"Oh, nothin'. Whut're you doin'?"

[bec_87rb]

Ah, great. Apparently, a study at Landau University has concluded that cell phones are killing honey bees. The radiation near their nests keeps foraging bees from returning to the hive, so it is eventually abandoned and the queen dies

Comments

[ieatbigboogers]

Yah, my hope is that in the near future society will come up with a code of etiquette for the devices. Without one, they can be rather obnoxious.

[bec_87rb]

Perhaps if someone takes a call, we'll find out that something interesting is going on down the street and end up having a better time?

If they need to take the call, they could excuse themselves and take it elsewhere. I bothered to show in person; I get dibs on their attention.

How do you see this code of etiquette coming into being?

Hm. Successive approximation of the desired behavior via judicious use of brutal positive punishment? If I were emperor, of course. Sometimes you have to hit the puppy with a rolled up newspaper so he'll learn.

Do you think it rude, or offensive, when other people at the table compete for attention?

[bec_87rb]

If someone at another table wants to talk to someone at my table, it is incumbent upon me or someone at the table to acknowledge that and invite them in. It is rude to invite yourself in, but ruder still to prevent a person from joining as punishment for their offense of butting in.

What is it about your physical presence that holds such primacy?

Okay, my physical presence holds primacy because their physical presence holds primacy for me. Sort of stimulus reciprocity?

Is it rude to engage people at an adjacent table? Where do you draw the line?Yes, it is rude to pay more attention to someone at an adjacent table than to the people around the table where you are seated. Politeness says that if you must discourse with the next table, don't turn around and raise your voice, invite the person from the next table to join your party

Re: Do you think it rude, or offensive, when other people at the table compete for attention?

[ieatbigboogers]

I say get a cell phone, because they're convenient, and they might even save your life some day. Use it in a way that suits you.

I say convenience engenders laziness and unresourcefulness. And who knows, they might kill me some day when a distracted driver plows into me while taking a call and then tries to call 911 but can't get a signal, and instead of trying to find a land line, just keeps dialing and yelling at the stupid device. It suits me just fine not to use one at all. I can identify no problems in my life that a cell phone would remedy, and I don't want the added expense. I'm no luddite, I just refuse to have the need for one be created in me by any marketing campaign, and I don't feel disenfranchised for lacking a popular device any more than I feel disenfranchised for preferring tap water over Dasani.

Re: Do you think it rude, or offensive, when other people at the table compete for attention?

[vovat]

Doesn't bottled water come from a municipal water supply in the first place?

I'm not a fan of bottled water, because I don't think it tastes any better, and it costs a lot more than just getting water out of the tap. But then, I really don't drink plain water as often as I should; I'm more of a juice guy.

Re: Do you think it rude, or offensive, when other people at the table compete for attention?

[ieatbigboogers]

Some bottled water is spring water, but I'm sure much of it is municipal. I know for a fact in my town that the city sells municipal water at a discounted rate to CocaCola, who sell it back to us as Dasani, which gets sold for quite a tidy profit.

Re: Do you think it rude, or offensive, when other people at the table compete for attention?

[vovat]

Hey, so maybe I'm actually making a difference by not drinking bottled water! And here I thought I was just being cheap. {g}

Re: Do you think it rude, or offensive, when other people at the table compete for attention?

[vovat]

The ones I drink the most are apple, orange, and grape. Apple is the one I can drink the most of without getting tired of it. Grape juice might be my favorite in small doses, but it's so sweet that drinking a whole lot of it isn't always such a good idea.