By Chris Cosci

One year ago, I wrote down a few complaints I had with baseball's All-Star Game and called it "Observations." That little rambling was only meant to be a one-time deal. At the time, I really had no intention of writing down any more observations. When friends I hadn't heard from in months started replying to my message, I thought I would try to write one more to see if I could hear from more friends.

That second volume of Observations was nearly the last. I threw together a few random stories, and the result was a mess. I heard from nobody and I figured that maybe the responses to my first e-mail were a fluke. For some reason, I decided to try a third volume. I heard from a couple of people and made the decision to continue writing Observations on a weekly basis.

Now, here I am, one year later, writing Volume L (That's 50 for those who insist on using Arabic numerals). Some Observations were certainly more popular than others (the article about Victoria's Secret's $12.5 million bra still remains the most well received). However, I have learned quite a lot from just about every article. I have learned that penguins can be gay, teachers shouldn't lift girls' skirts to look for thongs, and parents in Chappaqua, New York will hire strippers for their high-school son and his friends.

I have learned that some e-mail censorship programs can be triggered rather easily. When I sent out my thirtieth volume, I didn't realize that my use of Roman numerals would be problematic. However, three X's in a row set off the alarms, and my article was not delivered to one address. I subsequently had trouble with an article that used the word that starts with "n" and ends in "ude." Interestingly enough, the word "naked" was not a problem. Go figure.

I have also learned the value of extra research. In one article, I talked about palindromes and the enigma of the number 196. Based on other material I read, I wrote that 196 was the only number under 10,000 that would not produce a palindrome after a certain series of calculations. I also wrote that one individual performed these calculations by hand, producing a number with over 70,000 digits. Since writing that article, I have heard from two people who have made corrections to my statements. First of all, there are many numbers under 10,000 that do not produce a palindrome, including 592 and 1675. Secondly, it would take more than a lifetime to perform those calculations up to 70,000 digits by hand.

Additionally, I wrote that one man used a computer to run these calculations, producing a number with two million digits without producing a palindrome. The two people I heard from are responsible for continuing and improving on these computer calculations: Jason Doucette ran the program until it produced a number with 13.5 million digits and Wade VanLandingham is still working on it, having recently passed the 35 million-digit mark - and still no palindrome. They may both be crazy, but I thank each of them for their comments, and their inexplicable dedication to this problem.

To wrap up this Observations, I want to thank a few people. I'll try to keep it shorter than an acceptance speech at the Oscars.

I want to thank three co-workers for their editorial review and suggestions. My primary editor, who started helping me out on my fourteenth volume, is J.C. "Juancho" Navarro. I also thank Juancho for his incredible patience. During his occasional absences, I have received great help and suggestions from Beth Briggs and Michelle DeViva. I have learned a great deal from all three of these people, and I appreciate all of their time.

I also thank all of you for reading these articles and for passing some of them along. If it weren't for you, writing these Observations would be pointless.

And finally, I want to thank those unique characters in the world who continually do things that are stupid, outrageous, or just plain absurd. If it weren't for all the crazy people, this world would be so much less interesting. Keep up the good work, folks.