Cell phones can be quite useful

I use my 'computer phone/handheld computer', as YKWIA puts it, quite a bit, although I never text in the car, and generally only answer the phone when I can pull over, because I know I'm not dexterous enough to drive and answer the thing at the same time, much less keep my attention on the road while talking on it.

That said...

Friday, two things happened that made me shake my head at just how attached people are getting to their cell phones. Oh, those of us with them (and I have two friends who do not have cell phones, smart or otherwise), experience a pang of anxiety (or more) if they're left at home. But then there are the following two cases:

1. I'm leaving my apartment complex for work on Friday morning. I see a young girl, probably a high school student with book bag, texting while walking, her earbuds in her ears, totally oblivious to the her surroundings. I stop, seeing her in time, but she doesn't see me, and proceeds to walk in front of my car across the driveway. Then, halfway in front of my car, she finally looks up, realises she is in front of my car, and rather than crossing on ahead, turns perpendicularly and crosses the road right in front of me, rather than getting out of the way first, still looking down at her phone, without looking either way before crossing the street. That child is likely likely going to die at some point with behaviour like that. I was alert and watching out for her. A lot of people wouldn't be. I am living proof that you can get injured by a car while doing all the right things--crossing with the crosswalk, being alert, not listening to music, not on a cell phone. She is just asking for trouble. YKWIA said he'd have sped up and hit her just because of her stupidity. While I certainly disagree with doing that, folks, there is this thing called evolution. Do not be the person who gets on the Darwin Awards list. And then there is this...
2. Man killed by roller coaster was looking for lost wallet, cell phone, mother says [He jumped over a fence into a restricted area, and was struck by the roller coaster car.] A cell phone is no reason to die. Yes, a wallet is important. Yes, I can see wanting a cell phone back--although if you lost it at 57 mph, I'm not sure it would have survived. But...why not just report the loss to the ride operators and see if they can find it either by shutting down the ride for a few minutes, or after close? I'd rather be patient, and let them send it to me if they couldn't retrieve it on the spot, than risk death. I just don't understand.

These are our modern cautionary tales, I suppose. But the upshot is, please, a cell phone isn't worth dying over. Be careful out there, and don't let it take over your life to the point of taking it.

Another effective public service announcement against texting and driving

one I think is good for getting the conversation started with young people. Considering the statistics, we need to be doing something.

Every driver should see this--especially young ones

When I worked at the gas station, one of my co-workers had a very good friend who lost her 14-year-old son in an accident when the 16-year-old driver texted, ignoring a stop sign and running into a semi-truck. The girl's first words were not concern for her passenger. She wanted to know where her phone was. Please do not text and drive (and for that matter, most phone calls can wait, too.)

So the quiet night at home didn't quite work out, but I had a good time

I laid down for a nap, was half asleep, when a friend called asking me to bring some food over (they don't have a car, and don't drive). It was only after I called in the order and really woke up that I realised that they could have just had the Chinese restaurant they wanted it from delivered. A never thought about it, and YKWIA did, but was amused that I didn't think to just tell A that. At least I can blame it on being sleepy and tell myself they wanted the pleasure of my company. But I did get a small kung pao tofu that was really good (I'd already had some corn before they called), and YKWIA and I watched several episodes of 'Better Off Ted' and had a great time together. We also checked on a friend who'd had some surgery last week and is thankfully feeling better. It looks like we'll be playing the game Sunday. Now I'm (back) home, texting with Brandon and winding down for the night. Rain or shine, tomorrow I'm going to try to sleep in and not set an alarm. Some people over here in my neighbourhood are setting off early fireworks (I guess they're not sure they'll be able to tomorrow), but it's not too noisy.

I saw some revised hours for the High Street YMCA on Facebook a few minutes ago. Now they're open 7 am-6 pm, and are letting the runners from the Bluegrass 10K (which takes place near them, downtown) use their showers after the race. That's nice.

I hope you have a very safe and happy Independence Day (at least for those of you in the States). Good night.

Not surprisingly, I overslept

So I'm getting a later start to my morning than I liked. But I'm ready to go; I have the lease signed, the books ready for the library, etc. So it's just eat a bagel and then I'm off. Brandon texted me a photo of the sunrise at their present location, which was lovely. :) I did get a couple of VERY early morning texts that I thought was him at first but it turned out to be some sort of scam to determine if my number was legitimate, I think. Someone texted a picture and another one where it tried to send a read receipt back to the person. I deleted them without sending such a receipt. If they're going to do this, I wish they wouldn't do it at five in the morning. Grrr....Then I lost a contact. I am 98% sure it is not in my eye, although now my eye is red from my searching for it. I can't see it, I can't see out of that eye, and if I put my glasses on, it's normal. But I'm not sure what happened to it. I guess it went down the drain (no, I did not close the drain--mine doesn't do that anymore). I like to never got the other one in, the first one I put in. So I had to take that out and now I'm wearing my glasses and my eyes are irritated. :(

Okay, finished with the bagel. I'm going to go to the leasing office, farmer's market, and library, then head over to my friends' house (who have already called; that's what woke me up eventually). Have a great day.

I have been on the phone (both calling and texting)

all blessed morning. I've touched base with several people both at work and outside. My phones's already down to 55% of power, and that was before noon. Even though I got a good bit of sleep last night, I'm tired and thinking about a nap, although Brandon is coming over with some soda and to get a book and return it to the library for me before it's horribly overdue (it being mildly so at this point). That's the last of the library books to go back.

On the agenda today:

1. Watch a video on the Voynich manuscript that YWKIA suggested.
2. Work on (and maybe even finish) the game notes.

Okay, it's simple, but hey.

Spent some time with a friend and his family

who gave me a ride home from work (with a quick stop at Kroger for bread). It was nice to see them. Since neither of us have a car (he had borrowed one for the day), it makes it hard to get together much, and both of us stay pretty busy, but we usually text at least every other day. In fact, he's the main person (okay, the only person) I text. :) He and his wife just celebrated their ninth anniversary, and have two rowdy (especially the youngest) children. More power to them, they seem like great parents, but they have more guts than I do in that regard. :)

I've washed dishes, straightened up the kitchen, taken out the trash (the recyclables outside are full to the brim, so that will have to wait until tomorrow), and put away a few things I had on the loveseat. Tomorrow I need to call the leasing office and ask maintenance to have a look at my commode, as it seems to have a slow leak if you don't jiggle the handle a bit each time. It's probably time for the guts to be replaced again. I go through them fairly quickly for some reason. I promise, I'm not mega-flushing or anything.

I need to water the plants, which are doing well, but I think they're overdue for that--I normally do it on Saturdays at home, Mondays at work. The ones at work are flourishing. The shamrocks are growing like weeds (the purple one gets lots of oohs and ahs at work, it's so big), the violet is blooming (finally), the Christmas cactus isn't but it's very healthy. I did come in Monday to find the rose withered in places. I don't know why; it takes quite a bit of water but I gave it some extra towards the end of the week. I cut the withered pieces away and left the new growth, which was doing fine. I've never been able to keep miniature roses alive indoors, for some reason, but I'm going to give it a try.

Outside, the apartments have replaced the rather scrubby yew shrubs with holly ones, full of berries. I think they'll be a delight come winter when the berries are red. It makes for a nice change. I was saddened when I went into work the other day and they were cutting down a crabapple to get to the gutters and roof near the portico. They're working on the roof of the hospital, and likely will till November, replacing the whole thing. I'm getting somewhat used to the high-pitched sawing sounds, and the hammering, but there's something that causes a vibration that makes the walls shake that just gets under my skin. I've been wearing my headphones when I can and listening to music. Unfortunately, since a lot of my morning is spent on the phone, that's not always possible.

I'm feeling better about my work in regards to the referrals. I'm busy trying to get a handle on three very large clinic days next week, so I'm not doing them at the last minute. 'Course, I did that last week, too, and look how stressed I was Friday and Monday. :)

I'm listening to the Celtic music channel on cable. I'm seriously considering removing the TV package from my cable bill and relying on Netflix for entertainment. It would mean not seeing 'Doctor Who' as it comes out, but all the other seasons are on Netflix and I expect I could watch it after the new season ends. I'm bad about DVR'ing it anyway and then not getting around to watching it, especially as it comes on at a time on Saturday when I'm likely on my way home on the bus. We'll see. It seems silly to pay $75 a month for a service I rarely use. That's $900 a year. I'd still keep the Internet service, though, because, well, one, broadband service is important to me and I use it a lot, two, my Vonage phone piggy-backs on it, and three, that's how you watch those shows on Netflix. :) But it really would half my cable bill entirely. I only spend $16 a month for Netflix in comparison, and that's about $8 for the streaming bit, as I also have the DVD-by-mail subscription. I also have a trial going of Amazon Prime, which includes streaming video, which comes out to be about $6 a month. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to keep it. It also includes borrowing Kindle books and free two-day shipping. We'll see.

Okay, I think I'm going to go read. Or maybe play Ninja Chicken. No, read. :) Good night if I don't write again this evening.

I woke up to find my phone in my hand

I'd been texting someone back and forth and fell asleep. That's kind of sad. Sorry about that Brandon...and happy 9th anniversary to you and your lovely wife Angenette. :)

Why you shouldn't text and walk at the same time

There might be a bear ahead of you. :)

I just spent a meal reading through the posts at

Damn You Auto Correct! (I know, it's sad, I often eat like a lonely nerd in front of my computer.)

It's not good to do that while eating and drinking, let me tell you. I laughed so hard. My Swype keyboard uses predictive text and it sometimes has a mind of its own as well, although I haven't had a totally bizarre text like some of these yet. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, try it out. Some are just hilarious, others lukewarm.

I was at the library earlier

and a man was curious as how to check Kindle books out, and I showed the librarian and him the entire process, something she hadn't actually seen since after you go through the library's Overdrive site you also go to Amazon. As a result, I have a dystopian novel, Children of Paranoia, on my Kindle. I may keep it; it sounds worth a read. But right now I'm making my way through Elizabeth Peter's Vicky Bliss novel number 3, Silhouette in Scarlet. Anyway, I got to be a truly helpful (as opposed to annoyingly helpful) librarian. Yay.

I also spent probably a couple hours all told texting a friend back and forth. It was good to hear from him, although I laugh because he's 28 years old and texting seems to be his preferred contact method. I've had to learn to do it well. I need to go through and wipe out some of the words that have made it into my Swype keyboard over the months I've used it. But I'm keeping 'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'. See, whenever you use a word (or mistype one), it goes into the dictionary. Since you swipe your finger along the keyboard rather than type out each letter, it's fast and easy, and it predicts what you meant. It normally works fine. But I text on the bus, and buses are bumpy, so sometimes I wind up with not-words like 'nged' or such. And those you have to erase, but I've only now gotten the hang of doing so. :)

In an era of recordings, be very careful of what you, the angry customer, leave on the phone

In Austin, TX, there is a chain of movie theatres called Alamo Drafthouse. Apparently, a young woman who was texting was removed from one of their theatres, and later she left a profanity-laced message (in badly executed English that may or may not have been due to inebriation) on the theatre's voicemail. So the theatre made a PSA (public service announcement) from it and is running it before their R-rated movies (due to the language). Here is a censored version.



Texas movie theater makes an example (and a PSA) of a texting audience member

According to Tim League, the Drafthouse's founder, the woman in question was warned twice about texting during a screening, and then, in accordance with company policy, was escorted out without a refund. "I don't think people realize that it is distracting," League told The Lookout. "It seems like nothing, but if you spend as much time as I do at the movies, you realize the entire theater sees it and it pulls you out of the movie experience. It's every bit as intrusvie as talking."

So apparently the theatre and the owner have a sense of humour, as this proves as well:

Perhaps the latest PSA will pre-empt such unfortunate film-related incidents. "We didn't expect it to blow up like it did," said League, of the spot that as of this writing had just shy of 400,000 views on YouTube. "It's cool, it's drawing national attention to an issue and letting people realize that their behavior is selfish. Maybe in some small way it will make it better to see a film all over the place."

"Ma'am, you may be free to text in all the other theaters in the Magnited States of America, but here at our 'little crappy ass theater,' you are not," he wrote on the Alamo Drafthouse's blog. "Why you may ask? Well, we actually do give a f*$k."

:)

Texting while driving is dumb--and deadly

Dr. Frank Ryan Died After Tweeting About Dog: Heidi Montag's plastic surgeon was reportedly texting before his car plunged off a cliff on Monday

Perhaps because he was famous, Dr Ryan's death will cause some to pause before texting or tweeting during driving, and that will be part of his legacy. We all do stupid things in life. Fortunately we survive most of them. But even intelligent, talented people can do things that kill them. Don't let a tweet about your dog be your epitaph.

PS The dog did survive, with injuries. I guess that's good. Bur a man's life has ended, and that is unfortunate.

Good - more states should do this

Driven to Distraction: Utah Gets Tough With Texting Drivers

The new law, which took effect in May, penalizes a texting driver who causes a fatality as harshly as a drunken driver who kills someone. In effect, a crash caused by such a multitasking motorist is no longer considered an “accident” like one caused by a driver who, say, runs into another car because he nodded off at the wheel. Instead, such a crash would now be considered inherently reckless.

“It’s a willful act,” said Lyle Hillyard, a Republican state senator and a big supporter of the new measure. “If you choose to drink and drive or if you choose to text and drive, you’re assuming the same risk.”

Also:

Studies show that talking on a cellphone while driving is as risky as driving with a .08 blood alcohol level — generally the standard for drunken driving — and that the risk of driving while texting is at least twice that dangerous. Research also shows that many people are aware that the behavior is risky, but they assume others are the problem.

There's a lot of uncertainty of how to prove a person was texting (there's no simple test like a Breathalyser for alcohol, and privacy issues come into play when you start subpoenaing cell phone records, and you may not be able to determine the difference between a call and a text, which at the moment is being treated differently in Utah.) The young man whose case prompted the law, who did take responsibility for his actions but was sentenced before the law went into effect, plead 'guilty to two counts of negligent homicide, but his record will be cleared if he fulfills the sentence imposed by the judge. It included 30 days in jail, 200 hours of community service, and a requirement that he read “Les Misérables” to learn, like the book’s character Jean Valjean, how to make a contribution to society.' The new law calls for a punishment for texting and driving of up to three months in jail and up to a $750 fine, a misdemeanor. But if texting causes an injury or death, the punishment can grow to a felony and up to a $10,000 fine and 15 years in prison.

It's a step in the right direction. Maybe it will make people think.

I don't know if it will make it on American TV, but it should

A Welsh public service announcement is controversial due to the graphic nature of the video, but it's absolutely the best way to impress upon teens and others the dangers of texting whilst driving.

For information about the controversy:

Is PSA about texting while driving too graphic?: New spot aimed at teens portrays a bloody automobile accident in detail

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

To view the entire video [warning it is both graphic and realistic, and it's meant to be]


Bravo to the Gwent police of Wales for having this video made, and to Peter Watkins-Hughes who directed it. As you may recall, I related an incident where a boy was killed in Glasgow (here in Kentucky) when his friend was texting on her cell phone, ran a stop sign, and a semi truck hit the car. This is a growing problem. Apparently texting and e-mailing on a phone or other device makes it 23 times more likely that there will be an accident, according to the Today show video above.

Every teen should be shown this video.

Please think before you text.

Testing 1...2...3...

This is a test to see if I can blog by texting from my phone.

PS Success!

Well, I'm still coughing--even with the medicine, especially at night

but it's a little better than it was. The foot is better, too--I've just been wearing the boot when I work at the store, and my ankle is doing okay. I find out Thursday if I can dispense with the boot altogether.

Sorry I didn't post for a few days; I got very little sleep over the weekend for various reasons and crashed and burned on Monday. I finally feel myself again.

I really need to add water to the fish tank and get the filtration system going again, but so far I haven't done it. Perhaps tomorrow morning before work. So far the fish seem to be okay.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I re-pierced my ear with my original earrings again a few weeks ago. Today I was able to take those out and put in some blue lace agate crystal earrings that went very well with the gradient blue shirt I bought at Gabriel Brothers. I had a good hair day, too.

In fact it was a good day in general; I was productive at both jobs, listened to music during my various tasks at the hospital. I think we've finally ironed out the particulars of my recent book order so I can go ahead and catalogue the rest of the books on the cart.

Tonight was truck night. We didn't have too many boxes and there were three of us there. I wound up leaving a little early and went home for something to eat before going over to a friend's. I got A from work and then came home and slept in the comfy chair for about an hour before getting up and doing a few things. I'm about to go to bed for real, but I really did want to get a post or two in.

By the way, did you hear about the girl in New York who fell into an open manhole whilst texting? City workers were in process of putting out cones around the hole when the 15-year-old fell 4 or 5 feet into the sewer, getting scraped up a bit. The parents are talking about suing the city. Now granted, the workers probably shouldn't have taken the cover off until the cones were in place, but if she were that distracted, she probably would have walked right past the cones into the hole anyway. How dumb is that? Although I admire her ability to text, walk, (and no doubt chew gum) at the same time, she certainly doesn't have navigation completely down. I'm glad she wasn't really hurt, and of course there is the gross factor, which the mother emphasised in the interview, but gee, it's a sewer--it's supposed to be gross. And this is a symptom of a society that sees no reason for personal responsibility. Nevermind that the girl was doing something dumb, right? I suspect any suit against the city would be dismissed. I hope they wouldn't just settle.

I was once a witness in a similar case where someone did something that the court ruled no reasonable person would do, and the suit against the company was dismissed. Courts do recognise personal responsibility.

I suppose there might be some ruling about the cones, but they were, after all, pulling them off the truck to place as she fell--which is why no one saw her in time. Again, maybe they need to change the policy of when to place the cones, but maybe people should know better than to text while moving. At least she wasn't driving.

Some stories on social networking or technology in the news, with a special look at closing a medical library

Twitterers defy China's firewall (Using technology to get around the censorship regarding Tiananmen Square.)

Homeless Advocate Goes High Tech (DC Man uses social networking to advocate for the homeless.)

'Text' Books (Japanese women write novels quickly using just their thumbs.)

AP Reporter Reprimanded For Facebook Post; Union Protests (How what you say online can affect your job.)

and as a special bonus...this tidbit created quite a stir on DOCLINE-L, with posts about how the National Library of Medicine should work to make sure their network is not available to such institutions that cut out library jobs (although it kind of degenerated into a vague 'us' vs. 'them' where some people favoured degreed librarians and perhaps unintentionally stepped on the feet of library technicians, or favoured shutting out small library collections, so I have to admit, I weighed in on that.) In this case, there won't be anyone with a library background trained to staff it, degreed or not. And I hope the hospital gets exactly what it sows. This idea that everything's free on the Internet is so wrong. Electronic resources are costly, need a lot of oversight and maintenance, and there's still interlibrary loan resources (such as through DOCLINE) and other cost-saving benefits such as consortial access that they're simply going to be shut out of.

Hospital library closes to public, goes electronic

'They can put whatever spin they want on it, but brass tacks is that they're closing the library,' [library volunteer Joyce Herbst] said. 'I guess I just don't understand how you can take that resource away from a teaching hospital. How can it be a teaching hospital, without a resource library and someone to run it? I just think it's not a very smart thing to do.'

The library closes on Friday, at which point medical librarian Pat Hamilton, who has run the library along with a staff of volunteers for 24 years will be out of a job. I hate to hear things like this, all due to a desire to cut costs indiscriminately without really understanding the costs involved. Bah!

Sad circumstances

One of my co-workers is going to a funeral on Friday for a young man killed in a car accident in Glasgow, Kentucky. The girl driving was texting on her phone, went through a stop sign into a semi truck. She came out without a scratch. The semi impacted on his side, and he died. He was only fourteen. I'm pretty sure she's being charged in the case.

I don't understand why people insist on using their cell phones when driving. I won't say I've never done it, but I can count the times on one hand, and yes, it's a distraction. I usually wait until I can find a place to pull over and call the person back. But to text on a cell phone is even worse, because you're looking away from driving and at the screen. It's stupid and irresponsible, and it can cause someone (maybe even the texter) to die.

Before you use your cell phone when driving, think of the devastation of this family, and ask yourself if it's worth it.

PS 5/30/09 I talked to my co-worker about how the funeral went. A lot of people were angry because the girl who was driving came, and mostly talked about how she'd broken her tail bone, ignoring the fact that a supposed friend had died. So she didn't get out without a scratch, but it was minor compared to what he went through. Apparently right after the incident happened she showed up at the hospital, didn't ask about the young man, but rather asked about her phone. That's cold. This is so sad, and they had to drive by the scene of the accident to get from the funeral home to the cemetery.