The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

Has your drive for success gone into overdrive?
It's all well and good to aggressively pursue your goals, but you have to be mindful of the fact that not everyone else has the level of stamina that you have.
Just because you want something badly does not mean that everyone is eager to help you get it.
Your personal desires are not something everyone can relate to, so if you want others on board, you have to work extra hard at encouraging them.

 Some of our readers today have been in:
Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Derry, Derry, Ireland
Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Georetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana
Albury, New South Wales, Australia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Rome, Lazio, Italy
San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina
Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
London, England, United Kingdom
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Bochum, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Munich, Bayern, Germany
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Stafford, England, United Kingdom
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Einschede, Overijssel, Netherlands
Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Bucharest, Bucuresti, Romania
Crawley, England, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Manila, Manila, Philippines
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia
Delhi, Delhi, India
Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Athens, Attiki, Greece

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 Ames, Chico, Colon, Reno and more!

Today is:

Today is Sunday, November 27, the 331st day of 2011.

There are 34 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

National Day of Listening.

  

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Subtle Sunday

 

See ... they do exist.

Random Celebrity Photo

 

The Beatles

Gold ain't Green

Gold, not green

Gold mining threatens Guyana's plans to protect its rainforest

Reprieve angers condemned man

Murderer opposes live-saving decision

A condemned Oregon inmate calls the governor a coward for halting all state executions.

  Slated to die next month 

Also: 

• Regret haunts governor
• Testimony in Conn. case
• More on death penalty

Three face prison time in special toilet paper scam

Talk about a dirty scam. Federal prosecutors in Florida say at least three people working for a septic tank company duped customers into buying about $1 million in unnecessary products - in some cases enough toilet paper to last more than 70 years.

 Full Story

'Frosty the Snowman' arrested at Maryland parade

Who says "Frosty the Snowman" has to be jolly? A man in a "Frosty the Snowman" costume was arrested Saturday during the annual Christmas parade in Chestertown, on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

 Full Story

Off duty cop sprays pepper spray into crowd

It's becoming more obvious why some countries ban this stuff. If trained police can't figure out the right time and wrong time to use it, maybe it's time to stop equipping them with it. It doesn't matter if it was a single "puff" or not, it's not to be used in such circumstances. What kind of an idiot thinks this is the right thing to do?
NBC News:

Kinston (NC) police are disputing accounts of the incident, telling NBC News that they fired a single "puff" of pepper spray when a large group of people tried to grab products before Walmart employees were finished putting the items on display.

An officer sprayed "a puff" of pepper spray in the air to have the crowd "regain composure," police said. They told NBC News that none of the substance was sprayed into anyone's eyes or face and that no one requested medical attention.

Police confirmed that one man was arrested but wouldn't confirm his identity as reported in local news accounts.

Cheerleader gets muzzled

Dallas Cowboys quiet tackled cheerleader

Melissa Kellerman fires off two charming tweets about her sideline encounter with a tight end.

  Then team muzzles her 

Also: 

• Cowboys cheerleaders
• Best's season ends
• Suh's nasty side shows

Former US Poet Laureate clubbed by police at UC Davis

Robert Hass, 70-year old former poet laureate of the US, talks of being clubbed at UC Davis.

It's so easy ...

Debunking the wingnut argument about the rich and taxes in three easy charts.

Did you know ...

... it looks like transfer your bank account day worked as the banks are in line to lose $185 billion.

Tips on how to prevent a cold

How to stop a cold before it starts

Most adults suffer three colds per year, each lasting an average of nine days, a physician says.  

 Helpful remedies 

Also: 

• Food safety mistakes
• Transcepts gets FDA nod
• Danger of acetaminophen

Customer service secrets

Secrets to superior customer service

Being direct but polite with company representatives can get your problem resolved more quickly.

  Key phrases 

Also: 

• Shopping online safely
• Pawn shops gain respect
• Bosses' holiday warning

Tricks to trim your energy bill

12 ways to lower your energy bill

Consumers may not have to cut back on holiday gifts if they follow these low-cost ideas.  

Make your TV more efficient 

Also: 

• Consumer Reports' list
• Old items with value
• Rags-to-riches stories

Ten steps to financial fitness

Straightforward steps to financial success

A financial planner gives his advice for getting the most out of your money in every way.  

Do a money stock take 

Also: 

• What to ask your adviser
• Sting exposes bank advice
• Minimum a family needs

Ziggy

Random Photos

Pocket Size Espresso Machine

Instructables user urant built a self contained espresso machine that fits in his pocket. An alcohol stove provides the heat. That part required a lot of tinkering in order to be both safe and effective. The end result is a portable machine that brews a cup of espresso in just a few minutes.

Full Story

Snoopy's got it pegged

Indoctrination through food?

By eating snags from the supermarket on the barbecue this summer, you are unknowingly being converted to Islam, according to Cowan MHR Luke Simpkins.

In a speech to Federal Parliament yesterday, Mr Simpkins accused meat producers, including Harvey Beef, Inghams and Steggles of “deceiving” West Australians by not labeling their products as Halal food.

Full Story

Here in the US we've had wingnuts howling about the same thing - only one flaw in their thought process though ... Halal is the exact thing as Kosher but you don't hear them howling about that now do you?! Oh, no they couldn't do that! Both involve slaughtering animals by slitting their throats as opposed to smashing their foreheads with a sledgehammer or with a bullet and then a superstitious 'blessing' to appease the animal's angry spirit at being killed.

Wingnuts are wingnuts the world over and are a virus that we need to stamp out.

DNA barcoding catches food fraudsters, IDs animals from 30,000 years ago

Barcode of Life Scientists have discovered a range of new uses for a Canadian technology that can be used to peer into 30,000-year-old permafrost, detect phoney herbal medicines and catch invasive species before they sneak across borders.

 Full Story

How to make Butter Chicken

The easiest dish for curry lovers

Keep it nice and simple without compromising on taste with this delicious butter chicken recipe. 

More

Also:

• Easy-peasy cottage pie
• Winter-warming dishes
• Make a great pumpkin pie

Eight disease-fighting spices

8 spices that can ward off disease

Science is beginning to discover that these herbs may inhibit cancer.

  Control weight, too 

Also: 

• Nutrition myths
• Drinks to boost memory
• Save on prescriptions

Potential health benefits of green tea

Next to water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. Speaking of water, with all of the potential health benefits of green tea, in particular, perhaps we should be putting it in the water? Seriously. Or rather, let’s take a look at some reasons why you should be drinking green tea more often.

 Full Story

Scientists create massive super-flu that could cause a global pandemic and kill millions of people

Locked up in the bowels of the medical faculty building here and accessible to only a handful of scientists lies a man-made flu virus that could change world history if it were ever set free.

The virus is an H5N1 avian influenza strain that has been genetically altered and is now easily transmissible between ferrets, the animals that most closely mimic the human response to flu. Scientists believe it's likely that the pathogen, if it emerged in nature or were released, would trigger an influenza pandemic, quite possibly with many millions of deaths.

In a 17th floor office in the same building, virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center calmly explains why his team created what he says is "probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make"—and why he wants to publish a paper describing how they did it. Fouchier is also bracing for a media storm. After he talked to ScienceInsider yesterday, he had an appointment with an institutional press officer to chart a communication strategy.

Don't know about you but I would have thought the way to ensure the security of such a potent biological weapon would be to keep your trap shut about it. But what do I know about securing a virus that could cause a global pandemic and kill millions of people?

Full Story

Cognition and Learning

Well that explains a lot.

Fantasmagorie

Fantasmagorie is an 1908 French animated film by Émile Cohl (born Émile Eugène Jean Louis Courtet). It is one of the earliest examples of traditional animation, and considered by film historians to be the first animated cartoon. To make this film, Cohl placed each drawing on an illuminated glass plate and then traced the next drawing-with variations-on top of it until he had some 700 drawings.
In 1908, chalkboard caricaturists were common vaudeville attractions and the characters in the film look as though they've been drawn on a chalkboard, but it's an illusion. By filming black lines on paper and then printing in negative Cohl makes his animations appear to be chalk drawings.

YouTube link

Incredible stunt over the Alps

'Jetman' soars with planes over the Alps

Yves Rossy flies in a death-defying aerial formation using a contraption he designed himself.  

 Steers with body 

Also: 

• His Grand Canyon stunt
• Find more on 'Jetman'
• Skier braves comeback

Unique Crater Spotted in Irkutsk Area, Russia

Crater "Patomski" also has another name: "The Nest of the Fire Eagle". According to one theory, this could be a rare Cryovolcano that erupts water instead of molten lava. It was discovered only in 1948 by geologist Vladimir Kolpakov, and remains one of the most mysterious formations on Earth:

(images via)

Talking Trash Through The Ages

A lerrycometwang is a fool, a simpleton. An abstractionist is a pickpocket. A gollumpus is a large, loutish, uncoordinated person. A cakey-pannum fencer is a street-seller of pastries.
History is full of silver-tongued scoundrels. So if you find yourself in a 19th-century battle of wits, best not to bring a dagger to a musket fight. Jonathon Green's new book, 'Green's Dictionary of Slang' is a 6,200-page lexicon spanning more than half a millennium.

Early Humans Fished Deep Sea

The world's earliest known fish hooks reveal that humans fished the open sea for much longer than previously thought. Researcher Sue O'Connor, an archaeologist at Australian National University in Canberra, and her colleagues have found evidence of prehistoric fishing gear and the remains of large fish such as tuna at a cave shelter known as Jerimalai, located in the Southeast Asian island nation of
East Timor.

B.C.

The Deer Hunter

While a Texan was busily preparing for the first day of deer hunting season, his wife started nagging that he never asked her to go along. After several hours of argument the wife won.

That next morning they drove out to the country, and he placed his wife in a tree about 100 yards from his blind. Just as the hunter reached the blind, he heard a loud bang coming from the wife's position.

As he ran up to her, he saw that she was holding her gun on a man nearby and shouting, "It's my deer! Get away from It!!

The sheepish-looking stranger just nodded slowly and said, "OK, lady.. It's your deer. Just let me get my saddle off of it!"

Terrier Threat Levels

Receding floods reveal crocs lurking in Bangkok

Murky floodwaters are receding from Bangkok's inundated outskirts to reveal some scary swamp-dwellers who moved in while flooded residents were moving out - including crocodiles and some of the world's most poisonous snakes.

 Full Story

Snakes on Planes

Beautiful but Deadly Snakes

Mark Laita composed a series of photographs of dangerous snakes from across the world. This image is one of the rhinoceros viper, a snake found in West and Central Africa.

Full Story | Photographer’s Website

Animal Pictures