This is to wish you and yours a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

1998-9

Seriously folks, we were sending out those stylistic "brag and gag" letters before the art form was refined, and after that we conjured up Christmas newsletters which were just as bad. Well, this year we are once again at the apex of tackiness with our minimally revised Christmas homepage greeting card. Not only that, but it's essentially the same greeting we sent last year (and we can use it just like this next year too).

Yessiree bob, for Christmas this year, we are sending out e-mail messages asking people to log on and see for themselves in the event they would like to see what a Christmas card from us would have looked like, and for our offline friends (I can say what I like about them here, can't I; they'll never know) we might send cards giving the URL in case they get web browsers for Christmas (if we can be bothered; maybe if they write us first).

There is an ecological spin to this. It would probably be nice if at least some of the paper consumed annually in Christmas cards were left in the forest, and imagine the relief at the post office if virtual greetings catch on. But none of this is to dilute the message to our friends, which is that we wish you the merriest of Christmas Seasons and the happiest of New Years.