HTML MAIL to Tacos List, WAS: End Fed HF Antennas

[Mike O'Dell]

I don't have to decode HTML crap (and it is crap)
because my email client does that for me.

Even so....
I'm still a member of the Flat Earth Preferred Society
even though the Absolutely Flat Earth Society cancelled
my membership. The unpleasant reality is that dealing
with email expecting clean ASCII is as pointless as
using TELNET to talk to web sites. It's not impossible,
but like many other things, it's no longer realistic.
(and I *have* done that.)

One cannot reasonably deal with documents these days without
coming to terms with PDF (in spite of what the IETF steadfastly
refuses to acknowledge). While it is theoretically possible
to extract the text from a PDF, operationally that is an
act of desperation, not convenience.

Likewise, HTML is one of those dreadful
facts of life, like Intel X86 processors and Windoze.
There is no rational explanation as to why they are successful,
other than "it just turned out that way". 

HTML was a bad idea long before it was invented, back when it 
was SGML and SGML was intent on taking over the world. 
What I can say, having reviewed the SGML drafts along the way
in wide-eyed horror, HTML sucks a whole lot less than it might 
have had Sir Tim been less willing to slash and burn the 
necrotic tissue, cutting SGML down to something that is 
arguably usable if clearly not a well-designed alternative.

Another reality is that people who can use ASCII on the Internet
for all their needs are now a *tiny* minority. Most people in 
the world need full Unicode to even spell their names, 
so UTF-8 is the minimum capability for ubiquitous email 
*without* worrying about the presetation graphics.

So, Chip, I'm reminded of the advice Dr. Sidney Friedman
offered to the depressed and slightly-unravelled members
of the 4077 MASH unit:

"Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice:
Pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

Personally, I ceded this point a couple of years ago
after fighting tooth-n-nail for at least a decade
because I decided that drowning attempting to hold
back the flood only inconvenienced me and changed
nothing else.

You may well feel profoundly different
which is FB as far as I'm concerned.

      Cheers,
      -mo