ADVICE FOR YOUNG SCHOLARS, from Greg Mankiw. It’s good advice, especially this bit:

For women and minorities: Be especially wary of invitations to sit on university committees. I have noticed that deans and other university administrators like to promote diversity on their committees. They never seem to figure out that, as a result of this “tax” on women and minorities, we white males are left alone with more time to pursue our research.

It’s not just committee work that’s a burden, either. I served as BLSA advisor for a while to spare our junior black faculty that burden at a crucial time; I enjoyed it, and I think it helped, but that kind of thing probably wouldn’t work everywhere.

On the other hand, this bit of advice from Mankiw may be controversial: “Whatever you do, do not start a blog.” Then again, he also warns: “Be wary of advice from old fogies like me.”

ON JOHN MURTHA and the limits of biography: Another veteran who hasn’t worked out as Democrats hoped.

I HAVEN’T WATCHED ANY OF THE OSCARS, but Libertas has been liveblogging them. That’s cruel and unusual punishment, since you have to not only watch, but actually pay attention.

ASTROTURF at Sixty Minutes?

HEH: “Fisk’s next column: ‘While you’re away fighting the Taliban, your wives back home are sleeping with Americans!‘”

UNFAIR TO TRENT LOTT? I linked a column from the Wall Street Journal yesterday, but here’s a Lott defense from the SeaWitch blog.

THE WORST JOB IN AMERICA: “The pay is low and the death rate is much higher than the death rate in Iraq.”

But you’ve got the prestige going for you . . . .

A PHOTO FROM THE FRONT: Ouch.

BITTORRENT GOES MAINSTREAM:

On Monday, the company, whose technology unleashed a wave of illegal file-sharing on the Internet, plans to unveil the BitTorrent Entertainment Network on its Web site, BitTorrent.com. The digital media store will offer around 3,000 new and classic movies and thousands more television shows, as well as a thousand PC games and music videos each, all legally available for purchase.

The programming comes from studios, including Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Brothers, that previously announced their intention to work with BitTorrent. There is also a new partner: the 83-year-old Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which will take part by making 100 films available on the site from its 4,000-movie library. “Somebody once said you have to embrace your enemy,” said Doug Lee, executive vice president of MGM’s new-media division. “We like the idea that they have millions of users worldwide. That is potentially fertile, legitimate ground for us.”

Indeed. Read the whole thing.

A LOOK AT moderate Islam today.

MASH-UP MISCHIEF in campaign videos.

THE “BIG DIG” repeats itself on a smaller scale.

THE INSTA-DAUGHTER is off seeing the movie version of The Bridge to Terabithia. I’ll let you know what she thinks. Meanwhile, some related book recommendations.

UPDATE: The Insta-Daughter’s review: “Not so great — they Disneyfied it a lot.”

SOME ADVICE FOR Europeans in the United States.

WHEN FLYING DIDN’T SUCK: Some photos from the glamour age of air travel. (Via Cory Doctorow).

BILL RICHARDSON: The best choice the Democrats won’t make?

IT’S A SUNDAY ROUNDUP, over at K.C. Johnson’s place.

PRAISE FOR AL GORE.

OKAY, THIS IS JUST BIZARRE: The Pop-up Book of Sex. It’s the video, illustrating the book in action, that’s really surreal, though. I think it’s the sound.

CRUSHING DISSENT IN GERMANY: “The founder of a group in Germany for former Muslims has sought police protection after receiving death threats.”

TOM & JERRY: International Jewish Conspiracy!

IN THE HOUSE OF MIRTHA.

THE POLITICS OF JETBLUE: “Right on cue, politicians are making a fuss about a “passenger bill of rights” and demanding Congressional intervention after last week’s JetBlue airline debacle. The irony is that the marketplace is already moving to address the problem, and the government could really help by relaxing some of the rules that incentivize airlines to discomfit passengers in the first place.”

Of course, what some see as bad service, others see as a vital national security asset.

MICKEY KAUS is unhappy with printer-cartridge sales practices, and wants antitrust relief.

ROGER SIMON WONDERS who cares about Abdel Kareem Soliman.