Et Cetera Reach Out and . . .

"I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude," wrote Henry David Thoreau. Alas, solitude is getting harder to come by: the Federal Communications Commission has allocated a block of radio frequencies for new satellite paging services. Employing "little low-earth-orbit satellites," such services will allow people to send and receive messages worldwide. Users communicate through calculator-like devices costing around $350. Services could be available by the end of 1994.