Random Thoughts

Scott tells us the lovely history of Superman: For the Animals. I think I have at least three copies of this kicking around.

Stuart Hughes is rightfully appalled that there is going to be no American coverage of the Paralympics at all. None.

Hit & Run has an interesting look at some junk science. Go read about it there, I'm off to drink a cola.

Earthquakes and typhoons in Japan. You thought Florida had it bad.

Two of the "Million Dollar Math Problems" are reportedly close to being solved. And if one of them is solved, internet encryption could be made useless.

Neat Metafilter post on Edison recordings, including audio and film from the earliest days of recording. Very cool, and downloadable, too.

Many thanks to Kevin Melrose, who sent along this link to a news article on Dorothy, the new Oz comic I reviewed some time ago.

On Boing Boing there's a nice little "discussion" about heavy-duty vandal-proof mailboxes. In the first note, Mark Frauenfelder tells of his problems with his mailbox being damaged, and noted some of the neighborhood solutions. In a follow-up note, Boing Boing readers sent in suggestions, pictures, and links to some serious mailboxes.

When Eric and I moved into this house, the mailbox was on a wooden post that supported both our mailbox and the neighbor across the street's box. We were unaware that the bottom of the post was nearly rotted through until a school bus turning around in the neighbor's driveway backed into it and knocked it over. The Postal Service refused to deliver our mail until we got it fixed, so we put in a standard metal pole box. The bus driver ran it over again, then fixed it so poorly that touching it made it nearly fall down, greatly aggravating the poor postal workers who had to try to put mail into the thing. Eventually we got so sick of it that Eric and his dad got a big wood post for it and put it on that, then I put reflectors all over the post so people backing up would have a slightly better chance of seeing it. It hasn't been hit again, as far as I can tell, but our neighbor's box has seen better days. In addition, we found the neighbor's mailbox blown up one morning. Turns out her father had been a policeman, and some idiots still come by every once in awhile and blow up the box or leave threatening notes in it, even though her father has been dead for years.