# Human Mail **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 30, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710 "2005-12-30T13:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bradykelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bradykelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradykelly)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/1 "2005-12-30T13:14:57Z")
Has anyone thought about what the thin air and low temperature could do to someone in a crate in the cargo hold of a jet? ☹ * * * Link to column: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051230.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051230.html) – CKDH ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/2 "2005-12-30T13:31:33Z")
> [@bradykelly](#): > > Has anyone thought about what the thin air and low temperature could do to someone in a crate in the cargo hold of a jet? ☹ I’d put money on it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/3 "2005-12-30T15:47:19Z")
Since some (not all who tried) folks have managed to survive flights in the wheel wells of flights, it’s pretty clear that it is possible to survive a flight in the cargo compartment of an airplane. And to clear up a misconception, the cargo area is pressurized, it’s not exposed to outside air pressure like the wheel wells are. Don’t forget, that’s where your pets ride. ---
**Author:** ![slangtruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@slangtruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slangtruth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/4 "2005-12-30T15:52:59Z")
Does anybody else remember the Lou Reed short story “The Gift”, recorded with loud music as backing on the Velvet Underground’s second LP? Google “Waldo Jeffers had reached his limit”. If you’re not in trouble on the way, you might be when you get there… ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/5 "2005-12-30T17:31:52Z")
> [@slangtruth](#): > > Does anybody else remember the Lou Reed short story “The Gift”, recorded with loud music as backing on the Velvet Underground’s second LP? Ha! I was going to bring that one up if no one else had. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/6 "2005-12-30T22:29:29Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, **Brady** , glad to have you with us. When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the column being discussed. Yes, it’s on the front page now, but in a week it will float into the abyss of the Archives; so, it saves searching time to provide a link. No biggie, you’ll know for next time. And, as I say, welcome. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/7 "2005-12-31T23:04:04Z")
Another thought on the column that hasn’t been mentioned: Although, as Cecil pointed out, he _is_ fictional, Flat Stanley still travels frequently via U.S. Mail. Schoolchildren draw their own Flat Stanleys and send them to famous people, who send back photographs and stories of their experiences. Even President Bush has had a chance to meet this intrepid young traveler. Yeah, he’s fake, but then again, so are Beavis and Butt-Head. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/8 "2006-01-03T14:36:11Z")
In Chapter 3 of Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass” Alice is on a train without a ticket. Someone suggests “putting a post on her head” to send her through the mail. Obviously the idea of sending a human being through the mail goes back to the 1800’s. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/9 "2006-01-04T05:48:34Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Don’t forget, that’s where your pets ride. And your Brylcreem. Hasn’t anyone else discovered an exploded mess of goo in their bags, traveling just to Denver? Just think what would happen at six miles high. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/10 "2006-01-04T06:01:49Z")
> [@vertizontal](#): > > How exactly was the Board involved? (referring to Cecil’s comment, “I got a little help on this answer from the Teeming Millions via the Straight Dope Message Board.”) > [@"\[C K Dexter Haven](#): > > ([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6947560&postcount=5](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6947560&postcount=5))"]Since there’s another thread on the same topic here: Human Mail, and since that one was started first, I’m gonna close this and refer y’all over there. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/11 "2006-01-04T19:01:51Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Obviously the idea of sending a human being through the mail goes back to the 1800’s. Right… isn’t that when the actual slave incident mentioned in the column happened? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710/12 "2006-01-06T03:31:18Z")
> [@slangtruth](#): > > Does anybody else remember the Lou Reed short story “The Gift”, recorded with loud music as backing on the Velvet Underground’s second LP? Google “Waldo Jeffers had reached his limit”. If you’re not in trouble on the way, you might be when you get there… There’s also Woody Guthrie’s [Mail Myself to You](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Mail_Myself_To_You.htm) (link is to the lyrics). I heard this on a CD of kids songs just a few years ago. Fun song!