272 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
272 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
---
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id: 0c31ccbe-51b7-46df-8b7a-418fe4193428
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projectId: f2d5e497-5a16-4033-864a-0df066e05e17
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title: About
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slug: about
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status: published
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createdAt: '2010-11-13T10:27:56.000Z'
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updatedAt: '2010-11-13T12:19:15.000Z'
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categories:
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- page
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tags: []
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author: hugo
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publishedAt: '2010-11-13T10:27:56.000Z'
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---
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```
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Network Working Group N. Borenstein
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Request for Comments: 1437 Bellcore
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M. Linimon
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Lonesome Dove Computing Services
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1 April 1993
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The Extension of MIME Content-Types to a New Medium
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Status of this Memo
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This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
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not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is
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unlimited.
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Abstract
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A previous document, RFC 1341, defines a format and general framework
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for the representation of a wide variety of data types in Internet
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mail. This document defines one particular type of MIME data, the
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matter-transport/sentient-life-form type. The matter-
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transport/sentient-life-form MIME type is intended to facilitate the
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wider interoperation of electronic mail messages that include entire
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sentient life forms, such as human beings.
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Other informally proposed subtypes, such as "non-sentient-life-form",
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"non-sentient-non-life-form", and the orthogonally necessary but
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nevertheless puzzling "sentient-non-life-form", are not described in
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this memo.
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The matter-transport/sentient-life-form MIME type
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In order to promote the wider interoperability of life-bearing email,
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this document defines a new MIME content-type, "matter-transport",
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and for an initial subtype, "sentient-life-form". This subtype was
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designed to meet the following criteria:
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1. The syntax must be extremely simple to parse, to minimize the
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risk of accidental death due to misinterpretation of the standard.
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2. The data format must be extremely robust, with redundancy to
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ensure that individual life forms will survive and be
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reconstituted in such a form as to be nearly indistinguishable
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from their initial state, no matter how many bizarre email
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gateways are encountered in transit.
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3. The syntax must be extensible to allow for the description of
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all yet-undiscovered aspects of life forms which will be required
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for the transport of non-human species (e.g. dolphins, Klingons,
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or politicians).
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4. The syntax must be compatible with SGML, so that with an
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appropriate DTD (Document Type Definition -- the standard
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mechanism for defining a document type using SGML), a general SGML
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parser could be written to parse the data structure and produce
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directives to a lifeform-reconstitution mechanism. However,
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despite this compatibility, the syntax will most likely be far
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simpler than that of full SGML (so that no SGML knowledge is
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required in order to implement it), since it is anticipated that
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the full complexities of SGML will not be necessary for the
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description of even arbitrarily complex organic life forms.
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The syntax of the new content-type is very simple, and indeed makes
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considerable sacrifice of efficiency in the interest of simplicity.
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It is assumed to describe a three-dimensional rectangular solid, with
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the height, width, and depth (calibrated in centimeters) specified as
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parameters on the content-type line. (In general, this should be a
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cube that completely contains the life form being transported; but,
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where high bandwidth is not available, a somewhat smaller cube can be
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used, provided that facilities are known to be available at the
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recipient's end to administer the medical first aid that could be
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necessary if an individual is reconstituted sans some of its
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extremities.) A fourth parameter gives the resolution of the matter
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scan, calibrated in Angstroms. Thus, the following Content-type
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value:
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Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form;
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height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=10
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implies that the cube being described is 60 cm by 60 cm by 200 cm,
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and is described to a resolution of 10 Angstroms. The resolution
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gives the quantization unit, and therefore determines the quality of
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the reproduction. The data stream itself then consists of a readout
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of the molecule found at each location, using the given resolution.
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If the resolution is high enough that more than one molecule is found
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in a given location, the molecule whose nucleus is closest to the
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center of the cube is used. Each molecule is described by its
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molecular formula, rendered in ASCII for maximum readability if
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matter-transport mail is inadvertently delivered to a human recipient
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and displayed on a terminal screen. Each molecule is followed by a
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space (ASCII 32) to separate it from the subsequent molecule
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description. Extremely long molecules may require the use of a
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content-transfer-encoding such as quoted-printable, to ensure that
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line-wrapping mail systems do not, for example, cause the unintended
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breakdown of complex proteins into their constituent elements.
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The following is a message that gives a somewhat simplified rendition
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of a well-known American politician, starting from the top:
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From: "Nathaniel S. Borenstein" <nsb@bellcore.com>
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To: Mark Linimon <linimon@lonesome.com>
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Subject: Think hard before reconstructing
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Content-description: Dan Quayle, low-res version
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Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form
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height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=100000
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Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
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Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe
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Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
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Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
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Obviously, a real politician's skull is more complex than pure iron,
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as is its interior, but this simplified example should give the
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general flavor of the protocol.
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(A caveat, however, in the reconstitution of Vice-Presidents of the
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United States: allegedly, some of the matter-reconstitution schemes
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currently under development are reputed to perform less than
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optimally while trying to reconstitute areas of relatively high
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vacuum; for instance, their skulls. A recommended acceptance test
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might be to experiment with subjects whose skulls are only at partial
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vacuum, such as Vice-Presidents of Marketing.)
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MHS (X.400) Gateway Considerations
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The proper behavior of a MIME/MHS gateway with regard to the
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transmission of complex multimedia messages is a topic of ongoing
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investigation under the auspices of the IETF. The addition of matter
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transport should not significantly complicate that effort, as it is
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already necessary to specify gateway behavior for MIME types that
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have no X.400 equivalents, and matter transport is simply another
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such untranslatable type.
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However, real-world X.400 gateways might be considered to
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significantly increase the hazard that mail containing a human being
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will be rejected with a message so cryptic that the recipient deletes
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it without ever realizing that an embedded human being is enclosed.
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For this reason, it is recommended that the subject of matter
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transport be explicitly marked "for further study" in the next
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generation of the X.400 specification, X.400-1996. This will give
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the community ample time to define a more complete specification for
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matter transport as part of X.400-2000, and possibly even a readily-
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implementable specification as part of X.400-2004, although some will
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no doubt argue that this would be too strong a break with tradition.
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Implementation Considerations
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The user is cautioned against passing MIME transporter messages
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through computers equipped with the NFS file system. A no-file space
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error caused one of the laboratory rats on our prototype system to be
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truncated to a zero-length file. Unfortunately we had neglected to
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mount a scratch rat. (We have decided to permanently retain the
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empty filename in his honor).
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Byte swapping problems on other storage systems can be similarly
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annoying, but should not be a problem if network byte order is always
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maintained ocrrcelty.
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Despite the authors' belief in the robustness of the protocol,
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passage of email through certain systems seems to result in the
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sentient-life-form arriving at its destination upside down, resulting
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in an annoying "thud". The cause is still under investigation.
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Interoperation with matter-transporters using polar coordinate
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systems is discouraged, due to round-off and other algorithmic errors
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in certain ubiquitous floating-point implementations, leading to
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results which are best discreetly described as "disappointing."
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Similarly, off-by-one errors should be avoided.
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Widespread adoption of this protocol may lead to an increase in user
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demand for reliable backup systems. More importantly, for the first
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time management may be motivated to adequately fund such systems when
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they discover the possibility that proper email backup may confer
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upon them virtual immortality. (On the other hand, implementors
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should seriously consider the desirability of making their managers
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immortal.)
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An additional concern reflects the fact that, prior to the
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introduction of this content-type, duplicate mail delivery was a
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relatively minor nuisance. With the mail extensions described in
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this document, however, comes the possibility that duplicate mail
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delivery will leave a user with, for example, multiple spouses or
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mothers-in-law. The relative weights of the desire to avoid
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duplicate delivery and the desire to avoid lost mail may change
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accordingly.
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Security Considerations
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Security considerations are not discussed in this memo. However, law
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enforcement officials might wish to consider the possibility that
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this mechanism could be used by criminals, either to escape
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extradition by mailing themselves outside of a legal jurisdiction, or
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to outwait the statute of limitations by mailing themselves through
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complex mail routes with long delays. (One supposes that they could
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also look on the bright side, and consider MIME as a possible
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approach to solving the long-standing problem of prison
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overcrowding.)
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Authors
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The authors of this document may be reconstituted by feeding the
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following data to an Internet-connected MIME reader:
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Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=NextAuthor
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--NextAuthor
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Content-type: message/external-body; access-type=anon-ftp;
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site=thumper.bellcore.com; directory=pub/nsb; name=nsb.flesh
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Content-Description: Nathaniel Borenstein
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Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form
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height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=100000
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--NextAuthor
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Content-type: message/external-body; access-type=anon-ftp;
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site=thumper.bellcore.com; directory=pub/nsb; name=linimon.flesh
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Content-Description: Mark Linimon
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Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form
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height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=100000
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--NextAuthor--
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Authors' Addresses
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Nathaniel Borenstein
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Bellcore Room MRE 2D-296
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445 South Street
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Morristown, NJ 07962-1910
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Phone: (201) 829-4270
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EMail: nsb@bellcore.com
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Mark Linimon
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Lonesome Dove Computing Services
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P.O. Box 20291
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Roanoke, VA 24018
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Phone: (703) 776-1004
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EMail: linimon@LONESOME.COM
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```
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