Good Morning Lowcountry

Friday bytes

Once again, and for the last time, GMLc culls some varied and interesting (and sometimes odd) news from elsewhere that you might have missed.

Allen G. Breed/AP

A flag flies in front of a flooded home Tuesday in the small town of Oakville, Iowa.

Wait a minute, GMLc. Did you say "for the last time?"

Yes, as of Saturday, GMLc will be no more, pluffmudders.

We thank you for reading and invite you to find GMLc Proper in our new gig, editing Community News, the extra news targeted to your area that you find twice a week in the Local & State section. E-mail us your news bytes at hmcleod@postandcourier.com.

Off the road. Americans drove 4.5 billion fewer miles in April compared with the same month last year, Breitbart News reported. It was the lowest monthly mileage driven in the United States since 2003, according to a report by the Federal Highway Administration.

Eyes on the oil. Thirty-six years after they lost their oil concessions in Iraq, four Western oil companies are negotiating this month to get back to doing business in that country, The New York Times reported. They are Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Co. They want no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest oil fields, the Times reported. The deals are expected to be announced June 30.

Manmade flooding. A University of Northern Iowa professor said he thinks that the natural disaster of flooding this spring in Iowa isn't all that natural, The Washington Post reported.

Kamyar Enshayan said heavy rains have fallen on a radically altered landscape where plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies, fields have been drained with underground pipes, streams and creeks have been straightened and most wetlands are gone. Flood plains, the Post reported, have been filled and developed. "We've done numerous things to the landscape that took away these water-absorbing functions," Enshayan said. "Agriculture must respect the limits of nature."

Upside of a deluge. The single upside to the Mississippi River's rising waters is great catfishing, MSNBC reported. Jim Dockery, a commercial fisherman six months out of the year in Clarksville, Mo., said channel catfish come lumbering closer to shore in times of rising water. Three dozen of them make 80 pounds of prime fillets worth $250, he said.

Night people. Slate, Newsweek and other publications took up the issue of whether you are a morning person or a night owl and whether you have a choice. Going to bed late and getting up late, a pattern called "delayed sleep phase," is a hard habit to break.

"Some people have this tendency right from the minute they come out of the womb," Dr. Nancy Collop of Johns Hopkins Hospital Sleep Disorders Center told Newsweek.

Tips to becoming a morning person include getting up at the same time each day, even on weekends ... sleeping in a room with an eastern exposure so you get some morning sun in your eyes ... sleeping pills, temporarily ... and turning off the noise, such as TV.

Loving the Lowcountry. Travel + Leisure magazine offers 50 reasons to love the U.S.A. Here's what it had to say about South Carolina:

"Because of its untouched islands. Just south of Charleston Harbor, tiny Morris Island (tpl.org/morrisisland) is probably the last undeveloped spot on the South Carolina coast. The site of a Civil War battle (dramatized in the film 'Glory'), the island will be put under permanent conservation easement this summer, the result of a successful public land trust campaign.

"Then, the habitat for osprey, blue herons, bald eagles, and two endangered species — the piping plover and the loggerhead sea turtle — will be preserved for hikers and bird-watchers for years to come."

Hula Hoop. You are dating yourself if you remember the launch of the Hula Hoop. Hula Hoop turned 50 years old this year. Wham-O has made more than 100 million of them, AP reported. The Hula Hoop was so popular that the former Soviet Union banned the toy as a symbol of the "emptiness of American culture," AP reported.

Herding cats. Speaking of Associated Press, last week the newswire attempted to impose strict guidelines on the blogosphere, MSNBC reported. This week, it backed off. AP's Jim Kennedy said he would meet with Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, and work up some sort of AP/Blogger Accord.

GMLc
Call 937-5564. Write gmlc@postandcourier.com or hmcleod@postandcourier.com. Comment at charle