The Low-Tech Times

WTOP News has a nice story posted by Freeman Klopott of a woman in Washington, DC who thwarted a mugger using a low-tech technique. The story shows a hi-tech taser may not be necessary to stop robbery:

A sly Northeast resident was able to get the better of a late afternoon mugger by passing off a fake wallet with only two dollars, District police said. The woman was carrying groceries and dry cleaning on the 1300 block of F Street Northeast when a man came up behind her, put an arm around her neck and pushed her forward, demanding her wallet. As she landed on the ground, the victim pulled out a fake wallet she keeps for just such occasion.

The assailant grabbed the fake wallet and took off down the street.

Geoffrey Lean, environmental editor, writes another interesting piece for The Independent in a series of health risks brought on by mobile phones:

Children and teenagers are five times more likely to get brain cancer if they use mobile phones, startling new research indicates.

The study, experts say, raises fears that today’s young people may suffer an “epidemic” of the disease in later life. At least nine out of 10 British 16-year-olds have their own handset, as do more than 40 per cent of primary schoolchildren.

The article goes on to state that European governments have recommended minimizing cell phone use by the young.  Here at The Low-Tech Times, we recommend that everyone minimize cell phone usage to emergency situations and other rare occurrences.

Netflix.com launched with a really good idea.  You can conveniently rent movies through the mail and never pay any late fees.  Additionally, their catalog of DVDs is vastly superior to any brick-and-mortar store.  Chris Anderson referenced Netflix to help make his point in The Long Tail:  Why The Future of Business is Selling Less of More.

So why did we cancel our Netflix account?

At first we would watch the movies when they arrived and promptly send them back.  Lately, we had been sometimes holding onto movies for several weeks because we lacked the time and/or desire to watch them. We weren’t getting our money’s worth because we were still getting charged between $5 and $6 a month.  If Netflix had a pay-as-you-go plan, we would not have cancelled our account.  For people that don’t watch very many movies, they should offer a plan that charges you on a per-movie basis.

Despite Chris Anderson’s Long Tail Theory, the Blockbuster Video in my neighborhood is still open for business.  Going forward, we’ll be renting movies the old-fashioned way from Blockbuster with no monthly fee.