Navigating the old-fashioned way

I grew up using maps to navigate my way around. Back in those dark ages, of course, there was no other alternative (except to stop at a gas station and ask directions). As a result, people of my generation have the ability to carry a map in their head, so to speak. If they need to find an urban landmark, they find it on the map, take note of important cross-streets or other particulars, and -- using the visual in their brain -- drive to their destination.

That was then, this is now.

GPS has changed all that. Maps are becoming so scarce that when I needed to find a fresh map of Spokane to replace the one we had (it was literally falling to pieces), I had to go to several different stores (forget about gas stations!) to find one. In some places, employees just shrugged and explained there was no call for maps anymore, so they no longer carried them.

Which is why, when my husband spotted an article in the latest issue of Popular Mechanics (motto: "Your 'complimentary' subscription will never cease! Bwahahahaha!'), I thought he was joking: "The no-GPS road trip: An interstate journey into self-reliance."

It seems a brave pioneer decided to do something daring and adventurous: to take a trip with just -- just! -- a road map. No GPS, no Google, no electronic aids of any sort.

Why did he decide to do something so counter-intuitive, so anachronistic, so -- so primitive? Well, the author admitted the major downfall of GPS: There is "an atrophying sense of direction and inability get anywhere without a digital Sherpa."

The author embarked on a city-to-city trip, but mistakenly believed it was possible to navigate a densely urban area while using a state map. So he decided to stop and pick up a city map, and found the same issue I had: no one carries them any more.

More frustrations arose on his trip when it came to restaurants. His decision about where to stop for food had to be entirely based on whatever billboards, road signs, or other visual information he passed. But he did discover a happy side-benefit: Whenever he stopped to ask directions, people were happy -- delighted -- to be of assistance.

When he successfully concluded his trip, he felt proud of his accomplishment. "I reactivated the inner compass that once guided me," he noted in the article. "It wasn't infallible, not accurate to three meters, but it was useful, like knowing how to do division on the back of an envelope even though your phone has a calculator."

I don't have a smart phone, and I hope I never do. This article illustrates, in part, why. Smart phones do NOT make people smarter.

And young people may never develop the ability to visualize a map in their heads. Sad.

Introducing the New and Improved -- NoPhone!!

As many of you know, I'm not into "smart" phones for a whole host of reasons. Even back in the stone age (high school, late 70s) I hated talking on the phone, and my phone aversion hasn't gotten much better over the years unless there's a compelling reason to overcome it (Older Daughter calling from New Jersey, parents calling from California, etc).

So when my brother (also a phone-phobe) sent me a link to a nifty new product, I had to check it out.

Introducing the spiffy new and improved ... NO-PHONE ZERO!!

According to the website, the NoPhone ZERO "is the least advanced phone ever created by mankind. A downgrade from the original NoPhone, the NoPhone ZERO features no buttons, no logos and most importantly, no phone. Change the life of someone you care about tomorrow by pre-ordering the NoPhone ZERO today."

What's not included:

• Texting Your Ex-Boyfriend or Ex-Girlfriend
• Location Tracking
• Browsing History
• Data Overages
• Dead Batteries
• Phone

Just in case you're unclear on the concept, they offer this technical diagram:

For those obsessed with self-photography, you can upgrade to the optional NoPhone SELFIE version:

According to the website: "Upgrade your NoPhone to the only feature available for the NoPhone, a small adhesive backed mirror. Enjoy taking a real-time selfie and remembering the time you did. Add a real friend for a real-time group selfie. The options are endless if you keep repeating them in different ways."

The company also offers a couple's version of the NoPhone.

Their guarantee:

Your life or the life of someone you care about will change forever when you receive a NoPhone in the mail.

What's Included:

• One NoPhone
• One Instruction Manual (how not to use it)
• More of your attention
• Real friends

Testimonials include the New York Times ("Always have a rectangle of plastic to clutch!"), Fast Company ("A security blanket phone addicts are taking seriously"), TechCrunch ("Pay attention without having a panic attack") and TIME ("A simulation of your comfort object, helping you slowly abandon it").

Ladies and gentlemen, I think these folks have invented the most perfect phone ever ... though my brother muses sarcastically, "Not sure how long the battery lasts."

Digital spying

Here's the flashlight I keep in my purse at all times. It has three beam settings (low, high, strobe) and can put out 250 lumens. We get these particular flashlights in three-packs from Costco for $15 and they're excellent little tools. We have three or four hanging by the door. We keep a couple in every vehicle. And I keep one in my purse.

Apparently it's a good thing I'm using this flashlight because of a fascinating (and horrifying) bit of news I just learned. It seems the seemingly innocent flashlight app on your smart phone is, in fact, a digital spying unit.

Reader Fred sent this link which tells how a representative from Snoopwall.com learned 500 million people (half a billion!!) are infected with a spy virus on their smart phones through their flashlight app and are entirely unaware of it. The top ten flashlight apps downloadable from Google are all malware which transfer names, addresses, credit card info, banking info, family photos, videos, GPS location, as well as whatever info you have on friends and relatives. These data primarily go to China, India, and Russia.

Apparently even un-installing the flashlight app doesn't work because they are infected with Trojans which linger in the background even if the app is removed. The smart phones must be factory-reset in order to get rid of the malware. The only flashlight apps are that "just" flashlight apps are under 100 kb. The malware apps are on the order of 1.2 mb to 5 mb.

Hard on the heels of this story is a recent story from the Washington Post entitled HappyTracksgiving: How your travels are tracked this holiday season. This article details just how much spying and tracking is taking place on a routine basis. Virtually all means of travel is monitored through cameras, license-plate recognition software, facial recognition software, and other methods. This takes place in airports and airplanes, train stations, buses, car services, toll payment systems, through surveillance cameras on streets and in stores, as well as "the rising use of overhead surveillance, from airplanes, drones, and aerostats, those blimp-like craft floating above some border areas."

To those like me who want to throw up their hands in disgust and just go for a walk in the woods, the article continues: "What about a horse on backwoods trails? Hot air balloon? Offroad mountain bike? Well, even if you manage to avoid the ground cameras and the drones, there’s still that pesky phone in your pocket. If you’ve flipped on location services for your iPhone, maybe so Google Maps can keep you from getting lost, Apple and Google both are getting location data from you. So are the operators of many others apps. / Too paranoid to use a smartphone? Even the oldest, dumbest flip phone has to communicate with cell towers in order to work, meaning Verizon or AT&T – and potentially the government – know what cell tower your phone is using and in some situations can remotely activate GPS systems. Location technology initially developed for 911 calls also can estimate how close you are to various towers, making it easier to home in on your exact coordinates. Altitude measurements – revealing what floor you are on -- are next."

But we're not supposed to be paranoid. After all, "they" are not specifically looking for us. As the article explains, "Bear in mind that all these systems operate passively, continuously, even if nobody is looking for you. If you are an actual target of the authorities –- be it your government or somebody else’s -- there are even more powerful tools available. Surveillance companies sell malicious software to install on smartphones for tracking locations, browsing your e-mail and activating video cameras and microphones."

Needless to say, all online activities -- including the contents of this blog -- are also tracked. Cheery thought, no?

We don't have smart phones and only our basic-model cell phones are only turned on while traveling, but that's no longer good enough. Apparently we must just accept the fact that we are being continuously tracked, each and every one of us, from cradle to grave.

Nonetheless I think I'll stick to my purse flashlight. At least it doesn't spy on me.

Whoops

How embarrassing.

It seems that history has been made with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

"Tuesday night, during the final movements of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, the music was brought to a dramatic halt by Maestro Alan Gilbert." The culprit? A ringing cell phone in the first row.

Read the story here.

Me, I'd want to crawl under a rock somewhere if that cell phone had been mine.

Canning closet upgrade

Remember that wonderful canning closet Don made for me last year by remodeling an unused bathroom? Well believe it or not, it's full. Stuffed. Can barely squeeze another jar into it. I was stacking boxes of full jars on the floor.

But there was a little more space in this canning closet, namely a section along the far wall which also has a small window.

It's only about two feet wide, but it goes wall to wall... which in this space is five feet wide.

So once again all the extra stuff got hauled out...

First thing Don wanted to do was cover the small window. Sunshine on canned goods isn't good.

So he stuffed the window box with insulation, and fit a piece of OSB (oriented strand board) over the window.

Because the window cover is merely screwed on, it would only take five minutes to remove it should we ever want the window back.

Next he fit the corners and walls with 2x4 brackets to hold up the shelves.

Ta da! Three more sturdy shelves for canned goods. It doesn't look like much from this angle, but the shelves actually extend behind the other shelving units, wall to wall. This gives me 30 square feet more of shelving space. Whoo-hoo!

I expressed my gratitude for all Don's hard work by running his cell phone through the washing machine. Crud.

A friend suggested he immerse the cell hone battery in a bowl of dry white rice for twenty-four hours, which he did.

And you know what? It worked! The phone works perfectly and is even clean into the bargain! Phew!

The average teen sends 3000 texts a month

Here are some revolting bits of trivia.

Statistics show 80 percent of all 15 to 18-year-olds own a cell phone. And the rate of texting has sky rocketed 600 percent in three years. The average teen sends 3,000 texts a month.

 This apparently fits all the definitions of an addition.

Neuroimaging studies show the same brain areas are stimulated with both texting and using heroin.

Our Older Daughter reports that at summer camp, even though electronic gizmos weren't permitted, some girls were smuggling in cell phones.  She woke up at midnight one night and heard one of the girls stealthily texting.  Midnight, for pete's sake.  At summer camp.

Meanwhile, many teens have a working vocabulary of only 800 words.  I believe there are chimps with a larger vocabulary than that.

These teens are our future, folks.  Perhaps parents should introduce their children to a novel (literally) concept.