Every week people send me the forwards they've been getting. I pick the best specimens for the wall. Donors are listed by initials and town, the way the big museums do it, except they put the names in brass.

The Nickel Stamp for E-mail
Donated by M.L., Fremont, June 1999

A warning that Congress is about to pass a bill letting the Post Office charge five cents for every e-mail you send, to make up for all the letters people don't mail anymore. Write your congressman, and forward this to everyone!

Curator's note: There's no such bill. It even gives a bill number and the name of a congressman, and neither one exists. Congress can't agree on much, but it hasn't agreed on this.

The 3:15 Wish
Donated by T.R., Sunnyvale, July 1999

Make a wish, send this to fifteen people in fifteen minutes, and at 3:15 tomorrow something wonderful will happen.

Curator's note: In the interest of science I did it. At 3:15 the next afternoon my phone rang. It was my dentist's office, confirming my cleaning. I'll let you decide whether that counts.

The Free Sneakers
Donated by B.T., Sacramento, August 1999

A big shoe company is tracking this e-mail (of course it is), and if you forward it to enough friends they'll mail you a free pair of sneakers in your size. They never ask for your size.

Curator's note: B.T. reports that he is still wearing the old ones.

The Friendship Rose
Donated by my sister-in-law, Modesto, repeatedly

A rose made out of punctuation. Send it to ten friends, including the person who sent it to you, to show them you care. If it comes back to you, you are truly loved.

Curator's note: It's hard to be grumpy about this one. Nobody's promising money and nobody's threatening anybody. I've planted our own rose here in the museum garden. You may enjoy it right where it is.

    @}~~~,~'~~

The Hundred-Name Petition
Donated by J.K., Santa Clara, September 1999

Add your name to the bottom of the list and forward. When it hits a thousand names, send it to (an address that stopped working in 1997).

Curator's note: An e-mail petition is a list of names that nobody can check, sent to an address nobody reads. And the copy J.K. got had the same list of names three different times, because it had split up and come back together along the way. Want to change someone's mind? Write them a real letter with your own name at the bottom.

Got a specimen for the wall? Send it to the curator at [email protected]. Please forward it only to me.

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