Can You Hear Me Now?

Two notable events in history today on the internal work webpage.

On this day in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his telephone. This of course prompts me to wonder when the "do-not-call list" was patented and why hasn't it been renewed, for it certainly isn't working. I like to think I am not a rude person, but I must admit to hanging up on my fair share of telemarketers. Sometimes, just for the sport, I will string them along (but using speakerphone, which drives my wife nuts) only to then shoot them down right when they think they have me.

Fifty years after Mr. Bell's patent was issued, in 1926, the first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New York City and London. Of course now, we think nothing of global calling, with satellite phones. And we wonder how we live without phones. Someday I would like to try.