numbering as we turn another thousand

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Folks, some time ago we hit number 10,000 since I moved the list
to the Webster University server in August of 1999.  After that I
had this utterly dumb idea of numbering using an "a" to indicate
those 10,000 and build from there.  That worked super at the outset

a1, a2, even a100.  But soon it caught up.  After another thousand,
there was no difference in a1001 than in 10,001.  So, now that we
pass number 12,000, I will go back to full numbers, the next post
not being a2001, but the number it is, 12,001.

Sorry about the screwed up numbers with the "a" of the past two thousand
posts.

Bob