SubscribeCould You Cut Your Closet Down to Six Items? - Headlines for July 27th, 2010
The European Union and Canada have imposed new sanctions against Iran that target their energy, foreign trade and banking sectors. The hope is to curb investment in Iran's lucrative oil and gas industries. Those are just the latest moves to try to put pressure on Iran to stop enriching uranium, which could be used in nuclear weapons. President Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon helped launch America’s space program, and has been source of national pride. Now that the Shuttle program is coming to an end, it may be time to clean up after ourselves. An estimated 500,000 pieces of debris litter the Earth's orbit as a result of man's exploration of space. From tiny flecks of paint to old rockets the size of a bus. Now an Australian company has been given a $3.5 million grant to develop laser technology to keep track of all this stuff. Dr. Craig Smith with Electro Optic says that laser system would give space craft and satellites time to get out of the way of debris. When is a wedding more than a wedding? When it’s the daughter of a former president getting married. Apparently there’s been some hurt feelings among the celebrities who did not get an invite to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding this coming weekend. The wedding list was narrowed down to 400 people, but some former donors to Bill Clinton’s campaigns were left off the list. One person says it’s been kind of sad to watch the way people have been trying to elbow their way in or dropping hints. It’s a wedding, not a state affair. BP confirmed yesterday that CEO Tony Hayward will be replaced, as the company reported a 2nd quarter loss and set aside more than $32 billion to help cover the costs of the Gulf oil spill. Hayward will get a payout of about $1.5 million, and Bob Dudley will takeover on October 1st. Considering the climate right now and all of those costs to clean up the Gulf, BP is actually doing okay as revenue was up 34% for the quarter. Efforts to permanently plug BP’s ruptured well in the Gulf are under way again, after Tropical Storm Bonnie had things on hold over the weekend. Crews are back now drilling a relief well to plug the leak, and the "Static Kill" method is going forward, where they’ll pump a bunch of mud in and then cement to try to seal it off. That will begin next week. Tens of thousands of documents from the war in Afghanistan, released by the WikiLeaks website and published in major newspapers, could place US soldiers in greater danger. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says an investigation is already underway. Some of the major revelations in the leaks include the use of heat-seeking missiles by Taliban forces, problems with US operated unmanned aerial drones, and indications that Pakistan’s government has been cooperating with the Taliban. You’re standing in front of the closet and you just can’t find a thing to wear. Now imagine you did it on purpose. That’s what Stella Brennan did. She’s an insurance executive in Wisconsin who went on what she calls a "Fashion Fast", paring down her wardrobe to just six items; a black blazer and pants; 2 button down shirts; a pair of jeans, and a pink T-shirt. She did it for a month and nobody noticed. Now she’s put the challenge out to others at her web-site – SixItemsOrLess.com. Fewer adults now say faith is their top priority. Despite the fact that more than three-quarters of adults identify themselves as Christians and nearly nine out of 10 Americans believe in God, a new Barna study finds matters of "faith" are surprisingly rare when Americans choose their highest priority in life. The study found some 12 percent of adults described faith as a top priority. While that's up from the nine percent in 2008, it's still down from 2006 (16 percent). The types of responses categorized as "faith" include connecting with God, living consistent with their faith principles, and being at peace with God. World Vision is helping deliver emergency food and blankets to families who have been displaced in South Africa following attacks on foreign nationals there. About 250 people fled their homes and are now staying at a camp outside of Cape Town. An effort is now underway to try to mobilize churches to advocate against these attacks. So what’s your biggest pet peeve when you go out to a store or restaurant? You might be surprised what most people say. Four separate studies were done looking at the ways employees act, and the thing that had the most negative impact on customers is when employees were openly rude to their fellow co-workers. That, made an even bigger negative impression on most people surveyed than if the employee had been rude to them, or bad service. If you think it’s sweet to Tweet, how much would you be willing to pay for it? Millions of Americans use sites like Twitter and Facebook, but in an annual study of the impact of the Internet, 0% said they’d be willing to pay for it. The study by the Center For the Digital Future shows more than half would rather see web advertising pay for content, but 70% said web ads are annoying.