Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Good News From Mary April 7, 2009

Three-tiered iTunes pricing due Tuesday

Apple and major music labels are hoping that the launch of three-tier pricing at the iTunes Music Store will boost music sales with a new mix of song-based packages and give consumers more options.

Apple will announce its new three-tier price points at 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 on Tuesday, according to several people familiar with its plans. Since opening in 2003 all songs in the iTunes store have been priced at 99 cents.

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Blood sugar can be anyone's problem

The average American consumes more than a pound of refined sugar a week. It sounds unbelievable until you realize that sugar goes by more than 50 names and is an ingredient in virtually all processed foods, from your morning doughnut to the ketchup on your burger.

Eat it (along with excess fat and calories), sit around, and you'll gain weight.

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Affordable Fun on South Florida’s Gold Coast

IN the battle of fish versus pelican, our money was on the fish. Not that the plump, yellow-tailed amberjack was still alive, mind you. The catch was an angler’s reject — not particularly good eating, in other words — but it looked like a decent lunch to the pelican that spotted it along the pier.

The only problem? The bird hadn’t quite figured out how to wrap its mouth around its extra-wide find, resulting in a comical scene. My 10-year-old daughter, Emma, stood firmly in place, capturing it all on the family camera.

Such was the kind of cheap entertainment that abounded during a recent weekend family trip to the beach communities north of Fort Lauderdale and south of Boca Raton along the Gold Coast of South Florida. By most definitions, these oceanside towns — Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro Beach, Pompano Beach and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea — hardly qualify as destinations unto themselves. They are best suited to families (or retirees) who like the lost-in-time way of life they represent.

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Habits can be broken, but not forgotten

Maybe you chew your fingernails when you're nervous. Or scarf down chocolate when you're sad. Or take home a stray kitty whenever you see one, until the SPCA has to come rescue them all and have you arrested for being a hoarder.

Chances are, you have a few habits you wish you didn't have, and quite possibly you've tried (and tried and tried) to break them. Scientists are learning why you may have failed (and failed and failed). In fact, they now know that once you have a habit, you can never really unlearn it.

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When Clean Dishes Means Smuggling Detergent

Lisa Brewer doesn't consider herself a criminal and she really wants to help the environment -- even biking to work -- but she also wants clean dishes.

That's why later this week, the Spokane, Wash., resident plans to cross into Idaho and smuggle back some dishwasher detergent.

She's not alone.

Spokane County has banned the use of most common detergents because of the effect they have on area rivers and lakes. The problem is, the detergents now sold instead just don't seem to do the job.

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