All my distant lovers, What's happened? After levelling out for a bit we're suddenly beginning to leap with new listees again, which makes my simple heart glad. A cheery, slightly blushing hello then to everyone new in Sinisterland. And pats on the back at the patience of new people who wait in silence until they can post, rather than yelling at me. I'm very pleased people do stick around, being a little apologetic if determined about the whole nursery thing, and I hope you all feel welcome here, even if you don't know who "Tim Hopkins", "Duke" or "Stuart Murdoch" are. Yet. I can assure you that in a few months time, you, like me, will have your nighttime dreams invaded by such shadowy figures, and some of those dreams might be rude too. Mine haven't been so far, but it's only a matter of time. Anyway, to anyone new, this place sometimes feels a little... forbidding when you first stop by. I just want to assure you it isn't, it's just got a History, which is a different thing entirely, and we're all very friendly here, honestly. Sinister Likes New People. Of course it's not *just* those who forget their history that are condemned to repeat it, as demonstrated by the appearance of anagrams, which you could set your watch by. I'm allowed to say this without sounding cheeky, because I sent some B&S anagrams to the list about 18 months ago. Bleed Satan Lesbian indeed. Hey! What's this! A "ListSearch" box at the top of the front page of the Sinister WWW site? "How handy!" I hear you all cry. Hmm. This week in my Handy Hints section I'll also tell you all of a new command you can use to manipulate the list for your own evil desires: - The "nomail" command - This is useful if you're going away but don't want to resign your membership - just send the command: set sinister nomail (or sinister-digest) to "majordomo@majordomo.net" and lo and behold, everything will go quiet till you send a "set mail". Useful for long weekends away. But please remember: don't be afraid to leave the list if you're going to come back later and want to avoid the nursery: if you've BEEN a member you will skip straight back in again when you return, even if you un- and re-subscribe. Next week: the delights of "set digest". Some of you might have found the WWW site or even mail a little slow recently: the reason appeared yesterday. Apparently a major line between the UK and US was severed by.. a fishing trawler somewhere between the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Seriously. Faroe Islanders on the list take note. I think this is a fabulous excuse, better even than "the dog ate my homework, miss". Sir Michael of Steadiness decreed:

A quick trip to the archives reveals some fiendish font tomfoolery has taken place. Whether it's my browser, the archive software or a deliberate act by Honey...

Erm.. ok I've been using all you archive readers as subjects in mad scientist experiments with HTML, and I make no apologies (until someone belts me) because I like it. And I'm not very good at HTML and am "honing" my "skills". So yes, if you've seen fonts on the Sinister pages go all loopy recently, it's down to me. As Mike pointed out, I've tried to make the pages for messages to the list look like your Aunt Fanny writing to you from Sinister Towers: well that's if you have a font called "Lucida Handwriting" installed on your computer (if not I'm sure you can get it from www.microsoft.com etc., or your local pet shop). Also something called "Comic MS Sans" might make the whole WWW site look a little... more digestible. If however I've made a right mess up of your viewing pleasure, then do let me know. No-one who knows me trusts me with a screwdriver. I should also record my joyful thanks and big eyed wonder to "Pam n Mike" Pam Berry for a fabulous birthday present sinister photo-album made from a spookily appropriate old childrens book. Anyone who sends presents like this is bound to make nice music: how come no-one talks about Glo-Worm on this list? I'm going to fill my new album with photos from the "private" Sinister Nudie Photos Page, URL only known to those who have sent me nudie photos. Get your entries in now. Oh and - don'ch'all think (it's catching) that we could do with some more pinups? A gentle reminder the anyone (which means you, dear reader) that sending a photo of you now, you when you were 2 foot tall, or your maths homework last night in JPG format will secure you a place on the Sinister site in the "How We Are Now", "How We Were Then" or "Things We Made At School Today, Mummy" pages. Just send them along to me and don't be so shy. http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/index.shtml#photos How come no-one talks about "Appendix Out" on this list? I just heard a couple of tracks by the fabulously named scottish band on a cheapo Creeping Bent compilation and they're fantastic: like Chris Leonard in bed with Will Oldham. That's not an accusation, merely an observation, but I'll be selling pictures privately from home. Finally, Viscount Andy Tracey noted that he seems to have lost the ability to read anything other than pamphlets after studying Physics - yes exactly the same thing happened to me. The delightful Damon sent me a fabulous book about 6 months ago and I'm still on page about 40, even though it's a corker of a read. I took 9 months to read my prize from what was maybe the first Sinister competition, a book from Mr Trousers. Isn't it a bit off that the person who runs the list won the prize? But that was in 1997 when the world was young. dr honey xxx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+