ambisinister
adj. clumsy with both hands; having “two left hands”
The “Ghost Yacht”
Two months ago an unmanned catamaran appeared near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The Kaz II had set out safely from nearby Airlie Beach four days earlier. Her engine was running, and her radio and navigation system were working. The sails were up, though one was badly shredded. Survival equipment, including three life jackets and an emergency beacon, were found on board. Investigators even found a laptop running and the table laid for dinner. But the three-man crew were nowhere to be found.
A search was called off after two days. That’s all anyone knows.
Maunder’s Auroral Beam
On Nov. 17, 1882, something odd appeared in the sky over Europe. The “strange celestial visitor” appeared low in the northeastern sky and elongated as it moved steadily from east to west over the course of two minutes. It was whitish or greenish-white, about 30 degrees long and 3 degrees wide, and had distinct edges.
Whatever it was, the thing was witnessed by professional astronomers across the continent and described in journals including Nature and The Observatory. Edward Walter Maunder of the Greenwich Royal Observatory said it moved “as the Sun, Moon, stars and planets move but nearly a thousand times as quickly.” Even 34 years later Maunder recalled the phenomenon as “unlike any other celestial object that I have ever seen. The quality of its light, and its occurrence while a great magnetic storm and a bright aurora were in progress, seem to establish its auroral origin. But it differed very widely in appearance from any other aurora that I have ever seen.”
What was it? No one knows.
A Pet Lover
‘A fellow, a shepherd at Beverley, in Yorkshire, about eleven years ago, for a bet of five pounds, was produced, who was to devour a living cat. The one produced was a large black tom cat, which had not been fed for the purpose; but was chosen, as being the largest in that neighbourhood. The day appointed was the fair-day at Beverley. The parties met. The man produced was a raw-boned fellow, about forty. The cat was then given to him; on which he took hold of his four legs with one hand, and closing his mouth with the other, he killed him by biting his head to pieces immediately, and in less than a quarter of an hour, devoured every part of the cat, tail, legs, claws, bones, and every thing. The man who laid the wager gave the fellow two guineas for doing it, and the shepherd appeared perfectly satisfied with the reward.’
— The Cabinet of Curiosities, 1824
Going Down

Step off Canada’s Mount Thor and you’ll fall 4,100 feet — more than three-quarters of a mile — straight down.
It’s the world’s largest vertical drop.
Who Made Who?
DEIFIED is a palindrome.
Rimshot
A neutron walks into a bar and orders a beer.
“How much do I owe you?” he says.
“For you,” says the bartender, “no charge.”
A Self-Solving Chess Problem
White to move. I won’t give the solution — try it out and you’ll see why.
(Composed by V. Röpke, Skakbladet, 1942.)
Unquote
“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face, and not Gary Cooper.” — Gary Cooper, declining the lead role in Gone with the Wind
A Scramble for the White House
If you rearrange the letters in “Joe Biden” you get “Jibed One.” What do anagrams tell us about the rest of the 2008 presidential field?
- Hillary Clinton = Rant, Chilly Lion
- John Edwards = Jaws, Herd Nod
- Rudy Giuliani = Gaudily I Ruin
- Dennis Kucinich = Induces Inch Kin
- John McCain = No Jam Cinch
- Barack Obama = Maraca Kabob
- Bill Richardson = Rabid, Shrill Con
- Mitt Romney = Mime, Not Try
- Fred Thompson = Hemp-Fond Sort
And “Al Gore” yields “Galore”.