The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
That secret you've been holding onto forever?
The one you've been lugging around for what feels like most of your adult life?
Someone has made it more difficult for you to keep that secret any longer.
Besides, it's your secret, and only your secret -- which makes it perfectly fair game for you to tell anyone and everyone.
So when the questions come about, don't feel as if the paparazzi are following you, and don't feel bad about openly disclosing everything.
Why hide what you're not ashamed of?

Some of our readers today have been in:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Edithvale, Victoria, Australia

Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Bilbao, Pais Vasco, Spain

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

San Juan, San, Juan, Puerto Rico

Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands

Ankara, Ankara, Turkey

Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia

La Libertad, La Libertad, El Salvador

Manila, Manila, Philippines

London, England, United Kingdom

Bergen, Hordaland, Norway

Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

as well as Czech Republic, Singapore, Japan, Scotland, Italy, Romania, Korea, Vietnam and in cities across the United States such as Galion, Inver Grove Heights, Livingston, Villa Park and more.

Today is:

Today is Tuesday, November 23, the 327th day of 2010.

There are 38 days left in the year.

Today In History November 23

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Fibonacci Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Culinary DeLites

A new idea for dinner every night

A sweet-potato, red onion, and fontina tart is a perfect holiday entree for non-meat eaters. 

More recipes to try 

Also: 

• 5 sweet-potato recipes
• Vegetarian Thanksgiving  
• 751 meat-free dishes

The right way to make pie crust

To avoid over-handling the dough, roll it out between two sheets of parchment paper.  

Four ideas for shaping edges 

Also: 

• Six Thanksgiving pies
• Easy and elegant pies  
• Best store-bought crust

Five myths about Thanksgiving

Five Thanksgiving myths debunked

The turkey probably won't be to blame for making you sleepy after Thursday's big meal.  

Stuffing vs. dressing 

Also: 

• Last-minute turkey tips
• Six easy, elegant pies  
• Truth about Thanksgiving

Losing weight with water

Can drinking water help you lose weight?

Dieters have been encouraged to try this trick for ages, but many wonder if it works.  

Studies' answer 

Also: 

• How many glasses
• Crank up your metabolism
• Truth about fish pills

Sporting Chance

A middle management executive has to take on some sport by his doctor’s orders, so he decides to play tennis.

After a couple of weeks his secretary asks him how he’s doing.

“It’s going fine,” the manager says. “When I’m on the court and I see the ball speeding toward me, my brain immediately says, ‘To the corner! Back hand! To the net! Smash! Go back!’”

“Really? What happens then?” the secretary asks.

“Then my body says, ‘Who? Me? You must be kidding!’”

Non Sequitur

Gridlock's effect on 2012

Poll uncovers 2012 pitfall for repugicans

Repugican support for gridlock will cost them a voting bloc that proved crucial in the midterms.  

New findings 

Also: 

• Bias found in polling
• Governors' effect in 2012
• Latest poll data

Repugicans don't want to protect consumers

They certainly don't want a new bureau making sure that consumers are protected.

Repugican Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the leading contender to take the reins of the house financial services committee, and Illinois' Judy Biggert, the top repugican on the panel's oversight and investigations subcommittee, sent letters to the inspectors general of both the treasury department and the federal reserve, directing them to conduct an investigation into the work being done to establish the new bureau.

More

Scientist: X-ray scanners deliver “20 times the average dose that is typically quoted by TSA.”

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, a scientist and the Chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, says the "TSA's current obsession with fielding body imaging technology is misguided, counterproductive, and potentially dangerous."

In March, the Congressional Biomedical Caucus (of which I am a co-chair) hosted a presentation on this technology by TSA, as well as a briefing by Dr. David Brenner of Columbia University on the potential health effects of “back scatter” x-ray devices. As Dr. Brenner noted in his presentation and in subsequent media interviews, the devices currently in use and proposed for wider deployment this year currently deliver to the scalp “20 times the average dose that is typically quoted by TSA and throughout the industry.” Dr. Brenner has pointed out that the majority of the radiation from X-ray backscatter machines strikes the top of the head, which is where 85 percent of the 800,000 cases of basal cell carcinoma diagnosed in the United States each year develop. According to Dr. Brenner, excessive x-ray exposure can act as a cancer rate multiplier, which is why our government should investigate thoroughly the potential health risks associated with this technology.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt Continues to Question Science, Effectiveness of TSA Full Body Scanners

More TSA

Ugly backlash over airport screenings

Stories and videos of TSA screenings gone wrong are going viral ahead of a planned protest. 

Some real, some fake 

Also: 

• More on the scanners
• TSA chief responds
• Few opting for pat down

How to deal with body scans and pat-downs

Know where the full-body scanners are located and how to navigate the new airport security policies.  

What not to do 

Also: 

• TSA boycott warning
• Carry-on baggage rules  
• Top travel deals

Another Canadian take on the TSA porno-scanners

If only the similarity was strictly limited to this issue. Good one by the Ottawa Citizen.

Danger bubbles up through ice

Leaking ice points to 'sleeper' climate threat

Some experts fear a substance oozing out of Siberia's frozen surfaces will soon redefine the climate fight.  

Time bomb? 

Also: 

• Climate summit looms
• repugican's big shift on warming
• Supermodel's climate push

Guilty Verdict in Chandra Levy Murder Trial

Is He the Scapegoat?

After deliberating over parts of four days, the jury in the Chandra Levy murder trial found Ingmar Guandiqu of guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Washington intern Chandra Levy nearly a decade ago.

The verdict came shortly after noon on Monday.

Guandique, a Salvadoran immigrant, was accused of killing Levy in 2001 while she exercised in Washington's Rock Creek Park. Her remains were found in the park roughly a year after she went missing. Levy's disappearance made headlines when she was romantically linked to Gary Condit, then a congressman representing central California as a Democrat, but police no longer think he was involved.

In her closing Tuesday, Public defender Santha Sonenberg said there is powerful evidence of Guandique's innocence, including male DNA from an unknown source that was found on Levy's black running tights. The DNA matches neither Guandique nor Condit, and Guandique's DNA was never found on anything connected to Levy.

Prosecutors said Levy's death fits a pattern of attacks by Guandique in 2001 in Washington's Rock Creek Park. That's where her remains were found.

Defense lawyers say the Salvadoran immigrant has become a scapegoat for a botched investigation.

Israeli military uses Facebook to rein in draft dodgers

We wrote earlier about debt collectors who were using Facebook as a tool. Here we have a further example of why not to use social networking sites: the Israeli military has used Facebook to catch approximately 1,000 draft dodgers. 

Full Story

Koreas trade fire near border

North Korea bombards South Korean island

Pyongyang's attack left buildings ablaze and at least two South Koreans dead.  

Came after warning about military drills 

Also: 

• Effect on world stocks
• N. Korea's next leader
• Nuclear revelations

City's extreme trash crisis

Mounting trash crisis buries Naples

Health experts warn of serious disease risks as uncollected garbage overruns the Italian city.

The unsightly photos 

Also: 

• Inspectors rap Italy
• World's dirtiest cities
• Italy's Elton John flap

Taliban impostor bilks officials

Report: Fake Taliban 'leader' dupes officials

A key figure in secret Afghan peace talks wasn't who he claimed, sources say.  

'And we gave him a lot of money' 

Also: 

• Reclusive Taliban chief
• War's effect on 2012
• Hurdle for Afghan police

Secrets of flight attendants

Things flight attendants won't say out loud

“I hate working flights to destinations like Vail and West Palm Beach," says one.  

The problem with those passengers 

Also: 

• Flight attendant salaries
• Woman who orbited Earth
• Simple holiday travel tips

Dealt a bad hand

Pathological gamblers are also at risk for mental health disorders

Pathological gamblers are risking more than their money, they are also three times more likely to commit suicide than non-betters. A new Montreal inter-university study has shown these gamblers are also plagued by…

Full story

Disney to break from fairy tales

Disney will move away from fairy tales

"Tangled" may be the studio's last film for a while that's based on an age-old fable.  

What's being planned instead 

Also: 

• Rapunzel story origin
• Game uses Disney's past
• 'Cowboys & Aliens' scoop