The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

Today is not a day to hesitate when you see something wrong. 

As soon as you walk outside your home today, you should deal with the issues at hand straight on -- and with vigor. 

You can still be kind, and even charming, but you can't put things off any longer. 

The small crises of your day must be nipped in the bud quickly, before they have the chance to grow into something ugly and overpowering. 

 Some of our readers today have been in:
Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Versailles, Ile-De- France, France
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Rome, Lazio, Italy
London, England, United Kingdom
Bath, England, United Kingdom
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Dubrovnik, Dubrovacko-Neretvanska, Croatia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Almaty, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Rustington, England, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Mexico City, Distritro, Federal, Mexico
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Newbury, England, United Kingdom
Beirut, Beyrouth, Lebanon
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Nanterre, Ile-De-France, France
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Paderborn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
As, Askersus, Norway
Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Beligum
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Reims, Champagne-Ardenne, France
Chantilly, Ile-De-France, France

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 Colonia, Ladson, Boise, Gastonia and more!

Today is:

Today is Wednesday, October 19, the 292nd day of 2011.

There are 73 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Hagfish Day.

  

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Wondrous Wednesday

Telling It Like It Is

Calvin and Hobbes sum it up nicely.

Was the US Declaration of Independence Legal?

When the Second Continental Congress declared American independence in 1776, it committed an act of rebellion against the established government over the area. It can be argued that the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which recognized this independence, made the act retroactively legal. What is less clear is whether the Declaration of Independence was lawful at the time. On October 31, British and American lawyers will meet at Benjamin Franklin Hall in Philadelphia to debate the issue. At the conclusion of the debate, members of the audience will vote on the question:

The Brits will cite the historical illegality of secession movements generally and the treasonous nature of this one, given that the colonies were established by British citizens who pledged their loyalty to the king. A betting man might even expect a cite or two to writings of that great lawyer-statesman Abraham Lincoln, who dealt firmly with his own breakaway republic. And the barristers — assuming they aren’t shouted down — can be expected to dismiss as “trivial” the economic arguments of the poor colonists, such as that taxation-without-representation rot. The taxes went to defend them against the French, after all.

Full Story

Mimi and Eunice

Thieves use trick from 'The Town'

Thieves borrow trick from Ben Affleck film

A New York crew linked to 62 burglaries lifted a key technique from the bad guys in "The Town," police say. DNA 

Also: 

• Ice cream vendor jailed
• Man robs bank for shelter
• Basement case expands

Parent Made Teenage Daughter Fight with Sword and Armor as Medieval Punishment

Did your teenage child go to a party without your permission? Send her to her room ... to fetch the armor, then make her fight you with a wooden sword as her (medieval) punishment!
That's what one Seattle, Washington, father did:

According to police, the teen was forced her to dress in armor and fight Fremon Seay with a wooden sword for two hours. Police also said Seay punched and beat his stepdaughter with a tree branch prior to the duel. Investigators said she collapsed from exhaustion.
The couple told officers they punished the teen for going to a party without their permission.
Investigators learned the couple is part of a group of Renaissance enthusiasts, who recreate fights from the medieval era.
Officers said the parents told them it was their right to discipline their child however they see fit.

Child abuse or effective use of medieval-style punishment for today's rebellious youth?

Full Story

Drunk father has daughter drive him to the store - she is only 9

A Michigan father, suspected of being drunk, is accused of having his 9-year-old daughter drive him to the store in his van while he sat in the passenger seat. Shawn Weimer, 39, was arrested after officers, alerted by a 911 call, pulled the van over, Brownstown Township Detective Lt. Robert Grant said. The girl was sitting behind the wheel in a child's booster seat.

"Are you sure the child's driving, sir?" the dispatcher asked the 911 caller. "Yes," he replied. "The guy at the gas station couldn't believe it, either." The daughter told officers her father had been drinking whiskey all night, took her out to drive, then decided to stop at the gas station, Grant said.

The detective said the girl's parents are separated, and she was with her father for the weekend. "Very sweet, intelligent little girl," he said. On store surveillance video, Weimer brags to a clerk at a service station about his daughter.

YouTube link.

"I got a designated driver," he says. "Nine years old. Nine. Dad, drinking. Listen, we're leaving, and she's driving." The girl says, "And I parked." Grant said Weimer was "argumentative" with the arresting officers, saying it was his right to teach his daughter how to drive. He was charged with second-degree child abuse, a felony that could bring a four-year sentence.

Man charged with setting his house on fire after family members refused to leave

A 50-year-old Loris man was charged with arson after Horry County authorities said he set his house on fire because some family members refused to leave the property, according to Sgt. Robert Kegler with Horry County police.

Carl Preston Johnson, 50, was charged with third-degree arson and is being held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center, Kegler said.

Horry County firefighters were called to a home on Mason Lane near Loris on Monday for a residential fire, Kegler said. Fire investigators determined the blaze was started with some type of accelerant and called Horry County police detectives for an investigation.

Detectives learned Johnson set the fire due to family members who refused to vacate the property, Kegler said. No injuries were reported during the incident.

Daily Comic Relief

Think - it's not illegal yet?

 

At least right now it isn't or is it?

Looks that way

Best Occupy Wall Street protest signs

Best Occupy Wall Street protest signs

One Alaskan in the tundra joins the chorus of demonstrators voicing their anger and making demands. 

  Photos 

Also: 

• Obama's tea party remark
• N.Y. supports protests
• Atlanta deadline extended

#OccupyWallStreet, Protests in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Spain

Thanks in large part to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, cities around the world stood together against capitalism and failed economic policies Saturday.

Full Story

The New Yorker Mocks The 1% With Its Occupy Wall Street Cover

You can read and see more here.

Women and children first

Profiting from protests

Making money from Wall Street protests

New York's ultra-rich are nervous, and that's become a bonanza for one industry.  

 The price of paranoia 

Also: 

• Occupy's growing pains
• Feminist author arrested
• Where super rich live

The truth be told

Older working Americans hit hard by recession

The under-30's are dealing with high unemployment and limited opportunity and seniors are hit hard by the recession with limited options in terms of earning their way through the recession. And then there's the over-55 crowd who need to still work but struggle to find employment after losing their jobs. All of these scenarios (and more) are terrible which is why Occupy Wall Street is such a no-brainer outside of the political and corporate elite class.

...Americans 55 and older have less time to catch up on retirement savings and recover from housing market losses before they stop working, the Government Accountability Office report found.

In addition, although older workers haven’t been as hard-hit by unemployment, government data show that when they do lose a job, they have a much tougher time finding a new one.

For many older Americans, the most immediate effect of the economic downturn has been the hit to their nest egg. The report noted that many older Americans simply don’t have time to wait for the stock market to recover and home values to start rising again.

Malaria vaccine shows promise in early testing

Again, it's early, but a positive sign. While malaria may not be a critical issue in the US, it's devastating in many other parts of the world. If this vaccine works, the problem then is how to address the cost because the likes of GlaxoSmithKline are not usually open to offering products at cost no matter how many lives they can save.

An experimental vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline halved the risk of African children getting malaria in a major clinical trial, making it likely to become the world's first shot against the deadly disease.

Final-stage trial data released on Tuesday showed it gave protection against clinical and severe malaria in five- to 17-month-olds in Africa, where the mosquito-borne disease kills hundreds of thousands of children a year.

"These data bring us to the cusp of having the world's first malaria vaccine," said Andrew Witty, chief executive of the British drugmaker that developed the vaccine along with the non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI).

B.C.

Why Best Buy is struggling

Why stores like Best Buy are struggling

A revolution in the way Americans buy is bad news for certain retailers. 

  Today's 'surgical shopper' 

Also: 

• How Gap stumbled
• War over holiday jobs
• Scared by economy?

Money rules to live by

The only two money rules to live by

One of them could help you build up a savings fund worth $200,000 or more.  

 How little expenses hurt 

Also: 

• Biggest money secrets
• Year-end stocks rally?
• Tapping Social Security

Seven hidden-gem careers

7 careers that are hidden gems

These jobs offer less pressure and better hours than their traditional counterparts.  

 One has $112,760 median salary 

Also: 

• What popular jobs pay
• Ways to ask for a raise
• How to improve a resumé

Increase in stamp price

Postal Service increasing stamp price

The cash-strapped agency announces a bump of a penny to mail a letter starting next year.  

 Other cost increases 

Also: 

• New postal Increase in stamp priceunion hire
• Postal union seeks study
• IRS warns on budget cuts

'Bargains' that aren't

When a 'bargain' is no bargain at all

Watch out for these so-called deals that could actually cost you money.  

 What not to buy at dollar stores 

Also: 

• Free offers for shoppers
• Drugstore buying tips
• Make money with your car

Heavy rains help produce bounty of mushrooms in NE

"It was like a scene from 'Alice and Wonderland,'" said David Fischer, who wrote "Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America." The mushrooms are providing good meals for people like Margaret Primack of Newton, Mass., who collected 60 to 70 pounds this summer.

Full Story

A Simpleton's Guide to Science

Terms
Relativity: Family get-togethers at Christmas.

Gravity: Strength of a glass of beer.

Time travel: Throwing the alarm clock at the wall.

Black holes: What you get in black socks.

Critical mass: A gaggle of film reviewers.

Hyperspace: Where you park at the superstore.

Facts
Gravity was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton. It is chiefly noticeable in the autumn, when the apples are falling off the trees.
You can listen to thunder after lightning and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it, you got hit, so never mind.

When people run around and around in circles, we say they are crazy. When planets do it, we say they are orbitting.

The tides are a fight between the Earth and moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum.

The moon is more useful than the sun, because the moon shines at night when you want the light, whereas the sun shines during the day when you don't need it.

To remove air from a flask, fill it with water, tip the water out, and put the cork in quick before the air can get back in.

Isn't it meaningless to speak of a 45 degrees angle unless you specify Fahrenheit or Celcius?

An object at rest will always be in the wrong place. An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong direction.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Doppler effect is the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when you come at them rapidly.

Technology

Faster than light Neutrinos? Not so fast!

The saga of the superluminal neutrinos took a dramatic turn with the publication of a very simple yet definitive study by ICARUS.

Full Story

Was The First Photographed UFO A Comet?

On August 12, 1883, Mexican astronomer José Bonilla was preparing to study the Sun at the recently opened Zacatecas Observatory. However, the Sun's surface was marred by numerous objects quickly travelling across its disk. Over the course of the day and the next, Bonilla exposed several wet plates to take images of the 447 objects he would observe.

They weren't released publicly until January 1st, 1886 when they were published in the magazine L'Astronomie. Since then, UFOlogists have crowned these photographs as the first photographic evidence of UFOs. The chief editor of L'Astronomie passed the observations off as migrating animals, but a new study proposes the observation was due to the breakup of a comet that nearly hit us.

Vietnam War bunker found

Vietnam War bunker found under posh hotel

A worker stumbles across a 7-room landmark that was all but forgotten after the war.  

 Famous American guests 

Also: 

• 'Exciting' Viking discovery
• Japan returns looted books
• Marines OK KIA bracelets

Viking boat burial site uncovered

The five meter-long grave contained the remains of a high-status Viking who was buried with an axe, sword and spear.

Full Story

Ziggy

Bear cub found in produce aisle

Bear cub discovered in produce aisle

Shoppers in a grocery store in Alaska find a cute baby bear hiding amid the vegetables.  

 See hand-held video 

Also: 

• Man, 100, runs marathon
• Kayaker meets whale
• Off-road champ killed

Sea Turtles' First Journey

MLC Productions was on Nikoi Island in Indonesia last month to shoot a commercial. While they were on the beach, a nest of sea turtle eggs hatched! So they recorded the babies on their all-important trip from the sand to the ocean. The video is both cute and moving.

Video

Exotic animals on loose in Ohio

Exotic animals spark lockdown in Ohio

Police hunt down lions, leopards, and dozens of other beasts after the owner of a preserve is found dead.

  3 still loose 

Also: 

• Bear cub in grocery store
• Kangaroo mauls woman
• Kidnapped goats returned

The Jaguar Freeway

Jaguars are the largest native cat in the Western Hemisphere. They once flourished, but now are endangered thanks to centuries of hunting and habitat loss. The only protected jaguar reservation is in Belize, where they are thriving and drawing tourists, but those cats are separated from other jaguar populations that live (and are declining) in other countries. Jaguar expert Alan Rabinowitz, the CEO of conservation organization Panthera, has a plan to open up pathways to connect various jaguar populations.

Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative aims to connect 90 distinct jaguar populations across the Americas. It stems from an unexpected discovery. For 60 years, biologists had thought there were eight distinct subspecies of jaguar, including the Peruvian jaguar, Central American jaguar and Goldman’s jaguar. But when the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity in Frederick, Maryland, part of the National Institutes of Health, analyzed jaguar DNA from blood and tissue samples collected throughout the Americas, researchers determined that no jaguar group had split off into a true subspecies. From Mexico’s deserts to the dry Pampas of northern Argentina, jaguars had been breeding with each other, wandering great distances to do so, even swimming across the Panama Canal. “The results were so shocking that we thought it was a mistake,” Rabinowitz says.
Panthera has identified 182 potential jaguar corridors covering nearly a million square miles, spanning 18 nations and two continents. So far, Mexico, Central America and Colombia have signed on to the initiative. Negotiating agreements with the rest of South America is next. Creating this jaguar genetic highway will be easier in some places than others. From the Amazon north, the continent is an emerald matrix of jaguar habitats that can be easily linked. But parts of Central America are utterly deforested. And a link in Colombia crosses one of Latin America’s most dangerous drug routes.

An extensive article at Smithsonian tells of the jaguar’s life in the wild, how this plan came about, and how it might just work -if the many obstacles can be overcome.

Full Story

Animal Pictures