Re: =20

[Larry Cartwright <exit60@CABLESPEED.COM>]

brian mcinnes wrote:
> My e-mail about Martin's paper come back to me from the list
> lacerated and with = and =20 at the end of lines.
> Can anyone suggest what caused the = and =20 problem?

Short answer:  This problem is caused by a mismatch of the MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) capabilities of the sender's
mail software and the receiving mail software.

The problem is that there is no one single internet mail standard that
is used by everyone.  There are many MIME transfer encoding schemes
(e.g. 7bit, 8 bit, base64, quoted-printable, etc.).  If I send a
MIME-encoded message using a scheme that is not supported by the
receiving software at the listserver or at your mailserver or at your
computer, you are going to see a few strange characters in the text; in
extreme cases, the message will be a totally unreadable garble of what
looks like random characters.  "=" and "=20" are codes used by some MIME
schemes for linespacing.

If everyone on the mailing list (a) had their E-mail software set to
produce the simple "plain text" MIME format or (b) installed the very
latest up-to-date MIME-capable mail software, no one would ever see
messages with the strange "=20" characters.

IMO, it is easier to explain things like relativity, quantum physics,
nuclear physics or particle physics than it is to explain MIME encoding
:-)    Like physics, MIME-ism has its own jargon; you don't decode MIME
encoding, you unencode it.

Back in the fall of 2001 I ran a MIME experiment on Phys-L with the
assistance of David Bowman and a few other listmembers.  Some of you may
remember seeing those test messages.  Different people with different
software received quite different messages.

Best wishes,

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Cartwright                    Retired Physics Teacher
<exit60@cablespeed.com>              Charlotte MI 48813 USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Good judgment comes from experience,
  and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
- If you're leadin' the herd, take a look back
  now and then to make sure it's still there.
- A good time to keep your mouth shut is when
  you're in deep water.
- Learn from the mistakes of others.  You ain't gonna live
  long enough to make 'em all yourself.
- If you're lookin' for permanent employment,
  scratch a dog.
                        -- from The Cowboys' Guide To Life
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~