Cougar Cry
19
Things Everyone Should Know!
Beware of static electricity at the gas
pumps!
There’s a deadly danger that lurks at the gas
station, yet few people may be aware of it.
Since the early 1990’s, 129 fires have broken
out at the pumps, killing some people and
wounding others, according to the Petroleum
Equipment Institute.
The fires were ignited by static electricity and
most occurred after the engine was left run
ning and the person re-entered the vehicle to
keep warm or retrieve their wallet. Re
entering the vehicle can potentially create
friction against the car seat, which will build
up static electricity in the whole body. When
removing the nozzle from the gas tank,
sparks from the static electricity are capable
of causing a fire.
Make sure to
ground your
self by touch
ing a piece of
metal — like
your car door
before you
touch the pump
once it has
filled up your
gas tank. The point is to touch something be
sides the nozzle to discharge the electricity
from your body.
Despite these dangers, only the SPHINX OIL
Company, a chain of 80 gas stations in South
Carolina, is planning to put up “Touch Me”
stickers that are placed over metal near the
gasoline pumps. Most gas stations today,
however, do post warnings against using a
cell phone or smoking a cigarette while fuel
ing up.
—adapted from CNN.com
Don’t O.D. on Work!!
Here’s one for all the graduates!
Too often, workaholics devastate the family:
they treat their spouses and children as subor
dinates, they bring their laptops on vacations,
etc. In short, they can’t get away from the
daily grind. Work is the only thing that em
powers them and gives them a sense of ac
complishment in life.
If you are the spouse of a workaholic, there
are measures you can take to head off the
problem
before it
kills the
marriage.
One thing
you can’t
do is sim
ply say,
“Don’t
work.”
That’s
because
the
workaholic will have a prepared, fail-safe an
swer, namely that he or she is doing it for the
family. Before you know it the two of you
will be involved in a power struggle. Instead,
what you can do is talk to the workaholic and
focus on what needs you have and how they
are beginning to become neglected.
The truth is if you let the workaholic keep on
working and don’t address the problem early
on, the gulf between you will only widen.
Divorce could be the final outcome, accord
ing to Workaholics Anonymous in Menlo
Park, Calif., a self-help group with 32 U.S.
chapters.
—adapted from The Wall Street Journal