четверг, 15 марта 2012 г.

Drive what you want

I think it's a bit presumptuous, if not blasphemous, to assume that Jesus has somehow endorsed certain vehicle segments and condemned others.

Heaven help us.

I almost fell out of my chair when I first heard about the Evangelical Environmental Network's (EEN) campaign: "What Would Jesus Drive?" If you haven't already read the details you can catch up at http://whatwouldjesusdrive.org, but if you'd rather not have that on your browser history I can give you the Cliff Notes.

The thrust of the campaign suggests that what we drive is a moral issue and that Jesus, if he were holding a valid drivers license, would probably choose an ecologically friendly vehicle that got …

Republic Services rejects Waste Management offer

Garbage disposal company Republic Services Inc. rejected on Friday an unsolicited $6.19 billion takeover offer from rival Waste Management Inc., saying it prefers an earlier deal with another suitor.

Republic's shares fell 2 percent in premarket trading.

The company said it wants to stick with an agreement announced June 23 to combine with Allied Waste Industries Inc., a deal worth $6.07 billion when it was unveiled.

"Republic is not for sale," James O'Connor, chairman and chief executive at Republic Services, wrote in a letter to David Steiner, chief executive of Waste Management. "Although we are always cognizant of our fiduciary …

Venus advances, awaits sister

NEW YORK - Venus Williams is older, taller and one step ahead ofsister Serena.

Richard Williams, their father and coach, is predicting the U.S.Open women's singles title match will be a sister act. With a 6-4,6- 3 victory over Anne-Gaelle Sidot on Wednesday, the third-seededVenus grabbed a spot in the third round of the year's final GrandSlam tournament.

Seventh-seeded Serena Williams was to play her second-round matchtoday against Jelena Kostanic of Croatia.

Both Venus and Serena have won two Grand Slam tournament titleseach - all in mixed doubles last year. Venus teamed with JustinGimelstob to win the Australian and French Open championships.Serena and Max …

среда, 14 марта 2012 г.

"Textbook example of using recycled content building materials"

The Central Market in Poulsbo accepted the challenge of the county's recycling coordinator and built its 68,000 square foot grocery store and an adjacent parking lot out of recycled content materials. The building, which opened in August, 1995, is constructed with over a dozen materials that were diverted from landfills, including recycled content parking stops, drainage pipes, fiberglass insulation, latex paint, gypsum wallboard, structural steel and hot mix asphalt. Last month, at the Washington State Recycling Association Conference, Central Market received the state Department of Ecology "Special Recognition for Outstanding Achievement in Waste Reduction and Recycling" award. …

Group sues over US college's drug testing

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal judge has blocked a mandatory drug testing program for students at a Missouri technical college after the American Civil Liberties Union went to court challenging the tests' constitutionality.

The ACLU of Eastern Missouri filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of six students at Linn State Technical College seeking an injunction to end what it called the "suspicionless" screenings of all first-year students and some returning students for drugs including cocaine, methamphetamines and oxycodone.

Linn State implemented the program this fall, saying it was necessary to ensure student safety at a school where the coursework includes aircraft maintenance, …

On to grass for French champ Nadal

Rafael Nadal's celebration of his fifth French Open title was exuberant but brief as he turns his attention to the grass courts of Wimbledon.

Twice Nadal sprawled onto the clay court Sunday, joined the crowd in applauding and shed tears of joy.

"Difficult to have a big celebration if you have to practice tomorrow," Nadal said.

Wimbledon awaits. The year's third and most prestigious Grand Slam tournament is only two weeks away, and Nadal wanted to begin his grass-court preparations Monday.

The switch in surfaces comes after he completed an undefeated clay-court season Sunday by beating Sweden's Robin Soderling in the final at …

Beware of the Internet's cozy familiarity: Marketing is the goal of efforts to personalize

AS a twin, I think I have an unusual appreciation for the desireto be unique. When I was 10, this drive even involved breakfast: Ichallenged my mom's homemade-everything policy and begged for brand-name, boxed cereal.

Even if I couldn't convince her that Trix really were for kids -Grape-Nuts and Cheerios were as close as I got - in my mind theyfortified me as an individual, at least in the General Mills sense ofthings.

I ate one kind of cereal and my sister ate another, and I was waytoo young to see the irony of using a brand name to make myselfspecial.

I got past that clueless phase. But these days it seems most ofAmerican society is sinking into my preteen …