Friday, March 6, 2009

Good News From Mary March 5, 2009

Lent 2.0: No Facebook, No Twitter

Most days you can find college sophomore Adan Farrah on his laptop checking in with his classmates, looking at photos and updating his personal page on Facebook.

For the 19-year-old and many of his friends, the social networking site is something close to an obsession.

"I'm on there a total of three hours a day ... four hours on weekends," said Farrah, a native of Monroe, N.J., and now a student at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

But on Ash Wednesday, Farrah decided to quit Facebook cold turkey.

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16 Big, Bad Money Wasters

Want to know how to accumulate cash in a hurry? Stop wasting it. One tiny crack in your finances can turn into a major drain through which untold sums are totally wasted. It’s time to start plugging the leaks. To get you started, here are sixteen of the biggest, baddest money wasters:

Click here to find out about the 16 money wasters.

$ave By Getting A Grip On Your Finances

Everybody's looking to save money these days.

But it's tough to save if you don't have a handle on how much money you actually have, or where it's going each month.

In The Early Show's "Save a Bundle" series Friday, financial contributor Vera Gibbons offered a plan to help you improve your money management -- and begin to trim your expenses in the process -- in two months or less.

Click here to find out more.

How to make some extra money by selling your extra stuff

The economy's tanking, cash is tight at home, and there are seemingly few ways to quickly make a little extra money. But selling household goods — dare we say, junk — is a proven way, and spring cleaning can provide the perfect impetus.

Options abound, from hawking items at pawn shops (where business is booming) to selling items online to hosting the old standby, the garage sale.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

It’s daylight science time again

It’s that time of year, when crocuses bloom, the lawn starts to need mowing, and most Americans lose an hour’s sleep setting their clocks ahead. (Remember? Spring forward, fall back.) So here are answers to your questions about the time switch — and about sleep.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Friday March 6, 2009 Good News Stories (Margaret)

Recycling Gadgets When They Go Pffft...

"AMERICANS discarded 2.25 million tons of computers, printers, cellphones and other electronics in 2007. About 82 percent ended up in landfills. The Green Home called up Jason Linnell, the executive director of the National Center for Electronics Recycling, a nonprofit group based in West Virginia, to find out how we can recycle our old gadgets instead."

Click here to find out more.


Growing Oregano: An Oregano by Any Other Name, Would Not Taste as Sweet

"Culinary oregano is a signature flavor of many Italian, Mexican and Spanish dishes. Most cooks are familiar with it in its dried form, but oregano is a hardy perennial plant that is easy to grow in the home garden. A handful of plants will provide you with enough oregano to use fresh in season and to dry for use throughout the winter."

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How Moths Key Into Scent Of A Flower

"Moths need just the essence of a flower's scent to identify it, according to new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson."

Click here to learn more.


Focusing on Africa: Papal trip to highlight challenges, possibilities

"Pope Benedict XVI opens a new chapter in his papal travels when he visits Cameroon and Angola in mid-March, a trip designed to highlight the church's message of hope on a continent beset by problems.

The visit March 17-23 will mark the first trip to Africa for a pope who has sometimes been described as Eurocentric, and it launches a series of important church events in 2009 focusing on the African continent."

Click here to read more.


Live Longer With Midlife Exercise

"It ain't over till it's over, Yogi Berra would say. Scientists might put it this way, though: In terms of your life span, it really does matter that you start exercising, quit the couch-potato habit, and give up smoking.

But even if you don't get started until middle age or later, you can prolong your life, a new study shows. Of course, it's better to quit bad habits and start good ones early, but middle age is not too late, say researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden."

Click here to read more.

Shot of the Day for March 5, 2009

Hope's Lily

By Flickr Member Jim Vail Photos