Sunday, October 25, 2009

Cellphones

I have always wondered, ever since these little devices came out, on the market and people started using them, if there aren't some potential harmful side effects to your brain from having them crammed up against your head for extended periods of time.

Now, I am reading an article about cellphones potentially causing brain tumors. I used to talk on the cellphone quite a lot when I was a Little League board member and was getting calls - dozens and dozens of them per day - about the league. Same was true with when I was the president of the homeowner's assocation. When I got out of those two extremely time-consuming commitments (don't regret my departure from either of them) I also got away from excessive cell-phone use.

This is a topic of interest to me - whether cellphones can harm you in some way - that has been riding around synpses in my brain for quite a long time now. I will be very interested to see what becomes of this research and what might be done about it - if anything. I mean, let's just say this research is black and white truth: the use of cellphones over an extended period of time - over 10 years I think it said - will cause brain tumors. How many people are using cellphones nowadays? Hundreds of millions? Over a billion? Dunno, but that's a LOT of health problems coming to surface if this eventually becomes a reality.

Another thing I have always wondered is the use of these radars to catch speeders. The east valley is littered with permanent versions of them now all over the place. We're being bombarded every day by all kinds of "things" that are invisible, we don't even know it, and yet - I definitely have some ill ease about what those little particles might be doing to our bodies and the functioning thereof. It would be nice if I could move to a log cabin up in the mountains, retire and get away from most of this stuff -but that simply isn't in the cards right now.

Well enough of the speculation. The day is wasting away - it's already 8 am and I have accomplished nothing - so I'm going to get off of this contraption called a computer that allows me to connect with people I have never met that live all over the world and get moving with it.

Have a great day!
ben

10 comments:

Fin said...

When my cell phone is sitting on a table near a clock radio (which is turned off) the radio will begin a LOUD buzzing seconds before the cell phone begins ringing. That is pretty good proof to me that some kind of signals are winging their way through the air without me seeing them.

If there IS a connection, I'm toast, due to thousands of recent hours of cell phone use without a headphone.

BenB said...

Well, the research says extensive use over a long period of time - 10 years I believe it said. I dunno, I quit using them like that a long time ago - like that in talking thousands and thousands of minutes per month. You look at the electronic conveniences that have been invented in the last 20 years - how much of it is REALLY all that good for us? Things that shorten time to do them also mean less energy spent - and we can see the effect of that in bulging waistlines all over the nation. It also wouldn't hurt my feelings whatsoever if every McDonalds/Wendys/Burger King/Jack in the Box/ etc would just disappear - or at the VERY least, REALLY have something healthy on their menus. The claims of a healthy menu, when scrutinized, turn out to be stuff that has less calories than their cousins, but still cramemd full of fat calories and sodium. This is the new fad - claim there is zero trans-fat, which is wonderful, but that doesn't mean that this garbage doesn't have ANY fat at all, it's all LOADED with fat!

Fin said...

I think that cell phones, like handguns and the internet can be a useful tool or a horror.

Certainly cell phones have made travel safer and simpler for me. The long waits at baggage claim for a nasty spit-encrusted pay phone were NOT fun.

Speaking of fun, and for no reason WHATEVER, I think I'll post some of the McDonalds that I have visited, right here in a comment. [which you can feel quite free to delete LOL]

Fin said...

McDonalds Eaten At

Heathrow Rome Athens Lisbon Madrid
Oslo Stockholm Helsinki Copenhagen
Reykjavik Sofia Berlin Johannesburg
Capetown Santiago Punta Arenas
Tahiti Taipei Beijing Singapore
Hong Kong Anchorage Honolulu
Winnipeg Calgary San Juan St Maarten
Bali Cardiff Frankfurt on Oder
Tenerife Sydney Auckland Rio de Janeiro
Toronto Kuala Lumpur Malta Austria
Ottawa Paris Kuwait Lodz
Acapulco Aruba Cozumel
Dublin Edinburgh Buenos Aires
Montevideo Maui Papeete+, Tahiti
Beijing Reykjavek Malta (BK)

From Bangkok to Buenos Aires to Berlin
Rome to Rio to Rekjavik
Copenhagen to Capetown to Cardiff

BenB said...

My gosh, I had no idea McDonald's had expanded into all of these countries. I knew they were in major cities in differing nations, but this is something I wasn't prepared for. That's QUITE the amazing list of places you have visited, much less McDonald's you have eaten at!

Fin said...

Thanks Ben. In their defense, I've really only had one or two really bad ones in that bunch. It was at Heathrow airport and it was inedible.

In Capetown, I went in a liveried limousine and bought the driver his first ever milkshake.

Rekjavik was first time I saw credit card used for burgers.

Tahiti was where I took poor Blogger Girl instead of a hundred buck meal at our hotel.

They always have really superb locations, wherever they are. BTW, if you look at the webcam on the truck we spoke of, there is almost always a McD each time he pulls off an interstate and heads for a gas or truckstop.

Anonymous said...

It's all a big conspiracy I tell you. The cell phone companies are contracted with pharmaceutical companies. LOL.

Anonymous said...

Rekjavik sounds like something out of a Star Trek episode. WHERE is THAT?
The milkshake episode must have been entertaining, especially if that person liked it!
Of course, the only thing that seems to be getting as common as Mikki D's are Urgent Care centers - those places are springing up like corner gas stations!
Indeed - it MUST be a conspiracy!

Fin said...

'Tis the capitol of Iceland. And it was only yesterday that BG informed me that due to economic problems, all three of the McD in Iceland are closing.

Yes, my driver, a former HS teacher, loved the shake which he claimed never to have had before.

BenB said...

Interesting.
Speaking of closure, a rest area on I-10 in AZ that I sometimes stop at has been closed. In fact, on both sides of the road they are closed. Apparently budget cuts have axed the need for people to stop and use a restroom. Those are newer facilities. Strange stuff going on these days.

 Thursday mid-morning No point leaving here until around 10:00 am.  The load time is 1 and I can show up maybe an hour early without them ge...