KEEPERS OF THE MOON: Nice, but if the space program had gone as it should have, pieces of the Moon would be as valuable today as pieces of the Berlin Wall.

BITES FROM THE APPLE: A roundup of iPhone and Apple computer news, with an emphasis on the soon-to-appear iPhone 3G.

T. BOONE PICKENS has an energy plan. It involves wind power. What do you think of his numbers?

Here’s a video. But what will Ted Kennedy say?

WOULD OBAMA NOMINATE DEVAL PATRICK TO THE SUPREME COURT? Orin Kerr thinks so.

TIGERHAWK LOOKS AT GASOLINE PRICES AND BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION, and doesn’t find much of the latter. “When I pulled on to the New Jersey Turnpike I set my cruise control at 66 mph (substantially faster than I would drive — 55 or so — if I wanted to maximize my fuel economy), got in the right lane, and started counting cars that passed me. I was passed by more than 40 cars before I came up behind another vehicle going more slowly than me, and it was a step van trying to exit. I gave up counting when more than 100 cars passed me without me passing anybody. At 66 miles per hour.”

Yeah, I noticed that people weren’t slowing down much this weekend — and where they were it seemed more connected with the heavy holiday-weekend police presence in a few areas than with fuel-saving, because once the cops were gone people sped up again.

UPDATE: From the comments: “Virtually nobody is willing to substitute their time for the money they would save slowing down, and several have offered very cogent economic reasons why they would not. It is a little indication of the enormous cost to the economy and to our personal freedom imposed by the government actually mandating a 55 mph speed limit.” Plus this: “It is a really big freaking country out here. I wonder sometimes if they realize that, back in DC.” No, they travel by jet, preferably Gulfstream. . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Montana reader Tom Pfister emails: “I just finished a long weekend visiting my 87 year old father. 700 miles each way. I will NOT drive 55 as it is a nearly 10 hour trip now, with gas stops, road construction, etc. The fools in DC really do not know (or care) about the flyover country. Even our elected reps barely visit, and they FLY FREE.” Yes, I can think of no measure more likely to stir up populist resentment of Washington.

VIJAY KUMAR: RUNNING FOR CONGRESS on an anti-Sharia platform. He’s running against Jim Cooper, which means his prospects are poor. This is, though, another sign of Indian-Americans’ growing political presence.

TAR, FEATHERS. Three years in jail for possessing a BB gun.

ARRESTED FOR DWI without drinking.

VEEPSTAKES: Richardson and Romney in the lead.

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT: Pinning Down Obama on Iraq.

PUTTING EIGHT-YEAR-OLDS ON CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUGS? Given that few of them will see a benefit from this for 40-50 years, by which time it may not matter anyway as a result of other medical advances, this seems excessive to me. Statins aren’t risk free, and nobody knows the risk of starting them so young, or whether doing so offers significant benefits over starting them later.

SOLVING MOLECULAR MYSTERIES with a special-purpose supercomputer.

YOUR WORLD LEADERS AT WORK: “Gordon Brown and his fellow world leaders have sparked outrage after it was disclosed they enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit where the global food crisis tops the agenda. . . . On the flight to the summit, Mr Brown urged Britons to cut food waste as part of a global drive to help avert the food crisis.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: “Everyone in the healthcare debate is looking for a villain: heedless consumers, careless doctors, grasping pharma companies. But the truth is, most of the increase in health care costs comes from new treatments, not abuse of the system.” Some of this will be solved by technology over time, as better, cheaper treatments replace marginally effective yet expensive ones. On the other hand, when you get a treatment for a disease that was hitherto untreatable, I suppose costs go up — since now you can do something, where before you couldn’t.

MORE ON Thomas Disch. And here’s more from Jim Henley.

CONTRA ANDREW SULLIVAN, I agree with this gun-control measure. A gentleman never distracts at such a moment.

FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC: “Note that, even if Fannie and Freddie obtain an exemption from new accounting standards, that doesn’t make them adequately capitalized. That just allows them to continue to pretend that they are.”

Meanwhile, look at public pension funds.

UPDATE: Reader David Reedy emails:

I’m a professional retirement actuary (a “Fellow of the Society of Actuaries”) and I gotta say you are 100% correct to shine a spotlight on public retirement plans. The system is a horrible mess and taxpayers (as usual) are the ones being hurt.

If I can add a comment to what you wrote, the issue is not just “pension plans.” There are all kinds of post-employment benefits — pensions are only part of the picture. (For example, there are severance plans that pay a bonus or temporary annuity at retirement. And there are post-employment medical benefits — the value of these promises can be a lot larger than the value of pension promises.)

Many of the non-pension benefits have even less funding than public pensions, or no funding at all.

It should be illegal for politicians to promise post-employment benefits without putting aside reasonable funds to pay for the promise. Alas, that isn’t the case.

Yes, and the press tends to undercover these things because of its sense that only capitalists can be guilty of accounting flimflammery. My sense, though, is that for all the problems in the private sector, things in the public sector are much worse.

AMERICAN HOSTAGES: “FARC You!” Plus, questions for Nancy Pelosi.

STOPPING CANCER SPREAD WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY:

By using tumor-targeting nanoparticles filled with chemotherapy drugs, scientists kept kidney and pancreas cancers from spreading through the bodies of mice.

In an experiment described today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by University of California, San Diego pathologist David Cheresh designed nanoparticles that selectively attached to a protein found on the surface of blood vessels that supply tumors with nutrients and oxygen.

The particles were loaded with doxorubicin, an effective but highly toxic anti-cancer drug with side effects ranging from white cell destruction to fatal heart disease. By targeting blood vessel cells, the researchers needed just one-fifteenth the amount used in a traditional, system-flooding dose.

“To use an analogy from warfare, we didn’t have as much collateral damage,” said Cheresh.

Such findings aren’t unique in the fast-growing field of cancer nanotech, but the researchers found something new: Although their nanoparticles didn’t affect the original tumor, they did stop the cancers from spreading through the mice. That process is known as metastasis — a word synonymous, for anyone who has experience with cancer, with doom.

Read the whole thing. And, uh, faster, please!

BLOGGER CATCHES PBS in some selective editing. “Old watchdogs, meet new watchdogs, again.”

D.C. TRIES TO duck the ruling in Heller.

UPDATE: Reader John Steakley emails: “Because, you know, revolvers don’t shoot quickly.”

DID ROE V. WADE reduce crime? Maybe instead of reducing the population of criminals, it reduced the population of potential victims? . . .

ADVICE TO REPUBLICANS:

Republicans need to revive what I call the Politics of Aspiration. Instead of promoting an agenda that a) echoes what Democrats offer, only not so much; or b) is based on negativity and fear (of illegal immigration, terrorists, Godless liberals, etc.), they need to tap into the entrepreneurial feelings and desire to get ahead that lies deep within us all – rich, middle class and poor. Winning parties offer hopeful messages and sound ideas.

Read the whole thing. Especially if you work for John McCain or the RNC.

USING PHONY CONSPIRACY THEORIES like bombers use chaff? Overloading the radar and rendering it untrustworthy . . . .

IF YOUR TODDLER DOESN’T LIKE “UNFAMILIAR FOREIGN FOOD,” it’s because of racism. Jesus. Tar and feathers are too good for these people. Well, maybe.