Mail.Test Mistake -- Last week Yoshiki Shibata accidentally sent a message to our mailing list that slipped through the LISTSERV's setting that allows only me to post to the group. The LISTSERV promptly distributed it to everyone on the list. Yoshiki apologized immediately, and certainly meant no harm. If you haven't replied to the message already, please don't - all replies come to me, and I've received some 300 responses.

Interestingly, the text of Yoshiki's message was essentially, "How are you?" and the vast majority of the responses were an optimistic, "I'm fine," although a few people qualified that statement. The winner was Phil Ryan of Melbourne, Australia, who wrote, "And I am quite well, were it not for the problem of trying to rewrite a Ph.D. in Physics, do a Law degree part-time, and work full-time, as well as be a father to two under-fives." Glad to see so many people doing so well. :-)

On a related note, there's a chance that Internet users will see two copies of this issue. I know some of my mailfiles are being duplicated, and my mail host and I hope to solve the problem soon, so please don't inundate me with notices if you receive the issue in stereo. Thanks!