A COLLECTION OF great college pranks.

MOMENTUM: Evanston, Illinois drops its handgun ban.

EARLY SCREENING FOR CANCER: Not always a good idea.

WSJ: Oil Goes to The Bears: “Just weeks ago the fragile commodities markets could be sparked ahead by a mere hint of bad news. That market psychology has reversed, with Monday’s action showing that even war can’t halt oil’s current retreat.”

THE GREAT STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA operates with its usual efficiency.

IN THE MAIL: The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. Shockingly, it’s currently number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

GETTING META: A poll about polls.

UPDATE: Hey, if there’s a poll topic you want in the future, email me.

TECHNOLOGY MARCHES ON: I was just talking to a colleague who’s lived in the Fort Sanders neighborhood near campus for quite a while, and he said something funny: When he first moved in it was noisy, because somebody always had their window open with the stereo blasting. Now, however, he says that the students all have MP3 players, and hardly play stereos at all. “It’s quieter than West Hills.” Heh.

THE OFFICE PRIMARY.

JUSTICE KENNEDY, HELLER, AND THE FUTURE OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT: Some interesting reportage, with video, from Orin Kerr.

PREVENTING FLOOD DAMAGE: Going beyond higher levees.

SAYUNCLE: “Looks like the LA Times is the latest to perpetuate the automatic weapons and ammunition are flowing virtually unchecked from border states into Mexico lie. This canard has been debunked many times.” But hey, if you think it’s a big problem maybe we should build some kind of . . . fence along the border . . . .

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

CHANGE YOU CAN EARMARK!

WE’VE STILL GOT John Edwards to kick around. Thanks mostly to . . . John Edwards.

MICHELLE OBAMA: A “FELLOW TRAVELER?” That seems a bit . . . unfortunate as a choice of words.

NO SURPRISE HERE: Cop cameras don’t just catch speeders, they raise cash.

In Chevy Chase, for example, where speeding tickets brought in about $8,000 monthly before cop cams, “We are routinely bringing in approximately a quarter-million dollars per month,” Geoffrey Biddle, Chevy Chase’s village manager, told his Board of Managers in February.

For a community of 2,000 with an annual budget of $4.6 million, that’s a bonanza. What’s more, because locals know enough to evade the cop cams, the village’s new revenue mostly comes from outsiders, rather like a commuter tax.

Nor are Chevy Chase’s big gains unique. Washington’s dozen cop cams have taken in more than $200 million since 2001. Scottsdale’s six freeway cameras took in $17 million in 2006.

Some related thoughts here. As with just about all traffic-enforcement issues, it’s all about the money.

WILL BOB BARR have an impact on the Presidential election?

GEORGIA GOES BLANK on Google Maps? Why would this be?

SPENGLER: “If Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were president of the United States, would Iran try to build a nuclear bomb? Would Pakistan provide covert aid to al-Qaeda? Would Hugo Chavez train terrorists in Venezuela? Would leftover nationalities with delusions of grandeur provoke the great powers?”

THE LATEST Blawg Review is up!

TRANSATLANTIC POLITICS: Russia has stopped its invasion in Georgia. But at what price?

QUESTIONS ABOUT GEOENGINEERING AND OTHER POTENTIALLY RISKY TECHNOLOGIES:

Last year, a private company proposed “fertilizing” parts of the ocean with iron, in hopes of encouraging carbon-absorbing blooms of plankton. Meanwhile, researchers elsewhere are talking about injecting chemicals into the atmosphere, launching sun-reflecting mirrors into stationary orbit above the earth or taking other steps to reset the thermostat of a warming planet.

This technology might be useful, even life-saving. But it would inevitably produce environmental effects impossible to predict and impossible to undo. So a growing number of experts say it is time for broad discussion of how and by whom it should be used, or if it should be tried at all.

Similar questions are being raised about nanotechnology, robotics and other powerful emerging technologies. There are even those who suggest humanity should collectively decide to turn away from some new technologies as inherently dangerous. . . . “There is no one to say ‘thou shalt not,’ ” said Jane Lubchenco, an environmental scientist at Oregon State University and a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Nor will there be, given that the international system can’t even keep Russia out of Georgia. I’m surprised that the story mentions both the Asilomar guidelines for recombinant DNA research and nanotechnology without also mentioning the Foresight Guidelines for responsible nanotechnology research. Some related thoughts here. I’ll just add that these discussions continue to assume that it will be mostly Western scientists and engineers engaging in this kind of activity, when trends are otherwise.

WELL, GOOD: Restored liver function helps prevent cellular aging and keep organs young.

UPDATE: Heh.

DEFINING PLAGIARISM DOWN. Some lengthy thoughts of mine on plagiarism, from The Appearance of Impropriety, can be found here.