Engineering manners

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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."

Hey, Joe Farren! What do the young parents and brain surgeon do? They do what everybody used to do before people became rude: You let people know where you will be at. The young parents should tell the babysitter where they are going, and the babysitter can call the establishment and asked that the parents be paged. The surgeon, who I guess is on call, should do likewise. If people would show a little respect and use vibrating pagers, then this would be a moot issue: Unfortunately, the wireless industry doesn't teach manners, so other people are having to develop measures to teach it to people. If I had a choice, I would install a cell phone jammer in my vehicle. Things are not much different from 15 years ago. What in the hell is so important that people have to carry on a phone conversation in their car while driving?