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In this article we’re going to discuss what is arguably the greatest invention since the first telephone was made over 100 years ago, the cell phone.

The telephone was certainly a great invention. No question about it. We could make calls to our friends to invite them over for dinner, our boss to tell him we’d be out sick and our spouses to tell them we’d be home late for dinner. But once we were out of reach of a phone, our communication with the outside world came to a complete stop. If we had to make an emergency call while out on the road we had to either find a pay phone or some business kind enough to let us use theirs, which wasn’t likely.

Today, that has all changed with the invention of the cell phone. Actually, the concept of the cell phone began in 1947 when researchers looked at crude mobile car phones and realized that if they used small cells they could increase the traffic range of mobile phones. Unfortunately, the technology needed to do this did not exist yet.

It wasn’t until 1973 when a man by the name of Dr. Martin Cooper, a former GM for Motorola, made the first call on a portable cell phone in April of that year. He made the call to a rival of his, Joel Engel, who was Bell Labs head of research. Ironically, though, it was Motorola that were first to incorporate to the technology into a portable device, the first one to be designed to be used outside of the car.

In 1977 AT&T and Bell Labs constructed their first cellular system. A year later were the first public trials of this new system with over 2000 trial customers. Two years later, in 1979, the first cellular system was put into use in Tokyo.

It wasn’t until 1982 that the FCC finally authorized commercial use of cell phones in the United States. One year later the first cellular phone service was established in the United States called the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS). It was made available in Chicago by a company called Ameritech.

In spite of the incredible demand for cell phones, it took cell phone service 37 years to become available in the United States. But by the year 1987 there were over one million cell phone subscribers and the airwaves were already overcrowded. Because of this, improvements needed to be made, which included increasing frequencies allocation, splitting of existing cells and improving the technology.

Today, we have probably the most sophisticated cell system that anyone could ever want, including cell phones that even take photos. But this hasn’t come without many prices to the consumer and the general public around them.

Aside from the high cost of cell service, especially if you go over the minutes allocated to you, there are the increased hazards and annoyances that these phones cause to others, such as going off in the middle of the big finale at a Broadway play or the danger of people using these phones in places like hospitals where the operation of sophisticated equipment can be affected.

Yes, we have our cell phones and all the wonders and headaches that go with them. Like they say, you don’t get nothing for nothing.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Telephones
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My son’s birthday is coming up in a month or so. If you have a kid, there is a propensity to fondly recall the whole birthing experience as the special day draws near each year. When they hit milestonesmy son is turning twenty onethe thoughts are even more profound. I suppose at this point I could go on and on about his birth; the stirrup being shot across the room; my mistaking it for my son; the three nurses wrestling mom’s flailing leg back into its place as if they were grappling a crocodile into a sack; my son peeing like a loose garden hose over the delivery room doctor and staff. There’s more but hey, we all have our self-important stories that do little more than engross those involved and bore all others to tears.

However, in my case, it is not the birth I remember most. It might be the fondest memory but not the ‘mostest’. What I recollect the most is that I was fortunate enough to even be alive to take an active part in the whole birth ordeal. You see, there was ample reason for me to be dead. No, not from some kind of life threatening disease or terrible car accident. I was lucky to be alive because I wasn’t murdered a few weeks before the blessed day.

Have you ever said something kind of nasty about someone behind his or her back only to discover he or she is standing right behind your back? You know that feeling? How you kind of want to crawl away after that initial knot of dread subsides from the pit of your stomach. Well, I committed such an indiscretion except only a hundred times worse. I did something so wrong that my heart still palpitates like a Buddy Rich drum solo every time I replay a second of it in my head. As a matter of fact, it’s happening right now as I type.

The atrocity occurred about four weeks before the delivery, which was several weeks earlier than expected. So let’s set the clock at seven and half months pregnant. It was a pleasantly warm early April afternoon. Birds were chirping. Flowers were springing. Children were giggling as they skipped to and fro. All was as nicey nice as could be. With joy in the air and anticipation bursting, we decided to go to the mall to do a little diversionary shopping. Eventually, we meandered our way to the earrings glass case at Bloomingdales.

It all happened quite unexpectedly and quite quickly.

I was distracted a moment while she engaged the salesperson in a conversation about a particular set of gold hoop earrings under the case. I remember picking up on an ominous silence to the recognizable cadence of their background conversation; similar to elevator music suddenly stopping. When I turned my attention back to her, she was bent over the jewelry case, her head to the side pressed against the glass, eyes dull, glasses crooked. She formed a perfect L if you discount the bulging baby. Her breath gently pulsed a silhouette of life against the cool glass. The salesperson was crouching down to make contact with her.

At that instant, the stars and planets of male intellect were all lined up. It was time for me to execute the perfect ‘jackass of the century’ maneuver.

I looked down at her. Assured by her visible breath she was alive, I performed a reflex visual sweep of the growing number of onlookers. Having confirmed she was drawing attention, I returned my concentration back to her. With an indignant tone in my voice, bordering on a Rodney Dangerfield punch-line delivery, I callously spoke a bunch of words that would forever be regretted.

“Honey? What are ya doin’?” Pregnant pause, so to speak. “You’re embarrassing me.”

Oh yeah! You heard it right. That’s what I said.

Take a second or two to mull it over. Chew on the entire morsel for a bit. Taste the sour residue it leaves on the tongue.

As my words dissipated over the gaping mouths and popping eyes of those nearby, the salesperson looked at me as if I had just spit on her counter. In a way, I had done far worse.

I looked at the salesperson incredulously, “What?”

It snapped her out of it.

“Ma’am you need a chair?”

She yelled across the counter top to a salesperson on the floor. “Sylvia! Get this woman a chair! NOW!”

“Would you like a glass of water?” she asked the fading pregnant stranger spread across her counter.

To my credit, it had only been seconds since I uttered the sentence heard round the mall and I already knew I had done something really wrong; something severely punishable in most civilized circles. I reached over to put my arm around her and comfort her while Sylvia pushed a chair against her legs, being sure not to touch me in the process for fear of feeling Satan’s reach.

Pale and faint, she incoherently mumbled, “doh … na … ta … meh … yeh … basser”.

“What honey? Here sit down. That’s better. What are you trying to tell me dear?”

“DON’T TOUCH ME YOU BASTARD!!!”

I recoiled back and looked at the salesperson in disbelief.

“And don’t touch me either! In fact, I recommend that you just shut your big mouth up now before you kill this poor woman,” she abruptly added, her eyes dilated in disbelief.

I decided it would be wise to heed her advice.

After receiving a rather robust and ribald tongue lashing all the way home in the car that continued up the stairs and into our second floor apartment, I was immediately sentenced to nine days of the silent treatmentreal silent I might add, she was a professional. It deserved me right! Needless to say, I remained on best behavior for about twenty three months. By then her pain was pretty much over with, except for some residual humiliation I endured after public appearances I made during my confession tour; an idea I actually came up with as a way to channel the negative vibes into positive energyor something like that.

The occasional public shame though was small potatoes compared to what could have transpired. The reality is if she had a gun on her person at the time, I’d be history. If the salesperson had a gun, I’d be history. If anyone had a gun within a square mile, I’d be history. But my life was spared so that I might live to talk about it with you today.

So there you have it. An amazing story huh?

That is what I think about every time my son’s birthday arrives; a haunting memory of a moment’s indulgence in self absorption so inappropriate and so vile, it makes me wonder if I can ever fully rejoin the human race.

In closing …

I’ve been sorry about a boat load of things in my life but never more fully or sincerely as I was after that episode of unexplainable senselessness. It was all my own doing too. Couldn’t blame it on a bad day at work. Couldn’t blame it on the media. Couldn’t blame it on the weather. Couldn’t even blame it on my mom wooden spooning my sorry childhood ass. It’s one hundred percent owned by me.

And I’m just as sorry today as I was twenty one years ago! The truth is my remorse is greater, almost universal. In fact, I want to apologize to all women of all living species who were pregnant, are pregnant, trying to become pregnant, thinking about becoming pregnant, or just learning to spell ‘pregnant’. I am very sorry for the monumental insensitivity I exhibited that day at the expense of one of your sisters.

As for you men out there who plan to play a supportive role in the whole pregnancy thing some day.

Listen up!

Learn from my folly. Teach others so they may not walk in my steps. Let’s end male stupidity together.

This article was written by humorist Robert Crane. He has plenty more stories about his addiction to stupidity. Please visit his popular website for more the same;

http://www.cranelegs.com

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Mobile phones have come along way. They are no longer just for making phone calls. People now use them to send text messages and surf the internet.

Everyday more features are being built in to the new models so that you carry fewer and fewer gadgets with you as you go about your day. They are now used as personal data assistants (PDA), digital cameras, for playing music - whether as a radio or as an mp3 player. The latest favorite is video on your mobile.

Mobile phones that are capable of showing videos have been out in the market since 2004. Mainly people have been watching videos sent to their unit by family or friends who used their own handsets to shoot the video. This has been a major improvement but not everyone shoots great videos so these shows truly are for a limited audience.

Thanks to the addition of expandable memories for the phones and some great software from really helpful creators, it is now possible to watch movies on your phone. The main requirement is that your phone is capable of playing videos. The next requirement is that you have the necessary memory space, the smallest being a 128 MB flash memory card. After that the next step is to just convert your personally owned movies to the format that your phone can read and storing it into the card. With that done, you’re all set to go on a long road trip. You can carry your favorite movies with you without having to log along any additional equipment. You just need to have enough memory cards and battery charge.

Now that movie viewing is possible, people are wondering if television shows will come to mobile as well. It would be really convenient so that people don’t miss their favorite shows. Getting news in real time with a live reporter is a more fun experience than just reading the news.

Some countries, like Japan and the United States of America, already provide this service. Though it isn’t really like watching regular television, more like watching short video clips. This is great for people who are following a particular show and don’t want to miss it but can’t access a TV from where they are. You can already get video clips and previews from MTV, ESPN, and Disney just to name a few.

Among the current difficulties of video watching on mobile phones is the display quality. With the screen so small, a lot of detail gets lost such as bon fire scenes or where the ball is in a baseball game or tennis match. It won’t be a surprise if soon there will be TV and movie shows that are made especially for mobile.

Currently, most mobile TV or videos are sent out over the internet. This basically means you need to download a clip which is usually in streaming format, and then play it. It unfortunately means that sometimes you do get choppy shows, just as you do on your personal computer (pc). In some countries though like South Korea, they go by Satellite while in Japan, they now have special handsets capable of receiving regular TV signals. Most though, rely on the 3G system at this time so you’d need to check if your phone, as well as you service provider does have the feature and additional service.

While Video on mobile isn’t perfect yet, it can sure be entertaining. If you have an interest in videos, why not try to create your own shows? You never know; if the organizations behind the emmy pushes through with the new category, and you have great skill, you may just bring home an award.

Ringtones.lt is a site specialising in the different genres of ringtones, mobile videos and Nokia wallpapers.

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One morning this week, I woke up with a black eye. How I got it still baffles me. I have my suspicions, of course, but some things are better left to themselves no matter how lonely they may get.

In getting older, I have realized certain things are changing in my body. For example, I now find myself walking in my sleep. This is a new experience for me and I’m not sure what it means or what I should do about it.

On the positive side, walking in my sleep is about the only exercise I really get these days, so I should not complain too much. It is nice to know at my age some things are still working even if it is when I am unconscious. My problem has escalated to the point where I have begun wearing sneakers to bed. Of course, I don’t wear anything else and when I find myself three blocks down the street, my sneakers had better be PDF (pretty dashing fast).

Walking in my sleep is not that bad, except for my mysterious black eye.

Not only am I walking in my sleep, but also my wife has accused me of talking in my sleep. Actually, in my own defense, talking in my sleep is the only time I get a word in edgewise. I guess in the middle of the night I’m trying to make up for this lack during the day.

Lately, I have talked so much in my sleep I wake up a little horse, which just may explain why I have been eating like one lately.

Unfortunately, my talking during the night has kept my wife awake so much; she recently requested I start preaching in my sleep so she can get to sleep.

I used to have trouble falling asleep at night. I tried counting sheep but their bleating kept me awake. When I lay there wide-awake, I began worrying about those sheep. Did someone feed them? And, am I going to have to shear all those sheep myself?

Each night I try to get in 40 winks but by the time I reach number 33 I lose count and have to start all over again. The older I get the more my sleep resembles a salad - well tossed.

Actually, noises in the night upset me the most. Sleep has a way of bringing out the noise in our house, from a dripping faucet down the hall to a creaking window shutter in the living room. It’s amazing how intelligent these noises in the night can be. They are quiet until I’m just about ready to drift off into la-la-land.

For example, as far as we know we have no mice in our house. We have never seen any evidence of such critters in our blessed domicile. Yet, in the middle of the night I hear these little critters gnawing the wall right by my head. How they know where I sleep and when I go to sleep is one of the mysteries of these diminutive night stalkers.

Through the years, I have tried many things to help me get to sleep at night. For some reason I have no trouble going to sleep during the daytime particularly in the afternoon. I call these “power naps,” the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has another name for them, which I cannot repeat here for obvious reasons, my health being the primary one.

I’ve tried everything to help me fall asleep at night. Once I placed my shoes and socks right next to my bed before I go to sleep. Although it had its intended effect upon me, it also had an adverse effect upon the other occupant of my bed.

No matter when I go to bed nor how long I have slept, I always need just one minute more of sleep. Why is it I can hear the drip of a faucet down the hall but I can’t hear the clanging alarm clock at my head? Eventually, when I do full asleep the crack of dawn awakens me.

My wife, trying to assist me in my nocturnal dilemma, suggested I try some hot cocoa right before going to sleep. For the most part, it does work. My only difficulty with hot cocoa is if I don’t drink it quickly enough I begin nodding halfway through and spill it on my chest. I can assure you it’s a real eye opener.

I am reminded of a verse of scripture that addresses this subject. David, the Psalmist observes, “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep” (Psalms 127:2 KJV).

And then, who could overlook Psalms 121:3-4 (KJV), “He [God] will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”

Now, back to my black eye. I really have no recollection of how this happened. My wife has tried explaining it to me by pointing out, most correctly, that lately I have been walking in my sleep. No argument from me. Then she explained while I was walking in my sleep the other night I walked into the bathroom door causing the black eye.

I’m not in any position to question her, but I noticed she was rubbing her right fist most tenderly.

James L. Snyder is an award winning author and popular columnist living with his wife, Martha, in Ocala, Florida and can be contacted at jamessnyder2@att.net.

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I had recently sold my old motorcycle to a close friend of mine. On the weekend I had the sudden urge to go riding so I asked my mate if I could borrow my old bike. My mate said it was all right to take the bike so I took it for a ride.
I met up with another friend of mine who was also a motorcycle rider and we were discussing how much I missed going on rides with them and how much I missed riding in general. The discussion continued a little longer until he suddenly mentioned that a friend of ours was considering selling his old Honda CBR600Fi for $4500. I was really excited because I knew how reliable this guy was, and for $4500, it was most definitely worth it.
I needed a quick flow of cash soon so I could whip up this bargain and realize Search Engine Optimisation Melbourne was my salvation. Search engine optimization would help me generate more sales over the Internet by driving more traffic to my website. Therefore increasing the number of Internet sales I would get and ultimately increase my profit. I could then use this profit to get the bike and be back on the road once more.

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Machine-accessible sports gambling world wide websites are currently regulated with the help of 3 agencies. These are the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association FTGA. sports bet usa com

The Offshore Gaming Association are an unbiased watchdog institution which oversees the offshore sports gaming industry, they intend to also give gamblers the ability to select trust-worthy websites to play games with. It tries to assure the rights of betters, and in addition they do not demand any society dues. The association are a well qualified and unbiased third party agency who manifest impartial judgments, built on your evaluations, nonpartisan scrutiny, telephone calls, insider advice and additionally offers inside intelligence.

The Interactive Gaming Council is a non-profit-making administration. The organisation was set up to allow a platform for involved participants to discuss matters and in addition to advance communal worries in the international online gambling business, to ensure unbiased and also sound business codes and practices which endeavor to heighten end user trust in web based betting products and utilities, and also to be of service as the overseas gambling industry’s inclusive strategy counselor and the Interactive Gaming Council also works as an info base of operations.

The IGC have developed a distinction for honesty, candor also sincerity because of the integrity standards it demands, and also its allure for commercial enterprises of exemplary conduct. The Interactive Gaming Council monitors offshore gaming by championing a distinctive 10 step general policy code furthermore charges sports gaming web sites fees for displaying the council’s logo. Dispirited gamers may, if they desire, report any of their disputes to the Interactive Gaming Council.

The FTGA was formed in order to present a benchmark to improve the policies of on-line gaming trading operations. The agency proposerealize that by partnering with internet sites of good standing, they are able to establish an affiliation of the most trustworthy and professional internet gaming companies multinationally. So, in concise terms there are agencies who supervise the procedures of machine-accessible sports gambling and which should in time work to mitigate a few of the uneasiness experienced by gamblers. Computer accessible gaming web sites are consistently safe, beacuse private details shouldn’t be a necessity also the payments and the odds are equivalent to your usual Vegas-type sports wager. These web sites eliminate travel time, but preserve of a conventional casino, however nowadays you are enabled to gamble in your own home.

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At a former job of mine there used to be this one older, kind of sour, guy who would sit out all of the office Christmas parties because: ‘The Bible says there were shepherds out in the field watching their sheep when Jesus was born, which means that he couldn’t have been born in December, so it’s wrong to celebrate his birthday now’. Well, duh. Okay. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a few cookies and chug some egg nog anyways and just pretend that Jesus was born December twenty fifth, just like the rest of us are doing.

This guy, by the way, was a member of one of the more extreme Christian evangelical faiths - I forget which one - and it was discovered that he was misbehaving scandalously. As you probably could have predicted. For some reason you never hear about this sort of stuff with secular humanists. Just why do you think that is?

Really, there is about a one in three hundred and sixty five chance that Jesus was actually born on Christmas, so it’s not entirely wrong to celebrate on this day. It’s just not very likely that you’re right. The Roman Emperor Constantine wisely decreed that since every good Roman was celebrating Saturnalia at this time - where people exchanged gifts and whooped it up a lot - this would be a good time to also celebrate the birth of Christ. Constantine wasn’t himself a Christian but a worshiper of Sol Invictus (the all conquering Sun) so, in the Good old Roman tradition of borrowing convenient Gods from foreign lands, he decided that Jehovah was just another name for Sol Invictus and there you go. Problem solved.

You have to wonder how pleased the Son of God is to have his birthday commemorated … whenever. It’s not really an honor when your worshipers purposefully and knowingly have it all wrong and don’t seem to care much. It’s nice, I guess that people remember your birthday but it probably would be nicer if they remembered your actual birthday, rather than just some day they were partying, anyways. Did you ever think that maybe one of the reasons he hasn’t come back to the Earth is that he wants us to get it right? Maybe when we do, maybe then he’ll return from Heaven.

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The cleverness in the technology of vehicle tracking system has been gaining popularity for a considerable period of time. It was primarily used by large corporations for maintaining the efficiency of vehicles. Small scale companies could not use it because it was listed at a high price and was not affordable for fleet owners to adopt this process. Today due to the advancement of technology, prices have been configured to fit a lower budget and it is easily affordable for small scale companies to use this device.

The facility involved in using this product ensures all fleet owners to view the velocity, location and direction of the vehicle. This enables the owner to provide proper information to the customer and expand the business in future with a strong posative response from the customer. Another function performed by the device is its contribution for saving on the wastage of fuel and restricting the vehicle to be used for business purposes.

Tracking systems should not be considered as the only device for protecting vehicles from theft and robbery. It should be used as a device serving various purposes including the function of enhancing the technical features of a vehicle.

Application of the device and technology reduces premiums paid by companies as insurance for protecting the vehicles. Therefore tracking device is a complete package of functional utilities.

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We have had approximately two meters snowfall during the last seven days. The snow has been so heavy that lifts were shut, the local train has been stopped at the Chamonix train station and not going onwards to Le Tour and delays with Geneva transfers. Roads have been closed and avalanche announcements released.

Contrast this to a couple of seasons ago, when we experienced the incredibly hot February conditions, rocks showing on the ski slopes, and reports that climate change meant the finish of the ski industry in France. Highlighting this the OECD’s report from winter 2005 predicted that climate change could make skiing holidays far too expensive for the majority of skiers, with one-third of ski domains becoming insolvent and the melting of glaciers. Climatologists say that it is virtually impossible to assign these yearly variations in the snow to the outcomes of global warming.

We could be experiencing the longest recession in almost 25 years, and the pound has headed to new levels compared to the Euro, but the skiing is grand, and the last reservations show that skiers are eager to enjoy the grand snow. It is probably the best in nine winters, and many are announcing that it’s the best ski snowboarding snow in at least ten yrs.

Nevertheless recollect that lots of snow like this means raised avalanches risks.

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