From: nospam@dfs.com   
      
   Not a troll - this actually happened.   
      
   Was leaving McDonald's the other morning, and an older homeless lady   
   (toting a rolling suitcase with a pile of clothes and blankets on it)   
   was sitting/resting on the curb near my car, so close I couldn't get   
   into it, let alone back it out.  It was cold and windy, so I guess she   
   was just getting out of the way of the weather as much as possible.   
      
   She offered to move right away, and I saw she was older so I helped her   
   up by her hand.  I was curious how she became homeless, so I asked her   
   some questions and ended up conversing with her for about 15 minutes.   
      
   She was an intelligent woman of 73 (divorced, with a son and daughter),   
   so I was surprised she was homeless.  But like many homeless she had   
   some mental issues; she tended to ramble on a lot, and said was being   
   persecuted for being a Christian.   
      
   Our conversation at one point turned to employment and I said I had   
   worked in IT for a long time.  And here's the weird part of the   
   encounter: without talking about operating systems or anything   
   technical, she specifically said she liked Linux, had used RedHat, and   
   knew Samba!   
      
   I was kind of floored.  It's unusual for older women to even use Linux,   
   let alone like it.   
      
   (something else surprised me: Linux users usually ask for your spare   
   change, but she never once hit me up for money.)   
      
   At one point I asked where she was going to spend the night, and she   
   said "Over there" and pointed to a nearby sidewalk outside a business.  Sad.   
      
   I had to conclude our conversation, so I wished her well and said   
   goodbye.  Best of luck to Kathy.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)