HEH: Now that Obama has won, we could be in Iraq for a hundred years.

Grand Cayman, BWI. Last time I was here, people asked for some reports on island life beyond diving. Shot with the Panasonic LX-3, which seems to do very well in this kind of setting.

A THIRD TERM FOR BUSH, sartorially?

DAMON ROOT: Columbia University’s sleazy eminent domain abuse.

The view from my window, early this morning.

DUPONT ENDORSES butanol fuel for cars.

A LOOK AT nanotechnology in Turkey.

GOOD POINT: “The high-cap magazine term is a place where the pro-gun side allowed the other side to frame the debate. 20 and 30-round magazines aren’t ‘high’ capacity, they’re ‘standard’ capacity.”

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF I VOTED FOR MCCAIN, WE’D SEE A THIRD BUSH TERM. Obama drops proposal for windfall profits tax.

SUN PLUS WATER EQUALS FUEL? “With catalysts created by an MIT chemist, sunlight can turn water into hydrogen. If the process can scale up, it could make solar power a dominant source of energy.” Faster, please.

EXERCISE IMPROVES CIRCULATION in aging brains. If there were a pill that did as much for people as exercise does, everyone would take it.

MARC RICH’S man at Justice.

TALK OF racism at Trinity College leads to interesting discovery.

DUDE, HERE’S YOUR RECESSION: Oil tumbles below $44 a barrel, gas hits new low.

A FLYING AEROCAR from 1956.

THE TRUTH ABOUT semi-automatic firearms.

QUANTUM OF ANNOYANCE: When product placement goes horribly wrong.

MY LATEST POPULAR MECHANICS COLUMN: Why I hope there’s no life on Mars.

SHOULD WE PAY DETROIT to bring their gas-sipping foreign cars home to the U.S.A.? Maybe.

CHARLES RANGEL RESPONDS to the New York Times. Are you persuaded? Time for an Insta-Poll!

IN THE MAIL: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles, Mutants and Microbes. Includes her Falling Free, which isn’t a Vorkosigan story at all, but which was my first exposure to Bujold. If you’ve never read the Vorkosigan stories, you might want to start with Young Miles, which collects the earliest Miles Vorkosigan stories in one fat-but-cheap paperback. They’re good fun.

CALIFORNIA’S POLITICAL CLASS looks out for Number One.

THE PERILS OF “healthy” food.

FROM POPULAR MECHANICS, some tool-and-gadget gift advice.

IF YOU’RE IN D.C., there’s a 40th Anniversary happy hour for Reason Magazine scheduled for tonight.