Some mail handler questions -not specifically linux

[green_man]

Why do some messages travel "faster'" than others ?
I have noticed this phenomenon before in the LUG list , usually when an 
answer from Dege arrives before the question, but I just attributed it 
to linux guru nirvana. What made me think of it again and ask is:  I 
received the re: Apple Newton  reply _BEFORE_  the Apple Newton 
question, so it was obviously somewhere to be read.

Is terra.ptroc.rpa.net an actual "place", or is it just the name given to the address resolution part of a mail handling program ? 
Every "Mail Undeliverable" message I have ever gotten from four different ISPs has come from there.

-- 
Life is good when you're safely behind the times. 

Scott

Netscape 7.0 on Win 98 SE