The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Things are brewing between you and someone else, but everything is still deep under the surface; you will need to utilize all your insight to piece together a more complete picture.
What other people say isn't going to help -- you need to ignore any reports you've heard that are based on third-hand information.
The game of telephone is not one you should play.
There is too much overlapping communication going on, so focus on keeping your messages and intentions crystal clear.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan
London, England, United Kingdom
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Perth, Western Australia, Austrtalia
Quebec, Quebec, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland and in cities across the United States such as Baton Rouge, Seattle, Scranton, Chicago and more.

Today is:

Today is Friday, February 25, the 56th day of 2011.

There are 309 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are: 

They are none.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Ice-age child's remains discovered in Alaska

 Just an interesting anthropological story for the day.

The 3-year-old is only the second ice-age child discovered on the continent, according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Archaeologists discovered the remains in a fire pit in an abandoned living area from 13,200 years ago and dated the child's death to about 11,500 years ago, according to research by UAF's Ben Potter and his team in the Feb. 25 edition of the journal Science.

Looking at the child's teeth, UAF bioarchaeologist Joel Irish said in initial observations that the remains had traits of North Americans and northeast Asians.

 More here

Neanderthals Wore Feathers as Fashion Accessories

 

Neanderthals living in what is now Italy may have used feathers as fashion accessories, according to a study on 44,000-year-old bird bones.
While investigating Neanderthal remains in the Fumane Cave near Verona in northern Italy, paleoanthropologist Marco Peresani from the University of Ferrara and colleagues discovered 660 bird bones in layers that were dated to around 44,000 years ago.
Belonging to 22 species of birds, the remains included several wing bones which, according to the researchers, were deliberately cut to take the feathers off.

Full Story

Happy Birthday George

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it’s alright

Happy Birthday George Harrison who would have been 68 today…
Give me love
Give me love
Give me peace on earth
Give me light
Give me life
Keep me free from birth
Give me hope
Help me cope, with this heavy load
Trying to, touch and reach you with,
heart and soul

Random Celebrity Photo

Clara Bow

The Castle At Sunset

Kamyanets-Podilsky is a Ukrainian town of major historical importance. Its “Old Town” is situated on a rocky island that is washed by a river in a deep canyon. The island is connected with the “big land” with a narrow neck of land where a marvellous castle was built.

Full Story

Autumn is golden in the Hibiny Mountains

Amazingly beautiful nature of the Hibiny Mountains in autumn.

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Winter in Russia

From A Bird’s-Eye View

Discover snowy Russian landscapes from the plane flight view. Fasten your seatbelts!

Full Story

Ziggy

On The Job

The best jobs outside the cubicle

If you fantasize about working away from an office, one of these jobs might be for you.  

Virtual question answerer 

Also: 

• 7 career comebacks
• Top-paying companies
• Careers in decline

Which degrees can get you hired

The right background will help you land an interview in hot fields like health care.  

Salaries of up to $90,000 

Also: 

• Ways to double your pay
• Scholarship secrets  
• College without debt

The two biggest resumé myths

Sending yours to lots of friends and business colleagues actually isn't wise. 

What a resumé won't say about you 

Also: 

• Ways to get a raise
• Find work-life balance 
• Jobless claims fall

The Fuller Brush Man

The Fuller Brush Company was founded January 1, 1906, by Alfred Carl Fuller, a businessman from Nova Scotia, Canada. The company began with door-to-door sales of brushes of various sorts. During the 1940s and 1950s, the ubiquitous Fuller Brush salesman became a cultural icon, inspiring comedy and jokes, movies, and at least one song.

These days, door-to-door selling is frowned upon. But in its heyday, door-to-door selling was a legitimate pursuit and many men (and a few women) made a good living at it. One of the more prolific door-to-door salesman was the Fuller Brush Man.

Marketing

Unrest may slow U.S. recovery

U.S. economy gets shock waves from Libya

Chaos in the Mideast sends gas prices soaring, which could force Americans to cut back on spending.  

Fragile recovery 

Also: 

• The latest from Libya
• Consumers feel pinch  
• Challenge for airlines

Chaos as Libyan revolt swells

Gadhafi militia fires on crowds in Tripoli

As rebels mourn their dead in captured cities, Gadhafi tells his supporters to "defend the nation."

Rattle of gunfire 

Also: 

• Americans flee on ferry
• U.N. diplomats resign
• 'Mercenaries' captured

Zeta's 'Tweety Bird' and 5 Others Held in Killing of U.S. Federal Agent

"Confusion" Led to Ambush

Mexican officials have arrested six members of the violent Los Zetas drug cartel in the killing of U.S. federal agent Jaime Zapata including cell leader 'El Piolin' or "Tweety Bird" whose real name is Julian Zapata Espinoza.

Full Story

Saudi Student & Texas Resident Arrested as Terrorist

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, a citizen of Saudi Arabia and resident of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested late yesterday by FBI agents in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised explosive device.

The young college student was studying chemical engineering in Texas purchased explosive chemicals over the Internet as part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of the shrub, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Full Story

Armed robber sues over underpants arrest

An armed robber is suing police after they led him from a bank he'd held up in handcuffs with his trousers round his ankles.

Phillip Niere, 38, had threatened to kill staff at a branch of the Noris Bank in Aachen, Germany, if they didn't hand over £200,000.

But he surrendered after an hour when police negotiators convinced him he'd be treated with dignity. "The handcuffs are understandable, but what the police have to explain is why he was brought out with his jeans pulled down and his underwear on show.

"It is clearly a breach of his human rights and caused Mr Niere needless humiliation and embarrassment," said a lawyer.

Man ticketed for catching cops sleeping on the job

The Surete du Quebec has launched an internal investigation after a video was taken that appears to show a pair of officers asleep in their patrol car.
The squad car was parked on the side of Highway 40 between the exits for St. Maurice and Des Prairies, and didn't appear to have anyone inside, according to the person who made the video.
The cameraman started filming as he walked up to the car and spotted two people lying down in the front seats.
"They're sleeping on the job!'' he exclaimed in the video.
The SQ officers then fined the cameraman $156 for parking in an area reserved for emergency vehicles, although a Crown prosecutor has the right to overturn the ticket if it is contested.
Sergeant Guy Lapointe says the SQ was notified of the situation this morning and immediately launched a disciplinary review.
The officers involved have been asked to file a written report, and investigators will talk to the person who made the video.
The video was first made public through radio station NRJ 102.3 FM.
Watch the video here.

We have a winner ...

Anonymous seizes Westboro's domain during live TV confrontation

How do the kids say it again? Oh, yeah ... you just got 'pwned'

During a live TV interview between an Anonymous member and Shirley Phelps-Roper from the Westboro Baptist Church, the escalating war between the two has peaked. During a 10-minute-plus interview, Phelps-Roper repeatedly blamed Anonymous for a letter released earlier this week promising to attack the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. Anonymous has been claiming since the accusation that it was not the author of the widely circulated message, and insists the entire operation was likely a ploy for attention on the congregation’s part.

During the interview, Anonymous continuously and calmly reiterated it was not responsible for the original letter, and that the church’s site had been taken down earlier by another hacktivist widely known as “th3j3st3r.” The Jester took credit for the hack via his Twitter on February 21.

But Phelps-Roper would have none of it. Between hurling insults and thanking Anonymous for the increased attention to the church’s cause (which includes degrading fallen US soldiers and homosexuals), she refused to hear out Anonymous’ defense. After nearly nine minutes of listening to her crazed diatribe, the hacktivist group took action. “I was just going to say in the time that Shirley was blabbing her religious preachings I actually did some business and I think if you check downloads.westborobaptistchurch right now you’ll see a nice message from Anonymous.”

Indeed, after insisting that no hacker could take down its controversial website, Anonymous was able to do so in a matter of moments, and seemingly without prior planning. “We just put up a nice release while Shirley was preaching there…Yeah we just, we had enough. We responded [to the original letter from Westboro Baptist] maturely…then Shirley comes on the show, [says] I’m going to hell, so we’ve given her something to look at.”

Source

Faux Reverses Results Of Gallup Poll To Claim Americans Oppose Union Collective Bargaining Rights

Tuesday, USA Today and Gallup released a new poll that found that a whopping 61 percent of Americans oppose efforts like those of Gov. Scott Walker (reptile-WI) to strip public sector unions of collective bargaining rights. The poll also found that only a third of Americans support such a policy, indicating that Walker is pandering to the wingnuts of the American electorate and is hardly representative of mainstream political thought in this country.

Full Story

Schizophrenia risk is increased with a particular gene mutation

We always knew repugicans were mutants ... now science provides the proof.

Schizophrenia is a severe, complicated illness. 

There are no obvious explanations for what causes the condition, which causes hallucinations and delusions.

Full Story

Dirty air triggers more heart attacks than cocaine

Air pollution triggers more heart attacks than using cocaine and poses as high a risk of sparking a heart attack as alcohol, coffee and physical exertion, scientists said on Thursday.

Full Story

Men's Health Can Be Affected By Diet

In a television commercial for a popular fast food chain, a father and son sit on the living room couch as the dad prepares to teach his boy an important life -- how to eat a pizza.

Full Story

Culinary DeLites

Nine foods that could outlast you

Honey may get grainy or change color, but it's still delicious and safe to eat.

Other sweeteners won't spoil, either 

Also: 

• Recipes that use honey
• Make common items last 
• How to help love endure

Best fast-food meals under 350 calories

Two Fresco Chicken Soft Tacos are healthier than you might imagine.  

Satisfying Chinese dish for 235 calories 

Also: 

• Worst chain sandwiches
• Unhealthy Chinese dishes  
• 7 fat-fighting desserts

Tips from a "prolific dumpster diver"

A self-described "prolific dumpster diver" in the UK was mass-interviewed on Reddit yesterday, and wrote some detailed, intriguing, and potentially useful descriptions of how he lives and thrives on trash:

Besides food, what are some of the other products that you come across most frequently and use? Nothing has such a short shelf-life as food, so other things don't get come across really that regularly. Charity shops are always VERY varied so not much same-ness there, except for foot bath/massagers. Oddly I see one at least every couple of months. CRT TVs are common, as are George Foreman-style grills. Toiletries are pretty common, and there is waaaaay too much washing powder/liquid for us to use as it apparently leaks often. Flowers are really really common, we always have fresh flowers on the kitchen table and I'm gradually adding the kind of pot-plants you get in a supermarket to our small garden... Yep, the supermarket tends to throw out £50 worth of flowers per week! Currently we have three bouquets of lilies in the house.

IAmA prolific dumpster diver. I have not bought any food for the last 6 months. AMA!

Helpful Hints

Why add coffee or salt to your laundry?

Get whiter whites and darker darks with these ingenious additions to your laundry.
Whiter whites
Do your white T-shirts tend to go grey? White socks look dirty no matter how many times they’re washed? Try one of these tried and trusted methods for making whites…

Read More

Gel shoe inserts that really work

Which shoe inserts really help your feet

Gel insoles make lofty promises like claiming to pamper your feet as you walk.  

Four models put to the test 

Also: 

• NBA rookie's shoe guru
• Yankee pitcher's diet plan
• Crunch-free ab workout

Awesome Pictures

Tiny Transistors Track Cash

These itty-bitty low power organic transistors can be placed on the surface of bank notes for security or tracking by transmitting information wirelessly to a scanner. A group of German and Japanese scientists manufacture these 250-nanometer-thick transistors using minute amounts of aluminum and gold and a special dry process. They work well on the rough surface of paper and need only three volts to operate.

Full Story

9 ways you could mess up this tax season

These mistakes could wind up costing you money or attracting unwanted attention from the IRS.  

Avoid the RAL 

Also: 

• Disappearing tax breaks
• Track down your refund
• Tax-filing money savers

How to build your wealth

How you can get richer this year

The best way to build wealth remains unchanged, but it requires absolute discipline, says one expert.  

Great tips 

Also: 

• Ways to tap nest egg
• True tales of cutting debt  
• Save $50 a day easily

The reality of a government shutdown

The reality of a government shutdown

If the federal budget impasse isn't resolved, Americans shouldn't expect a halt to all services.

What would close 

Also: 

• Dems eye spending cuts
• GOP edge for shutdown?
• Tea party's Montana vision

City's teachers get pink slips

City issues pink slips to all its teachers

Critics cry foul as a Rhode Island mayor sends out nearly 2,000 layoff warnings.  

Rationale behind 'insane' move 

Also: 

• Blogging teacher in limbo
• Will uproar boost unions?
• Tricky issues for teachers

The truth be told

Earthquake

Hawaii jolted be quake

A small earthquake hit Hawaii on Thursday, with a jolt felt across Honolulu . The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 3.6 temblor struck at 2:12 p.m., about 12 miles deep in the Kaiwi Channel, between the islands of Oahu and Molokai and was felt most centered in the rural Waimanalo area on the eastern side of Oahu island.

Full Story

Magnitude-5.7 quake shakes Mexico's Gulf coast

A magnitude-5.7 earthquake has shaken Mexico's Gulf coast. There are no immediate reports of damage.

Full Story

Dead Baby Dolphin Death Toll Rises to 60 Along Gulf Coast

photo: Sheilapic76/Creative Commons

Updating the story from three days ago on dead baby dolphins washing up at 10 times the normal rate on Gulf Coast beaches: And then there were 60. Initial reports said that 17 dead baby dolphins had been discovered in Alabama and Mississippi.

Article continues: Dead Baby Dolphin Death Toll Rises to 60 Along Gulf Coast

Did an ancient Roman invent "flexible glass" ?

From an interesting post this week at Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog:

The story appears first in Petronius’ Satyricon (51 – early first century AD): ‘However, there was an artificer once who made a glass goblet that would not break. So he was admitted to the Emperor’s presence to offer him his invention; then, on receiving the cup back from the Emperor’s hands, he dashed it down on the floor. Who so startled as the Emperor? But the man quietly picked up the goblet again, which was dented as a vessel of bronze might be. Then taking a little hammer from his pocket, he easily and neatly knocked the goblet into shape again. This done, the fellow thought he was as good as in heaven already, especially when Emperor said to him, ‘Does anybody else besides yourself understand the manufacture of this glass?’ But, on his replying in the negative, Emperor ordered him to be beheaded, because if once the secret became known, we should think no more of gold than of so much dirt.’

Beachcombing notes that the story was retold two centuries later, and a different incident was reported in 79 AD:

Pliny the Elder (obit 79 AD), a near contemporary, reports that in the time of Tiberius, forty years before he brought out his Natural History, a new kind of flexible glass was produced that the Emperor did everything possible to outlaw, even destroying the workshop of the inventor (‘totam officinam artificis eius abolitam’).

Fable/myth?  Or true?  There's a discussion at the link, with a addendum suggesting that the Romans might have invented tempered glass.  A different possibility that occurred to me is that a craftsman could have acquired a large lump of relatively clear amber (does amber come in clear form?) and worked into the shape of a glass (? is that possible).

It's the weather whether you like it or not

The futuristic side effect of thunderstorms

The weather phenomenon associated with rain and hail produces a valuable commodity.

'Star Trek' connection 

Also:

• Slow-motion lightning
• Largest hailstone  
• Global warming and rain

Ancient megadroughts hold stark clues

Experts see a parallel between today's conditions and thousand-year dry spells that plagued the Southwest. 

Shift 

Also: 

• 'Spectacular' Arctic find
• Fire ants' long journey
• Space storm threat real?

The Prandtl-Glauert Singularity

Amazing Jet Plane Shock Collar

 

image credit

It's an amazing site - a cone of vapor appearing around an aircraft which is travelling at transonic speed. Known as the Prandtl–Glauert Singularity this astonishing effect simultaneously widens the eyes and drops the jaw. Yet how does it occur?

Flea Jump Mystery Solved

Forty-four years after the debate about how fleas jump began,  researchers say they've solved the mystery thanks to high-speed cameras  that show the insects pushing off with their toes rather than with their  knees.

Shoe

How to ruin a real estate listing

How to avoid ruining your real estate listing

The biggest red flags for homebuyers might be in the way you promote your property. 

The issue with photos 

Also: 

• Existing home sales rise
• Best cities for home values
• Find home-staging tips

House has interior surprise

Wild feature spices up home's interior

This three-level house has an unusual twist that’s a kid-pleasing alternative to going down the stairs.  

See photos 

Also: 

• 'Oliver Twist' house
• Recycled housing trend
• Museum's 30-foot tipi

The Ten Most Precariously Placed Treehouses On Earth

The urge to inhabit high up places has been with us throughout the course of human history - tied up with a desire for protection from predators and the ability to see threats coming from afar.

Trees were obvious choices when our ancestors were selecting lofty locations in which to build house and home - but with such grand designs come natural risks. Living tens if not hundreds of feet above ground in a treehouse means it's a long, long way down should you happen to lose your footing.

B.C.

Animal News

Photo: rubber bullets/Creative Commons

Just like humans, monkeys can gauge how difficult a situation is. In a ground-breaking study, Macaques trained to play video games choose to skip by difficult levels when given the option.
We also have the unsolved mystery of suicidal whales; a lonely Wolverine, perhaps the only one of his species in California after a long trek; a sea turtle hospital; color-changing owls; deceptively adorable invasive species; and more in The Week in Animal News.

Article continues: The Week in Animal News: Self-Doubting Monkeys, Suicidal Whales, and More 

Amish Horse Team Pulls Tractor Trailer out of Snow

Sometimes, the best solutions lie in older technologies. Jalopnik has a video by Joel Appleman of a tractor trailer stuck in a snow drift in central Pennsylvania. A friendly Amish man hauled the truck out with his team of horses.

Full Story