The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Most people buy gifts when the occasion calls for it, like birthdays, holidays or congratulatory events, for example.
Not you.
You're far more prone to give someone something because A) you know they'll just love it, B) they're the only person on earth who, in your opinion, should have it or C) because they've either had an especially bad or an especially good week.
So when you see that perfect item now, no amount of conversation will talk you out of wreaking havoc on your plastic.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Phom Penh, Phnum Penh, Cambodia

London, England, United Kingdom

Edithvale, Victoria, Australia

Seoul, Kyonggi-Do, Korea

Thun, Bern, Switzerland

Burnie, Tasmania, Australia

Kuwait, Al Kuwayt, Kuwait

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Santander, Cantabria, Spain

Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France

Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland

Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Sala, Vastmanlands Lan, Sweden

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

as well as Argentina, Mexico, Indonesia, Russia, Philippines, Singapore and in cities across the United States such as Ledyard, West Roxbury, Saint Paul, Mesa and more.

Today is:

Today is Thursday, November 4, the 308th day of 2010.

There are 57 days left in the year.

Today In History November 4

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

National Chicken Lady Day

and

Use Your Common Sense Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

That's right ...

SORRY THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA COULDN’T CLEAN UP EIGHT YEARS’ WORTH OF THE SHRUB’S BULLSHIT IN JUST UNDER TWO YEARS IN OFFICE, AMERICA.

BY ALL MEANS, GO CRAWLING RIGHT BACK TO THE MORONS WHO GOT US IN THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

The truth be told

And the nation was royally fucked in the process ...

Lucky Ducky

Reality does not penetrate repugican skulls.

The truth be told (Part Deux)

Yes, in 2012 we will get rid of the repugicans forever! 

Hate will always lose to Love!

Whole Wide World

Wreckless Eric (live in 1980)

Odds and Sods

Intercourse inspires beer business

Nicole Courides has a passion for Intercourse. She has to - it's her business. Courides founded the Intercourse Brewing Company, which she named after the rural Pennsylvania Amish community of Intercourse, ironically a dry town.

Kids spot mountain lion 200 feet from bus stop

A group of children waiting for their school bus Wednesday morning got a shock when they spotted a mountain lion in a field just 200 feet from their stop along a rural route.

Non Sequitur

Culinary DeLites

Pasta recipes all home chefs should know

Classic dishes like fettuccine alfredo are crowd pleasers — and don't take a lot of time or expertise.  

7 different options 

Also: 

• List of pasta shapes
• Top pasta restaurants
• 6 foods to cut back on

Food industry secrets

How the food industry fools consumers

Fresh fruits and veggies cost 10 times more than junk food, one study found.  

1,000 calories costs $18.16 vs. $1.76 

Also: 

• Beverage industry secrets
• Diet-busting burgers
• Approved food additives

Shoe

Houses In The Middle Of Nowhere

Far from the civilization and everything that goes with it, far from the people, the noise, the pollution, the problems. These are perfect places for people willing to rest far from everything.

A compilation of isolated homes lost in the middle of nowhere.

Strangest places to stay

Strangest places to stay overnight

Jailhouses, cabooses, and even an old 747 have been converted into quirky hotel rooms. 

Price to sleep in cockpit 

Also: 

• Vegas hotel's surprise
• Legendary hotel for sale
• Apartment's 24 rooms

Awesome Pictures

World's best quality of life

Country with best quality of life named

The U.S. makes the top 5 but is beat out again on the U.N.'s list of the world's happiest and healthiest.  

Rankings 

Also: 

• Best cities to live in
• Elderly care compared
• Countries to visit in 2011

Big lottery win's twist

Lottery winners make startling decision

Allen and Violet Large say their giant payday amounted to a "headache" they didn't want.  

Unique spending spree 

Also: 

• Donation stumps officials
• Wombat group's windfall
• Lottery winners curse

Home décor tricks that look expensive

Home décor tricks that look expensive

How you arrange furnishings can make people think you hired an interior designer.  

New ways to use fabric 

Also: 

• Decorate with rugs
• Latest decorating trends
• Dishwashing secrets

Women and Money

Financial dangers women should watch for

Even middle-class and affluent women can be vulnerable to major money problems later in life.

One mom's story 

Also: 

• Real cost of your debt
• Most powerful women
• What is an annuity?

Credit features to avoid

Beware these credit card features

Your card may offer "cash whenever you need it," but later you'll pay dearly for that money.  

Balance protection 

Also: 

• Return of 0% APR cards
• Avoid credit card scams
• Creative ways to cut debt

On The Job

Flexible professions that pay well

These careers not only offer work-life balance, but also high salaries.  

Earn up to $70,000 

Also: 

• Turn passions to pay
• Recession-proof jobs
• Find work-life balance

Wizard of Id

Bad Cops

Georgia police officer is accused of raping 12-year-old

Rhode Island police officer gets probation after convicted on "disorderly conduct" charge for exposing himself

New York cop blocks bike lane to ticket cyclists for not using bike lane

Canadian police officer breaks "little" accountant’s arm, but no charges laid

Ten New York cops beat up cabbie, then cuff one of their own for trying to stop them

Second police officer allegedly connected to California police sex scandal no longer with department

The Unsolved Ciphers of the Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer claimed to have murdered 37 people. The killings, which paralyzed Californians with fear for years, began in 1968, and soon after mysterious letters were sent to news outlets, many featuring cryptograms.

From this point on, the killer started communicating via letters and greetings cards. Each of these messages was concluded with the crossed-circle design pictured above. Later it became known as the Zodiac signature. These letters as well as some coded messages were sent by the killer to different, well-known newspapers, including the San Francisco Examiner and the Vallejo Times Herald.

Many of these notes still haven’t been decoded, and the murders have yet to be solved. See the coded messages at Environmental Graffiti: here.

Drug Tunnel

Drug tunnel bust reveals elaborate scheme

Authorities shut down a sophisticated underground route between Mexico and California.

Length of six football fields 

Also: 

• Longest tunnels
• Atlanta-area ring busted
• Mexican agents in U.S.

$1.5 million fine for downloading 24 songs

$1.5 million fine for downloading 24 songs

Jammie Thomas-Rasset loses the latest round in a long-running battle over illegal downloads.

But court fight isn't over 

Also: 

• More on the case
• New Michael Jackson CD
• Spider-Man musical delay

Tricks of $4,000 washer-dryer

High-tech washers learn new tricks

The latest pricey models take cues from smartphone makers and the fashion industry. 

What you get for $4,000 

Also: 

• Ways to make jeans last
• How dryer sheets work
• Common dishwasher error

LifeCycle Tower: A 30-story Wooden Building

The current tallest wooden building in the world is nine stories. The planned LifeCycle Tower will be 30 stories tall! The totally green project in Dornbirn, Austria is a project of the CREE (Creative Renewable Energy and Efficiency) Group.

Materials used to build the structure would include reinforced concrete (for the foundation), composite slab (wood/concrete), and timber wood.  The floor will be made of a hybrid glulam (glued-laminated) beams and reinforced concrete.  The building would include photovoltaic panels on the outer facade to generate electricity along with a “green wall” (aka “vertical garden”).  The building will further protect the environment and public health through use of local resources, reduced routes of transport, use of sustainable materials, and significantly improved CO2 balance.  Highly pre-fabricated construction will further reduce air pollution as well as construction site waste.  In accordance with Passivhaus standards, construction of the LifeCylce Tower will reduce carbon emissions by 90% when compared to conventional construction.

The LifeCycle Tower will have plenty of other environment features, which you can read about at InventorSpot: here.

Most valuable movie poster

Ultra-rare movie poster discovered

A giant poster from the original "Frankenstein" could fetch $3 million at auction, says one expert.

One catch 

Also: 

• More on the film
• Buzz on 'Monster' movie
• 'Paranormal 2' trailer

Retro Photo

Volcano: Worst may be to come

Deadly volcano unleashes more fury

As new blasts spew hot ash miles into the sky, some fear Mt. Merapi still has worse in store.  

'Never acted like this' 

Also: 

• See photos of eruption
• Latest on Iceland volcano
• List of U.S. volcanoes

Ziggy

Human Body Myth: We Use Just 10% of Our Brains

Surely you’ve heard someone say that humans only use 10% of our brains (and some people even less), but that turns out to be a just myth:

William James, a psychologist in the 1800s, once metaphorically used the idea of 10% of the brain being all that was used at one time. This grew into the rumor that it was all the brain was overall and most of the rest was not understood or used as far as we know. Actually, the inactive neurons are just as important at any given moment as the ones actively firing at a point in time, and the 10% comes from varying areas at different times.

Read more human body myths at Environmental Graffiti: here.

Brain trumps hand in Stone Age tool study

Was it the evolution of the hand, or of the brain, that enabled prehistoric toolmakers to make the leap from striking off simple flakes of rock to fashioning a sophisticated hand axe?

Full story

Labs

Upping the cute factor

Tiny dinosaur prints found

Dinosaur's prints may be smallest ever

Scientists believe tiny tracks were made by an infant running alongside its parents. 

What it looked like 

Also: 

• 'A low-speed run'
• Brontosaurus dinosaur
• Oldest footprints found

Azhdarchids: The Largest Flying Creatures That Have Ever Existed on Earth

Image: Mark Witton/Darren Naish

What do you get when you combine a bird with a giraffe? The largest flying creatures that have ever existed on Earth:

With wingspans of 40 to 50 ft, the Azhdarchids were pterosaurs as big as some modern aircraft, with incredibly lop-sided bodies. Hugely long legs, beaks and necks adorned unusually small torsos with wings that were, surprisingly, proportionately short. It is thought that they were not able to hunt in flight, but needed to land and scrabble awkwardly for anything that they could swallow whole. Since one of these terrifying monsters stood as much as 20ft tall, it is easy to imagine that man might well have been a prey animal for them, had they lived alongside each other.

Environmental Graffiti has a feature of more less well known, but equally savage prehistoric predators: here.

Photographic Evidence Proves That Squid Can Fly

 

Photo: Bob and Deb Hulse

Once, while boating off the coast of Jamaica in 2001, marine biologist Silvia Maciá and her husband caught a glimpse of an oddly familiar creature leaping from the waves, soaring with ease over the surface of the ocean. As the animal propelled itself for some 30 feet, Maciá realized she was witnessing the most unusual sight -- a flying squid. So intrigued by what she saw that day, Maciá would go on to co-author a paper examining similar observations, though essential photographic evidence of the incredible phenomenon remained elusive. That is, until now.

Article continues: Photographic Evidence Proves That Squid Can Fly