Text 1535, 84 rader
Skriven 2006-05-31 10:25:42 av Mike Luther (1:396/45.0)
   Kommentar till text 1533 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: none
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Of course it does!   Horse laugh!

   ML>> Isn't it amazing what encryption can offer,

 M> It does not really make sense unless one is a native English speaker I
 M> suppose..

 M> 73,


 M> Michiel

Somewhat like of mice and men, International Morse has no provision for the
world of umlauts, right?  Chuckle.  And even if you do speak English there is a
heck of a difference between International Morse and Railroad Morse.

I can guarantee you that the Southern Pacific passenger station station agent
Mr. White, in the mid 1940's, here in College Station, Texas, didn't attempt to
send  ' ... --- ... ' with his hand reaching up over the counter to the
Vibroplex Bug.  The day when the deranged Texas Aggie came into the station to
protest that his wife had left him on the 6:00 PM Sunbeam passenger train
headed toward Dallas.  Where White had sold her the ticket a few minutes before
and she boarded the train.  Screaming at old man White, the Aggie was
hollering, "Stop the train!  Stop the train!"  White screamed back, "I can't!" 
To which the Aggie then took out a pistol and began shooting at him through the
window.  If my memory is correct, the Aggie put 21 slugs in the station walls
in ticket office, of course pausing to reload..  And old man White ducked under
the ticket counter to save his life.

And during the episode, the re-loading process, he snaked his hand up around
over the counter to the bug and sent 'SOS', and *NOT* what you may think.  He
sent the Railroad Morse version with the ' ...  (long dash) ... ' as he told me
later.  Even in English, had he sent the ' ... --- ... ' nobody whould have
understood what STTTS meant!  Which is the real reason, in case you don't know
it why the original Vibroplex Bug has the mechanical dash side paddle
technique.  So the railroad crew could make the long dash for the 'O' letter.

You see, it is still really a cultural question we face here in FidoNet even
down to the core issues when we deal cross culture Mike and others.

It's still the same as it has always been and always ever will be.  You can
have dozens of men or women all with a Scarlet Letter "A" on their chests. And
it isn't the fact that you have one,  It is how you got it that counts. And
what your real purpose is, relative to all you meet, as to what you want to do
with branding whomever with whatever and what for.

Chuckle.

BTW, The Missouri Pacific railroad crew was VERY unhappy with White that
day,culturally speaking.  You see, in the screaming match, he blurted out that
he couldn't stop the train.  He shouted that the man should go down to the
railroad interlocker tower where the SP and MP tracks crossed SOUTH of the
station and take issue with them over this!  Yes, the OPPOSITE direction from
which the Sunbeam roared off with his wife!  Which didn't even have a telegraph
installation.

And, yes, the Aggie did that.  Filled the MP tower up with over 150 slugs from
the rifle he also carried.  Shot out all the glass windows.  Holes everywhere, 
Old man Wilson the tower man, to save his life, jumped up into the steel lever
forest for the switches and semaphores.  And in the next phase of the assault,
when the Aggie left the tower and then went to the A&M field hand's home next
door and shot out all his windows and killed all the pets and livestock, Wilson
.. 68 years old  .. jumped out into the coal plile and ran away and hid for his
life.   They retired both these men early.  And I .. as the less than teen age
kid who Wilson had let switch the Sunbeam through to that day going to
Dallas...

Was quietly asked not to go back to my beloved tower friend who was teaching me
all the rules of the road and letting me switch through the trains.

So .. even if you do know even a given language, unless you really know the
culture in which it is couched, you are still at a loss to even make an
accurate decision about the group.  Much less many cultures all over the world
or whatever is your world.  Even if your heart may really be in the right
place, chuckle.

Mike 1:117/3001 via Telnet on Fido.  Grin.

Mike Luther

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