Monday, May 13, 2013
Whether it's preschool, college or somewhere in between, brag about it on Patch.
Hear that? Somewhere, a "Pomp and Circumstance" march is playing, and someone is struggling to keep that mortarboard in place. Yep, it's graduation season, and whether it's your preschooler moving on to the big K, or your college senior heading out into the real world, you can brag about it on Patch. First, make sure you are a registered user of Oconee Patch (if you aren't, click on Sign Up in the top right corner of the home page). Once you are logged in, follow this link to post an announcement. In the announcement template, fill out all the fields, and make sure you choose "Graduation" as the category. When you are done, you can add photos and video of your graduate to make it really special. Then scroll to the bottom and click "Post my…
A database released by the federal government shows shocking price discrepancies.
How can a medical procedure that costs $7,000 at one hospital cost nearly $100,000 at the hospital down the street? Because patients don't know what anyone charges for anything. That might change soon. The federal government has released a database laying out charges for common medical procedures at hospitals across the country, The Huffington Post reports. Officials said they released the data to make hospitals more intelligent competitors and patients better informed consumers. The results are vexing: What's your reaction to the variation in health care prices? Will this information change how you seek health care? What should be done to improve medical pricing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Have an opinion? A passion? A hobby? Share it on Patch!
Calling all hand-raisers, soap-box speakers and community meeting attendees. If you've got an opinion, a hobby or even an obsession, Patch wants you! Are you passionate about community politics? Attend School Board meetings? An expert on local history? Create amazing recipes? Have a love of sports, arts or science? Want a new reason to write? Then we want hear all about it! Click here to read what Oconee bloggers have recently posted. Part of the Patch mission is to strengthen communities and improve the lives of their residents, but we can't do it without you. Our Local Voices section allows members of the community—from cooking enthusiasts to local politicians and everyone in between—to interact and post directly to the site. These …
Flowers, vegetables, or a mix of both? Let's see photos of your garden sanctuary.
From a window flower bed to a backyard veggie patch to acres of fields - how does your garden grow? Share pictures by clicking on the "Upload photos and videos" button to add your images to our gallery.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Critics describe the adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel as "frenzied," "audacious" and "relentlessly entertaining."
"The Great Gatsby" is playing at nearby Gateway Cinemas 12 in Barrow County and Beechwood Cinemas 11 and Carmike 12 in Athens. The premise, courtesy of the film's official website: “The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, …
Friday, May 10, 2013
A Generation Y publication calls out Abercombie & Fitch for eschewing plus sizes.
Even as one metro Atlanta mall hosted a casting call for plus size models last weekend, a popular retailer was discouraging larger women from dropping in. Elite Daily, "The Voice of Generation-Y," recently pointed out that mall staple Ambercrombie & Fitch doesn't carry XL or XXL sizes of women's clothing, stopping at size 10 for women's pants. Competitors such as H&M and American Eagle go much larger. The article points to a 2006 interview with CEO Mike Jeffries in Salon.com: Is it cool to just go after the "cool" kids? Does your pants size make you cool? What do you tell your children? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Google-owned video sharing site reportedly is planning to charge for some premium content. Will you pay to press play?
YouTube, the popular video sharing site that also is the world's second-leading search engine, reportedly is about to charge for some content. Mashable.com has reported that Google-owned YouTube this week will begin charging for "specialist" channels to help finance production of content such as television shows and films. The service will include up to 50 YouTube channels, and subscriptions will start as low a $1.99 per month, the Financial Times reported. A YouTube spokesperson told Mashable, "We have nothing to announce at this time, but we're looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Read news and commentary posted by Patch users during the past week and find out how you can make your voice heard on Patch.
Have news, opinion, photos or video you'd like to share with the community? Click here to post on Oconee Patch. Unable to view this article on your mobile device? Please click here to read the story.
"It's hard to say," says author Peggy Drexler, "but our increasingly me-first world might have something to do with it."
Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday, but not every mom is pleased to carry the mantle. Some are even walking off the job. In an opinion piece on CNN.com, parenting author Peggy Drexler writes that "reports would seem to indicate that the number of moms who ... run away -- or at least walk away -- is increasing." Drexler cites an increase in the number of single fathers, and several anecdotal examples of mothers who simply took off: There's Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, who wrote in an essay for Salon.com that she realized, when her sons were 3 and 5 that she didn't want to be a full-time mother anymore. There are even support groups now for women who decide to leave their children. Why do some moms leave? Here's what Rizzuto says in the Salon …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Being informed is important to help make changes in our culture.
What is it going to take to make the average citizen pay attention to all that is going on in our government? I admit to being frustrated as I read surveys indicating that people are not aware of what is going on around them. Are we so busy trying to make a living, look after family needs, and pulling for our favorite sports team that we don’t have enough time or energy to know what is happening in our government? Recently, a phone caller wanted to bend my ear concerning his opinion that “NOBODY” is doing anything to promote the conservative principles of life. I invested a large amount of time listening to the caller as he vented about all the negatives going on in the world and how no one is answering the call to stand up for the right. …
Ralph Stepp
11:40 am on Thursday, May 16, 2013
Mr Jones, either you are stupid or guilty of blind support of Obama's Communist policies of big Government being the source of taking care of everyone or perhaps you are sincerely lacking in knowledge of truthful facts coming our hourly regarding world facts. 1. Snowbirds wait until they come to the US for treatments because "it takes too long" or "it is not available through the system in a … more ›