The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
If there is a person in your life you are getting a bit sick of ... or someone who seems to be outstaying their welcome, today is the day to (gently and diplomatically) tell them your feelings.
Let your compassion guide you through this potentially tricky conversation and listen to what they say.
Right now, you need to cut out whatever is holding you back in your life, and the added stress this person could be causing definitely qualifies.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Quebec, Quebec, Canada
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Red Deer. Alberta, Canada
Reutlingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Bursa, Bursa, Turkey
Athens, Attiki, Greece
London, England, United Kingdom
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Santander, Cantabria, Spain
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

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 White Hall, Menlo Park, Midwood, Ashland and more.

Today is:

Today is Monday, February 28, the 59th day of 2011.

There are 306 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is: 

Floral Design Day
National Tooth Fairy Day
and
Purim.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Ain't it the truth ...

Who really owns America?

Who really owns the United States?

The U.S. is in debt to one country for nearly as much as the economies of Illinois and Indiana combined.  

Top 10 

Also: 

• U.S. economy slows
• Why Americans can't save 
• Treasury bond rates

Ziggy

Secret flights out of Libya

Secret flights spirit foreigners out of Libya

Military planes from Germany and Britain land at remote desert airfields to evacuate civilians.

Commando raid 

Also: 

• 'Free Libya' chants heard
• McCain's response  
• More images from Libya

How feelings have changed ...

King Abdullah buying Facebook to quell unrest?

Spoof fools Middle Eastern media

While it might make sense in terms of trying to stem the Middle Eastern unrest, it really makes no sense in real-world terms. In addition, the last sentence in the article should have clued folks in that this was just a parody: (Sunday Humor article at Dawnwires.com are meant to humor our readers. They may or may not be the truth).

Full Story

Saudi Arabia arrests their top blogger

Apparently he was advocating for too much good government.

Inspiring manifesto from China's Jasmine revolution

As Bruce Sterling notes, this manifesto of the Chinese Jasmine revolution (translated by Human Rights in China), "sounds almost identical to the gripes that the impoverished American populace might make to their own leaders. There's nothing specifically Chinese about these demands."

Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: So much public housing has been sold to individuals, so many state-owned enterprises and so much land have been sold, and nearly all state-owned property has been sold off. But where has all the money from these sales gone? It goes without saying that state-owned property belongs to the entire people. But what did the people get? Led by an authoritarian regime, the opaque process of privatization has made a small number of people rich, but what did the vast number of ordinary people get? Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: When Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were in the process of industrializing, they were able to make the overwhelming majority of their people prosperous. Why is it that during China's industrialization the ordinary people are becoming poorer? Why is it that in just the last few decades China has gone from being a country with the smallest gap between the rich and the poor to one with the largest? It is because the unfair system has made a small number of people incredibly wealthy, and the vast majority of people remain poor.

Chinese Jasmine Rallies: Beijing to Wuhan, since Feb. 20, 2011

Indian flight delayed as man objects to woman pilot

A Mumbai-bound flight was delayed by one-and-a-half hours at Delhi airport on Friday morning - first by fog and then by a passenger who did not want to travel on a plane piloted by a woman. Passengers on board had a curious story to tell as to why Indigo flight 6E 179, supposed to depart at 8.10 a.m., could not take off before 9.40 a.m.

"First the flight was held up by a slight fog. Then, just when we were about to fly, the doors were opened again at around 9 as a middle-aged man seated a couple of seats away from me objected to a woman piloting the plane," co-passenger Partha Guha said. The man apparently turned jittery after the customary flight announcement was made, giving the pilot's name - it was a woman.

"The man first started grumbling to co-passengers, 'Marna hai kya? Ghar nahi sambhalta, plane kya sambhalegi?' (I don't want to die! She can't take care of the house, how will she take care of a plane?) He called the air hostesses and objected to the woman pilot. Ground staff were called and they took him out of the plane. This situation did not change for nearly 40 minutes even as other passengers became restless and upset."

The man relented only after he was told he would be taken off the plane - with his check in baggage. An airport official admitted that there was a "mentally unsound" man on board the plane.

Odds and Sods

Canadian arrested for Nazi salute

A 30-year-old Canadian tourist was arrested Saturday in Berlin for doing a Nazi salute in front of Germany's parliament.

51 Weird Motorcycles 

Some people have way too much time on their hands. Way too much. And what do they do with that time? The start messing with perfectly good motorcycles and turn them into something they were never designed to be.

American Press ignoring Wisconsin protests

English language Russian TV explains that American press is ignoring the Wisconsin protests - even downplaying the importance of this war.

The turbulence in the Arab world has drawn the full attention of the American media. Riots and demonstrations in Libya and Bahrain are dominating the news channels' at primetime, and the newspaper front pages. As Lauren Lyster reports, while U.S. leaders fly the flag for popular uprisings thousands of miles away, it's a very different story at home.
Typical - our 'domestic' news sources are a joke.
The only reliable source(s) for anything resembling the news is/are foreign News Agencies.
Of course they still get it wrong in this story by saying Faux News is a news source

Crowds in Madison WI yesterday were some of biggest since Vietnam era

So much for the governor claiming that the protesters were really small in number.

Why to go Reuters! 

Now if the Domestic Media would notice.

Protesters Stand Firm

Peaceful protesters stay firm in Madison at the State House.

Anonymous currently targeting Koch websites

And down goes Koch. The Teabagging site AmericansForProsperity.org is the first to go.

FAUX News chief, Ailes, to be indicted?

Oh, Happy Day ... if true.

This is why you don't shop at Home Depot

Home Depot Founder: Retailers Who Don't Support repugicans "Should Be Shot"

This is what Home Depot's founder Bernie Marcus said on a conference call yesterday:

"If a retailer has not gotten involved with this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys," Mr. Marcus said, apparently referring to repugican senators facing tough re-election fights, then those retailers "should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs."

It's nice to know Home Depot supports the death penalty for not supporting their politics. The coming EFCA fight is going to be bloody.

Read the whole story: The Oxdown Gazette

Adolf would be so proud of his political party today.

Sieg Heil

Sarah Palin a 'froot loop'

So says Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef, about Palin criticizing Michelle Obama for urging the country to eat well.

Assassin maintains he can't remember shooting RFK

Sirhan may not remember much about the night of June 4, 1968, but the world remembers 

More than four decades after Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, his convicted murderer wants to go free for a crime he says he can't remember.

Full Story

Last Doughboy Frank Buckles, Dies at 110

The last U.S. World War I veteran, Frank Buckles, has died at the age of 110. Buckles, an ambulance driver during what was known as "The Great War", passed away Sunday morning according to his family.

Full Story

Frank W. Buckles celebrated his 110th birthday on February first. He died peacefully at his home on Sunday morning. Buckles was one of 4,734,992 Americans who served in World War I. With his death, there are no more surviving US veterans.

Buckles, who served as a U.S. Army ambulance driver in Europe during what became known as the “Great War,” rose to the rank of corporal before the war ended. He came to prominence in recent years, in part because of the work of DeJonge, a Michigan portrait photographer who had undertaken a project to document the last surviving veterans of that war.
As the years continued, all but Buckles had passed away, leaving him the “last man standing” among U.S. troops who were called “The Doughboys.”

In recent years, Buckles became an advocate for a memorial in Washington to honor those who served in the “Great War”.

More Here

America's last living WWI vet dies at 110

A boy who fibbed his way into uniform in 1917 went on to become an iconic symbol of the Great War.

His final bid 

Also: 

• More on Frank Buckles
• WWII codebreaker's legacy
• Fake soldiers troll the Web

MLB legend passes away

MLB legend Duke Snider passes away

The Hall of Famer hit over 400 home runs and led the Brooklyn Dodgers to their only World Series title.  

Details 

Also: 

• More on Duke Snider
• Colon's improbable return
• Joe Torre's new MLB gig

Woman who thought she'd won lottery sues TV station for airing wrong numbers

A Fort Lee, New Jersey, woman who says she thought fortune had smiled on her with a $250,000 winner in a 2009 Mega Millions drawing is suing WABC-TV for allegedly broadcasting the wrong winning numbers and leaving her devastated when she discovered she had won nothing. Rakel Daniele is seeking $75,000 in damages from WABC-TV, American Broadcasting Co., the Walt Disney Co. and an unidentified "Jane Doe" in a lawsuit that was transferred to federal District Court in Newark last week from state Superior Court in Hackensack.

According to Daniele's lawsuit, WABC-TV, the ABC network station in New York, broadcast the winning numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, with the mega ball 12, for the multistate Mega Millions lottery on June 19, 2009. Daniele held a lottery ticket with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, with the mega ball 6, the lawsuit says.

Despite the fact that the numbers WABC-TV broadcast were wrong, the suit asserts, it compounded Daniele's alleged pain by "negligently, carelessly, recklessly and/or intentionally" rebroadcasting the erroneous numbers the next day. The correct Mega Millions numbers for June 19, 2009, were 4, 9, 12, 16 and 46, with a mega ball of 44, according to the Mega Millions website.

Daniele was under the impression that she had won $250,000 as a result of the broadcast, the suit states, adding that she was "severely damaged" by relying on the "false and incorrect" lottery results. The company should have known the numbers were incorrect, the suit states. The broadcast and rebroadcast of the wrong Mega Millions numbers went "beyond all possible bounds of decency, and were atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community," it asserts.

Extreme Couponing

Good shoppers use coupons to save money. Extreme couponers have something a bit more in mind whenever they scour their Sunday circulars: they want stuff for free. That's right: Free, as in zilch, zip and zero dollar.
With a bit of knowledge and a lot of planning, the practitioner of "extreme couponing" can get a lot of stuff for free (or practically free). Billy Baker of The Boston Globe has the fascinating story of the couponing craze:

Spencer’s approach requires significant planning and effort, a willingness to stand up to hostile cashiers, and, some say, a lack of shame. But the reward she offers is too good for her thousands of devotees to pass up.
The goal is not simply a good deal, she says. “The goal is free.’’
On that seminal Sunday last month, a combination of factors collided to bring an entirely new pack of extreme couponers to the scene at once, unable to resist that first taste of “free.’’ After the Great Toilet Paper Rush, nothing would be the same.
“It was the day that sent a seismic wave through coupondom,’’ said Melanie Feehan, a veteran extreme couponer who arrived at a Rite Aid near her home in Plymouth shortly after it opened, only to discover the toilet paper had been cleared from the shelves by a man who bragged to a clerk that he had already emptied three other Rite Aids that morning.
“When a newbie couponer is birthed they are very much like baby vampires,’’ Feehan wrote on her popular blog, The Coupon Goddess. “They go on a couponing rampage that wreaks havoc at every store they descend upon . . . Carnage.’’

Full Story

Secret Fracking Documents That Show Undisclosed Levels of Radiation In Drinking Water

photo via Gasland

The New York Times has published an explosive article in its Sunday edition that features unreleased government documents that show levels of radiation in drinking water in some places are significantly higher than previously recognized due to drilling for natural gas. You know that the natural gas drilling technique, known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is under increased scrutiny, including in the Oscar-nominated GasLand, and citizens and regulators are increasingly concerned that fracking is extremely dangerous.

Article continues: New York Times Reveals Secret Fracking Documents That Show Undisclosed Levels of Radiation In Drinking Water

Construction of Belo Monte Dam Blocked by Judge

 

Photo via Revista Planetária

After decades of protests against what would be the world's third largest hydroelectric facility, Brazilian officials finally approved construction on the controversial dam at Belo Monte just one month ago -- but hope is not lost for the communities and ecosystem the project threatens to destroy. Late last week, a federal judge blocked the plan, citing the need for further study to resolve some outstanding environmental concerns.

Article continues: Construction of Belo Monte Dam Blocked by Judge

Bad Cops

Child porn charges net fired Georgia police officer 25 years in prison

North Carolina cop is arrested for beating girlfriend

Florida correctional officer charged in domestic battery

Boston police officer is arrested on assault charges

Texas corrections officer jailed for attempting to sell drugs

Virginia police officer arrested for harassment

Mississippi cop gets 75 years for girl's rape

Great View

Man urinated on $500 worth of chicken and ate ham

Police arrested a man who allegedly caused quite a disturbance earlier this week when he urinated on food inside a Kroger grocery store in North Little Rock, Ark.

The incident happened on Tuesday night and ended with Jerry Patterson, 58, of North Little Rock, in jail. Police say he was drunk at the time. Kroger managers told officers the man urinated on $500 worth of chicken and also ate a large package of ham, according to the incident report.

Patterson is charged with public intoxication, theft of property, and criminal mischief.

Patterson was reported by officers to have been unsteady on his feet, smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes when they arrived on the scene.

Driver Plows Through Dozens of Cyclists in Brazil

 

Photo: YouTube

On the last Friday of every month, hundreds of bike riding enthusiasts take to the streets for Critical Mass in Porto Alegre, Brazil to raise awareness of cycling in a city dominated by motor vehicles -- but at their most recent event, the unthinkable happened. As the lively group of cyclists pedaled together down the street, one disgruntled motorist decided to accelerate through the crowd, running down dozens of riders in a disturbing hit-and-run.

Article continues: Driver Plows Through Dozens of Cyclists in Brazil (Video)

Eight-year-old boy arrested for fifth time

The Orange County Sheriff's Office arrested an 8-year-old special ed. student on Tuesday, for battery on a school employee, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disruption of an educational institute.

The deputies responded to a call at Riverside Elementary school on Tuesday because the boy has reportedly become increasingly violent and hostile towards teachers over the last few weeks, at one point throwing a pipe at behavioral specialist Tawny Chiuchiarelli. The report also states that the boy punched Chiuchiarelli repeatedly, although he didn't inflict any harm on her. The boy has now been arrested for a fifth time since November, mostly for violent attacks against students and school faculty.

YouTube link.

The 85-pound, 4-foot 8-inch tall boy was arrested on November 10, while he reportedly screamed, "Take me to jail." He was then arrested on December 10th for breaking a school window with his bare hands along with kicking and punching school faculty. The boy was then arrested January 4, after he threw books and chairs at classmates and his 6-foot 1-inch special-education teacher David Chesmel Jr.

The boy appeared in court on Friday after being held in juvenile detention for three days, according to a report by ClickOrlando.com. The boy wasn't able to see his mother until his court appearance, which the judge chastised the mother for not following the courts recommendation of counseling for the boy. The judge reportedly told the mother, "He's your responsibility. We really don't want to be a part of his life." The mother claims the boy, "doesn't act this way at home." The child's name has not been released due to his age.

They walk among us ...

From the "Now, how do you spell I-D-I-O-T again?" Department:

Burglar Has Brilliant Idea: Post Photos of Himself on Victim's Facebook Page

Rodney Knight plead guilty to second degree burglary this past week in Washington, D.C. He was caught because he posted pictures of himself with his loot on his victim’s Facebook wall:

Knight broke in to the Northwest home of Washington Post writer Marc Fisher in December, police said. He helped himself to a number of items, including two laptop computers, a new winter coat and about $400 in cash.
Before leaving the scene of the crime, he put on the winter coat and posed with the cash for a photo he took of himself. He then posted his “loot” photo on Fisher’s son’s Facebook page, the writer said.

Full Story

Out of the mouths of babes ...

A mother took her five-year-old son with her to the bank on a busy lunchtime. They got behind a very fat woman wearing a business suit complete with pager.

As they waited patiently, the little boy said loudly, 'Gee, she's fat!'

The mother bent down and whispered in the little boys ear to be quiet. A couple of minutes passed by and the little boy spread his hands as far as they would go and announced;

'I'll bet her butt is this wide!'

The fat woman turns around and glares at the little boy. The mother gave him a good telling off, and told him to be quiet. After a brief lull, the large woman reached the front of the line. Just then, her pager began to emit a beep, beep, beep

The little boy yells out,

'Run for your life, she's backing up!!'

Lawyers making $1,000+ an hour

Lawyers who earn $1,000-plus an hour

Attorneys in some corporate practices are able to command four-figure hourly wages.  

'If you can get it, get it' 

Also: 

• Nine ways to build wealth
• Jobs that pay $70,000  
• Top-paying companies

Yeah, Right!

On The Job

Questions to ask at a job interview

You should ask at least two — but be careful not to give the wrong impression.  

Powerful way to end the conversation 

Also: 

• How to ace the interview
• Fast-growing employers  
• Outside-the-cubicle jobs

The truth be told

US farmers hire movie stars to sell nuts in Asia

Chinese movie star Gao Yuan Yuan ambled in front of blooming almond trees, smelled the flowers, learned about pollination and even got stung by a bee - all while two Chinese television crews filmed her for a documentary and television series focused on California's almond country.

Full Story

High Pump Prices Rattle Drivers And Businesses

There could be a shark swimming in the waters of economic recovery. 

High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers just as they start to feel better about the economy.

High Pump Prices Rattle Drivers And Businesses

Soaring Food Prices Hit Poor, Spur Farmers

A farmer harvests a corn crop near Monticello, Ill., last September.

The price of wheat and corn jumped 70 percent in the second half of 2010.

Full Story

Non Sequitur

Shuttle video taken from plane

Amazing shuttle footage taken from plane

A passenger on a commercial flight gets an unexpected view of Discovery's final liftoff.  

Watch the video 

Also:

• Docking a success
• A space first
• No Oscars for astronauts

Christchurch Earthquake: Latest quake an aftershock or new event?

Shirley Boys High School has been badly damaged by liquefaction during the earthquake.

Full Story

The Campbell-Stokes Sunshine Recorder

 

image credit

Before the dawn of the computer age, scientists who wished to record the amount of sunshine in any given place had to be inventive. A variety of sunshine recorders were invented, with the Campbell-Stokes Recorder quickly becoming the most popular. In fact many are still in use to this day.

It looks to modern eyes like a prop from the set of the latest Harry Potter film. It is quite easy to imagine Dumbledore fussing around the crystal ball at the center of the contraption. However, its roots are very much of this world - albeit the Victorian one.

J Henry Fair's Abstract Photographs Depict Destruction

Photo: J Henry Fair

A good documentary photographer takes us to places that we never could imagine and teaches us something at the same time. Some do it by shooting stark realism, like Canadian Ed Burtynsky, or South African Pieter Hugo, but J. Henry Fair's work is more abstract.
His aerial photos look like a beautifully painted canvas that could hang over your sofa. Until you begin to unravel the subject matter: devastated landscapes and environmental pollution.

Article continues: J Henry Fair's Abstract Photographs Depict Destruction

Ancient Body Clock Discovered That Helps Keep All Living Things On Time

The mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life from human cells to algae has been identified by scientists.

Not only does the research provide important insight into health-related problems linked to individuals with disrupted clocks - such as pilots and shift workers - it also indicates that the 24-hour circadian clock found in human cells is the same as that found in algae and dates back millions of years to early life on Earth.

The mystery of sleep

The mystery behind the need to sleep

Doctors recommend 7 to 9 hours a night, but some people have gone weeks without it.

Most sleep-deprived state 

Also: 

• How to improve sleep
• Alcohol's impact  
• Couple's snoring cure

Awesome Pictures

Cameras catch rare species

Hidden cameras snap species 'on the brink'

New jungle footage offers a "fantastic" glimpse of the "last real hope" for rare creatures.

What they're hunted for 

Also: 

• 'Walking cactus' fills gap
• Humans carry unique odor
• Major discovery in Arctic

Turtles Use Earth's Magnetic Fields as a Navigational System

Scientists Nathan Putman and Ken Lohmann have determined that turtles can navigate across entire oceans by using the earth’s magnetic fields to determine their longitude and latitude. To test this hypothesis, they used a special water tank that permitted them to alter the magnetic fields inside. They then placed the turtles in the tank to see how they would respond to simulations of different locations:

Using his coil-surrounded tank, Lohmann could mimic the magnetic field at different parts of the Earth’s surface. If he simulated the field at the northern edge of the gyre, the hatchlings swam southwards. If he simulated the field at the gyre’s southern edge, the turtles swam west-northwest. These experiments showed that the turtles can use their magnetic sense to work out their latitude – their position on a north-south axis. Now, Putman has shown that they can also determine their longitude – their position on an east-west axis.
He tweaked his magnetic tanks to simulate the fields in two positions with the same latitude at opposite ends of the Atlantic. If the field simulated the west Atlantic near Puerto Rico, the turtles swam northeast. If the field matched that on the east Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands, the turtles swam southwest. In the wild, both headings would keep them within the safe, warm embrace of the North Atlantic gyre.

Full Story

Animal Pictures