A while back
Nancy Friedrich (Editor of Microwaves and RF Magazine) suggested
I write something about what the microwave industry could do better.
So what do we do that causes the most grief to mankind?
Certainly,
RF emissions by cell phones are the cause of quite a lot of misconceptions
about whether cell phones cause cancer. Any time an "RF guy"
takes a stand on this and says its all baloney, he risks coming
off like an Exxon executive telling you carbon isn't causing global
warming. But there's plenty of biological
data that support the conclusion that we are blameless, at
least in this case.
There's other
causes for concern, like all of the precious, poisonous and heavy
metals and rare earth elements that go into wireless gadgets that
end up in the dump. In time this will get better, as lead is no
longer used in solder except by Uncle Sam, and silicon is replacing
gallium arsenide for many commercial RFICs, and we will just plain
run out of a lot of the rarest materials. Lithium
doesn't exactly grow on trees. But the precious metal content
in personal electronics pales in comparison to what is contained
in a hybrid vehicle. A Prius contains 25 lbs. of rare earth elements,
which may
soon start a new trade war, because, like oil, rare earth
elements are not distributed "equitably" among the world's
nations. Most people can't find lanthanum
or neodymium
on a periodic chart, but Prius owners own 33
and 2.2 lbs. each, and almost all of it came from China. Northwest
Territories is about to see some pristine wilderness ripped apart
to keep the electronics industry going.
Toyota has a "roadmap"
for ramping up imports of hybrid vehicles to the US from 100,000
per year now, to 1,000,000. Here's a prediction: they won't get
there (or even close), there just isn't enough of the required
materials at their disposal. Don't get me wrong, the Prius is
a masterpiece of engineering, which no doubt frightened many engineers
in Detroit. But someone has to point out when the Emperor
is buck naked, and the vision that we will all drive electric
cars in the future to save the environment is flawed. There is
no answer to compact energy storage yet identified that makes
sense. The answers to how to burn less gas are simple: use public
transportation more and drive less, and drive smaller, slower
cars. Stop taking your kids to monster truck shows, so their tiny
brains won't be imprinted the wrong way, like yours might already
be.
Certainly, the US electronics
industry could make a better effort capturing our waste stream
and recycling materials that will soon permanently be in short
supply.
Speaking of sending stuff to
the dump, there's a considerable waste stream generated at most
conferences by suppliers handing out free gifts. The microwave
industry is no exception, and there's several suppliers that are
notorious for handing out stuff with blinking LEDs, powered by
disposable batteries, which contain mercury. Whenever I am offered
something like this I ask if the supplier is willing to eat the
mercury in the batteries so that they won't end up in a fish I
plan to eat. They look at me like I'm crazy. The idea that my
preference for selecting a microwave part could be swayed by a
shiny, blinking toy is ridiculous, but more disturbing is the
notion that it must be working on some people or this practice
would stop. So how about when you go to a conference, don't collect
all of this crap, just ignore it. Trust me, your kids don't want
any of it, so don't use this as an excuse to indulge yourself
in the twisted fantasy that you are so special you deserve many
cheap and stupid gifts whenever you go to a conference.
Something else we could do
better: reduce the number of cell phone tower worker's accidental
deaths to zero. In April 2008, six
workers fell to their deaths in five weeks. Sure, we need
to get that 3G networks launched so that everyone can enjoy miniature
porn on their cell phones, but maybe we could slow down a bit
and do some real training. A
local tower worker died at the age of 22 last year and with
no insurance payout from his employer, a Craigslist ad for a church
garage sale benefiting the family was how I came to learn about
this accident. Maybe the industry could be a little more generous
when they accidentally kill an employee.
Deaths due to cell phone usage
in cars increases every year, it
was 5800 in 2008, up from 2600
in 2004, and a disparate number of the victims are in their
20s.
There's more things the industry
could do better, I'll save the rest for another day, except for
the one topic that is the title of this page...
We could do a much better job
warning people not to use cell phones (or other wireless stuff)
while they drive. If the tobacco industry can put the Surgeon
General's warning on all of their products, we can do the same.
And we can start here on this page, with a couple of examples
to illustrate what can happen if you lose control of your car
because you need to "stay connected".
Tucson driving incident
I have had some personal experience
with an collision due to using a cell phone by a close relative
whom I shall refer to as "Pumkin". Notice I didn't say
"accident", that is a feel-good word used by insurance
companies so that you don't think they are blaming you when they
jack your rates for a poor driving record, a gross misuse of the
American language. Pumkin was driving while chatting on the cell
phone and cruised through a red light. Her car (which is owned
by me) was T-boned. Fortunately, by a coin toss, the SUV that
had right-of-way hit the passenger side, not the driver side.
If it came from the other direction this episode could have a
much worse ending.
Don't be stupid
A nine year old car with this
type of damage is "totaled" according to any insurance
company. This is for two reasons, new parts are not available,
and the cost of repair using an approved shop would exceed the
car's value. But is the car really that damaged? The engine and
drivetrain were not touched, and nether air bag was deployed.
The Prizm is of historical significance as it was once a joint
venture between General Motors and Toyota, assembled at the NUMMI
plant in California (now
closed), before GM went ape$%^& for SUVs and then went
bankrupt as a result. That drivetrain that was untouched in the
accident came from a crate from Japan originally, so there's still
plenty of life left at 140,000 miles. And then again, here's a
chance to prevent 2,400 lbs. of metal from entering the waste
stream, getting crushed and sent to Korea to become flat screen
televisions. Hrrrmmm.
Here's the bruise you receive
when you run a red light and get T-boned by an SUV. At least this
is proof that Pumkin was wearing her seat belt!
You can tell she eats a lot of burritos...
It only took a search of three
or four junk yards to locate a donor car. Here's the B-post clipped
off, with the doors removed.
Here's the rear door, the front
door is around here someplace... all this "new" metal
can be had for about $500. Quite probably the donor car was soon
headed for the crusher, good salvage yards always need room for
younger wrecks, of which there is never a shortage.
So, who's gonna do the repair?
Enter Luis. Luis is a great guy, but there is a language barrier.
We agree to a price by writing figures on the dust of the windshield.
He will do the job for three $250 payments.
Another cold winter day in the desert
Here's the car as the bent
metal is being removed. Be careful not to damage the interior,
like Pepsi did!
To make a two-week-long story
short, here it is, all painted. Luis is a true artist, if I had
more time on my hands I would bring him many more cars to put
back together. My new Corolla can be seen in the background, the
ultimate cheapskate car of the decade, as the Prizm was in its
day.
If you look close, the paint
doesn't quite match. This was intentional, to remind the foolish
cell phone user of the consequences of her actions.
Back to Luis... each time I
paid the $250 increment, he kept trying to tell me "check
no good!" I kept saying, sure , my check's good, no worries!
On the third payment I figured out why he trying to tell me. He
was using a check cashing service, which charged something like
$50 to cash each check, so he wanted cash, check no
good! I increased his final payment by $100 and felt like
a jerk. Maybe someday we won't have parasites ripping hard working
people off for cashing checks, but I won't hold my breath.
Luis' work did not include
fixing any wiring. He cut a good many wires in installing the
door frame, so the air bag light was when I picked up the car.
After fixing the wires (ducking down in case I fired off one of
the bags), I found out that the seat belt retractor (hidden in
the bottom of the B-pillar) is a single use unit which must be
replaced. It fires a charge to freeze the gears during a side
hit (see the yellow cartridge below). If you were wearing this
belt in a collision, you might have to cut it to exit the vehicle...
good luck if your car is on fire and your arm is broken! No big
deal, another trip to Luis' shop to find the donor car's retractor
and everything is just fine.
One last lesson here. Who do
you think is driving this car with its two-tone paint, me or Pumkin?
Well, Pumkin wouldn't be caught dead in such a wreck, and I don't
really care what I drive so long as the A/C and radio both work
(XM radio in this case!), so we worked out a deal and she now
has my new car. If you have a daughter, you will understand this
lesson. The "totaled" car now has 165,000 miles and
it is working just fine. I had to drop some more dough on an A/C
compressor last summer, but I probably won't trade this vehicle
until it turns 200,000 miles sometime in 2011. Let me know if
you're interested in a well maintained used car at that time.
The car is "car-fax-clean", as the insurance company
never saw the "before pictures." And I know where you
can get it painted any color you want, cheaply, but cash only.
I might throw in a free wheel alignment, if I get around to it
one of these days.
