Larry,

I usually turn on the phone when I get to a gig to see if someone called my home phone, which is rarely the case. I turn it on while I'm sailing on Chesapeake Bay and the only folks that call are those that want me to solve their keyboard problems. I did get a call a couple years ago about a job, but I was already booked to go sailing so I turned them down. Besides, I was 5 days sailing time away in Virginia Beach and couldn't have made it home in time for the job.

Larry, if I recall correctly, you're an old fart just like me. What did you do when an emergency arose prior to cellular telephones? In my case, someone always seemed to be able to track me down. No beepers, no cell phones, just letting someone know where I would be and how to get in touch was all it took. Once, prior to call waiting, I was on the phone talking with an old friend when the operator broke in with an emergency call from the hospital where I worked. Three minutes later I was traveling down I-83 at a high rate of speed and was in the operating room 30 minutes later.

I had similar emergency situation while fishing in the middle of Chesapeake Bay early one morning--again prior to cellular phones and beepers. There were four of us on my boat and we were really into the stripers when a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter arrived on the scene. A young man with a bull horn told me I was needed immediately at the hospital. I pulled the anchor, returned to shore and drove to the hospital. After four hours in the operating room I took a shower, got in the car and drove back to the marina where the crew was patiently awaiting my return. While I was gone they consumed most of the beer, all the food, and insisted that it was my fault and that I had to spring for the replacement beer and food, which I did.

If someone really needs to reach you in an emergency--they will find you one way or another. I would really like to see some statistics pertaining to cellular telephone usage and their contribution to automobile accidents. I give you pretty good odds that the mortality rate from cell phone related accidents is thousands of times higher than anyone contracting cancer from any source.

I believe the sad part about all this is we, as taxpayers, funded this idiotic study that probably took several years, and is likely an ongoing study that will continue forever. As was posted above, the phone was probably strapped to a rat's head for 18 years. Hmmm! Wonder if the rat booked any jobs or gets emergency calls?

Cheers,

Gary