There’s so much in the world to confuse us

Dick Doyle

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 | midnight

Dick Doyle

There are enough things going on in Washington, D.C., and on the campaign trail this month to give anyone a headache, not to mention a heartache.

There are also a lot of things going on at a lower level — some for a very long time ­— that can give you a headache and a rise in blood pressure.

It appears to me that more and more people are working to confuse me as my age advances.

I subscribe to a daily newspaper that is distributed all across the country. In Maine, they're reading the same things I am reading.

The only thing different is the television listings, which change to fit the time zone where the paper is distributed.

But it's the non-changes that tick me off.

Why are all the stories about what's going to happen tomorrow advertised as "all times EDT."

Who cares about EDT? Don't the people who write this stuff realize more than 30 million people live in the Pacific time zone and don't know anything about the Eastern time zone? And on the TV screen, there are promos that tell us such-and-such a show is on at 7 p.m. EDT.

Seeing only the 7 p.m. part of the announcement, I and scores of others sit and prepare to watch a program that ran locally three hours earlier!

Hey, EDT. We've got a life out here. We're important, too. Instead of 7 p.m. EDT/CDT, how about adding PDT? Or just film a promo for PDT?

And, another thing. I was awakened one morning recently by a call from a company in the Midwest. I presume it was right after my contact guy got to work, about 8:30. His time, not mine.

In Las Vegas, it was 6:30 a.m., not a time when I am prepared to do business. I frequently get calls from the Midwest and East at times the callers find appropriate to their work schedules, not considering mine.

Attention, callers from other time zones: I do not like to talk business at 5 a.m.!

I think I'll set up my answering machine with some harsh words.

I am also confused by recycling.

I read in a Sunday magazine recently that items with the numbers one and two inside the little triangle on the bottom of a can, bottle, plastic box, etc., are top candidates for recycling.

With Recycle Nevada (that's what Republic Services calls its recycling arm), those numbers also indicate the most recyclable items. But, there's no regulation of numbers in other places. Across the country, 39 states provide numbers that can cause cross-border recycling clashes.

Here's what we need to know that we can use to make recycling easier:

First, we must recycle plastic water bottles (a one). They won't decompose in a landfill until long after your great-great grandson has left this earth. They just don't melt fast in a landfill. Recycle USA picks them up at your curb. Put them in a plastic trash bag and set that out on your regular recycle pickup day or drop them off at any Sav-On drug store in the valley.

They are not trash can material. Ever.

A two inside the triangle on your recyclables denotes a household detergent bottle or a plastic bag.

A three is on PVC or vinyl items like the take-home container at the place you had lunch.

A four is on fresh produce and dry-cleaning bags. A five is found on yogurt cups and bottle caps which, the recyclers say, often are just dumped into landfills.

After that number, the interest in recycling begins to drop. Number six and seven are best tossed in your trash can.

If you recycle paper, don't forget newspapers, cereal boxes, wine boxes and even envelopes with plastic windows. Most recyclers would like to have you separate all paper items into individual recycling bins or bags, but you don't have to worry — they'll take the mixed loads.

And glass container bottles and jars (without caps) — they recycle well, too.

Aluminum cans are most valuable.

Recycling just one, we're told, will save enough energy to run your television set for two and a half hours!

There's lots of money in recycling. We just can't make any as individuals anymore. For Recycle Nevada, the return is huge.

But what they do is good for the greening of America, for us not having to chop down more trees or to make less plastic out of hard-to-get and expensive oil.

There. I'm not so confused anymore.

•••

Election Day is just around the corner.

I'm sure you realize it's not just "Election Day," but rather it is a day that alters American history.

It is up to you to make a careful consideration of the positions of all candidates for all offices as you exercise the most sacred right of a democracy — the right to vote.

Keep in mind that for every person who lives in a country where he or she can cast a vote in a free and open election, there are a dozen living in places where people don't have a right to vote.

Whomever you think are the best candidates, go to the polls and vote for them.

We have early voting in Nevada, so it makes it easier for all of us to take advantage of our privilege — and the demand that living in a democratic society makes on us.

It's going to be a great finish!

Dick Doyle, a community volunteer and former newspaper editor, is a columnist for the Home News. He can be reached c/o the Home News, 2360 Corporate Circle, Third Floor, Henderson, NV 89074; by fax at 434-3527 or e-mail at editor@hbcpub.com.