A friend of mine was about to dine with a friend of mine, and friend 1(F1) was within about five minutes walk of the home of F2 where he was to dine, but realised he didn't know exactly when F2 was expecting him. F1 had a mobile phone with him, but didn't have F2's number. He did have a number for another friend of mine, and more to the point of his, F1's, so he rang F3 on F3's portable. F3 was quickly able to give F1 F2's number. F1 could then ring F2, and find out when he needed to arrive.

And now here comes the "cultural" bit. F1 and F2 were both in London, SW1. But at the time all this went on, F3 was in Prague.

The man on the right is called Marshall McLuhan, who, to the best of my knowledge, coined the phrase "Global Village", although maybe it was some other guy, and he merely made the phrase famous.