TITLE: My First Blog Rant
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: October 30, 2004 11:33 AM
DESC: I've joined the blogosphere.  I may as well join the rantosphere, too.
-----
BODY:
Okay, I don't think I've ever blogged just to vent
my frustration with people in this world.  The blogosphere
is full of blogs that are nothing but.  They wear thin
<I>really</I> quickly.  But if you ask my wife, she'll
tell you that I save my rants for her weary ears.

Here is my first rant blog:

<B>People, turn your #$!@%#^@*&amp;$#*^@# cell phones off
when you enter a public space.</B>

I have had students' cell phones go off in my class,
and I've been patient and generous in my assessment
of the situation.  They meant to turn them off, surely,
or thought they had.  I've heard them in theaters and
in churches and at public talks.  Each time, I wonder
about the rudeness or inflated sense of importance that
makes people think that they can impose on everyone else
around them.

The final straws fell last week at OOPSLA when a cell
phone went off during Alan Kay's keynote address --
and then <I>twice</I> during his Turing Award lecture!
How rude, self-important, or utterly stupid do you have
to be to let your phone be the <B><I>second</I></B> to
ring during a historic lecture?

And what's worse, two of those people took the calls
before leaving the room.  Amazing.

I know that this rant is clich&eacute; these days.
Everyone complains about cell phone users.  I've been
muttering about them under my breath for a while myself.
But each man has his breaking point, and I'm at mine.
The people whose phones interrupted Alan Kay's talks
last week are lucky that the only thing broken was my
temper, and not their phones.

Okay, I feel better now.
-----