The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Do you have a friend who lives far off?
If so, now is the best time to get back in touch with them.
If not, you may feel driven to meet someone new and exotic.
Whether you're looking for a pen pal, a business partner or a soul mate, you should find that it gets much easier with today's energy.
With your focus and determination to get things done, you should even have extra time to finish that big work project and clean the house!

Some of our readers today have been in:

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

London, England, United Kingdom

Sheffield, England, United Kingdom

Siegen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Moscow, Moskva, Russia

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

New Delhi, Delhi, India

Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

as well as Bulgaria, and the United States in such cities as Belle Meade, Great Neck, Tuscumbia, Rancho Santa Fe and more

Today is Friday, June 18, the 169th day of 2010.

There are 196 days left in the year.

Today In History June 18

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:

There are none today.

Local Hospitality

Local Hospitality

Woman Poured Boiling Water On Boyfriend

 

Bond for a woman accused of pouring boiling water on her boyfriend while he slept has been set at $100,000.
Lashanda Hattley had her first court appearance Wednesday morning in Craven County district court.
The victim, Milton Dillahunt, is in critical condition at UNC's Burn Center with second and third degree burns covering more than 50% of his body.
Hattley was charged Tuesday with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and malicious maiming.
New Bern police say they were called to the home at 2100 Wake Street around 11:20 a.m. Tuesday for a domestic disturbance. They found the 34-year-old man on the bed suffering from what appeared to be wounds from hot water.
Police say their investigation showed Hattley was upset with her boyfriend and that she boiled several containers of water and poured it on him.

Shoe

And I Quote

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. 

 

~ Aesop

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe

When dealing with wingnuts ... Remember the rule: 

If they accuse someone of something, then they're already guilty of it.

Liars and Fools

Ulta-wingnut Jeffrey Kuhner’s latest tirade smears Obama as a Jew-killing dictator wannabe.
A Nazi playing the Nazi card again. Get a clue - we aren't buying it.

Hate Radio Screeching Head Jim Quinn lies: "Barack Obama was sent here to destroy America".
No, that was the shrub and the dick ... we got rid of them

Steve King (retard-Iowa) lies again that the Obama administration "defaults in favor of whichever minority they think will be the one that will most likely support their party and their agenda".
Telling the same lie over and over still doesn't make it the truth - something the repugicans refuse to acknowledge

Faux's Glenn Beck lies: Obama's speech on oil catastrophe was part of a "war ... on our very way of life".
Depends on what definition you mean for 'war' - if you mean by continuing to let yourape and pillage the earth for your own selfishness then yes you could call it a 'war' ... however in your deluded excuse for a mind that definition doesn't exist.

Faux's Bill Kristol lies: "Democrats want to destroy business in the United States by turning us into a banana republic".
No, that was the shrub and the cabal that all but turned us into a Banana Republic by destroying America or at least almost doing so before we ousted them in November of 2008.

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid

Credit card companies exploit loopholes

A cardholder sees her interest rate jump from 11.9% to 17.99% — and wonders if that's legal.  

Minimizing your pain 

Also: 

• More on the CARD Act
• Debit-card dangers
• Get a financial checkup

For BP, $20 billion is a drop in the bucket

For BP, $20 billion is a drop in the bucket

Can the spill bankrupt a company that could single-handedly supply the U.S. with oil for 2 years?  

Liabilities 

Also: 

• Gas stations struggle
• BP victims fund
• Costner's cleanup devices

Campbell Recalls 15Million Pounds Of SpaghettiOs

Campbell Soup Co. is recalling 15 million pounds of SpaghettiOs with meatballs after a cooker malfunctioned at one of the company's plants in Texas and left the meat undercooked.

Full story

Man ends 'longest sea voyage in history'

Man ends 'longest sea voyage in history'

Reid Stowe has been sailing the globe for so long he hasn't even met his 23-month-old son.

Their reunion 

Also: 

• More about his journey
• Pics of his ship, family
• Who is Reid Stowe?

Wizard of Id

Can painting a mountain restore a glacier?

Slowly but surely an extinct glacier in a remote corner of the Peruvian Andes is being returned to its former color, not by falling snow or regenerated ice sheets, but by whitewash. It is the first experimental step in an innovative plan to recuperate Peru's disappearing Andean glaciers. But there is debate between those who dismiss the idea as just plain daft and those who think it could be a simple but brilliant solution, or at least one which should be put to the test.

The World Bank clearly believes the idea - the brainchild of 55-year-old Peruvian inventor, Eduardo Gold - has merit as it was one of the 26 winners from around 1,700 submissions in the "100 Ideas to Save the Planet" competition at the end of 2009. Mr Gold, who has no scientific qualifications but has studiously read up on glaciology, is enthused that the time has come to put his theory into practice. Although he is yet to receive the $200,000 (£135,000) awarded by the World Bank, his pilot project is already underway on the Chalon Sombrero peak, 4,756 meters above sea level, in an area some 100km west of the regional capital of Ayacucho.

The area has long been denuded of its snowy, white peaks. Four men from Licapa, the village which lies further down the valley, don boiler suits and mix the paint from three simple and environmentally-friendly ingredients: lime, industrial egg white and water. The mixture which has been used since Peru's colonial times.

There are no paint brushes, the workers use jugs to splash the whitewash onto the loose rocks around the summit. It is a laborious process but they have whitewashed two hectares in two weeks. They plan is to paint the whole summit, then in due course, two other peaks totaling overall some 70 hectares.

Full Story

Fungus gold rush in Tibetan plateau rebuilding lives after earthquake

Amid the wreckage of the devastating earthquake that recently ripped through this corner of the Tibetan plateau, local people are rebuilding their livelihoods with one of the world's most ghoulish parasites – the caterpillar fungus. The government has accorded extra importance this year to the annual picking season for the ingredient, prescribed in traditional medicine to cure cancer and also nicknamed "Himalayan Viagra" because of its alleged aphrodisiac qualities.

But the growing dependence of the local community on this remarkable crop has prompted violent confrontations between rival pickers and is now stoking concerns that the mountain hillsides may one day be harvested empty. The Cordyceps sinensis fungus is known locally as Yartsa Gunbu or "summer grass winter worm", named after the transformation that takes place as it devours its host, the ghost moth caterpillar, from inside out during the latter's hibernation on the mountain grasslands.

The fungus briefly grabbed the world's attention in 1993, when the Chinese national athletics coach Ma Junren credited it with the stunning success of three female runners who came from nowhere to break five world records in one competition. Western studies suggest the fungus may protect the liver. But its benefits are already treasured in Asia, where it is prescribed by doctors and given as a luxury gift, often literally worth its weight in gold.

Thanks to the expansion of this market, the value of Yartsa Gunbu has increased more than ninefold since 1997, creating what mycologist Daniel Winkler calls a "globally unique rural fungal economy" on the Tibetan Plateau. This month, the government earmarked caterpillar fungus collection as one of three industries that it will focus on to revitalize the region in the wake of the 6.9 magnitude quake that struck on 15 April. Along with the export of migrant workers and Tibetan mastiff breeding, it is a mainstay of family incomes.

Full Story with photo gallery

Rent-A-Friend

Need a friend? You can rent one

In a not-so-secret double life, Jennifer Morrison is simply "Jennifer," platonic friend for hire.

This ad brought to you by the proud members of Losers Are Us

Ziggy

Bad Cops

Bad Cops

Florida TSA officer gets probation in sex-slave case

Mistakes were made, says Kentucky police chief after battered woman was ignored by cops and died

Retired Indiana cop arrested for domestic battery

Texas cop arrested for abuse of official capacity

Fired Georgia deputy is arrested again on a stalking charge

California cop arrested in prostitution sting

New York prison guard gets probation for stalking ex-girlfriend

Iowa cop charged in road rage case

Florida jail guard is arrested for smuggling contraband

Nevada cops kill father-to-be in botched marijuana raid

Arkansas police charge river guide for trying to rescue 13-year-old girl

Dumb Crooks

Dumb Crooks

Man Charged With Smuggling $20,000 In Pringles Can

A California man charged in a $100 million mortgage fraud investigation is accused of trying to ship a fugitive $20,000 - inside a Pringles potato chip canister.

Thief steals suit to wear in court on shoplifting charge

A man stole a suit on his way to court – so he could wear it in the dock to face a shoplifting charge. Phillip Northmore, 26, stole the trousers, jacket, shirt and tie from a shop so he would look smart in front of a judge.

He had been due in court charged with theft but said he didn’t want to wear the only clothes he owned – jeans and T shirts. Northmore was arrested and pleaded guilty to theft at Exeter Magistrates Court.

Kelly Scrivener, defending, said: ”Rather than wearing his clothes, he stole. He accepts it was a very stupid offence. He did it with the intention of coming to court smartly dressed. His logic is wrong.”

Northmore, of Exeter, Devon, was convicted of the theft, two offences of being drunk and disorderly and one of criminal damage. He also admitted failing to surrender and two charges of breaching a suspended prison sentence and will be sentenced on June 25.

B.C.

Odds and Sods

Odds and Sods

Drugs found in strange places

Bathroom light fixtures and refrigerators are among the newest places to conceal illegal drugs.