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Sleepy time at Sibudu. Researchers have found microscopic evidence (inset) of 77,000-year-old bedding at this South African cave. "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," wrote Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard's Almanack. That may have held true a couple of hundred years ago, but when it comes to our ancient human ancestors, researchers don't know much about how—or even where—they slept. Now a team working in South Africa claims to have found the earliest known sleeping mats, made of plant material and dated up to 77,000 years ago—50,000 years earlier than previous...

The Country's in the Very Best of HandsIt's Li'l Barry, the musical, starring Barry Btfsplk Remember Joe Btfsplk? I don’t either, but I gather from my father, the sainted “Che” Kahane, that he was the funny little guy with a perpetual cloud over his head in the old Li’l Abner comic strip. Nothing went right for this poor schlimazel, who was also the world’s worst jinx. Everything he touched turned to dreck. Now, if that reminds you of a certain current president of the United States, you’re probably not alone. Yes, it indubitably has been amazing to see the plunge...

Like the Summer Olympics, the soccer World Cup and the presidential election, Friday's date - Feb. 29 - occurs just once every four years. And for at least one unsuspecting guy living in New York City, it's going to be a helluva day to remember. His girlfriend - let's call her Miss X - is taking advantage of an ancient leap year custom by bucking tradition and asking him to marry her.

Is John Kerry the new Joe Btfsplk? (June 6, 2004) Paul M. Weyrich June 6, 2004 Senator Zell Miller, (D-GA) made an interesting point when he addressed a meeting I chaired earlier this month. He asked the audience if they remembered the comic strip "Li'l Abner"? Less than half did. He went on to explain that there was a character, Joe Btfsplk, who always had a rain cloud above his head. No matter how sunny the rest of the strip was, Joe never escaped the rain cloud. That character in today's politics, said Sen. Miller, is John Kerry. Miller went...

Bruce Tinsley, creator of the conservative comic strip Mallard Fillmore, remembers feeling stunned when the fan letter showed up in February 1998. After all, his strip— featuring a right-leaning TV newsman or, more accurately, newsduck—was still in its relative infancy. Yet here was George Herbert Walker Bush declaring that he and Barbara turned to Mallard, “sage duck that he is,” first thing every morning. Even more gratifying, the former president thanked Tinsley for taking on “that horrible Doonesbury” and its creator, liberal icon Garry Trudeau, “a guy that tore me up in a vicious, personal way strip after strip.” By...

For some reason, the recent discussion of John Kerry's war record reminded me of this ditty from the musical L'il Abner (I particularly like the part about: "Jubilation T. Cornpone, the pants blown off his seat!"): JUBILATION T. CORNPONE Lil' Abner : The Musical (1956) (Gene De Paul / Johnny Mercer) Stubby Kaye - 1956 When we fought the Yankees and annihilation was near, Who was there to lead the charge that took us safe to the rear? Why it was Jubilation T. Cornpone; Old "Toot your own horn - pone." Jubilation T. Cornpone, a man who knew no fear!...