Now, they may have an answer: The rings were built by Neandertals, who learned to explore caves extensively and engaged in complex building behaviors like arranging stones more than 175,000 years ago, much earlier than thought.
She put a little rasp in her voice and answered the ringing phone.
I said, 'No, the N.H.L. draft.' She said: 'N.H.L.? You've got to be kidding.' " Caren Tobin answered the ringing telephone in Prince George moments later.
Mr. Williamson's grown son, home on a visit, answered the ringing telephone and passed the call to his father, awakening him.
A woman in Hollis, Queens, answered the ringing of her doorbell on Friday morning by pulling open a narrow window in the basement, peering up past a visitor's shoes and asking, "Who are you?" "She's not here, and I don't know where she is," the woman said.
Every other time, Guy has checked the phone but refused to answer it; the ringing has been a mystery, but also a metaphor — Guy is literally and metaphorically unreachable.
At a café, when a man sitting next to the quirky Jean won't answer the intrusive ringing of his phone, she answers it herself, realizing only slowly that the man is dead.
It is her job to answer the constantly ringing telephones and greet the steady flow of visitors who come through the doors of what is arguably the hottest company in the broadband business.
A moment later, I seemed to have gotten my answer: The bell rang again.
