I know that the content here is more important than the couriers, but I found this little item delightfully quirky, a tribute to those which, quite literally, serve us all.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010409S0001
Isn't this Edgar Allan Poe?
John Milton, "On His Blindness"
Hi Max,
Marvellous! I see a connection with the "Empathy" thread
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John Milton, "On His Blindness" You've stumped me there, Max, and pled my ignorance. But I still say it's Poe--the man who kills his wife and seals her up behind a masonry wall in the basement only to be given away by a cat...Lord, don't your little post lead just about everywhere!
Or perhaps the Reverend Trask.
Goodness, IP, you're all over the place here. The Poe story is A Cask of Amontillado and it wasn't his wife, it was a man named Fortunato, who was one of those so-called friends or acquaintances who are insufferably annoying.
Having worked in and around the catering industry for a number of years, I can say with heartfelt sincerity that, "they also wait, who only stand and serve."
Cask of Amontillado
No, No, No, No, No. (1,000x and all that stuff). It's a story about a guy who kills his wife and seals her up behind a brick wall in the basement. Only he doesn't know the cat got in there with his spouse. The law comes to check the place out and the murderer shows them the basement. He's so pleased with his handywork, that he goes tapping all around the walls to prove there's nothing hidden up his sleeve. Well, he taps on the wall what's hiding the crypt and there's a blood curtling cry. The cat, of course. Poor thing. And the rest is...what it is.
I know! It's "The Masque of the Red Death!" Just kidding. Isn't "Cask" the one with that insufferable journey deep into cellar…? Never liked that one. Look, if I'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time, but I'll bet you even money I ain't.
Cat vs Cask
Well, IP, you may be right; I seem to remember vaguely a story entitled, I think, The Black Cat but I don't remember it much, as it isn't one of my favorites (Cask is a favorite). It certainly isn't The Masque of the Red Death; that one is about the plague or something similar if I remember correctly. Guess I'll have to have a look into my volume of Poe when I get home. Let you know tomorrow.
inselpeter ponders: Isn't "Cask" the one with that insufferable journey deep into cellar…?
Yes. It's Mardi Gras or Carnival or some such bacchanalia, and this costumed guy leads his unwitting, besotted loan shark into the catacombs under the city streets claiming they're going to find the cask of the greatest wine ever made. The lender, between his drunken state and the borrower's masquerade, doesn't recognize his borrower and just figures he's going to get more tanked. Ends up he gets bricked into a corner and left to die.
Poe was a disturbed man. But I rather like his work.