LANDFILL GAS, TV RATINGS AND FREE STAMPS

Some random observations on the world around us:

-- There isn't much glamour in landfills, but recent reports indicate there is hidden treasure buried with the millions of tons of garbage in many modern landfills: methane.

Methane is a gas created by decomposing waste. It's not a pretty thought, but the methane can be burned much like natural gas. Put to the right uses, methane from landfills can become a low-cost and efficient way to provide heat.

In the blue-collar town of Sugar Creek, nestled between Kansas City and Independence on the Missouri River, students from several nearby school districts have put nearby landfills to good use. They have tapped the garbage to provide fuel for a 6,000-square-foot greenhouse used for horticulture classes.

Over the past couple of years, there have been other articles around the state about similar projects. One school in mid-Missouri found that its landfill neighbor produced enough methane to heat the school in the winter, providing huge savings in energy costs.

In addition to being a source of fuel, such projects provide good learning opportunities for students and allow youngsters to take their learning experiences outside the classroom.

More than a dozen years ago, Northwest Missouri State University at Maryville found a way to use wood chips made from the waste produced by sawmills to fuel a high-tech boiler system that provided energy for the entire campus. It has since found other fuels as well. In the process, the school has become a center of learning for alternative energy resources.

It's all a matter of a little ingenuity and a big desire to make something work.

-- The Senate impeachment trial has been a lesson in history-as-it-happens. The import of the events of recent weeks is, however, beyond the interest of most Americans, it seems.

One measure of public interest is to gauge who is paying attention to television coverage -- or lack of it -- of the Senate proceedings.

Not too many years ago, the three national TV networks would provide nonstop coverage of something as momentous as a presidential impeachment. But TV has changed so much in more recent times. Those three networks no longer control the viewing habits of Americans. There are dozens of networks now that offer incredible variety to channel flippers.

When the House of Representatives was debating the articles of impeachment that had been presented by the Judiciary Committee last month, there was a glimpse of the old network agenda of gavel-to-gavel coverage.

CBS, however, had an NFL game waiting to be broadcast -- a game interspersed with high-revenue commercials. It chose to break away from the House debate, broadcasting instead the pregame show and football game between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.

From a ratings perspective, CBS made a good decision. It ratings zoomed past those of other networks attempting to show history-as-it-happens.

All of which is telling about the interests and concerns of many Americans.

-- It wasn't a costly decision, but the Cape Girardeau Post Office generated a lot of goodwill when customers started flooding the lobby in the wake of the recent increase in first-class postage to 33 cents.

The one-cent increase meant many mailers had a supply of the old 32-cent stamps on hand and needed some one-cent stamps to put on envelopes.

For several days, the Post Office lobby looked like the pre-Christmas rush with long lines and a hectic pace.

It didn't take the postal folks long to figure out it could give away a lot of one-cent stamps -- thereby speeding up the lines and turning frowns into smiles -- without breaking the bank.

The Post Office was prepared to give away 5,000 of the one-cent stamps. Total cost: $50.

But the value of this positive gesture will never be calculated beyond seeing folks waiting in line express their amazement that they could get free stamps.

Good move, Post Office.