Calling Outer Space
A telecom company has threatened a Malaysian man with prosecution if he doesn't settle a $218 trillion phone bill within a matter of days.
This is my favorite sentence in the story: It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya's father's phone line was used illegally after his death. [Emphasis added.]
By whom, for pete's sake? The entire population of the state in which this man lives? The employees of a division in a large company, all working overtime for the past 2-1/2 months? I have no idea how many people or how many hours it would take to amass that sort of tab (though I'm curious, just as a timewasting mental exercise).
Or maybe this guy is faking his vapors and, in fact, he's been continuously chatting with his father in the Great Beyond. What's the charge per minute for calling the Hereafter, anyway?
(OK, I know this is a trivial story. But the "real" news is so darn heavy these days. Don't you feel the need to lighten up?)
This is my favorite sentence in the story: It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake, or if Yahaya's father's phone line was used illegally after his death. [Emphasis added.]
By whom, for pete's sake? The entire population of the state in which this man lives? The employees of a division in a large company, all working overtime for the past 2-1/2 months? I have no idea how many people or how many hours it would take to amass that sort of tab (though I'm curious, just as a timewasting mental exercise).
Or maybe this guy is faking his vapors and, in fact, he's been continuously chatting with his father in the Great Beyond. What's the charge per minute for calling the Hereafter, anyway?
(OK, I know this is a trivial story. But the "real" news is so darn heavy these days. Don't you feel the need to lighten up?)
