You’ve had the experience of walking along and negotiating around someone who is walking slowly, weaving or bumping into other pedestrians for an obvious reason: He or she is talking on a cell phone, listening to an iPod or texting on a Blackberry. And you’ve had the natural, inevitable response to this annoyance: demanding a law to prevent it. … These measures reflect a reflexive urge to regulate even the smallest elements of human behavior, from the flavorings in cigarettes to the type of fats in restaurant meals to the number of bullets a magazine may hold.
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A Ban on Walking with Music?
The state senator from Brooklyn, N.Y., wants to outlaw using an electronic device while crossing a big-city street on foot. The good intentioned law is overreaching, says Steve Chapman.
Monthly Issue
April 2026
In this monthly issue, we examine how our understanding of energy — and how we source and use it — is evolving.
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