The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

There is a shift going on among your closest friends, and it's affecting how you've been feeling about them lately.
Try not to get too involved in situations that don't concern you -- poking your nose into someone else's business is very dangerous right now.
Maintain your typical objectivity in any disputes that are going on, because 'right' and 'wrong' will be hard to ascertain.
You will have to wait and see how things unfold before you can know whom to believe.

Some of our readers today have been in: 

Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Berne, Bern, Switzerland
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
London, England, United Kingdom
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Newbury, England, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Morini, Morini, Comoros
Barnet, England, United Kingdom
Tranbjerg, Arhus, Denmark
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark
New Delhi, Delhi, India

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 Atlanta, Charleston, Miami, Richmond and more.

Today is:

Today is Friday, September 30, the 273rd day of 2011.

There are 92 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Ask A Stupid Question Day.

  

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Far-Out Friday

U.S.-born terror cleric killed

U.S.-born Al-Qaeda cleric killed in Yemen

Anwar al-Awlaki, considered a major danger to American homeland security, is killed in an airstrike. 

  Third attempt 

Also: 

• Pakistan denies terror ties
• Al-Qaida in Iraq weakened
• Greek suspect surrenders

Did you know ...

That the American people hate Congress.

You don't say ...

Poll: 90% of Americans say economy stinks

I didn't realize that the bankers made up 10% of the population. Go figure.

Three years after a financial crisis pushed the country deep into recession, an overwhelming number of Americans -- 90% -- say that economic conditions remain poor.

The number, reported Friday in a new CNN/ORC International Poll, is the highest of Barack Obama's presidency and a significant increase from the 81% who said conditions were poor in June.

The persistent pessimism indicates that Americans are feeling a level of hardship in line with the official statistics. Unemployment stands at 9.1%, economic growth is barely above stall speed, and the housing market remains tied in knots.

Full Story

The truth be told

Prep for a possible layoff

Strategies to prep for a possible layoff

Reconnect with former colleagues and step up your outreach efforts if you fear downsizing.

  Questions to ask now 

Also: 

• Earn more, work less
• Career rules to break
• Is your idea a winner?

Daily Comic Relief

Governors from U.S. and Mexico Skip Out on Border Conference

For the second year in a row, three of the four U.S. governors whose states adjoin Mexico are skipping an annual conference with their counterparts from south of the border, highlighting the frosty relations between Mexico and the United States over U.S. immigration policy.

Full Story

Population growth twist

Hispanics fuel white population growth

More Hispanics listed themselves as white, according to new 2010 census figures.

  Reason for significant shift 

Also: 

• Obama talks to Hispanics
• Many Latino kids in poverty
• Bake sale's racial pricing

Some good advice

 

Jacking ... Don't Do It!

Does Florida have a vampire problem?

Does Florida have a vampire problem?

Self-Claimed Vampire/Werewolf Accused of Murder

A Florida teen accused of murder claims she's a vampire-werewolf hybrid. She's not the first.  
Read more

What else can you say

It's a Blond World

A blond stormed up to the front desk of the library and said, "I have a complaint!" .

"Yes, Ma'am?"
"I borrowed a book last week and it was horrible!"

"What was wrong with it?"

"It had way too many characters and there was no plot whatsoever!"

The librarian nodded and said, "Ahh. So you must be the person who took our phone book."

Nine facts about your ears

Things you didn't know about your ears

Doctors recommend two different techniques to remove buildup in the ear canal.  

 Mystery of wax's true purpose 

Also: 

• Anatomy of the ear
• Common tinnitus symptoms
• Smokers and kids' ears

Memory "Quantum" Lasts 125 Milliseconds

Is there a "unit" of memory? Some scientists now think so.
Using a method that allowed them to make brain measurements down to the millisecond levels, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology discovered that there's a discrete "quantum" of memory:

You're rudely awakened by the phone. Your room is pitch black. It's unsettling, because you're a little uncertain about where you are -- and then you remember. You're in a hotel room.
Sound like a familiar experience? Or maybe you've felt a similar kind of disorientation when you walk out of an elevator onto the wrong floor? But what actually happens inside your head when you experience moments like these?
[A new study] describes exactly how the brain reacts in situations like these, during the transition between one memory and the next. [...]
Their findings show that memory is divided into discrete individual packets, analogous to the way that light is divvied up into individual bits called quanta. Each memory is just 125 milliseconds long -- which means the brain can swap between different memories as often as eight times in one second.
"The brain won't let itself get confused," says Professor May-Britt Moser. "It never mixes different places and memories together, even though you might perceive it that way. This is because the processes taking place inside your head when your brain is looking for a map of where you are take place so fast that you don't notice that you are actually switching between different maps. When you feel a little confused, it is because there is a competition in your brain between two memories. Or maybe more than two."

Full Story

Ziggy

Manage your life

• 

  These books were banned?

• 

  What envy can teach us

• 

  The science behind why we're klutzy

Culinary DeLites

• Bleach on salads–really?
• Classic childhood candies we still crave
• Which cooking oils should you use?
• 15 sodas you might not know about

You know what ...

Welcome Home

Afghanistan's Treasure Trove

The USGS today identified 24 regions in Afghanistan with high-value minerals that are ready to be mined.  

Read more 

Drought: 8,000-year-old secrets found

Drought reveals 8,000-year-old secrets

Amazing discoveries at a popular lake in Texas have researchers and looters scrambling.

From the dinosaur age 

Also: 

• More on the area
• Surfers save hurt shark
• Craziest bike race ever?

Dire forecast for Texas drought

Dire forecast for record Texas drought

Conditions affecting 95 percent of the state are likely years from being over, an expert says.  

 Predicted break 

Also: 

• Fires add to burden
• Drought and listeria
• More worries for animals?

B.C.

Doing what they do

Little brothers ... that's what they do!

"Well my mom was going to video me practicing my drill team dance.. but I had to wait for the song to come on. I thought she was laughing at how awkward I was being... obviously not."

Woman grows 8ft geranium by feeding it daily cup of tea

If a cup of tea is an ideal pick me up, this plant has taken the advice a little too literally.

Hereford pensioner Dilys Price has watched her geranium leap to an amazing eight feet tall after feeding it Tetley Extra Strong Tea each morning.

The plant, named Appleblossom, has now became so high it has almost outgrown Dilys’s South Wye home.

“I have had it about two or three years and I feed it a drop of tea each morning,” she said. I’ve never seen it so tall. Everyone wants a cutting from it.”

Also in the News

• Rare white humpback whale spotted
  CBBC Newsround

• Flowers bloom for a second time

Awesome Pictures

The Little Planet Full of Surprises

Mercury

NASA's Mercury Messenger spacecraft is unraveling a more complex planet than anyone had previously imagined.  

Read more 

Also:

'Hollows' mark Mercury's surface

Nasa's Messenger probe sees great swathes of shallow, rimless depressions on the surface of Mercury

Massive Chinese-Backed Dam on Irrawaddy River Halted by Burma's Government

The Irrawaddy River just south of the proposed dam site, photo: Wikipedia.

One day after Brazil's hotly protested Belo Monte dam is halted by court order, another massive hydropower project is halted, on the other side of the world and by a government not exactly renowned for conservation.
In a letter read out in parliament, Burma's president announced the the suspending of construction of the Chinese-backed Myitsone dam on the northern part of the Irrawaddy River.

Article continues: Massive Chinese-Backed Dam on Irrawaddy River Halted by Burma's Government

More on the dam in Brazil:

Judge halts work on Amazon dam

Arctic ice shelf nearly gone

Arctic nearly loses entire ice shelf

Scientists say two ancient Canadian ice shelves shrank drastically this summer, one almost disappearing.

  Dangers 

Also: 

• Alarming Arctic ice loss
• Canada's climate costs
• Bid to block Arctic drilling

Climate Change Could Shrink Animals

The “temperature-size rule” affects most cold-blooded animals, so as the planet heats up, many animals may shrink in size.  

Read more 

As Temps Rise, Amphibians May Vanish

Frogs and other amphibians will have a hard time finding escape routes from warming environments. Read more 

Polly Wants a Sobriety Test

Drunken parrot season has started. Watch out for inebriated lorikeets in Australia.

Read more 

Nestle ad first to pitch at canine customers

Nestle, one of the world's biggest makers of pet food, said on Friday it had launched the first television commercial designed especially for dogs, using a high-frequency tone to grab their attention.

Nestle ad first to pitch at canine customers

Fox turns tables on hound

Sly fox turns tables on hound

In an unusual role reversal, a fox is spotted trailing a beagle in a forest near Montreal.  

 Week's best photos 

Also: 

• Amazing desert animals
• Cat with two faces
• Mexico's drug war pets

Bear eats pizza by the slice

Bear caught on tape savoring pizza

Restaurant patrons laugh out loud as they watch a black bear devour a whole pie, one piece at a time.

Watch it 

Also: 

• Shark scare a hoax
• Cockroach on football field
• Elephant polo in Nepal

Animal Pictures