The Barry Hughart pages (original) are small yet worthy of study; for those who don’t wish to study, well, the original draft of Bridge of Birds is here (original). There, that was easy. (Via Kip.)

Josh Marshall reports that House Republicans are trying to bring Charlie Rangel’s draft bill to a vote. Well, uh, good for them. Using the bill to fuel the draft rumor is dirty politics. (Pointing out that Bush’s policies may well require a draft is legitimate; it’s the fear tactics I abhor.)

Fly, motherfucker! Fly! (original)

“After last night’s victory, the Sox said Bronson Arroyo and Tim Wakefield would pitch Games 3 and 4 (if necessary), but did not say which pitcher would start which game.” ( Boston Globe (original).) Also, Schilling’s going to pitch Game 1 and Martinez will pitch Game 2. Advantage: Population: One.

I saw Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow again today, and my adoration of Polly Perkins is confirmed. And here’s why. (Spoilers, of course.) First and foremost, she is a woman who stands on her own two feet. Her career is important to her and by all evidence she’s pretty good at it. On second viewing, the triangle created by the skills of Polly, Dex, and Joe is fairly obvious: Polly notices, Dex analyzes, and Joe acts. Time and time again, Polly’s the one who notices things first. She makes contact with Doctor Jennings. She finds the scrap of map that Dex left behind. She figures out that the staff is important. She realizes the purpose of the rocketship. ...

Does anyone (I’m looking at you, Harvard affiliates) happen to have floor plans for San Simeon hanging around? I know I could get a peek at ‘em if I were at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (original), and I know that Thomas Aidala’s Hearst Castle, San Simeon has some. So I could always just snag a used copy, but I figured I’d plumb the depths of the Lazyweb first.

Jim Lehrer: “And if any of you audience people yak during the debate, I am going to come down there and whip your ass.” Or something like that. {{ double-space-with-newline }}

On CNN, they’re citing unnamed conservative blogs as feeling Bush had a mixed performance. It’s amusing to watch blogs get co-opted into the spin. General feeling of positive for Kerry from the CNN talking heads. Maybe the Corner; they’re pretty dubious about how Bush did. CNN thinks Bush looks annoyed. Fox is not calling either man the winner. Fox picked up on how tired Bush looked and how much he sighed. Not to mention annoyed. They don’t know if it was effective or not, but Ceci Connelly is calling the expression sour. They’re admitting that Bush looked shorter due to the framing. Spin is fun.

SpaceShipOne has successfully completed its first qualifying flight. Piloted by Mike Melvill, it reached altitudes of over 63 miles. SpaceShipOne now has two weeks to reach that altitude again; if it succeeds, Scaled Composites will win the X Prize. Words fail me; my delight is manifest. Space!