A Night Unremembered
13 years ago
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Cell Phone Boom?
A friend sent me one of those internet rumor emails the other day. I get a lot of these... as I am sure you do. I think he sends these to me because I usually do a little research on them to see if they are true. Snopes.com is my main source for analysis of these because it is what they do and they appear to do it well.
This one concerned cell phones and gas stations. I am sure that you have noticed both the signs warning against cell phone usage on the gas pumps as well as the people who blithely ignore that warning. But does seeing someone yakking on a cell phone while filling his or her tank make you nervous? Do you turn off your cell phone before refueling?
According to Snopes, the email rumor is, as they say, "FALSE." I would love to quote from the website but they have configured that out. So you will have to click on the "Snopes" above and go there to read it yourself.
Suffice it to say that Snopes could not find any evidence to support the contention that cell phones can trigger gasoline (or any other) explosions except when configured to do so as the trigger for a terrorist bomb. In other words, it's basically safe to annoy others by yakking away on your cell phone while emptying your wallet into your gas tank.
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2 comments:
Some catching up:
First of all, I'm a rat in the Chinese Zodiac (so I get the evolutionary reference)... but I'm no lawyer!
Also, you make me sound like a complainer. (As B says, if you can't complain, what is there to talk about?) So lemme add one more beautiful aspect to modern living: paying bills online, instead of having to write all those checks and lick all those stamps and envelopes.
And finally, okay, but what about cell phones causing brain cancer?
Tom, I would never accuse you of being a lawyer. Oddly enough, I thought about that as a career and have known a good many lawyers whom I respect and considered friends. Nor would I accuse you of being a complainer. I just offered a different perspective. Anything that makes bill paying easier, I definitely see as a Good Thing.
Google "brain cancer" (or "tumors") and "cell phone" and see what you get. Jury is still out and the results of most, if not all, studies on the subject are inconclusive.
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