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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
Even you -- ordinarily so well-disciplined -- are occasionally allowed to have a totally frivolous, even extravagant day.
When the urge hits (complete with someone just charming and persuasive enough to talk you into letting yourself go), how can you possibly hope to resist?
You can't, of course -- and you shouldn't.
It's your turn to forget about practical things and have some fun.
Just this once?
Some of our readers today have been in:
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Perth, Western Australia, Australa
Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Emmeloord, Flevoland, Netherlands
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
London, England, United Kingdom
Woodstock, Ontario, Canada
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Caracas, Distrito Federal, Venezuela

as well as Israel, and the United States in such cities as Londonderry, Oxford, Palo Alto, Sylmar and more

Today is Sunday, June 13, the 164th day of 2010.
There are 201 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:
There aren't any, so why not make up one of your own?

News @ 11

Girl, 6, chases a butterfly—only to discover a rainbow.

World Cup Soccer

USA 1 - England 1
American goalie Tim Howard was spectacular, while English star Wayne Rooney had a day to forget.  
Also: 
English goalkeeper Rob Green gives up a big goal to the United States in embarrassing fashion. 
Also: 
Some English television viewers missed the only World Cup goal their team scored.  
So sorry about that one, folks.
Also: 

The Philosophy of Football

 
Soccer gets the Python treatment

B.C.

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=49290193b8da47281d8da7b90db8c6f4

Deaf jazz singer rises above disability

Listening to Mandy Harvey sing, you would never guess that her world went silent more than two years ago, altering the future she'd imagined. "I went to CSU for vocal music education," Harvey said. "And while I was there for the first month or so, I noticed that I was having trouble hearing my teachers." Even a long history of ear infections and surgeries would not foretell the personal tragedy that would follow.

"In a year's time I had gone from being slightly hard of hearing, as I have been all my life, to gone," Harvey said. That's when the depression set in. I locked myself in my dorm room for two weeks solid, and I didn't leave," Harvey said.


The deafness, caused by nerve damage, forced her to drop out of the music education program, and she eventually left school and her hopes of performing behind. That is, until she recorded a song at home for her boyfriend. "And my dad would listen to the recording, he's like that's it, that's it, you have it still," Harvey said. "And so it was like this eureka moment."

That's when Harvey reached out to Cynthia Vaughn, her vocal instructor during high school and college. "I e-mailed her and asked her if I could have a voice lesson again, and I think she might have thought I was crazy," Harvey said. Vaughn invited Harvey to tour her new studio, not knowing what to expect.


"I do know that she walked in the door with a stack of music and I thought 'oh lord, she thinks we're having a singing lesson'," Vaughn said. The pair sat down at the piano, and Vaughn played a five note descending scale, which Harvey sang, perfectly in tune. "I really almost fell off the piano bench," said Vaughn.

Unable to hear her own voice, Harvey now sings by the memory of notes, sight reading and sensation. "Well you get different vibrations, like the deeper ones hit in a different spot and they are thicker," Harvey said. "And then lighter ones you can feel up higher and they kind of tingle. I don't want to be famous, I want to be a person who gives people hope," Harvey said. She has already recorded one jazz CD, and plans to record three more by her 30th birthday, so she can share her music with her future children and grandchildren should she ever lose her ability to perform.

Mandy's website.

William Wallace Letter

A letter thought to have been in the possession of William Wallace is to be investigated by a group of experts, it has been announced.

Non Sequitur

Non Sequitur

Biomass Worse Than Coal

20100604-amazon-forest-canopy.jpg
photo via flickr
Massachusetts has a law mandating a portfolio of renewable energy, including energy derived from wind, solar, and biomass. But a new study says that replacing coal power with biomass will actually increase the amount of CO2 emitted, throwing a wrench in the state's plan and casting some doubt over the utility of using biomass on national scale and the inclusion of biomass titles in the energy bills now being negotiated in Congress.

Geezer Bandit strikes again

A bank robber known as the "geezer bandit" has struck again, but this time the FBI says he may have slipped up.

New Comic

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/csbxu/2010/csbxu100612.gif

Oldest prehistoric pelican also had big beak

30 million year old pelican fossil
Huge old beak
Pelicans have sported big beaks for at least 30 million years, the discovery of an ancient pelican fossil reveals.

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know
Scientists may have identified the first source of energy that allowed the creation of life. 
Also: 

Things to know ...

Zorro and Darth Vader in legal battle

Darth Vader and Zorro have joined forces in a First Amendment battle with police and the Venetian Hotel-Casino on Las Vegas Strip. Brothers Jason and Sebastian Perez-Morciglio, who impersonate Zorro and Darth Vader on the Strip, say in a federal lawsuit that they were "kidnapped" by Venetian security officers, "strapped to a chair" and held in a small room for more than an hour in January before being kicked off the property.

They also say they were searched by metro police officers and handcuffed. Although the two men perform on the Strip for tips, they say they were just standing on the sidewalk in front of the Venetian when they were arrested, and that Sebastian wasn't wearing a costume, the lawsuit states.


The ACLU, which has joined the brothers in the legal battle, says the Venetian wrongly asserted that the public sidewalk was in fact private property.

"Certain sidewalks abutting the Strip and adjacent to certain Strip properties on which (the men perform) ... have been repeatedly declared by the federal courts to be a public forum and the First Amendment fully applies to all expressive activity on those sidewalks." Aside from damages, the ACLU seeks a declaration that the hotel's and metro's policies of regulating public sidewalks is unlawful.

All of America Captured In Single Photograph

Via Wonkette:
'I'm afraid of Americans.'
Found in Madison, Virginia

Ziggy

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=b1e6207f41b2a73652636ccecd6793d5

Arizona's next illegal move

The main architect of the state's illegal law is working on a new illegal bill.
Also: 

Nat Geo ...

 From National Geographic:

Reese's Cup?

It's a Cephalotes varians turtle ant.

Sorry, no chocolate and peanut butter here.

Millionaire population bounces back

A recent study shows the number of millionaire households is back to pre-crisis levels.
Also: 

Wizard of Id

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=d93ba2fe86fb802ea48fb496e6c382fd

People of Public Transit

People of Public Transit is an amusing (and scary) blog of photos and videos of public transit's weirdest passengers. 


WTF?
This is why you don't take public transportation.

Wedding Bells On Aisle 1

Speaking of weird people ...
The bride wore white. The guests wore orange smocks. A southern California couple were married Saturday in front of more than 100 guests at a Home Depot store where they work.

Pour Your Own Beer?

From the "Disaster waiting to happen" Department:
Philadelphia Bar Tries Self-Service
There is self-service for gasoline at the pump, soda at the fast-food joint, and groceries at the supermarket.

Pillow Tie

The  Pillow Tie is an inflatable necktie that coverts to a pillow for those quick naps on the job.


HOW THE PILLOW TIE WORKS

Real or Fake?

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K4-M/S868aasAn5I/AAAAAAABSQw/r1MU9xlPGR0/s720/e5yew5ye5e.jpg
Real or Fake?
Get out the answer here.