Setting records

Thanks for the editorial ``Cosby Family'' (March 8). The close-knit, fun-loving family which make up the Cosby Show are a delight to watch, and its success on the air proves that TV viewers appreciate its first-rate quality. It is simply a spirit-lifter, and deserves its place as the most-watched series in February. Rita Raymond Seattle

After reading Melvin Maddock's article, ``Getting into a `dither' about drinking'' March 8, I searched for the proper tribute to such excellent journalism. Finally I came up with what I felt was an appropriate statement written in the late 1800s. ``To know how to say what others only think, is what makes men poets and sages; and to dare to think makes men martyrs or reformers, or both.''

But alas, my 20th-century daughter may have summed it up even better:

``Melvin Maddocks, `orange you smart!' '' Mary J. Hoffman Holliston, Mass.

The world's record lowest temperature is not nearly so ``spring like'' as was stated in ``Who owns Antarctica?'' (Feb. 14). The article says -89.6 degrees F. was the record low; shucks, we were nearly that cold this winter in the Yampa Valley of Colorado (-70 F.). [According to the Life science book ``Weather''], the world's lowest recorded temperature was -126.9 F. at Vostok, near the south geomagnetic pole in Antarctica, Aug. 24, 1960. Robert P. Turner Denver Letters are welcome. Only a selection can be published and none individually acknowledged. All are subject to condensation. Please address letters to ``readers write.''