The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
If you are waiting for more free time to come into your life soon, don't hold your breath.
It's up to you to do whatever you have to do to make things work, and there's simply no getting around it.
You are capable of scheduling your day exactly the way you want to, as long as you are willing to accept the consequences.
Unleash some of your charm and diplomacy in the right direction and you can find the time you need.
Step back and try to stay flexible.

Some of our readers today have been in:

 Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

Harelbeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Bilbao, Pais Vasco, Spain
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
London, England, United Kingdom
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Florence, Toscana, Italy

Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark

Seoul, Kyonggi-Do Korea

Bamberg, Bayern, Germany

Moscow, Moskva, Russia

Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Iasi, Iasi, Romania

Kiev, Kyivv, Ukraine

Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

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 Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, New Orleans and more.

Today is:

Today is Sunday, July 31, the 212th day of 2011.

There are 153 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

There isn't one.
  

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Endgame of debt maneuvers

Debt saga turns to Democrats's plan

Harry Reid's deficit-cutting alternative takes focus after the Senate swiftly rejects the repugican's bill.  

Next moves 

Also: 

• Details of rival plans
• Answers to big 'what-ifs'
• 14th Amendment option?

The truth be told

Locked in debt stalemate

Leaders locked in debt stalemate

Democrats and repugicans can't even agree if progress is being made on a compromise.

Mixed messages 

Also: 

• repugicans talk to Obama
• Reid: Deal not close
• Stocks face pressure

Reality is ...

Did you know ...

That if corporations paid 1960 level taxes, the debt would vanish.

Green

Couple slashes debt by $46K

Slashing $46,000 in debt in 10 months

Ryan Hawkins and his wife found ways to whittle down their steep loans one by one.

How they were able to do it 

Also: 

• Lowest borrowing rates
• Mortgage deduction eyed
• Credit card calculator

When to fix it or replace it

Should you fix it or get rid of it?

Here's how to decide whether it pays to repair your electronics, appliances, and clothes.

  Rule of thumb for cars 

Also: 

• Trim your cell phone bill
• Save $1,000 this summer
• Car insurance advice

Careers that you can enjoy

Careers you can be passionate about

One of these seven positions could make you eager to go to work every day.  

The best education programs for them 

Also: 

• Finding work-life balance
• Five in-demand degrees
• Disappearing work perks

It's hot

Norway suspect eyed other government targets

The anti-Muslim extremist who confessed to a bombing and youth camp massacre that killed 77 people in Norway has told investigators he also considered attacking other targets linked to the government or the prime minister's Labor Party, police said Saturday.

Full Story

Murdoch’s staff at NY Post told to "preserve and maintain" info. on phone hacking

Well, well, well:

News Corp. has told staffers at its New York Post tabloid to "preserve and maintain" any information related to phone hacking or government payoffs in exchange for scoops.

The memo comes in response to an ongoing probe in Britain about phone hacking done by News Corp.'s now-shuttered News of the World tabloid. That paper was found to have hacked into the voice mail messages of celebrities, members of the Royal Family and even victims of crime and terrorism.

"All New York Post employees have been asked to do this in light of what has gone on in London at News of the World, and not because any recipient has done anything improper or unlawful," said the paper's Editor Col Allen in a memo to his staff.

Uh-hum.

Is the same memo being sent to FAUX News?

Awesome Pictures

Passengers survive jet crash

Passengers survive terrifying jet crash

All 163 people on board Flight 523 from N.Y. live to tell the tale after their plane breaks in half.  

 'I just started to cry' 

Also: 

• Caribbean Airlines crash
• Wright replica wrecks
• Air France pilots' ordeal

Blood clot killed Xbox addict

Xbox addict killed by blood clot

Chris Staniforth, 20, died after sitting in the same position for several hours.  

 His family's campaign 

Also: 

• Info on pulmonary embolus
• Game addiction study
• Exercise, fitness tips

Will Closing Food Banks Help End Hunger?

Image: Walmart Stores via flickr CC

Food banks first rose to prominence in the 1980's as an emergency measure to stave off hunger during a time of recession and high unemployment. While often very prominent in the community, these institutions are increasingly coming under fire from food activists. Some go so far as to say that if we are truly going to end hunger in North America, food banks should be closed.

Article continues: Will Closing Food Banks Help End Hunger?

Random Celebrity Photo

Ziggy

Dancing With The Ponch!

 

Television is about to get a lot cheesier thanks to Erik Estrada being the first "star" confirmed for Univision's hit reality show "Mira Quien Baila" . The announcement was made this week during the network's "El Gordo y La Flaca" entertainment show.

Full Story

Vintage Photo

Flappers a.k.a. good time girls (back in the 1920s)

And the Father of the Year Award goes to ...

Dad slept while 8-year-old drove

Louisiana state police say an 8-year-old boy was driving a pickup truck down an interstate while his drunken father slept in the passenger seat.

Woman dresses as man, draws on beard in robbery

Authorities say a woman who dressed like a man and drew a beard on her face has robbed an Alabama bank.

 Full Story

Mayor Won't Step Down After 3-Day Drinking Binge

Full Story

Mayor Bob Ryan of Seboygan, Wisconsin, was found passed out at a local bar over the weekend.

Chemistry

A female student wished to make some potassium hydroxide solution (aqueous) and decided to throw a large lump of potassium into a bucket of water.

Her professor observed what she was about to do, out of the corner of his eye and hurried towards her, and after confirming this was what she was intending to do, asked her first to stir the water in the bucket for five minutes before adding the potassium.

She was puzzled and ran after him to ask the purpose of this action.

"It will give me time to get away' said the professor.

Thieves Steal 22 Restroom Doors

Thieves Steal 22 Restroom Doors

German motorists were forced to take their restroom breaks in public after thieves made off with 22 stainless steel cubicle doors from highway service stops, news website The Local reported Saturday.

The Biggest Locks On Earth

Today we have to deploy increasingly sophisticated measures to secure our possessions and deter would-be thieves. Past decades have introduced key cards, number pads and Total Recall style biometric scanning.

As these more advanced security measures become further integrated into our everyday lives, remember that sometimes the best form of protection is a great big lump of reinforced steel.

A bridge to somewhere

Amateur Archeologists Invited to Decipher Papyri

Hundreds of thousands of fragments of ancient papyri have been put online in a bid to crowd source translations.  

Read more 

People from Polar Regions Have Bigger Brains

They're not more intelligent, but the bigger brain (and eyeball) size permits better vision in areas with less sunlight.

Read more 

Russia Rapidly Loosing Permafrost

Russia's vast permafrost areas may shrink by a third by the middle of the century due to global warming, endangering infrastructure in the Arctic zone.

Read more 

B.C.

Baby hippo's water dance

Baby hippo dances underwater

There are many words that describe a hippopotamus, but "graceful" has never been one of them.  

Until now 

Also: 

• Pygmy hippo's first swim
• Polar bear's new hat
• Gorilla finds a camera

Golden Textile Made From Spiders Silk

There’s an amazing collaboration between man and insect on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, a cloth woven purely from the silk of over a million Golden Orb spiders. This magnificent textile, naturally golden in color and seemingly imbued with it’s own luminescence, took over four years to make after eighty gatherers spent five years gathering the silk. Such a feat has not been attempted since 1900, when a spider silk textile that disintegrated over time was created for the Paris Exposition Universelle, and it’s not surprising that such a feat is almost never attempted, for the spiders with the best silk can only be found in Madagascar. But is all the effort really worth it for a piece of cloth that isn’t long for this world?

Full Story

Dolphin Blubber Holds Secrets to Healing

Studying dolphin blubber may yield insights into better treatments for skin injuries in the future.  

Read more 

Cancers Might Be Newly Evolved Species

Cancerous tumors are parasitic organisms, new species, that depend on their host for food, says a new study.

Read more 

Facebook Page Lists Sitka, Alaska, Bear Sightings

Residents of Sitka, Alaska, are using social media to share reports about bear activity in the area.

Full Story

The 20 Greatest Sharks in Pop Culture History

Shark Week starts this Sunday! Who’s your favorite pop culture shark? I have several, and they’re all here in a list of the greatest sharks from movies, TV, and even viral news. I bet you’ll see some you’d forgotten about -like SNL’s Land Shark.

One of the most classic recurring sketches in Saturday Night Live history, Chevy Chase’s Land Shark character was basically a shark who would coerce its victims into opening their doors by pretending to be plumbers, repairmen or, in this clip, a member of Unicef.
Once the unsuspecting people opened their doors, the Land Shark would eat them whole, making a comment on the ridiculousness of the hysteria over sharks after the release of Jaws.

Full Story

Animal Pictures