brian@fritz.UUCP (Brian Meyette) (08/07/84)
newsgroup general, and the others selected, are NOT the place for an ad for a car for sale. Newsgroup net.auto would be vastly more appropriate. Brian Meyette
hawk@oliven.UUCP (09/15/84)
-- [hplabs|zehntel|fortune|ios|tolerant|allegra|tymix]!oliveb!oliven!hawk
north@down.FUN (Stephen C North) (09/26/84)
a corollary of the north/honey thesis states: netnews is like yelling "anyone want to buy a used car?" in a crowded theater.
bob@islenet.UUCP (Robert P. Cunningham) (09/28/84)
[begin lampoon mode]
Seeing the articles in net.general for apartments to let in
Mississippi and '67 Plymouths for sale in Chicago I used to wonder:
Why would people advertise such things worldwide?
No more. I've put 2+2 together, thanks to an obscure federal government
census report. I now know the secret behind such postings.
The "Place of Work" report, compiled from 1980 federal census survey data,
describes the way people travel to their jobs in the U.S. It's meant to
used by government agencies for transportation planning.
I found much mundane information about the state & city where I live.
E.g., the state of Hawaii has 412,307 workers, of which various percentages
travel to work via various means of transportation.
However...
Thirty-three people working in Honolulu reported that they rode to their jobs
in a subway, elevated train or by railroad. Rather strange, since as far
as I know, Honolulu has never had a subway or elevated train...and the
railroads went out of business in the 1920's.
Could this mean that there is a secret rail transportation system, known only
to those 33 people?
Eight people living outside the state reported that it took them an average
of 28.4 minutes to commute to their jobs via bus vs. the 36.8 minutes it
took the 32,984 workers who live in the state to get to their jobs via bus.
The state of Hawaii is completely isolated in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean. I refuse to believe those eight people live on the ocean. Does
this mean that these eight people have access to a bus capable of making
quick overseas trips?
It gets even more interesting...
Exactly 204 people who live OUTSIDE the state WALK to work. Presumably by
walking on water.
And - according to the report - there are MORE THAN 1,000 people who live
outside the state and travel to work by car.
I'd thought the out-of-state car license plates I saw in Honolulu were
simply the same plates that those cars had before being brought over here by
ship. According to the federal report, I was wrong. Some of those drivers
obviously commute daily.
Then, the other day, the proof. I saw a '67 Plymouth with Illinois license
plates on the Lunalilo Freeway. Note that despite its Hawaiian name, the
freeway is part of the federal "Interstate Highway" system!
Pulling up beside the car, I yelled over to the driver, "Did you actually
drive that car all the way to Hawaii?"
His answer was "Right. Sure!" He laughed and drove away, and I didn't
have a chance to ask him if he got the car through an advertisement in
net.general.
However, there's little doubt left in my mind. The evidence is plain:
those old cars advertised worldwide because they are capable of
fast, WORLDWIDE travel!
In order to fully uncover the secret of net.general, I intend to buy the
very next '67 Plymouth advertised there for sale in Illinois, and learn
the secret of rapid intercontinental travel. Who knows, some day I
may be able to commute from that apartment in Mississippi!
--
Bob Cunningham ..{dual,ihnp4,vortex}!islenet!bob
Honolulu, Hawaii