Due to finding myself up to my eyeballs in junk e-mail and viruses every day, and being sick of it, I have instituted an e-mail firewall that automatically sends to a black hole, all e-mail that I haven't explicitly specified as desireable. If I don't know you, your e-mail may or may not be immediately deepsixed without me ever knowing about it, unless you are on the accepting list.

Your messages will not be bounced; you will receive no notice of their demise. But read further.

   Update from the below: October 30, 2002
   The abusive suckers are getting more inventive, so now every e-mail
   address that is not known explicitly to my filter is unceremoniously
   ditched with no notification to anyone, not even me.  Therefore, if
   I don't know you, put the magic XYZZY string given below in your e-mail.
   That is the only way it will be passed through.

   I do not use, maintain or own Micro$oft anything as matter of
   principle, so please don't send me stuff in MS-anything format, or any
   format other than plain text; I will simply delete it.  An HTML encoded
   message body will be similarly deleted, as also any email containing
   as attachment: sound files, image files - and naturally, executables,
   unless I know by announcement that you are going to send it and that it
   is somehow important or significant.

   -------------------------------------------------------------------

   If your e-mail originates from, passes through, or even references
   a URL or email address from the following countries:

		# Argentina (.ar)
		# Brazil (.br)
		# Belgium (.be)
		# Mainland China (.cn)
		# Denmark (.dk)
		# France (.fr)
		# Hong Kong (.hk)
		# Italy (.it)
		# Korea (.kr)
		# Netherlands (.nl)
		# Poland (.pl)
		# Slovak Republic (.sk)
		# Turkey (.tr)
		# Zambia (.za)

   it is guaranteed to be diverted to the black hole, unless of course
   you are already an acknowledged friend.  For hundreds of commercial
   origins, there is only irrevocable death.  Other countries and other
   allegedly commercial domains will surely be added to the list, and
   I make no specific promises to keep this file current.

   If your mail comes from any of the above countries or is routed
   through any such site, or originates from:

		msn.com,
		yahoo.com,
		excite.com,
		hotmail.com,
		netscape.com

   and most especially link2buy.com,

   or any other of the free webmail domains, you will need to use
   the following subterfuge for your mail to reach me, again, unless
   you are in the accepted list already.

   There is, however, a pass key through the filters if you, a real
   person, need to get e-mail to me; by including in the subject line
   or the body of your message, the string "XYZZY-10020911" (with or
   without the quotes), my guard dog, Cerberus, will look kindly upon
   you, and give your e-mail leave to pass through the sequence of
   fiery tests for me to see.  That string, or any necessary replacement
   will always be available from this webpage.

   Continuing conversation will result in your being added to the
   list of allowed friends.

My apologies for the inconvenience: there always seem to be assholes who ruin unencumbered freedoms for the rest of us by insisting on being true to their abusive natures.

Although I deplore the unstoppable abuse of bandwidth by these cretins, there is nothing I can do about it. I would rather do what I'm doing than have other assholes in Wash. D.C. pass yet more cretinous laws to control the problem - and not control it at all.

   Thank you for your patience,

	-- Bill


      The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the
      private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause
      endless trouble . . . and there is great danger that our
      people will lose our independence of thought and action . . .
      and sink into the helplessness of [one] who expects his
      government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to
      prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die,
      and, 'in fine', to regulate every act of humanity from the
      cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek
      future admission to paradise.

	-- Mark Twain, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910)