Random Numbers

Do you ever get comments to elderly LJ posts and wonder how and why the commenter ever happened upon your post?

In case #1, it's no mystery: last October, I posted briefly about Toronto's Royal Society for Adventurology. goutwort, one of the founders, happened upon the post several months later and left a comment pointing to the URL of his art/design studio. Some gorgeous stuff there—I am particularly enamored/mystified by the extensive Science & Sons site. The Adventurologists have also staked out the URL adventurology.ca, but it seems to be under construction as yet. The RSA remains active: I see they organized an "Abandoned Object Safari" around Earth Day, and continue to meet for bicycle polo, polite society, penmanship, and tea. ("Naughty librarians and derelicts welcome.") Well met, friend Adventurologists! And if the croquet commandos do return to Boston this summer (my_tallest and that_cad will correct me as to the official name of their august affiliation), I hope your two like-minded societies can swap visiting cards or Flickr tags or whatever is done nowadays.

Case #2 is more random. Back in February, I posted a link to a story about my evil ex-landlord, Snidely Whiplash Leonard Samia, profiteering Katrina victims in New Orleans. In April (on Yu-Jo's birthday, actually, so it was mixed in with all the congratulatory posts and emails), I got the following comment from a Samia sock puppet tenant:

BS
Well i cant agree with any of that. No one did die from the accident, remember accidents do happen. I also do live in one of Mr. Samia's apartments and I haven't had any problems. ... I have met Mr. Samia and he is a very nice man, very easily to get along with. I feel bad for him that he is being singled out like this. In reference to Katrina. It was a disastrous hurricane. People did die and building did get completely ruinied. His complex still stands and is running as we speak. Reasons for eviction was because of the water that got into the building, the water created pesticides, and if the body recieves pesticides one can die. If one did die, or even got ill and he didn't evacuate, not evict. Then the only person getting more press than Mr. Samia himself, would be George W. Bush.

So I guess I was wrong about anyone dying in the Boston balcony accident ("accidents do happen," excellent point), and also, apparently water creates pesticides. But I'm awful curious how much time my anonymous commenter devotes to defending Samia's internet honor. If you Google Samia's name (the only way I can imagine my post would be discovered) you have to scroll through several pages of Samia-hate from disgruntled tenant-bloggers before you come to my own modest (and relatively sedate) contribution.

Finally (case #3), if you cast your mind way way back, you may recall my post about Bernhardt Hurwood's Invisibles. Some time later, I got an anonymous comment to a different post which appears to be from a friend of the mysterious but totally awesome Bernhardt Hurwood:

I'm sure that if Bernie were alive today he'd be flattered at your thinking he's someone else. He actually wrote 62 books before his untimely death of cancer. Hurwood was really his name, though he sometimes also wrote under the name Mallory T Knight and a few other pseudonyms. His full bibliography is somewhere online.

I still say he's a time travelling Morrison avatar, or vice versa, but at any rate, I salute you both, Bernie Hurwood and his anonymous friend who has difficulty using LJ's comment function properly, where/whoever you are!