STILL A FEW BUGS IN THE SYSTEM: Zotye electric taxi burst into flames in China.

THE JOY OF researching the health benefits of sex. “A flurry of small studies suggest that sex is as good for your health as vitamin D and broccoli. It not only relieves stress, improves sleep and burns calories, it can also reduce pain, ease depression, strengthen blood vessels, boost the immune system and lower the risk of prostate and breast cancer.” I say, why take chances with your health?

STEPHEN GREEN: The Gang That Could Shoot Straight — But Not Much Else. “The plan for killing Osama Bin Laden was perfectly conceived and as perfectly executed as any special forces operation since Israel’s raid on Entebbe. But the follow-through has been strange at best, sometimes bordering on incompetence. . . . Now the Administration can’t even decide whether or not to release a photo of the body. They didn’t have a PR plan in place before the killing?”

IN THE MAIL: The Seamless City: A Conservative Mayor’s Approach to Urban Revitalization that Can Work Anywhere.

IN LIGHT OF SEVERAL TORNADO-RELATED EMAILS I’VE GOTTEN, here’s a link back to my post on low-budget disaster preparedness.

WELL, THAT’S NICE: The Hill: Pelosi Thanks Bush For His Role In Bin Laden’s Destruction. “House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said she called former President George W. Bush on Tuesday to congratulate him on the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden. Following a classified briefing on the operation to take down bin Laden, Pelosi told reporters that she called the former president earlier in the day to ‘congratulate him and thank him for the leadership role he had played in this quest over the years.'”

MICHAEL BARONE: To Get Bin Laden, Obama Relied On Policies He Decried.

UPDATE: Hmm: “Senior Pakistani security officials said Osama bin Laden’s daughter had confirmed her father was captured alive and shot dead by the US Special Forces during the first few minutes of the operation carried out at the huge compound in Bilal Town, Abbottabad. . . . The daughter has reportedly told her Pakistani investigators that the US forces captured her father alive but shot him dead in front of family members.” Not an especially reliable source, but she’ll be believed by many.

There’s an upside, though: Claims like these will undercut the claims that Osama wasn’t actually killed that will result if, as seems likely now, they don’t release the death-scene photos.

ED DRISCOLL: The Forgotten Fan.

POPULAR MECHANICS: How Reliable Is Bin Laden’s DNA Test?

THIS SEEMS RIGHT: An IP Address Does Not Point To A Person, Judge Rules.

TAXPROF: 51% of Households Pay No Income Tax; Share of Taxes Paid by Rich Growing Faster Than Income. We need to broaden the tax base to include all voters.

MARKDOWNS ON new releases in DVD, Blu-Ray, and Instant Video.

REGARDING THE MANY STORY-CHANGES ON THE BIN LADEN KILLING, Prof. Joseph Campbell issues a cautionary note on early coverage of dramatic events.

WHAT? LIBYA? OH, RIGHT: Libya raids not aimed at killing Kadhafi: French FM.

International forces are seeking to weaken but not to kill Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi by bombarding his strategic sites, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday.

“Our aim is not to kill Kadhafi,” Juppe said on news channel France 24, describing as “collateral damage” the death of one of the ruler’s sons in a recent NATO air strike.

“We are targeting military sites in Tripoli” in an attempt to weaken Kadhafi’s regime, which is in a fierce fight against rebels who are recognised by France.

“There is no question of getting bogged down in Libya,” he added. “I hope that will last no longer than a few weeks, a few months at the most. But it is premature to talk of getting bogged down.”

Well, okay then. Related: Qaddafi’s Forces Bombard Rebel Cities as Allies Prepare for Rome Meeting.

EDWARD TENNER IN THE ATLANTIC: Why Society Is Running Out Of Vital Medications.

We need to shift from Just-In-Time to Just-In-Case.

UPDATE: Reader Brian Erst writes: “It’s happened to me lately. Two of the last three medications I needed were not just unavailable at my local Walgreen’s, but unavailable period. Fortunately, there were alternatives, but I’ve still got a cough I can’t seem to shake and I have to wonder if the medication my doctor actually wanted me to take might have cleared it up. And these are not exotic medications – very mainstream antibiotics and steroid packs.”

REPORT: UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY GUN OWNER FIRED OVER GUN IN CAR? “All this, despite the fact that Mitchell had a Kentucky concealed carry permit, believed he had fully complied with Kentucky law governing concealed carry, and therefore cooperated fully with police and university authorities. . . . So……. What’s up with the University of Kentucky?” Oddly, in a time of constricting budgets, they seem to be going out of their way to do things that will play badly with Kentucky voters. But I’m seeing this at other universities as well.

JIM TREACHER: If you’re determined to believe waterboarding had nothing to do with tracking down Bin Laden, don’t listen to Leon Panetta.

Plus: “The Daily Mail is reporting that it took Obama 16 hours to decide to kill Bin Laden. I don’t know whether that’s true, but if it is, I’m reluctant to judge him too harshly. After all, he was very busy writing Trump jokes.”

CHANGE: ‘Before we give you that contract, we’ll just need to see how much you’ve spent to re-elect the President’.

MEMPHIS FLOOD UPDATE: A musician friend emails: “I’m currently doing some seasonal work for the Memphis in May International Festival which takes place all month in Tom Lee Park on the river’s edge downtown. Just this week it was announced that the World Championship Barbecue Competition next weekend (which is one of the festival’s biggest events) would be moved to a new location, for the first time ever, because the river will be in the park itself very soon. This week we are busy evacuating to the fairgrounds. I’ve personally never seen a river look like the Mississippi does now. I had to run an errand in West Memphis, AR a couple of days ago and from I-40 across the bridge, you could see that the water covered what once were fields for over two miles west. Working in Tom Lee Park, every time a barge goes by, waves come up over what once was the river bank and deposit debris in the park. Pretty soon, barges will not have enough height clearance to pass under the I-55 bridge. I saw one yesterday that looked like it had about 2 or 3 feet of clearance. It is amazing.”

Of course, a shutdown in Mississippi barge traffic would have supply-chain consequences of all sorts.

SALLY PIPES: Obama’s attempt to fix the deficit will wreak havoc on health care.

ROGER SIMON ON his new film, A Better Life.

SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION: We need better disclosure in the White House visitor logs.

TOP GREEN COMES CLEAN about intellectual bankruptcy of the environmental movement.

MICKEY KAUS: “Attention, Republicans: Looking for a theory that will allow you to reconcile Obama’s Abbottabad success with the unfavorable portrait of him that before Sunday was just beginning to come together and burn itself into the collective mediamind–that’ he’s an inexperienced, indecisive leader, constantly debating with himself, who fatally hedges every bet? Well, you’ve come to the right place.”

BOOK-COOKING FAIL: New rules don’t stop newspaper circulation fall: Most big newspapers still lose circulation despite new rules counting more copies. “The figures released Tuesday, for the six months ending in March, mark the first time that newspapers have calculated circulation under the looser guidelines from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Among other things, the changes allow publishers to include free copies given to newspaper employees and local schools; before copies had to be bought to be counted. The changes also make it easier for newspapers to lump separate editions under different titles into one total.”