Announcements on a Plane

I had my son visiting last week with his family and he told me a hilarious story about his daughter on the flight out. She is only 3 years old and in order to help keep her entertained, he immediately gave her some headphones and let her watch movies on the screen found on the seat in front of her. There was no need to pull out a tablet and drain the battery watching shows she had already seen 100 times. It didn't take long for the flight attendants to make an announcement, which causes all in-flight entertainment to stop so passengers could hear those important safety messages. When that happened, my granddaughter immediately ripped off her headphones and hollered because her movie stopped. In video games we call that rage quitting. She thought the movie system broke and she would have to suffer through a long plane ride without entertainment. She continued to rage quit during every announcement even though my son explained what was happening and that she could continue watching soon.

My son and I got a good chuckle out of the story because we both feel the same way. I think there are way too many announcements given on flights and wish the flight attendants would keep them to a minimum. Unfortunately their primary job is not to serve you snacks or drinks, it is to help ensure you are safe. That means they really do need to make all of those announcements even if I have heard them thousands of times already. As an adult, I can't rage quit during my movie and have to suffer through interruptions.

Another thing that makes this story so funny is what happened to a buddy of mine on a flight a few weeks earlier. It was the final minutes of the playoff football game that would determine which team headed to the recent Super Bowl. My buddy said that a conservative estimate put 70% of the screens on the plane watching the game at this critical juncture as the plane touched down on the ground. The flight attendant came over the public address system and immediately killed the key moment of the game. Everyone shouted, "No!" In the back of the plane someone yelled out, "Can't you wait for just a minute or two." Fortunately the flight attendant let go of the talk button but it was too late, everyone had missed the final play. She did stay off the intercom until the last moment to give everyone their disembarkment instructions. The passengers appreciated that.

I always use my long flights to catch up on movies I haven't seen and do dislike announcement interruptions. It is during these pauses that I envy anyone on the plane watching movies on their own device. I'm just too lazy to fill a tablet or phone before my flights. I guess this means I will suffer through those relatively short breaks in the action.

Driving with Earphones

While riding my bike to work this past week I witnessed a near accident because the driver of a car was wearing earphones. The bike path I take to work runs alongside a dog park. That means it crosses the parking lot where drivers have to stop and watch for cyclists. On Tuesday a guy on a road bike passed me on my much slower mountain bike. He came to the crossing at the same time as a driver wearing earphones. The driver stopped but never bothered looking to see if any bikers might be approaching. He started going as this other cyclist, who was not required to stop, got to this minor intersection. The cyclist realized the driver was not paying attention and slammed on his brakes before getting T-boned by the much larger truck. The cyclist tried to yell at the driver but the driver couldn't hear a thing because of the earphones. The driver then proceeded through the intersection without yielding to the cyclist.

As a cyclist, you have to be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to all of the inattentive people driving cars. It is my experience that headphones make drivers less attentive and I think they should be illegal to wear while operating a bike or motor vehicle. The state of California agrees with me. Its law states:

Wearing headsets or earplugs in both ears is not permitted while driving or operating a bicycle, unless designed to aid hearing or specifically designed to attenuate injurious noise levels.

Not wanting to provide the wrong information, I looked up the law for Utah. There is no law against wearing headphones while driving. That really surprised me but I guess that explains why I see a lot of drivers cruising down the road listening to headphones and not worried about getting pulled over. If you are interested in finding out the law in your state, AAA has a great page that lists every state with its headphone law.

I found it interesting that my last blog post talked about headphones and then I had this recent experience. It made for a good follow-up for today. Fortunately I was glad I didn't have to help scrape the poor cyclist off the pavement on Tuesday.

Early Christmas Gift Ideas

Normally I wait a bit before trying to post my Christmas Gift ideas but my wife and I have been trying to come up with lists for each other. I thought it might be a good idea to write my list a bit early this year. That gives you time to stalk the Black Friday deals.

Early in my adult life I felt a good Christmas gift is something that you wouldn't get yourself and that you played with for several hours on Christmas morning only to never use it again. Then my wife and I matured and decided to only get things that our children would use for a long time. Since then we have always tried to get gifts that would get used for more than just a few hours.

Recently I have flown a lot with children. Not my own but other peoples. While I have nothing against flying with someone else's children, I do notice that they make a lot more noise than the adults around them. One of the most important pieces of high-tech equipment I bring on the plane is a good set of earphones. I have one set of ear buds that act better then most earplugs, even when they are not connected to anything. So if you have someone on your Christmas list that spends a lot of time on airplanes, make sure they have a good set of earphones.

This year I have noticed that while I have some great electronic gadgets, some of them are a bit dated and could be replaced. I think everyone can sympathize with this situation. I have made a number of videos recently and while I have a perfectly capable video camera, I could always use a new one with higher resolution and more features. My personal computer is also quite old and could use a replacement. Even my monitors are getting old. With Walmart and other budget stores selling 43-inch 4K televisions for less than $200, one can get a screaming deal on computer monitors with a lot of screen real estate. So take a look at those on your Christmas list and see if they need a newer version of something they use frequently.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas before the Black Friday deals get announced. That way you can take advantage of them. If you come up with some really good ideas, please share as others may benefit from your suggestions.

New Favorite Technology

This morning I was the perfect husband and brought my wife to the doctor's office for a routine screening. They sedated her for the procedure and I was needed simply to drive her home afterwards. Fortunately I came prepared for my stay in the doctor's waiting room. I brought my laptop and both of my mobile phones. I also brought one more seriously needed piece of technology that has recently become quite beloved.

We got to the doctor's office and my wife filled out a bunch of paperwork. I sat next to her and kept glancing over at the television. I have to admit that I have not watched any television in the past several months. Furthermore I think you can count in decades the last time I have watched day-time television. The only word that comes to mind is, "Garbage." Every time I would look over at the Today show with Kathy Lee, my stomach would churn and my mind would ask, "Isn't it time for her to retire and go away?" Unfortunately the sound was up and I couldn't help continuously glancing over and getting nauseated.

I thought about bringing my laptop to the doctor's office and rather than just pulling it out of my computer bag, I brought my whole bag. In it was my new favorite technology: earplugs. I actually have 3 different sets in my bag. The first is a set of closed-foam plugs that Hampton Inn's started giving away for free. That is what I used today and I was glad I had them. Once I put them in, I could work on my laptop and got some important management tasks done.

The other two sets of earplugs I carry are not really "earplugs." They are two different kinds of headphones. The first is a set of ear buds that came with one of my tablet computers. They are great in that I can play music through them and they also do a fairly nice job of limiting outside noise. The other set of headphones are some more expensive over-the-ear kind that also have a noise cancelling button. Simply put them on, flip a switch, and about 90% of outside noise just goes away.

I enjoy all three sets of ear plugs I carry. Sure I could have used any of them to drown out distractions and get some work done today. I didn't want to listen to music and so the simple foam earplugs worked. Sometimes simple is all you need.

3D Printers

There has been a lot of news about 3D printers and how they are going to revolutionize the manufacturing world. Prices are coming down to the point where you can pick one up for under $700. Of course you will have to assemble it, but that is a lot less than they were even a few months ago.

My youngest son would love it if I purchased a 3D printer as he is taking a robotics class in school and they use a 3D printer to make one-off parts. He uses Autodesk Inventor to design parts. When he is done, he prints them out and has them after a few hours of watching plastic dots get layered on top of each other. 

I don't think the manufacturing world has much to worry about right now as most objects are made from more than plastic. It would be tough to print a new laptop or even a new iPod. About the best you can do with current technology is create a new case for your iPod. Even then, it will probably be very brittle.

I wonder if this will revitalize the hobby kit industry? Perhaps you will be able to buy a kit for a remote-control car that comes with a bunch of downloadable body designs. Perhaps a manufacturer will sell the parts for high-end headphones and then you will be able to print the plastic parts so they fit your head perfectly. When that happens, then manufacturers need to start worrying.