We live in a connected world. This means we can quickly find a part for our car or verify that Val Kilmer was in the film Willow. The more viral and connected we get, the shorter the time span between seeing something and acting. Usually, this works for the better, but there are often unintended consequences. Tom Scott breaks down the possibilities in this brilliant dissection of viral sprouting into real life. Rusty Van Horn does the same in his take on Craigslist Revenge.
I hate Craigslist.
Last week I was trying to fix this engine from my sisters Camry (flood car; long story) and had cleaned the block up pretty good.
I was running short on cash and didn't want to have to sell the block to buy baby formula, so I listed just the valve cover - Hey, the local pick and pull is up the road, and in a pinch I can snag one for under fifty
So this prick calls me, says "Yeah, I'm real interested" and begins asking me all kinds of strange questions. At first I thought he was some kind of pervert, but then he agreed to show up at my place to see the valve covers.
I didn't expect them to sell so quick, so I tried like hell to clean them up good with a magic eraser, then some bumper polish I had (it was dry and chunky, but did the trick)
The paint half wore off on the damn things, so I was real nervous when the guy showed up.
He was like, jumpy, was all excited about the valve cover, and asked if I had an engine as well.
I asked him how much he got, and he said "enough"
I was like, fuck it, sell the thing for twice of what its worth, and I'll get my sister a Neon instead.
Then whammo, like right on queue, a group of no neck thugs slam through my garage, pick up the engine, one guy slams me into the wall, and they all run with all my shit.
The picture above is what they did my garage.
Craigslist sucks