The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Do you feel like an indentured servant?
Are you tired of working for someone or something you don't care about?
Now is the time for you to break the chains.
Unleash your wildest ideas and explore what it is you really want to do with your time on Earth, no matter how insane it might seem at first.
Once you figure it out, you should be quite surprised at how quickly someone new steps into your life to help you get there!

Some of our readers today have been in:

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Nice, Provence-Alpes-Cote D'Azur, France

Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Milano, Lombardia, Italy

Dresden, Sachsen, Germany

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Chandigrah, Chandigrah, India

Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia

New Delhi, Delhi, India

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Quebec, Quebec, Canada

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Munich, Bayern, Germany

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

as well as the Scotland, and the United States in such cities as Ypsilanti, Fond Du Lac, Pelzer, Olney, Kanab and more

Today is Thursday, June 4, the 155th day of 2010.

There are 210 days left in the year.

Today In History June 

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Doughnut Day or Donut Day

McCartney in the House

Paul McCartney serenades first lady

The ex-Beatle finally gets the chance to play a tune he's been "itching" to sing at the White House. 

See show highlights 

Also: 

• More on his award
• First lady stumps for Reid
• Oprah's latest honor

As The World Turns

As The World Turns

Did the 2004 Olympics bankrupt Greece?

The Summer Olympics in Athens cost $11 billion, but many of the sites are now empty or barely used. 

'Tragic' 

Also: 

• Europe still in trouble
• Greece debt crisis
• Hopeful sign for hiring

The State Of The Nation

The State Of The Nation

Play Video

Go to Video

Gulf spill hits Florida's famous beaches

Beachgoers are finding sticky tarballs on northwest Florida's sugar-white beaches.

Sign of widening disaster 

Also: 

• Are tarballs dangerous?
• Scooping up oil blobs
• BP tries cap over gusher

Local Hospitality

Local Hospitality

Charcoal and Pepper

It's not just the picture of beef on a new billboard in North Carolina that tries to catch drivers' attention, it's the aroma coming from the sign.
The billboard on N.C. 150 in central North Carolina emits the smell of black pepper and charcoal to promote a new line of beef available at the Bloom grocery chain.
A Bloom spokeswoman says the billboard will emit scents from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day until June 18.
A high-powered fan at the bottom of the billboard spreads the aroma by blowing air over cartridges loaded with fragrant oil.

Blind photographer's work to be showcased at festival

A blind photographer's exhibition will be one of the highlights of an arts festival in Edinburgh.

Rosita McKenzie, 56, from the city's Portobello, is to have her pictures of Edinburgh people showcased in the Central Library on George IV Bridge as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Completely blind from the age of 12, Mrs McKenzie homes in on "people's personalities" to capture the right shot.

The exhibition begins on 12 August.

Floating House with Deck & Garden

Located on Powell Lake in coastal British Columbia, the floating house sits on a twenty-by-twenty-foot frame and is one and a half stories high. The support structure beneath is giant logs lashed together with inch-thick steel cable, tightened with winches and hydraulic jacks and fastened with railroad spikes.

Gandhi peace symbol made into diesel

A pet elephant that once belonged to Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and was given as a symbol of peace and friendship to the people of former Yugoslavia has been turned into diesel.

The 42-year-old Indian tusker - called Sony - died two months ago of heart failure and the plan to turn the enormous corpse into bio diesel was agreed on after a special park task force was set up to work out how best to work out what to do with the body of the prized symbol of peace and friendship.

A spokesman said: "We wanted to make sure that we treated the remains with respect, the ivory would have been worth about £200,000 on the open market and we could hardly sell those off. Instead we decided to cut off the tusks - one of which was broken at the tip - on display at the Briujini National Park, Croatia, where he lived his life in a special enclosure. But we will make sure we beef up security - we wouldn't want them stolen."

But the massive tusker's body was not treated with such respect, and shipped to a bio diesel processing plant where the body of the peace symbol was turned into diesel fuel.

Decoding a fresh crop circle

Did the pranksters (or ETs or Gaia or the military, etc.) behind this recent crop circle, known as the Wilton Windmill, encode hidden mathematical messages in the pattern? The Daily Grail's Richard Andrews reveals that the mathematically beautiful Euler's Identity equation is encoded in 8-bit binary within the formation. Not only that, but Andrews posits that a minor error in the encoding could be seen as an (unintentional?) reference to the Planck constant. Of course, that would be very punny as many crop circle artists use a plank to flatten the crops.
"Planck found in 'Euler's Identity' Crop Circle?!"

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Hints of life found on Saturn moon

In 2005, researchers predicted two potential signatures of life on Saturn's moon Titan – now both have been seen.

Fractal haze may have warmed the early Earth

Organic molecules in the atmosphere may have joined together in fractal patterns, boosting the greenhouse effect and explaining how the infant planet stayed warm.

Mars rocks point to wetter past

Mars harbours rocks rich in carbonate minerals, suggesting there was more water there in the past than previously thought.

Mystery seafaring ancestor found in the Philippines

A fossil foot bone reveals that early humans arrived on the island of Luzon tens of thousands of years earlier than realized.

Yangtze River's True Age Revealed  

Yangtze River dated to 45 million years old by looking at rock cut by water.

Whales Evolved in the Blink of an Eye

Whales evolved shockingly fast into wide array of shapes and sizes.

Long-Necked Dinosaurs Held Heads High

The long necks of the largest dinosaurs that ever lived might have been raised high after all, a new study now suggests.

Dinosaur Had Horns the Size of Baseball Bats

This fleshed-out artist's rendering of the Mexican horned dinosaur Coahuilaceratops, shows its gigantic horns – larger than any member of its group, including the famous Triceratops.  
Credit: Lukas Panzarin for the Utah Museum of Natural History.

Ten Mysterious Undeciphered Scripts

As if a linen book from a long-gone civilization weren’t fascinating enough, the origin of the Liber Linteus makes it even more morbidly amazing: it was once the wrappings on a mummy. Most of the Liber Linteus writings, which were removed from the female Egyptian mummy and later made into a book in the 19th century, can’t be translated because they were written in the little-understood Etruscan language. But what little scholars can understand reveals it to be some sort of ritual calendar.

Nine more at:

 (Un)Dead Languages: 10 Mysterious Undeciphered Scripts

Meet the Brain

Man amazes with a superhuman memory

Daniel Tammet memorizes 22,000 digits in one sitting and learns a new language in blazing speed.

How his brain works 

Also: 

• More on Daniel Tammet
• Brain power workout
• Stroke risk with migraines

Three at a glance

Planetary triple play sparkles in night sky

Sky watchers this week will be able to see Saturn, Mars, and Venus at the same time. 

Where to look 

Also: 

• 520-day Mars simulation
• $1 million science prizes
• Find black holes

Rare look at volcanic activity

Video reveals rare look at volcanic activity

Catch a scene inside a Hawaiian volcano usually obscured by fumes.

4 times the normal speed

Also: 

• Worst volcanic eruptions
• Martian rock holds clues
• 2010 hurricane dangers

The 50 Worst Inventions of All Time

Time Magazine's 50 Worst Inventions from Hair in a Can to the Baby Cage.

Cages for babies patented in 1922.

Now that's Funny

Now that's Funny

Andy Capp

B.C.

Ziggy

Wizard of Id

Daddy's Home

Natalee Holloway suspect detained

Natalee Holloway suspect detained

Officials have arrested Dutchman Joran van der Sloot in the recent killing of a woman in Peru. 

Seen on video 

Also: 

• Natalee Holloway
• American awaits decision
• Brazil soccer star probe

American killed by Israel

Whether he was American or not, the details of the death are troubling.

A U.S. citizen who lived in Turkey is among the nine people killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish aid ship heading for the Gaza Strip, officials said today. The victim was identified as Furkan Dogan, 19, a Turkish-American. A forensic report said he was shot at close range, with four bullets in his head and one in his chest, according to the Anatolian news agency.

News of the positive sort

News of the positive sort

Wallet lost in 1941 returned to owner

It took 69 years, but a World War II veteran from Sandy, Utah, finally has his wallet back

Just the News

Just the News

CDC: Many U.S. Teens Have Abused Prescription Drugs

Report finds that 23 percent of white, 17 percent of Hispanic high school students have done so

Teens: No to soda but also to exercise

American high school teens are drinking less soda but still avoiding daily exercise, says a national report card on teen health and risk behaviors.