Greetings All, especially Messrs. Bird and Bush, I rise in support of collegiality demonstrated by taking the time to simply be polite and to observe a decent level of mutual respect and undemanding manners in correspondence. What one wants to say can be said in ways not patently offensive, derogatory or larded with enough ad hominems, personal steam and blundering charges to make a post appear to be a large, raging, insane bull. (Capitalize that last "b" if you like.) Many fine examples com to mind of being able to get a point across without such a mess. Talleyrand and Oscar Wilde shine forth as does Twain, the latter sometimes perhaps less so but only because he had the skill to wield a blunt sentence with startling precision. As a former academic, albeit for the briefest of times, I subscribe to this LIST not only because of my lifelong interest in Twain but also to keep my mind attuned to decent discourse, well-proposed ideas and simply to have something to read that doesn't have an advertisement stapled into the middle of it all. I've friends aplenty to talk with on any manner of subjects but it remains something special to me to be able to read and consider the written word in what is essentially an unhurried chain of letters. I would hope that whatever abrasive personal matters a person entertains, however brusque or ironically-challenged their postings appears, could be left out of this LIST if only in the greater service of civilization in general. No matter what one's view of any particular facet of our society is, civilized and congenial discourse is worth preserving, perhaps even actually attempting to enhance. As an old acquaintance of my late Aunt recently said to me, "Honey, don't let the world harden your heart!" I think Twain might agree with that suggestion as well as note that the biggest fools and insufferable noggins in the world were the ones that had lost the ability to laugh at themselves and thus become terribly serious in all things. Thanks to all and I remain Yours cordially, Benjamin van der Wel