The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
When it comes to balancing your personal life and your career, you're doing a wonderful job of knowing what to make your top priority at any given time.
In part, you have your excellent communication abilities to thank for that.
You know when to ask for the extra time you need, and your loved ones know that you back out of commitments only when you have to.
They have faith in you, so if you need some extra consideration, don't feel guilty about asking for it.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Rome, Lazio, Italy
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Cork, Cork, Ireland
Berne, Bern, Switzerland
Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Cebu, Cebu City, Philippines
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Stoke On Trent, England, United Kingdom
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
London, England, United Kingdom

Amsterdamn, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Tambov, Tambovskaya Oblast, Russia

Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France

Manila, Manila, Philippines

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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 La Crosse, Des Moines, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and more.

Today is:

Today is Sunday, June 26, the 177th day of 2011.

There are 188 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Log Cabin Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Celebrate The 4th Of July

We've put together a whole list of options and ways you can celebrate Independence Day on our special 4th of July section.

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The Year 2010 Saw Record Extreme Weather

 

Dr. JeffMasters of Weather Underground was astonished at the weather extremes of 2010. There was so many weather events that he put off writing about it for six months.

Every year extraordinary weather events rock the Earth. Records that have stood centuries are broken. Great floods, droughts, and storms affect millions of people, and truly exceptional weather events unprecedented in human history may occur. But the wild roller-coaster ride of incredible weather events during 2010, in my mind, makes that year the planet’s most extraordinary year for extreme weather since reliable global upper-air data began in the late 1940s. Never in my 30 years as a meteorologist have I witnessed a year like 2010–the astonishing number of weather disasters and unprecedented wild swings in Earth’s atmospheric circulation were like nothing I’ve seen. The pace of incredible extreme weather events in the U.S. over the past few months have kept me so busy that I’ve been unable to write-up a retrospective look at the weather events of 2010. But I’ve finally managed to finish, so fasten your seat belts for a tour through the top twenty most remarkable weather events of 2010.

What follows is a rundown of weather events from “Snowmageddon” to record flooding the world over, with plenty of graphs, charts, and videos to explain them.

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Corps says Mississippi River flooding damaged levees, needs up to $2 billion for repairs

The head of the group overseeing work by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says another floodway could be needed to relieve pressure on levees along the Mississippi River.

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Parts of North Dakota city underwater

Flood submerges parts of N. Dakota city

The biggest flood in area history swamps Minot, as the Souris River nears its crest.

Nearby town evacuated 

Also: 

• North Dakota floods
• Town rises from rubble
• Levee breach in Iowa

As water ebbs in Minot, thoughts of recovery

The Souris River began a long, slow retreat in Minot on Sunday, leaving behind an arduous rebuilding job for more than 4,000 homeowners and hundreds of business operators, most of whom lack insurance to pay for it.

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Wild pedestrian bridges

World's amazing pedestrian bridges

Traversing the Henderson Waves structure is most definitely a walk on the wild side.

Others dangle over canyons 

Also: 

• World's longest bridges
• Most photographed spots
• Priciest hotel rooms

Billy the Kid photo fetches $2.3million

Notorious Wild West gunslinger Billy the Kid paid 25 cents to have his photograph taken outside a New Mexico saloon in late 1880 or early 1881.

Billy the Kid photo fetches $2.3million

Keys to stronger passwords

What makes a password stronger

If your password is "123456" or "qwerty," you're making it easy for hackers.  

One especially bad habit to avoid 

Also: 

• Ways to prevent ID theft
• Preserving online privacy
• Common security mistakes

Awesome Pictures

Promising health care careers

Huge job growth expected in health care

The medical field is projected to create millions of new positions between now and 2018.  

The education you'll need 

Also: 

• Health care careers
• Job market still weak
• Robbing for health care

The Job Applicant

John Q. Nerd gets his Master's Degree from the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science here in Technology Square and spends two months looking for a job. Unfortunately, DEC is laying people off and Wang went bankrupt. He's running low on rent money so he decides to work in the Central Square McDonald's on weekends and look for a job during the week.

After John hands in an employment application, the manager tells that he isn't qualified.

"Not qualified!?! I've got a Master's degree in computer science from MIT!" says John.

The McDonald's manager replies, "I'm sorry, but all of our computer scientists have PhDs."

High-tax states for retirees

10 tax-unfriendly states for retirees

In one punishing place, the top income tax rate is 7.85% and pensions are fully taxable.  

Where sales taxes sting 

Also: 

• Best places to retire
• Add $100K to a 401(k)
• Financially fit tips

Money tips from millionaires

Money tips from self-made millionaires

One writer opens up his finances to a group of wealthy men — each worth at least $10 million.  

'Brutally honest' 

Also: 

• Where rich stash cash
• Frugality's downsides
• 8 new retirement rules

And I Quote

Repugicans pull out of budget talks over taxes for the richest of the rich

This is ridiculous but hey, this is the modern repugican party.
Their only purpose is to say no to everything, especially when it might impact the wealthiest Americans.
The repugicans ought to change their name to the "Screw the middle class party" and show some honesty in advertising.
The repugicans are already on the ropes with their Medicare-killing plan but the Democrats need to keep going and make it clear to the public that the repugicans don't care at all about the budget nor do they care about the survival of the middle class.

Democrats, Van Hollen said, had offered repugicans “a menu of options” on how to reform the tax code to achieve the desired target of $4 trillion in savings over the next 10 to 12 years, but that none of those choices were palatable to the repugicans.

On that so-called “menu” of revenue options were oil subsidies, corporate jet taxes and “phasing out” of deductions and tax preferences for Americans who make more than $500,000, which Van Hollen said was “along the lines” of last winter’s bipartisan deficit commission recommendations.

“What we’ve seen on the repugican side, overall, is all take and no give. Any serious approach requires compromise and that’s going to be required to achieve the adult moment Speaker Boehner called for,” Van Hollen said. “Until the repugicans are more worried about reducing the deficit than they are about Grover Norquist, then we’ve got a problem.”

Latest From TSA

The security theater stories just keep on coming: Elderly woman asked to remove adult diaper during TSA search.

A woman has filed a complaint with federal authorities over how her elderly mother was treated at Northwest Florida Regional Airport last weekend.
Jean Weber of Destin filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia.
Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.
“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said Friday. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”

Why?

“TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability,” she said.

Except that they just did, a few days ago.

Chief justice uneasy about cameras in courtroom

Chief Justice John Roberts says he's concerned about the effect that having television cameras in the Supreme Court would have on lawyers and justices.

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He's afraid if the American people actually see him and his cronies raping them, they might turn on him.
He is incorrect - there is no 'might' about it

Ziggy

Gushers highlight potential of Pennsylvania gas field

Two unexpected gushers in northeastern Pennsylvania are helping to illustrate the enormous potential of the Marcellus Shale natural gas field.

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