From: rrhersh@gmail.com   
      
   On Monday, April 19, 2021 at 3:32:39 PM UTC-4, Questor wrote:   
   > For a time a housemate was responding to the Publishers Clearing House   
   > entreaties. "It's only a stamp," they'd say. After a long period of never   
   > winning anything, and informed that their odds are worse than most lotteries,   
   > they gave up responding. The mailings continued for a while and then trickled   
   > to a stop. Until this spring, when they offered some free flower bulbs. My   
   > housemate bit, got the free bulbs, and now the letters are back in force.   
   >   
   > Prize Award Imminent   
   >   
   > Executive Selection Committee Notification   
   >   
   > Gold Circle Members Announcement   
   >   
   > I must commend the writers/designers of the envelopes for their creativity.   
   > Each entreaty seems a bit more compelling than the last, as if some grand   
   event   
   > is inevitably approaching, destined to sweep the reader atop it if only they   
   > would get on board. Each envelope somehow seems a bit more important.   
   > I have seen dozens of mailings from the Publishers Clearing House and they   
   are   
   > like snowflakes -- no two are ever the same.   
   >   
   I have occasionally toyed with the thought of making a trivial contribution to   
   a cause I oppose, secure in the knowledge that they will spend far more than I   
   gave them trying to get me to do it again.   
      
   Richard Hershberger   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)