[R] Reading data from "clipboard"

[R_xprt_wannabe]

Dear List,

As a way to learn R, I am trying out some of the
examples shown in the Reference Cards.

I use the following to read a column of numbers from
Excel:

x <- read.delim("clipboard")

My questions are:

1. Why is it that the first number is omitted from the
selected data range?  How do I tell R to pick up the
first number as part of the entire selection?

2. The next thing I want to do once my data are read
in the way described above is

y <- ppoints(sort(x))

but I get the following:

Error in sort(x): 'x' must be atomic

What does 'atomic' mean in this context?  How do I
make 'x' atomic?

3. While I understand there are other ways to
accomplish the same thing, I seem to recall there is a
way to invoke within R a spreadsheet-like window for
data input, but I can't seem to locate the command for
the life of me.

Any help is appreciated.