>>I'm not sure what to make of this but I find it fascinating.

>>It's a little like the Douglas Adams hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' joke about the world that had creatures with 40 arms and they invented the underarm deodorant before the wheel.

>>

>>http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20100414/89 ... -toil.html

India has more cell phones than toilets

Wed, Apr 14 11:56 PM

New York, April 14 (DPA) India has 545 million working cell phones thanks to its booming emerging economy, a number expected to reach 1 billion by 2015, the UN University said Wednesday.

That number exceeds the number of people who have access to toilet or sanitation facilities - only about 366 million, or 31 percent of the 1-billion strong population.

India's number of cell phone users soared in just 10 years, from 0.35 per 100 persons in 2000 to 45 per 100 persons this year.

Worldwide, an estimated 1.1 billion people of the world population of 6.7 billion people have no access to toilet facilities. The UN Millennium Development Goals call for access to toilets by all people by 2025,

The UN University, a Canada-based think tank, made a study on cell phone users in developing countries to demonstrate that some countries may lag behind in achieving the goal of providing toilets and sanitation for all the world population by 2025.

'It is a tragic irony to think that in India, a country now wealthy enough that roughly half of the people own phones, half cannot afford the basic necessity and dignity of a toilet,' said Zafar Adeel, a director at the UN University.

<<

Dave (imported) wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:07 pm India has 545 million working cell phones

>>

I bet at least 2 of them are ones that I donated to a "charity" that revives old phones and sells them in the sub-continent ...

I grew up with one phone in the house, it had a rotary dial, the number was 7800977 think of how your finger felt after that rotation. A year ago I finally broke down and got my first cell phone. I am not sure I like it, its to small I never remember where I left it and sometimes I leave it plugged in and then cant find the damn thing. when I had a land line I had several phones in the house but now, just that damn cell phone.

River

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:07 pm I grew up with one phone in the house, it had a rotary dial, the number was 7800977 think of how your finger felt after that rotation. A year ago I finally broke down and got my first cell phone. I am not sure I like it, its to small I never remember where I left it and sometimes I leave it plugged in and then cant find the damn thing. when I had a land line I had several phones in the house but now, just that damn cell phone.

River

We grew up with a party line and enjoyed listening to others conversations. As far as cell phones I love my I-phone because at work I can access the EA.

How close to a cell tower are you willing to leave?

I see cell towers within hundreds of feet with dishes seemingly pointed at apartments, commonly. It is called, Irvine, Califo-nia.

Can't I sell you that under valued home under the new power lines the government say, are safe.

Nokia, of Finland even determined the brain tumor is on the side of the cell phone use. It has nothing to do with the transmitter BTW, it is that electromagnetic ear piece and the unbiological field it transmits.

In the old days, those electromagnetic ear pieces would have been a further distance from, the brain as would per distance and physics significantly reduce their effect.

Major, "Ha-Ha" on Bluetooth users. You deserve it!

Let go. Try it.

Moi

read me now and believe me later

I posted the article mostly because it was funny and since I just saw SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the article reminded me of the "autograph" sequence.

However, I remember an article from not long ago that said many young people don't see the need for a land line phone and that in certain parts of the world, the utilities aren't even building new land line capacity. Think of a world with only cell phones.

Dave (imported) wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:47 pm I remember an article from not long ago that said many young people don't see the need for a land line phone and that in certain parts of the world, the utilities aren't even building new land line capacity. Think of a world with only cell phones.

I had a cell phone and the few times I ever really needed to use it I couldn't get a signal. On those occasions when the damned thing did work it kept dropping calls. I thought that was bad mannered of it.

When it got stolen I never bothered to replace it. I decided I much prefer a land line. If I'm home I'll take the call. If I'm out then please leave a message.

I have a company mow my lawn and when I call them from my cellphone, my carrier - verizon wireless - does all sorts of weird and strange things but never seems to connect the call. The mowing company has Cricket.

So I've take to calling him from my land line (also Verizon but land line) and the call goes through perfectly.

I have this suspicion that Verizon wireless is screwing with their competitor (Cricket)... I can't prove it but it's so obvious a coincidence.

Kortpeel (imported) wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:26 am I had a cell phone and the few times I ever really needed to use it I couldn't get a signal. On those occasions when the damned thing did work it kept dropping calls. I thought that was bad mannered of it.

When it got stolen I never bothered to replace it. I decided I much prefer a land line. If I'm home I'll take the call. If I'm out then please leave a message.

I am with you on that one,

Daffynition:

Phone, a device that you pay for to have people you don't know disturb you when you are eating dinner or some other function where you don't want to be bothered and we pay for this privilege.

A cell phone is a device that you take with you to be disturbed when you don't want to be.

I got a call from AT&T, about a bill that is in dispute, I knew it was them from there number but he wanted my information without telling me who he was, I kept asking him and he told me that, that was not the procedure, I said first, you called me, second never call here again or I will tell the phone company on you, OH wait, you are the phone company, and hung up, I have not herd from them sense.

A new little trick there doing is collecting for company's you have never herd of, they add it to your bill, its not much so you don't really notice it. Then when you question them on it its up to you to get your money back. Right, that is why I now have a pay as you go cell phone, let them try to add charges to that, and AT&T can go f themselves.

In the last several days I have received several phone calls, I see the number and make a decision not to answer it, I don't look at my messages, I still have not gotten that far in the instructions on how to use the damn thing, I think it was on page 2.

Enjoy your phone of choice,

River

I hate cel phones. I bought one in January, pay-as-you-go, and when I discovered that any un-used minutes at the end of the month disappear if I don't buy more minutes by the first of the next month, I told them to take their thieving hands out of my pockets and fuck off.

Seriously, the way it worked, was I was REQUIRED to buy another card every month, because each card expired by the end of the month. THe only way around this rule was to buy a HUNDRED DOLLAR card, which was valid then for 6 months instead of one.

Shit, I was using only about 8 dollars a month worth of my card, and the smallest denomination card I could buy was 20.

What the hell is that, other than pure theft?

Fuck 'em. I gave the phone away to a friend and now have just my land line, with NO answering machine. My friends think I'm insane; I think they are, with their 50 texts a day habit.

I am utterly disconnected from this one aspect of youth (and older, it seems) today; I can NOT understand the desire to be bothered over 50 times a day by inconsequential, utterly pointless 'texts' over and over and over. Friends visit me and receive and read half a dozen texts while having a coffee with me. Most of them are of the "miss you honey! coming home soon?" or "OMFG u shoulda seen the cat that just walked by" variety.

It's utterly insane, this texting banter back and forth. Kids do hundreds per day. What the bloody hell? I just do NOT understand.

Hell, I ignore my ringing phone probably half the time; I REFUSE to stop doing something to answer it. I'll check the numbers that called me later and call back if I feel like it, and I'll answer my ringing phone only if I'm nearby (say, at my computer). That's bloody it. Other than that, it's for me to ring others with.