Saturday Sidebars

It's been a day of interesting reminders, most of which are worth passing on. So, here you go:

- Two really cool literati sites you should check out: TED and Arts & Letters Daily. Among the most emailed on TED: TED under 30, What Makes Us Happy, and Medicine Without Borders. Arts & Letters is an agglomeration news/information/disputes/gossip/breakthroughs/trends site put out by the Chronicle of Higher Education, with a significant focus on non-U.S.-based sources.

- Every year, everyone in the U.S. can order a free credit report from all three credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. You've got absolutely no excuse NOT to check them every year, especially now that they're free. I've got mine and will pore over them shortly, especially given the nastiness that's been happening with my bills recently.

- For heaven's sake (and the sake of others), don't misplace your account numbers for your utilities and then assume another number you find is yours. In fact, if you lost your account number, you maybe ought to look up the customer service telephone number in the phone book and call the "nice-people-who-don't-get-paid-nearly-enough-to-deal-with-us-mad-as-hell-
people-who-have to-deal-with-junk-that-your-laziness-created" to find out what your account number truly is.

- Paint can contaminate drinking water and can be harmful to wildlife. Please make sure you dispose of it correctly. In my fair city, paint and other household generated hazardous materials can be taken here for proper disposal. I did that with perhaps 30 different cans of paint today myself. Oh, and it's free, unlike some other municipalities.

- Never wash a chenille blanket. I did. There are green fuzzies everywhere and no real blanket any longer.