A Star reader points out, "There is not one locally produced article in today's EXTRA."

To quote the infamous line from Max Smart that spilled over into messy Vietnam-era politics, the one uttered after the napalm has been dropped on an innocent village, "Sorry about that."

The system is not working too well at the payment end, either. A forever subscriber who pays on time, even ahead, I have learned recently that the Star's online payment service shows we owe $205.80.

Fortunately, there are still caring human beings working in customer service. The difficulty is being ironed out, and I remain ever patient and optimistic.

But one has to speculate: if this happens to new subscribers, or less loyal older ones, they may well disappear.