So the Mayor of Chicago was caught using a flip-phone

Mayor Emanuel seen on Chicagoland via DNA Info

This article tickles me, a bit. Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago using a flip-phone. Even though I converted to a smartphone back in 2010 now it's unusual for me to find anyone still using a flip. At the same time flips were cool in their various forms. Indeed I once owned a Motorola Razr which is one of my favorites and the design of that phone was very cool before Apple unveiled their iPhone.

So anyway, it appears people are talking about Emanuel with his flip when he appeared in a CNN documentary Chicagoland. Please forgive me, I never watched the program but hopefully it's available online somewhere since this is where most of my entertainment comes from these days. Anyway here's a bit of this story by Mark Konkol from DNA Info:

Using one can make you the subject of ridicule, as Dallas Cowboys owner, billionaire Jerry Jones, found out last season when he got teased for using a flip phone on ESPN's "C'mon Man" bit.

And for folks not hip to the slang, "burner" typically refers to prepaid disposable cellphones sometimes used by people up to no good.

Last week, Angela Knox took to Twitter to ask the most obvious question, "Why did Rahm have a flip phone in 2013?"

The reporter found his number from a guy who was behind the mayor standing in line at the dry cleaners. As it turns out the guy somehow was able to remember his number and this was before Emanuel's election as Mayor of Chicago. So this intrepid reporter dialed the number:

I did a little reporting — the number was right. So, I dialed, one number at a time — 3 … 1 … 2 …

"Hello," the mayor said, not annoyed at all.

Rahm said there's a perfectly good reason he uses a phone that peaked in popularity during the pre-iPhone era.

"Here's the deal: If I'm talking on the phone and someone's emailing, there's a couple beeps alerting you to an email that you have to see right now, and that gets distracting," he said. "I have to do emails and be on the phone at the same time. I'm finishing an email right now as we're talking."

Still, a flip phone seems a little archaic for a mayor who's made such a big push to court technology startups and bolster Chicago's digital economy.

"I've got another phone, a smartphone. I'm probably the only mayor in the country to have Google's Motorola iPhone," Rahm said.

And then he put any question of whether his flip phone was indeed a "burner" to rest.

"Look, some politicians don't use any electronic communication devices — for other reasons," he said. "For me, it's a matter of efficiency."

Later on the reporter

Later on the reporter attempted to contact his source who provided him the number and found himself instead talking to the mayor again. Then noted that he blamed this mishap on his smartphone which he says is "only as intelligent as the guy using it". LOL!