[AT] Waaay OT_Cell Phine Idiots

[Henry Miller]

On Monday 13 March 2006 11:04, Bill Thompson wrote:

> person can buy one. A couple weeks ago I pulled up at the gas station to
> fuel up and there was this woman there pumping gas, with her vehicle
> running and talking on her cell phone.  I pointed out the signs to her that
> state you should shut off your engine and not use your cell phone and all
> she did was ignore me.  I told her again and she continued to ignore me. 
> Evidently the person she talking to on the phone asked her what was going
> on and she said, "Some grumpy old jerk is giving me shit about talking on
> my phone while I'm pumping gas."  She was definitely on a suicide mission,
> but I wasn't really interested in going with her if she blew the place up. 

No she was not on a suicide mission.    When you pull into a gas station your 
exhaust system is hot enough to kick off any explosion.   (Often 1000 
degrees).   If there was any concentration of fuel could explode, every one 
of us would have lost family members from pulling into a gas station, and 
this would have been going on since gas cars.

A cell phone does not put out enough power to start a fire.  I've only heard 
of one experiment that was able to start a fire with a cell phone, (Which is 
nearly impossible to achieve in open air), and then threw the phone down so 
that the battery came off.   The radio signal itself did not start anything.    
No surprise to anyone who has taken physics.   

Of course cell phones are not designed for use in areas where the atmosphere 
is explosive.  Anyone using a cell phone in such an area is an idiot, but a 
gas station is not such an area. 

In short, in in this case she was right, you were a jerk.     (I'm not sure 
about leaving the engine running, but I see this enough, that I discount any 
possibility of harm, other than environmental)

There are plenty of times where using a cell phone is rude.   At a gas station 
is not one of them.   

Links/references:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/Articles/a-m/cellphone.htm
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cellgas.htm