The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

Your senses connect you to the world, and to others -- and you need to renew that connection today. Conversations should be your primary activity today. 

Start one with a person who intimidates you just a little bit -- show yourself how smart and interesting you are. 

Hey, your thoughts deserve some equal air time! 

This intellectual person definitely has some high expectations, but you will impress them with your honesty, genuineness and conviction.

 Some of our readers today have been in:

Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Berne, Bern, Switzerland
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Newbury, England, United Kingdom
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia

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 Plano, Hana, Billings, Hartford and more.

Today is:

Today is Friday, October 7, the 280th day of 2011.

There are 85 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:

Cephalopod Awareness Day.

  

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Far-Out Friday

Crabby Road

Awesome Pictures

A Good One

Hey, wingnuts

Democrats target Thomas

Democrats target Clarence 'Slappy' Thomas

Forty-six House members want to investigate the Supreme Court justice for ethics violations.  

 Their complaint 

Also: 

• Reviewing copyright law
• Entangled in religion
• Scalia critiques judges

Dog is mascot of Greek riots

Dog becomes mascot of Greek riots

A stray dog named Sausage is often in the thick of protests, dodging rocks and barking at police

'Symbol of freedom' 

Also: 

• More on Sausage
• Clashes in Athens
• Greece pushes austerity

Reality sets in

BofA defends debit fees

BofA chief defends $5 debit-card fees

CEO Brian Moynihan says that his bank has "a right to make a profit."  

 Monthly charges fuel populist backlash 

Also: 

• Citi hikes checking fees
• Happy about debit charges
• Foreclosure backlog builds

Actually, you have NO RIGHT to make a profit ... if you can make one through acceptable business practices all well and good, but you have no right to make a profit.

Americans put life on hold

Many Americans putting life on hold

Today's young adults want careers and families, but the economy holds a lot of them back.

  'I've kind of lost hope' 

Also: 

• Unemployment claims up
• Govt. reliance higher
• Homeownership plunging

More rely on government benefits

Reliance on government benefits rising

More households are tapping into programs such as food stamps and subsidized housing.  

Cuts coming? 

Also: 

• Obama pushes jobs bill
• Geithner warns on Europe
• Senate votes on yuan bill

U.S. regaining jobs from China

Is trend of losing work to China over?

Up to 3 million jobs are on their way back to the U.S., according to a consulting group.

  Encouraging signs 

Also: 

• U.S. hiring up modestly
• Obama seeks jobs advice
• Votes loom in trade deals

What popular jobs pay

What the 10 most popular jobs pay

Only four of the most satisfying careers have salaries topping $65,000 a year.  

Just $39,000 for one skilled position 

Also: 

• Ways to ask for a raise
• Top jobs without degrees
• How to improve a resumé

Art

Daily Comic Relief

Report: Cancer tests overdone

Routine cancer screenings vastly overused

Billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted on tests that aren't medically necessary, a new study reveals.  

 Most overdone 

Also: 

• Prostate test downplayed
• Surgeries in last year
• Poor care for minorities

Nobel Prize's biggest snubs

Biggest snubs in Nobel Prize history

The list of people who didn't receive the honor is almost as impressive as those who did.

  Icons excluded from club 

Also: 

• Literature winner named
• Winner doesn't get call
• Posthumous award

Dwarf Tossing May Be Legal Again

In Florida: Lawmaker wants state to reinstate dwarf tossing.

A state legislator has found yet another example of government regulation getting in the way of job creation.
So, Ritch Workman, r-Melbourne, filed a bill this week to bring back "dwarf tossing," the barbaric and dangerous barroom spectacle that was imported from Australia and thrived briefly in Florida before it was outlawed in 1989.
"I'm on a quest to seek and destroy unnecessary burdens on the freedom and liberties of people," Workman said. "This is an example of Big Brother government.
"All that it does is prevent some dwarfs from getting jobs they would be happy to get," Workman said. "In this economy, or any economy, why would we want to prevent people from getting gainful employment?"

Photo from An Introduction to Dwarf Tossing.

Attention thieves: Watch who is behind you in line

A would-be robber picked the wrong time to steal a jar of money from the counter of a north Florida convenience store.

Full Story

And I Quote

Manage your life

Study: Women eat more around other women

• Lettuce recalled in 19 states: What you need to know to stay safe
• Top 10 cancer fighters
• Hope Solo on being naked, athletic and celebrating women’s bodies as they are

Mystery in fast food favorites

Mystery behind some favorite fast foods

You'd think a pot pie requires only a few ingredients, but the one at KFC has more than 80.

  Big Mac, Chick-fil-A 

Also: 

• The laws of leanness
• Scariest restaurant meals
• Eight diet food rip-offs

Culinary DeLites

Make it this weekend: The perfect breakfast

• How did foodie parents raise such a picky eater?
• Eat healthy on a budget (it can be done!)
• Mark Bittman on Shine: Flatbread pizza with figs, goat cheese, and balsamic

More in Food »

International Dining Etiquette Quiz

 

Sure, you know not to eat with your feet on the table at a fancy restaurant. But what about eating at a fancy restaurant in Khartoum in Sudan? Should you bring your camel in with you, or leave him outside? Can you be arrested for making that weird straw-sucking noise when you get to the bottom of your soda? How about ants in your soup? Rescue them or let them drown? Okay, maybe the International Dining Etiquette Quiz questions aren't that weird... but they're close.

International Dining Etiquette Quiz.

Ziggy

Healthcare in Nepal

Disabled Women in Nepal Cite Gender Inequality in Care, Family Values

Women in Nepal are responsible for all household work. But when a woman becomes disabled, she is deemed unfit for that role, and divorce and isolation from family members are common.

Mental Illness on the Rise Among Women in Rural Nepal

It is midafternoon, and the outpatient department at Nepal's only mental health facility, called the Mental Hospital, is abuzz with patients.

IRS Destroys An Industry?

Amazing: With latest ruling, IRS threatens to crush the whole medical marijuana industry.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is on the verge of shutting down California’s largest medical marijuana dispensary, and with it potentially the entire semi-legal pot industry.
The Harborside Health Center in Oakland — which was going to be the subject of a Discovery Channel reality show called “Weed Wars” — now owes the IRS $2.5 million in back taxes, thanks to the recent enforcement of a federal law that prohibits organizations that traffic in “controlled substances” from taking tax deductions.

Aren't prescription drugs a controlled substance?
Follow the money, and I'll bet you'll find that the big pharmaceutical companies are pulling the strings.

Closing Time

Recently a police officer parked his patrol car outside a bar in London, Kentucky. After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing.

After what seemed an eternity in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his car and fall into it. He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a fine, dry summer night), flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights.  He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left.

At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road.

The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test. To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all!

Dumbfounded, the officer said, "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken."

"I doubt it," said the truly proud Hillbilly. "Tonight I'm the designated decoy."

Science joke

Three Knives That Changed The World

Of all of humankind's early inventions there are few that are still commonplace in the modern home. The fan assisted oven has replaced fire and I doubt any of us would even recognize a racloir. There is, however, one invention of the Palaeolithic that nearly every person in the world has in their home right now: The Knife.

The sheer genius underlying the knife design is proven by the diversity of its forms; there is a knife for every occasion. Slicing, skinning, stabbing, all these needs have produced knifes with their own unique morphology.

Researchers find Aztec temple platform in Mexico

Archaeologists say they've found a round stone Aztec ceremonial platform studded with carvings of serpents' heads at Mexico City's Templo Mayor ruin site.

Full Story

B.C.

Whale found in grassy field

Rare whale found in grassy field

Scientists are shocked to find a 33-foot sei whale more than 800 yards from the coast. 

  Theory on how it got there 

Also: 

• Japan to hold hunts
• Caught selling whale teeth
• Culprit in whale shooting

The Most Surreal Insect on Earth

This photo shows a replica of Bocydium globulare, the Brazilian Treehopper. It’s a real insect -scout’s honor! See more pictures of this treehopper and other bizarre bugs at Dark Roasted Blend.

Man kills funny-looking animal

A Simpson County man says he’s been hunting for 50 years but recently killed something he's never seen before. “It’s an ugly looking beast,” Truitt Barnard, said. “I know it’s not a coyote. I’ve killed some mangy coyotes too, and I just haven’t seen something quite like it. “

Friend and family believe this could be a Chupacabra, which literally means goat sucker. Chupacabras are a legendary creature suspected of killing livestock and sucking their blood. A couple weeks ago in the middle of the afternoon, Truitt was on his property in Simpson County just outside of Mendenhall, when a “funny-looking animal” walked through an open field about 130 yards away.

He could immediately tell the animal didn’t have any hair, but when he looked through his rifle scope, he knew this was something very strange. The animal’s back legs were several inches taller than his front legs, his ears were rounded, he had no hair and his teeth were very long, said Truitt’s son Scott Barnard. And a group of buzzards wouldn’t even touch it.

“I’ve never seen anything a buzzard wouldn’t eat,” Scott said. The mysterious animal has become pretty popular around Mendenhall and several people have reported sightings of strange animals since news of this one spread. “I’ve seen several different things they say we don't have in Mississippi,” Truitt said, so finding this creature “wasn’t a big deal” to him.

Norway's Famous Albino Moose Shot Dead

Remember the albino moose that wandered the forest of Østfold, Norway? You know, the one whom the Norwegian hunters debate whether to shoot?
Well, that debate is moot thanks to a Danish hunter, who had few regrets about shooting him:

Frost, who had arrived for hunting in Norway on Monday, told Danish website bt.dk that he’d heard about a protected moose a few years ago but nothing recently. “So when I get it in my corner, I have just a few seconds to think about what I should do,” he told bt.dk. “But I decided to shoot the moose and it’s a decision I stand by.”
He quickly realized he hadn’t shot “just any moose, and when we gathered around it, someone said there would probably be press coverage.” He repeated that he “stands by” his decision to kill the moose, “although I would gladly be without all the noise that’s come afterwards.” He said he was “a bit amazed” that the shooting sparked so much reaction.

Full Story

Animal Pictures