Should mobile phones be banned in cars?

                                     Should mobile phones be banned in cars?

    We all know that mobile phone that mobile phones are a distraction in cars. It is annoying and frightening to see people taking on their hand-held mobile phones while driving, especially, when their behavior creates a hazardous situation for everyone on the road. However, banning mobile phones use in cars is like stuffing a Genie into the bottle. There are certain obvious cases were mobile phone use truly should be banned, such as teenage drivers and bus drivers but there are a lot of people who depend on communicating while driving.

    Below we show the results of two recent studies:

AAA study

    This study showed the rank of distraction and gave the distraction level a score from 1.0 to 5.0. Here are the results:

No distractions	1.00
Radio on	1.21
Audio book	1.75
Hands-free mobile phone	2.27 (talking only, not looking at the mobile phone)
Talking to passenger	2.33 (passenger unaware of surroundings)
Hand-held mobile phone	2.45
Speech to text	3.06
Operational span task	5.00 (solving a math problem while trying to remember a fact)

Virginia Tech & NHTSA study

    This study found that the risk of an accident depended on the specific task associated with mobile phones. Here are the results:

Task	Risk  Range (with 95% confidence)
Hand held mobile phone use	1.20-2.49
Portable Hands-free mobile phone use	0.49-2.30
Integrated Hands-free mobile phone use	0.25-1.31
Visual and manual subtask	1.91-4.51

Putting things in perspective, accident risk depends on a number of other factors:

• ·         Speed              

Driving (MPH)	Risk
1	5%
10	1.62%
20	2.65%

• ·         Choice of roads

There is a huge variation in accident risk depending on the choice of road. The accident rate on a complex urban arterial road is about 10 times higher than a motorway.

• ·         Age

Drivers under 25 years old are at 3x risk of having an accident. Old age is not a big problem until the driver gets quite old around 70 years old.

• ·         Gender

Men get in more fatal accidents. Women get in slightly more fender benders.

• ·         Alcohol

In California State, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 is the legal limit but any amount of alcohol is dangerous. A legal drunk driver, about two drinks for most people, is about equal to teenage driver.

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)	Relative Risk
0.00	1.0
0.05	1.8
0.08	3.2
0.12	7.1
0.21	30.5

• ·         More factors

•              All drivers think they are better drivers than they                        really are.
•              Some drivers have mental deficits anger issues that                     make them far more dangerous than the rest of                           population.
•               Citations for moving violations predict how likely                     you will be to get in an accident.

These studies are ones of many that show that any form of talking puts a cognitive load on the brain and causes a degree of distraction. Also, anything that puts a load on the brain also tends to narrow our peripheral vision. That is, we literally see less when we are distracted. Without a doubt, handheld mobile phone use, any task involves touching the mobile phone, talking to passenger in the front seat and taking your eyes off the road will increase your risk of an accident.

These studies show that driver judgement is a big factor but even with typical drive judgement, visual and manual task will cause more accidents. Until we have self-driving cars, it is reasonable to ban the worst offenders: handheld mobile and texting.

Here is what we know:

                    Pros                    vs                       Cons

• ·         Talking with

Hands free mobile	Hand held mobile
Better for driving	Worst for driving
It is not illegal/It is not easy to enforce	It is easy to enforce/That should be banned
It is not risk-free, Risk Range : 0.25-2.30	Highest risk of accident, Risk Range : 1.20-2.49
It is not as safe as driving without distractions	It is totally unsafe

• ·         Texting

Speech to text is dangerous	Touching to text is dangerous
Worse that driving drunk	The worst of all
That should be banned (speech to text, score: 3.06 distraction level, where MIN is 1.0 & MAX is 5.0)	That should be banned (visual and manual subtask, Risk Range: 1.91-4.51)

• ·         Trying to find your mobile

No problem at all

Dangerous, but if the driver uses good judgement, then it is a limited hazardous

When you look at the risk and the carnage on the roads, it is questionable whether humans should be driving cars at all.

Talking on mobile is about the same cognitive load                    as talking to someone/passenger in the front seat.          Should talking to a passenger be banned? , yet                          nobody is suggesting banning passengers from                          talking to driver.

Listening to Audio-book is less cognitive load as a                    conversation or talking but the driver might be                          listening to the Audio-book close to 100% of the time.          Should Audio-books be banned from cars?

A teenage driver is about the same risk as a legally drunk         driver. Yet, a teenage driver has to actually drive in order         to learn how or know-how.          Should teenage driver and/or drunk driver be banned                from cars?

Customs and traditions from Spain

    Spain is a beautiful country with amazing panorama views at country side, good weather for holiday’s season at spring, summer and autumn, of course, unforgettable sunny beaches.

    Spanish people most of the time have a good mood, laughing at all, joking between them and always like to break the glass with you, have a huge hug when you arrive and leave with 2 kisses (one in each cheek), or putting their arms over your shoulder just to explain how to get there at site that you do not know how to get there, these are some typical Spaniards customs and way of communication, but you do not get angry with them because you feel that they broke your personal area of trust-confidence or invaded your personal space. This way of communicating may surprise you when you first arrive to Spain, but you will quickly adapt to this Spanish customs and traditions and soon you won’t even notice them.

    Spanish people like to have fun, typical Spanish phrases to go out partying are for example:  “ir de picoteo” or "ir de tapas" (meaning: pilgrimage through the bars, eating small amounts and outside mealtimes), "voy a ir de farra" (meaning: I'm going to go party), “¿Qué tienes de picar?” (meaning: What you have to snack?).

Other interesting points about Spaniards’ food customs

• ·         The locals of Spain have lunch at 2 pm and dinner at around 9 to10 pm.
• ·         Spanish food is not spicy and very seldom hot.
• ·      Spain has the second highest number of bars per inhabitants, the only country that has more bars than Spain is Cyprus. Bars are an important part of life.
• ·   Tortillas in Spain are not the same as tortillas elsewhere. You will not find corn or flour tortillas in Spanish dishes. In Spain, Tortilla Española refers to a very popular and delicious egg and potato dish. Spaniards use the word “tortitas” to refer to flour/corn tortillas.
• ·     Sunflower seeds (it is called: pipas) are big deal in Spain. More importantly, Spaniards are really talented at opening and eating them at a shocking speed.
• ·  Most households buy fresh bread every day. Traditionally, they are long baguettes called barras or pistolas. Bread is present (and required) at almost every meal.
• ·         Though Spain is more famous for its red wine than white, the majority of its vineyards have white grapes. The fortified wine sherry comes from the city of Jerez in Andalusia. In Spanish, sherry is simply called 'vino de Jerez' (Jerez wine).
• ·      The Spanish (in particular those from Cadiz) claim that they invented fried fish. In the 18th century, Britain had ties with Cadiz and therefore it is believed that the English took the idea of fish 'n' chips from Spain. However, other sources claim the Portuguese and Belgians invented it.
• ·         Spain is the number one producer of olive oil in the world with 44% of the world's olive oil production. That is more than twice that of Italy and four times that of Greece.
• ·      Spain is one of the world's biggest producers of saffron, an important ingredient in the most famous Spanish dish called paella.
• ·       Sangria and Paella, most tourists who visit Spain want to eat paella ( is a Valencian rice dish with ancient roots/seafood) and drink sangria (consists of wine, chopped fruit, a sweetener, and a small amount of added brandy)- what could be more Spanish? Most of bars and restaurants know how much tourists like and want to sample these symbols of Spanish kitchen life and you will enjoy it accordingly.
• ·         Mahou-San Miguel is the leading brand of Spanish Beer.
• ·       Food is important in Spain and often a topic of conversation. Additionally, they often go on walks after a meal to help them digest their meal.
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Ties between England and Spain

• ·        The Spaniard Catherine of Aragon married Henry VIII of England. She was the first of his six wives and the mother of Queen Mary I.
• ·  Gibraltar was ceded by Spain to Britain in 1713, controlled the entrance to the Mediterranean.
• ·      In 1588 the Spanish Armada, consisting of one hundred and fifty ships, sailed to England to invade, but it was defeated by the English navy and stormy weather.

• ·    Football/Soccer is the country´s most important sport. Spain won its first World Cup football title in 2010, which made the country the 8th country to have ever won.

Parliamentary Democracy in Spain

    For 40 years, between 1936 and 1975, Franco ruled Spain as a dictator. After his death, the rightful King Juan Carlos I had a key role in returning the country to a democracy with a new constitution, since 1975 to now a day.

Festivals in Spain

    The Spanish eating, drinking and dancing culture step up a gear (if that's possible), when there's a festival on town. Every town or village has a local party or festival (called fiesta), at which point the locals don't just eat and drink because it's fun, they do so because it would be un-Spanish not to do.

Most important Spaniards’ Festivals

Spain is known for its hospitality and relaxed way of life, and this is what students and tourists love about Spain and the Spain culture. More than 50 million of tourists visit Spain every summer and autumn time, because of its good weather, sunny and subtropical temperature (33 – 40 ºC), is cheap country, beautiful and fun people, traditional country side of festival parties, nice places, cathedrals, attractions, traditional Spanish dresses, beaches, pubs, restaurants, discotheques, nice country side, ecology tours, city tours, resorts, big thematic parks.

Main Festival and places to visit

·         Historical Royal Palace

·         “Sagrada Familia” the most famous Cathedral at Barcelona, Spain.

·         Historical Muslim Buildings (Alhambra Castle, Alcazar Royal palace, Hammam-Arabic Bath)

·         Bullfighting

·         Grec Festival

·         Wine harvest Festival in Spain

·         Salamanca history and legends

·         La Cueva de Salamanca (Salamanca cave) where supposedly Satan himself taught classes to 7 students for 7 years in the cave under the condition that afterward one of the students would belong to the devil as payment for the instruction. The chosen student was able to escape but not without losing his shadow –Marques would live shadow less for the rest of his days as a sign of his relationship with Satan. The legend spread and it even provided the source of inspiration for one of Miguel de Cervantes’ short plays.

·         One of the most popular traditions in Salamanca is known as “lunes de aguas”.

·         Mariquelos’ annual event had remained unobserved for several years when in 1985 the tradition of climbing up the outside of the tower was picked up again.

·         Tentenecio hill recalls an extraordinary anecdote from the city’s past. Saint John of San Facondo was taking a walk along the hill one day when he saw a loose bull that had escaped from a market charging at a woman and her son. According to legend, Saint John stepped in front of the wild bull, planted his hand between the animal’s horns and ordered him to “¡Tente, necio!” (from détente, necio, stop you fool), at which point the animal miraculously calmed down and left the three unharmed. The saint’s command has been the name of the street ever since, in memory of the miracle.

·         On February 5th Salamanca traditionally celebrates the festival of Saint Agatha (fiesta de Santa Águeda), when women symbolically take control and leave men in charge of the housework.

·         Castilian women have a history of being vigorously protective of their home and family, a great example of which we can see in the story of Maria la Brava.

·         Miguel de Unamuno, who served in several occasions as rector of the University of Salamanca. On October 12, 1936, in the midst of a civil war and during the “Fiesta de la Raza” celebration, this adoptive Salmantino, standing before shouts of “You will be victorious but you will not convince”

•          Rose of Saffron Festival
•          Walking the “Camino de Santiago” (Saint James Route)
•          “La Tomatina” Valencia Festival (Tomatoes Festival)
•          Los Toros de San Fermín Festival Pamplona
•          San Isidro Festival Madrid (Chulapas y Chulapos typical dresses)
•          The Cave of Altamira is a cave in Spain famous for its Upper Paleolithic cave paintings featuring drawings and polychrome rock paintings of wild mammals and human hands. It was the first cave in which prehistoric cave paintings were discovered.
•          The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, Bilbao, Spain.
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•      The best sights, tours and activities at Balearic Island (Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera). You must enjoy of their beautiful beaches and parties. Ibiza Island is one of the most famous party and holiday Island in the world; plenty of Hollywood actors and actress go for holidays there and enjoy their vacations as well as famous politicians and Royal Family of Spain.
•      Tenerife Carnival at Santa Cruz de Tenerife Island – Canary Island. It is the second world famous carnival in the world after Brazil’s world-famous Rio de Janeiro Carnival.

Madrid y Barcelona cities

• The Madrid-Barcelona is one of the city pairs with most flights per week in the world!
• The Madrid subway is the second largest underground system in Europe and the sixth largest system in the world. It has 141 miles of track and is still growing.
• Real Madrid Football Club and Barcelona Football Club are the most famous football teams in the world and in Spain, as well as Atletico of Madrid Football Club. Please do not forget to see a football match in our beautiful stadiums next time you visit Spain for holiday.

Contaminacion o desintoxicacion del Wi-Fi y Campos Electromagneticos

Amigos sin rostro, hoy quiero compartir la siguiente reflexion:

A continuacion te comento una reflexion que me parece bueno transmitirla a todos los amigos, me parece una buena labor lo del apagon tecnologico, aun voy mas alla, me refiero con la desintoxicacion de Wi-Fi y de los campos electromagneticos, estos no esta haciendo daño a algunas personas que sufren de hipersensibilidad a los campos electremagneticos, por ejemplo, sufre de dolores de reuma, envejecimiento de la piel de tu cuerpo a pasos agigantados, se te reseca la piel de la cara y de las manos que son los que estan mas cerca de estos dispositivos, afecta a la circulacion de la sangre, ya que la polariza, y por supuesto afecta a los latidos del corazon.

Por ejemplo en Suecia hay zonas donde estan libres de Wi-Fi, y por lo tanto te desintoxicas, pero la cantidad de dispositivos que comparten nuestro habitat del hogar, para hacer una vida mas ordenada, comunicativa, facil y rapida, nos esta sometiendo a campos magneticos invisibles que erosionan nuestra salud sin darnos cuenta, y la comision de salud de la comunidad europea en bruselas, emitio un alerta de esto, pero la modernidad, la tecnologia tiene mucho respaldo en todos los sentidos, incluso son millones de euros o dolares que estan invertidos y que se deben pagar a los bancos que dieron el dinero en prestamo para lograr este avance tecnologico que estamos viviendo tu y yo actualmente.

No se puede hacer nada, sino controlarlo uno mismo, cuantos menos dispositivos tengas en tu casa, es mejor, pero lo mas im portante es alejarlo del cuarto y de la mesita de noche, ya que los moviles, las tabletas, los computadores personales estan y van con nosotros a todas partes, incluso hasta la cama. Esto nos acerca mas y mas a los campos electromagneticos que mientras dormimos hacen daño a nuestra salud, en conjunto con el Wi-Fi que esta en todas partes en nuestra casa, sin que nosotros los estemos utilizando los dispositivos, es mejor alejarlos de la cama y de la mesita noche mientras dormimos, ponerlos a recargar sus baterias, pero lejos de la cama, por ejemplo, se pueden dejar en la sala de la casa. Tu suma los dispositivos que tienes en tu cuarto, el campo electromagnetico generado por la television, mas el movil, mas el portatil, muchos personas tienen mas de un movil, la radio, en fin siempre tenemos una gaveta llena de dispositivos electronicos que en su dia nos fueron utiles, pero ahora pasaron al olvido por que ya no son smartphone o ya no son tan modernos como los de hoy en dia.

Asi que cuidate la salud y aleja todos los dispositivos electronicos de tu cuerpo, mas aun cuando no los utilizas, como por ejemplo cuando duermes. No te olvides del cuarto de tus hijos, a veces ellos duermen o se quedan dormidos con la tableta y el movil mientras estan en la cama antes de quedarse dormidos, y esto lo hacen sin querer, pero estos dispositivos pegados a la piel de nosotros o de nuestros hijos todo el dia mas la noche, hace mucho mas daño, que si solo estan cerca de nostros durante el dia.

Alexander Rojas

March 19, 2015, 10:54 AM

Amazon expands its one-hour delivery service

 BY ALLISON ENRIGHT Editor

Amazon Prime Now is now available to consumers in Baltimore and Miami.

Amazon.com Inc. has expanded its Amazon Prime Now service, which launched in December for consumers in Manhattan and later expanded to Brooklyn, to consumers in Baltimore and Miami. Amazon Prime Now offers delivery of goods in as little as one hour to members of Amazon Prime for a fee of $7.99. Consumers place their order through Amazon’s Prime Now mobile app, available for Apple, Android and Amazon mobile devices.

Amazon says it will be expanding Prime Now to other U.S. cities this year.

Prime Now is available to Prime members in 25 ZIP codes in Baltimore and 10 ZIP codes in Miami, with more ZIP codes to come, Amazon says.

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Consumers who want to use Prime Now can get delivery from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. If a customer is OK with waiting two hours, there’s no delivery fee.

“Customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn love Prime Now--it means you can skip a trip to the store and get the items you need delivered right to your door in under an hour,” says Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations.

The quick delivery service is yet another addition to the growing list of benefits Amazon makes available only to Prime members; consumers pay $99 a year for Prime membership. Amazon added unlimited photo storage to the list of Prime benefits in November. It also offers members streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes through Prime Instant Video, access to streaming music with Prime Music, early access to some limited-time offers and free book downloads for Kindle owners.

Amazon hasn’t ever said how many Prime members it has, but an estimate released last month by investment firm Macquarie Group says 20% to 25% of U.S. households, or about 40 million, now belong to Prime. It further estimated that 40% to 52% of U.S. households would have Prime memberships within five years.

Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2014 Top 500 Guide.