The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

You don't suffer fools gladly -- so your forbearance may be tested today. 

It may seem as though you've been transported to a kindergarten classroom -- everyone is whining and screaming about something or other, and you will be the only competent adult in the room. 

Just let them argue with one another about things that really don't matter. 

If you work around these petty complainers, you'll be able to stay happy and calm throughout the day.

 Some of our readers today have been in:
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Lille, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, France
Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Khartoum, AL Khartum, Sudan
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia
Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Crawley, England, United Kingdom
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Valencia, Comunidad Valencia, Spain
Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Rio De Janiero, Rio De Janiero, Brazil
Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
As, Askershus, Norway
Athens, Attiki, Greece
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France
Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia
Bilbao, Pais Vasco, Spain
Karlstad, Varmlands Lan, Sweden
London, England, United Kingdom
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Chandigarh, Punjab, India
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei and Muara, Brunei Darussalam

Versailles, Ile-De-France, France

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 Honolulu, Kingstree, Muscatine, Norco and more!

Today is:

Today is Monday, October 31, the 304th day of 2011.

There are 61 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

National Carmel Apple Day

  

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Manic Monday

The global population is expected to reach 7 billion today, just 12 years after hitting 6 billion.

How much is 7 billion?

Seven billion seconds ago, the year was 1789. That was the year George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. president and Congress met for the very first time. If you took 7 billion steps along the Earth's equator - at 2 feet per step - you could walk around the world at least 106 times.

I think ...

It's Samhain

Samhain marks the last of the harvest festivals. It was one of the four great "fire festivals" which marked the turning points of the Celtic year. Great bonfires would light the sky during the celebrations. It’s the night best suited for calling upon the spirits, seeing fairies or encountering a ghost. Sunset on Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The old year has passed, the harvest has been gathered, cattle and sheep have been brought in from the fields, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. The earth slowly begins to die around us. The Crone Goddess is alone and the God has journeyed down to the Underworld. Prepare for the Dark time of the Year. We now honor our ancestors, and if a loved one has died during the past year, this is the night to celebrate their memory. Time to communicate with spirits from beyond the veil, who offer advice, protection and guidance for the upcoming year.

Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion states: "The Eve and day of Samhain were characterized as a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken... Not a festival honoring any particular Celtic deity, Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during that period." The Celts believed that when people died, they went to a land of eternal youth and happiness called Tir nan Og. The dead were sometimes believed to be dwelling with the Fairy Folk, who lived in the numerous mounds, or sidhe, (pronounced "shee") that dotted the Irish and Scottish countryside. Spirits and Fairies roam the lands creating mischief. This night belongs to neither, one year nor the other, Celtic folk believed that chaos reigned, and the people would engage in practical jokes. This was the time to "cull" the herds of animals that weren’t needed for breeding next spring, and were used as sacrifice for Harvest Feasts, or winter food supplies.

Elvira Noir

Signs That You Are Too Old to Trick-or-Treat

10. You get winded from knocking on the door.

9. You have to have another kid chew the candy for you.

8. You ask for high fiber candy only.

7. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you lose your balance and fall over.

6. People say, "Great Keith Richards mask!" and you're not wearing a mask.

5. When the door opens you yell, "Trick or..." and can't remember the rest.

4. By the end of the night, you have a bag full of restraining orders.

3. You have to carefully choose a costume that won't dislodge your hairpiece.

2. You're the only Power Ranger in the neighborhood with a walker.

1. You avoid going to houses where your ex-wives live.

Daily Comic Relief

Culinary DeLites

Mario Batali's no-fail dinner for fall

These short ribs get a long braise to create fall-off-the-bone tender meat.  

 'You can't really mess it up. Seriously.' 

Also: 

• 3-ingredient dinners
• Cooking with pumpkins
• Quick French onion soup

What's in the McRib Sandwich?

The McRib sandwich is back, and with it, the horde of cult-like fans of the McDonald's pork sandwich.
Despite its name, the McRib sandwich actually contains no rib meat. But what exactly is it made of?
The Week explains some of the 70 ingredients of the McRib (which you may want to skip if you're a fan of the sandwich):

How many ingredients are there?
At face value, the sandwich contains just pork, onions, and pickle slices slathered in barbecue sauce and laid out on a bun. But the truth is, there are roughly 70 ingredients. The bun alone contains 34, says TIME's Melnick. In addition to chemicals like ammonium sulfate and polysorbate 80, the most egregious may be azodicarbonamide — "a flour-bleaching agent most commonly used in the manufactur[ing] of foamed plastics like gym mats the and soles of shoes." According to McDonald's own ingredient list, the bun also includes calcium sulfate and ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, among other chemicals.

Full Story

What you were expecting actual food?!

Autumn

Last Master of Martial Art Seeks Apprentice

Why don’t you apply? You’re not getting paid for that office clerk internship anyway.

Nidar Singh of Wolverhampton, UK, may be the last living master of the Sikh martial art shastar vidya, which means the “science of weapons”. He himself was taught by an octogenarian in Punjab who thought that he was the last serious practitioner. Singh remembered the first day of his training:

On his first day of training, the frail old man handed him a stick and instructed Mr Singh to hit him. When he tried, the master threw him around like a rag doll.
“He was a frail old man chucking me about and I couldn’t touch him,” he says. “That definitely impressed me.”

Full Story

Ten of the coolest jobs

10 of the coolest jobs in the world

Rock climbing in scenic locales beats the normal drudgery of reporting to an office or cube.  

 They get paid to do that? 

Also: 

• 3 job interview myths
• Your job is killing you
• Fight for holiday jobs

Awesome Pictures

The warning signs of a mini-stroke

The warning signs of a mini-stroke

A mini-stroke is an emergency and can lead to a full blown stroke, but many of us can't detect one. Weakness 

Also: 

• World Stroke Day
• 10 stroke risk factors
• Could you save a life?

Children Are Spending More Time With Screen Media Than Books

What's happening to the bedtime story? A study carried out by Common Sense Media has found that children aged between 0 and 8 now spend more than triple the amount of time watching television than reading books, or having stories read to them. The research also looked at the growing use of mobile devices by children.

Anyone with a young child, niece or nephew will know the ease with which they take to devices like smartphones and tablets. Within minutes they seem to have the hang of it, swiping, pinching, and possibly even purchasing a few things they shouldn't be.

Stranded 7 hours on tarmac

Passengers stranded for 7 hours or more

Fliers on at least three JetBlue planes and one American Airlines plane face a travel nightmare.  

Ordeal wasn't over 

Also: 

• Feds probe JetBlue flight
• Pilot pleads for help
• Qantas planes fly again

Fans rip apart concert stage

Angry fans rip apart concert stage

Video shows Metallica ticket holders storming the dais after a performance is canceled.

$200,000 in damages 

Also: 

• Watch Metallica videos
• Adele cancels all shows
• Sugarland's free concert

Police seek pink bikini burglar

On the night of Oct. 20, surveillance at Kidscape Daycare on West Washington Street, Indianapolis, caught a disturbing burglary.

The video shows a man breaking in, completely undressing and then putting on a child's pink bikini that he found in one of the rooms. The man then walks around the building in the bathing suit and triggers an alarm. After the alarm went off, he leaves.

Indianapolis police responded to the alarm that night, but said they didn't find anything suspicious. The surveillance video was viewed the following morning when employees arrived at work.

They called police back to the daycare center where police said they found an open window on the backside of the building. Police said they also found a beer bottle in the same room where the man picked up the bathing suit. Police said there are no suspects and no arrests have been made. The crime is considered a burglary because the man left with the pink bikini.

US northern border checks scaled back

The U.S. Border Patrol has quietly stopped its controversial practice of routinely searching buses, trains and airports for illegal immigrants at transportation hubs along the northern border and in the nation's interior.

Full Story

The Wisdom of Maxine

An oldie but a goodie

Fact Check: repugican lawmakers spin funding tall tales

It's an outrageous tale: The federal government spends one out of every $10 in transportation aid on wasteful projects such as refurbishing a giant roadside coffee pot and constructing turtle tunnels.That's what repugican lawmakers have said repeatedly in recent weeks in the Senate, in public appearances and in news releases.

Full Story

They're the same ... Oh, really?

The teapartiers are all claiming #occupywallstreet is just like they are.
Well, let's just see about that shall we:

Yep, they're the same all right! And the moon is made of green cheese!

Get a load of this ...

#occupywallst is in its second month; meanwhile people at Goldman Sachs get $10 billion in bonuses.

Just so you know ...

... another huge problem in this recessionary economy: wage theft.

States with most millionaires

The states with the most millionaires

Nearly every state in the nation has seen an increase in its total number of millionaires.

  Many on East Coast 

Also: 

• Best downtowns in U.S.
• Best and worst markets
• The 5 emptiest cities

Tax Rates

Ziggy

OK, that was different

Iron Man (the Bluegrass version)

The Hidden Haunted History Of 7 American Landmarks

The stories of presidential ghosts in the White House are pretty well known. But plenty of other landmarks have their own ghost stories. What about the haunted Hollywood sign, or the ghostly curators of the Smithsonian Institution?

World's amazing mountain towns

Amazing mountain towns around the world

These famously charming locales offer historic downtowns amid jaw-dropping views in every season.

Also:

• World's loveliest islands
• Affordable new hotels
• Find driving distances

Abandoned Grain Silo in France Is Now an Opera House

© C + T Architectures

Overlooking the port of Marseille, one of largest cities in France, used to sit an abandoned grain silo. Situated in a neighborhood slated for renovation, the emblematic and highly visible Arenc Silo, built in 1926-7, faced demolition. But rather than destroy the building and start from scratch with new materials, the City decided to transform it. For the last year, the old silo has been in service as a fully renovated opera house and theater.

Article continues: Abandoned Grain Silo in France Is Now an Opera House

Trees are the Winners in the Landscape Photography of the Year Prize

© Robert Fulton - Winter Field,

Trees are the winner in the Landscape Photographer of the Year 2011 prize. And what a stunning stand of trees they are.

Article continues: Trees are the Winners in the Landscape Photography of the Year Prize

East Coast faces recovery

Recovery from storm could take days

The East Coast storm that dropped over two feet of snow in spots has left millions without power.

  New records 

Also: 

• Scenes from the storm
• Rail travel disrupted
• Planes stuck on tarmac

Skeptic's global warming switch

Skeptic changes mind on global warming

After years of research, a doubting physicist agrees that the Earth is rapidly heating up.  

What changed his mind 

Also: 

• Romney's shifting views
• NASA's climate satellite
• Seaweed being affected

Did you know ...

Nothing is ever actually thrown "away."  As arctic ice melts, it is releasing toxins from previous eras, including pesticides such as DDT.

B.C.

Pachyrhinosaurus

The Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas said Friday that museum paleontologists will announce the discovery of the new species of the ceratopsid dinosaur Pachyrhinosaurus next week at a Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Las Vegas.

Full Story

Bella The Dog Is Dead: Tara The Elephant Mourns Her Best Pal

Sad news from the elephant sanctuary for abandoned, runaway, inspiring and wayward elephants inA Hohenwald, Tennessee: Tarra's friend Bella has died.

Sad end to friendship between dog and elephant

Officials at The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, said on Friday that Bella, a rescue dog whose longtime companion had been Tarra the Asian elephant, was killed earlier this week. In an announcement, sanctuary CEO Robert Atkinson said: "Tarra's little dog Bella has died. We found her body on Wednesday and have been dealing with the aftermath ever since, trying to work out what happened while we look after Tarra and each other.

"We noticed Bella was not with Tarra at breakfast on Tuesday and later that morning she still had not appeared. Tarra and Bella have always spent short periods apart as one goes off exploring briefly on their own, but this longer absence worried us deeply and a search of the property was started which continued into the next day. The search ended tragically when Bella's body was found close to the Asia barn that had long been home to Tarra, her five sisters and Bella. During the time of the search our usually social Tarra chose to remain alone, watched over by concerned caregivers. Dr. Scott, our vet of sixteen years, examined Bella for the last time and, with advice from the experts from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, determined the probable cause of death was an attack by animals, most likely coyotes.

"Having carefully examined Bella's wounds and the place where she was found, we concluded that Bella had not been attacked near where she was found and neither could she have walked there. As these investigations were taking place observant Caregivers, even more watchful of Tarra than usual, noticed blood on the underside of her trunk, evidence that pointed us in the direction of what likely happened that fateful night. The most probable scenario is that during the night Bella strayed from Tarra briefly and was set upon. Tarra arrived too late to save her but was able to stop further damage being done to Bella's body. With deep sadness and deeper wonder we come to comprehend what likely happened next—that Tarra picked Bella up and carried her home.

Tarra and Bella last year.

YouTube link.

"Further evidence in support of our belief for what happened comes from Tarra herself. After Bella had been found, Caregivers ensured Tarra had every chance to inspect Bella's body before it was buried and to come to terms with her death, as this is an important part of the grieving process for elephants. But Tarra was not interested in either Bella or the group of Caregivers who would normally have drawn our inquisitive girl to see what was happening. It was only later when we had pieced together the whole picture that Tarra's behaviour at Bella's grave made sense. Our poor, brave, loving girl knew what had happened to her beloved Bella and, in the dark hours of the night as she carried her body home, had come to terms with her death."

Animal Pictures