

Other suggestions 

Also: 

• Concern over dispersant
• Hair booms scrapped
• Gulf coast wildlife

Rank Arrogance

BP wants to continue using toxic brew

BP PLC said Saturday it wants to keep using a contentious chemical dispersant to fight the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, despite orders from federal regulators to use something less toxic.

Feelin' the inner Punk

Punk Dark Ale
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK

Punk Lager
The Clash  - Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Punk Ginger Ale
The Pretenders - Brass In Pocket

13-year old boy becomes youngest to summit Everest

13-year old Jordan Romero became the youngest person to ever summit Mt. Everest today. Romero completed the climb with his dad, his girlfriend, a trusty team of Sherpas; since they couldn't tackle it from the Nepal side due to age restrictions, the team headed to China and ended up summiting via a much more difficult route. He's one away from completing the Seven Summit — the highest peaks on each continent — he climbed Kilamanjaro at age nine, and is planning a trip to the last summit, Vinson Massif in Antarctica, this December.

American boy, 13, breaks Everest Record

Boy calls mom from top of Mount Everest

Upon becoming the youngest ever to scale the famous peak, Jordan Romero, 13, calls home.

His greeting 

Also:

• Photos of climber
• Tallest mountains
• Women blaze new trail

'Ridiculous' two-year rain forest trip

'Ridiculous' two-year rain forest trip

A 4,000-mile Amazon journey is more than just an adventure for Ed Stafford.  

Anacondas, hostile tribes, and more 

Also: 

• Find: Amazon photos
• Canadian forest deal
• 'Pinocchio' frog found

Archaeologists Unearth 57 Ancient Tombs In Egypt

Full story

Archeologists have unearthed 57 ancient Egyptian tombs, most of them containing a painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy.

Non Sequitur

More Efficient Windmills, Airplanes and Ships With Shark Skin

 

Credit: "Jaws" movie still via Flixster.

We're gonna need a bigger wind turbine. Or maybe not. German researchers are using shark skin to make windmills spin more efficiently, and generate more electricity. Not real shark skin, thankfully. This is shark-line skin that can be painted onto wind turbines, airplanes and ships to reduce flow resistance, or drag. Does this make your "Jaws" drop?

Article continues: Great White Idea: More Efficient Windmills, Airplanes and Ships With Shark Skin

Son Designs A Bamboo House For Mom In Costa Rica

 

Photos: Andres Garcia Lachner, Benjamin Garcia Saxe

It's probably the dream of every parent with an architect for a child: in a loving gesture, London-based designer Benjamin Garcia Saxe has built a new home for his mother - made out of bamboo and hidden in the jungles of Costa Rica, where she had already been living for some time in a structure she had constructed herself out of scrap wood.

Article continues: Son Designs A Bamboo House For Mom In Costa Rica

Easy ways to keep hackers at bay

5 easy ways to keep hackers at bay

Experts say "malware" attacks that used to be obvious are much harder to detect.

Basics steps you can take 

Also: 

• Facebook fixes bug
• iPads in short supply
• Free virus scan