Re: humorous if off topic (follows on to: Byte Magazine: 18 Vintage issues...)

[Charles Richmond <richmond@plano.net>]

Charles E. Fox wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 04 Aug 1999 22:36:25 GMT, gumby@zembu.com (D. Henkel-Wallace)
> wrote:
> 
> >   From: Michael Black <blackm00@CAM.ORG>
> >   Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 11:58:16 -0400
> >
> >
> >
> .Back in the late '50s someone stole an air express package that
> contained the North American supply of rubber belts for Philips tape
> recorders.
> They probably thought they were getting a radio. Since belts werre the
> weakness of those tape recorders, it made servicing a problem for
> months.
> Also Bell & Howell at one time shipped their service parts in
> obsol;ete camera boxes, but had to quit because so many shipments went
> missing.
> 
I guess they are learning the trick to *not* getting things stolen. 

In the US there's a TV show called "Live It's Saturday Night".  They did
a skit involving a *new* car that could be safely parked in a high crime
area.  To update it a bit, the car might be called a Chameleon 2000.

The car on the inside was very luxurious, with all sorts of electronic
gadgets and stereo equipment, etc.  On the outside, it looked like a
broken down 20 year old car, with the paint chipping, one headlight
broken, and a "simulated" oil leak coming from the engine compartment.

Kind of like the Hope Diamond.  The Hope Diamond is one of the largest
diamonds in the world in a single chunk.  About 20 years ago, the guy
who owned it decided he would donate it to the Smithsonian museum.  The
problem was he lived in New York City, and the Smithsonian was hundreds
of miles away in Washington, D.C.  So how could he safely ship the diamond?

He decided to wrap it up in a pasteboard box and *mail* it to the Smithsonian.
Just sent it via regular mail, and I doubt that he insured it since it would
be worth *millions* of dollars.  And geuss what...it got to the Smithsonian
just fine.  So when you go to see it, you will see a cardboard box in the same
case with the diamond.  That's the box it was shipped in.  (The Smithsonian
keeps everything...they are very anal-retentive.)

-- 
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|     Charles and Francis Richmond     <richmond@plano.net>   |
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