The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 168, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 21, 2004 Page: 4 of 12
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Page 4
TheJ-TAC
October 21, 2004
Cell phones have become an addiction
r
By Mychal Anthony
Thomas
\ . Staff Writer
What would you do with-
out your cell phone? Being con-
stantly assaulted-by ring tones
which can include the-theme of
the "Munsters" to Michael Jack-
son's "Beat It", I can safely as-
sume many of you would be lost
without your cybernetic limb.
The cellular phone has evolved
to become one the most sought
after and "needed" pieces of
equipment known to man. The
'concept of the cellular phone ac-
tually began in 1947 and as most
of you might have guessed, the
device has had to come a long
way to become what we have
today.
Our friends at the Federal
Communications Commission,
also known as the FCC, allowed
only twenty-three cell phone
conversations in any given area,
thus putting a cap on the ad-
vancements to the public. Luck-
ily, in 1968 companies such as
AT&T and Bell Labs brought an
interesting proposal to the FCC.
The deal was basically a pre-
sentation asking, "What if there
were a series of small towers set
strategically in place to handle a
set amount of users in a region?"
As the users moved about, their
communication service would
move to the nearest tower. With
this plan off the drawing board,
AT&T and Bell Labs began test-
ing phones for public use. Public
cellular phone testing began in
1977 in Chicago with two thou-
sand customers. Eventually, the
testing had spread to , Wash-
ington D.C., Baltimore . and to
as far as Japan in 1979! Several
years later the FCC authorized
commercial cellular phone use.
Ameritech was the first compa-
ny to offer commercial analog
cellular service in 1983. i
Everything was great until
the year 1987 when ;th,ere was
a dire need to handle, the prob-
lem of overcrowding of cellular
phone frequencies. Companies
were allowed to pioneer new al-
ternatives to the current system
in 1988. This new freedom gave
way to many new ideas that
grew, to what we have all came
to know and love today.
Well people, you can never
know where you are going un-
til you know where you have
been, right? Moving to the year
2004 with the numbers race, just
which company is popular? Ve-
rizon Wireless is number one
with thirty-six million custom-
ers, followed by Cingular with
twenty three, then AT&T Wire-
less with twenty-two million,
Sprint with nineteen million,
and rounding out the top five
Nextel with twelve million.
Capabilities .have grown,
from simple voice communica-
tion to text messaging, musical
playback, hyper-powered death
lasers, and GPS. Well, maybe
not GPS but those death lasers
are pretty nifty for world domi-
nation and such. Just kidding
people, there are no hyper pow-
ered death lasers-
Why do we pick the cell
phones that we do?, Well: hu-
man beings, that being you < and
I if you have not caught oft by
now, are addicted to the tech-
nology and aesthetic-pleasures
these advances bring. Cellular
phones used to be as huge as a
laptop but are now the size of
a credit card. Cellular phones
have more accessories than
most people have shoes. For
instance, you have face plates
for every design you can desire
ranging from block coloring to
your favorite band.
There are a number of
myths surrounding cellular
phones that have become more
or less urban legends. The very,
popular radiation theory that
cell phones can caijse cancer
from prolonged use persists.
True, cellular phones do pro-
duce radiation. The amount
produced is so insignificant that
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no short-term effects have been
discovered in terms of cancer.
Now keep in mind, studies on
long term effects have not been
conducted. Also, it has been
concluded that the radiation
given off by cell phones does
not cause interference in medi-
cal devices such as pace makers.
Feeding off the paranoia of cus-
tomers' companies have been
putting out a radiation shield
for cellular phones. The shields
have been proven to do abso-
lutely nothing in the terms of
shielding anything. But despite
the negative information being
spread, the companies are still
making a huge profit annually.
Another myth is that cell
phones are ticking bombs ready
to explode at any given moment
of time. The said explosion could
occur in any given area where
flammable items are stored. Re-
portedly, the battery inside a cell
causes a small spark which can
ignite flammable material, thus
causing an explosion. However
there are only three instances
of this occurring, linking them
to cellular phones. But there is
always the possibility of this
happening but again, anything
could happen, right? The final
myth is actually true, but it is
See Cell Phone, Page 10
a
i
Tessa Blackwell / j-TAC
Students can be seen all over campus using their cell phones, espe-
cially in front of the library. many students.would be "lost" if they
couldn't talk cybernetically. face-to-face communication can be rare,
Flu vaccine shortage
strikes United States
By Ben Urban
Staff Writer
After inspections at Chiron's
British factory, regulators were
inclined to cancel influenza vac-
cine shipments to America. Upon
there inspectipn, officails con-
cluded that the influenza vaccine
that the company had been man-
ufacturing was possibly contami-
nated. Due to the cancellation of
shipments, America vvilj._be short
46 to 48 million doses this year.
The Chiron factory supplied
about half of America's flu vacci-
nations. Other drug manufacture,
ers have been trying to pick' up
the demand, but their efforts will
barley dent the needed
medicine.
2 Roommates Needed
ASAP To Share
3 Bedroom House With
One Female
592-1591
* It takes one year to manufac-
ture the influenza vaccine, so it
is difficult for other .companies
- ; ••".•Vi'i* " I p rr'v*'W.yA "nj
to simply pick up the demand.
Aventis Pasteur and Medlm-
• mune are the only two suppliers
of the influenza vaccine to Arrier-
,ica. Tarleton's Health Center re-
ceives its vaccine from Aventis-,
so its shipment was not affected.
Hpwever, Tarleton followed the
recommendations of the Centers
^ for Disease Control (CDC) and
only administered the vaccine to
"high-risk patients," therefore the
majority of students are not able
, to receive the vaccine at Tarleton.
Many Physicians that did re-
ceive the influenza vaccinations
that they ordered 'are following
the same guideline. Currently,
the influenza vaccine manufac-
ture by Chiron is being tested for
contamination. If the vaccine is
foifnd not to be contaminated, it
may be released to the public.
\ The "flu" is a serious illness.
In 1918 there was a flu pandemic
which killed millions of people.
Eveiy year about five to twenty
percent o4 ,the population gets the
flu. Of that percent about 200,000
ar£ hospitalized, and about 36,000
people die. The flii season usu-
• ally starts in early November and
lasts until March. This year, be-'
cause of the shortage of vaccine,
America has the potential to see
one of the worst flu seasons in
history. With .very few students >
being vaccinated, it is possible 1
that Tarleton will see a large flu
outbreak.
Some symptoms of the flu in-
clude fever, chills, muscle aches,
severe headache,, loss of appe-
tite, sore throat, cough and chest
pains. If you experience any of
these symptoms you are encour-
aged to stop by the Student Well-
ness Center or visit your physi-
cian as soon as possible. "Our
main concern is the students,"
Mrs. Janice Irons, Director of the
See Shortage, Page 10
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—JSW.W.— — -
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 168, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 21, 2004, newspaper, October 21, 2004; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142089/m1/4/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.