Food Waste Audit will show what many know: we should compost

Auburn University is having a Food Waste Audit April 22 to determine how much compostable food waste and noncompostable food waste students and restaurants on campus throw out each day.This data will help Recycling and Solid Waste Coordinator Donny Addison convince the University it would be in its best interest to start a composting program on campus.We remember being in elementary school and having a compost pile out behind the cafeteria.It was every little third-grader's duty to go out back and dump their food scraps on the pile, which would then be composted and used in flowerbeds around campus.With us being an agricultural school, surely a use could be found for such material.

Letters to the Editor

Student asks what is an 'imminent threat of violence?'Editor, The Auburn Plainsman:After giving Auburn University administrators ample time to inform you of a potentially dangerous situation on campus Monday, March 9, 2009, I have decided to tell you myself.This letter is intended to:-- Inform the Auburn Family of events that happened on our campus.-- Inform you of the official Auburn University response and their current position on the situation.At 4 p.m., three young men not registered for the course entered a political science classroom.They sat at the back of the room and began asking questions and making comments about guns, the war in Iraq, and similar topics.They were not sitting together but were sitting strategically around the back of the room.The students were very uncomfortable and afraid.

Those not already on it may want to join the vinyl record bandwagon

Staff column

April 9's cartoons

Self-appointed pay raises for state legislators coming out of our wallets

Editorial

Rejecting tea and taxes for all the wrong reasons

My appetite for tea has now been spoiled. What a tragic loss.Well, while that's not entirely true, I've been slightly amused lately (in an annoying sort of way) listening about the Tax Day Tea Party and the "revolution" it is stirring.

An emergency room visit featuring awkward jokes, irony and X-rays

Maybe some nursing students can help me out with this.I want to know about the standard procedure for small talk with patients, specifically if you are taught that the stock answer for when a patient greets you and asks how you are doing is "Better than you!"I had three staff members at the East Alabama Medical Center give me that same exact joke when I was getting X-rayed recently for what turned out to be a broken clavicle.I imagine that if this line of dialogue is in a text book somewhere, there's probably a disclaimer stating, "Do not use this for any patient suffering an injury more serious than a broken clavicle.

Start making "change" for my bailout, please

The last time I checked we lived in a free country. So, why does it cost so much to live here?My lame joke is an attempted criticism of the economic meltdown my bank account has been experiencing the last few months.This wasn't caused by the stock market plunge or billion dollar bailouts for companies I'd never heard of until CNN's correspondent made me feel like a Google search was appropriate.

Keep the faith, but de-legislating it was a good move

Shalom everybody.For those gentiles who aren't aware, today marks the beginning of Passover.Passover is a Jewish holiday celebrating God's sparing of the Hebrews when he killed the first born of Egypt.So how does a Catholic person like myself know today is the start of Passover?No, it's not because I have a 365 puppies-a-year calendar, displaying all the major holidays.

Plan B morning-after pill available to 17-year-olds over the counter

Editorial

Web site woes finally resolved

Editor's Column

Let's bring the music back

Staff Column

Oh, the construction constrictions

Staff Column

Weekly Cartoon

Healthier attitudes thanks to spring and plentiful sunshine

Editor's Column

Family will come first

Staff Column

I put down the phone, and so can you

Staff Column

Supplemental podcasts through iTunes a good move for students

The Authenticated AU iTunes program will allow faculty to distribute video and audio content to their students through iTunes, which the students can use to view or listen to the content on their computer or iPod.The possibilities for the use of this program are pretty neat.Auburn's use of the podcast could help students by allowing them a way to avoid awkward academic situations.One situation that could see some benefit would be the review sessions professors sometimes offer before tests.Students who cannot attend due to a legitimate scheduling conflict could e-mail their questions to the professor to include in a review podcast."I can't make it," would not force a student to settle for a B.The situation could also be beneficial for the teacher who is available to review on Wednesday, but the students want to meet Thursday.Instead of meeting in the middle, the teacher could record the podcast when they have time, and send it out to students immediately.Professors have several ways to format the podcast.A history professor reviewing material like the definitions of vocabulary terms or the significance of historical events would be able to release their podcast as an audio file.A math teacher trying to clear up a hard to understand problem dealing with a dry-erase board full of formulas could set up a camera viewing the board and record a video podcast.There is no substitute for in-person, teacher-to-student interaction, but embracing technology in this manner would help those on either side.