Any one else get mistaken for a Hobo?

On Aug 19, 7:11*am, "
wrote:
On Aug 18, 6:31*pm, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

Per KingOfTheApes:

"I live in a strange little city where the only people that typicly
ride bikes (olther than $3000 carbon fiber jobbies) are hobos and
DWIs, especialy a twenty year old schwinn MTB with a milk-crate trunk-
basket...

Last year one of the bike mags did a story whose essence was
pointing out that in one major West-coast city, the majority of
bike riders were people who could not afford public
transportation.
--
PeteCresswell

It was Bicycling magazine I think. *And Los Angeles was the town
discussed. *But it was not people who could not afford public
transportation as the subject. *Public transport is cheap. *Even
$2-3-4-5 each way for bus or subway. *Compared to gas and parking,
cheap cheap cheap. *Especially parking. *The main bike riders were
homeless, unemployed, day laborers, poor people in this magazine
article. *They could not afford a car, gas, insurance, parking, etc,
etc. *Lots of costs with owning a car.

The city I work in - one of the largest in the state - less than an
hour from the local center of gravity for bicycle transportation -
there are relatively few people riding bikes; and yes, I'd say that
the majority of regular bike riders here are doing so because they
can't afford to drive a car. The bike racks are jam packed outside
the downtown homeless shelter - virtually empty everywhere else. This
town is just chock full of cagers, though - an awful lot of them in
the largest possible SUV they can get their hands on. Have you seen
that movie "Wall-E"? Unfortunately, I think we're still too far from
any day of reckoning (but at the same time much too close).

Mistaken for a hobo? What do you mean, "mistaken for"? ;-) Not sure
what all I've been mistaken for, but once I was walking up to the
grocery store for coffee, and this well dressed guy approaches me and
asks if I know "Clarence". I think about it for a minute (sounds
familiar, but... ), start to hem and haw, maybe partially answer not
sure... then the guy gets impatient (he looks a little jumpy behind
his sunglasses) and says, "I'm tryin' to score." :-)

Here in the Sierra foothills, we have a major climb known as "Slug
Gulch Road". It runs from Fairplay (Mt. Aukum) to Omo Ranch. When
you reach Omo Ranch, the only place to get water is at the local
elementary school. When I go into the schoolyard to use the drinking
fountain, the kids always call me a hobo. And I'm a middle-aged,
middle-class guy riding a Paramount! I think kids are very confused
these days.

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:04:22 +0000, Pete wrote:

Keiron wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:25:06 +0000, Pete wrote:

Tom Sherman °_° wrote:
datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
[...]
maybe ya'll have malaria ?
We will have it in the southern US soon enough due to global warming.


Malaria doesn't have much to do with temperature.

Pete

no?

No.

Malaria has historically been a major killer in Northern Europe as well.
That it is now associated chiefly with tropical countries is more to
do with the success of eradication efforts in the most developed
countries.

Pete

http://www.healthlibrary.com/news2200.htm

Paragraph 8.

Granted I don't know that the person who wrote this has any real
authority but to my mind it stands to reason. Obviously I accept there's
no single factor tho.

Keiron wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:04:22 +0000, Pete wrote:

Keiron wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:25:06 +0000, Pete wrote:

Tom Sherman °_° wrote:
datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
[...]
maybe ya'll have malaria ?
We will have it in the southern US soon enough due to global warming.


Malaria doesn't have much to do with temperature.

Pete
no?
No.

Malaria has historically been a major killer in Northern Europe as well.
That it is now associated chiefly with tropical countries is more to
do with the success of eradication efforts in the most developed
countries.

Pete

http://www.healthlibrary.com/news2200.htm

Paragraph 8.

Granted I don't know that the person who wrote this has any real
authority but to my mind it stands to reason. Obviously I accept there's
no single factor tho.

That's quite a well balanced article, apart from the headline.

Pete

Bill wrote, On 8/19/2009 3:04 PM:
Here in the Sierra foothills, we have a major climb known as "Slug
Gulch Road". It runs from Fairplay (Mt. Aukum) to Omo Ranch. When
you reach Omo Ranch, the only place to get water is at the local
elementary school. When I go into the schoolyard to use the drinking
fountain, the kids always call me a hobo. And I'm a middle-aged,
middle-class guy riding a Paramount! I think kids are very confused
these days.

My dear Bill,
I seriously doubt that any present-day American elementary school
student would call you a "hobo". In fact, I think you would be hard
pressed to find a single child that would even recognize the term hobo -
much less be able to use it in a sentence.

In case you haven't noticed, the term "hobo" is old and has fallen out
of popular use. "Hobo" was not a part of my daily vernacular when I was
growing up - and I'm 51!

--

Paul D Oosterhout
I work for SAIC (but I don't speak for SAIC)

Paul Oosterhout wrote:
Bill wrote, On 8/19/2009 3:04 PM:
Here in the Sierra foothills, we have a major climb known as "Slug
Gulch Road". It runs from Fairplay (Mt. Aukum) to Omo Ranch. When
you reach Omo Ranch, the only place to get water is at the local
elementary school. When I go into the schoolyard to use the drinking
fountain, the kids always call me a hobo. And I'm a middle-aged,
middle-class guy riding a Paramount! I think kids are very confused
these days.

My dear Bill,
I seriously doubt that any present-day American elementary school
student would call you a "hobo". In fact, I think you would be hard
pressed to find a single child that would even recognize the term hobo -
much less be able to use it in a sentence.

In case you haven't noticed, the term "hobo" is old and has fallen out
of popular use. "Hobo" was not a part of my daily vernacular when I was
growing up - and I'm 51!

Here in eastern Iowa/Western Illinois we have a restaurant chain called
"Hungry Hobo".

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
Celebrity culture is an opposite of community, informing us
that these few nonsense-heads matter but that the rest of
us do not. - Jay Griffiths

Tom Sherman °_° wrote:
Paul Oosterhout wrote:
Bill wrote, On 8/19/2009 3:04 PM:
Here in the Sierra foothills, we have a major climb known as "Slug
Gulch Road". It runs from Fairplay (Mt. Aukum) to Omo Ranch. When
you reach Omo Ranch, the only place to get water is at the local
elementary school. When I go into the schoolyard to use the drinking
fountain, the kids always call me a hobo. And I'm a middle-aged,
middle-class guy riding a Paramount! I think kids are very confused
these days.

My dear Bill,
I seriously doubt that any present-day American elementary school
student would call you a "hobo". In fact, I think you would be hard
pressed to find a single child that would even recognize the term hobo
- much less be able to use it in a sentence.

In case you haven't noticed, the term "hobo" is old and has fallen out
of popular use. "Hobo" was not a part of my daily vernacular when I
was growing up - and I'm 51!

Here in eastern Iowa/Western Illinois we have a restaurant chain called
"Hungry Hobo".

OK, guys, I'm 60 and remember Hobo very well, probably because of
watching the Red Skelton show all the time and his Hobo routines.
Remember Roger Miller's "King of the road"? that was popular when I was
in high school in 1965? That was *the* song for my gang of buddies.

Bill Baka

wrote in message
...
[...]

It was Bicycling magazine I think. And Los Angeles was the town
discussed. But it was not people who could not afford public
transportation as the subject. Public transport is cheap. Even
$2-3-4-5 each way for bus or subway. Compared to gas and parking,
cheap cheap cheap. Especially parking. The main bike riders were
homeless, unemployed, day laborers, poor people in this magazine
article. They could not afford a car, gas, insurance, parking, etc,
etc. Lots of costs with owning a car.

Anything over $1 for a pubic ride is outrageous. It is amusing to me how we
all get used to being robbed on a daily basis. I remember riding the subway
in NYC for 10 cents. That was about what it was worth.

If buses and subways are not cheap to use, they are not performing what
they were designed to do, which is to provided cheap transportation to the
public at large. Like I said, anything over $1 is robbery.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

In article ,
Paul O writes:
Bill wrote, On 8/19/2009 3:04 PM:
Here in the Sierra foothills, we have a major climb known as "Slug
Gulch Road". It runs from Fairplay (Mt. Aukum) to Omo Ranch. When
you reach Omo Ranch, the only place to get water is at the local
elementary school. When I go into the schoolyard to use the drinking
fountain, the kids always call me a hobo. And I'm a middle-aged,
middle-class guy riding a Paramount! I think kids are very confused
these days.

My dear Bill,
I seriously doubt that any present-day American elementary school
student would call you a "hobo". In fact, I think you would be hard
pressed to find a single child that would even recognize the term hobo -
much less be able to use it in a sentence.

In case you haven't noticed, the term "hobo" is old and has fallen out
of popular use. "Hobo" was not a part of my daily vernacular when I was
growing up - and I'm 51!

As I understand it, hobos were itinerants who were
willing to work, at least for day jobs. This
differentiated them from bums, who thrive upon
freebie handouts. When railways afforded the prime
trans-continental transportation, hobos abounded.

I also recall the derogatory term: "DP," which was
used hurtfully against post-war European immigrants
during the 1950's, when I first heard the term
in elementary school. Many of my classmates were
children of post-war European immigrant families.

When I came home from school one day, and asked:
"Hey mom, what's a DP?" I received some very
definite & stern social edification -- so much
in fact, I haven't uttered the term until just now.

Hobo pies are good campfire food when done right.
Just scorch 'em, don't burn 'em.

cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

On Aug 19, 2:53 pm, Paul O wrote:

My dear Bill,
I seriously doubt that any present-day American elementary school
student would call you a "hobo". In fact, I think you would be hard
pressed to find a single child that would even recognize the term hobo -
much less be able to use it in a sentence.

In case you haven't noticed, the term "hobo" is old and has fallen out
of popular use. "Hobo" was not a part of my daily vernacular when I was
growing up - and I'm 51!

The word 'hobo' never died. According to my wife, who teaches
elementary school, it is a fairly common word among the kids. Most of
them don't seem to know what it means, or perhaps it has changed
meanings. She spent a few moments explaining the term at some point
last year. Great word.