# Geeky Christmas ''Prank'' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082 "2010-12-22T17:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/1 "2010-12-22T17:22:25Z")
I am working this week in an office with a woman whose computer is set to make a twangy little “ding” each time she receives a new email. Has anyone written a program to send email at intervals timed to play a Christmas Jingle? Or would that be too tough to do? Need answer fast. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/2 "2010-12-22T17:30:03Z")
I would think that to be impossible to do as the speed in which you receive e-mails is dependant upon (pick any or all of these and place in a blender): 1. the server speed 2. the computer’s speed 3. the rate of refresh on automatic e-mail checking 4. whether multiple e-mails get caught in a spam filter 5. your internet speed 6. The rate at which you can send e-mails off from your computer 7. probably lots of other things ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/3 "2010-12-22T17:35:01Z")
You can shedule emails in outlook - just set up a bunch of blank ones and set them to send a few seconds apart. Then they’ll autosend at whatever intervals you’ve chosen. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/4 "2010-12-22T17:45:28Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > You can shedule emails in outlook - just set up a bunch of blank ones and set them to send a few seconds apart. Then they’ll autosend at whatever intervals you’ve chosen. But as **Enderw24** said, you can’t control the timing at which the emails _arrive_. You couldn’t play a tune anyway, since the chime would be the same pitch every time. You could do the first seven notes of “Jingle Bells” (“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jin…”), but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/5 "2010-12-22T18:00:26Z")
Yeah, I knew it wouldn’t be much of a tune, but even the first few notes would be fun. Problem in Outlook is that it only goes down to minutes. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/6 "2010-12-22T18:44:54Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Yeah, I knew it wouldn’t be much of a tune, but even the first few notes would be fun. Problem in Outlook is that it only goes down to minutes. If you gave her a 'lude, it might work: Jin … gle … bells … ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/7 "2010-12-22T20:26:16Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Yeah, I knew it wouldn’t be much of a tune, but even the first few notes would be fun. Problem in Outlook is that it only goes down to minutes. As said above, it doesn’t really matter how you send the emails. What matters is how her system receives them, in particular #3 will blow anything you do out of the water. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/8 "2010-12-22T20:39:22Z")
Concur. The “check for new messages every \_\_\_\_\_\_” setting on her computer is the real limiting factor\* in this plan. Now, if you could somehow secretly set up an IM client on her PC… - That and the fact that you have no way to change the pitch of the tone her computer makes to announce a new message. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/9 "2010-12-22T20:55:56Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Concur. The “check for new messages every \_\_\_\_\_\_” setting on her computer is the real limiting factor\* in this plan. When I send her a message, the receipt is almost instantaneous. Our email is in the same company and (probably) hosted on the same email server. I’m going to try and do it manually and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/10 "2010-12-22T21:08:33Z")
Most of the time when my kids pranked each other’s computers, they’d change the startup or shutdown audio files - or they’d set an audio file to run, say every six minutes. Is there any way to change the audio file for the arrival of email to the first couple bars of a Christmas carol? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/11 "2010-12-22T21:30:23Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > When I send her a message, the receipt is almost instantaneous. Our email is in the same company and (probably) hosted on the same email server. I’m going to try and do it manually and see what happens. Her new message polling may well be set to a very high frequency (like every 1 second), but that’s still going to hinder you from producing anything like a melody. At best you’ll get one tone every second, regardless of how many emails you sent her during that second. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geeky-christmas-prank/565082/12 "2010-12-22T21:32:08Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Most of the time when my kids pranked each other’s computers, they’d change the startup or shutdown audio files - or they’d set an audio file to run, say every six minutes. Is there any way to change the audio file for the arrival of email to the first couple bars of a Christmas carol? Yes. It can be almost any .wav file, as far as I know. Mine plays the TOS Enterprise onboard communications alert whistle. For now. Soon, I’m going to change it to the _Addams Family_ foghorn followed by Morticia saying “Mail’s in.”