The Leopard's Limb 09/16/11

Wheeling and dealing
Below is a link to an interesting (to me) about the invention of the wheel, though the article indicates that the wheel was probably more evolution than invention.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/09/15/140508448/whyd-it-take-so-long-to-invent-the-wheel?sc=fb&cc=fp

Union found to be contemptible
Reported earlier here, and underreported  nationally was the raid by members of the ILWU  (longshoremen) on a grain terminal in Longview WA. The company operating the terminal had the nerve to hire another union, the Operating Engineers to work there. The longshoremen took issue with this, and some 500 of them forced their way into the terminal, damaging equipment and menacing security guards.

A judge has now found two ILWU locals in contempt, and has requested that EGT, the terminal's operator, furnish him with an accounting of damages so that he can determine who much to fine the locals. Several (but nowhere near all) of the hoodlums who committed crimes have been arrested.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/15/2409154/wash-union-held-in-contempt-for.html

The National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) reports that it has records of 8,799 instances of union violence since 1975, but only 1963 prosecutions, and a scant 258 convictions. Obviously, the cause of "social justice" is far too important for justice to be served.
http://www.nilrr.org/node/54
Caveat: the NILRR is not a union-friendly outfit.

Word watch
Early on: We have used the phrase "later on" ever since I could talk, but sometime later "early on" slunk into our lexicon, as in an NPR reporter saying, "Early on in the debate . . . " Note that dropping the "on" doesn't change the meaning. Dropping "on" from "later on" usually wouldn't either, for that matter.

Deorbit: Meaning "to leave orbit," heard in a reference to the recent Soyuz landing. Nothing wrong with it, I guess, but reminds of the silly "deplane" that flight attendants once used to explain disembarking from an airliner. If I arise from my current roost, do I "dechair"? I guess it could be said of the returning ISS astronauts that they have "detripped."