I come across this a lot, so I feel it is worth mentioning. I drive a lot and many times get on back of people who decide to toss their cigarette butts outside the window, which then comes flying at my windshield. I checked with state police, and here is the fine for someone caught littering:

Not less than $115.00 and not more than $287.50 

TITLE 21-4189 of the Delaware Code

1. Putting glass or other items on a highway prohibited
2. (a) No person shall throw or deposit upon any highway or adjacent property any glass bottle, glass, nails, tacks, wire, cans or any other substance likely to injure any person, animal or vehicle upon such highway or adjacent property.
3. (b) Any person who drops, or permits to be dropped or thrown, upon any highway or adjacent property any destructive or injurious material shall immediately remove the same or cause it to be removed.
4. (c) No person shall throw or deposit any goods, merchandise, bundles or litter of any kind upon a highway.

I would think throwing a smoking, burning object out the window could pose somewhat of a danger. So hopefully drivers will be encouraged to keep their butts to themselves!

I put a virtual end to unwanted forwarded emails from people I know.

At the beginning of this dilemma I was much more polite and proper but this type of response did not cause change in their behavior so I was forced to get more strict about it.

May I suggest that if you want to take more control of your “In Box” and end the endless barrage of ‘forwards’, simply cut and paste this in a direct response to your friend or family member. Obviously, you may feel the need to customize certain elements of the wording but if you reduce the urgency and importance of it, you will fail in your quest.

Dear friend,

I want you to know that I appreciate your friendship. The idea that you think of me when you find a funny joke or amazing fact or photo on the internet and wish to share your joy with me is a great compliment. I wish to share something with you which is very important to me and hopefully to you as well.

I have learned that hackers, spammers and other generally evil people often use innocent email messages and images to secretly plant spyware into the computers of innocent people. They often use cute or funny photos, heartwarming stories, political statements and various non-profit donations letters to hide invisible computer bugs in the script.

Even scanning these forwards with anti-spyware or anti-virus devices may not locate these bugs as they are in a capsule which is sealed on delivery but which self extricate to cause either damage or theft of your personal information including passwords, account numbers and banking information.

Even if the forward does not contain a virus or other spyware bug, you may notice that when the forward first came to you, your email address was amongst an ever-growing list of other email addresses. Well, ONE of those email addresses reports back to a spamming warehouse where you are being added to countless lists of pornographers, businesses and scam organizations who deluge your inbox with more crap than you can delete, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In other words, a friend of yours, who cares about you, added your name and email address (and perhaps other personal information) to people who send a never ending flow of junk mail to your email address and perhaps your physical address. In the worst scenario, your complete information is in the address book of your friend which is compromised by these bugs giving the bad guys access to your entire families names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, anniversaries and more.

When you send me a forward you compromise me in the very same way. This is not the act of a friend.

I will assume that you hadn’t considered these possibilities and perhaps even regret sending forwards. I will assume that you will take this information and never send me or anyone a forward ever again. You may even feel the need to send a letter much like this one to the people who send forwards to you.

But,.. If you send me one more forward, regardless of how cute the puppy is or how many starving children will be saved by the simple act of forwarding the message, I will remove you from my address book, block you from my email address and cease to communicate with you, forever.

Oh, and great hearing from you, how’s the family?

Warmest regards,

John Mixon

(more…)

Kevin Fleming is a world class photographer, and now a world class First State blogger.  Kevin is working on his latest book, “Wild Delaware”.  Once a day for an entire year, (365 days) Kevin will trudge out into the wilderness of Delaware and capture on camera local wildlife in it’s natural environment.  The photo’s from the days shoot appear daily on his blog, http://www.wilddelaware.com

 

For a real treat scroll back in time on his site and see the insect close-up’s and a great shot of a fox gazing into the morning sun.

Back from a few days off, and running to a live broadcast at Browseabout Books, I wanted to quickly post this shocking information found in our comments section.  More to come…

1. BCCI Says:
   December 5th, 2007 at 9:15 pm e 

   Scott A. Quillen age 36 passed away Dec 2 from surgery complications. He was a frequent poster on the WGMD forums known as “Carnifex”.

   Scott worked in IT for Delaware State Police and was owner of DelmarvaMotorcycling.com. As motorcyclist he was Ride Captain for
   Patriot Guard Mission to honor Marine Cpl. Corey Palmer

   Visitation is 5 DEC from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. where anyone that wants to pay their respects can do so.

   The funeral services will be held on 6 DEC starting at 12:00pm.

   The Hastings Funeral Home
   19 S. Main Street
   Selbyville, DE 19975

First the disclaimer I’ve no personal investment in the Baltimore Ravens.  You pilfer (hey, rhymes with Trent …..) another cities football team to satisfy your own pangs of loss I don’t offer sympathy.  These things said the Baltimore Ravens proved Monday night that last season was no fluke.  There won’t be any playoff party and there won’t be any consolation for last night’s loss.  Yet it was a great football game and it was great because the Ravens slugged it out for the equivalent of 15 rounds in boxing.  The Ravens slugged it out against what may be the greatest team assembled in a generation and it ended just short of toppling the Colossus.

It was mesmerizing and it delayed my normal bedtime by a good 90 minutes.  It’s also proof the Baltimore Ravens are much better than the current won/loss record.  It should be hope for next year.  The proof that Ray Lewis is still a force on the football field and that he isn’t alone.  In fact the defense is a star-studded outfit.

There will be football fans this week calling for a coaching change in Baltimore and perhaps even an overhaul of the team.  This would be a mistake.  The Ravens may be one player away from knocking off the Patriots.  The one player would be a quarterback and it’s the one position so elusive for the franchise and its fans.  Solve it this summer and maintain the defensive excellence and Baltimore is competing for another Lombardi Trophy.

The news isn’t nearly as good for the Eagles.  A once great quarterback is now mortal and there are losses in leadership.  The Eagles version of Ray Lewis was a fellow named Trotter.  He was dumped for no intelligible reason.  An experienced coaching and management staff is in meltdown.  There will be a house cleaning and it won’t end with the front office or coaching staff.  Watching the Eagles play Sunday it struck me that this Westbrook fellow should have the ball in his hands about 75 percent of the time.  He simply makes things happen.  Sunday was the last gasp for this year and when he touched the ball it was electric.  He didn’t touch the ball often enough and a linebacker from Seattle touched it all too often.  So much promise of the past decade unfulfilled. 

The Washington Redskins aren’t so easy to diagnose.  Two years ago it looked as if the long slide had been reversed.  The team now isn’t any worse and it isn’t any better.  Losing Sean Taylor won’t improve the outlook.  It does sound strange, however, to hear some folks make the claim he was the best player in franchise history.  How about Art Monk?  Sammy Baugh?  Ron McDole?   Even the best defensive back can be argued.  There were guys named Green and Fischer long before Taylor was around.  Had the ‘Skins won Sunday I would believe a spectacular run would’ve followed.  The loss and the manner of the loss coupled with the greater personal loss will leave these fellows in the doldrums.  One of the game’s greatest coaches now has it all on his shoulders.  This may be his greatest test.  Joe Gibbs isn’t just a bronzed statue in Canton but from everything I’ve ever read he’s a great human being.  I may not be sympathetic for Ravens’ fans but I sure feel for Joe Gibbs.  And the Redskins.

There are people who argue very correctly that we don’t grieve nearly as much for our fallen troops but right now the Washington Redskins are offering us all a lesson that suffering is part of everyday life.   

Well, ABC GMA ran a story this morning on Anesthesia Awareness. I first read about this in a Readers Digest a few months ago. We discussed it on the air briefly. I think it’s just about a nightmare to think about. As someone who just went through two surgeries, I can’t imagine having to be awake for those, let alone something more drastic. When the anestiologist asked me if I’d prefer to be knocked out or if I just wanted a local… I almost panicked. “Knock me out… now!” — Yes, the idea of this is terrifying:

“You’re screaming inside your body,” said Carol Weihrer, a victim of anesthesia awareness. “You’re trying to crawl off the gurney, you’re trying to move a toe, you’re trying to wince … and there is absolutely nothing you can do.”

Weihrer woke up on the operating table while doctors were removing her diseased eye.

“I heard my surgeon say to the resident, ‘Cut deeper and pull harder,’” she said. “And I finally realized they were not finished; they were just starting. So the senses that I felt were the tremendous pulling. I had seen them cut my optic nerve and I knew when everything went black. I wanted to get off that table or to die.”

But, the truth is… You’re not really in danger. Doctors say less that one tenth or one percent of patients experience this in surgery. But, it is another way for the news to scare the you know what out of you. So, go now! Continue to terrify the people!