Oregon Dept. of Revenue Gender Audit

Gullyborg would have more money if he were gay:

We finally got our Oregon tax refund back. Problem is, it was less than half as much as we initially thought it would be. You see, when we filed our taxes, we thought we were eligible for an imputed income exclusion. But we weren't. Because we aren't gay.

Indulge him and read the whole thing.

This Is So Cool

I have got to have one.

The Retro Phone Handset is a new production replica of the Western Electric 500-series model, which was the classic phone handset for several decades.

Note to the geniuses at Nokia: Dump the cell, put the works inside the handset, and you've got instant platinum.

Jonah spotted it first.

Bizarre Case of Mistaken Identity

The News-Sentinel:

A family who sat by their comatose daughter's bedside for weeks after an April 26 crash killed four Taylor University students and an employee learned the woman was not their daughter, but instead another student who was in the van when it was struck by a semitrailer.

The family of student Laura VanRyn, 22, issued a statement on a Web log dedicated to updates on the young woman'’s recovery....

VanRyn, of Caledonia, Mich., and Cerak, 18, of Gaylord, Mich., bore an "uncanny resemblance" to each other... [pictures here]

The family said that as the woman they believed to be Laura began regaining consciousness, she said things that made them question her identity....

Mad Scientist Or Balmy Baker

Via Dynamist, Esoterica, instructables, a 3D chocolate printer made from Legos.

Left Rooting For Failure

Michelle Malkin with clear good sense.

I do not know the truth about Haditha. Neither do Murtha and the media outlets calling the alleged massacre a massacre before all the facts are in. It would be helpful if they could handle these grave charges without serving as al Jazeera satellite offices....

Finally, there is this incontrovertible fact: There are countless numbers of anti-war zealots on the American Left rooting for failure. They believe the worst about the troops. They've blindly embraced frauds who've lied about their military service and lied about wartime atrocities. They've allied themselves with socialist kooks and coddled murderous dictators. They are looking for any excuse to pull out, abandon military operations and reconstruction, and impeach the president.

They insist on giving suspected foreign terrorists more benefit of the doubt than our own men and women in uniform. And that, I know, I am not willing to do.

I will wait. I will pray. And I will remind you that while the murder of civilians is and remains an anomaly in American military history, it is the jihadists' way of life.

Miss Myra's Gun

Via Carnival of Cordite #60, a story about a girl and her revolver.

Operators Were Standing By

The Record-Courier, Gardnerville, Nevada:

According to eyewitnesses the plane crashed about 8:30 a.m., shortly after takeoff. The plane, a two-seat experimental called a Comp Air 6, landed upside down just a few yards west of Bliss Road opposite the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center....

The plane appeared to be struggling as it took off northbound, according to eyewitness Gordon Campbell. He was working near the accident. "The plane was gaining a little altitude but it was barely moving," he said. "It banked to the left before it lost power."

Just south of Carson City at 4700 feet elevation, Minden-Tahoe has plenty of room. Don't turn around, dummy--land straight ahead.

Update: The Reno Gazette-Journal has picked up the story, and has a better picture.

Self-Mortifying Opus Dei Monks!

Over the weekend Lileks read da Vinci Code* so we don't have to, thank goodness.

*I know, it's The Da Vinci Code, but that sounds redundant. Dis Vinci Code, dat Vinci Code, who cares? It's da Vinci Code, man.

Hard Rock Hallelujah

According to The Economist 85% of Finns are registered with the Lutheran church. Probably these guys too: the winners of this year's Eurovision song contest.

“We are not Satanists,” insists Lordi, leader of a heavy-metal group that scored a surprise victory in this year's competition. But nor, to judge by appearances, are they Sunday-school teachers. Lordi sports red-eyed skulls on his knees, with horns rising from his masked face. “It's a big change from those catchy numbers for pretty girls in hopelessly untrendy outfits,” sighs John Vickers, a veteran writer of Eurovision songs...

Andrew Ian Dodge has more at TCS.

King Croesus Treasures Stolen

The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art returned them to Turkey in 1993. Now they've turned up missing again.

Cartwheeling Down McKinley

Anchorage Daily News May 27, 2006:

"Right below, at about 18,300 feet ... I went to make a turn and I hit a wind drift of snow," Maginn remembered. "It threw me off balance and I fell backwards."

Maginn frantically tried digging the special axe heads of his ski poles into the snow to stop his fall. But he was going too fast.

"I must have somersaulted 100 times," he said. "I was going head over heels. Maybe I hit no rock bands. It felt like I was hitting rocks. I was airborne several times and hit again, so I'm not sure."

"Halfway through the fall, after I initially tried to self-arrest, I was doing everything. There was a point where I thought I hit rocks -- two times I hit incredibly hard -- and I wanted the next one to be the death blow."

He flashed on other skiers' deaths. "In the back of my head, I thought, 'This is how it happens.'"

Amazingly, he walked away.

Aerodynamically Unique

The new Boeing 787 appears to have a little more dihedral than usual. The winglets seem to come and go, too. I wonder if they're hinged?

CX717

By way of David Handy a link to an Economist Intelligent Life article (I didn't even know The Economist published Intelligent Life) about a promising new drug (this is so 70's) that could remove once and for all the shackles of sleep that bind our restless minds.

It's CX717, developed by Cortex Pharmaceuticals of Irvine, California. A possible treatment for Alzheimer's, ADHD, narcolepsy, and that general and debilitating unconsciousness we all experience for approximately eight hours every day, the drug has an obvious potential for abuse (which is to say experimental use) by minds of varying strength the world over.

I hope it's easy to synthesize.

Memorial Day

Christopher Hitchens pays tribute.

Doesn't Look Like a House, Either

Via AVweb, the city of Scottsdale, Arizona wants to ban helicopter landing in residential areas. The owner of this house says it's a driveway, not a helipad.

Walled City

James Woolsey in Opinion Journal joins a growing number of editorialists opposing Israel's plans for the West Bank. Of the exact nature of those plans they can only speculate. The Economist says study the map.

Walk in the Woods

We had to get away, so Lizzy and I went for a hike in the Brown Mountain lava fields near Lake of the Woods. The trail had a couple inches of wet slushy snow on it and the sun broke through the clouds occasionally.

We stopped here when Mount McLoughlin appeared through the trees and clouds.

We saw only two other hikers, a young couple and their dog, on the last miles of a three day, thirty mile trek from Little Hyatt Lake. They told us of losing the trail in waist deep snow with nothing but a GPS to guide them.

Al Gore's Big, Fat Carbon Footprint

Web-only bonus from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

"Al Gore: An Inconvenient Story"

WMV: Hi - Low
Quicktime: Hi - Low

Lord, he was born a ramblin' man.

Give Me a Simple Phone

Via David Handy, an AP article in Wired News:

Nathan Bales represents a troubling trend for cellular phone carriers. The Kansas City-area countertop installer recently traded in a number of feature-laden phones for a stripped-down model. He said he didn't like using them to surf the internet, rarely took pictures with them and couldn't stand scrolling through seemingly endless menus to get the functions to work.

"I want a phone that is tough and easy to use," said Bales, 30. "I don't want to listen to music with it. I'm not a cyber-savvy guy."

My ideal phone has twelve buttons: 0-9, Hello, and Good-bye.

Pound sign? Are you trying to make me type?

The Radical Solution

A week before the June 6th election the Napa Valley Register compares Oregon's Measure 37 with Napa's Measure A.

The Napa County proposal is more limited in key respects: It would take hold only in one county, and does not allow private property owners to seek compensation for laws already on the books.

But both measures stem from concerns about government encroaching on property rights, and seek to swing the pendulum toward landowners.

George Bachich, president of the Napa Valley Land Stewards Alliance, said, "We're not facing the onerous regulations that they had to face (in Oregon), and we're not proposing the radical solution that they had to take. But it's motivated by the same spirit."

I predict passage.

Civil War Re-Enactment

At Fort Klamath? News to me:

Museum curator Kevin Fields said as many 2,000 soldiers were stationed at the 1,050-acre fort, situated in the lush hay field near Upper Klamath Lake. The Army's charge, according to re-enactor Sgt. Marv Collison, was to assure that Oregon, California and other nearby territories remained part of the Union during the "War of Rebellion." From time to time, Fort Klamath soldiers tangled with bands of Snake River, Paiute and Klamath tribes from 1863 to 1867. At other times, the soldiers kept miners and other settlers from messing with American Indians.

Tour site here. Cascade Civil War Society has more.

Carnahan Rejects Petition

The heiress to a political dynasty does not like Missourians in Charge:

A proposed constitutional amendment sharply curtailing eminent domain's use in Missouri is all but dead after Secretary of State Robin Carnahan on Thursday invalidated petitions seeking to place a referendum on the November ballot.

In two years they will be back, and Ms. Carnahan will be gone.

Merapi Shakes

Thousands dead in earthquake:

At least 2500 people were killed and thousands injured when a powerful earthquake rocked central Indonesia early today, according to the latest data from the social affairs ministry's disaster relief centre in Jakarta .

The 6.2-magnitude quake also triggered heightened activity in Central Java province's deadly Mount Merapi volcano, which has been spewing out clouds of hot ash, gas and lava for several weeks, a scientist said.

The quake struck at 5.54am (0954 AEST), 25 kilometres southwest of the city of Yogyakarta, home to the famed Borobudur temple complex, causing damage in at least three nearby towns, officials said.

We've been following Mount Merapi here, here, here, here, and here.

Update: Over 3500 killed. Slideshow here.

A Circus Up There

Juan Oiarzabal on Everest:

"That mountain turned into a circus years ago, and it's getting worse – I don’t have the slightest interest in going back there, ever. Moreover, I actually try to avoid reading on what’s going on there – I simply don’t care anymore."...

"Too often people go to Everest without knowing what it is like above 8000m. They pay huge amounts of money – and they don’t pay for a climb, but for a summit. Thus, reaching the summit becomes their first and only priority. In order to get the summit, they will use all the resources they can afford: Sherpas, bottled O2, camps and ropes previously fixed, etc… Up there, everybody focus on their own progress only, selfishly pursuing their goal."

"They don’t care for the rest."

Fourteen dead on Everest this season.

Quirky & Cranky: Just My Style

From Signet House, 49-51 Farringdon Road, London. I don't know why I hadn't noticed it before.

Spiked. Add it to The Daily Rounds.

Sgt. Hester's Silver Star

It was supposed to be another routine mission.

In the vehicle following right behind Nein, Cooper, and Morris was 23 year-old Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, team leader and vehicle commander from Bowling Green, Ky. Hester and her crew saw the RPG hit the lead vehicle. ...

"I saw Staff Sgt. Nein jump out of the truck. As soon as I saw him jump out, I was right there," Hester said. From there, Hester, Nein and company pressed their flanking advantage and engaged the enemy full force.

"On the right hand side was a berm. They were still shooting at us from there and from down in a trench line," said Hester . "So we returned fire. I think I shot off three M203 rounds, and I don't know how many M4 rounds I shot. I know I hit one of the RPK gunners," she said. ...

Hester, Nein and their comrades continued to press the advantage, completely disrupting any plans the insurgents had at a successful attack. After the approximately 45-minute firefight, only three Soldiers from the 617th were wounded. Conversely, 27 insurgents were dead. Six others were wounded; one was captured. None escaped.

On June 16, 2005, Sgt. Hester received the Silver Star--the first woman ever to receive one for close combat.

Improved Morality In Ten Years

Thanks to David Handy, a link to a cute little article about Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen banning 3G mobile phones after his wife complained about receiving pornography on them.

"I have written to the Minister of Telecommunications to delay the use of certain mobile phones," Hun Sen told an assembly of Buddhist monks in Phnom Penh Friday. "We can wait 10 more years until we have managed to improve morality in society."

It's cute because Communist dictators like Hun Sen, who came to power in a brutal, bloody coup in 1997, have such dainty notions of morality.

Hacked the Wrong Guys

In January of last year, the hacker group collectively known as the "Internet Liberation Front" gained illegal access to the ProtestWarrior server, stealing thousands of credit card numbers in order to commit massive credit card fraud. The following month, ProtestWarrior discovered the identity of the perpetrators: Jeremy Hammond and a ring of hackers recruited through his criminal front at hackthissite.org.

ProtestWarrior performed a forensic analysis of the intrusion and contacted the FBI, which immediately launched an investigation...

On May 23, 2006, a grand jury at the U.S. District Court in Illinois handed down an indictment...

ProtestWarrior.com Fighting the left... doing it right

Starthistle and Rat Race

How far can you hang glide? Would you believe twenty-five miles? Peter Warren traces his flight from Woodrat to Hilt in this graphic (click to enlarge).

The Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association will host the 30th annual Starthistle fly-in this Memorial Day weekend at Woodrat Mountain.

Following the weekend fly-in, 130 flyers will compete Tuesday through Saturday in the fourth annual Rat Race.

Greg adds:

I have to wonder about the advisability of flying a radar invisible (no transponder, no primary image) craft directly across the main southerly approach path to MFR. The MEA over Mt. Ashland is 9700, but beyond this the localizer backcourse bravo approach heads right into MFR, and if the big guys are cleared "visual approach", they're able to descend at their discretion well below MEA.

Messiah Bold

It's the Beer You've Been Waiting For!

Schmaltz Brewing Company.

It's real... I think. Lileks.

Cloaking Device

Maxwell's Equations...

The team—Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London with David Schurig and David Smith of Duke University in North Carolina—used the equations to devise a way to cloak an object with a material that would deflect the rays that would have struck it, guide them around it and return them to their original trajectory.

In this week's Economist (sorry, subscription only).

Laurie Bagley at 29, 035 Feet

Laurie Bagley of Mount Shasta has reached the summit of Mount Everest.

Bagley, 44, climbed to the top of the 29,035-foot Mount Everest with Chirri Sherpa, one of the guides in her expedition. She organized her climb as a fund-raising project for Privilege Sharing, a group that helps poor children in India.

--update in this evening's Mail Tribune.

Steyn's Weekly Worry

Steyn gives the Mexicans and the Islamists the week off, and worries instead about a yellow horde becoming "the first gay superpower since Sparta" if tough old Russian women don't take up the slack.

It's all very complicated.

Search for Flight 2501

The Chicago Tribune:

At 7:30 p.m. on June 23, 1950, 55 passengers and a crew of three took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport toward Seattle. The flight was uneventful as it made its way toward its first scheduled stopover in Minneapolis. But then, Capt. Robert Lind requested a lower altitude, from 3,500 feet to 2,500 feet when flying in the vicinity of Benton Harbor, Mich., presumably because of worsening area storms.

That request, which was denied because of other air traffic at that altitude, was the last communication from Flight 2501.

This weekend divers hope to find the wreckage.

Flying Without Airplanes

Thanks to AVweb, An Introduction to Cluster Ballooning:

You watch the balloons swell and sway and grow taut and huge in the darkness, then get attached to their strings and tied down to sandbags, like a field of giant flowers blossoming there in the dark. There's a lot for everyone to do. It's wonderful to have friends who will drive out into the countryside in the middle of the night, just to help you fly!

Anti-Establishment Rebel

Ann doesn't like those goody two-shoes apple-polishers.

Spending Other People's Money

From the Coos Bay World:

The State Land Board ordered Tuesday that the sea-battered, 1,200-ton stern section of the New Carissa wreck, located several hundred yards off the North Spit, be unearthed and dismantled from its shallow watery grave.

$19 million to do a job that nature would do for free.

Cochise County, USA

A provocative film alienates both sides:

They didn't realize that a smuggling trail crosses the property, 100 feet from their door, or that the house is sandwiched between two roads used by human- and drug-traffickers. "When I realized we'd settled in a war zone, I was traumatized, unable to sleep for months," Ms. Maharis says. The film became part therapy, part warning call...

As she prepared to submit "Cries" for an Academy Award nomination, a viewer told her it was too political. Translation: the wrong politics for Hollywood. Especially to the open-borders lobby, the film is deeply subversive. Ms. Maharis knows that playing the politically correct game would've won bigger audiences and media acclaim, and it would've played nicely into the PR machine of street protesters demanding "rights" for illegals.

But she was committed to telling the whole truth. "This isn't a political film," she says.

Available from Amazon.

In Praise of Ordinary Choices

Washington (Reuters):

President George W. Bush hired think tank scholar Karl Zinsmeister as his new top domestic policy adviser, the latest in a series of changes to the White House staff.

Zinsmeister, whose new role was announced by the White House on Tuesday, is a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and is editor-in-chief of the American Enterprise magazine.

Ataturk International

Βυζάντιον, Constantinople, Istanbul, whatever. It's on fire.

The main cargo section of Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport is ablaze after a massive blast occurred just moments ago.

Black clouds filled the sky after the blast that occurred in the C section of HAVAS cargo department at Istanbul’s main airport. The cause of the blast is still unknown.

Actually the story's a few hours old by now. I just picked it for the picture.

Rogue River Trailkeepers

The Herald and News profiles a couple I hope to meet sometime this summer:

Jim and Kay Heath will spend the next five months in a two-room cabin - no telephone, television, central heat or indoor toilet. The Klamath couple is sure they'll love every moment.

As trailkeepers on a 10-mile stretch of trail along the wild and scenic section of the Rogue River, they started their sixth season as forest stewards in mid-May, living in the Brushy Bar guard station.

Lizzy hiked this section a year ago, but I've never been there.

Don't Be Evil

I guess Old Scratch took that as a challenge.

Google's web crawlers prowl the Internet with saintly algorithmic disinterest, but their news crawlers, in the interest of efficiency, begin with a list. And someone, some person, some fallible human person, makes that list.

And now it seems that if you have the wrong news and views that someone at Google will take you off the list.

Al Gorzynski

Thanks to Taranto for a link to the Al Gore or the Unabomber quiz, which I flunked. There's really not a lot of difference between them.

Except that Al Gore doesn't make bombs.

How Can Boomers Retire?

William P. Kucewicz says we need to import as adults the children who were never born.

A 4:1 ratio of working age persons to persons 65 and older might in fact be optimal. Between now and 2025, the U.S. would need an additional 57.5 million adults to maintain a 4:1 ratio, averaging 3 million additional working-age persons per year over the next nineteen years....

The Right Way To Set It Down

Rockton, Wisconsin (not too far from Durand, Illinois):

Deputies observed the aircraft approached the field from the east and landed successfully, rolling west and going slightly uphill, at which point the plane slowed and hay began to tangle in the wheels. The plane came to a stop and “nosed over onto its nose,” causing minor damage, mostly to the propeller, according to the report.

The hayfield owner, Joe J. Strunz, 34, of the 2000 block of State Highway 312, Orfordville, said he learned of the incident when Frank knocked on his door, apologized for the damage and asked for a ride to Brodhead Airport, which Strunz provided, according to the report. Strunz told police he would work out the damage to the crop with the pilot later.

Harold L. Frank flies a 1949 Aeronca.

38 Years On The Lam

For stealing beer and cigarettes.

The case had long grown cold until December 2003, when Judy Foster, a special agent with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Office of Correctional Safety, reopened the investigation. Smith's family and friends all denied knowing where he had gone, but Foster eventually discovered that he was using the last name of Gallion and living outside Sapulpa, southwest of Tulsa.

LUII

Break out the breathalyzers:

Oregon legislators and staff members should not be drunk while performing their official duties, a citizen panel says.

The Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature adopted that recommendation Monday, although the panel decided to leave it to House and Senate leaders to draft rules against intoxication and possible penalties.

I suggest we all chip in and buy them a round. Every day. For breakfast.

Minister of the Environment

Rona Ambrose is catching a lot of flak for her recent remarks concerning the Kyoto Protocol.

My departmental officials and the department officials from natural resources have indicated that it is impossible, impossible for Canada to reach its Kyoto targets....

And let me be clear. I have been engaging with our international counterparts over the past month, and we are not the only country that is finding itself in this situation.

Ms. Ambrose, who appears capable of causing significant warming all on her own, is part of Stephen Harper's new conservative government.

Something For Nothing

The Patriot Post this morning opened with a quote from the late Lyn Nofziger:

The reason this country continues its drift toward socialism and big nanny government is because too many people vote in the expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they have a concern for what is good for the country... If children were forced to learn about the Constitution, about how government works, about how this nation came into being, about taxes and about how government forever threatens the cause of liberty perhaps we wouldn't see so many foolish ideas coming out of the mouths of silly old men.

Something for nothing. Also the title of a book. And a song by Neil Peart, drummer for Rush:

You don't get something for nothing
You don't get freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be

Armed and Dangerous

Via Instapundit, a reminder that I should check Eric Raymond's blog now and then:

Well, this is novel. I've just received a terroristic death threat. From an idiot who failed to obscure his return path.

As one of the commenters said, there's a

horribly painful fate in store for anyone who’s stupid enough to come to his house looking for trouble.

He's not just a legendary UNIX hacker, he's also a bit of a gun nut.

Student Pilot Solos At 91

Thanks to AVweb, this article in The Seattle Times:

When Cliff Garl, 91, told his doctor that he wanted to earn a pilot's certificate, the physician could only reply, "I'm not sure."

But last week Garl, of Shoreline, proved skeptics wrong and made his first solo flight as a student pilot. Garl flew a single-engine Cessna 172, at an altitude of 1,000 feet, twice around Arlington Municipal Airport — about 10 miles in the air in all. His flight instructor, Joe Bennett, who's 75, could only marvel at what Garl accomplished and shook the hand of the oldest student he's ever had. Garl was proud of his accomplishment but said other folks in their golden years shouldn't look to him for inspiration.

"I'm just doing my thing," he said.

Spirit of San Diego

Everyone knows that Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris on May 21, 1927. Not everyone knows the Ryan Airlines Corporation of San Diego built the plane.

One day a careless worker dropped a crescent wrench that broke off a thumbnail-size piece of the engine's number one cooling fin. Mechanic O. L. Gray said, "We could smooth that out with a file and paint it, and never know the difference." Lindbergh said, "I'll always know the difference." After a pause he added, 'We want another engine in there."

Gray thought he was kidding. Someone asked, "Why so much perfection in this?" Lindbergh had his reasons: "One is I'm a poor swimmer."

Non Sequitur

Holmes Mill, Kentucky:

The cause of the blast at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County was not immediately known. But Fletcher said preliminary evidence suggested methane may have leaked from a sealed-off portion of the mine, mixed with oxygen and then something caused it to ignite.

It was the deadliest mining incident in the state since 1989, when 10 miners died in a western Kentucky mine blast, state officials said. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said Saturday's deaths raised the national death toll from coal mining accidents to 31 this year, with 10 of them in Kentucky.

Longview, Washington:

One of Oregon’s most recognizable and controversial landmarks will come down in a cloud of dust Sunday.

Suing Multnomah County

Ninety-three-year-old Dorothy English has filed a $1.15 million lawsuit against Multnomah County.

County officials have waived the land-use rule that directly bans English from dividing her 20 wooded acres in the hills overlooking the city.

But English says a web of legal issues and remaining regulations prevents her from building homes on the property. ...

"I think this is stalling," English said. "They don't want this developed."

Time is of the essence.

Napa Valley Land Stewards

Napa County voters will have an opportunity to slow the loss of their property rights with Measure A, the Fair Payment for Public Benefit Act:

The initiative, if enacted, would force the county to reimburse landowners every time the board of supervisors passes a new ordinance reducing private property values. Alternatively, the county could waive the regulation as it affects certain property owners. Supervisors could also opt to send a land use law to a vote of the people. If that passed, landowners would have no right to seek compensation....

"It used to be when you bought land you bought a bundle of rights," Levine said, echoing a phrase coined by George Henke, who bought his Dry Creek Road parcel in 1958. "What we want to do is preserve what few property options a person has left. They've already taken a lot of what we paid for away and we don't want to unravel it, but we don't need more rules."

Unlike Oregon's Measure 37, which applies to regulatory takings after the property was purchased, Measure A concerns only to future regulations.

D-Day is June 6th.

Summer Vacation

A haiku by Charlie Durand

Time never ending,
But not a moment to waste,
Fun and adventure.

Bad Day for Centurions

One long and fast, crash and burn; four gear up; one engine failure; and one flipped on its back while taxiing.

Thursday was just a bad day for Cessna 210s.

Hobbits 'Deformed'

The Australian:

THE tiny "hobbit" discovered in Indonesia three years ago has triggered a new round of scientific squabbling, with sceptics again questioning its status as a new-found species of ancient humans....

Writing today in the journal Science, a group led by Dr Martin claims a new analysis shows that the skull of the diminutive adult female specimen - identified as LB1 - came from a person suffering from microcephaly, a pathological condition that causes small brain size and, occasionally, short stature.

Frodo you pinhead.

Not Plain English

WSJ:

Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the provision, which is retroactive to the start of this year...

But wait! Article I, Section 9, Clause 3: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

Hol' on, lemme get my dictionary...

Five Best

Top books on the history and use of English.

1. The Oxford English Dictionary (1884)
2. "The Use of English" by Randolph Quirk (St. Martin's, 1963)
3. "A History of the English Language" by Albert C. Baugh (Appleton-Century, 1935)
4. Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Peter Mark Roget (1852)
5. "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson (William Morrow, 1990)

David Crystal in Opinion Journal.

I'm Disable To Believe It

More Than 50 Million Americans Report Some Level of Disability.

In any normal distribution of ability about 68 percent of the people will find themselves within one standard deviation of the mean. That leaves roughly sixteen percent below and as many above. But does an I.Q. of 84 really qualify you for handicapped parking? 'Cause I can get there in just two beers.

Wrong Guy To Ask That

Some years ago William F. Buckley was a defendant in a lawsuit:

On the witness stand I argued that the word "jig" could be used other than as animadversion. The feverish lawyer grabbed a book from his table and slammed it down on the arm of my chair. "Have you ever heard of a dictionary?" he asked scornfully, as if he had put the smoking gun in my lap. I examined the American Heritage College Dictionary and said yes, I was familiar with it. "In fact," I was able to say, opening the book, "I wrote the introduction to this edition."

Over the Atlantic

Adventures on third-world airlines:

I remember once flying over Crimea in a twin-engine Aeroflot workhorse called the Antonov 24. When a fire ball emerged from one of its propellers, the impatient stewardess waved me off with a "normalno." I didn't ask again. Normal, too, were goats in the aisles above the Caucasus, drunk pilots who disembarked before their passengers and landings like the one a decade ago in Moscow, when our Tupolev 154 slammed down on the runway so hard that the seats detached themselves from the floor.

On a small Yakovlev 40 jet from Kiev to Odessa early in the post-Soviet era, a man in a captain's uniform plopped down next to me soon after takeoff and stayed there for the whole flight, right through the smooth touchdown. I shar