From: telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org   
      
   A few days ago, I fell and broke my wrist in several places. Today, I   
   was released from the hospital after a five-day stay and major surgery.   
      
   The road ahead, I am told, will include about four months of mending,   
   physical therapy, and learning how to use a text-to-speech converter for   
   writing on my computer. I might have to take another driver's exam to   
   demonstrate proficiency at driving one-handed.   
      
   Men plan, and God laughs: I was on track to make 2021 the first year   
   during which I published an issue of the digest every day. I wanted to   
   have a banner year to look back on as I approach my 70th birthday next   
   February, when I was planning on taking a slower pace with both my other   
   activities and the Digest. That change must happen now.   
      
   It's probably for the best: as cellular technology and the Internet have   
   become commodified, there's been a lot less interest in the nuts & bolts   
   of the telephone network, and even less in its history. I think most   
   telephone users have come to regard their phones as, at best, a business   
   communications tool, an, at worst, as an electronic leash tying them to   
   their employer 24/7/365.   
      
   So it goes, and has gone before: the horseless carriage brought   
   pollution and a transportation monoculture that has saddled our   
   exurban workers with no other practical transportation choices, a   
   cadre of parts-swappers whose only real expertise is in gouging their   
   customers at every turn, and confiscatory taxation. The   
   telecommunications industry, like the auto industry, will have to   
   evolve into something better if it is to survive, but I can't keep   
   chronicling an industry that no longer serves the public.   
      
   Suffice to say, I won't be the one-man-band creating almost all the   
   content in the Telecom Digest going forward. I'll remain as the   
   Moderator for now, but the content must, and should, come from the   
   readers.   
      
   --   
   Bill Horne   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)