Our story begins with two guys chatting casually over a meatball sub...

Phil: “We should have various phone numbers and email addresses.”

Zebulon: “For different ends.”

Phil: “Most importantly, we should be able to destroy them at will.”

Zebulon: “That is definitely the most important aspect.”

And now there’s Shuffle, a new app for creating numbers and email aliases that you can easily manage and delete at will, available now for iPhone (and soon for Android).

First you’ll create different color-coded contacts: say, green for business, red for social, orange for trial memberships and introductory offers and other sites you’ll want to hear from once and never again...

Then, maybe one day soon you’ll find yourself trading numbers with someone who bears a striking resemblance to 1987-era Glenn Close.

And over the course of that same day, you might be asked to give your email address to a café, a record store and an art gallery. And that’s just by noon.

Pull up this app, and share an alias. If someone calls and starts talking rabbits: the voicemail is within the app, not your actual number. If the gallery emails: it’ll be forwarded to your regular email.

If they email next week: well, that email address just might not exist anymore.

It’s a powerful statement on the transitory nature of modern communication.