Misc.

The British Are Coming to Capital City. Good thing the Capitol rennovation is done.

Saturday my Lib celebrates Free Comic Book Day.

I'm three or four New Yorkers behind, as always. The April 16 issue was full of good stuff, including:

• Nick Paumgarten on commuting. The longest commute submitted to a recent muffler company's contest was 7 hours; 372 miles. "Roughly one out of every six American workers commutes more than forty-five minutes, each way." He also examines the implications of this. Zoning and suburban planning both create and worsen commuting problems. Paumgarten also cites the study of two economists; one of whom explained, "'People with long journeys to and from work are systematically worse off and report significantly lower subjective well-being.'" Gee, I love my 12-15 minute commute.

• John Colapinto on the work of a linguist (and some colleagues) with the Piraha, a people whose language is an exception to many of the fundamental rules of language.

Watching: the second season of The Venture Brothers and liking Dr. Orpheus more and more.