GEORGIA: U.S. Warships Run the Gauntlet with Georgia Aid.

UNIVERSITIES TRYING TO control student behavior off-campus.

NEWS FROM THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD: “The next leader of Egypt’s banned extremist Islamic group talks about Barack Obama, CAIR, and why he feels misunderstood.”

IN THE MAIL: I CAN’T SEE THAT MANY INSTAPUNDIT READERS buying this book. On the other hand, the back-cover question — “How many Democrats does it take to lose the most winnable election in American history” — looks like it may be answered . . . .

OKAY, I’VE LINKED A LOT OF WEBB WILDER STUFF, but here’s an Aimee Mann video that I like, and it proves you don’t have to spend a lot of money to produce a memorable video.

I also like the line from this song about hollow chocolate bunnies. I hated those when I was a kid: They looked great at first, but when you bit into ’em you got nothing but air. And even the thin skin of deceptive chocolate was usually substandard once you tasted it.

JULES CRITTENDEN: Crock 1, Globe 0. “The story’s a bit of a snooze but the vid is worth clicking on for the tutorial it offers in slow-pitch interviewing techniques.”

THIS WILL SAVE SOME LIVES, I EXPECT: FDA allows irradiation of produce.

BRENDAN LOY REPORTS from last night’s Knoxville photowalk.

JOE BIDEN’S likely to help Obama in Florida.

He’s not very popular in Iraq, though. “Across racial and religious boundaries, Iraqi politicians on Saturday bemoaned Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama’s choice of running mate, known in Iraq as the author of a 2006 plan to divide the country into ethnic and sectarian enclaves.” Plus this: “Anyway, it is a reflection of the diminishing political significance of the Iraq war that Barack Obama, who secured the Democratic nomination in part by making much of his opposition to the war and his plan to withdraw our troops on a fast schedule, is now able to pick as his running mate a senator who voted for the invasion in 2002 and whose favored ‘solution’ would have required more rather than less American involvement in Iraqi domestic politics.”

COOL: “A UK-built solar-powered plane has set an unofficial world endurance record for a flight by an unmanned aircraft. The Zephyr-6, as it is known, stayed aloft for more than three days, running through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight.”

THINKING AHEAD ABOUT “PLANETARY EMERGENCIES:”

More than 120 scientists, engineers, analysts and economists from 30 countries were hunkered down here for the 40th annual conference on “planetary emergencies.” The term was coined by Dr. Antonino Zichichi, a native son and a theoretical physicist who has made Erice a hub for experts to discuss persistent, and potentially catastrophic, global challenges.

The participants were not particularly optimistic.

Making things worse is the increasing politicization of science — and concomitant loss of trust in scientists. But they’re thinking ahead at the Lifeboat Foundation, too.

VALLEYWAG: 5 ways the newspapers botched the Web.

PLUMMETING PRICES FOR subcompact notebooks. Works for me! I like my Asus 900 and my HP Mini-Note, but I’m still waiting for the perfect lightweight go-anywhere machine.

HILLARY SUPPORTERS: “We Will Not Be Silenced.”

UPDATE: Associated Press: Clinton backers split over Biden as VP choice.

DAVID HARSANYI: When will Biden apologize to the Haditha Marines?

BEWARE: Universal Preschool is overrated: “If anything, preschool may do lasting damage to many children. A 2005 analysis by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, found that kindergartners with 15 or more hours of preschool every week were less motivated and more aggressive in class. Likewise, Canada’s C.D. Howe Institute found a higher incidence of anxiety, hyperactivity and poor social skills among kids in Quebec after universal preschool.”

THE CARNIVAL OF SPACE is up.

YOU THINK “HUMAN RIGHTS” GROUPS WOULD BE LOUDER: “Georgian civilians captured and recently freed by Russian and South Ossetian forces on Saturday described beatings, forced labor and miserable living conditions in prison. . . . The detainees, many of them elderly fruit farmers from villages along Georgia’s northern border, said male inmates were forced to clean streets and bury the war dead, and occasionally endured beatings that left them with bruises and welts. More than 100 men and women were packed into a cell with a single toilet, they said.” But I’ve heard only token commentary. I guess if you can’t criticize Americans or Israelis it’s not worth a major effort.

BRAVELY STANDING UP AGAINST BIG GOVERNMENT AND PORK! Ron Paul endorses Don Young.

TALKLEFT: “Obama’s supporters I find are his worst enemies now.”

MICKEY KAUS: “Maybe when I get to Denver I’ll find someone who’ll explain to me why Biden is an inspired choice. He doesn’t have gravitas. He has seniority.”

50% OFF AND MORE on exercise and fitness gear. I ordered a heart-rate monitor, as I’m doing more aerobic stuff lately.

JOE BIDEN MEMORIES: Some thoughts on his sponsorship of the “RAVE Act.”

When he introduced the bill in June, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., said “most raves are havens for illicit drugs,” and congressional findings submitted with the bill label as drug paraphernalia such rave mainstays as bottled water, “chill rooms” and glow sticks.

My three-year-old nephew is fond of bottled water and glow sticks, and usually needs a “chill room.” Presumably Biden regards him as a dangerous criminal.

Read the whole thing. Some more background here. Also, sort of, here.

“WHIP THAT BOY, AND YOU’LL ANSWER TO ME.” “Who’s me?” “The man totin’ this.”

UPDATE: Frank Ruggles emails: “I didn’t know you were a Webb fan! Back in the 90’s I was a very minor rock star in the East Coast college scene, ( yeah, I’ve had a Forrest Gump life) , anyway, I got to open for Webb Wilder and I gotta tell you, his music rocks, but his decency is the best of any star I ever opened for. He was genuine and spent a good amount of pre-show green room time giving us advice. After the show, he surprised us by purchasing our CD and asking us to autograph it for him. I would guess he’d be to busy to ever listen to it, but what a class move that was. The guy is all class and has a wild sense of humor. Kudos for posting him on your blog .” Yeah, Webb’s a class act. I’ve been a fan for a long time — since I clerked for Judge Merritt in Nashville back in the ’80s — but a bunch of his music just kinda resurfaced in my collection lately due to natural convection or something, and I’m happy to see how much of his stuff is on YouTube now. Including this. And Webb Wilder’s motto — “You’re never too small to hit the big time” — is surely apt for the blogosphere!

BILL OWEN: Blogging super-delegate.