Sostratos wanted one thing, the king another. Sostratos got his desire — and a good story to boot.
After two centuries of construction, the Pharos, a gigantic tower at the mouth of Alexandria's great harbor, was about to be finished. Proud Sostratos of Knidos had designed it and wanted his name to appear on the massive structure's foundation. Proud Ptolemy II ruled Egypt at the time and wanted his name to be carved into the base.
Sostratos gave the ruler what he desired, of course: Ptolemy's name was chiseled into the foundation for everyone to see.
After a while, the plaster that bore the name started to come off, however, and, the story goes, a different inscription became visible:
Sostratos, the Cnidian and son of Dexiphanes, to the Saviour gods on behalf of those who fare the seas
Since then, many lighthouses have guarded those who fare the seas and delighted landlubbers who visit — or email — them:
›› "What does one send to the Lighthouse?" An email using great lighthouse stationery, of course. (Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express)

Pegasus Mail has been updated with small changes to make life easier: you can now reply with no questions asked, for example, and have folders create their own filters when you drop messages on them.
Back at replies, Pegasus Mail 4.51 can put the signature above quoted text and check the spelling in the Subject: line, which works in new messages as well, of course.
›› Pegasus Mail is one of the most powerful, secure and generally best email programs available for Windows. (Windows)

Now, where's that mouse pointer arrow? The trackpad was easy enough to reach, but why is that cursor always hiding the farthest possible distance from the Save button?
In Remember The Milk's web interface, you can stop looking for the mouse and cursor to save a note. Try pressing Ctrl-Enter instead.
In Gmail, you can stop looking for a cursor and mouse to open a label:
›› Start typing your label's name and Gmail takes you there in an instant.

One monkey clicking around iTunes did not produce Shakespeare in Morse code, but yesterday, by chance, I clicked again where I had not clicked in a long time: the shiny bar that shows the iPhone's disk makeup.
What did I find? Not only can you see how many apps you have installed (92) but also how much space they occupy (around 1 GB); the same goes for photos and music.
In iPhone Mail, you can not only find out that you received a fresh email but also which of your addresses received it. If you know where to tap, you don't have to wait for chance, without your stir, to show you either:
›› Want to know which of your addresses received a particular email — but iPhone Mail only displays your name in the "To:" line? Here's how to find the address of reception behind the name.

Say "owl" to her, or "glaux" like the ancients did: the Greek 1 Euro coin's reverse shows another coin's reverse.
That other coin, the Athenian tetradrachm (four drachmai), was Ancient Greece's most popular coin. It had Athena on one side and on the flip Athena's favorite bird, the owl. The omnipresent Tetradrachms were commonly called "owls".
The owl in the following stationery is not the tetradrachm owl — but it, too, is solemn, big-eyed and beautiful:
›› Owls are pretty animals, and they make pretty stationery, too. (Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express)

Years of training in your fingers, what are you going to do? Hit the pushbuttons as fast as you can, of course.
The new touch tone phone system could not handle the experienced calculator user's fast punching. So phone manufacturers employed a trick: they arranged the digits in reverse order. While calculators had 7-8-9 in their top row, the new telephones moved 1-2-3 on the top.
This is but one theory to explain this oddity, of course, and one unlikely to be true at that. In any event, slowing down deliberately can make sense:
›› Put messages in the Windows Mail or Outlook Express outbox instead of delivering them immediately so you can still edit them before they go off to the recipient.

Coffee with milk?
I have, thus far, preferred to make mine with water, and I'm not sure what the machines will think of near-boiling milk — but I'm sure up for suggestions.
Speaking of suggestions and improvements:
›› Want to see Windows Live Mail become better at meeting your email needs? Here's your chance to let its makers know about what ideas you have and improvements you fancy.

Long-time abstainer Gmail has taken to drag-and-drop: you can now move messages to labels and drag labels to messages; you can even jostle labels out of sight (though not re-arrange their order or create sub-labels).
If you wonder how you will be able to adequately exercise your dragging muscle: Gmail's message size limit was recently bumped up to 25 MB.
›› Gmail is the Google approach to email and chat. Practically unlimited free online storage allows you to collect all your messages, and Gmail's simple but very smart interface lets you find them precisely and see them in context without effort.

How long is a second?
1046 wing flaps for the no-see-um.
With 62,760 beats per minute, the no-see-um has one of the animal world's fastest flapping speeds. Its stings are painful, but the tiny midge can barely be seen.
You, too, flutter, of course, swinging your iPhone from left to right and through every country the sun visits in a day. To make your iPhone Mail one of the fastest all the way, you can leave the motion sensors at rest, though:
›› Apple calls what's spinning in iPhone's info bar an "asynchronous progress indicator". Don't want to see it much when checking mail? Here's how to have iPhone Mail download only the bare minimum — and display it fast upon launch.

There are melons in Laertes' garden, melons and melons: melons that look like lemons and melons that resemble pomegranates; even melons that look like melons maybe.
All the "melons" in the garden have something in common: they grow on trees, and they're not native to Greece. Foreign fruit in general went by the name μῆλον (mēlon, "apple").
Independence Day, of course, is all about the U.S., not Ancient Greece — and melons that look like melons are no strangers to 4th of July celebrations:
›› The 4th American style, that's stars and stripes and melons and peas and — email backgrounds. (Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express)