You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Inadvertent Hilarity<br />
By: Judy Polumbaum / Our View<br />
The brilliant software engineers who invent<br />
cell phone apps and the crafty corporations<br />
that monetize them cannot possibly anticipate<br />
what those deceptively innocuous little tools will become.<br />
I consult the app Nextdoor almost daily. You, too, may have that<br />
greenhouse icon on your phone, symbol of a network enabling<br />
households in a defined area to share everything from garage sale<br />
listings and carpentry endorsements to restaurant recommendations,<br />
physician referrals and crime alerts.<br />
The app reunites people with lost pets, keys and iPhones. It explains<br />
when a road gets blocked off – usually some horrible accident.<br />
The app illuminates what most concerns people. Traffic topics prompt<br />
lengthy exchanges. Dog defenders and detractors go on endlessly. A<br />
complaint about an HOA invites a string of additional grievances.<br />
The app opens windows on the natural world: Coyote sightings or<br />
hawks capable of carrying off small dogs. Tales of centipedes coming<br />
up the drain or scorpions haunting the yard elicit extermination advice.<br />
The educational functions are manifold: I’ve learned about the<br />
calming properties of traffic circles. And that dive-bombing magpies<br />
are merely defending their nests.<br />
The entertainment functions aren’t bad either. One recent<br />
conversation read like a rogue offshoot of Comedy Central.<br />
It started with an inquiry, accompanied by a picture of a little furball<br />
clinging to a stucco wall. Was this a bat, taking up residency by a front<br />
door? And what to do?<br />
Respondents confirmed that, yes, this was a bat, just a baby. Most<br />
advised doing nothing. “It will help keep bugs away and won’t hurt<br />
you,” wrote one. It probably wouldn’t stay long.<br />
The original writer came back with, “I don’t like it there.”<br />
“We love our bats,” someone replied. “Bats are cool and fun to watch<br />
swooping around at dusk, catching flying insects,” another offered;<br />
“just think of them as nocturnal sparrows and enjoy.”<br />
The initiator was trying, unsuccessfully, to appreciate the live-andlet-live<br />
approach. “I DON’T WANT TO. I WANT IT GONE.”<br />
Others persisted: “It is adorable!” and “How lucky you are.”<br />
“It’s not a bat,” wrote another. “It’s a blood sucking vampire! YOU<br />
NEED A STAKE… GARLIC CLOVES, SILVER, AND HOLY WATER!”<br />
And so on. Who needs cable when you have this?<br />
Judy is a professor emerita of journalism and a transplant to<br />
Las <strong>Vegas</strong> from New England via China, the West Coast and the<br />
Midwest.<br />
My tax man works magic!<br />
Does yours?<br />
NV FINANCIAL SERVICES<br />
Tax • Insurance • Retirement<br />
702/250-5999<br />
08/30/<strong>19</strong><br />
25
Change language