The first portable cellular phone that was commercially available on a cellular network was developed by E.F. Johnson and Millicom, Inc. and was introduced by Millicom subsidiary Comvik in Sweden in September of 1981.
The early versions of these phones had 30 minutes of talk time and took 10 hours to re-charge. Some of us had later versions of these phones, which we lovingly called “the brick.” They were launched in America in October of 1983 but didn't become mainstream for several years. I had one in 1990. It was a big deal. Really big. About the size of a loaf of bread, as I recall.
Phones have changed in three short decades and so have their usage — and who uses them. Who in the 1990s would have guessed that most every kid would have his or her own phone today? And that they would be allowed in schools?
I remember when teachers would struggle in dealing with kids who were chewing gum or passing notes. Looking up test answers, texting friends and shooting video in locker rooms was unfathomable, but, today, it’s all too real. Teachers and administrators have been struggling with how to get kids’ focus away from their phones and on their classwork. It is no easy task.
To some degree, I get it. I had a Sony Walkman strapped to me for most of my teenage years. Taking that away from me would have seemed unfair. Even so, I did not ever have it in the classroom, nor would I have ever assumed that to be acceptable. There were boundaries then, and some seem to be coming back.
Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana passed laws banning or restricting cellphone use in public schools. Locally, Hoover, East and Lincoln high schools in Des Moines have implemented cell phone bans this year. Dallas Center-Grimes banned cellphones in its high school classrooms, too. Ankeny, Waukee and Urbandale are considering restrictions as well. So are many other school districts, and the remainder are watching closely.
As with most issues for kids, it ultimately comes down to how parents handle this. If Mom or Dad are on their phones 24/7, how can we expect students to react differently, especially when the parents are often the ones messaging the kids?
Experts say excessive phone use creates mental health issues, anxiety, depression, decreased attention spans and slower cognitive development. And as much of a struggle this may be for kids in schools, the concern permeates many workplaces with adults, too.
I have a solution. Maybe all cell phones today should have to be the weight and size of the original brick phones. We will see how many people are toting them around all day then.
Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com
See Shane Goodman's previous columns here. |
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Clear Mortgage meteorology
A warming trend begins today and takes us into a more humid Wednesday. Rain chances move in to Iowa on Thursday. The upcoming weekend looks cooler.
For help with pre-approvals or refinancing, get in touch with Originating Branch Manager Carrie Hansen at carrie.mortgage. |
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| Featured in the SEPTEMBER issue of CITYVIEW | | | Watch for the September issue of CITYVIEW on newsstands this week!
Featuring
• Arts & Entertainment
• Civic Skinny
• Ask CITYVIEW
• Food Dude
• Iowa Artists
• Business Journal Feature
• Cars in the City
• and much more, including an interview with Weary Ramblers, pictured. |
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| CITYVIEW's 2024 Best Of Des Moines® | | | 2024 results
Best Local Place to Have a Kid’s Birthday Party
1. Let’s Slumber It
2. Des Moines Children’s Museum
3. Animal Rescue League of Iowa
Read all the 2024 results.
Cast your votes in the 2025 Best Of Des Moines Poll now! Open until Nov. 22. Results to be published in the February 2025 issue of CITYVIEW.
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Tuesday touts
• Iowa Latino Restaurant Week promises two for $25 lunches and two for $50 dinners at 23 participating Latino-owned restaurants. Pick up the new CITYVIEW on stands this week for all the details.
• Snack and Go (15700 Hickman Road, Clive) is where pennywort juice, durian smoothies and coconut milk flan star on the menu. They make some difficult foods accessible to Iowa taste buds. Their buttermilk waffles and rice flour cakes (with exquisite pickled vegetables) are more acquired tastes but definitely worth trying. This new place is an adventure.
• Des Moines Metro Opera has been selected as a finalist in the Festival of the Year category for the 2024 International Opera Awards to be held in Munich on Oct. 2. They are the only American company finalist. Baritone Justin Austin (Thomas Eugene McKeller, “American Apollo”) and tenor Duke Kim (Count Almaviva, “The Barber of Seville”) are finalists in the Rising Star category.
Deals today
• CABCO (309 Court Ave., Des Moines) has steak night on Tuesdays.
• Irina's Steak and Seafood (650 S. Prairie View Drive, West Des Moines) offers a 1.25 pound live lobster dinner with Iowa sweet corn for $25 today and tomorrow only.
• Chelsie’s Courtyard (400 MLK, Des Moines) has a $6 tenderloin basket with fries from 4-9 p.m. on Tuesdays.
• Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave., Des Moines) offers $7 burgers including a side on Tuesdays.
• Sprockets (2314 University Ave., Des Moines) has a $9.99 tenderloin and tequila sunrise deal on Tuesdays.
• Tuesday brings $5.95 gyros to Opa! (2800 University Ave., West Des Moines).
• Kids meals are half price all day Tuesday at Machine Shed (11151 Hickman Road, Urbandale).
• Tuesday means $12 hot beef sandwiches at Paula's (524 Elm St., Valley Junction).
• All day happy hour prices, such as half-price oysters, are in effect Tuesdays at Django (1420 Locust St., Des Moines).
• Kelly’s Little Nipper (1701 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines) offers really good tenderloins with a side and drink for $11.50 on Tuesdays.
• Taco Tuesday brings serious discounts to Mariscos El Pirata (6050 S.E. 14th St., Des Moines), La Familia (1610 Sixth Ave., Des Moines), all Taco John's, The Dam Pub (2710 Beaver Ave., Des Moines), all Abelardo's, all Fernando’s, Malo (900 Mulberry St., Des Moines), Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave., Des Moines), Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines) and Faustino’s (4944 Franklin Ave., Des Moines). The excellent Beaverdale Farmers Market is across the street from Faustino's on Tuesday.
• Eastside Eddie's (3517 E. 26th St., Des Moines) offers a personal-size pizza with a salad for $10 Tuesdays.
— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com
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| Featured home for sale | | |
$420,000 5900 Walnut Hill Drive, Des Moines, IA 50312
Offering you a quaint, dream home that you have probably admired as you have driven past it in the Waterbury neighborhood. This 4-bedroom, 2-bath home with traditional Tudor-like style, built among the trees, has several landscaped areas that this large lot allows. Circle drive with a 2 -car detached garage.
See the listing here.
| | | See More Homes For Sale |
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| SOLD: Featured commercial real estate transaction | | | 2525 E. EUCLID AVE., DES MOINES
SALE DATE: 2024-06-06
SALE PRICE: $3,037,000
SELLER: INDIANOLA SURGICAL INVESTORS LLC
BUYER: FCPT HOLDINGS LLC
ACRES: 1.246
SQUARE FEET: 7,687 |
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| Grimes/Dallas Center Living magazine | | | Meet Michelle Mickle
DCG grad teaches the next generation.
By Ashley Rullestad
Michelle Mickle is a proud graduate of the Dallas Center Grimes school district. After graduating from DCG, she attended Central College in Pella. She landed her first teaching job in 2011 and has been with DCG ever since, completing her13th year of teaching last school year. She has spent 10 years teaching first grade and three teaching kindergarten. She currently teaches at North Ridge Elementary.
“The opportunity came about three years ago for me to switch from teaching first grade. I love both grades and truly enjoy early childhood education,” she says.
Mickle has not regretted her decision to stay at DCG. Though the growth in the community is huge, it’s still supportive. She remembers when Grimes only had one elementary school — the one she attended. Now there are four.
[...] | | | READ MORE |
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FROM KCCI: Des Moines police arrest two in connection to drive-by shooting. DES MOINES, Iowa — Des Moines police have arrested two people in connection to a drive-by shooting that happened early Monday morning. Officers were called to a home in the 1500 block of Stewart Street in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park neighborhood just after 2:30 a.m. Monday. ...READ MORE
FROM WHO-TV: DM Police make arrest in weekend south side fatal shooting investigation. DES MOINES, IOWA — A 19-year-old man has been arrested and charged with First Degree Murder after a fatal shooting over the weekend on the south side of Des Moines. The shooting happened Sunday afternoon in the 3400 block of South Union Street. ... READ MORE
FROM WOI-DT Local 5: UNI senior wins gold in Paralympic swimming. PARIS, France — UNI senior Olivia Chambers just made history at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. Two years after making her first appearance on the para swimming circuit, Chambers won a gold medal in the women's S13 400-meter freestyle in Paris, according to a release from UNI's athletics department. ....READ MORE |
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ESPN: 49ers put Ricky Pearsall on NFI list after WR shot in chest. ...READ MORE
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: LSU’s Brian Kelly Ripped for Throwing Tantrum After Loss to USC. ... READ MORE
CBS Sports: Joey Chestnut devours 83 hot dogs to beat Takeru Kobayashi in head-to-head eating contest. ...READ MORE |
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1783: Treaty of Paris signed. The American Revolution officially comes to an end when representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France sign the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The signing signified America’s status as a free nation, as Britain formally recognized the independence of its 13 former American colonies, and the boundaries of the new republic were agreed upon: Florida north to the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast west to the Mississippi River. ... READ MORE
1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany. On September 3, 1939, in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany. ... READ MORE
2004: Russian school siege ends in bloodbath. A three-day hostage crisis at a Russian school comes to a violent conclusion after a gun battle erupts between the hostage-takers and Russian security forces. In the end, over 300 people died, many of them children, while hundreds more were injured. ... READ MORE
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| Birthdays and notables | | | These celebrities were born on this date: Jack Dylan Grazer, August Alsina, Adam Jones, Charlie Sheen, Christian Anthony, Gareth Southgate, Shaun White, Eileen Gu, Garrett Hedlund
SUBMIT: Send your birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to: tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com |
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The answer to yesterday's riddle:
Why did the goat run off the cliff? IT DIDN'T SEE THE EWE TURN! OR, IT COULDN'T TAKE ANY MORE POLITICAL ADS! - Rex Post. OR, HE WAS HAVING A BAAAAAAD DAY! Kris Hoover.
Today's riddle:
How do you make a small fortune on gambling?
Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com |
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To advertise in the Daily Umbrella or the Waukee, Norwalk or West Des Moines/Jordan Creek Living magazines, contact:
Martha Munro
Account Executive
Office: 515-953-4822 ext. 314
Mobile: 515-321-5246
martha@iowalivingmagazines.com
©Big Green Umbrella Media, Inc., all rights reserved.
www.biggreenumbrellamedia.com. Add webmaster@dmcityview.com to your address book to ensure delivery. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Click here to get it delivered to your inbox for FREE! |
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