Tuesday, December 24, 2024

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Features

FEATURES

Wild whips

Freshly washed, the orange and blue paint on the 2000 SE Ford Focus gleamed on Saturday afternoon. The brick of East Akers Hall reflected off the glistening 17-inch American Racing Rims. The attention to details didn't go unnoticed. A blonde, 20-something woman walked in front of the car and pulled out her camera phone. Click. Strangers taking photos of her car is nothing new to Maggie Peña, a theater senior.

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Find the right skin care regimen

If scrubbing your face raw doesn't keep pimples away, don't scrub harder. Instead, re-evaluate your skin care regimen, as some methods thought to banish blemishes might actually be the culprits. From fried foods to chocolate, there are many theories on what causes breakouts, said Abby Clemons, a skin care specialist and nurse at Doctor's Approach Dermatology & Laser Center.

FEATURES

Stress No. 1 academic inhibitor

It can sneak up in the midst of blurring numbers and piles of study guides. Suddenly, you're breathing faster, feeling panicked or flat-out wanting to quit school. Spanish senior Amanda Gorman knows stress can add uneasiness and anxiety to a night of studying. "I stay awake all night, I get overwhelmed.

FEATURES

Fast food getting meatier

By Kate Santich The Orlando Sentinel Surely every American old enough to place a Happy Meal order knows there's an obesity epidemic in this country. Despite this — and despite piles of research on the evils of diets high in saturated fat and sodium and low in fiber — American fast-food chains continue to roll out bigger, fatter, more decadent fare. Consider this summer's debut of Burger King's BK Stackers, which include a Quad Stacker option of four slabs of beef, four slices of cheese and up to eight slices of bacon — "smothered," as the company puts it, in a creamy sauce. "This burger might better be called the quadruple-bypass special," said Jeff Novick, director of nutrition for the Pritikin Longevity Center in Florida.

FEATURES

Secret to smart shopping found in lists, wardrobe

I have faced the fact that I am an extremely impulsive shopper. Maybe this is you, too. Do you spend hours trying on outfits in the morning, all of which end up in a huge heap on the floor as you race to get to class on time?

FEATURES

Secure your identity with experts' advice

A magazine label can potentially destroy your identity, experts say. The label is seemingly harmless but means a lot to an identity thief, said Sandra Hoffman, director of the Identity Theft Program in MSU's School of Criminal Justice. "A lot of magazines have customers' numbers or member numbers on them," Hoffman said.

FEATURES

How to keep bad credit from weighing you down

Bad credit has a foggy definition to many college students — not that anyone can blame them. As they spend time learning organic chemistry and dealing with the rage of wallet-draining parking violations, a "minimum amount due" VISA payment is sometimes all that can be squeezed out at the end of the day. But having good credit is more important and easier to achieve than many students might realize. "We all know someone is paying attention to our credit history, but people don't worry about (their credit score) until they want to buy a house," said Carol Hogan, an economics professor at the University of Michigan and mortgage loan officer for Castle Mortgage Corp.

FEATURES

Music fans not singing blues at festival

Little girls shaking their pigtails, grandmothers shaking their tail feathers and everyone bobbing their heads and tapping their feet. This was the scene at the 2006 Old Town BluesFest on Friday. The free two-day festival was filled with plenty of music, food and blues fans. The annual event attracted about 10,000 people, many of them traveling from out of state, on Friday and Saturday nights, said Terry Terry, a founder of the blues festival and member of the nonprofit Old Town Business & Art Development Association. "It's just a great atmosphere," he said.

FEATURES

Columnist cheers ban of 'skinny models' from show

If it's true that trends begin in Europe and cross over to the United States, we might be seeing the beginning of the end of skinny models. Madrid's fashion week recently banned sickly thin models from strutting their (nonexistent) stuff on the catwalk, CNN.com reported.

FEATURES

Small-claims court maze of regulations

By Pamela Yip The Dallas Morning News Dallas (MCT) — "Give me my money back or I'll sue!" Nearly everyone, at some time, has at least thought about trotting out that trump card in a dispute with a merchant, neighbor or former friend. And it's good to know that small-claims courts are there to handle such disputes, even if most people never follow through with the threat. But how do small-claims courts work?

FEATURES

Macy's opening thrills first customers

Pat Belbeck has seen her employer through more than 24 years of changes. On Saturday, the Perry resident was once again on hand to see Macy's open its doors at Meridian Mall with a burst of confetti and hundreds of eager customers waiting outside. Belbeck was one of five longtime employees of the department store, which was originally Hudson's, then Marshall Field's and now Macy's.

FEATURES

Columnist 'smart shops' her way through college

As a college student, I have strict principles concerning what is worth spending money on. Take, for example, Splenda packets. I could buy a box, or I could snatch free packets at restaurants to bulk up my artificial sweetener collection.

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New Facebook long-awaited

There's big news in the e-world, and my life has taken a drastic turn for the better. For the poor souls who don't already know, Facebook.com has implemented a news feed, which informs students about events their friends are attending, notifies them when friends post on each others' walls and even lists those who've added new photos. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end for only a few moments, until I realized how badly I needed this feature in my life. I've awoken many nights with beads of sweat pouring down my trembling brow, wondering if my fifth-grade choir partner is still in an open relationship.

FEATURES

Wharton Center box office opens Monday

Tickets to Wharton Center events will be available to the public Monday. Patrons will be able to purchase tickets to "Act One Family Series" and "Jazz Kats," as well as "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Pippin," "MAMMA MIA!" "Legends!" and "Rent". Tickets for other events will be available at a later date. Tickets can be purchased at the Wharton Center box office, by phone at (800) 942-7866 between 10 a.m.