Form and style, when driving

Most of the time, when I am driving behind a vehicle with a large overhang – lumber sticking out, a crane, or today the backhoe end of a construction tractor, I find it hard to keep a safe distance. It feels better to tighten up the space, so the inter-character counter-form is a clean, consumable shape, instead of this gaping void. Someday, this will presumably kill me.

Finally, a fear of mobiles that is reasonably well-founded

I hate the random banishment of, well anything really, but mobile phones specifically. Because its so often for some unfounded reason. This was on a gas pump I used just the other day (hence, the awful quality from the KRZR): Its demonstrably untrue that mobile phones blow up gas pumps. Yet, I still see these, sometimes. And don't get me started on the misunderstanding of the danger of talking in cars, and the dumb laws resulting. But, finally, a useful and apparently rigorous study on interference in hospitals.

More than half the hospital ventilators tested by Dutch researchers stopped working properly when a mobile was switched on nearby. The [UK] government has said current bans on the use of mobile phones in hospitals can be relaxed. But the Critical Care journal study suggests it would be folly to do this in high dependency areas.

They do go on to mention that most interference was with 2G devices, and mostly at very, very close range. So, the polite measure of going into hallways for your talking seems like a good guideline, and worth doing. If you just banish them from hospital buildings entirely people will hide them and use them in rooms more often, I'd think. Okay, so that's interesting, but indeed its still dumb to me. Why? Because there are stacks of devices in hospitals, some of which probably emit radiation themselves. Some on purpose. Ever see WiFi in a hospital? Or other wireless networks? I do. Wireless tablets abound. Even the finance people have them. Seems to me the recommendation should be that medical equipment start being made to accept RF interference to a much higher degree than other devices. With the amazing ubiquity of mobile phones, and many more devices on many more networks on the horizon, its time for this sort of planning for any life, health and safety device.

Popcorn worker's lung

I've always hated the fake pseudo-buttery stuff on microwave popcorn. It gives me a fairly splitting headache, and this happens a lot in a large office. Someone always seems to live off the cheapest microwave popcorn they can get. Don't get me wrong. I like popcorn, and even fairly buttery stuff, just not the synthetic butter stuff. Anyway, for years its been a known lung disease causing agent in factory workers. Oddly, no one I have mentioned this to cares at all. Even those who are wildly paranoid about other food safety issues. But, finally, a manufacturer is giving up on adding it to their product at all! Yea! http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/81568.php

ConAgra has decided to drop diacetyl, a flavoring it adds to its microwave popcorn, as doctors have indicated there may be a raised risk of developing bronchiolitis obliterans, a type of lung disease. ConAgra is the largest microwave popcorn supplier in the world... ...Diacetyl gives popcorn its butter taste. The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has long advised that when used as an artificial butter flavoring one should avoid inhaling it over a long period. Bronchiolitis obliterans, an uncommon and serious lung disease, has been found in workers of several factories that produce artificial butter flavorings. Experts say that young, healthy, non-smoking male workers are the most susceptible. In medical circles bronchiolitis obliterans is often termed "popcorn worker's lung". However, any worker who works with diacetyl has a higher risk of developing the disease, compared to the rest of the population. A popcorn worker in Missouri, USA, was awarded $2.7 million in July 2005, as a result of developing bronchiolitis obliterans from inhaling diacetyl at work. There are two bills in the California Legislature to ban the use of diacetyl.