tagged w/ Collective Journalism
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FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/25/hasnt-this-just-been-a-whole-year-of-black-friday-real-recovery/
Image: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/11/25/the-5-rules-of-black-friday/
The end of this week will see the venerable American holiday tradition of Black Friday, when on the day after Thanksgiving, Americans rush to consume as many retail deals as possible. And if you're serious about Black Friday, then you're probably already looking for the deals. Online there's blackfriday.info, bfads.net (that's Black Friday Ads), black-friday.net, theblackfriday.com. But honestly, with nearly a fifth of Americans out of work (according to the broadest unemployment calculation), hasn't this just been a whole year of Black Friday deal-hunting?
I spoke with Loren Bendele of Savings.com (http://savings.com) a site that focuses on bringing their community together with savings and discounts. He said their site, which started in March of 2007, has definitely seen a big increase in users because of the recession. And as more people move online to find deals in tough times, more companies are looking to find them. "We're seeing aspirational brands that are offering deals now," Bendele said. "Consumers are more aware and merchants are embracing deals."
Savings.com has selected some users to be what they call "Deal Pros" - people who know how to find the best deals and share them with the rest of the community. Some of them, said Bendele, are people that are fine with money. But as the recession has gotten worse, many of them are people who are maintaining their quality of life through saving money.
Is that you? Have you been scraping by by clipping coupons? Tell us about on The Real Recovery.
So should you rush out and try to trampled this Friday? Though there are plenty of deals to be had one of the DealPros offers some sage advice on the savings.com blog:
"For me it has become a day to stay at home or look for alternative ways to enjoy the day. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good deal. But Black Friday has become that day that turns every mall in America into some lost scene from the movie Dawn of the Dead. It's just too much chaos to deal with in-person. So join me in giving in to the post-turkey daze and just saying no to the zombie hordes running wild through the aisles of your local Wal-Mart."FROM THE NEWS BLOG:... more
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The Army Times is reporting exclusively that an anonymous note threatening a massacre similar to the Nov. 5 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, was discovered Thursday -- along with a box of 20 hollow-point bullets -- in a motor pool area at Columbus' Fort Benning.
The discovery coincided with a visit from Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, who was in town for Officer Candidate School graduation. The threat prompted a criminal investigation and greater police presence on the Army base, the Army Times reports.
According to a witness on the scene, a box of 20 hollow-point shells and a handwritten note were found under the 197th Infantry Training Brigade.
“The note said ‘tell the commanding general to call off all charges or there will be a re-enactment of Fort Hood,’ ” a witness told Army Times. Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan is charged in the Nov. 5 shooting deaths of 13 fellow service members.
The newspaper, which serves an audience of Army personnel, active and retired, said military police acted quickly on the threat, cordoning off a 20-foot perimeter around the box.
“They’re talking with anyone with a pending [Uniform Code of Military Justice] charge and people who are getting chaptered out to see if they can find out who it is,” the witness told the Army Times.
Fort Benning officials refused comment on the specifics of the letter but confirmed “an ongoing investigation into a general threat at Fort Benning.”
“A suspicious package and note were found,” post spokeswoman Elsie Jackson said. “The soldier notified a noncommissioned officer, who alerted 911. The area was secured as is normal in these types of incidents.”
Soldiers in the unit are being questioned about the threat, the witness told the Army Times. The Kelley Hill area of Fort Benning was on lockdown for part of the day Friday, according to the witness, who noted an increase in military police patrols on the post.
The Fort Benning spokeswoman said “appropriate force protection measures are in place while an investigation is underway to determine if this is a viable threat.”The Army Times is reporting exclusively that an anonymous note threatening a massacre... more
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John Henion is a freelance video producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was laid off from a staff position in 2008 (full disclosure: at Current) and entered into the freelance world. He blogs about unemployment at Unemploymentality. We spoke yesterday for The Real Recovery.
Life for a freelancer can be tough - especially at the beginning. John Henion moved out to California from Michigan where he'd already established himself with freelance work. In California he had none. He said the move made him "take a step back and do things I didn't want to do." For example, John was about 30 when he moved here, had already produced his own independent documentary, but found himself taking a production assistant role on "Wife Swap" just to be working. "I was beyond the point where I wanted to pick up trash on the set and being told to go get lunches," he said. "After that experience I realized I didn't need to lower the bar that much."
The goal as a freelancer is to have steady work. There are some great benefits - like being your own boss and scheduling your own time off - but there are somethings that are definitely not benefits - like not having benefits. John was lucky to have insurance through a domestic partnership with his girlfriend, but he said for many freelancers the decision about whether or not to get insurance is just whether or not you want to take your chances.
After being laid off, John said it took him about 6-8 months before he was getting steady work again. These days, he has about 5-6 return customers and pulls in a lot of one-off projects. He's been able to work himself back up to an income level comparable to having a full-time staff position. But that comes with a lot more work than just the actual time spent working. "The worst part is...I have to deal with chasing down money. Some people wait until the last minute to pay you or wait until you raise a stink. You know, they want to keep that money on their books as long as they can."
The most important thing John has found to remember freelancing is that no matter how much time he spends at an office, no matter how many new friends he makes in a workplace, being a freelancers puts him in a different position. "As a freelancer they can just stop calling. First time that happened I thought I did something wrong....When they stop calling it's not personal....They're not supposed to roll over and kiss you in the morning, just leave some money on the bedstand."
Are you a freelancer? Have a recession story to tell? Post it to The Real Recovery.
FROM THE BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/19/surviving-as-a-freelancer-real-recovery/
John's site: http://unemploymentality.com
The Real Recovery: http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/John Henion is a freelance video producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was laid... more
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Here's a math problem for you: The national unemployment rate hits its highest point since the 80s in October: 10.2 percent. According to a report released this week last year 14.6% of Americans couldn't afford to buy enough food. How does that add up?
Well outside of the various nitpicks that can be done to both of those numbers, one big culprit is "underemployment". We've been talking about underemployment a lot in The Real Recovery because I think it's a more accurate measure of how many Americans have been affected by the recession. If you "get discouraged" and stop looking for a job, you no longer count as "unemployed". Or, as we're talking about this week: if you go freelance part time.
The official measure of underemployment is called the U-6 and the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes it in breathtaking terms:
Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers
In October, when we saw that big 10.2% unemployment number, the U6 number was at 17.5% Nearly a fifth of the population!
You know what that does not include though? All the Americans who've taken pay cuts or reduced hours in the recession. (More digging through numbers to come).
Want to get involved with The Real Recovery? Here's two easy things you can do:
- Post your story to the group. How have you been affected? Are you underemployed? Have you taken a pay cut?
- Help me find some other numbers to look at. How many Americans have taken pay cuts?
FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/18/why-14-6-of-america-cant-afford-enough-food-real-recovery/
THE REAL RECOVERY: http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/
SOURCES: http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/11/146_of_americans_experienced_food_shortage_in_2008.php
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm
IMAGE: http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=8c32455de9a85f7d&q=bread%20lines%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbread%2Blines%2Bsource:life%26hl%3DenHere's a math problem for you: The national unemployment rate hits its highest... more
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Hey freelance workers, this week The Real Recovery is all about you. We want to hear from people who freelance successfully, people who have gone freelance after losing their job, and people who are barely scraping by with freelance work.
Did you know: If you're freelancing, even making far less money than you can survive on, you don't count as 'unemployed'? You fall under a different category called 'underemployment' - here's the applicable part of the definition from Wikipedia:
"Involuntary part-time" workers -- workers who could (and would like to) be working for a full work-week but can only find part-time work. By extension, the term is also used in regional planning to describe regions where economic activity rates are unusually low, due to a lack of job opportunities, training opportunities, or due to a lack of services such as childcare and public transportation.
The national unemployment rate is 10.2% as of October. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS doesn't seem to keep a national underemployment number, which is a lot harder to nail down. But we recently saw that in California underemployment was estimated to be about a fifth of the total population.
This is another topic we want to tackle. As we're trying to put together a picture of the Real Recovery, we want to try to get a handle on underemployment estimates. We'll be working on that for the next month or so. If you want to get involved in that effort, send me a message on Current.
And this week - if you freelance or ever have - tell us about your experience by posting your story on The Real Recovery.
FROM THE BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/16/real-recovery-this-weeks-about-the-freelancers/
THE REAL RECOVERY: http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/
Image: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/mtv-responds-to-freelance-outcry/Hey freelance workers, this week The Real Recovery is all about you. We want to hear... more
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This week on The Real Recovery we're looking at how the recession is affecting college grads. It's tough to graduate into such a tight job market. Especially if you've got loans. For many, going to college automatically comes with a big chunk of money that must be paid off. As finding a job gets harder - that amount of money can hang like an albatross from your neck.
The image featured here, posted on The Broke Grad Student, shows average student loan debt by state - and no matter where you live, that average is somewhere between $13K and $26K. That's a lot of money!
But despite the high costs the question for many American high schoolers is not whether to go but where to go. Are too many Americans going to college?
From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
"Marty Nemko: Increasing college-going rates may actually hurt our economy. We now send 70 percent of high-school graduates to college, up from 40 percent in 1970. At the same time, employers are accelerating their offshoring, part-timing, and temping of as many white-collar jobs as possible. That results in ever more unemployed and underemployed B.A.'s. Meanwhile, there's a shortage of tradespeople to take the Obama infrastructure-rebuilding jobs. And you and I have a hard time getting a reliable plumber even if we're willing to pay $80 an hour—more than many professors make."
It's estimated that on average college grads tend to make about 80% more per year in salary than those without a degree. That's a pretty significant and motivating number, especially when you take into consideration the higher unemployment numbers for those without a college degree that we looked at yesterday. But if you've got loans - some of that has to go to paying them off. And for grad students it's even worse.
Faced with a difficult job market and high student debts, many folks with a B.A. duck back into graduate school to forestall repayments they can't afford. But as you can imagine - that just leads to more debt. Forbes has a controversially titled article that tackles the high debts a law degree can come with: The Great College Hoax.
"Accepted into the California Western School of Law, a private San Diego institution, [John] Kellum couldn't swing the $36,000 in annual tuition with financial aid and part-time work. So he did what friends and professors said was the smart move and took out $60,000 in student loans. Kellum's law school sweetheart, Jennifer Coultas, did much the same. By the time they graduated in 1995, the couple was $194,000 in debt. They eventually married and each landed a six-figure job. Yet even with Kellum moonlighting, they had to scrounge to come up with $145,000 in loan payments. With interest accruing at up to 12% a year, that whittled away only $21,000 in principal. Their remaining bill: $173,000 and counting."
Should you go to grad school? Most experts agree it only makes sense if you have a specific goal in mind. Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist lists several points against enlisting in grad school to hide out from a recession:
"1. Grad school pointlessly delays adulthood....3. Business school is not going to help 90% of the people who go....5. The medical school model assumes that health care spending is not a mess."
So what's your experience? Did you go to college? Grad school? Did you have an albatross of loan debt? Tell us your story on The Real Recovery.
From the blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/11/is-college-worth-the-high-cost/
Sources:
http://www.brokegradstudent.com/average-student-loan-debt-by-state/
http://chronicle.com/article/Are-Too-Many-Students-Going-to/49039/
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/060.html
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/02/03/dont-try-to-dodge-the-recession-with-grad-school/#more-2071
The Real Recovery:
http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/This week on The Real Recovery we're looking at how the recession is affecting... more
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This week, the Real Recovery is focusing on college graduates - recent, upcoming and all-time. I wanted to highlight a few stories shared in the comment thread on the initial college stories post. If you have one - go to the Real Recovery group, click Post a Story, and start typing!
From user trangster:
I graduated this past May and applied for part time and full time jobs. After months of being rejected by employers for not having work experience because I was earning a college education at the time, I started working as a part time host at a restaurant. I recently picked up another part time job so now I'm working two part time jobs to meet bills. Hopefully I get accepted into grad school next year.
From user sugarlilly:
i am a recent college grad working in a job i love but that requires absolutely no education. sorry sallie mae, that 50 grand will have to wait.
From user Karolein:
The first term I learned on-the-job after college was "reduction in force". It was a rude awakening. I finished graduate school in a recession and it took 18 months to find a full-time, regular job. After 15 years in a nice office, I'm looking again, but instead of living at home I have a mortgage to pay. Life is cyclical.
From the Current News Blog:
http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/09/real-recovery-college-stories/
Image: http://www.pbn.com/detail/46027.htmlThis week, the Real Recovery is focusing on college graduates - recent, upcoming and... more
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It's been tumultuous for the economy in the half-week since we launched The Real Recovery: unemployment benefits were extended and then October's unemployment numbers hit over 10 percent. It seems like just the right time to get to the real stories behind the economic stats.
Each week on The Real Recovery we're going to ask a big question - and then spend the week figuring out the answer with your help. For next week - we're looking at those entering the job market for the very first time.
If a tenth of America is unemployed - how hard is it going to be for recent college graduates to get jobs? For college seniors who expect to graduate in 2010? From the National Bureau of Economic Research: "The Career Effects Of Graduating In A Recession":
Graduating in a recession leads to large initial earnings losses. These losses, which amount to about 9 percent of annual earnings in the initial stage, eventually recede, but slowly -- halving within five years but not disappearing until about ten years after graduation.
Starting Monday - we're going to focus on college graduates. Here's how you can get involved:
Are you a college senior?: Post a story on The Real Recovery about your job search. Do you have something lined up? Are you just trying not to think about it?
Did you graduate this year?: How's it been out there in the job market? Have you been able to find work?
Did you graduate years ago?: How was your experience in the economic climate you had? How does it compare to today's?
You can post your story to Current by clicking the "Post a Story" button on The Real Recovery group page and then just start typing!
And also, if you want to get involved as an investigator - send me a message on Current.
From the News Blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/06/recession-and-the-college-graduate-the-real-recovery/
NBRE source link: http://www.nber.org/digest/nov06/w12159.html
What's The Real Recovery?: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/04/the-real-recovery-a-collaborative-investigation/
Image: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/TwNobChX8WT/Miami+Dade+College+Hosts+Career+FairIt's been tumultuous for the economy in the half-week since we launched The Real... more
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We’re launching a big project today on Current News. And we’re going to need your help.
Here’s the idea:
Everybody says we’re headed for an economic recovery, right? The economy grew in the third quarter of this year, the Dow is hovering around 10,000, even Ford managed to make a profit. But the other thing that everybody says is that it’ll be a “jobless” recovery. The economy might grow, but unemployment will stay the same. To say nothing of underemployment – people who have taken lesser positions, started freelancing or stopped looking for new work. While the financial folks celebrate the return of the bull market – what about the rest of us?
We want to paint a picture of what’s really going on out there. As the recession comes to an end – what does the recovery really look like? What is the real recovery?
Over the next few months – until the end of the first quarter of next year – we’re going to conduct a special new experimental project to look at the state of our nation. This is where you come in.
My office is in San Francisco. I can give local perspectives from here. But in order to tell this story from every corner of the country – we need your help. What do things look like where you live? Do you have a personal story about how you’ve been affected by the recession?
How you can get involved:
- The big thing is that you can write your own posts in the group “The Real Recovery”. What are we looking for? Local perspectives and personal perspectives. Just a few paragraphs: How are you or your community affected? Every week we’ll have different questions we’re asking – and we want you to post your answers.
- Now, do you want to get really involved? You can become a part of our Current Investigation Network. That means we’ll put you on an email list where sometimes we’ll reach out digging for info or to ask you to help out with collaborative assignments. If you want to be a part of the project by doing a little real journalism – this is the way to do it.
- And as always, you can clip stories and you can weigh in on the comments of posts. We’ll be highlighting stories people post over on the Blog – and that could be yours.
This is a big new step for Current News, and I’m personally very excited about it. I worked on Collective Journalism for two years, our citizen journalism program, and I think this is an even bigger opportunity to get even more people involved in the journalism we make.
So, what’s the next step?
- Join the group: “The Real Recovery”
- Tell us your story – just a few paragraphs. Either post in the comments here – or post your own story to the group. This Friday we’ll feature some of your contributions.
- If you want to be a part of the investigation team – send me a direct message.
Stay tuned!
From the News Blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/04/the-real-recovery-a-collaborative-investigation/
Img: http://current.com/items/91375468_image.htmWe’re launching a big project today on Current News. And we’re going to... more
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FROM THE NEWS BLOG:
With the Dow back up over 10,000 and Goldman Sachs raking in profits again surely we could see some improvement in the housing market? Not yet, reports the Wall St Journal:
"The supply of foreclosed homes listed for sale has dwindled largely because of government-mandated efforts to save as many borrowers as possible from losing their homes. That campaign has gummed up the foreclosure process, slowing the flow of houses into bank ownership—but only temporarily. Over the next few years, housing analysts believe, millions of other homes are heading for bank ownership, but no one can say how long that will take or when a sudden torrent of bank-owned properties may swamp certain local markets."
They point to a few specific metro areas including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami and Sacramento - but the problem is pretty nationwide. Are we looking at another whole wave of foreclosures across the US? We reported on the first one as it happened in a Collective Journalism investigation "Foreclosure Sweet Home" (Below)
Have you been seeing foreclosures in your neighborhood? In your town? Let us know - we'd like to do a follow-up online to this story.FROM THE NEWS BLOG:
With the Dow back up over 10,000 and Goldman Sachs raking in... more
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SEE is a short documentary that presents the growing phenomenon of surveillance through the performance art of Raul Gschrey, a young German artist who is aware of the increasing number of CCTV cameras in his hometown Frankfurt.
The film takes a look at Frankfurt’s streets and public spaces, which are under intensive surveillance, as Raul artistically attempts to communicate with the people who operate the cameras through monitoring systems. He engages in question-and-answer antics to investigate the cameras’ use. Is there anyone watching? Do CCTV cameras provide a feeling of security or are they perceived as an uninvited, intrusive observer?
For Raul, the CCTV camera offers a stage on which people can change roles: from passive observed persons to self-empowered individuals who take active part in an interaction with them. He successfully manages to raise people’s awareness of surveillance, visual monitoring and encourages the public to behave actively and self-consciously using his techniques.
SEE echoes the Orwellian alarm of a despotic regime that continuously monitors its citizens and tries to exercise thought control. This is the nightmare view of the delightfully dastardly tomorrow that, according to many sociologists, has already started.
Produced and Directed by Apostolos Gaitanis
Editing by Chris Tsatsanis
Music by DATURAH
Many thanks to Bernd Metz, Jesse Karjalainen and Miguel Samothrakis
Copyright Apostolos Gaitanis 2009
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Previous Works:
The Valley of Eordea (in English), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI0fLqmxXbY
Citizen Journalism (in Greek), http://tvxs.gr/node/41148SEE is a short documentary that presents the growing phenomenon of surveillance... more
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An 18-year Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Manager for the FBI has called for a Special Counsel to be appointed to investigate the allegations of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. John M. Cole, who now works as an intelligence contractor for the Air Force, made his comments during an audio interview released late last week with radio journalist Peter B. Collins.
He also offered a detailed insider's look at the concerns among high-level officials inside the Bureau as Edmonds' disturbing allegations began coming to light back in 2002, before they would be quashed for seven long years by the Bush Administration's unprecedented use of the so-called "State Secrets Privilege" to gag her.
Earlier last week, following the publication of a remarkable American Conservative magazine cover story interview with Edmonds --- detailing a broad bribery, blackmail, and espionage conspiracy said to have been carried out between current and former members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking State and Defense Department officials and covert operatives from Turkey and Israel, resulting in the theft and sale of nuclear weapons technology on the foreign black market --- Cole had been quoted by the magazine confirming one of Edmonds' key allegations.
"I am fully aware of the FBI's decade-long investigation of" Marc Grossman, he said in response to the AmCon article/interview. Grossman had served as the third-highest ranking official in the Bush State Department and was alleged by Edmonds in the interview, and in a sworn, video-taped deposition a month earlier, to have been the U.S. ringleader for a massive Turkish espionage scandal reaching through the halls of power and into top-secret nuclear facilities around the country to the benefit of allies and enemies alike. Cole said that the FBI's counterintelligence probe "ultimately was buried and covered up," and that he believes it is "long past time" for an investigation of the case to "bring about accountability."
In his subsequent interview with Collins last week (audio and text excerpts posted below) Cole elaborated on those comments in much greater detail, noting that Edmonds has been "one hundred percent right on the money, on the mark" and confirming the existence of an "ongoing and detailed effort by Turkey to develop influence in the United States" through various illegal activities.
"Yes, I can confirm that," Cole told Collins, "That's true."
The FBI veteran executive also offered an insider's account of the panic that ensued inside the highest echelons of the bureau following Edmonds' first disclosure of information in 2002, recounting how an executive assistant director admitted to him at the time, just after the story first broke, "Well, all I know is that everything that Sibel is stating is true. I read her file. Everything she stated is, in fact, accurate."
Cole further describes how the concerns about Edmonds ultimately led to the Bush Administration's two-time use of the Draconian "State Secrets Privilege" in hopes of keeping her extraordinary information from becoming public. "Everybody at headquarters level at the bureau knew that what she was saying was extremely accurate."
"I know they didn't want her to go out and speak about it at all," Cole revealed, "and I know they were trying to figure out ways of keeping this whole thing quiet, because they didn't want Sibel to come out."
He also offered information which directly counters one of the criticisms of Edmonds' allegations as frequently offered by skeptics. Namely, that as a short time FBI contract translator --- even though she was tasked to review some seven years of counterintelligence wiretaps made from 1996 to 2002 --- she couldn't have had enough understanding of the full scope of the investigations to understand what was really going on.
More...An 18-year Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Manager for the FBI has called for... more
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Dennis Burgess started out wanting to throw hot parties and events. But the needs of his community would eventually catch up to his big dreams of entrepreneurship, and transform them into a philanthropic mission.
Witnessing a new generation of young people fall prey to the same negative influences that plagued his peers growing up, Dennis is determined not to see another young person become victim to the same fate.
Oh, and he's NOT going to wait for a politician to do something about it.Dennis Burgess started out wanting to throw hot parties and events. But the needs of... more
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Buying organic produce can be costly and nowadays, we have to question whether our "organic" foods are even organic at all.
It doesn't get much more organic or LOCAL than making compost in your very own backyard. Compost is the result of decomposed organic materials, yielding a rich fertilizer for your soil. I'm Melissa--a green vegan in Long Island, New York, and I'll show you how to get started!Buying organic produce can be costly and nowadays, we have to question whether our... more
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An internal Navy document shows new plans to replace the president's fleet of helicopters will cost taxpayers more and take years longer to deliver than a recently scrapped contract, a New York Democrat said Wednesday.An internal Navy document shows new plans to replace the president's fleet of... more
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