New York, New York

I’m surprised that somebody in New York came up with this first. It sounds like something that’s right up Mayor Menino’s alley:

Kruger says he will introduce legislation on Wednesday to ban the use of gadgets such as Blackberry devices and video games while crossing the street.

"Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry," Kruger said in a telephone interview from Albany, the state capital. "This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand."

Here’s the thing. If you’re so stupid that you stroll out in front of traffic because you’re fiddling with the volume on your iPod, you probably should be removed from the gene pool. I view it as the government protecting me by not passing this legislation because I could someday have to deal with one of these idiots operating a motor vehicle in my vicinity or operating on me and the stupid, unobservant fuck could end up hurting me.

I also enjoy this bit of editorializing on the part of the Reuters intern who wrote this piece:

Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes.

For fuck’s sake. If my options are listening to the dulcet tones of Jay-Z or listening to some college sophomore’s tales of inebriation, I’m going to get my drone on. I think if I had to navigate the T without my iPod I would probably be in jail within a week. I need the iPod to drone out the Borg headset yammerers.