The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

A long-cherished family trait will be manifested in you today -- it looks as though you are blessed with a gift that one of your ancestors once used to great success! 

So what are you going to do with it, huh?! 

Don't let the pressure get to you right now. 

First off, you have to get comfortable with this relatively new skill.

Just try it on for size and consult a family member. 

Ask them what they would do if they were you. 

They will have some good advice.

 Some of our readers today have been in:
Bilbao, Pais Vasco, Spain
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand
Kingston, Kingston, Jamaica
London, England, United Kingdom
Pontianank, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia
Thisted, Vestsjalland, Denmark
Delhi, Delhi, India
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Prague, Hlavni Mesto Praha, Czech Republic
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Newbury, England, United Kingdom
Morini, Morini, Comoros
Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Woodlands, Singapore, Singapore
Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Woking, England, United Kingdom
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Shenzen, Guangdong, China
Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India

Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France
Hanover, Niedersachsen, Germany

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 Charlotte, Charleston, Portland, Seattle and more!

Today is:

Today is Tuesday, November 8, the 312th day of 2011.

There are 53 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day.

  

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Tuneful Tuesday

In A Gadda Da Vida by Iron Butterfly

Sewer attracts tourists

Elaborate sewer becomes tourist attraction

The "Underground Temple" is a gigantic flood prevention system that can pump 200 tons of water per second.

  Photos 

Also: 

• Waste disposal crisis
• Dreamliner's landing glitch
• Japan arrests boat captain

Reality behind U.S. income gap

Hard truth behind U.S. income gap

America's massive income inequality will be one of the issues shaping the 2012 election. 

  Listening to the people 

Also: 

• Old-young wealth gap
• 49 million in U.S. in poverty
• Income of top 1% soars

Feed family for $15 a day

How to feed a family for $15 a day

One trick will save you 20% at the checkout register, says a grocery maven.  

 Breakfast for about a buck 

Also: 

• Food money-wasters
• Cut health costs $1,500
• A debt-free Christmas

Seven dangers of debit cards

Watch out for these 7 debit card dangers

Paying for gas with a credit card makes it easier for you to detect fraud quickly

ATMs that are riskiest 

Also: 

• Find low credit-card rates
• Ways to cut money stress
• Borrowing from family

The truth be told

'Liar' outburst caught on mic

'Liar' mic gaffe may haunt Sarkozy, Obama

A charged exchange accidentally broadcast to reporters could spark tensions with a key ally. 

Embarrassing 

Also: 

• Israel's warning to Iran
• Berlusconi on the brink
• Putin's 'energy weapon'

What Have The Greeks Ever Done For Us?

 

image credit

Greece: ask someone what they think about the country at the moment and the answer might well be resentment at the irresponsible borrowing, overgenerous retirement benefits, employment cronyism and reluctance to pay taxes which have led to the current economic crisis in Europe. The words hell and handbasket spring almost automatically to mind.

Yet there is so much more to Greece than its present unfortunate predicament. Today we ask the question what have the Greeks ever done for us?

Strange Tombstone

One day, a lawyer named Strange died, and his friend asked the tombstone maker to inscribe on the tombstone, ‘Here lies Strange, an honest man and a lawyer.’

The inscriber insisted that such an inscription would be confusing, for any passer-by would tend to think that three men were buried under the stone.

However he suggested an alternative: He would inscribe, ‘Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer.

‘That way, whenever anyone walked by the tombstone and read it, they would be certain to remark: ‘That’s Strange!’

The Last Decade - A Disaster

Take a good long look at the new America....the crumbling empire. Just how the repugicans designed it.

...according to the census’s new interpretation of the numbers, the total number of people living in poverty America is higher than the traditional approach indicates.

...in an era where large swaths of the population and one major political party believe that government is the problem, not the solution, it’s hard to see how we are going to make progress on progressive zoning and land use issues, not to mention regional economic development strategies. But there’s one thing, at least, that we should know by now, not to do: cut the programs that are currently keeping americans above the poverty line. 

Full Story

Most unemployed no longer receiving benefits

If anyone is looking for any more reasons why OWS is so popular, here you go. Despite plenty of screams and whines from the right, the US welfare state is really small and nothing close to what exists in the rest of the industrialized world. On the other hand, corporate giveaways including bank bailouts add up to a lot more money and it's not even close.

Here's what happens to the 99%:

Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America's 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.

Congress is expected to decide by year's end whether to continue providing emergency unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states. If the emergency benefits expire, the proportion of the unemployed receiving aid would fall further.

The ranks of the poor would also rise. The Census Bureau says unemployment benefits kept 3.2 million people from slipping into poverty last year. It defines poverty as annual income below $22,314 for a family of four.

Formula's Social Security effect

Formula would lower Social Security raises

Congress is weighing a new inflation measure that would gradually reduce benefits.  

 Who faces biggest tax impact 

Also: 

• Fresh aid for jobless vets?
• Committee toils over cuts
• Mitt Romney's fiscal plan

Daily Comic Relief

Secrets of WWI battlefield

Secrets of WWI battlefield uncovered

An archaeological survey of a historic war site exposes a maze of trenches and other artifacts.

Telling clues 

Also: 

• WWII parade anniversary
• War vets win elections
• Marine symbol of protests

Crabby Road

They have finally gone and done it ...

 

They finally found a way to make a man want to drink a 'Diet' anything!

Culinary DeLites

Easy dinner recipes for the entire week

Chili macaroni is easy to make and will quickly become a family favorite.

  Gorgonzola pork chops, more ideas 

Also: 

• Seven soups for fall
• Easy baked pasta dishes
• Casseroles for all tastes

Adding Nuts to Diet May Improve Mood

Scientists have long understood that nuts can play a key role in increasing energy, fighting heart disease by lowering cholesterol and satisfying people's appetite through their richness in fiber.

Full Story

Ziggy

X-Ray Day

Today is X-Ray Day. On this day in 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) becomes the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible.

Röntgen produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Researchers ID brain cells that keep us awake

Bright light arouses us. Bright light makes it easier to stay awake. Very bright light not only arouses us but is known to have antidepressant effects. Conversely, dark rooms can ...

Full Story

Awesome Pictures

Mount Doom: Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You

One of today’s most dangerous volcanoes has a new nickname: Mount Doom.

Read more 

How Aliens Can Find Us (and Vice Versa)

Explore how aliens might stumble upon our planet -- and how we might spot them first.

Read more 

See asteroid as it zips by

Rare chance to spot asteroid zipping by

A space rock the size of a city block will zoom between Earth and the moon's orbit later today.  

 How you can see it 

Also: 

• Map of asteroid's path
• Ways to deflect asteroids
• White House talks aliens

Cave painters were realists, DNA study finds

Cave painters during the Ice Age were more like da Vinci than Dali, sketching realistic depictions of horses they saw rather than dreaming them up, a study of ancient DNA finds.

Full Story

Rare rhino's air journey

We posted the picture yesterday, now read the story behind it ...

Rare rhino takes amazing air journey

The critically endangered animal makes a portion of its 932-mile relocation by helicopter.  

 The stunning photos 

Also: 

• Poaching hits record
• Woolly mammoth mystery
• Vietnam rhino now extinct

B.C.

Duck, Duck, ...

The picture is funny enough, but in the discussion at reddit, I learned that in Minnesota, they don’t play the game by saying “duck, duck, goose,” but instead it’s “duck, duck, grey duck!” OuchoGroucho told us:

I remember that with Duck, Duck, Grey Duck one can play with the tiniest bit of subterfuge. The person that was “it” would always draw out the first syllable slightly when saying “grrrrreen duck.” Sometimes it would cause confusion, and one could slip in “grey duck” and get a slight head start. We would also say many fun colors as we went around. Moving from red duck, blue duck to lavender duck, beige duck, grrrrrassy duck.

Full Story

Vet is living with poorly baby gorilla to help him back to health

A vet is living with a poorly primate around the clock as she helps nurse him back to health. Sarah Chapman is keeping Twycross Zoo's baby gorilla Okanda under 24-hour supervision after staff noticed he had become weak and poorly. They discovered a problem with his mother's milk that meant the young primate was not getting the nutrients he needed.

Staff sedated his mother, Ozala, while they hurried the infant to the on-site vet. Sarah is now living with the six-month-old gorilla at an undisclosed location but is only communicating with the infant through grunts. Zoo staff have asked her to mimic the sounds and actions of a primate as they are wary about exposing him to human influence.

Vet and director life sciences at the zoo Sharon Redrobe said: "We're very pleased with his progress but we thought we were going to lose him. It's been very touch and go. He was so thin and he doesn't want to be left alone because after all he's still only a baby. Sarah isn't holding him like a human baby, or talking to him, just grunting and grooming him like his mother would do."

The young primate was put on a drip and had a feeding tube placed in his stomach as he was not strong enough to feed from a bottle. He was then fed powdered baby milk every three hours as his condition was continuously assessed. For the past few days, staff have been weaning the youngster off milk and on to solid foods, such as bananas and food pellets. They hope to have Okanda back with his mother by January.

Death from Above

Wildlife photographer Markus Varesvuo snapped this amazing picture of a herring gull attacking an eagle. Gulls often join together to drive predators away from breeding grounds, but sometimes solitary gulls do the dirty work, too. For the greatest impact, they swoop in from above and behind a bird of prey.

Read More

Prehistoric Whale Done in By Shark, Frozen in Time

A 40-million-year-old shark and whale encounter is found preserved in stone.

Read more 

Animal Pictures