Fun_People Archive
24 Oct
Beeper News

Content-Type: text/plain
Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 3.3 v118.2)
From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 97 12:53:34 -0700
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Beeper News

Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: "Keith E. Sullivan" <KSullivan@worldnet.att.net>

BEEP BEEP BEEP ...

Singapore -- the tiny country with the world's highest concentration of
beepers -- honored its 1 millionth pager user, retiree Tan Kang Sai, Friday
with a 22-carat gold-encased pager worth about $2,900 and a free lifetime
subscription.

Always quick to embrace new technology, Singapore introduced beepers in
1973.  Today, one of three people in this southeast Asia financial hub of
commerce carries one.

WhiteBoard News for Monday, September 09, 1996
Joseph Harper <joeha@microsoft.com>

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHANGES IN PERCEPTIONS

Back in the early 80s, I was the only systems programmer supporting a VM
system, and I carried a beeper.  I looked disreputable, as usual, and was
attending a movie (Poltergeist) when, just before the climax, my beeper went
off.  I held it to my ear, and couldn't understand the message, so I went
out to call the message center (and never saw the end of the movie).

The thing that stuck in my mind, though, was the woman two rows behind me
who turned to her friend and said, in a loud, obnoxious voice, "Him, he's
a doctor?"

It is almost ten years later, and I again carry a beeper, and I still go to
movies.  I dread being beeped out of a movie, though.  I can imagine the
loud obnoxious voice from two rows back saying, "Him, he's a drug dealer?"

Nicholas J. Simicich <njs@scifi> [rec.humor.funny.reruns]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
TELEPHONE TAG

When his pager went off during a council meeting in Knoxville, Tenn., police
chief Phil Keith was startled to see that the call was from his mother.
Concerned, he rushed to the press table and phoned her.

"Phil Keith, are you chewing gum?" asked his mom, who had been watching the
council meeting on cable TV.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, it looks awful.  Spit it out."

Keith dutifully removed the gum and went back to his meeting.

Knoxville, Tenn., News-Sentinel

© 1997 Peter Langston