A minor correction. 8-bit encoding allows for 256 characters (2 to the 8th
is 256). The standard ASCII code uses only 7-bits. If 8-bit encoding is
used, there are 128 additional characters that can be expressed. These are
referred to as extended characters sets.

Bill did a great job of explaining the rest, but I did want to clarify this
- can't help it - I am a retired computer science instructor!

Peter Shkabara
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-----Original Message-----
These equal signs appear in your email because you have "quoted printable"
encoding enabled in your email program ...instead of "plain text" or
"8-bit". (8 bit means the standard 128 ASCI characters. Note that 2 to the
8th power equals 128.)

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