I Hate Cell Phones :: Personal Narrative Writing

I Hate Cell Phones Let me come right out and say it: You chronic cell phone users, I’m thoroughly sick of you. I’m sick of having to listen to your dumb conversations as I walk down the street or sit in the park or anywhere people used sit in peace. I’m sick of having to be wary of you while you chat away in a car too close to me, especially you vapid girls and young women with your attention far away from moving several tons of metal along a road. I’m sick of having to maneuver my shopping cart around you while you talk to someone at the other end about the goddamn freshness of the cantaloupe or whether to buy Cheerios or Wheaties. I’m sick of hearing your one-sided chit chat while I’m trying to enjoy a meal in a restaurant. Hey, I don’t want to hear about your romantic problems, your job woes, your vasectomies or your yeast infections. I’m sick of the various sounds of your phones’ â€Å"ringing,† all those sounds engineered just for you. I’ve lately preferred the whine of the dentist drill as I wait for my name to be called. Those of you who don’t turn off your cell phones while in a movie and then actually take the call—if you’re not a surgeon waiting to do a kidney transplant, I think you should be taken out into the street and beaten up by six bikers juiced on amphetamines. Those of you taking classes, try very hard to remember to turn off your cell phones because someday your professor is not going to be able to control himself and is going to take your chirping little device and is going to stomp it into little pieces, then throw sixty dollars at you in three 20s. Those of you who call me on cell phones, let me be frank and say I don’t like it. Unless it’s an extreme emergency or you’re in some quiet place where other people can’t hear you—because it bugs me that those people might be like me and not appreciate having to become privy to a conversation that has nothing to do with them—please wait until you get to a â€Å"land line† to call me. And those of you who call me on your cell phone, if at all possible, make sure your batteries are new or your reception is perfect or, if not, that you only call to tell me some simple, brief thing, because trying to hold a normal conversation while your voice comes and goes is pretty irritating to me.

A day in the life of a homeless person Essay

It’s very scary around here with all the drug addicts and bullies who live around here. It’s horrible I live in eternal fear of being attacked and you are never safe with all the desperate homeless people around who would kill for a sleeping bag and some small change. The smell of rubbish and stale odours of last week’s rubbish is unbearable, the only water is stale, even then that is never enough to stop the burning in your throat. Every day it’s the same thing, people walking past scowling at me, the day old food I am forced to live off, never anything good to eat always stale and insufficient. I wonder what it’s like to be able to cool your throat with an ice cold lemonade and suppress the hunger with a good meal of course it would take a good days begging to get something like that, and I’m lucky if I make a pound a day as most people just walk by and ignore me, like yesterday I saw a bunch of school children go past they didn’t even give me a look, they don’t know how lucky they are they have everything they need. I spend my days walking through the streets trying to scavenge what I can. Walking through the city I see the most amazing sights such as the large houses with their exquisitely designed architecture and big lace curtains draped across the windows, my eyes are fixed on this I dream of a place like this but I know it will never happen.

Is a Caterpillar Eating Your Trees Find out Which One

Three well-known caterpillars—tent caterpillar,  gypsy moth,  and fall webworm—are often misidentified for each other by homeowners that are having problems with swathes of defoliated trees.  Caterpillars that defoliate trees in your home landscape can be invasive and sometimes require control measures.   How to Tell the Difference Though the three caterpillars might look similar, these three species have distinct habits and characteristics that make it easy to tell them apart.   Characteristic Eastern Tent Caterpillar Gypsy Moth Fall Webworm Time of Year Early spring Mid-spring to early summer Late summer to fall Tent Formation In the crotch of branches, not usually enclosing foliage Does not create tents At the ends of branches, always enclosing foliage Feeding Habits Leaves the tent to feed several times per day Younger caterpillars feed at night near treetops, older caterpillars feed almost constantly Feed within the tent, expanding the tent as needed to enclose more foliage Food Usually cherry, apple, plum, peach, and hawthorn trees Many hardwood trees, especially oaks and aspens More than 100 hardwood trees Damage Usually aesthetic, trees can recover Can completely defoliate trees Usually aesthetic and damage occurs just before the autumn leaves fall Native Range North America Europe, Asia, North Africa North America What to Do If You Have an Infestation Homeowners have a few options to control defoliation of trees due  to caterpillars. The first option is to do nothing. Healthy deciduous trees usually survive defoliation and grow back a second set of leaves. Manual control on individual trees includes hand removal of egg masses, inhabited tents,  and pupa, and installation of sticky tree wraps on trunks to capture caterpillars as they move up and down trees. Do not leave egg masses on the ground; drop them in a container of detergent. Do not attempt to burn tents while they are on trees. This is hazardous to the health of the tree. Various insecticides for tent caterpillars and gypsy moths are available at garden centers. Insecticides are divided into two general groups: microbial/biological and chemical. Microbial and biological pesticides contain living organisms that must be consumed (eaten) by the pest. They are most effective on small, young caterpillars. As they mature, caterpillars become more resistant to microbial pesticides.  Chemical insecticides are contact poisons. These chemicals can have a potential impact on a variety of beneficial insects (such as honeybees), so they should be used wisely. Spraying trees with insecticides is an option, too.  Tent caterpillars are native and a natural part of our ecosystem and gypsy moths have naturalized in our forest communities. These caterpillars will always be around, sometimes in small, unnoticeable numbers. If dense concentrations of tent or gypsy moth caterpillars cause a decline in the trees health or threaten a garden or farm, spraying might be the best course. However, using insecticides do have some drawbacks. It is not effective against pupae or eggs and is less effective once caterpillars reach 1 inch long. Nesting birds, beneficial insects, and other animals could be endangered by the use of chemical insecticides. Good Riddance The good news about caterpillars is that their populations fluctuate and after a few years of high numbers, their populations usually drop. Populations of tent caterpillars reaching highly noticeable levels run approximately on 10-year cycles and usually last 2 to 3 years. Natural predators of caterpillars are birds, rodents, parasites, and diseases. Extremes in temperature can also reduce population numbers. Source: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Tent Caterpillars.