death by iPod

Cause of death: iPod. As sad as the situation is, how loud is your music or how blissfully unaware of your surroundings must one be to not here/see a train about to run you over? An 18 year-old in West Virginia was jogging along the train tracks (yeah, I don’t know why either) and his iPod was so loud that he couldn’t hear the train’s horn or notice onlookers trying to get his attention. Once again, this is a tragedy, but it has a hint of Darwinism to it as well.

Just the other day, my friend asked me if I run with my ‘in-ear’ ear buds. I had to think back a few weeks (err… months) since my last jog around Addison Circle, and then I remembered that I did! He then asked, “Aren’t you ever afraid you’ll get hit by a car because you won’t hear them.” After swearing off running forever, I replied, “no, I look around.”

At the time, this question seemed stupid to me, because obviously I don’t run with my eyes closed and try to be as cognizant as possible of my surroundings. Apparently, it wasn’t a stupid question, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t stupid people.

I mean really, I’m pretty sure there are millions of completely deaf people who navigate their way through this dangerous world and manage to not get creamed by a train. Secondly, who listens to their music that loud? If this kid didn’t get run over, he would be completely deaf by the age of 25. What is the family going to sue Apple for not disclosing the fact that just because your ears are otherwise occupied, your eyes and other sense still will work?! I don’t get it. This is a pointless post, but I was intrigued by the coincidental nature of the timing of David’s question and this article.

*Someone please forward me an article of substance that I can write about. As you can see, I am CLEARLY out of inspiration.