A 10-year hoax, still going strong!

Have you ever thought about those ridiculous chain letters promising you checks in the mail at some future date for bu-koo bucks? You know, like this one I just got today (if you're the one who sent it to me--you know who you are--thanks for giving me a good laugh :-D )
For example (Note: for your reading enjoyment, I have cleaned up all of the >>'s that end up appearing in droves on these mass trash mails)

"Read carefully...
THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY - IT IS FOR REAL
all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages, But this is from my friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is an attorney.

If she says that this will work - It will work. After all,What have you got to lose?

SORRY EVERY BODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I'm an attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and &nbs p; Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.

Dear Friends: Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later.

Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks , Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.

Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations
1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX 292-1085

Thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a check for $24, 800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this, Bill gates is the man.

It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10, 000.00 We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game, she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped "Paid In Full"."

And thus ends the worthless garbage of my inbox.

There are a couple of problems with this: (feel free to add to my list)
a)How would a person who had sent this email also be able to tell us what happened two weeks AFTER they had sent it?
b)The phone number listed doesn't connect you to ANYONE (I know, I tried it just for kicks and giggles.)
c)If the amounts to be paid were all in whole dollars, how did this "friend" get a check that ended with 44 cents?
d) I searched the USA Today site, just to be thorough, and--you guessed it--there was no mention of this on any Tuesday ever.
e) The title to this email was (And I quote) "PLEEEEEEEEASE REEEEEAD! IT WAS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA TODAY SHOW" Now, if memory serves, there is a "Good Morning America" show and a "Today Show" but there is no "Good Morning America Today" show. You just can't have them both. Maybe there's just a missing "and" in there. We could add that to the list of grammatical atrocities.
f) I found these gems on another blog (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/hoax.html) that had done some crazy-in-depth research
--The only Pearlas Sanborn (purported to be a lawyer in this email) living in the US is a physical therapist in Milton, Florida, who didn't return calls.
--Charles S. Bailey, according to his email signature, was a general manager for field operations. Only one problem: He managed field operations for the freight train company CSX, not Microsoft. (He went on to say that he called Mr. Bailey as well, only to find that his answering machine repeated over and over that it was not real. Poor guy.)
--Variations of this have been in circulation since 1997 (and still going strong, apparently!)
g) But wait! Here's the kicker--this very email appears on another oh-so-trustworthy internet page called "Hoax-slayer." Need I say more?

Good one, guys!

Honestly.