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In Salem, Oregon, this week (reported May 16) a glamorous doll was pulled off an Amtrak train and charged with disorderly conduct for having loud cell phone conversations which reportedly had continued over the course of a 16-hour train trip.

(Remind me never to take Amtrak anywhere for any reason.)

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- Jim

Amtrak does have a policy that riders can’t use cell phones in designated “quiet cars,” like the one in which Beard was riding.

Her behavior sounds similar to smoking in a designated non-smoking area.

Beauty Queen????

She must have a good battery in that phone or brought some "extras" to yap for 16 hours.

Pete92FS wrote:Beauty Queen????

She must have a good battery in that phone or brought some "extras" to yap for 16 hours.

The trains have 110 volt outlets on them that you can plug into. Some have 12V outlets too, so no problem charging the phone.

I wonder if that would have worked in Panera Bread Co. I was enjoying my espresso and a bagel yesterday, relaxing before heading to work, and the guy at the next table organized a business conference call, talking loudly through the whole thing. I left after telling him he had spoiled my relaxation, and all he did was stare at me as if I was the rude one. I also told the management that I was not pleased.

Cell phones have opened up a whole new world of rude, selfish behavior. One of the ultimate examples that I heard was a guy in New York (where else?) that was yelling at the people around him on the street to shut up so that he could talk on the phone.

When I worked in an office building, I used to enjoy sneering at the people who would get on an elevator and then spend the next minute or two yelling into their cell phones, "I'm in an elevator. Can you hear me now?" I guess not much has changed since the 1870s, when people felt that they had to yell to make their voice go farther.

- Jim

She's a beaut alright!

I'm just sorry it took them 16 hours to kick her butt off the train.

You know, they make a device that kills cell signals in your immediate area.
I keep meaning to buy one of those.

Cell phone interference devices are illegal. I have to say I have been tempted, though.

I think the day will come when they are allowed in places like theaters and courtrooms.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:Cell phones have opened up a whole new world of rude, selfish behavior. One of the ultimate examples that I heard was a guy in New York (where else?) that was yelling at the people around him on the street to shut up so that he could talk on the phone.

When I worked in an office building, I used to enjoy sneering at the people who would get on an elevator and then spend the next minute or two yelling into their cell phones, "I'm in an elevator. Can you hear me now?" I guess not much has changed since the 1870s, when people felt that they had to yell to make their voice go farther.

- Jim

Actually they did have to yell back then, besides low voltage batteries, that was the only power and the greater the power, the better the distance. It wasn't until the 50s that adaptive amplification was beginning to be state of the art, before then the phones actually had to be "tuned" to the distance they were from the central office, and it wasn't until T1 carrier systems started being used for inter office transport that a reliable sound level became common, and even then the toll network had to be engineered and installed correctly.

I could go on about this stuff all day, I used to teach it after I lived it, but that wasn't the point.

The guy sitting next to me was virtually shouting on his conference call. I don't know if it was a bad conference bridge (a frequent problem) or if he was just trying to top other voices, but it was extremely rude.

Well, few people are alive today who talked on a phone when the network was completely analog—and the worst abusers of cell phones obviously are not that old.

They are cut from the same cloth as people who buy cheap cologne by the gallon and toss lit cigarette butts out their car windows.

- Jim