Live Vote: Are Cell Phones Bad for Your Health?

Imagine this. You are reading an article from the Internet, one of those Slate stories, perhaps. Or maybe an ESPN story. You're reading along, perhaps with interest, or perhaps without it; then it slides into your line of sight: the bright red "Live Vote" on the issue covered in whatever story you're reading. If you are most people (and statistically speaking, you *are*), no one cares what your opinion happens to be. I doubt very seriously that your vote will be part of a poll that powerful people look at, and I doubt with an equal seriousness that your opinion matters much at all.

What's more, the folks who provided you with the time-wasting story know this. They are appealing to your misplaced sense of self-importance, or something. Maybe it's a psychologically proven fact that people read more Slate articles when they feel Slate cares what they think. But if you want to express yourself, why not actually do it? Get a blog that people can ignore, or send your opinion to your friends, or even bring the subject up in conversation for the sole purpose of agreeing or disagreeing with the subject. This anonymous "be one of the masses who voted" thing isn't an expression of your opinion. It is a human "Mooooo!"

On a nicer note, I was reading News of the Weird, as I try to do regularly, and I just had to share one of the entries. Here it is:

Ironies

Jacqueline Dotson was seriously injured in an accident near Winchester, Ky., in February that police say happened when she lost control of her SUV and ran several other cars off the road before overcorrecting, which caused the SUV to roll over a guardrail and land upside down. A rescue crew labored an hour and a half with the "jaws of life" to extricate her from the vehicle, but one of her arms was already free, severed in the accident and lying on the road, still grasping a cell phone. [WLEX-TV (Lexington), 2-3-06]

That last sentence really gets me. I'm both agog at the stupidity rampant in the world today and laughing my ass off in a really mean-spirited "got what she deserved" way. Then I'm also very sad about it, not for her sake, but because things like this probably happen all the time, and people thought about their actions, these things might *not* happen all the time.

Aside from that, today has been rather low key. My stomach's been bothering me pretty much all week, so today I fasted to clear out my system. Water, tea and a little juice for dinner. Yummy. But my stomach is feeling a little better, and that was the goal. I'm thinking that the headache will go away later this weekend.

This Spring Break, I plan to focus on one section of my cleaning duties. Kitchen is tomorrow, followed by porch and car, bedroom and entryway closets, bathroom, bedroom proper, and final organization of the computer desk and bookshelf. Basic living room tidying was today's task. It's not finished yet, but I have taken out a lot of boxes that were sitting about looking trashy and have organized what few things actually belong in the room. The others have been put in their respective areas. I see each area taking me roughly an hour, if I set aside that hour to do only the task at hand. The living room took forever to nearly finish, but only because I also watched a movie while Gazelle-ing, knitted for an hour, and flopped down on my futon with a cool rag over my forehead for a nap.

Aside from the tidying, I plan to read for my film class, write both of the mini papers that are coming up, grade for the rest of the semester, and spend some quality time alone in my office working on the thesis. So there's a lot on the agenda. Plus, three nights next week are movie nights, where we'll be watching LotR in installments. The Jamaicans have not seen this trilogy(!), so I have to expose them to it.

And that's about it for now. I'm off to read some and get some shut eye. The headache *will* leave, and without Advil. I just have to be stubborn enough.

Love and Peace!