Take a look at the latest edition of The Shuttlesworth Sentinel!
THE SHUTTLESWORTH SENTINEL
201 Vulcan Road, Suite 210 Birmingham, AL 35209 (205) 322-1411 ShuttlesworthLasseter.com
Personal Injury Product Liability Wrongful Death
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09 .2021
What I’ve Learned From Being an Empty Nester THEY STILL NEED YOU, EVEN WHEN THEY’RE GONE
I have two daughters, Tate and Maggie, who are both in college right now. Tate started college three years ago, and Maggie started two years ago. So, for the past two years, I’ve been an “empty nester” — a parent whose kids have all grown up and left home. And I won’t lie to you, it’s a stage of life that I have really struggled with. If you’re a parent, you know that when you have a kid, your life changes immediately. You go from having two people in your family to three just like that. Then, 15 months later, three becomes four — at least, that’s how it happened for me. Suddenly all my cares about work, travel, and high-risk sports were significantly diminished. Giving my daughters a good life and a good education became my primary focus in life. Though they forced me to change every aspect of my life, I loved every minute of having my daughters around. When they were really little, I would take them out hiking in the double jogging stroller, or the baby backpack, and I would have endless fun as they pointed to flowers or birds with wonder in their eyes. I developed my entire routine around their day, from the moment I made them breakfast in the morning to when I put them to bed at night. All the while, I did my best to prepare them for the world beyond our home. The only thing was that while I was preparing them to be ready to leave, I forgot to prepare myself for the exact same thing. It just sneaks up on you, you know? Many of Tate’s major life events coincided with the years the World Cup would happen, and as we would watch it together every four years, she would say, “Dad, during the next World Cup, I’ll be in high school,” and then “Dad, during the next World
Cup, I’ll be starting college.” And then she was gone, followed quickly by
Maggie. It just happened so quickly, and I guess I thought I had more time to prepare myself.
Even though the first year with both of them gone was super hard, I’m glad to say that things have gotten better. Both of my daughters may be gone, but I still have three dogs to keep me
company, and plenty of hobbies and pastimes, like hiking, sailing, and yoga to keep me busy outside of work. What’s helped me more than anything else, however, is the realization that even though my daughters don’t live at home anymore, I’m still their dad. The other day, someone I know who has young children was openly musing about “when the kids were gone,” as if when they left the house, their time as parents would be done. That’s not what happens at all, though. Your children will always be your children, and they’ll still need you even when they’re all grown up. They might not need me to make them breakfast anymore, but my daughters still call me to ask for advice, or to do something for them, and I’m always happy to help them. They may not live in my house anymore, but they still need me. So, if you’re a parent and you’re worrying about
becoming empty nesters, just know that although it will be hard at first, your kids leaving home will not mean the end of your relationship with them.
“The only thing was that while I was preparing them to be ready to leave, I forgot to prepare myself for the exact same thing.”
–Perry Shuttlesworth
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The Night That Changed Football Forever
Every year, 40 million Americans (and even entire offices) play fantasy football, “drafting” players from across the NFL for their virtual teams and competing for money and bragging rights. Maybe you have a virtual team in the locker room as you’re reading this! But where did the concept of fantasy football start? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the gridiron trend began in a New York City hotel room in 1962 — a night that changed football forever. There, a group of friends led by Oakland Raiders part-owner Bill Winkenbach created the first fantasy football league. They dubbed it the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League — or GOPPPL for short. Apart from the point values assigned to different accomplishments on the field, their original model wasn’t very far off from the fantasy football of today. “The league members would ‘draft’ actual National Football League (NFL) and American Football League … players to their fantasy franchises, and on the basis of the actual performance of those players in games, the members would accrue points and compete against each other,” the encyclopedia reports. Early fantasy football leagues were complicated undertakings. In the days before the internet, members had to agree to reference the box scores in a particular newspaper’s sports pages and “draft” their teams in the same room on long phone calls, or even via snail mail. CBS Sports began offering online fantasy football leagues in 1997, and today it’s even easier to play. The sport is built right into the NFL website (Fantasy.NFL.com), and you can join a free league or start a league of your own with a click! Whether you’re a former player or a HOW FANTASY FOOTBALL GOT ITS START
One of the unsettling realities that no one really warns you about when you file a personal injury lawsuit is that it may cause the insurance company to put you under surveillance. You read that correctly: The insurance company responsible for compensating you if you win the case will spy on you. Why would they do that? Well, to see if they can gather evidence to negate your claims of the severity of your injuries. They may take photos or videos of you on your property, and they’ll certainly monitor your social media page, all for the purpose of presenting “evidence” to the court that could lower the amount of money they have to pay you. Will Insurance Companies Spy on You? Yes! DON’T LET THEM PAY YOU LESS THAN YOU’RE OWED
Now that you know about this possibility, however, you can follow a few rules of thumb to ensure the insurance company pays you what you’re owed.
Don’t push yourself to be more active. Even if you’re feeling good one day, and you think you might go for a walk, rake some leaves or mow your lawn, think again. For starters, “feeling good” doesn’t always mean you’re actually healthy enough to engage in those activities. You should always follow your doctor’s advice for when you can do certain activities again. Secondly, if spies from the insurance agent see you doing tasks that make you seem like you’re healthier than you are, they’ll present these misleading photos and videos to the court, which could substantially lower your compensation. Stay off of social media. Your social media profiles are a gold mine of information for insurance companies looking to find evidence to combat your claim. After all, many people post their entire lives on their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter profiles! So, while you might think that posting certain photos would be harmless, insurance companies could rip it wildly out of context for evidence to back up their claims. So, it’s probably better to not post anything at all. Insurance companies and major corporations may have armies of spies and lawyers, but if you have a good attorney in your corner, you can still come out on top. If you want to make sure you’re fairly compensated, call Shuttlesworth Law Firm at (205) 322-1411 to hear how we can help.
superfan who wants to play coach for a day, fantasy is a great way to stake a personal claim in the sport and connect with friends while you do it.
Check out the article “How to Play Fantasy Football: A Beginner’s Guide” on NFL. com to learn the basics. It’s
updated annually, so make sure you hunt down the 2021 version! When you start, don’t forget to salute Winkenbach, the official “Father of Fantasy Sports.”
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Every year, people lose lives and livelihoods to vehicle collisions caused by impaired driving. But recently, one study showed how rideshare services may actually help reduce rates of impaired driving and fatal vehicle collisions. Earlier this year a research team at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) published a study that showed a strong correlation between the rise in popularity of rideshare services in the Houston area and the decrease in incidents of “motor vehicle-related trauma” (aka car accidents). The study found that for every 1,000 times someone used a rideshare app, those incidents dropped by a third. At the same time, the study also found that incidents of impaired driving dropped after 2014 (when Uber first started operating in the Houston area), from an average of 22.5 daily convictions to 19 daily convictions. Could Ridesharing Help Prevent Drunk Driving? ONE STUDY SEEMS TO INDICATE SO
incidence of impaired driving and motor vehicle collisions because they provided young people with an alternative to driving under the influence.
Some of the other findings from the study seem to support Dr. Connor’s conclusion. For example, the drivers under the age of 30 (who are more likely to drive drunk than other age groups) saw the biggest decrease in motor vehicle-related trauma, with the incidence rate going down almost 39%. At the same time, on Friday and Saturday nights between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., when motor vehicle collisions are most likely to happen (and when people are most likely to be out drinking), incidence rates dropped 24%. While this study is certainly intriguing and paints a hopeful picture for how ridesharing might decrease drunk driving accidents, it will probably only solve the problem part way. We can all be a part of the solution when we make smart decisions about when we are and aren’t okay to drive. If you ever find yourself in an accident involving drunk driving, call Shuttlesworth Law Firm at (205) 322-1411 for any help you need moving forward.
According to Dr. Christopher Connor, who was the lead author for the study, the biggest takeaway from their findings was that ridesharing decreased
FACTOID STRANGE
When Skyscrapers Sailed the Open Seas
Sept. 3 is Skyscraper Day. Go ahead and look it up; it’s real! It’s a day to admire the world’s tallest buildings for the feats of engineering that they are. But did you know that the word “skyscraper” existed long before the buildings themselves did? Before builders learned how to use steel to build cities up instead of out, the word skyscraper was used to describe a number of objects, all of which, admittedly, were rather tall. Skyscraper was originally a nautical term for the small triangular sail set above the skysail. So, the first skyscrapers may have actually been on the high seas, rather than in urban centers! Other things referred to as skyscrapers before solely being a term for buildings included a very tall man, a high standing horse, a rider on an old- timey high cycle, and a tall hat or bonnet.
TAKE A BREAK
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201 Vulcan Road, Suite 210 Birmingham, AL 35209 (205) 322-1411 ShuttlesworthLasseter.com
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THIS ISSUE INSIDE
1
What I’ve Learned From Being an Empty Nester
2
The Night That Changed Football Forever
2
Will Insurance Companies Spy on You? Yes!
3
Could Ridesharing Help Prevent Drunk Driving?
3
This Month’s Strange Factoid
4
The Battery Barrier
The Battery Barrier
Every year, newer and newer pieces of technology come to rely on electric motors for locomotion and power. From cars to bicycles to power tools, a lot of companies have invested in the electric battery revolution as we see it — and yet, we haven’t arrived at that future just yet. With no fuel to haul or burn, an electric car could have a thousand-mile range. Failing that, they could have a 10-minute top off — recharging the battery in the same time it takes to fill a big tank of gas. And yet, we’re not there yet. What gives? It turns out that efficiency isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be and sometimes comes at the cost of battery power. How do we fix this? A few bold companies are trying. In an era where we should only be limited by the human imagination, we find ourselves up against a familiar barrier: our technology. Battery life just isn’t “there” yet — we’re lucky to get a few hours out of an electric car running full-bore, and the same is true for bikes, scooters, skateboards, power tools, and anything else that uses a brushless motor to do work. That’s what makes NanoGraf’s work in energy cell density so exciting, with a 28% lifetime improvement over traditional batteries.
Batteries have come a long way since the advent of the Energizer Bunny. For that, we can thank Elon Musk’s company, Tesla, which has long realized that its weakest link is the batteries themselves. Tesla has consistently driven innovation in this area and has found that its research has applications in other fields besides gas-free vehicles. Recent Tesla innovations include “tabless” battery cells that supposedly increase battery capacity five-fold. If true, it would be the largest jump in battery technology in years. Musk, however, doesn’t seem too willing to share, which makes sense from a business standpoint. But from a futuristic perspective, there are few good reasons to start thinking about batteries long before you consider bringing a design to fruition; these are the real limitations on a product, and they can only be overcome in so many ways. Until we see Tesla and NanoGraf’s technology on the open market, we don’t know if it can meet the needs of tomorrow’s consumers — regardless of the hype being generated today!
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