If Microsoft has.......

I tried dialing one of those phone itouchscreen thingies. After spinning it around for each number it failed to even get the operator to answer. I think they should put the numbers around it like a proper phone dial.

I tried the same thing at a pay phone (remember them?) the other day, and other than the guy behind me muttering "crazy old coot" got a similar non-response.

And if microsoft has black helicopters, and Apple has white with touchscreen controls, what are the Linux choppers like? Chipped and peeling OD, with no joysticks or touchscreens, just dirty keyboards where the pilot types into the terminal "up to 3k', arspd 300m/hr, lft 30 degs, lft 10 more, hvr, dwn 5 ft/sec, slwr, slower, SLOWER, man dwn, man slwr, man autorotate..."

Yeah the population of coots is getting out of hand (re: the person at the pay phone). Back in my days they were nearly extinct. Conservation and protection of their Native habitat (Florida) has resulted in a major comeback of the critters. Now they are everywhere and a major nuisance to young people.

So not surprising, when you were dialing up a number at the pay phone, that in the line behind you calmly waiting their turn, someone would spot some "coots" wandering about. The critters are worse than pigeons. As for the "crazy old" appellation it probably meant the speaker had a fondness for them. Thus his bantering tone.

Ah yes the lost pay phones, and the handy corner bathrooms they were placed in.  The last one I knew of around here was disconnect last year.  Even the old coots that swore they'd never own a cell phone, have been assimilated and decided they like them enough to carry all the time.

I will carry a cell phone when they force it into my cold dead hands . The things are worse than being stuck with carrying a pager about.

Though the lost of pay phones is a major problem when having to don the cape and leotards. Not to mention that the Doctor can not just park the Tardis anywhere like he was used to. And then there is the jobs lost for all the telephone sanitizers (though I heard that many are taking a retirement cruise as part of a job buyout).

You're not the first I've heard make that claim.  One of Dad's friends swore the same thing, now he carries it in his front shirt pocket all the time.  I think the turning point was breaking down on the mail route in bad winter weather and having to walk a few miles for help.