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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.


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
You don't have to let weighty issues get the better of you.
If there is a big decision on your plate, you can handle it better right now if you take your emotions out of the equation.
It's true that your gut and your sixth sense have served you well in the past, but today you need to turn away from taking a purely personal point of view.
Think about what will make things better for everyone, not just for you.
You will find more to celebrate when you think selflessly.

Some of our readers today have been in:
 Madrid. Madrid, Spain
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Cheras, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
London, England, United Kingdom
Manila, Manila, Philippines
Gengenbach, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Newbury, England, United Kingdom
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Panta, Bihar, India
Cork, Cork, Ireland
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

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 Hana, Tampa, Atlanta, Kailua and more.

Today is:
Today is Wednesday, August 3, the 215th day of 2011.
There are 150 days left in the year.


Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Watermelon Day.
  
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

It's the weather whether you like it or not

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Non Sequitur

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Hey, ain't it the truth

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"You’re not pinning this turd on us"


Jon Stewart does it again ... tells it like it is!

"The four great hypocrisies of the debt deal"


Tell'em Keith!

Reality is ...

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Meet the 'Super Congress'

The powerful new bipartisan committee must concoct a plan to cut up to $2 trillion.  
Also: 

The truth be told

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Debt 'nightmare' for Pentagon

The days when the military got money for programs it didn’t even request are over.  
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Mimi and Eunice

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Huge series of cyber attacks

The list of victims includes the U.N., the U.S. government, defense contractors and high-tech firms.
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Alabama immigration lawsuit

Justice officials say the state rule could lead to police harassment of people here legally.  
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Hosni Mubarak's trial begins

The 83-year-old former president, looking frail, denies charges of killing protesters.  
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Knocked Off Retailers and Knock-Off Retailers

Giant discounters and management missteps have socked these retail chains.  
Also: 
A shop in China mimics the furniture giant's look, right down to the distinct color scheme.  
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    Random Celebrity Photo

    Marilyn
Don’t forget for a little bit more my collection of 17,000 Marilyn Monroe photos are available to you FREE or a Donation is appreciated…
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    Do you recognize this rather well known lady?

    How to get all your fruits and vegetables for two bucks a day

    How to get all your fruits and vegetables for two bucks a day

    Picky Eaters and Lo-Cal Temptations

    It isn't hard to hide children's veggies in other, more appealing foods, a study finds.
    Also: 
       
      The restaurant chain known for its rich entrees is rolling out a "SkinnyLicious" new menu.  
      Also: 

        Headaches you can't ignore

        Some pains are harmless, but others could be a sign of something serious — and possibly deadly.
        Also: 

        Man Can Hear His Own Eyeballs Move

        A common experience is to hear faint beat of your own heart, normally after a vigorous workout. However for Stephen Mabbut, the noise of his own eyeballs moving in his head was so loud and audible it was driving him mad. This frightening experience was later attributed to a rare condition, superior canal dehiscence syndrome.

        He added, “The first symptoms appeared around 2005. I found if I raised my voice, I’d get a vibration in my head. If I was eating a bag of crisps, the crunching noise drowned out people speaking. Then I found I would be hearing my heartbeat.”
        But this year, a CT scan showed a tiny hole in the temporal bone in Mr Mabbutt’s skull, which meant that fluid from the semicircular canals of the inner ear was leaking into his brain and conducting internal sounds.

        Ziggy

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        Money moves after debt deal

        Financial pros suggest taking these steps to protect yourself from the fallout.  
        Also: 

        Ways to save when you pay

        Keep your costs down by avoiding hidden fees at the checkout register. 
        Also: 

        Five bills not to use autopay for

        You may be setting yourself up for sneaky fee hikes and surprise costs.
        Also: 

          Affordable cities to live in

          These metropolitan areas boast the nation's lowest housing prices and living costs.  
          Also: 

          Old Caboose Turned into a House


          In 1975, Marcia Weber bought a caboose made in 1909. Over the past thirty-six years, she’s gradually turned it into a functional home with indoor heating and plumbing. There are beds, a full kitchen, and even a washer and dryer. See more photos of this amazing home conversion here.

          The 10 Most Notorious Money Laundering Cases Of The 20th Century


          Money laundering is the process by which illegally obtained cash is made to appear as if it has been obtained by legal means. The funds are moved into valid accounts or businesses in order to hide or disguise the financial trail that leads back to the criminal activity. In 1996, it was estimated that between 2 and 5 percent of the world's gross domestic product consisted of laundered money.

          That's a lot of dirty money made to look whiter than white. Here are 10 of the most notorious money laundering cases of the 20th century.

          The first sound ever recorded


          This is the first sound ever recorded, by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, in 1860, before Edison's wax cylinder experiments. Ironically, the "phonautograph" was designed only to record sounds, not to play them back.

          The 10 seconds ghostly voice is a woman singing "Au Clair de la Lune".

          Canned Air From Prague

          Need something to go with your dehydrated bottle of water? Here's Canned Air from Prague!
          The design of the label is simple and clear, clear as the morning sky over the Charles Bridge on sunny summer morning. We carefully collect the air from the most popular places in the city.
          Air Contains:
          20% - air from Wenceslas Square
          20% - air from Charles Bridge
          25% - air from Old Town Square
          15% - air from Prague Castle
          10% - air from Lesser Town
          10% - air from Zlata Street.

          The Scent of Lithuania

          Quick, what comes to mind when we mention "Lithuania." Nothing (besides a mayor who destroys illegally parked car)?
          See, that's the problem that three businessmen from the country is trying to fix:
          "If I say chocolate and watches, what do you think? Switzerland. If I say Guinness and Leprechauns? Ireland. Fish and chips? England,” Mr Rutkauskas told The Guardian.
          “But here in Lithuania we don't have an internationally recognized symbol of our identity. Yet.”
          Their solution? A national scent:
          They claim the “national perfume" – which is more an air freshener – was a crude attempt to create the “scent of Lithuania”.
          The scent is a mix of bergamot, wild flowers, ginger, raspberry and grapefruit.
          It is added with base notes of amber, cedar, sandalwood, patchouli and "tree moss and tree smoke”.

          The £25 scent was released on the market earlier this year and more than 1,000 bottles have since been sold.
          What a great idea! New Jersey should jump at this opportunity: Full Story

          British Pathé Video And Film Archive

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          Founded as Société Pathé Frères in Paris, France on 28 September 1896 by brothers Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé, during the first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world.

          British Pathé was established in London in 1902, and by 1910 were producing their famous bi-weekly newsreel the Pathé Gazette. After the First World War they started producing various Cinemagazines as well. By the time Pathé finally stopped producing the cinema newsreel in 1970 they had accumulated 3,500 hours of filmed history amounting to over 90,000 individual items.

          On British Pathé you can view films and still photographs from the entire archive covering newsreel, sports footage, social history documentaries, entertainment and music stories from 1896 to 1976.

          Who says that Ancient Greeks don't have a sense of humor?

          Ancient Greek Winged Thunderbolt Sling Bullet Says "Take That"
          Who says that Ancient Greeks don't have a sense of (lethal) humor? The lead sling bullets above have a winged thunderbolt engraved on one side and the inscription "take that" on the other side!

          Blood Red Lake

          Thousands of dead fish float in a few feet of dark red water that some are saying is a sign of end times.
          Also: 

          Asteroid pictures stun scientists

          Photos reveal unexpected features as the spacecraft prepares to move even closer.  
          Also: 

          World’s oldest protractor?

          This object was found more than a century ago in an Egyptian tomb belonging to an ancient architect who lived around 1400 BCE. In the Turin museum where it’s displayed, the artifact is identified as a decorative case for a balancing scale. However, physicist Amelia Sparavigna thinks it may be the oldest surviving protractor. From New Scientist:
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          The key, she says, lies in the numbers encoded in the object’s ornate decoration, which resembles a compass rose with 16 evenly spaced petals surrounded by a circular zigzag with 36 corners.
          Sparavigna says that if the straight bar part of the object were laid on a slope, a plumb line would revealed its inclination on the circular dial.
          The fraction of one-sixteenth features in a calculus system the Egyptians used, says Sparavigna, and they also identified 36 star groups called the decans, which later formed the basis of a star clock. She suggests the object was “a protractor instrument with two scales, one based on Egyptian fractions, the other based on decans”.

          B.C.

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          Upping the cute factor

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          Personal grooming is so very important!

          Plants Evolve Leaves Making Sounds Bats Enjoy

          While plants normally have pretty colors in order to attract bugs and other pollinators, one type of plant has evolved to attract bats using sound. I wonder what’s on its playlist?
          The Marcgravia evenia plant relies on bats to pollinate its flowers. But given that their target animals rely on echolocation rather than eyesight, these plants have evolved leaves that are attractive audibly rather than visually. The plant’s leaves are uniquely dish-shaped, with almost hemispherical concave curves. When the bats go out flying, the leaves return an echo that’s louder and broader than other plants, making them easier for the bats to detect — and halving the time it takes to find the foliage.

          Family watches as snake slithers over windshield while driving on highway

          A slithering serpent snuck up on a Memphis area family's SUV as they barreled down a highway. Rachel Fisher, 26, was at the wheel going about 65 miles an hour as the sizeable snake slid across her windscreen. Her husband recorded the spectacle as she alternated between girly screams and nervous giggles.


          "Ooooh my God. Oh my God. Oh my god," she says, while their three children - Elizabeth, 3, Judah, 2½, and Rivers, 4 months - babble from the backseat of their GMC Yukon. The family were traveling from Cordova, a suburb east of Memphis, into the city. They had been driving for about 15 minutes, when Tony, a 29-year-old financial planner and church worship minister, noticed their unseemly visitor.

          "My husband saw it out of the corner of his eye and did a double-take," Rachel said. "He whipped out his phone and turns it on and captures the whole thing until it falls off." The family suspects the snake stole its way into the SUV's engine compartment overnight July 15 and emerged the next day once they got going on Tennessee's Sam Cooper Boulevard.



          "We assume the engine just got too hot and it went looking for a cooler place," Fisher said. "Usually, snakes don't freak me out that much, but I was clenching everything," she said. "It was really weird. I mean, didn't know what the heck it was. We just knew it was a huge snake and the kids were the in back."

          Animal Pictures

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