So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Hat and Rehat]

And the other reason is paranoia.

Maybe ONE other reason.

Sent from my LM-X410(FG) using Tapatalk

 

[Trenchfriend]

Not really a bad thing, just a note:

It's always recommendable, to call the plumber on his mobile phone from your home's landline phone. I mean, our brave smalltown's craftsmen are already difficult to understand on their mobiles, but if you would call them from mobile to mobile, the dialogue would be horrible.

It's always good, to have still a landline at home. Especially in the Central German Uplands.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I only ever use a landline. Never had a mobile/cell phone or smartphone though my better half has one but I don't even know how to switch the damn thing on.
The last time I called a plumber it was with the landline, (I had cut through an external copper gas pipe with a strimmer) he came early the next morning, spent nearly an hour repairing my stupidity & I payed him cash so he didn't have to declare it. Everyone was happy.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Never had anything else but a POTS Bell System copper wire legacy-type landline. When our power went out for almost a week a few years back due to a winter-type storm, my phone was the only phone on the street that worked. I now have a phone mounted on the outside wall on my porch for the neighbors to use in emergencies.

 

[GHT]

We had a nationalised telephone service, under the auspices of The General Post Office. Gradually the telephone industry grew larger and larger, so much so that a new branch of the GPO was formed: British Telecommunications. Eventually it was privatised and became BT. They didn't foresee the communication revolution and so, after forming their cellular network and calling it Cellnet, they sold it. Cellnet gained a new name, O2. BT tried to buy back O2, but failed. Instead they bought a company known as EE, for which they paid through the nose. EE network is deplorable, yet it was once the shining example of the industry. Draw your own morale from this.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Got my brandnew mixing battery.
And now, I'm much more happy, that my contract with my "Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft" (housing cooparative) from 2010 doesn't have the todays usual "small parts-clause" for repairs. I don't have to co-pay anything.

 

[Zombie_61]

...When our power went out for almost a week a few years back due to a winter-type storm, my phone was the only phone on the street that worked...

No telephones for nearly a week??? Glorious!!! Where do I sign up?

 

[EngProf]

No telephones for nearly a week??? Glorious!!! Where do I sign up?

I agree with zombie_61. No phone = good phone
On this line of thought, does anyone remember a science fiction story from the '50's-'60's in which the dystopian future is one in which almost everyone is involuntarily connected by phone to the government, their employers, etc. No free time, no privacy...
The only exception was for the rich and powerful who could by money or influence escape the constant connection.
I think it might have been an Asimov story and he missed it by a mile. These days "the masses" go into withdrawal if they are NOT connected every minute of every day (and night).

 

[LizzieMaine]

No telephones for nearly a week??? Glorious!!! Where do I sign up?

It was pretty rough -- giant ice storm the day before Halloween, power lines down, no heat, no lights, no stove. After four days it was 38 degrees in my house and I was considering evacuating. But at least the phone worked!

 

[Haversack]

George Bernard Shaw had an answer for intrusive telephone calls. He had a writing hut built at the back of his garden in England. It was 8' x 8' with a windowed door flanked by a pair of windows on one face of the building. The building itself was mounted on a pintle so Shaw could rotate the entire structure to follow the course of the sun. The building contained his writing desk, two bookshelves, and a telephone. The telephone was wired so that it could only call out.

 

[Zombie_61]

It was pretty rough -- giant ice storm the day before Halloween, power lines down, no heat, no lights, no stove. After four days it was 38 degrees in my house and I was considering evacuating. But at least the phone worked!

Oh, right, the only thing that works is the phone. Hell on Earth. At that point I might consider freezing to death as a viable option.

 

[Trenchfriend]

My trick:

Phone, when something is acute. If not, e-mail, telefax, letter or drop by.

Don't ever telephone-terror other people! (Konfuzius )

If I don't want to be disturbed, I shut my handset off.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

On this line of thought, does anyone remember a science fiction story from the '50's-'60's in which the dystopian future is one in which almost everyone is involuntarily connected by phone to the government, their employers, etc. No free time, no privacy...
The only exception was for the rich and powerful who could by money or influence escape the constant connection.
I think it might have been an Asimov story and he missed it by a mile. These days "the masses" go into withdrawal if they are NOT connected every minute of every day (and night).

"Missed it by a mile" ? He wasn't that far off. Many employers now have no compuction about contacting their employees via their phones, day or night, holidays or restdays & expect a rapid response. Smartphones can be tracked so the owner's have lost, albeit willingly, much of their privacy & of what's left, they feel compelled to disclose on social media. Boffins are also working on an implanted microchip that will allow sheeple to 'connect' & surf the net by thought alone. As humans become more roboticized, archaic notions such as privacy & liberty will be surplanted by the conditioned need to be connected 24/7 to the great wide web. To be perpetually tracable, exposed, available & immediately reactive will be normal for them. It's just as easy to condition a human as it is a dog but don't tell them that, the poor dears are under the illusion they have the freedom of choice.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

It was pretty rough -- giant ice storm the day before Halloween, power lines down, no heat, no lights, no stove. After four days it was 38 degrees in my house and I was considering evacuating. But at least the phone worked!

You could have redirected the 5 volts from the telephone line & run a generator for the whole town with it.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Good classic thing:

Waiting thirty minutes for your train home, at a secondary railroad's station. I still like it! Cheap "meditation" and watching cinema "Best of First World Problems". Supermarket, crossing passersby, parking lot, waiting yowling doggys...

 

[Haversack]

Lean'n'mean wrote: "Boffins are also working on an implanted microchip that will allow sheeple to 'connect' & surf the net by thought alone."

Foreseen back in 1967 in The President's Analyst.

 

[Hercule]

Why is it that every time I see the Dr. or have business with the medical profession, long waits and bad service is always excused because they're dealing with a "new system." Its getting to be a tiresome excuse.

Just got back from taking my wife to the doctor this morning. We arrive and they ask for ID and insurance card. My wife says that nothing has changed since she was there last week, to which the receptionist replies "we've changed, we have a new software system." I kid you not!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can't stand the whole "Sexy Halloween" trope as it is, but this is beyond the pale:

https://nypost.com/2019/09/18/sexy-mr-rogers-costume-drops-just-in-time-for-halloween-2019/

I hope the phalanx of lawyers who currently control the "Mister Rogers" brand sue these people all the way to Someplace Else.

 

[GHT]

I can't stand the whole "Sexy Halloween" trope as it is, but this is beyond the pale:

https://nypost.com/2019/09/18/sexy-mr-rogers-costume-drops-just-in-time-for-halloween-2019/

I hope the phalanx of lawyers who currently control the "Mister Rogers" brand sue these people all the way to Someplace Else.

Good grief, that looks like eye candy for paedophiles.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Drove a car, today. The first time after six months. Not bad. The Kia Venga 1.6 from my parents. Brought my parents to uncle doctor in the next bigger city and got the car in the meantime at will. This time, the todays electric servo steering didn't really disturb me.

But car driving is so unspecial to me, that it still bores me. I'm just too old, to find any youthful fun in it.