And Another One Rides the Bus
Hacked Emails and Chickenfoot Stew
These days Isaac has been seeing the world in a whole new way. “I didn’t even know I had that cataract,” he said as I plopped down in the seat to the right of his perch at the steering wheel. “Now that I don’t have it I have to look twice at people to make sure I know them. Believe me, I’m noticing more wrinkles.”
I’m not sure if he’s talking about me, but I change the subject anyway, wondering what my bus buddies think of all the ongoing wiki leaks and hacked emails. Thankfully Downer Dave isn’t riding so I don’t have to hear him say in mournful tones that it’s yet another sign of the demise of civilization. Instead, I hear from one man who said he’s too old for technology. “I used to plow with horses,” he gave as proof. Two women just smiled and shook their heads, explaining they didn’t speak English.
That left Isaac, who can be counted on for comment, no matter the topic. He’s not the least bit worried about being hacked. “I kill everything off on email. It comes in, I read it, I kill it.” I made a note to pass this along to friends who are loathe to erase anything from in boxes, including chain letters and pictures of cats. One of them even goes so far a
to print everything she receives.
Isaac said he isn’t too disturbed about any sketchy revelations about politicians who have been hacked, figuring that “we all have skeletons. We’re not all perfect. There was only one person who was perfect.”
“Jesus,” was the comment from a couple seats back. In one fell swoop we were mixing the two topics they tell you not to bring up in public.
Pulling into the station downtown, I ran into Chris, a bus buddy who has two daughters and has struck me over the years as being a good dad. He said he routinely warns them to be careful what they put out on social media, just as I expected.
I asked someone else to name someone whose emails they’d like to see leaked. “Transit,” was the reply. That could be interesting, I agreed, imagining emails along the lines of “Dear TransIt: I was riding the #65 the other day and my dentures started pinching so I removed them into my handkerchief. Now I can’t find them. Would it be possible for you to check your lost-and-found department?”
One of the biggest flaps has been with the leaked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, particularly from John Podesta, campaign chairman. Some of the emails were from his wife asking should she pick up his prescription at CVS and, sweetly, “Thinking of you.” Judging from the leaks, Podesta is a bit of a foodie with someone asking about his technique for making perfect risotto.
Which brings us to Rachel—a TransIt driver who also makes a living from the chickens, steers and pigs on her farm. She’s a woman who cares as much about her passengers as she does her meat customers. Set up at the downtown city market on Sunday, Rachel said she would be upset if she were hacked and the list of her customers was somehow compromised. “I wouldn’t like that at all.”
But she brightened when she thought about what else was contained in her emails. “I have a recipe for chicken foot stew.” Just what the rest of the world needs to know, although I’m thinking Isaac probably already has that recipe.
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