: Canada's casualties Afghanistan mission your PM at work & DND .

	First name	Last name	Rank	Unit	Province	Date of incident
	Demetrios	Diplaros	Private	1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	December 5, 2008
	Mark	McLaren	Corporal	1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	December 5, 2008
	Robert	Wilson	Warrant Officer	1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment		December 5, 2008
	Prescott	Shipway	Sergeant	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Saskatchewan	September 7, 2008
	Andrew	Grenon	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Ontario	September 3, 2008
	Chad	Horn	Private	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Alberta	September 3, 2008
	Mike	Seggie	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Manitoba	September 3, 2008
	Shawn	Eades	Sergeant	1 Combat Engineer Regiment	Ontario	August 20, 2008
	Stephan	Stock	Sapper	1 Combat Engineer Regiment	British Columbia	August 20, 2008
	Dustin	Wasden	Corporal	1 Combat Engineer Regiment	Saskatchewan	August 20, 2008
	Erin	Doyle	Master Corporal	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	British Columbia	August 11, 2008
	Josh	Roberts	Master Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry	Saskatchewan	August 9, 2008
	James	Arnal	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry	Manitoba	July 18, 2008
	Colin	Wilmot	Private	1 Field Ambulance	Alberta	July 6, 2008
	Brendan	Downey	Corporal	Military Police Detachment	Saskatchewan	July 4, 2008
	Jonathan	Snyder	Captain	1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	British Columbia	June 7, 2008
	Richard	Leary	Captain	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Ontario	June 3, 2008
	Michael	Starker	Corporal	15th Field Ambulance	Alberta	May 6, 2008
	Terry	Street	Private	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Quebec	April 4, 2008
	Jason	Boyes	Sergeant	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Manitoba	March 16, 2008
	Jérémie	Ouellet	Bombardier	1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery	Quebec	March 11, 2008
	Michael	Hayakaze	Trooper	Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians)	Alberta	March 2, 2008
	Étienne	Gonthier	Corporal	5e Régiment du génie de combat	Quebec	January 23, 2008
	Richard	Renaud	Trooper	12e Régiment blindé du Canada	Quebec	January 15, 2008
	Eric	Labbé	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment	Quebec	January 6, 2008
	Hani	Massouh	Warrant officer	2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment	Quebec	January 6, 2008
	Jonathan	Dion	Gunner	5e Régiment d'artillerie légère du Canada	Quebec	December 30, 2007
	Nicolas	Beauchamp	Corporal	5th Field Ambulance, 5 Area Support Group	Quebec	November 17, 2007
	Michel	Lévesque	Private	3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment	Quebec	November 17, 2007
	Nathan	Hornburg	Corporal	The King's Own Calgary Regiment	Alberta	September 24, 2007
	Raymond	Ruckpaul	Major	Armoured Corps, The Royal Canadian Dragoons	Ontario	August 29, 2007
	Christian	Duchesne	Master corporal	5th Field Ambulance, 5 Area Support Group	Quebec	August 22, 2007
	Mario	Mercier	Master Warrant officer	2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment	Quebec	August 22, 2007
	Simon	Longtin	Private	3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment	Quebec	August 19, 2007
	Jordan	Anderson	Corporal	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Nunavut	July 4, 2007
	Cole	Bartsch	Corporal	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Alberta	July 4, 2007
	Colin	Bason	Master corporal	The Royal Westminster Regiment	British Columbia	July 4, 2007
	Matthew	Dawe	Captain	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Ontario	July 4, 2007
	Jefferson	Francis	Captain	1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery	New Brunswick	July 4, 2007
	Lane	Watkins	Private	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Manitoba	July 4, 2007
	Stephen	Bouzane	Corporal	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Newfoundland and Labrador	June 20, 2007
	Christos	Karigiannis	Sergeant	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Quebec	June 20, 2007
	Joel	Wiebe	Private	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Alberta	June 20, 2007
	Darryl	Caswell	Trooper	Royal Canadian Dragoons	Ontario	June 11, 2007
	Darrell	Priede	Master corporal	Army News Team, 3 Area Support Group	Ontario	May 30, 2007
	Matthew	McCully	Corporal	2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signal Squadron	Ontario	May 25, 2007
	Anthony	Klumpenhouwer	Master corporal	Canadian Special Operations Forces Command	Ontario	April 18, 2007
	Patrick	Pentland	Trooper	Royal Canadian Dragoons	New Brunswick	April 11, 2007
	Allan	Stewart	Master corporal	Royal Canadian Dragoons	New Brunswick	April 11, 2007
	David	Greenslade	Private	2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	New Brunswick	April 8, 2007
	Kevin	Kennedy	Private	2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Newfoundland and Labrador	April 8, 2007
	Donald	Lucas	Sergeant	2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Newfoundland and Labrador	April 8, 2007
	Brent	Poland	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	April 8, 2007
	Christopher	Stannix	Corporal	Princess Louise Fusiliers	Nova Scotia	April 8, 2007
	Aaron	Williams	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	New Brunswick	April 8, 2007
	Kevin	Megeney	Corporal	1st Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders (North)	Nova Scotia	March 6, 2007
	Robert	Girouard	Chief Warrant officer	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	New Brunswick	November 27, 2006
	Albert	Storm	Corporal	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	November 27, 2006
	Darcy	Tedford	Sergeant	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Alberta	October 14, 2006
	Blake	Williamson	Private	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	October 14, 2006
	Mark	Wilson	Trooper	Royal Canadian Dragoons	Ontario	October 7, 2006
	Craig	Gillam	Sergeant	Royal Canadian Dragoons	Newfoundland and Labrador	October 3, 2006
	Robert	Mitchell	Corporal	Royal Canadian Dragoons	Ontario	October 3, 2006
	Josh	Klukie	Private	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	September 29, 2006
	Glen	Arnold	Corporal	2nd Field Ambulance	Ontario	September 18, 2006
	David	Byers	Private	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Ontario	September 18, 2006
	Shane	Keating	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Saskatchewan	September 18, 2006
	Keith	Morley	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Manitoba	September 18, 2006
	Mark	Graham	Private	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	September 4, 2006
	William	Cushley	Private	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	September 3, 2006
	Frank	Mellish	Warrant officer	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Nova Scotia	September 3, 2006
	Richard	Nolan	Warrant officer	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Newfoundland and Labrador	September 3, 2006
	Shane	Stachnik	Sergeant	2nd Combat Engineer Regiment	Alberta	September 3, 2006
	David	Braun	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Saskatchewan	August 22, 2006
	Andrew	Eykelenboom	Corporal	1st Field Ambulance	British Columbia	August 11, 2006
	Jeffrey	Walsh	Master corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Saskatchewan	August 9, 2006
	Raymond	Arndt	Master corporal	The Loyal Edmonton Regiment	Alberta	August 5, 2006
	Kevin	Dallaire	Private	1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Alberta	August 3, 2006
	Vaughan	Ingram	Sergeant	1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Newfoundland and Labrador	August 3, 2006
	Bryce	Keller	Corporal	1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Saskatchewan	August 3, 2006
	Christopher	Reid	Corporal	1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Nova Scotia	August 3, 2006
	Francisco	Gomez	Corporal	1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Alberta	July 22, 2006
	Jason	Warren	Corporal	The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada	Quebec	July 22, 2006
	Anthony	Boneca	Corporal	Lake Superior Scottish Regiment	Ontario	July 9, 2006
	Nichola	Goddard	Captain	1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery	Alberta	May 17, 2006
	Matthew	Dinning	Corporal	2nd Military Police Platoon	Ontario	April 22, 2006
	Myles	Mansell	Bombardier	5th (British Columbia) Field Artillery Regiment	British Columbia	April 22, 2006
	Randy	Payne	Corporal	CFB/ASU Wainwright Military Police Platoon	Ontario	April 22, 2006
	William	Turner	Lieutenant	Land Force Western Area Headquarters	Ontario	April 22, 2006
	Robert	Costall	Private	1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Ontario	March 29, 2006
	Paul	Davis	Corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Nova Scotia	March 2, 2006
	Timothy	Wilson	Master corporal	2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Alberta	March 2, 2006
	Glyn	Berry	Diplomat	Department of Foreign Affairs, Canada	Wales	January 15, 2006
	Braun	Woodfield	Private	2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Nova Scotia	November 24, 2005
	Jamie	Murphy	Corporal	1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Newfoundland and Labrador	January 27, 2004
	Robbie	Beerenfenger	Corporal	3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	Ontario	October 2, 2003
	Robert	Short	Sergeant	3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment	New Brunswick	October 2, 2003
	Ainsworth	Dyer	Corporal	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Quebec	April 18, 2002
	Richard	Green	Private	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Nova Scotia	April 18, 2002
	Marc	Léger	Sergeant	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Ontario	April 18, 2002
	Nathan	Smith	Private	3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Nova Scotia	April 18, 2002

100 Thank you Prime Minister Stephen Harper NOT

Deaths of 100 Canadian soldiers turn nation's focus back to Afghan mission


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Do Not give your condolences because it means nothing to you at all.
You do not have anyone in Afghanistan so you don't know the pan

PETAWAWA, Ont. — As he offered condolences to the loved ones of three Canadian soldiers who died Friday in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made no mention of a grim benchmark - 100 troops killed since the start of the Afghan mission in 2002.
He was there, after all, to spread Christmas cheer, not to dwell on the tragic but inevitable consequences of armed conflict.
But the dark context surrounding Canada's latest military casualties gave extra weight to Harper's words, to the uncharacteristic quaver in his voice, to the taut-faced troops who flanked the podium and to the thunderous ovation they offered their embattled PM.
"I never feel able to put the depths of my feelings at time like this into adequate words," Harper said.
"These are very special people who have put their lives on the line in the service of their fellow human beings and in their devotion to our country.
"It is because of them now and throughout our history that we are able to celebrate our Christmas in such peace and prosperity. It is because of them that we have this wonderful country. It is their gift to us."
The latest deaths, coming as they did in the midst of an unprecedented parliamentary crisis of Harper's own making, are likely to take the focus of a distracted nation back to the progress - or lack thereof - that Canada has made in Afghanistan over the last seven years.
The soldiers - Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson - were in an armoured vehicle in the Arghandab district, west of Kandahar city, when they struck an improvised explosive device.
Pte. Roch Gauthier, an Ottawa native serving with 2 Service Battalion, said combat deaths are sad and hard, "but it's a job we volunteer to do and we'll push on and make sure that they're never forgotten."
Gauthier said the 100th Canadian military death in Afghanistan may be a milestone for some, "but people grieve differently."
"For people close to them, it will be much more than a milestone. It's a brother."
Cpl. Joel Pruden, 20, from Windsor, Ont., is slated to go to Kandahar in July. He said 100 is just another number.
"You can't really put a number on it," Pruden said. "Everyone's doing their part, everyone's doing their job and it's good to see we're still over there. Even though we have lost a number of soldiers."
"Personally, I don't think there should be a limit to the number of people we lose. One is too many, 100 is too many, but everybody knows the risk."
Military historian Jack Granatstein said he hopes the renewed focus on the Afghan mission prompts Canadians to confront some of the more obvious realities of armed conflict.
"This is a war," Granatstein said. "We simply must expect casualties in war."
Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in a show of solidarity with the Americans after the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Among nearly 3,000 people killed that day were 24 Canadians.
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Taliban, an extremist movement that had been in government in Afghanistan, allowed al-Qaida to operate training camps in the country.
"The reason we're in Afghanistan today is that's where the Taliban supported al-Qaida as they hatched up the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States," Bill Graham, a former Liberal foreign affairs and defence minister who played a key role in decisions to deploy Canadian troops, said in an interview early this year.
"We have to help the Americans have a sense that Canada is part of their security solution," Graham said.
But it was not purely an American effort. The UN Security Council condemned the Taliban and supported an international plan to establish a new Afghan government.
While a multinational coalition was being assembled, U.S. forces backed an anti-Taliban alliance in Afghanistan in driving the Taliban from power. While they relinquished the major cities, Taliban militants melted into the population and countryside to fight another day.
After absorbing the bombardment and shelling of the U.S.-led offensive, the Taliban hoped to gradually regroup and reassert their grip on large swaths of the countryside that remained outside the authority of the fledgling Kabul government. They criss-crossed the porous border to get reinforcements and replenishment from the lawless frontier areas of Pakistan.
It was in this context that the first contingent of Canadian troops arrived in Kandahar in February 2002, marking the beginning of Canada's military mission.
Over the years, Canada had twice scaled back its military presence in the country. For a period, Canadians were stationed in Kabul, the capital, as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, ISAF.
But at the beginning of 2006, Canada took on the challenging task of leading NATO's effort to establish security in Kandahar province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban movement.
The Canadian contingent, involving some 2,500 troops and an increasing array of armoured vehicles, tanks and artillery pieces, launched a series of major offensive to secure insurgent-held areas.
The Taliban proved an elusive and stubborn enemy, frequently retaking lost ground after the Canadians hand it over to Afghan government forces.
The insurgents have clashed head-on from time to time with the Canadians and inflicted some casualties.
But far more often, their weapon of choice has been improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. These are either suicide attackers using speeding, explosives-laden vehicles; or bombs left by the roadside to get at Canadians in their hardened armoured vehicles.
The death toll in Afghanistan is not easily comparable to losses in other wars.
In the First World War, 68,000 Canadian soldiers were killed - at a time when the country's population was only seven million. In the Second World War, Canada lost 42,000 military personnel. Roughly 500 Canadians died in the Korean War.
But those wars of the 20th century pitted large armies against one another on open fields and beaches. Vimy Ridge and D-Day involved valour and bloodshed on a gigantic scale.
In contrast, the 21st century conflict in Afghanistan has largely been an anti-insurgency mission.
It has been waged along the dried river valleys and narrow alleyways among mud walls and poppy fields, against an enemy often unseen or indistinguishable from civilians once as he drops his weapons.
A truer measure of Canada's sacrifice in Afghanistan is against the dozens of coalition countries that also have troops in the country.
Only the United States and Britain have suffered more fatalities - at least 556 Americans and 125 Britons.
But there are 33,000 U.S. troops and 7,800 British soldiers in Afghanistan - compared with Canada's 2,500.

Tax Alert The Canada Revenue Agency warns Canadians of mail scam

Tax Alert
The Canada Revenue Agency warns Canadians of mail scam
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is warning taxpayers to beware of a recent scam where some Canadians are receiving a letter fraudulently identified as coming from the CRA and asking for personal information. The letter is not from the CRA. A PDF version of the letter is available on the CRA Web site at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/alert/index.html.
The letter claims that there is “insufficient information” for the individual’s tax return and that in order to receive any “claims,” they will have to update their records. The letter attaches a form specifically requesting the individual’s personal information in writing, via fax or email, including information on bank accounts and passports. This letter is not from the CRA and Canadians should not provide their personal information to the sender.
All taxpayers should be vigilant when divulging any confidential information to third parties. The CRA has well established practices to protect the confidentiality of taxpayers’ information.
The CRA has notified the proper law enforcement authorities of this scam.
For information about this and other similar scams, or to report deceptive telemarketing activity, visit http://www.phonebusters.com/, send an email to info@phonebusters.com, or call 1-888-495-8501.
This document is also available for download in PDF format.
To get notification by email when news releases, fact sheets, tax tips, and tax alerts are added to our Web site, subscribe to our electronic mailing list. You can also subscribe to the Media room RSS feed.

World AIDS Day.

Learn more about World AIDS Day.

Hotmail debugging oh how fun NOT!

[Update, November 25, 2008:] Check out this recent blog post for updates about the bug fixes we're making in repsonse to your comments.

Update on the new Hotmail

By the end of this week, all Windows Live Hotmail users will be upgraded to the new Hotmail. The rollout has been slow because we’ve been reading and listening to your comments. We’ve read all the comments, followed up with some of you, and changed the service as we went. Since our original announcement, we have read and analyzed several thousand comments, fixed several bugs, and released five updates to the code so far.

So, we want you to know that we’re listening, we’re making changes, and we want the service to be great.

Here are answers to a few of your frequently asked questions.

Q: Why did you change? I liked the old version the way it was.

When we asked our users how we could make Hotmail better, the majority of people said they wanted the experience to be cleaner and faster. The new experience was designed with this in mind.

Now, we understand that everyone has different tastes and computer configurations. Although the majority of people in our tests preferred the new look and themes, some people didn’t. So, while most of you have seen Hotmail improve, some of you have not, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Q: I find this hard to use. Was this tested with real users?

Yes, it was. We tested with several thousand people around the world and used their feedback to improve the design prior to releasing to all users. We interviewed hundreds of them to hear their opinions, measured their success rate accomplishing common tasks, and surveyed them to see how much they liked the new service compared to the old one. The data from our tests showed that most users found the new Hotmail to be faster, more reliable, and more usable.

Q: Can I opt out? Can I get the old version back?

A: We can’t provide two fast, secure, reliable experiences, so we have decided to just keep the new version. However, we will continue to improve the new version, based on many of your comments here, to make it work better for you.

And here are some specific concerns we’ve seen in your feedback, and what we’re doing to fix them:

Q: Where did my folders go? I can’t see enough of the page. The ad is too big. Can you give me more space?

A: We understand that the design isn’t optimal for many users who have smaller monitors, so we’re working on improvements to page layout that will give your inbox more space.

In the meantime, if you have a smaller display, you should maximize your browser window for best results (in Windows, look in the upper-left corner of the browser, click the Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari logo, and in the menu that appears, click Maximize).

Also, your folders are not gone — you may need to scroll the folder list to see them all.

Q: I can’t forward e-mail because I can’t find my contacts. I don’t know where my favorites went!

A: The new “contact picker” and “auto-complete” features were designed to save you time.

· While addressing an e-mail message, just type a couple letters of the name and we will show just the names that match those letters.

· Or, while addressing an e-mail message, click the To: button to see the full list of all of your contacts.

· To set up your favorites, go to the Contact list and click the yellow star next to each name that you want to be a favorite.

While this may require an extra click for some of you, our research shows that typing a few letters of the name is usually a faster way to find an address than scrolling through a list. Once you get used to it, we hope you’ll find auto-complete useful, too. We also have some cool ideas about how to use the space where the favorites list used to be. We’ll keep listening to your feedback on this one.

Q: I don’t like the themes. What are you doing about this?

A: We agree that more themes are needed. Additional themes are being designed now, and will be coming soon.

Q: There aren’t as many messages on the page. I want to see more!

A: We hear you, so we’ll be increasing the default number of messages per screen, and providing the option for power users to see many more. Look for these changes in an upcoming release.

Q: Where is the spell checker?

A: For users of Internet Explorer, there is a Check Spelling button; clicking this button draws red underlines below misspelled words, and then clicking the underlined words shows you suggestions. For users of Firefox and Safari, you can just use the built-in spell checker in your browser, so misspelled words will be underlined automatically.

We are constantly reading your feedback, so please let us know what you think. We want you to love the new Hotmail!

- Mike Schackwitz, Lead program manager, Windows Live Hotmail

Vista kernel is vulnerable oh my

Vista kernel is vulnerable

By Egan Orion
Nov 25, 2008 9:55 AM
Tags: Vista | kernel | vulnerable | Windows | Microsoft

A flaw has been discovered in Microsoft's flagship Windows Vista operating system, but the company has said it won't fix the glitch until its next, as-yet unannounced, service pack.

Discovered by Austrian researcher Thomas Unterleitner of the insecurity company Phion and announced last Friday, the buffer overflow flaw reportedly exists in Vista's networking I/O subsystem.

It can cause a blue screen of death system crash, allow denial of service attacks, or enable injection of rootkits or other malware such as viruses, trojans, bots or keyloggers.

Unterleitner told ZDnet UK that Phion had notified Microsoft of the vulnerability in October.

Phion successfully tested an exploit of the vulnerability against Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate and believes that other versions of Windows Vista are "very likely" also vulnerable. It says that both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system contain the flawed code.

Windows XP reportedly doesn't contain the vulnerability.

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See story here

Hotmail trying to be funny?

1Based on Microsoft testing over broadband. Results were up to 54% for narrowband connections.

2We've designed Windows Live Hotmail storage to grow with you, but at a reasonable pace. That means you should have plenty of storage unless you suddenly want to store the planet Jupiter on Hotmail, in which case we'll send you a nice e-mail asking you to please not try to store planets on Windows Live Hotmail (although gradual storage of moons and asteroids is ok).

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HMMMM are thay trying to be Gmail???