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I just ran across the following poll on Congress.org:

Ban Texting While Driving?

The federal texting ban was proposed after research showed texting increases the risk of a car crash.

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that the chances of a car crash were 23 times greater for truck drivers who texted, while the University of Utah found that texting drivers were as impaired as drunken drivers.

Still, the Governors Highway Safety Association has said that more research is needed.

Excuse me, but . . . what? Why is a ban needed in order to make people aware of the fact that typing is not an appropriate activity to engage in while driving?

Just when I thought humanity had already become as stupid as our survival instinct would allow. . . .

And on top of that, “the Governors Highway Safety Association has said that more research is needed.” I can’t add anything that could possibly better illustrate the absurdity of that statement than the statement itself.

Talking on a cell phone while driving is a separate issue, and open for debate. I think it depends on the individual as to whether it’s possible to do both at the same time. I say that because, for me, talking on the phone while driving is no more distracting than singing with the radio, whereas talking to another person who is in my car while I’m driving is very distracting. So much so, that I avoid it as much as possible. I have my theory as to why my brain makes a distinction between the two types of conversation, but that’s another topic and, suffice it to say, the distinction is clear. But you simply CANNOT simultaneously drive and read, write, type, knit, paint, cook, or do anything else that 1) requires the use of both of your hands and 2) requires the use of BOTH OF YOUR EYES.

Aside: I think texting is ridiculous even when you’re not driving, but again, that’s a separate issue. Why not just talk into the phone instead of trying to type on a microscopic keyboard? I kind of get why kids do it, but by the time you can drive, you should be over the “note passing” phase.

So far I’ve only heard it twice, but both times, it was on a radio news broadcast, and that scares the holy living crap out of me.

What was this odious aural assault, you ask? It was the sound of an allegedly educated person referring to the year 2010 as “oh-ten.”

There is no year ‘010. If there were, then ‘99 would have been ‘999, and we’d be referring to 2009 as ‘009.

I can look back at my Chinese calendar for 2007, but I don’t recall it being celebrated as the Year of the British Super-spy.

Next year, if saying two-thousand ten or twenty-10 is too cumbersome, you will need to refer to it as, simply, ‘10.