Not real sure about this:
Doodling while listening can help with remembering details, rather than implying that the mind is wandering as is the common perception. According to a study published today in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, subjects given a doodling task while listening to a dull phone message had a 29% improved recall compared to their non-doodling counterparts.
I know drug dealers give our their goods for free to build up a customer base, secure in the knowledge that, once hooked, their clients will pay whatever is asked. That might even work for something like ice cream. I do not think it will work for newspapers:
Newsday appears poised to break from the newspaper pack with a plan by parent Cablevision Systems Corp. to end free content on the paper's Web site.
Newspapers frequently hear complaints from groups that they aren't being treated fairly, and some of them won't give up the complaint even if you go through back copies with them and prove them dead wrong. The one we've probably dealt with the most here is from southside residents, who say we put their part of town in headlines about crimes much more often than we do other parts of town. If Johnny gets nabbed for drugs in the Glenbrook parking lot, then we'll just slap a generic "Police make drug arrest" headline on the story and forget about it.
Rep. Mike Pence, who has stayed about as true to conservative principles as anyone in washington, is dropping by later today. Maybe I'll ask him about this:
Republicans are preparing to pounce on any wasteful spending in the $787 billion stimulus package as they refocus their criticisms of a measure whose success could hurt their 2010 election prospects.
[. . .]
There's an intriguing article by Gary Kamiya at salon.com. If newspapers die, he writes, reporting dies and, along with it, our shared vision of life. The world will become a less-known and therefore more dangerous place. His suggested remedy:
For the "silver lining in the dark recession cloud" file:
VALPARAISO, Ind. - Tough economic times are keeping more families home for home-cooked meals that save money and also bring the family together for the dinner hour, experts say.
[. . .]
Reason magazine online has a Personal Stimulus Generator, which you can fill out and thus stake your very own claim for some of the trillions of dollars soon to flow from Washington. I filled it out, and here's the result. If you don't want to read the whole thing (nobody in Congress has, after all), here's my part that was added:
wireless and broadband deployment grant programs
I have confessed before that I suffer from just the slightes case of triskaidekaphobia. But at least I am free of paraskavedekatriaphobia. If you're not, at least know you are not suffering alone:
I've frequently said my family was lucky because we escaped from Eastern Kentucky before the sociologists found us. Now, the poor folks who live there are more likely to be stalked by news crews earnestly trying to show the "hidden poverty" in America. ABC's Diane Sawyer is doing an hour-special on Friday night it, and they teased it on "Good Morning America" today. The Associated Press even did a feature on her special:
Time to think about those Forever Stamps again, all you snail mail sufferers:
The post office will get an extra 2-cents worth when you mail a letter starting in May.
The U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday that the price of a first-class stamp will rise to 44 cents on May 11.
