So some company has invented a phone with a "privacy" button. The privacy button keeps the phones from ringing when you want some alone time and even comes with a user-recorded request to ask telemarketers to remove them from calling lists. This sounds like such a great idea! This sounds like the revolution of the ages! This sounds like -- an answering machine. I mean, how many people use their answering machines to screen calls anyways, since telemarketers hardly ever leave messages? And if you take your phone off the hook and you have voicemail, the voicemail will pick up immediately without your phone ringing; and if I'm not mistaken, you can kick calls straight to voicemail even without leaving your phone off the hook.

Don't get me wrong, technology is a great thing. But I think it hits a point when we overload ourselves so much with useless gadgets that it gets a little ridiculous, and it also gets to where we become so dependent that we can't do anything without it -- like yesterday, when I lost more than 2 hours of work time because my work computer was bombing out. Do I really need a new remote control that controls everything in house like my toaster and my microwave too? What happens when my power goes out and I'm bored out of my mind because everything I could do is either dependent on electricity or light?

Odd, then, that my horoscope today would say this:
A disproportionate amount of communication via modern technologies such as cell phones, email, fax, or the Internet could take place today, dear Sagittarius. You may have discovered a new field that has captured your interest and seek to learn as much about it as you can. Or you may have heard rumors about someone you know, and you're trying to track down the facts. Either way, expect to spend a lot of time on the phone, or on the computer.