Mail Bomb

Tired of hearing how slow and inefficient their mail system is, Russian postal authorities demonstrated a new delivery system last week. They found there was some extra room on a missile carrying a German payload into space, so they loaded 1,270 letters into a special capsule on the rocket and dropped it off by parachute as it passed the Kamchatka Peninsula 20 minutes after launch. The landing site is nine time zones away from the launch site. (AP) ...Cross-continent, 20 minutes. Cross-town, 20 days. Either way, the cost of the stamp is the same.