PLASTIC BOTTLE RECYCLING REACHES RECORD HIGH OF OVER 2.4 BILLION POUNDS ANNUALLY The 19th annual National Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report found that the results reflect a continuing increase in the pounds of bottles collected for recycling each year since the industry survey began in 1990. The recycling rate for plastic bottles rose nearly 3 percent to reach 27 percent.
http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/sec_news_article.asp?CID=206&DID=10389

The Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel (IDSP) has released a workshop report calling for the development of an American National Standard on identity verification as a tool to help combat terrorism and identity theft. http://www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=2351 The workshop report is freely available for download at http://webstore.ansi.org/identitytheft.

Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time was extended one month and begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and ends 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. The new start and stop dates were set in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_savingtime.html

Print maps or customize your own maps at: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/ Click on articles to find information on geography, map reading, America's changing population, geology of the nation, water quality and many more topics to come.

Is it kosher for a law enforcement agency to, pursuant to a lawfully granted search warrant, search your Gmail account without telling you? According to an opinion handed down earlier this year and currently making the rounds on legal blogs (here and here), the answer is no. WSJ Law Blog October 29, 2009

In Darby Conley’s comic strip, the Get Fuzzy characters of Bucky, the Siamese mix cat, friendly dog pal Satchel and their owner Rob Wilco had their successful launch in newspapers under the United Media Syndicate in September, 1999. http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/cartoonists/93767 On October 30, 2003, Get Fuzzy cartoonist Conley was criticized for a series strip that implied Pittsburgh stank. He responded with a comical apology. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Comic strip apology to really isn't (November 18, 2003)1 In May 2005, sports anchor Bob Lobel sued Conley over a strip that supposedly implied Lobel was intoxicated while broadcasting. The Boston Globe: Lobel files libel suit in response to 'Get Fuzzy' strip (May 21, 2005)2 The suit was settled out of court. http://www.mahalo.com/get-fuzzy

Fewer periods, more dashes
In the United Kingdom, they write US and UK, in America we prefer U.S. and U.K. but will probably eventually give up the periods. A.M., a.m., P.M., and p.m. are sometimes written without periods. Also, the second letter is sometimes dropped: 8a for 8 a.m. Paragraphs may be full of dashes when commas would do just as well, and perhaps make for faster reading.

Urban renewers Catherine and Alfredo De Vido restored a rare 1830 farmhouse in the middle of New York City. The three-story clapboard house the De Vidos purchased was a rare survivor—a frame structure built near the East River when the area was turnip fields and farmland, then moved south to 85th Street just before the Civil War.
http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/november-december/urban-renewers.html

In May 1944, David Finley, director of the National Gallery of Art, went to Hampton in the Baltimore suburbs to see a portrait he hoped to acquire for the gallery. As it turned out, he was delighted with the painting—and equally impressed by Hampton itself. But there was a problem: The Ridgely family, which had called the estate home since the 1780s, could no longer afford to maintain it and was thinking about selling to a developer. The ever-persistent, ever-persuasive Finley eventually found a donor who bought the property and gave it to the Department of the Interior, which opened it to the public in 1949. By that time, the long struggle to save Hampton had shown Finley the need for a nongovernmental organization to fight for the preservation of America's historic buildings. At a meeting convened at the National Gallery, groundwork was laid for the creation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. Six years after his initial visit to Hampton, David Finley was named chairman of the new National Trust. http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/november-december/back-beginning_bp.html