29 Feb 08 A Tragedy but….
A motorist who was texting on her mobile phone when she hit and killed a cyclist has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Jordan Wickington, 19, died from head injuries when he went through a red light and was struck by Kiera Coultas’s car in Southampton in February 2007. The 25-year-old from Hythe, Hampshire, was driving at 45mph in a 30mph zone.
Miss Coultas had earlier been found guilty at Southampton Crown Court of causing death by dangerous driving.
OK
, she shouldn’t have been using her cellphone while driving. There is way too much of that goes on; talking with only one hand on the wheel is bad enough, let alone texting, where people have to take their eyes off the road to read and reply to such messages.
She shouldn’t have been driving at 45mph in a 30mph zone. She might have had time to stop before hitting the cyclist if she’d not been playing with the phone, and if she’d have been driving slower.
However, the one question remains. Why do many cyclists totally ignore all road signs? Time and time again, I’ve witnessed cyclists riding through red lights; or going the wrong way up a one way street, or up and down the sidewalk or other erratic behavior. They surely need some education, and to pay some due care and attention on the road as well as drivers of motorized vehicles.
Tags: cellphone, crown court, cyclists, death by dangerous driving, education, erratic behavior, going the wrong way, hand on the wheel, head injuries, hythe, jordan, mobile phone, one question, red light, road signs, sidewalk, southampton, wheel
29 Feb 08 My Liver, With Love
Daniel Foster was dying from primary sclerosing cholangitis, which was diagnosed more than ten year ago. The only way forward was to have a liver transplant. and doctors said he needed one within a year. In the UK, like the rest of the world, the list of those waiting for a transplant far exceeds donors. Jennifer Foster saved her husband Daniel’s life by donating more than half her liver. It was the first of its kind in Scotland, and took place in January this year.
The risks were high, said experts. The procedure at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh lasted about 10 hours. Mrs Foster was discharged from hospital after 6 days, and also her husband too, who is on the road to a full recovery.
The liver is capable of rapid regeneration. The right lobe can be removed and transplanted into a recipient. This is followed by regeneration in both the recipient and the donor so that the liver has the potential to grow to full size in both patients.
8,000 patients across the UK wait for a life-saving transplant, and about 1,000 die or are taken off the waiting list because their health has deteriorated to the point where a transplant is no longer viable.
Tags: daniel foster, doctors, donor card, donors, health, husband daniel, jennifer foster, liver transplant, mrs foster, primary sclerosing cholangitis, rapid regeneration, recipient, rest of the world, royal infirmary of edinburgh, scotland, suitable donor
29 Feb 08 English – Who Said It’s Easy?
Can you read these right the first time?
- The bandage was wound around the wound.
- The farm was used to produce produce.
- The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
- We must polish the Polish furniture.
- He could lead if he would get the lead out.
- The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
- Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
- A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
- When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
- I did not object to the object.
- The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
- There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row .
- They were too close to the door to close it.
- The buck does funny things when the does are present.
- A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
- To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
- The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
- Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
- I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
- How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither fromGuinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS. – Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’
Tags: bass drum, boxing rings, crazy language, dove dove, english language, english muffins, french fries, funny things, groce, guinea pig, intimate friend, meese, oarsmen, odds and ends, polish furniture, quicksand, right the first time, seamstress, sewer line, sweetbreads, sweetmeats
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