Okay. Maybe I’m just being neurotic. Maybe I’m obsessing. Maybe I’m beating a dead horse. (You don’t HAVE to agree with me.) Today, I found yet another article on driving while using a cell phone. Yes, I’ve posted about this before.

U of Utah published one of the first studies I read on the subject. They just finished a new study in which 40 drivers, both male and female, were put in a driving simulator. They drove normally. Then, they drove while talking on a cell phone. Finally, they drove while legally drunk (0.08 b.a.c.). The results will probably surprise you.

While intoxicated, the drivers followed too close, hit the breaks too hard (which in real-life would get them rear-ended) and had a bunch of “close calls”, but no accidents.

While talking on the phone (with or without “hands free” devices), they drove erratically, not keeping a consistent speed or following distance, and their reaction times where much slower. The phoning drivers had three accidents.

Yes, you got that right. The phoning drivers had more accidents than the drunk drivers. We all know that driving drunk is dangerous and, in the real world, does cause accidents, but talking on the cell phone is quite possibly more dangerous than driving drunk.

Cell phone makers continue to cry foul, insisting that other distracting activities are worse than phone driving. Specifically, they point out that putting on make-up (farding), and reading are statistically more dangerous. Well, DUH. But according to the NHTSA, about 10% of the drivers on the road, at any given time, are on the phone. I’m confident that far fewer folks are taking in War and Peace on the highway. And don’t get me started on farding in the car. That’s probably the only thing that aggravates me worse that cell phones behind the wheel.

This may be the first time I’ve ever blogged at night. Very weird for me. I’ve been busy at work (and working at staying busy, you know, same old struggle) so my daytime surfing is once again down to a dribble.

Summer’s in full swing now, which means I’m getting busy after hours too. Youth church camp was a couple of weeks ago (Yes, I’m in trouble for not posting the pictures yet.) and the middle school mission trip is fast approaching. Plus, this is our first summer to have a dinner theater in production showing August 4th and 5th. July is going to be a blur.

I’m proud of Tammy. She landed a major role in the production. I got a side part, comic relief once again. I’m glad though. It means fewer practices for me. *wink* It’s going to be a really cool show. Not really a “family show” in the sense that it has some pretty heavy scenes dealing with broken families, etc. But please, please come. Make it a date night. (Yes, children. If you over 12, you can still come. I wouldn’t want you to miss seeing Tammy’s big break-through role.)

I’m back to biking at full strength. I made the trip to work yesterday in 33 minutes 18 seconds, averaging just over 15 mph. Pretty good for a fat boy. The summer heat is starting stink, literally, but I’m going to keep biking as long as I can. I’m getting pretty good at bathing in the bathroom sink. Yeah, you’re right. T.M.I.

As I wait for all my development applications to start up this morning (Booting is such a task anymore. *sigh*), I thought I’d share a little dose of funny with you.

It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Wal-Mart. So when Jib-Jab did a song mocking the retail giant, I, of course, watched it several times, and saved the link for such a time as this.

Enjoy! (Clicky clicky)

I was chatting with my good friend Randy Peterman this morning on the subject of youth (not the attribute, but rather the little people who drive their parents nuts). We had a stimulating conversation about the state of our nations young people, the sad state of modern parenting, and the Biblical alternative. But I’m not going to tell you about all that. I going to share the funny part!

Randy: The thing that amazes me is that any of us turn out at all

Trint: By the grace of God, man. By the grace of God.

Randy: yup

Trint: Sometimes I wonder if the problem with today’s youth is that too many of them are surviving. When we were kids, there were no such things as car seats and bicycle helmets. We played with toys with exposed electric contacts and thousands of “choking hazards”.

Randy: Yes

Trint: Maybe what today’s youth need is a little attrition.

Randy: Thinning out the masses

Trint: Exactly. “See why you should listen to Mommy? Johnny didn’t listen and now he’s dead. You don’t want to die, do you?”

Trint: >:-D

Randy: ROFL

No, of course I’m not serious… although…

* Mark 10:14 (KJV)

I’ve got to get back to work. When I stop rowing, the slave ship just goes in circles.

I have discovered a new toy! I just created an account for myself at PollHost.com. So, I’m thinkin’ about doing a monthly poll. Weeee!

See what you think. If I get enough response from this first poll, I’ll do more later.

In the spirit of Jedi Squirrels, I give you, Army Squirrel.

My buddy Dave sent me a link this morning to a blog post about the bizarre vernacular of programmers (and how it differs by region and “culture”). Truly, if the average Joe on the street walked into an intense programming discussion, he would be completely lost. Allow me an example.*

Code Geek #1: When I put the gooid in the earl I get a 500.

Code Geek #2: Are you stripping the curlies from the gooid?

Code Geek #1: Of course. Maybe there’s a hash, bang or carrot in my query string.

Code Geek #2: Shouldn’t matter, but a whack or tilde might break it if the yuri goes to an apache box.

Code Geek #1: Hey! How’d this back tick get in my string?

Code Geek #2: Oh, I pasted that copy from word into your code. There’s probably a smart quote in there too.

Code Geek #1: You touched my code? I must kill you now.

* Some pronunciation spelled out for clarity.

As you can see, we have some very strange vocabulary in the programming world. But with just a little explanation, it will all make sense. Just mouse over the underlined words and you’ll see to what the coders are referring.

If you read the post and its comments, you will see much more of the weird language of code geeks. I was most fascinated by the poem posted in the comments. Here, I’ve revised this poem using my own vocabulary. It is followed by its “English” translation.

\\!*''/
^@`$$-
*!'$_
%*#>4
&)../
{~|**SYSTEM HALTED

back-whack bang star tick tick slash
carat at back-tick dollar dollar dash
star bang tick dollar underscore
percent splat pound angle bracket four
amp right-paren dot dot slash
curly bracket tilde pipe star star crash

The original poem uses some language that I’ve not heard before. < and > are called “waka” (the sound Pac-Man makes). I refer to them as left and right angle brackets, but waka is sure a lot more fun.

Are any of my readers geek enough to contribute their own code-speak? Comments are welcome.

I was looking over StatTraq today (a really cool statistics tool for the WordPress blog). I noticed I’d gotten a lot of hits from search engines for my Crazy Boromir post. I looked at the post and, what to my surprise, the links didn’t work! So, I scoured the web until I collected all the files for myself. Now, here they are for your viewing pleasure. (Also, the original post has corrected links.)

Boromir’s Imaginary Phone

Boromir’s Ninja Wizard Plan

Boromir’s Catapult Plan

It’s not real often I get serious (No, I mean it this time.) but I read a story this morning that just hits a little to close to home.

You probably know that Tammy and I work with the youth at our church. We both spend a lot of time on Xanga and MySpace keeping up with the kids’ lives and doing our best to look out for them. 99% of the time, it’s all good fun as we leave each other silly and encouraging comments. But once in a while, we have to sit the kids down and remind them that we live in a scary world. (I won’t name names, but you girls know what I’m talking about.)

Now, all you kids, I want you to read this and please try to let it sink in for more than 20 seconds. We love you all and want you to be safe. (Bracketed text added for clarity).

[Mr. Wonderful] contacted the [14 year-old] girl through her MySpace Web site in April, telling her that he was a high school senior who played on the football team.

In May, after a series of e-mails and phone calls, he picked her up at school, took her out to eat and to a movie, then drove her to an apartment complex parking lot in South Austin, where he sexually assaulted her, police said.

This particular Mr. Wonderful was actually 19, but even if he had been 17 or 18 or 35, what difference would that have made? What the heck was a 14-year-old doing talking to, much less meeting, a stranger that she met on MySpace. Judging by the fact that he picked her up from school, I’m guessing that she hid the whole thing from her mom until it was too late. Sound familiar?!

Two other similar MySpace rapes have happened just in the last year or so:

• Connecticut – 27-year-old man raped a 13-year-old girl.
• Wisconsin – 22-year-old man abducted a 14-year-old girl and raped her six times.

The article concerns a lawsuit filed against MySpace by the girl and her mom. The sad thing is that blaming MySpace for what happened is like blaming Ford when you get drunk and slam your car into a tree. It’s the old “Guns don’t kill people” argument and it’s just as true about the internet as it is about guns. It is your responsibility to make sure you (or your kids) are safe.

It breaks my heart that our young kids have to make such mature decisions, but if they don’t make grown-up choices, they may face very serious (more than just grown-up) consequences.