| Reusing your bags may be the law soon
The paper-or-plastic alternative often comes in the form of a washable, handled tote and has a life span upward of two years in some forms, depending on use. That can make it a solid choice for the environment and the buyer, said Steven Batzofin, vice president of marketing for Los Angeles County-based Earthwise Bag Co. Inc., which manufactures the reusable totes that local Albertsons stores carry. Reusable bags of all types can be purchased at several online shops such as www.reusablebags.com, www.chicobag.com and www.earthwisebags.com. "It's a simple change to make — just remember to take a reusable bag with you when you go shopping," said Morgan Rafferty, executive director of the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County. .
5 fun things to do today
Take wildflowers to work. If you prefer tamer flowers, buy yourself a bouquet. It will cheer up your co-workers and bring spring inside your cubicle.
Hey batter, batter... Watch kids play baseball at a Hattiesburg Dixie Youth Baseball game at the Jaycee Park this evening before the sun goes down. And get a sno cone, too.
Bake a cake for a neighbor. It can be simple - just a one-layer snack cake with no frosting will work. Maybe a young couple moved in recently and you still havent said hello. Nows your chance.
Listen to live classical music. The University of Southern Mississippi presents Camerata Concert: Faculty Artist Chamber Music Series at 7:30 p.m. in Marsh Auditorium. Details: (601) 266-5418. .
Billion-dollar sales win recognition for e-commerce, catalogs
Direct commerce got a boost last week when major retailers Federated Department Stores, Circuit City Stores and Restoration Hardware reaffirmed and increased their commitment to e-commerce and catalogs. Strong sales in those two channels helped make the decision easier. Federated, for example, expects direct sales from its Macys and Bloomingdales department store brands to grow from nearly $620 million last year to more than $1 billion next year. The Cincinnati company will invest another $100 million this year in its direct channels in addition to last years $120 million. Some of the new money will go toward building a new warehouse in Arizona to serve as the West Coast shipping point for Macys.com. Circuit City acknowledged that Web-originated sales and call centers were the top performers across all sales channels within the company.
System Of A Down Bassist's To Help Unsigned Bands
Launch Radio Networks reports: SYSTEM OF A DOWN bassist Shavo Odadjian is launching a new online music initiative called urSession.com. According to a press release, the site is an "innovative digital community and record label designed to give independent and unsigned acts a promotional platform to showcase their talent, receive community feedback, monetize their art and land a record deal." The site will go live on June 14 and will be the first online label to sign artists based on audio and/or video performances uploaded by the artists themselves and voted on by members of the urSession community. Odadjian said in a statement, "urSession will help revolutionize an artistically stagnant music industry and impact significant change. This isn't about a couple of suits in their ivory tower force-feeding the population a steady diet of bland and blander music.
Burlco shop gives overseas troops their comic-book fix
A visit to Ron's Comic World in Mount Holly is a weekly habit for Air Force Sgt. Robert Woodruff. While there he catches up with Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and a scantily costumed heroine named Witchblade. "I've met a lot of people here too," said Woodruff, 47, of Lumberton. "It's just fun for me." Woodruff will be reassigned to Korea in December, his second tour in that country. But this time, he's expecting Ron's to keep him stocked with his favorite heroes in spandex. "It's very difficult to get anything written in the English language over there," he said. "It'll be kind of like Christmas." Woodruff, an air transportation specialist at McGuire Air Force Base, plans to join the list of soldiers serving abroad who receive monthly orders of comic books from Ron's Comic World.
Unions: Will Grocery Pact Have Coattails?
Anthony Ciliento, an organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, is helping a group of disgruntled non-union grocery workers organize their workplace.
"They're tired of paying ridiculously high prices for health insurance - if they can get it," Ciliento said. "Some people - both full- and part-time workers - are paying up to $100 every two weeks for their health insurance. Part-timers end up working pretty much to pay for their insurance."
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Syed Nadzri on Tuesday: Seeing more into ...
THE return of Yin the lost little boy that made Sunday headlines capped what would have otherwise been a very depressing week concerning children.
The gloom had already built up quite considerably earlier and by the time we read about the "Street kids of Johor Baru" in this paper on Friday, it was as if only to sustain a miserable stretch of heart-rending situations.
Before that, there was the sad case of Donny John Dion, an 11-year-old boy from a poor family in rural Sabah who took his life after being teased and tormented by classmates.
Then Dally the little Myanmar girl was brutally murdered, her body dumped in Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur.
And two days ago, 4-year-old Adam Zaqwan Ahmad fell to his death from the third floor of an apartment block in Sungai Buloh after a playful prance on a discarded chair on the balcony.
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