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Today marks the start of the 13th annual Wriphe.com Superman Month!

Is this the year I finally make it to the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois? Probably not. It's next weekend, and I already have other plans.

Their guests of honor will include original Supergirl, Helen Slater, and Erica Durance, Smallville's Lois Lane. Their lists of guest artists, however, leaves something to be desired compared to past years. I guess they do have to save something for next year.

Out of curiosity, I took a look at the Greater Metropolis Convention & Visitors Bureau website to see what else there might be to do in town between autograph sessions underneath the Superman Statue. Metropolis isn't a big town, and the Visitors Bureau only lists 15 total "sights and attractions." Of course the big draw is the Harrah's Casino (which I haven't visited) and the Super Museum & Gift Shop (which I have and highly recommend). They also have a bowling alley, gym, state park, and microbrewery. I guess the town isn't big enough to support a full sized brewery.

Their most unusual non-Superman offering might be the Mermet Springs "full service dive site" inside an abandoned stone quarry that includes "the jet airplane from the movie U.S. Marshals." That short sells what they offer, as the Mermet Springs website lists 2 additional planes and 10 other man made objects to swim around. Not counting Jimmy Olsen.

I find it easier to believe that Jimmy Olsen can hold his breath for three hours than that he can win at checkers

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The multi-state Powerball Lottery -- which you can play in Georgia -- has raised the price of their tickets, doubling the cost to $2. They assure the public that with the cost increase comes better odds for players. That would be great if twice the cost made the odds twice as good, but no. The old odds of winning were estimated at 1 in 192,000,000. The new odds are 1 in 175,000,000. Who can afford NOT to play at those odds?

The difference in those two numbers is 12,000,000, an improvement of almost 6% against the original odds. To put that in perspective, Americans have about a 6% chance of dying of a stroke. That means that you have a 94% chance of dying of anything other than a stroke.

No matter how you look at it, 1 in 175,000,000 is long odds. According to the National Safety Council, you have a far better chance of being killed by a hungry crocodile than winning the new Powerball lottery. Mathgoespop.com estimates that an average American probably has better odds of bowling a perfect game than winning the new Powerball lottery. All gambling sites recommend that you avoid slot machines because of their terrible odds, odds which are, you guessed it, far better than winning the new Powerball lottery.

But I guess no one is playing the lottery because of the odds. They are playing because there is a chance, no matter how slim, that they will make a $40,000,000 return on a $2 investment. And that sounds like an offer too good to pass up. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to run down to the store. Maybe I'll buy two tickets: 1 in 87,500,000 sounds like my kind of odds.

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I just spent the better part of 5 hours in a bowling alley not bowling followed by an hour in a parking lot not parking and an hour in a Waffle House not eating. I'm such a rebel. (It's worth noting that of the three, the only one I was kicked out of was the only one that was free: the parking lot.) I have to admit, it felt a lot like being in high school again, which is somewhat ironic.

I always think of bowling as a middle-aged man's game. Yet the alley, Fun Time Bowl -- named by a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl -- was packed with young people, participating in "cosmic bowling." "Cosmic," it seems, is a euphemism for "black lights." While I was previously aware of this particular "cosmic bowling" phenomenon, I've just never previously quite understood how fog machines and ceiling-mounted Lasek machines is supposed to make bowling more fun. And I still don't.

I certainly shouldn't be surprised by the age of the bowlers, as when I was in high school (which is likely the last time I actually bowled unless you count Wii Sports) the lanes were packed with people my own age. But that's the sort of thing that age does to you: it makes you misremember your youth. I suspect that this is nature's way to help you win arguments with your own children. (My father frequently told me, "when I was your age, I had to walk 20 miles uphill in the snow to school." I have always been suspicious of that claim, namely because he grew up in Miami, FL.)

I'm sure that at some point down the road, I'll misremember tonight. So as a friendly reminder to Future Me, let me just say: you bowled a 241 and were the highlight of the evening for everyone present. Need proof? Just read this blog. I wouldn't lie to myself, would I?

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To be continued...

 

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