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New paint blocks out cell phone signals
UPI via Drudge ^ | 3/1/2006 | None provided

Posted on 03/01/2006 6:32:02 PM PST by Vermonter

New paint blocks out cell phone signals ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 1 (UPI) -- A Rochester, N.Y., company has developed paint that can switch between blocking cell phone signals and allowing them through.

"You could use this in a concert hall, allowing cell phones to work before the concert and during breaks, but shutting them down during the performance," said Michael Riedlinger, president of NaturalNano.

Using nanotechnology, particles of copper are inserted into nanotubes, which are ultra-tiny tubes that occur naturally in halloysite clay mined in Utah. Combined with a radio-filtering device that collects phone signals from outside a shielded space, certain transmissions can proceed while others are blocked, the Chicago Tribune reported.

However, the wireless phone industry is up in arms over the development.

"We oppose any kind of blocking technology," said Joe Farren, spokesman for The Wireless Association, the leading cell phone trade group. "What about the young parents whose baby-sitter is trying to call them, or the brain surgeon who needs notification of emergency surgery? These calls need to get through."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cell; cellphones; cellular; etiquette; itsallaboutmememe; manners; movies; musical; nervouswithoutcells; phone; playhouse; pompoustalkers; rude; selfimportance; telephone; theater
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To: zipp_city
So who do you know that has been poisoned by lead paint.

There's a whole web site dedicated to them:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=latest_threads

61 posted on 03/02/2006 2:48:05 AM PST by Balding_Eagle (Free Republic, the newspaper I can talk back to!)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

'I don't really care'

That sums it up.


62 posted on 03/02/2006 3:03:41 AM PST by Westlander (Unleash the Neutron Bomb)
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To: Fresh Wind

And now they are driving in a daze. Rest assured the 'what if my child needs immediate brain surgery' folk will be out there. (any hospital will make that decision for you) Afetr 30 years in level 1 trauma centers, they do make good calls. Why? They do not want to see you in the clinic.


63 posted on 03/02/2006 3:13:58 AM PST by Westlander (Unleash the Neutron Bomb)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

Then you should frequent restaurants where they don't paint the walls.


64 posted on 03/02/2006 4:25:29 AM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: quantim
Emergency service personnel have problems with large, thick buildings as well as hills.

All this does is turn a small area into the local equivalent of a hillside.

65 posted on 03/02/2006 4:26:38 AM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: Spruce

Tin foil still works best.


66 posted on 03/02/2006 4:27:26 AM PST by LIConFem (A fronte praecipitium, a tergo lupi.)
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To: Marie
I presume your cell service also provides for "messages", and that it records the numbers of your callers.

That way, you could actually take a long, leisurely bath and still know who called you and what it was about.

67 posted on 03/02/2006 4:30:42 AM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: Vermonter
"What about the young parents whose baby-sitter is trying to call them, or the brain surgeon who needs notification of emergency surgery? These calls need to get through."

Oh, dear... what about them? What did they do before cell phones???

68 posted on 03/02/2006 5:25:32 AM PST by Lunatic Fringe (Olfrygt: the nagging fear of being unable to find beer while out of town.)
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To: Marie; HereInTheHeartland
Hi All-

You mentioned your children are diabetic and need immediate access. That is not always the solution and relying upon fragile cellular connectivity will eventually get them into a jam someday. They need to recognize they have a medical condition and how to live a successful life with it. Don't make them believe they're less of a person because they need to rely upon a syringe or a pump.

My suggestion is to send them to a certified camp for children with diabetes for a couple weeks each summer (without a cellular phone) where they will spend time with hundreds of other diabetic campers, diabetic counselers, and diabetes educators. Empower your children, don't make them believe they must call mommy and daddy on a cellular at every turn. The doctors at the camp would call you if there was a problem. Children can be encouraged to write letters home with pen and paper. Cellular telephones shouldn't become a crutch for people.

~ Blue Jays ~

69 posted on 03/02/2006 6:30:19 AM PST by Blue Jays (Rock Hard, Ride Free)
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To: Minutemen

Does anyone remember life before cell phones?
Yep! you could actually have a conversation with a friend, over dinner or lunch without their cell phone interruping things.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Most people cannot imagine it now but there was a time when some men could not be contacted for months at a time. Family members were often dead and buried before a sailor or soldier was aware of an illness. I think it is great that that is no longer the case but some people are getting carried away with the need for instant contact. Some people can't get anything done now for talking on the cell about things that are really inconsequential. I think some of us no longer have a sense of proportion or priority.


70 posted on 03/02/2006 6:56:31 AM PST by RipSawyer (Acceptance of irrational thinking is expanding exponentiallly.)
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To: Vermonter

Do they have auto paint?


71 posted on 03/02/2006 6:58:42 AM PST by Hatteras
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To: LIConFem

Just remember to wear it shiny side up. ;>)


72 posted on 03/02/2006 7:01:48 AM PST by meanie monster (http://guptonator.myvideochat.net)
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To: Blackirish
The guy next to me..his cell phone went off during a performance

And the thing is, they don't just "ring" anymore....they play Beethoven's Fifth or some such.

I just finished four weeks of jury duty on an Attempted Murder case. Once (and only once!) during testimony, a fellow juror's phone started playing show tunes. It got turned off pretty quicklike...

73 posted on 03/02/2006 7:02:54 AM PST by ErnBatavia (Meep Meep)
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To: farlander
But lead is poisonous and I'd prefer not to take any such chances.

Boy, it sure is. What do you think about all those stories about the 60 year-old people dropping dead as a result of their childhood exposure to lead paint, second hand smoke and asbestos?

Horrifying, I tell you.

74 posted on 03/02/2006 7:03:09 AM PST by HIDEK6
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To: RipSawyer

Most people cannot imagine it now but there was a time when some men could not be contacted for months at a time. Family members were often dead and buried before a sailor or soldier was aware of an illness. I think it is great that that is no longer the case but some people are getting carried away with the need for instant contact. Some people can't get anything done now for talking on the cell about things that are really inconsequential. I think some of us no longer have a sense of proportion or priority.

I agree.



75 posted on 03/02/2006 7:04:08 AM PST by meanie monster (http://guptonator.myvideochat.net)
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To: gas_dr
I can say unequivocally that my wife will no longer go out with me when I am on-call as I left 2 dinners at fairly nice restaurantes in a row

Are you sure it was because of your beeper and not because you wouldn't take your baseball cap off?

76 posted on 03/02/2006 7:05:44 AM PST by HIDEK6
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To: HIDEK6

While that was great sarcasm, see post #55.

I agree that there are things that are overhyped these days, but heavy metals are nothing to joke around with.


77 posted on 03/02/2006 7:08:19 AM PST by farlander
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To: Blue Jays
"don't make them believe they must call mommy and daddy on a cellular at every turn."

That is the exact opposite of our kids.

My point in post goes to the anti cell phone jihad mentality that some have.
I always have my cell phone set to vibrate when I am around other people. I rarely go to movies or restaurants but I would be embarrassed if my cell phone rang loudly in a place like that.
But my wife and I will be accessible to our kids when we are away from them. We know where they are and who they are with, they are accountable to us because we are their parents.
I also use my cell phone quite a bit in my work environment. Customers and vendors expect you to be accessible, if not they do business with someone that is.

Some people that may sit at a desk all day may not understand that, but that is just the way it is. No one answers a phone for me or takes messages for me, it's just me.
78 posted on 03/02/2006 7:10:48 AM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Never bring a knife to a gun fight, or a Democrat to do serious work...)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
I have 3 kids, one diabetic. I will be accessible to my kids, and they to me. I don't really care if someone has a problem with that.

I don't care about your diabetic kids either.

My obliviousness to your kids' plight, though, does not affect your enjoyment of whatever play or concert we're attending.

Your self-centered attitude of "everyone else around me be damned, I'll let my cell phone ring whenever it wants to," does negatively impact everyone else's theater/concert experience.

I guess this is like, "I don't mind if you smoke as long as you don't exhale."

79 posted on 03/02/2006 7:12:44 AM PST by HIDEK6
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To: Vermonter
"What about... the brain surgeon who needs notification of emergency surgery?"

They could just send Mr. Gumby into the hall to fetch him.

"ARE YOU THE BRAAAIN SPECIALIST? MY BRAIN 'URTS!"

80 posted on 03/02/2006 7:16:25 AM PST by Redcloak (<--- Not always a "people person")
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