Honey, I Finished The Internet

8 Replies to “Honey, I Finished The Internet”

1. Interesting!
   All the more so because I hadn’t realized that bicycle couriers were a dying breed. But when you think about it, of course they are.
   Who needs someone to crash through traffic when you can just PDF and email the thing?
   Frankly – as one who had more than a few close shaves with these barging, road-hogging maniacs in central London – good riddance.

2. I’ve had my close encounters with bike couriers here in Edmonton. It’s a bit unnerving to be walking along a crowded sidewalk and nearly being hit from behind by one of them.
   Hollywood made a movie about bike couriers about 30 years ago (Quicksilver, I think it was called). I saw it when it was shown on commercial TV. I recall that I wasn’t impressed by it.

3. Not ever communication is allowable by PDF. Changes can be made, which is why that can be tricky.
   On the other hand, bike couriers in Canada are allowed a daily flat rate of $17.50 to compensate for the extra food they have to take on board to do their work. Bicycle maintenance is extra.

4. Not ever communication is allowable by PDF. Changes can be made, which is why that can be tricky.
   Some transactions require documents with the original signatures. PDF files wouldn’t be acceptable in those circumstances.

5. I worked in downtown SF in the 80’s … and dodged my fair share of these (literally) insane bike messengers. Dangerously insane. And it should be noted that these bike messengers became the progenitors and leaders of “Critical Mass” – the weekly Friday commute hour mass bike blockage of streets in SF. These people are now (appropriately) called ” Critical Massholes” … and usually also show up to every so-called peaceful protest in SF and Oakland with their Anarchist bandanas covering their faces

6. Locked PDF files are common in our contract dealings with government and specialist contractors. As the government agencies that accept applications for mining permits no longer request hard copies, I humbly note that PDFs are acceptable as permanent.

7. When I was a teenager growing up in Collingwood Ontario I had a part time job with CN. My job was to deliver telegrams that came in. These would come in on ticker tapesPHARMACY and I would paste them onto a CN telegram form, stuff in an envelop and bike to the address to hand deliver. How times have changed.

8. Didn’t realize either they had disappeared. We used to use bike couriers a lot when I had a practice in Vancouver to transport patient charts and legal documents. 20 years ago lawyers refused my offers to send medical legal reports via email so we had a steady, and colorfull, stream of bike couriers through the office. Really miss having this service now as they would also pick up and deliver food.