A quick note to let you know how much I appreciate receiving the weekly Netsurfer Digest. Not only does it save me an incredible amount of useless surfing time, the content is superb. The reviews are succinct and to the point, and most of the sites are valuable resources. Thanks again, and keep up the good work!
Sharon M.C. McFarlane
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Congratulations - you've won an award! Your site has been selected by Your WebScout as a "Way Cool Site". You've got an excellent site - keep up the good work.
Adam Thyer
Yippee. - LN
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I love your digest!
Eduard Fabra - Palma de Mallorca, Spain
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Pat yourselves on the back for another great edition of Netsurfer Digest. You guys are liking having my own "Knowbot."
Now if only you could synthesize this stuff (visit all the pages and get what's important to me) and run it to my head while I was asleep using an IR or more advanced hookup. Wow! What a time saving.
Do you think the "Riddler's" device (Batman) is real? Or, perhaps, we should ask, "When will it be real?"
Like your work. Keep it up! Hope your sponsors appreciate what you're doing.
Lawrence Rickard - Falls Church, Virginia
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I just saw the piece on "Life on the Internet" on PBS. I was happy to hear about the site and all your hard work (it will make my job easier). I was also envious of the rather luscious lattes you were having (I'm on the road and currently in a city where the idea is unheard of.)
Lee Fitzgerald
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I found you guys about a month ago. Thanks for all you do. Your e-mailed digest makes my week.
Mike Kuskowski
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Thank you so much for your link to our "BUSSTOPS: International Design Project" site in issue 2.27 of Netsurfer Digest! I did a little dance and jumped around the room when I read your review! (Unfortunately, I don't have any witnesses, so you'll just have to believe me.) Is there any way I can pay back the favor? I'll include a link to your site from the home page. I really appreciate your review and your digest!
Kelly Sutter - Hannover, Germany
A T-shirt'll do. Or pastry. Or even a decent sausage - LN
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Just wanted to say THANKS for a great web site and please keep up the good work!
Alan Browning - Acworth, Georgia
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I love Netsurfer Digest. You are now big enough to have an internal search apparatus. This would be super!
Robert E. Fischel
I agree. - LN
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Just a quick note. After more than two years, I still look forward to your HTML e-mails!!!
King
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I would like to say that Netsurfer Digest is one of the best e-mails I receive. It the best place for me to look for new and exciting places to visit on the web!
Espen Rud
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Thanks for Netsurfer.... Well put together, informative, good orientation. Much appreciated.
Tom Farrell
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Just a note to let you know how much I enjoy your newsletter.I just received my third issue. I actually found myself checking my e-mail waiting for Netsurfer Digest. I have found each issue informative and most of all interesting . Keep up the good work.
Clay
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I've subscribed to this journal for many months now and wanted you to know how much help it has been and that I appreciated everyone's efforts there. I always find something interesting here and often get more from reading the descriptions that going to the site itself. Keep up the good work.
Melody James
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This is the best and most useful electric newsletter I have ever received. Thanks
Mark
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I just subscribed to NetSurf and read your FAQ, and your invitation to e-mail you with suggestions for improvement.
After getting my first issue, I have one right off: There should be a line or two at the bottom of the file (with the other stuff) about how to unsubscribe. Nowhere does it give simple instructions on how to do that. Now I understand I can just modify your subscribe instructions, but it's not obvious. Don't misunderstand me; I don't want to unsubscribe - I'm looking forward to your zine. I just feel it's up-front, fair, and a show of good faith to make it as easy as possible to unsubscribe for those that wish to. It shouldn't be like getting off AOL's membership... ;>
Dean Thompson
Well, it is in the FAQ and on the home page. - LN You have a point. We'll add a note telling people where to get the info. - AB
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Hey guys and girls, love the site, great job of collecting interesting URLs, but some of them today returned a "the server does not have a DNS entry" error message. What gives??
Phil Pearce
It's some temporary mix up between your browser, your DNR cache, and your domain-name server. The sites are there. The remedy is to close your browser and re-open it. This sort of thing sometimes happens to me if I click on a site before I get online. Once my connection is up, Netscape then won't find anything for me, always giving me that message. - LN
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When your HTML e-mail comes in, I save it to disk and rename it. Then I bring up Netscape and "read a file". How does everybody else do it? Is there an easier way?
Don Greer - Tulsa, Oklahoma
That's pretty much it. Some people use Netscape's own mail reader, which can read HTML. There might be a few other mail clients that do too, though Microsoft mail products seem to have a problem. I use Eudora Lite (= free), and use the same method you do. - LN
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I have been receiving your e-zine for a while (probably 6 months or more). While using Netscape's mail, the HTML version appeared perfectly and the links worked. However, since the advent of Microsoft's Internet mail, your e-zine does not come out looking like it used to. There is a clutter of tags here and there. I realize I can change my subscription to text, but following an e-mail link is much less time consuming. I enjoy MS Mail more than Netscape's. My suggestion is to look into the details of MS Mail writing, and try to send out an e-zine that suits better a large part of the Internet society. I remember a beta version of MS Mail when a couple of the NSDs came as attachments. I would even go for that again, rather than this cluttered, unreadable, unenjoyable e-zine through MS Mail. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Netsurfer.
Brad Olsan
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I recently subscribed to the Netsurfer newsletter in HTML format. I am using IE 3.0 and the first newsletter I received was in a bizarre format. Can you tell me why it is not in the HTML format?
Marc Babin
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It's very nice to receive your letters, but now that I am using Microsoft Internet Explorer mail, the message comes a little garbaged.
Gianni Barberi - Italy
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Like I said.... Every product we know of in the Internet world downloads our HTML script correctly except MS Mail and IE, and we don't have plans to accomodate the eccentricities. May I suggest you use another e-mail program? Eudora Light is free. I use it myself for all my e-mail sending/filing needs which are, as you might guess, extensive.
Another thing you should do is to contact the Microserfs and ask them to fix their products. There is no reason in the world they should not be able to read our standard HTML files.
Or you can get the text version, and if clickability is really important, then visit our home page to click away on any interesting tidbits. - LN
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I really enjoy the NS Digest. However, I've missed a few issues. Where can I find back issues online?
Keep up the good work!
Peter
Back issues are available at our Web site or via FTP at "ftp://ftp.netsurf.com/pub/nsd". Go crazy. - LN
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I have been receiving your excellent publication "Netsurfers Digest" for some time now. As part of a general upgrade to our own WWW service, I would like to use this as part of a "current awareness" type service. Do you have any objections to my copying your mailings to our WWW server for general access?
Colin K. Work - University of Southampton
Why don't you just include a link? It's a lot less work then having to copy every issue, and we get some idea of how many people are reading us from your site (important for our advertisers). We even have a nifty little animated GIF which let's people know we're there. You can find it on our redistribution page: "http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/redist.html" - AB
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I was wondering if Netsurfer has found any articles on how to comparison shop for a location (server) upon which to place one's Web pages for their small business. Some of the issues are of course percent of up-time, costs, and limitations. While I could go to each server location and quiz the webmaster of the details, it certainly would be helpful if someone could pull it all together so that this wouldn't be such a mammoth research project. I have to believe that I'm not the only one out there wondering how to get comparison info. Thanks.
John Vosburgh - Tempe, Arizona
I suppose it would be a task to put into the major search engines a few judicious terms and sort the results. Right now, a project of this scope is beyond us. - LN
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It was just a couple of months ago that I told my wife and kids that I believed that the "billions and billions of stars" people would have to come up with something sensational if they were to survive the coming budget cuts. Today's pop scientists have a great deal to lose if they don't show "real reasons" to keep their programs alive. I told the kids to expect such an announcement and to take it with a grain of salt. We all got a kick out of the recent announcement.
I also told them to just listen politely to the school science teacher if a new announcement was taught as fact. It is so hard for kids to have to explain the difference between the new pop science and established facts to school science teachers.
There are a couple of things from my experience with school science teachers as a kid in the '50s that left long lasting impressions on me. I remember hearing from my grandfather that the earth once had land masses that were joined together. He showed me the globe and explained his reasoning and who he heard it from. I believed him and expressed my opinion in class. Boy, did I get ridiculed by the science teacher. I remember being taught that atoms were the smallest components of matter. I challenged the teacher about this by pressing the point that surely atoms could be made of other components that we didn't know about yet. No such luck... after all, this was "Modern Science" in the late '50s. Modern Science was smugly taught as built upon facts unlike the superstitions of past ages. I wonder how many people remember being told "after all, these are the '60s", then '70s, '80s, and '90s. Soon it will be preached, "after all, this is the 21st Century."
Nothing seems to change. Might I suggest that life on Mars has been a superstition for quite a few years and that Science is not exempt from the fundamentals. Follow the money trail when you want to discover the truth.
Bruce Ramsland
PS: I have a rock in my backyard that just might prove life on Jupiter. I will sacrifice it to the highest bidder.
I understand your skepticism, and admire it. If a few more people expressed such feelings, cold fusion would not have been such a big deal.
You're also right that scientists in danger of losing funding work hard to find something deserving funding. It's the nature of the field. Still, Mars research was already a hot field, with a handful of missions already scheduled for this year and a few more next year. You can work a long time on mission results. Also, the scientists who found the alleged Mars bugs won't benefit too much from more Mars funding. Their expertise is geology and micropaleontology. Until they have additional Mars rocks, they can't contribute more.
Sadly, most high school teachers have two or four-year degrees in education, not the topic they teach. Your grandfather was ahead of his time.... Protons, electrons, and neutrons (at least) were known in the 1950s. Maybe that's what you're talking about? In any case, were you skeptical when quarks were discovered? Muons? Gluons? Scientific advances happen.
Science tests superstitions and hunches. That's the classical definition of science - a test to disprove a hunch. But science follows the money trail regardless. So does everyone else. That shouldn't be a surprise. But in this case, the evidence is substantial. I have a degree in biology and I did some grad work in geology, so I can judge this pretty well. I'd say there's a 70% chance this really is a microfossil from Mars. And that's a fabulous discovery if true. - LN
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About the Kevin Bacon number (NSD 2.24): Wow! Weird, huh? Well, no. Not really. This kind of thing is prime example of the basic innumeracy that pervades our culture. It's been demonstrated (by Stanley Milgrim) that out of the entire population of the United States, the average number of people linking any two randomly selected individuals is 5. The highest number is 10. And here we're looking at only 174,000 people, all of whom are actors. Of course they are connected. There are probably long-time character actors in that data base whose "magic index number" is lower than Kevin Bacon's. If this strikes you as unlikely, read "Innumeracy" by John Allen Paulos.
Karen Davis
Weird - yes. Amazing - yes. But not for the reason you assume. To me, this site is fantastic because someone took the time to do it. Of course any actor with a long career could serve as the focus, and you're right, it's not unlikely at all given any choice. But why would someone set up the Web site? And why would they choose Kevin Bacon of all people? It has enough contact with the bizarre to make me say "wow, what were they thinking?" - LN
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First, I want to thank your staff for taking the time to review Bust'em. (NSD 2.26)
Second, the part "snail-mail for the results".... There are no snail-mail requirements.
Third, most of the concerns that you expressed are built in by design. Delays in receiving and processing the forms are to allow a "cooling off period". In many international business cultures a complaint is very serious, and can do irreparable harm. It is extremely important that the person filing the complaint be out of any stage of angry reaction and has thought through what they are about to do. This is to protect both parties - making a charge when one thinks they are correct only to find out later that there was a factor they may not have considered can backfire on them.
For the record over 90% of the complaints that have came to us never reach the point of an official complaint being entered in our records.
Our goal is to increase the confidence level of the general public in doing business via the Internet, not to create a list of names. Bust'em's primary purpose is to be a tool to help people resolve their differences and increase the confidence.
Nick Baker
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The little boy who hacked the Department of Justice Web site should have remained at school beyond the third grade. In so doing, there is the remote possibility that he would have learned to spell "Fuhrer" and "Heil".....after all, there is no point in being radical unless you have the minimum tools to do the job.
I remember when a "hacker" was considered somewhat quasi-intellectual, perhaps even amusing (Cyber Robin Hood) whereas the contemporary genre is little more than an unimaginative purveyor of immature graffiti. Sad to see even hacking reduced to the lowest common denominator.
Anonymous
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This is in regard to the bit on the hacked DoJ website. Yeah, there was genitalia on the page, but it was more like a handful, instead of the faceful you stated. And I don't consider bringing attention to the fact that our wonderful US government (through legislation like the CDA, the Clipper Chip, and banning strong encryption for the masses) to be ranting.
For such a net-saavy publication as you claim to be, you were way off the mark with your evaluation, and now I have a pretty good idea where your priorities are as far as personal rights. Shame, shame!!
Earl T. Bryant, Jr.
My dictionary defines rant as "to speak or disclaim extravagantly." I stand by the use of the term. A non-rant would be the same hacked page with quotes from the recent court decision or a coherent essay, or some other subdued expression of distaste. I also stand by calling the attempt sophomoric, since it doesn't take a whole lot of wit or thought to post a few pics and bathroom humour.
Second, it should be noted that what struck down the CDA was the US government, the judicial branch - a federal court of appeals.
If you think we disapprove of the hack, you're right. But how much light does that shine on the rest of our thinking? - LN
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First of all, I'd like to thank you very much for mentioning my site, the Virtual Fridge, in your latest edition of Netsurfer Digest (2.27). I noticed a large increase in traffic starting this Friday, and so I figured I had probably been mentioned somewhere. One of your subscribers informed me that the mention came from you, and I wanted to say thanks for the positive review.
Also, I wanted to say thanks for the nom de plume de web I was given, "Andrew Buhloone." While I still go by the name "Andrew Ryan," Andrew Buhloone is certainly one of the possibilites I will consider if and when I ever change my name. No harm done, though, and you don't need to correct it if you don't want to. I didn't get into the Web-based magnetic poetry business as a launching point for a career of fame and fortune (that's what grad school is for, I hear :) ), and I'm more than happy just as long as people visit the V-Fridge, have fun, and write poetry in their spare time.
Happy surfing (and digesting),
Andrew
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The following appeared in the last Netsurfer Digest (2.27): "You'd better have plenty of time on your hands when you visit Random Access Humor '96 'cause it's packed tighter than Pamela Lee's bra."
Isn't there a better way to make your point? Referring to someone's breast size in that way is offensive to many women, including me. I would hope that Netsurfer would try to be more professional than that.
Suzanne Cook
I don't think it's inherently offensive. What way that we refer to it do you find offensive? Better yet, in what way could we refer to breast size that wouldn't be offensive?
To me, that phrase depends on a couple of points (no pun intended):
1) Mrs. Lee has large breasts. That's a fact, though not entirely by nature. 2) Mrs. Lee is nursing her baby. Her breasts are even larger than usual now.
Why is choosing her breasts for the euphemism any more offensive than choosing any other large constrained objects? I admit it's in poor taste, but I don't really see how it offends. For what it's worth, that article was written by one of female writers.... - LN
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NSD 2.23 contained: "... offers traditional/natural solutions to many problems in addition to pharmaceutical means, which may not be something you want to try out on your kid..."
While we certainly appreciate the concept behind a favorable review, we are a little unsettled by your decision to question the content provided by kidsDoctor. Dr. Coffin has been a practicing pediatrician for over 40 years and is highly regarded by his colleagues throughout the medical community. Any suggestion made by him regarding children's health is not only credible and reliable, but is derived from Dr. Coffin's many years of experience. Your comment seems as though you might be suggesting connotations of "quack medicine." We'd appreciate your confining your future criticisms to the "objective" rather than "subjective" nature (unless, of course, you are a practicing medical professional).
Thanks for your time and the review...really.
kidsDoctor
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In response to Netsurfer Digest 2.28's "Although it may sound like a hangout for audio-visual geeks, AVWeb is actually a well-respected site for those of the aviation persuasion. AVWeb features the latest in avionics, news, safety information, weather, airmanship, systems and products - and that's certainly not all," I am sending the following for your consideration:
Although it may seem like a small habit to break, ASKYOURSELFWeb makes slightly changing one's wording easier than not voting for Bob Dole. It is virtually a well-regarded site for those of the previously stubborn persuasion. ASKYOURSELFWeb has easy-to-learn techniques, the highest regard for Netsurfer Digest and gentle reminders that language is a very dymanic, state-of-the-art art. All without the least bit of sarcasm - and that's not all. If you're a real caveman, test your ability to learn something easy. To enjoy all of ASKYOURSELFWeb, the author asks that you simply think about ALL the people you mean to discuss, and there's no charge for access. It's definitely worth the visit. http://www.humblyopinioning/askyourselfweb.com/
Note: Your publication is excellent and I look forward to reading it everytime it arrives. The sites you choose are always interesting and the writing is clever and smart. I was surprised to see this slip through. If you've gotten this far, I thank you for it.
Psycott
The first time I read this complaint, I though the word "geek" was the problem. It turns out the complaint was about "airmanship" and its sexist connation. Sometimes you have to weigh your choice between offensiveness and clarity, brevity, and common sense. Here, the latter triad wins out. - LN
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I just finished surfing through my Netsurfer Digest 2.29, and noted that the folks at Web Monkey claim their site doesn't require registration. Not true - I just jumped to their Web Monkey home page and was confronted with a registration requirement just one level away, still within Web Monkey (the "Tune Up" section). To be fair, nothing else seems to require registration. However, the "Tune up" section looked like the best feature of the site (I dunno if it is, since I was put off by the lengthy registration form and never made it back to the Tune Up section). I think the folks at HotWired are monkeying around with you... (ouch!)
Pam Bachorz
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I am writing in response to a recent article in Netsurfer Digest about Yahoo's latest project: city guides.
This venture on their part brings to mind a tourist commission recommending tours. The reason I say this is because I see it as a threat to all of the hard-working webmasters of city sites who are natives, simply love their city, and willingly spend day and night sharing it with others. Soon, when anyone types in "New Orleans" "Los Angeles" or "New York" at a search engine, I feel sure I will know which site will show up first... even second and third. However, only savvy Net users will know that some of the best sites can be found on the 2nd, even 3rd or 4th pages! The rest will go straight to those sites...
I personally feel this is an unfair situation to those webmasters who have developed quality sites on their cities and daily help visitors by answering their questions, making recommendations, etc. How will a search engine be able to fill this role?
I am the webmaster of "Experience New Orleans!" and a native New Orleansian. I have always loved my city, and feel honored to be able to share it with others in this way--after having continually done so on a personal level ever since I was first online years ago. Representing Mardi Gras Krewes as well as areas of our city many never hear about, I hope my love for my city shows through everything I write as I continue to share the best of New Orleans with everyone.
I think it will be unfair to everyone who is part of a local site when the search engines position themselves as experts on every city...and place their sites above all others.
A visitor wanting sincere recommendations or having real questions about a city will never be able to find that content on a search engine's site. That is why local city sites maintained by lifelong residents are often preferred by netsurfers. It's a shame many of the search engines will now make them difficult to find... if not put them out of business altogether (press does wonders for a site, and of course, they will receive more press!)
My opinions are based on correspondence with editors of an unnamed search engine. I was asked if I would like to design a New Orleans page for a project on cities. This project was to be based on content from sites already online that had been developed locally. I agreed to help; I was then told that editors reviewed my site and decided it was too "competitive." They didn't want any links back to it!
That is why I feel that search engines are trying to compete against local sites, using their info, but treating them as competitors. Strange - takes away all of the objectivity of a search engine. Don't you think so?
Judy Weitz - New Orleans
I wouldn't call Yahoo a search engine. I'd call it a searchable index. Search engines, to me, have to be purely objective. Alta Vista and Excite come to mind. So far as I know, they don't do anything but plug in raw databases. I don't know the particulars of your case, though.
Also, the word "competitor" is an odd one to apply to Web-stuff. Is it competition for visitors, ad dollars, noteriety/fame...? - LN
For what it's worth it should be noted that Yahoo city-centric sites include many links to other city guides. Will they use their power over their content to show up first in their own listings? Of course, but there is nothing wrong with that. They earned that right by the quality of their material which led to their popularity. In any event this does not prevent anyone from coming up with better guides, promoting them and becoming more popular then the Yahoo guides. Think of it as a challange. - AB
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I really love your newsletter, but I am afraid a bit of Northern Hemisphere chauvinism is creeping in. Every now and then you refer to events happening in the "Fall" as if this parochial northernist label for the "Up Over" autumn has some kind of pan-planetary significance. We think terms like "First Quarter '96" are more politically correct. And in the last NSD (2.30), under the heading "Ski Site", you asked folks if they like skiing enough to "visit a site devoted to them in September?" As a southern hemispherean, I find nothing odd about people skiing in September. It is often the best time of year to go! To us the real weirdos are the folks who spend their Decembers and Januarys talking about the snow!! I am sure that as enlightened nortenos you will do your best for inter-hemispheric relations in the future!!
Tim Gillin - Disgruntled Southern Hemisphere Patriot
Thanks for the laugh. I hope it was intentional. I knew someone would write in about that. By the way, one of our writers is an Australian. - LN
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While I'm not a fan of political correctness, I was very distressed to see you give the MIT Heather Has Two Mommies page top billing. This rather tiresome bit of prose (talk about a one trick pony!) is a mean-spirited parody of a serious children's book by Leslea Neuman.
I'd find the MIT pages funnier if the real "Heather Has Two Mommies" hadn't been the target of numerous attempts at censorship. For examples, see:
http://www.ncac.org/l&gbooks.htm
http://www.albany.edu/~ms0669/nonprint.html
http://borg.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter95/McCracken.html
http://simr02.si.ehu.es/FileRoom/documents/Cases/32daddysRoommate.html
I have a good sense of humor, but due to the numerous attacks that this highly regarded children's book has faced, I found the MIT page to be tedious and distinctly unfunny. I hope you'll feature more positive examples of humor in the future.
Laura Cooksey
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that you actually put all my three mails to you there for the world to see has thus satisfied my exhibitionistic indulgences and your need to fill up your letters page
i am seriously amused and fulfilled life cannot be better you must be equally vindicated after having been annoyed by so many mails from the same guy
you shall be remembered when i get famous but for now i have to content with your ftp site being one of my many claims to fame
all is at peace
god bless you
KS Pang - Malaysia
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sorry did i say ftp gosh didnt realise that you got me that delirious
KS Pang - Malaysia
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I recently saw my letter in letters to the editor and I felt it was a great honor to be published in NSD. Now I have to think of a unique topic for another letter so that I can be the first one to have TWO letters published in NSD. (Did I send this letter before? Deja vu all over again. LOL)
Joe Milon
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Address your letters to
editor@netsurf.com.
Letters and signatures edited for clarity and brevity.