On Wed, Mar 28, 2001 at 12:04:05PM -0800, Paul Makepeace wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 28, 2001 at 07:28:31PM +0100, Chris Benson wrote:
> > it'll-only-happen-once change where the entire country moved to
> > (XXXX) YYYY-ZZZZ
>
> Twelve and eight digit phone numbers? So phalanxes of psychologists
> noting that the human brain has the magic number seven genetically
> imprinted into it should just be tossed out the window?
Yes. We have these things called address books we can look numbers up
in. It doesn't matter how long your number is, I have no reason to
remember it. I have this handy-dandy device I can store it in. In my
case, the device is a Palm, but my luddite relatives seem to get by
just as well with paper address books. When it comes to important
numbers, I seem to remember 12 digits (IP addresses) and 10 digits
(phone numbers) just fine, and I certainly don't pretend to have a
fantastic memory.
I can never remember my number at work, but that has always been the
case regardless of whether the number was six, seven or eight digits long.
And on the rare occasions I need it, I can look the damned thing up in
[starts counting] seven seconds.
Anyway, I thought that the psychologists couldn't agree amongst
themselves whether the magic number was five six or seven.
> > Instead we get a numbering system consisting entirely of patches :-(
>
> Yes, it's embarrassing. "So, why *is* your country's phone system so
> utterly hosed?"
I'm not convinced that it's any more hosed than any other country's.
Telecoms is both hardware and software. Both suck, the whole world
round.
--
David Cantrell | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/
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