* Bill Gosper <billgosper@gmail.com> [May 26. 2012 09:55]:

...

Two technical notes ("email trolling"):

Your mail claims Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-7" but then you use the UTF-8 code for "Pi": Char: π (960, #o1700, #x3c0, file ...) point=1485 of 1704 (87%) column=34 This renders the character either corrupted or "invisible" (happens for me (mutt)) in MUAs that behave correctly.

Further you use Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 This means the content is just one big lump of a hex string in the mail-box, making grep useless. I suggest to use Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

cheers, jj

You must be confusing the right way to do things with the GMail way to do things. Despite these irregularities, normally touchy SquirrelMail finds nothing wrong with this GMailing other than receiving two (identical?) simultaneous copies, even though it completely begibbered the πs in my *Subject: * [math-fun] Sum csc($B&P(B k coth 1)/(k log k) converges? [Was: Teacher trolling] (and the Japanese in my Engrish impertinence.)

Seriously, can you tell me what to tell GMail? --rwg

I do not know about Gmail. After some research I found out that my terminal (xterm, supposedly using UTF-8) doesn't display any Greek character (but mu). I assumed xterm would handle UTF-8 just fine, that was wrong. Using konsole (the KDE terminal) I see the Pi's in your mails... Let's try: -------- Greek -------- Ά ά Έ έ Ή ή Ί ί Ό ό Ύ ύ Ώ ώ Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ ς Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω -------- Greek -------- -------- Cyrillic -------- А а Б б В в Г г Ґ ґ Ѓ ѓ Д д Ђ ђ Е е Ё ё Є є Ж ж З з Ѕ ѕ И и І і Ї ї Й й Ј ј К к Ќ ќ Л л Љ љ М м Н н Њ њ О о П п Р р С с Т т Ћ ћ У у Ў ў Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Џ џ Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я ́ -------- Cyrillic -------- -------- Accented stuff -------- A a Á á À à  â Ä ä Ǎ ǎ Ă ă Ā ā à ã Å å Ą ą Æ æ Ǣ ǣ B b C c Ć ć Ċ ċ Ĉ ĉ Č č Ç ç D d Ď ď Đ đ Ḍ ḍ Ð ð E e É é È è Ė ė Ê ê Ë ë Ě ě Ĕ ĕ Ē ē Ẽ ẽ Ę ę Ə ə F f G g Ġ ġ Ĝ ĝ Ğ ğ Ģ ģ H h Ĥ ĥ Ħ ħ Ḥ ḥ I i İ ı Í í Ì ì Î î Ï ï Ǐ ǐ Ĭ ĭ Ī ī Ĩ ĩ Į į J j Ĵ ĵ K k Ķ ķ L l Ĺ ĺ Ŀ ŀ Ľ ľ Ļ ļ Ł ł Ḷ ḷ Ḹ ḹ M m Ṃ ṃ N n Ń ń Ň ň Ñ ñ Ņ ņ Ṇ ṇ O o Ó ó Ò ò Ô ô Ö ö Ǒ ǒ Ŏ ŏ Ō ō Õ õ Ǫ ǫ Ő ő Ø ø Œ œ P p Q q R r Ŕ ŕ Ř ř Ŗ ŗ Ṛ ṛ Ṝ ṝ S s Ś ś Ŝ ŝ Š š Ş ş Ṣ ṣ ß T t Ť ť Ţ ţ Ṭ ṭ Þ þ U u Ú ú Ù ù Û û Ü ü Ǔ ǔ Ŭ ŭ Ū ū Ũ ũ Ů ů Ų ų Ű ű Ǘ ǘ Ǜ ǜ Ǚ ǚ Ǖ ǖ V v W w Ŵ ŵ X x Y y Ý ý Ŷ ŷ Ÿ ÿ Ỹ ỹ Ȳ ȳ Z z Ź ź Ż ż Ž ž ß Ð ð Þ þ Ə ə -------- Accented stuff -------- -------- Some symbols -------- ~ | ¡ ¿ † ‡ ↔ ↑ ↓ • ¶ # ½ ⅓ ⅔ ¼ ¾ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ ∞ ‘ ’ “ ” «» ¤ ₳ ฿ ₵ ¢ ₡ ₢ $ ₫ ₯ € ₠ ₣ ƒ ₴ ₭ ₤ ℳ ₥ ₦ № ₧ ₰ £ ៛ ₨ ₪ ৳ ₮ ₩ ¥ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ m² m³ ♭ ♯ ♮ © ® ™ -------- Some symbols -------- -------- Math and Chemistry -------- ∮ E⋅da = Q, n → ∞, ∑ f(i) = ∏ g(i), ⎧⎡⎛┌─────┐⎞⎤⎫ ⎪⎢⎜│a²+b³ ⎟⎥⎪ ∀x∈ℝ: ⌈x⌉ = −⌊−x⌋, α ∧ ¬β = ¬(¬α ∨ β), ⎪⎢⎜│───── ⎟⎥⎪ ⎪⎢⎜⎷ c₈ ⎟⎥⎪ ℕ ⊆ ℕ₀ ⊂ ℤ ⊂ ℚ ⊂ ℝ ⊂ ℂ, ⎨⎢⎜ ⎟⎥⎬ ⎪⎢⎜ ∞ ⎟⎥⎪ ⊥ < a ≠ b ≡ c ≤ d ≪ ⊤ ⇒ (⟦A⟧ ⇔ ⟪B⟫), ⎪⎢⎜ ⎲ ⎟⎥⎪ ⎪⎢⎜ ⎳aⁱ-bⁱ⎟⎥⎪ 2H₂ + O₂ ⇌ 2H₂O, R = 4.7 kΩ, ⌀ 200 mm ⎩⎣⎝i=1 ⎠⎦⎭ -------- Math and Chemistry -------- If you cannot see some of the above, opening the mail in an editor may render the missing chars visible. cheers, jj