The really cool ones date from the very early sixties and before. Those are the ones that began with two letters, an example is FE for the Federal telephone exchange in Kansas.

Later they gave up on that and it was just 33 instead. Very boring, indeed.

We stayed on the Federal exchange, I mean our numbers still all begin with 33, because the Federal exchange was for a small town. And today, it is even smaller, with a population of about 1,500.

And, my grandparent's telephone number from the 1950s was inherited by my younger brother. Later, he died and his widow remarried. And she still has the same phone number!

True Story: Years ago we had a party line. And, also on the party line was someone else who sometimes listened in on other people's telephone calls to amuse herself. One time my mother was trying to place a long distance call, and the eavesdropper was talking on the phone all afternoon long.

Finally my mother discovered that the phone line was free, and so she placed the call to my father. During the course of the conversation, she said to him, "I tried to call all afternoon, but *** was on the phone all day. Forgetting that she was an eavesdropper, the neighbor lady loudly exclaimed:

"I was not!"

Another True Story: This didn't happen to us, but I heard about it. There used to be a telephone operator that liked to listen in on people's phone calls.

But if you listened closely, you could tell when she was doing that.

Because you could hear her chewing gum.

Kind of reminds me of that alien from meatballs 2 http://images.hollywood.com/site/meatballs+2+meathead-1.jpg

check it out...I say twins!

clipped from: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/news-of-the-weird/Content?oid=879896 In April (1992) Richard Dickinson, 25, was allowed out of prison in Hobart, Australia, with two chaperones to attend a concert by his idol, Bob Dylan. Dickinson is in a prison for the criminally insane because in 1987 when his mother told him to turn down the music he stomped her to death to the tune of Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee" and then sprinkled instant coffee over her body. He said he thought his mom was an evil character from the song.

http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1303134031/ Also in 1992, authorities in Hobart, Australia allowed killer Richard Dickinson out of prison to see his idol, Bob Dylan, perform. Dickinson had trampled his mother to death in 1987 while Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee for the Road'' played in the background. He then sprinkled instant coffee over the body. Mom had complained the music was too loud. http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1303134031/ This item appeared in the Melbourne Sun, April 23, 1992. DYLAN TRIP FOR KILLER A man who trampled his mother to death to the accompaniment of Bob Dylan's One More Cup Of Coffee' was let out of prison for a night to see his idol at a Hobart concert. Richard Dickinson, 25, went to the April 11 concert accompanied by a prison warder and a male nurse from Risdon Jail's hospital. The outing had the blessing of the State Attorney-General, Mr Cornish, and the medical team treating Dickinson's schizophrenia, said corrective services division manager Mr Ben Marris. Dickinson killed his mother, Gladys, 59, five years ago after she complained about him playing Dylan's albumDesire' at 4am. He told police at the time he thought his mother was the evil character Isis referred to on the album and the music had given him the strength to kill her. After Dickinson killed his mother, he sprinkled instant coffee over her. Mr Marris said the concert had been the idea of psychiatrists and psychologists who said he had been responding well to treatment. "They were satisfied when he came back from the concert that it was a valuable experience, but we are now talking about the medical treatment of an individual and it's inappropriate for any more details to be revealed publicly," Mr Marris said.

One of those last two links is not correct, and it's not worth the trouble to figure out which one.

The story is true! Amazing!

Oh, and HollisBrown? Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Rock on! From the Sexy Sixties!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRkovnss7sg

Wanna see that with mini mini skirts? And in color, no less!

Remix made in 2008! Wow! This one is the best!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=NnOfj16jABw

http://expectingrain.com/dok/who/d/dickinsonrichard.html The possibility of Dickinson going mad again if Dylan had played One More Cup Of Coffee' at the concert had been given careful consideration and it was decided there was very little risk. "On top of that we ensured his family was aware of what was happening to avoid them meeting him unexpectedly and they supported the move to take him to the concert," he said. "One should note that he was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and that this outing was an extraordinary and exceptional situation." Dickinson paid the $41 for his own concert ticket while corrective services paid for his two guards. The concert was panned by critics and fans with one long-time Dylan devotee saying she was not sure whether Dylan had playedOne More Cup Of Coffee' because all the songs had been unintelligible.

http://www.edlis.org/twice/threads/one_more_cup_cf_coffee_killing.html From USA Today (date unknown): DYLAN OR DIE A Hobart, Australia man who trampled his mother to death to the strains of Bob Dylan's "One More Cup Of Coffee" was released from prison to see his idol perform last weekend. Richard Dickinson, 25, who was found not guilty because of insanity, was allowed to see the show because his doctors said he was responding well to treatment for schizophrenia. Dickinson killed his mother five years ago when she complained that he was playing Dylan's "Desire" album at 4 a.m.

867-5309

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQJGzs69fCQ

Trivial minds have trivial pursuits. That describes me very well!

Some of the time, anyway.

I have an incredible story to tell you in person someday. And it's absolutely true, every single word, even though it sounds unbelievable. When it actually happened, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. And it went on after that, but I'm not sure I'll be willing to tell you ALL of the story.

One time I showed one of my aunts who was standing right there what had happened, and then I started to tell her more about it. But I barely got started when she started shaking and told me that she didn't want to hear any more.

To get prepared for the true story, you need to really think about this question:

How many reasonably priced two bedroom apartments with a swimming pool in the complex do you think were there in the entire state of California in 1979 that were available for rent on one particular day?

PS: That was the only time in my life that the hairs on the back of my neck have stood up.

My aunts are living and can verify the first part of the story. As well as my roommate I had there at the time, we are still very good friends today.

But, I was alone when I called 911 about an event that happened in that apartment.

That event kept repeating, and it drove me nuts. I wasn't the only one to experience it, and something else kept happening that only my roommate experienced.

It is easy to follow in the footsteps of another.

The only thing you need to do is make the same mistakes he does.

Andini, that reminds me of something.

Back in '78, here in Lawrence, my roommate and myself had 841-6000 for a telephone number. I just now opened up one of my old college textbooks and verified that.

My roommate was Wayne Cushman, who is now deceased. We inherited that really fine telephone number from a person who was a telephone operator and had found that number was available, and somehow he was able to get it. That was before the telephone company's policy changed, after that telephone numbers that had three repeated digits were reserved for businesses. But since we already had that number, it was all right to keep it, because our telephone operator friend had passed it on to us when he moved away. The way he did that was to add a roommate's name to the listing, and then remove his own.

I kept that number and moved with it after my old roommate moved to Kansas City because it was so much fun to have it. Everyone wondered about it. And also, it was very easy to remember. It was fun to explain to people how I had gotten a number like that! And also, to point out that they would never be able to get a number like that themselves.

It was very interesting to have that number, because the telephone number for Kansas Power & Light, who was the electric provider for Lawrence and the surrounding area at that time, was 843-6000. So, we received an awful lot of calls intended for K P & L.

Being young, dumb, rude, and looking for a joke, we started answering the phone a lot of the time with: "Kansas Power and Light, may I help you?"

I remember taking a message once. I told the person, a child, that the adult woman he wanted to talk to was not available at the moment. Then after the call had ended, I called 843-6000 and relayed the message.

And whenever the electricity went out we got a lot of calls, and we assured every caller that we were certainly aware of that problem, and we were working on it.