The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
How about letting a few of those sweet feelings slip out?
Put your reserve aside and get a little mushy.
If you're coupled up, renew and reinvigorate the romance by reiterating why it is you're involved.
If you've got a crush, well, they're not going to realize you're interested by sheer intuition.
Ask some in-depth questions about them, and express how fascinated you are by the answers -- and by them in general.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Edithvale, Victoria, Australia

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia

Santander, Cantabria, Spain

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Colonge, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

as well as Belgium, Sweden and in cities across the United States such as North Easton, Carnation, Chambersburg, Oakland and more.

Today is:

Today is Monday, September 27, the 270th day of 2010.

There are 95 days left in the year.

Today In History September 27

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:

There are none.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

The wrong way

U.S. embarrassed by Philippine flag flap

The country's flag is displayed upside down at a summit hosted by President Obama. 

Its unintended message 

Also: 

• More about the flag
• China rattles rest of Asia
• Asia on Obama's agenda

Having it both ways

College football player pulls off rare feat

Stanford's Owen Marecic needed just 13 seconds to accomplish something that hasn't been done in years.  

Watch 

Also: 

• College football records
• Alabama survives scare
• Boise's dream still alive

Surprising ways you're ruining your skin

Surprising ways you're ruining your skin

Old glasses and steam room detoxes can actually age the skin on your face.  

Excerise can hurt skin too 

Also: 

• 5-minute hair fixes
• Your body's best jeans
• Skin care tips

Working In The Coal Mine

Lee Dorsey  (1967)

When the levee breaks

Locals flee as Wisconsin levee starts to fail

The gushing overflow from a swollen river stuns an area that's used to dealing with high water.

'Out of control' 

Also: 

• 'It came up so fast'
• Find: What is a levee?
• East Coast battles drought

Awesome Pictures

Yuto Miyawaza, 10 Year-Old Guitar Prodigy

Yuto Miyawaza started playing guitar since he was three and loves Ozzy Ozbourne, so naturally he’s a rock star at the tender age of 10.
Here’s his rendition of Ozzy’s Crazy Train at Ellen Show (taken when he was 9). Watch his face at the end, when he got a nice surprise.

Whale Rider

Teen whale rider spotted

A teenager reportedly seen hitching a ride on the back of a whale off the West Australian coast was courting death, say environmental authorities.

Australian police car in spelling mishap

It was one 'L' of a bad day for the signwriter who took care of this "pollice" car. A sharp-eyed photographer noticed the patrol car, based at Brisbane's city division, had an extra 'L' in the "police" sign written across the driver's side.
The Commodore was spotted on Wednesday before disappearing from view later in the week. The back driver's side door was damaged and replaced recently, which is when the transfer with the extra 'L' was added by mistake.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said the car was delivered back to the city centre police station, where the spelling error was spotted by officers.

But because the car was needed for operational duties, it was used that day before being sent back to the police garage, where the offending extra letter was subsequently removed.

Computer worm in Iran raises questions

The worm has been disrupting Iranian industrial sites. So far, no group or country has claimed ownership though experts believe the list of possible sources is very limited.

The Guardian:

Creating the malicious code required a team of as many as five to 10 highly educated and well-funded hackers. Government experts and outside analysts say they haven't been able to determine who developed it or why.

The malware has infected as many as 45,000 computer systems around the world. Siemens AG, the company that designed the system targeted by the worm, said it has infected 15 of the industrial control plants it was apparently intended to infiltrate. It is not clear what sites were infected, but they could include water filtration, oil delivery, electrical and nuclear plants.

None of those infections has adversely affected the industrial systems, according to Siemens.

US officials said last month that the Stuxnet was the first malicious computer code specifically created to take over systems that control the inner workings of industrial plants.

Plague breaks out in Tibet

China has issued a health alert in its south-western region of Tibet after five people were diagnosed with the plague, an often fatal infectious disease. One of the five has already died from a severe lung infection attributed to the pneumonic plague, while one other patient was in a critical condition, the Tibet health department said in a statement on its website.
The outbreak was first detected on Thursday last week in Latok village in Tibet's Nyingchi Prefecture, the department said. The four patients, all of whom had contact with the deceased, have been quarantined, it said.

Disease control experts have been dispatched to the area in an effort to control the further spread of the disease, it said. The department also issued a warning to anyone who has visited the region near the outbreak to seek immediate medical attention should they develop fever, cough or other flu-like symptoms common to the plague.

Pneumonic plague is spread by rodents like marmots, which are numerous in Tibet. An outbreak of the disease last year killed three people in Ziketan, a town in a Tibetan area in neighbouring Qinghai province. The World Health Organisation says pneumonic plague is the most virulent but least common form of plague. The mortality rate can be high, but prompt antibiotic treatment is effective.

Polish neo-Nazi skinhead couple discovered they are Jewish

From the "OOPS" Department:

A married couple have revealed how they turned their backs on their violent neo-Nazi past – after discovering they were both Jewish.

The one-time skinheads grew up as part of a hate-filled white power gang in Warsaw, the capital of Poland and once the site of the largest Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe.

But now they are devout members of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue.

The truth about their roots had been buried by their parents to escape persecution from first the Germans and then the Soviet-controlled post-war government.

Full story.

A scene from ‘The Last of the Mohicans’

This painting by Thomas Cole.

Seven places to sleep under the stars

Seven places to sleep under the stars

Suites at the 600-acre Amangiri Resort in Utah showcase twinkling night skies.  

See elephants by moonlight in Africa 

Also: 

• Top 10 castle hotels
• Lighthouses to sleep in
• Finding constellations

Up-and-coming cities

15 up-and-coming cities to consider

Early signs of a healthy economy are in these areas with growing jobs, incomes, and population.  

Surprising boomtowns 

Also: 

• 10 best places to retire
• Tips for home buyers
• Job hunting advice

Ten best places to buy a starter house

10 best places to buy a starter house

Find out where homes go for less than $150,000 and living costs are low.

$500 mortgage payments 

Also: 

• Sell your home faster
• The outlook for housing
• Current mortgage rates

On The Job

On The Job

Hot jobs that are hiring at the fastest rates

A spike in want ads for some careers could mean the economic outlook is brightening.

Salaries above $90,000 

Also: 

• Recession-proof degrees
• Jobs with staying power
• Top employment trends

Why Taxing The Rich Promotes Economic Growth

With high taxes, the only way to retain the bulk of the wealth created by a business is by reinvesting it in the business -- in plants, equipment, staff, research and development, new products and all the rest.
Low taxes create an incentive for profit taking.

The real-world effects of tax policy are counter-intuitive.
They run exactly opposite the conventional wisdom.
They defy what the Heritage Foundation calls common sense and what the American Enterprise Institute calls logic.
Reality laughs at the Laffer curve, calls Ronald Reagan wrong and says George W. Bush is a loon.

Full Story

Businessman furious at banks' refusal to lend bricks up Barclays branch in protest

A businessman angry at the reluctance of banks to lend money to small firms yesterday bricked up the front door of a Barclays in protest. Cameron Hope, a property developer, used breeze-blocks to build an 8ft by 4ft wall directly in front of the entrance to the bank. Mr Hope, 59, was joined by other local business owners who say they have had trouble getting money out of banks in order to run their companies.

The protesters waved placards and banners proclaiming 'robbed by the banks we own' and 'make the banks lend' during the stunt at Barclays in Bournemouth, Dorset. Members of the public voiced their support along with passing motorists who sounding their horns. Mr Hope, a father-of-four from Bournemouth, said: 'We blocked the doorway as a way of saying that the banks are open but the safe is shut.

'The banks are stifling the recovery from the recession by not lending businesses any money. I wanted to borrow some money for a new development but was told 'no, maybe next year. I wanted to borrow 40,000 pounds on a property that I already own but the bank tried to charge me a 7,000 pounds arrangement fee. It is outrageous and they are doing it because they can get away with it. Savers are getting nothing, borrowers are getting nothing and the banks are doing what ever they like.

'Some of the banks are even owned by the taxpayer and still they won't lend. The recovery will come from the private sector and if businesses can't borrow money then the recovery won't happen. This protest is saying enough is enough and the government needs to step in and make the banks lend.' The brick wall was taken down two hours into the protest after police threatened them with arrest.