Incentives, incentives, incentives ...

Not to make light of a tragic situation, but here's a new wrinkle in the story of Bruce Ivins, the government scientist who committed suicide after being named as THE SUSPECT in the 2001 anthrax mailings.

In a will he wrote last year, a few months before the Federal Bureau of Investigation focused the anthrax letters investigation on him, Dr. Ivins wrote of his wish to be cremated and have his ashes scattered. But fearing that his wife, Diane, and their two children might not honor the request, he came up with a novel way to enforce his demand:

“If my remains are not cremated and my ashes are not scattered or spread on the ground, I give to Planned Parenthood of Maryland” $50,000, Dr. Ivins wrote in the will.

Why that particular threat?

Ms. Ivins is a former president of Frederick County Right to Life, according to F.B.I. records.

The Times goes on to suggest this is another indicator of Dr. Ivins' "quirky and mentally troubled" state of mind. I don't know; it seems to me like a pretty good way to try to establish enforcement power in a contract.