[1288] in Humor
HUMOR: Truch is once again strange...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew A. Bennett)
Thu Feb 1 14:50:58 1996
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 1996 14:37:41 EST
From: "Andrew A. Bennett" <abennett@MIT.EDU>
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 1996 18:33:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: Espacionaute Spiff domine! <MATOSSIAN@aries.colorado.edu>
Subject: a true 'net junky
From: mim@nbn.com (Michele Matossian)
ONLINE HOMELESS MAN IS OFF TO JAIL
By Richard Halstead
Independent Journal reporter
__________________________________
Neal Dewayne Berry could have had his own home page on the Internet, but he
didn't have a home.
Berry, 22, was living in a tent a few feet from the Highway 101-37
interchange when he was arrested yesterday on suspicion of stealing truck
batteries to power his $2,000 laptop computer, cellular phone and modem.
Berry's encampment, hidden from passing motorists by a thick stand of
willow trees and tall pampas grass, was discovered by Caltrans workers
doing routine drainage work in the area.
"We cut back some of the growth and there were about eight to 12 truck
batteries," said Don Lehnhoff, a Cal trans maintainance supervisor.
Cables led from the batteries to a small geodesic tent pitched beneath a
redwood, Lehngoff said.
That's when Lenhoff called the police.
"I was going to let him go until I saw the batteries," Lehnoff said.
Novato police Sgt. Jim Laveroni said Berry treated arresting officers to an
Internet surfing lesson before being taken into custody.
From his warm, dry jail cell at the Marin Civic Center last night, Berry
said he took up residence in the great outdoors when the company he works
for moved from Los Angeles to Novato a year ago.
Body Tools sells massage devices and other bodycare items, Berry said.
Berry worked 40 hours a week handling shipping, receiving and inventory
control for the firm, which in return paid him $1,000 a month.
At that rate of pay, Berry said finding housing was impossible. "There is
no sensible rent in Marin," he said.
By living in a tent, he could cover all of his living expenses with $500,
leaving money left over to buy computer equiptment.
Berry purchased his Toshiba laptop computer new for $2,000 at Circuit City.
"It has five megabytes of RAM, a 350 megabyte hard disk and an
active>matrix color VTA (state of the art color graphics)," Berry said. "I
got a
deal on it."
Berry got his digital phone from Cellular One. "For $50 a month you get
unlimited nights and weekends," Berry said.
Hooking the batteries to the computer and cellular phone was easy, he said.
He bought the conversion equiptment at Radio Shack.
He paid $35 a month to Urbanite, a Palo Alto-based bulletin board service,
which linked him to the Internet.
He regularly surfed the global computer network but he had to visit a
nearby gym to shower.
Berry, a lean young man with long blonde hair, smiled when asked about the
irony of a homeless person spending his money on computers.
No one was more surprised than the people he was communicating with via the
Internet, he said.
"They tripped out whenever I told them," Berry said.
Berry, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, said he has been computer
hacking since he was 17. He uses computers mainly to talk to other people.
He said he was planning to move to Eugene, Ore., soon to link up with
people he's been chatting with via the Net.
Some of his longest relationships have been with people he's communicated
with by digital pulse.
"I met the girl I almost married on the Internet," Berry said.
