| Don't drink if you want to be merry
As Dolan Cummings argued in a recent essay, when smokers say they welcome the ban on public smoking because it will help them quit, they 'express a peculiar sort of resolution: one which they claim to be incapable of exercising without external compulsion. By banning smoking in pubs, we collectively save ourselves from temptation.' (5) An Australian business venture provides a startling illustration of this increasing rejection of personal responsibility. In 2004, Virgin Mobile responded to an apparent Aussie epidemic of embarrassing drunken calls to exes and colleagues. Their service allowed customers, before drinking, to dial '333' followed by the number they wanted to avoid 'drunk dialling'. For 25 cents, attempts to phone blacklisted numbers initiate a message: 'This call cannot be connected; this is for your own good.' Psychologist John McIlroy believed 'it could come in handy for Americans who know themselves well enough to not have self-control over their impulses' (6).
Top 10 Search Terms in 10 Categories, January 2008
Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian, monitors how more than 25 million Internet users, including 10 million in the United States, interact with over one million Web sites across more than 160 industry categories. It collects Internet usage information through a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in panels. Data are collected in accordance with local and international privacy legislation and are audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Digg this! Add to del.icio.us .
Every School Every Thursday -- West Des Moines & Clive
The program is taking names for the 2008-09 school year. If you are interested in having your child attend the program, call the school office at 633-5800 by Jan. 18.
Crestview
Retired registered nurse Elaine Hamilton volunteers weekly in Crestview's media center. She is a working artist and printmaker with many life experiences, but her love for books and children is what brings her back to school to help. The children love to listen to her stories. A native Iowan, Elaine has lived in California, Maine and Kenya. She has her own art studio at Fitch Studios in downtown Des Moines. .
Stimulate This: Why the Talk of Economic Stimulus Will Remain Talk
The American middle and working classes are maintaining their lifestyle on a foundation of quicksand (debt they cannot afford). If current indicators are correct it is quite possible that the entire US economy will sink into the debt that the middle and working class have developed over the last twenty years." This is not a very ‘stimulating' environment. No wonder most Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction and have lost confidence in the economy. No wonder, crime is rising along with foreclosures. Let's not forget the wars that are also draining the economy, growing the deficit and pouring billions of dollars and so many lives into a rat hole without end. So, please candidates, loose the cheery rhetoric of economic stimulus. Do nothing about the debt burden and you do nothing.
Casey Campbell/Gazette-Times
Recycling at First Alternative Co-op's south store never really stopped in the past two months, but that didn't stop the co-op from having a grand re-opening on Tuesday.In October, the store moved its recycle bins closer to Southeast Third Street and got to work building a new enclosure for the bins and bags meant to hold packaging refuse."We're able to keep the overwhelmingness of the recycling under control now," said Scott Boyajian, First Alternative custodial manager and recycling coordinator.On Tuesday, the Corvallis co-op unveiled a new space for collecting all manner of recyclable items, including the only place for expanded polystyrene collection in the mid-valley.Michelle Adams, First Alternative general manager, said many of the co-op's recyclers come from cities outside Benton County that don't offer easy curbside recycling, especially for commingled items including foil, paper, plastics and cans."It's continual now that we get people from Brownsville, Sweet Home and Lebanon," she said.
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