NEAL CONAN, host:
On Mondays we read from your e-mails.
Last week we talked about adults with learning disabilities and received many e-mails asking for more information about this issue. We asked our guest on that program, Arlyn Roffman, to suggest some Web sites. You can find her list by going to our Web page--that's the TALK OF THE NATION page--at npr.org.
During our segment on the declining American interest in the sport of boxing, Jeremy in St. Lake City weighed in with this comment: `I believe the decline of boxing has to do with the loss of a dominant heavyweight fighter,' he writes. `Nowadays it's more likely that a large athletic man will go into a different sport, like football or basketball.'
And Russ from Berkeley, California, made this observation on why the idea of boxing flourishes while the sport is all but knocked out: `People are interested in boxing stories these days, not in boxing,' he wrote. `The boxing story involves a noble individual who faces the odds against him and his struggle to beat the odds. The story also involves violence and action and, movie producers make sure, some love and some sex. The story line and the reality of boxing, from Jack Johnson to Muhammad Ali, were one and the same. Today's real boxers lack real character and lack a compelling story.'
And during our show about updating and revamping corporate logos, a caller mentioned that the famous Sherwin-Williams `cover the Earth' symbol has never changed. Keith Littlefield of Salt Lake City wrote in to say otherwise: `Sherwin-Williams did drop its logo in the 1970s and went to a more contemporary sans serif type-faced logo,' he wrote. `I worked for them at the time, and they told us it was because they wanted to present a more environmentally friendly image.'
Mr. Littlefield is right. The `cover the Earth' logo made its debut in 1905, but not without controversy. Even then management felt it was a little too bold in its claim. Then in 1974, the company tried to expand into the home repair business and portray itself as more than just paint, and as environmentally aware, thus the sans serif Sherwin-Williams. Just five years after that, a new CEO returned the classic `cover the Earth' logo and put the '70s script underneath.
If you have comments, questions or corrections, please e-mail then to totn@npr.org--paint it black--and please tell us where you're writing from and give us assistance on pronouncing your name.
You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.