Telephone Holds

November 2008

Listen or download this in .mp3 format.     Please go to winamp.com to download the MP3 player.      FOR A HUNDRED YEARS OR MORE, RETAIL TRANSACTIONS ACROSS THE NATION WERE RUNG UP BY A CASH REGISTER—AT FIRST, CRANKED BY HAND, THEN ELECTRICALLY POWERED, WITH DOLLAR AND CENTS FIGURES POPPING UP MECHANICALLY IN A WINDOW, SO CUSTOMERS COULD SEE WHAT THEY OWED.      TODAY, ORNATE BRASS CASH REGISTERS ARE A HOT ITEM IN ANTIQUE STORES, AND BAR CODE SCANNERS NOW RING UP AMERICA’S RETAIL SALES OF THREE-POINT-SEVEN TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.      PROFILE AMERICA IS A PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU       THE FIRST PORTABLE ELECTRIC HEARING AID WAS PATENTED THIS MONTH IN 1901. CALLED THE “ACOUSTICON,” THE DEVICE WAS A SMALLER VERSION OF PREVIOUS TABLETOP UNITS.      NOW, TINY DIGITAL HEARING AIDS THAT USERS CAN PROGRAM FOR MAXIMUM EFFECT HELP MILLIONS TO HEAR NORMAL CONVERSATIONS.      IN THE U.S., THERE ARE ABOUT EIGHT MILLION ADULTS WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY HEARING, AND A MILLION WHO ARE UNABLE TO HEAR AT ALL.      PROFILE AMERICA IS A PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU.      NOVEMBER IS AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE HERITAGE MONTH. THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED FOUR AND A HALF MILLION MEMBERS OF THESE COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S., ABOUT ONE AND A HALF PERCENT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION.      CALIFORNIA IS HOME TO THE HIGHEST NUMBER, AT NEARLY 690-THOUSAND, FOLLOWED BY OKLAHOMA WITH CLOSE TO 400-THOUSAND.      AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES WERE THE LARGEST MINORITY GROUP IN NINE STATES ACROSS THE U.S.      PROFILE AMERICA IS A PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU.      NOVEMBER IS SET ASIDE EACH YEAR AS NATIONAL DIABETES MONTH. THE GOAL IS TO MAKE THE PUBLIC MORE AWARE OF THE SERIOUS NATURE OF THE DISEASE.       DIABETES IN THE U.S. IS ON THE RISE, AND SOME PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTS EVEN REFER TO IT AS AN EPIDEMIC, FUELED BY OUR OVERWEIGHT AND INACTIVE LIFESTYLE.       ACROSS THE COUNTRY, MORE THAN 74-THOUSAND PEOPLE A YEAR DIE FROM COMPLICATIONS OF THE DISEASE.      PROFILE AMERICA IS A PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU.      PUSH-BUTTON, OR TOUCH-TONE, TELEPHONES MADE THEIR DEBUT THIS MONTH IN 1963.      AT THE TIME, THE SERVICE COST EXTRA—AND WAS AVAILABLE IN ONLY TWO CITIES IN PENNSYLVANIA, BUT IT QUICKLY CAUGHT ON.      IN 1963, 81 PERCENT OF U.S. HOMES HAD TELEPHONES. TODAY, THAT FIGURE IS 92 PERCENT. THE AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD PAYS JUST OVER 24 AND A HALF DOLLARS A MONTH FOR LOCAL SERVICE, AND WE MAKE MORE THAN A BILLION LOCAL CALLS EVERY DAY.      PROFILE AMERICA IS A PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU.      NOVEMBER IS PEANUT BUTTER LOVERS MONTH. PEANUT BUTTER WAS FIRST OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC AT THE SAINT LOUIS EXPOSITION IN 1904, BUT DIDN’T APPEAR ON GROCERY SHELVES UNTIL 1922.      OUR LOVE OF PEANUT BUTTER, WHETHER SMOOTH OR CHUNKY, ACCOUNTS FOR A LARGE PART OF THE NEARLY SEVEN POUNDS OF SHELLED PEANUTS WE EACH CONSUME IN A YEAR—WHICH BRINGS IN SOME 850 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY TO THE FARMERS WHO GROW THEM.      PROFILE AMERICA IS A PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU.