Tag: Facebook

Clarksville Community envisions the future at Regional Planning Events

Monday, July 11th, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. the Clarksville Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission (CMCRPC) hosted the first of three Comprehensive Plan Workshops. 

Held at William O Beach Civic Hall, the event was intended to intentionally plan development in the Clarksville region. City and county members were invited on Facebook and by website to help decide what matters to the community in planning for future development.

This topic is an important one as Clarksville grows rapidly. 

“Data shows Montgomery County is the 4th fastest growing county in Tennessee” says Erica Francis of WKRN News at https://tinyurl.com/mr9x4rpk

Other news articles frequently discuss population growth in Clarksville, TN. 

A series of events were held at different times at Kenwood High School and Old Glory Distillery, that same week. Community members were encouraged to sit together at tables and the events were fairly well attended. At the end of the meeting, each table presented a map and ideas for how the community should be planned. They were later hung on the wall and added to the CMCRPC website.

Image by Sarah Hughes. Maps made by small groups for ideas of how to plan Montgomery County, Clarksville, TN. All rights reserved.

The Facebook invitations and CMCRPC website seem to be aimed at giving the community a voice in planning growth. 

“Help shape a Vision for HOW and WHERE we grow in the City and County,” the Facebook event said. 

“Join us for one of three Comprehensive Plan Community-wide Visioning Workshops. If you care about Housing, Transportation, Open Spaces and Recreation; bring your opinions and ideas to share in small groups and draw on maps!!”

See the event on Facebook here: https://tinyurl.com/3fnz6n9f

Image by Sarah Hughes. Notes of ideas made by small groups for ideas of how to plan Montgomery County, Clarksville, TN. All rights reserved.

The plan is partially organized by the Houseal-Lavigne Consultant Team. Presenters listed the next steps as more workshops, and allowing the community to use the CMCRPC website online questionnaire to aid scenario planning.

The consultant team is working on a comprehensive plan with the CMCRPC. They consider that comprehensive plan “a roadmap or blueprint for the next two decades”.

It is a recommendation for physical development of the area,roads and infrastructure. Planning those areas will affect applications for grants and funding. It is most likely an 18th month process. The CMCRPC plans to present a draft soon.

Additional information can be found at https://www.cmcrpc.com/workshopsandpresentations/

The meeting opened by asking people to sum up one word that was their vision for Clarksville and add it to a word collage here https://pollev.com/hlplanning976  

An introductory overview of the comprehensive plan was debuted Dec. 15th, 2021. Presentation materials are available at the website and feature different visions of how a city can look. 

The next CMCRPC meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 23 at 2:00 p.m. Consider attending to share your opinion. Or visit the CMCRPC website to voice your opinion and get familiar with the plan. 

Inventorless Inventions: Blow Scroll

By Sarah Hughes

Ever been scrolling click bait for what is probably the millionth time too many, yet you don’t want to stop?

Here is a techy, wishlist solution for when your thumbs are atrophying but you’re restless mind is so addicted to the blue light that there will be no stopping til long after bedtime. Blowing to scroll may not be so far off and may stave off carpal tunnel.

With the right inventor, smart screens could become sensitive to breathe for simple scrolling. Then if your thumbs need a break from use, as Lauren Bacall said in To Have and To Have Not, “Just put your lips together and blow.”

Amazingly, there may already be some alternatives for this. Watch this video of the Wattpad App claiming to demonstrate blow-scrolling in action: https://youtu.be/G9gwwS4FgNo

Blowser, an app by Hiroyasu Hirai, is available through iTunes. The app’s description says “It is a browser that can scroll blowing breath. Not a spelling error. Since breathe is what “Blow” ser.”

Wired features an article with a dorkier looking version of the interface attached to a PC at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas 2010 – See http://www.wired.com/2010/01/blow-zyxio-interface/. It seems logical changes have been made that have updated this to the devices at our fingertips.

Yes, you probably should put the phone or tablet down to stave off carpal tunnel but instead you want to just keep scrolling the depths of Facebook, in pursuit of that article all the way at the bottom. It may be as easy as blowing on a screen, once you pick one of the multiple options.

 

Quick Facts About Screen Time and Health:

Blue Light Consequences

Whether on television, phones or computers, screens dominate many of our everyday lives.

The modern convenience may come with a sacrifice to health, such as difficulty sleeping and carpal tunnel.

Most screens emit a great deal of blue light which can disrupt the sleep cycle.

According to the National Institutes of Health, “Not only does light reset the human circadian rhythm, but the same blue light that has the strongest impact on dinoflagellates [unicellular protists or photosynthetic matter] has equal power to reset our own clocks—although most visible wavelengths can reset the clock, the blues do the job with the greatest efficiency.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831986/

Screens on computers, tablets, televisions and cellphones have a great deal of blue light, which has the shortest wavelength in the visible color spectrum of light. Blue is the color that is scattered most efficiently by molecules in the atmosphere.

The Scientific American describes tech devices as light emitters, which have “a higher concentration of blue light than natural light—and blue light affects levels of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin more than any other wavelength.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-why-is-blue-light-before-bedtime-bad-for-sleep/

Carpal Tunnel

Carpal Tunnel can cause permanent nerve damage and can eventually prevent the ability to grasp. It is a repetitive stress injury, often found in office settings.

According to https://medlineplus.gov/carpaltunnelsyndrome.html, “The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway of ligament and bones at the base of your hand. It contains nerve and tendons. Sometimes, thickening from irritated tendons or other swelling narrows the tunnel and causes the nerve to be compressed. Symptoms usually start gradually.”

Medline Plus also says, “Women are three times more likely to have carpal tunnel syndrome than men.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration summarizes good keyboarding habits as putting the keyboard directly in front of you, keeping shoulders relaxed with elbows close to the body and keeping wrists straight and in-line with the forearms.