Talk of the Day http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day What's everyone talking about around the watercooler? We hope to capture that spirit in Talk of the Day. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 en 1 Talk of the Day http://images.stltoday.com/stltoday/images/yahoo/stl_pd_logo.jpg http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day 143 50 STLtoday.com We’ll start fresh on Monday http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/well-start-fresh-on-monday/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/well-start-fresh-on-monday/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:22 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1815 Friends, thank you for taking the time to chat about the future of Talk of the Day on our last post. We’ll continue it, and we’re start fresh on Monday. I hear the majority view that we should continue it. We may do fewer than daily topics. And I’m going to be more ruthless about deleting comments that are off-topic and accomplish nothing more than lobbing flames into the marketplace of ideas. If you care to continue commenting, do it over here on the original topic.

See you Monday.

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/well-start-fresh-on-monday/feed/ Another time to re-evaluate Talk of the Day; do we need it? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/another-time-to-re-evaluate-talk-of-the-day-do-we-need-it/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/another-time-to-re-evaluate-talk-of-the-day-do-we-need-it/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:25:32 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1810 The Talk of the Day blog is the second-oldest blog on STLtoday.com, second only to Political Fix. Some days, they might be indistinguishable. And many days, I am sorely tempted to stick a fork in TOTD and say it’s done.

If memory serves, we’ve been talking almost every day in this spot since September 2004. So it’s possible we’ve discussed more than 1,300 topics, subtracting weekends, holidays and the occasional lazy day.

Lately, I have wearied of the way every topic devolves into a partisan screed. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals — all roads lead to the same tired, boring arguments....

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/another-time-to-re-evaluate-talk-of-the-day-do-we-need-it/feed/ Are we too quick to criticize people who make huge salaries? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/are-we-too-quick-to-criticize-people-who-make-huge-salaries/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/are-we-too-quick-to-criticize-people-who-make-huge-salaries/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:59:52 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1807 I say this not to whine. It’s just a fact. If I could work two jobs that paid the same salary I make now, and if I worked those two jobs at that salary for my entire career, I would not come close to earning what Albert Pujols made just last year.

Albert can do something I can’t do. He won’t be able to do it very long — maybe 10, 12, even 15 years if he’s lucky. And what he does is in very high demand by the millions of baseball fans who watch the game. I understand why he...

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/11/are-we-too-quick-to-criticize-people-who-make-huge-salaries/feed/ Trick or treat; tell us your favorite treat and your best trick. http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/trick-or-treat-tell-us-your-favorite-treat-and-your-best-trick/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/trick-or-treat-tell-us-your-favorite-treat-and-your-best-trick/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:20:47 +0000 Amanda St. Amand http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1804 It’s a rainy Friday, the day before Halloween and who’s got the stomach for a topic on some weighty issue like health care or the Afghanistan war? Not me.

So weigh in on the time-honored tradition of Halloween, where kids of all ages and costumes will ring your doorbell in search of treats. Is there a tradition behind what you  hand out? Or is it just whatever bags you grabbed as you pushed your shopping cart down the aisles of the local store? At our house, we buy in bulk because we get hundreds of trick-or-treaters.

Do you ask the kids to do...

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/trick-or-treat-tell-us-your-favorite-treat-and-your-best-trick/feed/ What will be your signal that the recession is over? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/what-will-be-your-signal-that-the-recession-is-over/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/what-will-be-your-signal-that-the-recession-is-over/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:26:06 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1800 Some economists are saying — perhaps with a touch of irony — that the recession is over. The U.S. economy grew in the past quarter by 3.5 percent, the first expansion of the gross domestic product in more than a year. In fact, it was stronger than the 3.3 percent growth rate economists had predicted.

“We’re beginning to crawl out a very deep hole,” said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. “It will take time to get back to normal again and there are questions about how consumers will hold up in the months ahead. But I think the recovery...

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/what-will-be-your-signal-that-the-recession-is-over/feed/ If you sat in the governor’s office, what would you cut? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/if-you-sat-in-the-governors-office-what-would-you-cut/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/if-you-sat-in-the-governors-office-what-would-you-cut/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:22:10 +0000 Amanda St. Amand http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1798 Even as the federal number-crunchers are telling us that the recession is over, more bad economic news is coming to Missouri.

As my colleague Virginia Young reports today, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will be making more budget cuts today — probably at least $300 million and maybe more.

A comment from one state lawmaker in the story really struck me. Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, said: “The big places you go to get money are higher education and (elementary and secondary) education, but those are the untouchables.”

That’s because of Nixon’s pledge to keep funding for colleges stable.

I have a...

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/if-you-sat-in-the-governors-office-what-would-you-cut/feed/ What would be our best move in Afghanistan? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/what-would-be-our-best-move-in-afghanistan/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/what-would-be-our-best-move-in-afghanistan/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:45:55 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1793 The Washington Post reports today that the Obama Administration ran war games over the past several weeks in order to evaluate the best move in Afghanistan. According to the story:

The exercise, led by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, examined the likely outcome of inserting 44,000 more troops into the country to conduct a full-scale counterinsurgency effort aimed at building a stable Afghan government that can control most of the country. It also examined adding 10,000 to 15,000 more soldiers and Marines as part of an approach that the military has dubbed “counterterrorism plus.”

Another column on...

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/what-would-be-our-best-move-in-afghanistan/feed/ The political debate of our time: Bunnies vs. kittens? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/the-political-debate-of-our-time-bunnies-vs-kittens/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/the-political-debate-of-our-time-bunnies-vs-kittens/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:29:12 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1785 I have been amused for some time now at the ability of some of our online community to twist any topic into the political screed of their choice. Recently, “socialist libs” have been excoriated for their opinions about consumer fraud. “Nazi socialist Republicans” have been taken to task for their bad grammar.

In some cases, I have tried to purge the dialog of pointless and off-topic, needless political rants, which, frankly, are tiresome and shed only heat, not light.

Today, for our Friday Talk of the Day, I thought it would be fun to go the other direction. Again, just for fun!...

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/the-political-debate-of-our-time-bunnies-vs-kittens/feed/ Are you afraid of the dentist? Why or why not? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/are-you-afraid-of-the-dentist-why-or-why-not/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/are-you-afraid-of-the-dentist-why-or-why-not/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:03:57 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1781 We have a story in today’s health section about a new device some dentists are using. It let’s patients push a button when the pain of the drill is too much. It stops the drilling. Stops the pain. Warns the dentist to back off a bit.

“When I heard about it, I immediately thought ‘this is a good idea,’ ” we quote Dr. Michael White, a Webster Groves dentist. “The No. 1 reason why patients leave their dentists is because they hurt them.”

The story goes on to say, “In fact, the American Dental Association estimates that 35 million adults have so much...

]]> http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/are-you-afraid-of-the-dentist-why-or-why-not/feed/ When do you think consumer fraud starts to be the victim’s fault? http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/when-do-you-think-consumer-fraud-starts-to-be-the-victims-fault/ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/talk-of-the-day/2009/10/when-do-you-think-consumer-fraud-starts-to-be-the-victims-fault/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:58:49 +0000 Kurt Greenbaum http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/talk-of-the-day/?p=1775 Matthew Hathaway, one of my colleagues, wrote a story today about MoneyGram International, the second largest money-transfer company — after Western Union. The company settled a consumer fraud claim with the Federal Trade Commission for $18 million.

There are plenty of places to talk about that specific case. Matt has written about it on his Savvy Consumer blog. The later story about the case is posted here and there are readers commenting on the case there as well.

One of the comments bugged me a little. A reader wrote: “I’m stupid and I do stupid things with my money so the company that...

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