CAROLINA NATURALLY

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

Investigate a hard-to-believe story today, and you will find that the facts don't quite line up correctly.

Handle this discovery as gingerly as possible -- be careful not to pounce too quickly on the storytellers.

Give them the benefit of the doubt and realize that they might merely be repeating errors that were told to them.

Your role today is not to protect everyone around you from falsehoods.

Your role is just to find out what the truth is, for your own edification.

Some of our readers today have been in:
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Taipei. Taipei, Taiwan
Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Lille, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, France

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia

Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Basarui, Pais Vasco, Spain

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Ankara, Ankara, Turkey

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Nanimo, British Columbia, Canada

London, England, United Kingdom

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia

Vinnius, Vilniaus Apskritis, Lithuania

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei and Muara, Brunei Darussalam

Bath, England, United Kingdom

Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Cork, Cork, Ireland

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Delhi, Delhi, India

Crawley, England, United Kingdom

Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

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 South Bend, North Las Vegas, West Chicago, East Setauket and more!

Today is:

Today is Monday, October 24, the 297th day of 2011.

There are 68 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

There isn't one.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

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Manic Monday

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U.S. Worst in Child Abuse

America has the worst record of child abuse and homicide in the industrialized world.

Why?

Read more

Giffords To Undergo 'Intensive' Therapy In North Carolina

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords arrived in North Carolina on Sunday to undergo "intensive" rehabilitation as she continues her recovery from being shot in the head in a mass shooting in January, her office said.

Full Story

Massive quake slams Turkey

Massive earthquake slams Turkey

Officials fear scores have been killed by the 7.2-magnitude temblor that collapsed dozens of buildings.

Details

Also:

Gaddafi assets worth $200 billion

What's even more amazing is that he couldn't buy his way out of trouble in the end. LA Times:

Moammar Kadafi secretly salted away more than $200 billion in bank accounts, real estate and corporate investments around the world before he was killed, about $30,000 for every Libyan citizen and double the amount that Western governments previously had suspected, according to senior Libyan officials.

The new estimates of the deposed dictator's hidden cash, gold reserves and investments are "staggering," one person who has studied detailed records of the asset search said Friday. "No one truly appreciated the scope of it."

If the values prove accurate, Kadafi will go down in history as one of the most rapacious as well as one of the most bizarre world leaders, on a scale with the late Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire or the late Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

US pulls ambassador out of Syria over credible threats to his safety, assails regime

In this June 20, 2011 photo taken during a government-organized tour for foreign diplomats and the media, US ambassador in Syria Robert Ford, covers his nose during his visit with other foreign diplomats to a mass grave, in Jisr el-Shughour, north of Syria.

Full Story

WikiLeaks suspends Operations

Visa, MasterCard, Western Union and PayPal left it with no choice

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Monday that financial problems may lead to the closure of the notorious secret-spilling site at the end of this year.

"If WikiLeaks does not find a way to remove this blockade we will simply not be able to continue by the turn of the new year," he said. "If we don't knock down the blockade we simply will not be able to continue."

WikiLeaks said in a statement Monday that it would stop publishing for the moment in order to focus on making money — explaining that the blockade imposed by financial companies including Visa, MasterCard, Western Union and PayPal left it with no choice.

The statement says that in order to ensure survival, WikiLeaks must "aggressively fundraise in order to fight back against this blockade and its proponents."

U.S.-based financial companies pulled the plug on WikiLeaks shortly after it began publishing some 250,000 U.S. State Department cables last year. The group says the restrictions starved it of nearly all its revenue.

The group has long shown signs of financial distress. In a recent statement about Assange's contested book deal, the group said it did not have enough money to hire a lawyer.

Assange remains under legal pressure in Europe and the United States. A decision on whether to extradite him to Sweden to face sex crime allegations is expected in the next few weeks. He also may face possible legal action in the United States.