The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
You're a wise one who doesn't bend to the pressures of others -- keep up this independent philosophy today when some coworkers may try some not-so-subtle tactics, like flattery, to sway your opinion.
Stay true to your original intentions -- you are the one in the driver's seat, and what you say goes.
In the end, it's your reputation that you must protect.
Remember that you hold all the control in other areas of your life too.
Limit your time with people who don't respect that.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Montreal, Quebec, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Amsterdamn, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Stoke On Trent, England, United Kindom
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Sanaa, San Yemen
Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland
Seoul, Kyonggi-Do, Korea
Valencia, Comunidad Valencia, Spain
Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina

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 Eureka Springs, Spring Valley, Hot Springs, Spring Hill and more.

Today is:

Today is Wednesday, February 10, the 41st day of 2011.

There are 324 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is: 

Plimsoll Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

We're moving on up!

We're moving on up!

The Week is quoting us here at Carolina Naturally.

Definition of a Hero

A 4-year-old northwest Iowa girl who climbed her way out of an overturned pickup truck and trudged a quarter-mile across a field covered in a foot of snow said she just "wanted to help" her mother and younger brother.

4-year-old saves family in car crash

Odds and Sods

Musical astronaut Catherine Coleman has plenty of flutes to pick from aboard the International Space Station.

Astronaut has 4 flutes in orbit

Awesome Pictures

What goes around ... comes around

Mubarak to step down (In a pig's eye)

There is hope ...

Mubarak to step down

NBC Reports: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will step down today. This announcement comes on the 17th day of protests calling for Mubarak's resignation.

***

If this is true - this would be a great day for Egypt.

Hope still remains ...

Reports: Mubarak may resign soon

Egypt's military declares that the embattled president will meet protesters' demands.  

Address to nation 

Also: 

• Protesters celebrate
• More on Hosni Mubarak
• Economic uncertainty

All hope is gone ...

Well, you can't say we're all that surprised, now are we?!

Egypt's embattled president won't resign

Hosni Mubarak says he will only transfer some powers to his vice president.  

Vows to resist 'foreign' pressure 

Also: 

• Scenes from Cairo
• Obama: History unfolding
• Economic uncertainty

The truth be told

Lunatic Fringe

Is hate talk radio dying?

One can only hope ...

Definition of a wingnut

FAUX News Makes Stuff Up?

At Media Matters: FAUX NEWS INSIDER- “Stuff Is Just Made Up”.

A former Faux News employee who recently agreed to talk with Media Matters confirmed what critics have been saying for years about Murdoch’s cable channel.

Namely, that Faux News is run as a purely partisan operation, virtually every news story is actively spun by the staff, its primary goal is to prop up repugicans and knock down Democrats, and that staffers at Faux News routinely operate without the slightest regard for fairness or fact checking.  

“It is their M.O. to undermine the administration and to undermine Democrats,” says the source. “They’re a propaganda outfit but they call themselves news.”

And that’s the word from inside Faux News.

Everyone knows this is true, but interviewing a person who refuses to be identified is not the best way to make a case.

Be afraid ... be very afraid

Faced with $27 billion budget deficit, Gov. Perry focuses on abortion, anti-immigration and voter ID

He sounds a lot like the House repugican leadership. Ignore the real issues and go for the social issues that are only divisive and have nothing to do with getting people back to work.

Perry is clueless.

The state ranks last in the country in percentage of adults with a high school diploma and first in the share of the population without health insurance.

"Governor Perry has been waking up in a very different reality than most citizens of Texas," State Senator Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat, said at a press conference. "Their reality is becoming starker by the day."

The governor also called on state lawmakers to quickly approve a list of "emergency" proposals. These include implementing stricter voter identification requirements, requiring women seeking an abortion to first view a sonogram, targeting cities that provide sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, strengthening the rights of property owners in cases of eminent domain and calling for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Repugicans in Ohio are following a similar path with an urgent focus on abortion.

Yes, the employment and economic problems are all solved now that abortion is at the top of the list.

Boredom has set in

Holding Out For A Hero

Too Funny

On The Job

Why is the unemployment rate stuck?

Forecasters say the jobless rate is unlikely to drop this year, and a few factors may be to blame.  

 Outlook 

Also: 

• Bernanke on job growth
• Jobless aid for states  
• Heating aid at record high

Wacky jobs at the best companies

These dream gigs involve designing Hot Wheels tracks and sipping coffee for Starbucks.  

'The Duck Guy' 

Also: 

• Best firms to work for
• Happiest companies  
• Second-act careers

How to switch careers in 2011

If you’re in a work rut, take these steps to train for a job you'll love in health care or business.

Pay of up to $67,000 

Also: 

• Bedrock fields
• Degrees for job offers  
• Women are getting ahead

What $1 CEOs make today

What $1 CEOs are making now

Heads of firms like Whole Foods and Citigroup took recession pay cuts, but some now earn a bundle.

Updates 

Also: 

• Bank pay limits flopped
• Youngest billionaires  
• What is 'frugal fatigue'?

German firm may buy NYSE

NY Stock Exchange in merger talks

The world’s largest stock market may be purchased by the owner of Germany’s exchange. 

Trouble from Congress? 

Also: 

• Market mergers foreseen
• What $1 CEOs make now 
• Retirement-planning rules

Non Sequitur

World's biggest family tree

The world's biggest family tree

One man traces his ancestry to Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror.

Genghis Khan's many descendants 

Also: 

• Family tree research
• Orangutan DNA findings  
• Genome breakthroughs

Key to better health care may be a walk in the park

The payoff for investing in public parks and recreation sites may be healthier, more physically fit residents and a less strained healthcare system, according to Penn State researchers.

Full story

In Matters Of Health

Strokes rising fast among the young

The first large study of hospitalizations reveals 15-to-34-year-old men are particularly at risk. 

What's behind it 

Also: 

• Diet soda tied to stroke
• Is poor memory a signal?
• Lack of sleep hurts heart

Lymph node removal not always needed

Some breast cancer patients may be able to skip the surgery, a new study finds.  

What to ask your doctor 

Also: 

• Breast cancer treatment
• What are lymph nodes?  
• If you have a family history

Look at your body to reduce pain

Simply looking at your body reduces pain, according to new research by scientists from UCL (University College London) and the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. 

Full story

Classics

Why products look different

Why your favorite products look different

Changing demographics have quietly led to easy-open packages and new designs. 

Less yellow and blue 

Also: 

• Items worth a splurge
• Higher food prices ahead  
• Retirement-spending fears

Culinary DeLites

How to make an authentic red velvet cake

There's just one way to prepare this popular dessert, asserts one cook.  

The ingredient most people leave out 

Also: 

• More recipes to try
• Five Valentine's treats  
• Chocolate-free desserts

How to eat right any time of the day

It’s easy to eat badly when you’re famished or feeling rushed.  

How experts avoid unhealthy habits 

Also:

• 8 foods that fill you up
• Weight-loss successes  
• Four metabolism boosters

What waiters don't tell you

15 secrets your waiter will never tell you

Some servers use a particular phrase when they don't like a dish on the menu.  

Best way to alienate a waiter 

Also: 

• When you get bad service
• 10 best new restaurants  
• Mail carriers' secrets

Costs to always negotiate

Six costs you should always negotiate

Haggling isn't only for buying trinkets at a street fair or facing off against a car dealer.

Where big savings are possible 

Also: 

• Discounts for paying cash
• New rules of finance
• Learning how to haggle

Country Lane

Man Facing Foreclosure Wins Lotto

How do you save your house from foreclosure? Play the lotto of course. Well, at least that was the technique that worked for one South Carolina man.  The winning ticket brought him a top prize of $400,000.

Officials with the South Carolina Education Lottery say the man, who moved to South Carolina from New Jersey six years ago, was unemployed and about to lose his home before his ticket matched the winning numbers.

Full Story

Big changes for homebuyers

Buying a house may change in big ways

Mortgages will likely cost more in the near future and require bigger down payments.  

Is the tax deduction at risk? 

Also: 

• Mortgage rates top 5%
• House-hunting tips  
• Foreclosing on soldiers

The silliest taxes in America

The silliest taxes in America

One state taxes haunted-house visitors, another has a $3,000 write-off for tree owners.  

Seven curious laws 

Also: 

• Overlooked deductions
• New on Form 1040  
• Moving to low-tax states

Ten tax mistakes parents make

10 tax mistakes parents often make

Many families miss out on valuable deductions and other ways to save.

One credit can be worth about $13,000 

Also: 

• Changes to 2010 taxes
• Ways to avoid an audit
• How to e-file your taxes

Ziggy

It Don't Look So Good

A rich man was trying to find his daughter a birthday gift when he saw a poor man with a beautiful white horse. He told the man that he would give him $500 for the horse.

The poor man replied, "I don't know mister, it don't look so good", and walked away.

The next day the rich man came back and offered the poor man $1000 for the horse.

The poor man said, "I don't know mister, it don't look so good".

On the third day the rich man offered the poor man $2000 for the horse, and said he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. The poor man agreed, and the rich man took the horse home.

The rich man's daughter loved her present She climbed onto the horse, then galloped right into a tree.

The rich man rushed back over to the poor man's house, demanding an explanation for the horse's blindness.

The poor man replied, "I told you it don't look so good!"

Top 10 Famous People Who Didn’t Actually Exist

History is full of hoaxes, and that includes people who aren’t really people. These “people” are handy, because they can be used as sources, they can be quoted, and they can be blamed. Because they don’t exist, they won’t mind!

Film fans and critics often rail against so-called “quote whores”—reviewers who are willing to write a positive notice for any movie as long as the studios wine and dine them enough—and David Manning of the Ridgefield Press was seemingly one of the worst. Around 2000, his glowing reviews frequently appeared on the posters for such universally loathed films as The Animal (“another winner!”) and Hollow Man (“stupendous!”). Manning would have been a running contender for America’s worst working film critic, save for one key detail: he didn’t exist. As it turned out, a marketing executive at Sony had invented Manning as a tool for building positive press for films released by the corporation’s subsidiary Columbia Pictures.

Read more about Manning and nine other nonexistent folks you may know at Top Tenz.

Corpus Libris

Corpus Libris is a photoblog of people covering themselves with the covers of books so that their gestures match the people on the covers. It was started by the staff of Skylight Books in Los Angeles featuring themselves, but now includes reader-submitted photos.

Full Story

Video catches wrong-way car

Elderly driver in wrong lane causes pileup

A dramatic viral video renews safety concerns about senior citizens behind the wheel.  

What some states mandate 

Also: 

• Truck triggers whiteout
• Annoying driving habits 
• Potholes ravage roads

***

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, 'Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77. Please be careful!' 'Hell,' said Herman, 'It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them!'

New oil drilling method

New drilling technique opens U.S. oil fields

A horizontal drill method may reverse a two-decade decline in domestic crude production. 

Environmentalist fears 

Also: 

• How oil is tapped
• BP oilfield dispute ruling
• Oil prices falling

Le Happy

Two suspected burglars caught hiding inside jail

Two suspected burglars on the run from police in Colombia have been detained while trying to hide inside a jail. The two were being chased by police after a burglary in a house in the capital, Bogota.

They jumped from rooftop to rooftop and over walls, only to land inside La Picota, one of Colombia's biggest jails.

Their involuntary break-in immediately set off the prison alarm, leading to their capture. They have been handed over to the judicial authorities, who will determine whether to press charges.

If their case goes to court and they are found guilty, they could be sent back to La Picota.

Manager charged with negligently shooting employee after missing bird at cookie factory

The manager of a cookie factory has been charged with injury by negligent and handling of a dangerous weapon, after he allegedly shot an employee in the back of the head having supposedly aimed a some birds. The 29-year-old Best Maid Cookie plant boss at the River Falls industrial park in Wisconsin was annoyed that the birds had flown into the factory.

And when one of the birds landed on the floor he crouched to his feet, took aim and pulled the trigger, completely missing the bird and allegedly striking a new worker on December 14. The hit employee, 28, who filed a criminal complaint, was about to throw some cookie dough into a bin when he suffered pain, akin to a bee sting, above his ear.

The victim also said that he extracted a small piece of lead from his head while the alleged shooter was unaware of what happened. The manger thought he had simply missed the stray bird and walked off. And the employee told police that he was forced to remain in his position for another hour so that the cookie machine would not be left unattended.

At the next interval he drove to the local police station to report his version of the incident. He later was checked out by a doctor at the Baldwin Medical Center. The manager will now face a felony charge for injury by negligent handling of a dangerous weapon.

Mob fugitive's identity revealed

FBI unmasks mob fugitive in rural Idaho

A tiny community is stunned to learn that the man they knew for years as Jeffrey Shaw is someone else.  

More 

Also: 

• Become an FBI agent
• Identity theft declines
• EU's crime-fighting idea

Tricks to get a car unstuck

Simple tricks to getting your car unstuck

Using a very light touch on the gas pedal can get you back on the road quickly.

Letting air out of tires can help, too 

Also: 

• The toughest trucks
• Annoying driving habits
• Better to buy used?

Philadelphia ex-con makes homemade jail

Ex-convict Michael Ta'Bon is back in a prison of his own making.

Literally. Ta'Bon, who served nearly a decade behind bars for armed robbery, says divine inspiration (read: too many drugs) has led him to preach a gospel of nonviolence from a homemade, outdoor jail cell in Philadelphia.

Full Story

Locksmith Shop Covered with Keys

Greenwich Locksmiths, a little locksmith shop in New York City, recently added a facade that is composed of keys. Thousands of keys have been arranged and fixed to create intricate patterns on the front, the door, and some parts of the interior. Scouting New York has a series of detailed photos showing this amazing piece of folk art by shop owner Phil Mortillaro.

Full Story

Bioluminescence in the Gippsland Lakes

The Gippsland Lakes are a chain of lakes in eastern Victoria, Australia. A combination of fire and floods changed the conditions of the water and led to the proliferation of Synechococcus, a photosynthetic cyanobacteria. But that wasn’t what knocked everyone’s socks off.

As summer took hold at the end of 2008, what happened surprised everyone – a new species called Noctiluca Scintillans began to prosper, by feeding on the Synechococcus.
In contrast to the widespread bright green of the Synechococcus, Noctiluca Scintillans was visible during the day as localised murky red patches, often building up on sections of shoreline facing the wind during the day. At night though, Noctiluca Scintillans produced a remarkable form of bioluminescence (popularly referred to as ‘phosphorescence’) – the water glowing brightly wherever there was movement – in the waves breaking on the shore, in ripples in the water and wherever people played in the water.

See more pictures of this phenomena at Phil's Blog.

B.C.

The Namibian Fog Basking Beetle

This beetle is named Onymacris unguicularis, or the ‘tok-tokkie’ beetle. Why does he look as if he’s trying to stand on his head?

He’s developed a rather nifty way of getting a drink. As a sea fog rolls in of a morning the beetle presents himself to it. This is where things get clever, his carapace is made up of a series of peaks and troughs. The peaks are very attractive to water and the fog settles on them, the troughs however are waxy and hydrophobic and the water rolls off the trough and begins to form droplets. The water naturally runs down the inverted beetles body and into his mouth, smashing!

The beetle derived its English name from his drinking habits.

Read more at Ever So Strange.

Animal Pictures