From: malQRMassimilation@gmail.com   
      
   Well, I finished today's Digest, and (as is my habit) I dialed *86 to   
   check my voice mail. Yes, there is one person in the world who still   
   bothers to check his voicemail.   
      
   I heard a recording telling me to enter my mailbox ID. Usually, I get a   
   prompt to put in my password and an octothorpe, and then the recorded   
   lady that they have chained up in the basement of the secret location   
   where Bell Labs is still in business will tell me what messages are   
   being saved for my edification and amusement.   
      
   This time, it couldn't even figure out what my phone number is. I tried   
   the ten-digit version, and got a snippet of the crazy person in the   
   basement of Bell Labs screaming for mercy and telling me that I didn't   
   know the right code. I tried the seven-digit version, and got a   
   recording saying that the system isn't available right now, from the   
   same desperate woman, except that by now her latest drug injection has   
   taken effect and she's very relaxed and even might be interpreted as   
   friendly.   
      
   I find it interesting that it never occurred to me before: fewer and   
   fewer customer use voicemail, so the ghost of that old whore Mother Bell   
   has decided to scrimp on maintenance.   
      
   You heard it here first: the next step is that you'll find your   
   voicemail forwarded to Google, where you'll be given a choice of   
   offering your first born to receive it without ads, or the wealth of   
   Croesus if you'd rather just hear only the ones from people you know.   
      
   Bill   
      
   --   
   Bill Horne   
   (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)