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The ridiculous fiasco which attended the attempt at aerial navigation in the Langley flying machine was not unexpected, unless possibly by the distinguished Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, who devised it, and his assistants. Prof. MANLY, who undertook the voyage, prudently clothed himself in a cork jacket--doubtless because cork is a good non-conductor and would tend to keep the wearer warm in the rarified strata of the upper atmosphere in which he perhaps expected to cruise. However, as the machine was to be launched over the Potomac, it appears, as matters eventuated, to have been a wise precaution for other...

At least 18 persons were killed in the crash of a Russian cargo plane Ilyushin-76 in the vicinity of the city of Okhotsk in eastern Russia...Before the crash the pilot informed flight control that he needed to make an emergency landing because of a fire in the airplane, Itar-Tass agency announced. The cause of the fire is not known. Afterwards the plane exploded in the air. Aboard were 9 crew members, 4 cargo loaders, and 5 members of the Russian border guard.

Berkeley university professor of economics George Akerlof (63), former Harvard and Stanford university dean Michael Spence (58) and Columbia university professor Joseph Stiglitz (58) are recipients of this year's Nobel Prize for economics.Akerlof, Spence and Stiglitz will split the monetary prize of $1 million.

AFGHANISTAN (excerpt)The Afghans, inured to bloodshed from childhood, are familiar with death, and audacious in attack, but easily discouraged by failure; excessively turbulent and unsubmissive to law or discipline; apparently frank and affable in manner, especially when they hope to gain some object, but capable of the grossest brutality when that hope ceases. They are unscrupulous in perjury, treacherous, vain and insatiable, passionate in vindictiveness, which they will satisfy at the cost of their own lives and in the most cruel manner...Among themselves the Afghans are quarrelsome, intriguing and distrustful; estrangements and affrays are of constant occurrence...The Afghan is by ...

FLORIDA ELECTION PRACTICESThe following is an extract from Big Trouble, which is an actual novel (as it says on the cover) by Dave Barry, and which was published in 1999, before the election of 2000 made Florida famous.As good fortune had it, Puggy arrived [in Miami] on election day. He'd been on the street for less than an hour when a white van pulled up next to him. The driver, an older man, said something in Spanish and showed him a ten-dollar bill. Puggy, assuming the man wanted a blow job, said, "Not interested." The man immediately switched to English ...

I read with interest Tom Cushman's June 5 column regarding the NCAA and universities with Native American mascots. The issue is a sensitive one nationwide, as Cushman correctly pointed out.However, there is a tendency to group together all schools with Native American mascots, which is far too simplistic. I grew up in Del Cerro, literally five minutes from the SDSU campus, so I have followed the Monty Montezuma debate with great interest. As an alumnus of the University of Illinois, the issue of Native American symbols is even nearer to my heart. When I attended the Illinois-SDSU football game last ...

Did you catch the latest about Jenna Bush? It seems that the impossible has occurred--a 19 year-old girl with a fake ID has tried to buy alcohol!Obviously, this has never happened before. Why else all the interest?One would suppose that such embarrassment could only be brought by a presidential daughter if she shrilly advocated the newest pet Soviet socialist project of the junior senator from New York.But we are only dealing with a girl who, consciously or not, is most similar with a certain Clinton (or two) in that she lacks the capacity for embarrassment. She doesn't steal furniture or ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- A federal judge has refused to delay trial for John Demjanjuk, who is fighting government allegations that he covered up a past as a Nazi guard at death and forced labor camps.Demjanjuk's citizenship revocation trial is to begin as scheduled next Tuesday in U.S. District Court, said a clerk for Judge Paul Matia.Demjanjuk's attorneys had requested at least a three-month delay to review court documents. The attorneys argued that Justice Department lawyers overwhelmed them with last-minute documents, some decades old and written in foreign languages.Defense attorney Michael Tigar said he needed more time to look into ...

TRUMAN GIVES VIEWS ON DR. KING AND KLANFormer President Harry S. Truman, as is his custom when he visits New York, went for a morning walk on the upper East Side yesterday, and, as is his custom, made some controversial statements.Mr. Truman, who will be 81 on May 8, leaned heavily on his cane and went at a slower pace than usual, but he kept up his speed and sharpness in answering questions.For example, he called Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "a troublemaker," and when reminded that the civil rights leader had won a Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. Truman replied: ...