Do You Believe?!

Do You Believe?!

October is my favorite month of the year!  For one, I love the weather that comes along with the fall months.  I love the scents, the colors, the food, I love it all!  With October comes Halloween and with Halloween comes the talk of spirits, ghosts, and ghouls.  While I love Halloween, I don't necessarliy believe in ghosts.  There are many people out there that do believe though.  In fact, as I'm typing this, Long Island Medium is playing on TLC. Long Island Medium  I personally think this show is a hoax.  When it comes to "psychics" and "readings"it is way too easy to pick up on cues from the person, or even do a little research and find out a fact or two to throw out there at the person being read.  In fact, anyone can learn how to do these readings.  Click here to learn how!  More than likely if you are participating in a reading then you are desperate for answers about your loved one who has passed and you will latch on to any little thing they have to say. The term used to describe their strategy is "cold reading".  This is used by mentalists and fraudulent psychics to give the impression that they can actually psychically gain personal information about their client.  The reading is referred to as "cold" because it does not dpend on any prior knwledge or information of the client.  Instead, the "psychic" combines careful observations of the client's characteristics and behavior with a series of guesses that are based on deduction, knowledge of probabilities, and use of general statements that are readily accepted by large numbers of people as being true.  I won't deny that it does take some skill and talent to be able to do this, but even so it is still a hoax.  Check out another blogger's opinion of Long Island Medium here!

Recycle!!

After visiting family in Connecticut over the summer and noticing their three trashcans in the kitchen, it got me to thinking.  Why doesn’t the City of Joplin require their residents to recycle?  Recycling is optional for most Americans, but some bigger cities do make it mandatory.  Those cities include Seattle, San Diego, and Pittsburgh, PA.  Some cities do require local businesses to recycle, but not their residents.  Those areas include Honolulu, Hawaii and Gainesville, Florida.  http://environment.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=environment&cdn=newsissues&tm=212&f=11&su=p284.13.342.ip_p504.6.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Recycling

In my household we separate our plastic from the rest of the trash for recycling, but we would separate and recycle more if the city provided curbside pickup and receptacles.  In Joplin, you do have the option of purchasing recycling bins, but they are more on the pricy side.  The city puts out a newsletter with information on recycling in our community.  You can view that newsletter by clicking here: http://www.joplinmo.org/faq.aspx?TID=39.  In bigger cities they not only provide citizens with the proper receptacles for their recyclables, but also provide pick up service.  Here in Joplin you have to deliver your recyclables to the recycling center and this must be done during certain hours of operation.  This makes it even more inconvenient for residents and makes them less likely to participate. 

You may be wondering why the United States doesn’t require its citizens to recycle.  The answer to that question comes down to money.  It costs more to recycle than to just send the waste to area landfills.  Sad, but true.  There are some ways to reduce the cost of recycling, which some cities have utilized.  This includes reducing the frequency of curbside pickups and making the sorting of waste automated.  http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/must_recycle.htm

I believe recycling is very important and think more cities need to get on board with making it not only mandatory, but also more convenient for residents!