"Back in the prehistoric 1970s, one of life's little pleasures was the ability to slam down a telephone on annoying callers. Now, thanks to the rise of cordless phones, the best you can do is fiercely poke the off button — or, if money is no object, throw the receiver into a wall.
The slamming phone, like dozens of once-familiar sounds, is headed for extinction. As technology advances, more and more noises — the pop of flashbulbs, the gurgle of coffee percolators, the clatter of home-movie projectors — are fading into oblivion. "
