IS IT WRONG to use these superb optics for “vaguely obscene” purposes?

AT ABOVE THE LAW, more on the Harvard Law Review scandal.

ADVICE ON BACKING UP YOUR PHOTOS: Me, I just burn ’em to DVDs and keep a backup hard drive. But this is how real pros do it.

WHERE ARE THESE KIDS going to learn such things?

ANOTHER REVIEW of the Ford Escape hybrid.

A LOOK AT the future of longevity research.

DON’T PUT THEM IN SWIMSUITS, PLEASE! Barrwatch, with Special Guest Star Ralph Nader. Plus this: “Are there actually people who will vote in November 2008 on the matter of ‘impeaching Bush’? And can they introduce me to their dealer?”

JAMES LILEKS: “I’m not saying it’s the be-all / end-all of ideological tests, but you can tell a lot about a person by their reaction to this ad.” More of ’em here.

LOSE A NUKE, LOSE YOUR JOB: “Defense Secretary Robert Gates ousted the Air Force’s top military and civilian leaders Thursday, holding them to account in a historic Pentagon shake-up after embarrassing nuclear mix-ups. Gates announced at a news conference that he had accepted the resignations of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne – a highly unusual double firing.” Seems fair. But we also need to clean things up down the line: “The report drew the stunning conclusion that the Air Force’s nuclear standards have been in a long decline, ‘a problem that has been identified but not effectively addressed for over a decade.'”

UPDATE: Background here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails:

I get the impression, from my military acquaintances, that the nuclear forces have been regarded by the rest of the armed services as the weird aunt in the attic nobody talks about. That kind of attitude tends to be hard on the morale of the “weird aunt”, and bad morale leads to carelessness and other manifestations of bad performance.

For whatever it’s worth.

We need to continue taking the nuclear deterrent seriously. I work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and we’ve become a political football over the last few years. Bad morale, reduced performance …. yeah.

Indeed.

MORE: Further background, going beyond the nuke issue to many other Air Force turf battles, from Noah Shachtman.

STILL MORE: A reader emails:

I was an OIC (1st Lieutenant at Minot when I left) in charge of several branches of the 5 MMS (Munitions Maintenance Squadron) WSA (Weapons Storage Area) at Minot in the mid-eighties. That was back when SAC (Strategic Air Command) existed and controlled all of the nations ICBM and Heavy Bomber Nuke forces. Back then, SAC set the standard, DOD-wide, for excellence in Nuclear Accountability and Control…I personally went through many SAC IG, NSA, DNSA and other Nuclear Surety inspections when I was there, and they were absolutely gut-wrenching in their thoroughness…they were terrifying actually…and I am glad they were. Even minor clerical paper-work or simple procedural errors could cause a failed inspection for the entire base…resulting in the Wing Commander and many, if not most, officers in his direct chain of command being fired and removed from the base within 24 hrs of the inspection results being published…my point is that sometime after Clinton’s reorganization of the USAF and the retirement of SAC…these exacting standards seem to have disappeared. Not blaming him, since much of this was on the recommendation of Bush the first’s defense re-organization efforts, but when you remove the elite and professional status that an organization such as SAC had…well, this happens.

And here’s a blog post from Former Spook that goes into some detail, too.

MY EARLIER POST on buying big items on Amazon produced an email shortly afterward from reader Scott Milner, who wrote:

Who knew that a simple post about Amazon’s sale on fitness equipment would be such a boon to your readers?

A month ago my wife and I ordered a Whirlpool double oven from Best Buy to complete our kitchen renovation. Delivery was scheduled yesterday and, sure enough, the delivery guys showed up with the item. They were in and out in a flash. Unfortunately, the oven had endured some abuse at some point and so it arrived in an unusable condition. I called Best Buy and the only promise they could make was that a replacement would be on its way with an expected arrival date some four weeks from now. Not a huge deal except we’d already discarded the old oven and… we’re listing the house for sale today!

I remembered your post regarding Amazon and large items/appliances so I logged in and found the identical item. A quick call to the vendor (their 1-800 number was listed on Amazon’s site) and I was able to speak to an eminently helpful salesman. He had the item in stock and could guarantee delivery by Tuesday of next week. He also promised to physically check the item before it shipped to ensure that it was undamaged. The biggest surprise is that I can buy this oven, identical to the one I bought at Best Buy, free of sales tax and for more than $300 less than BB’s price, shipping included.

It’s not an ideal situation, having to show the house to potential buyers without having a working oven, but this independent wholesaler working in conjunction with a major online retailer has saved me hundreds of dollars and was virtually instantly able to remedy a huge headache AND help with the sale of my home.

Best Buy, as well as Lowe’s and Home Depot, have, without fail, dropped the ball on every custom order item we have purchased through them in the last four months. My wife’s new mantra is that we will not shop at those places for anything that we cannot carry out of the store that day. Amazon, by simply making the introductions between customers and vendors, will hand the big box stores their collective lunch… and I’ll smile because they deserve it.

I followed up and asked him how it went a while later, and he replied:

The oven arrived yesterday in perfect condition. The delivery crew called the day before and gave me a delivery window of about an hour and a half (which beats the hell out the 4 hour or larger windows of most utilities and Best Buy’s own delivery team by a long shot). The gentlemen were courteous, careful and even unpacked the oven and took the material away for disposal.

I’ll say it again, I will not shop at Best Buy, Lowe’s or Home Depot for anything that I cannot carry out of the store that day. Independent retailers who can provide the kind of service I received for the price I paid will eat the big guys’ collective lunch.

Cool. Then I followed up several weeks later to see how it was going, and he replied: “Everything is working great! Thanks again for the inspiration to try Amazon.” I wish I owned stock.

Meanwhile, reader Tom Ganley sends this report about buying tires on the Internet:

I recently bought a set of tires for my son’s 2006 Mazda 3. I bought the tires from www.tirerack.com. They also have a nationwide network of recommended installers. I called the one closest to my house and had the tires shipped directly to them. When they came in (a couple of days) I took the car down and had them mounted, balanced and installed.

Bottom line, I saved $110, or about 20%.

Cons: By not buying from the installer, I didn’t get free life of the tire balancing, flat repair, or rotation.

Pros: The biggest pro is the time saved by not having to call around and find the best prices and availability. I’m a compulsive bargain shopper and I’ve spent days doing this in the past, calling people, waiting for call backs, looking for better prices etc. It was a quick and painless process and I saved over a $100.

I’ve bought tires from The Tire Rack several times before and always had good luck. Plus, this puts pressure on local retailers to do a better job, benefiting even those who don’t buy online.

THOUGHTS ON GENDER ROLES from Cassandra.

A REPORT FROM Book Expo America. Plus, guess which TV show has the richest fans?

ROLLING OUT THE NEW OFFICIAL Frank Sinatra site.

GOOD ADVICE: Pray less, work more, says Islamic preacher.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS on mass transit. “For most transit agencies in the United States, if they were to write a mission statement that is reflective of what they do, they would indicate that they exist for the purpose of serving their employees and vendors.”

GOING ANALOG: Jules Crittenden is taking a break this summer. Good idea.

MCCAIN/LIEBERMAN?

DEFECTING DEMOCRATS? “TN Dems Chair’s Dad Might Vote McCain — Lifelong Democrat and former US Sen. Jim Sasser says he might consider voting for John McCain if FedEx CEO Fred Smith was given a place on the Cabinet. . . . What makes this particularly interesting is Sasser is the father of TN Democratic Party Chair Gray Sasser, who endorsed Barack Obama yesterday.” Hmm. I’d be surprised if this happened, but who knows?

UPDATE: Michael Silence is skeptical.

MORE ECONOMICAL S.U.V.s on the way: “However, despite its full size stature, room for seven humans and a few cold drinks, the Flex doesn’t attack your gas budget like Cookie Monster on a binge. Its 3.5L V6 engine gets a respectable 24 mpg on the highway, assisted by a high-tech six-speed automatic transmission. Down the road, when the Flex is available with a turbocharged direct injection Ecoboost option, its fuel economy should raise a bit more.” You may not think that’s a lot, but if every SUV in the country got 24 mpg on the highway, the difference would be huge.

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, it would mean the end of privacy. And they were right: “The report reveals that the IRS made 4.5 billion disclosures of tax return information to federal and state agencies.”

CAN A CIVILIZATION SURVIVE with a leadership class that is ashamed of it?

DON SURBER: Democrats finally impeach the Clintons.

INVASION OF THE JELLYFISH: No, this is not a metaphor for Congress — we’re talking actual jellyfish. They wander: “The American comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi), sometimes called the warty comb jelly, has been spreading to foreign habitats for 26 years. Native to the Atlantic Ocean, they first appeared in the Black Sea in 1982. They had stowed away in a ship’s ballast water, which is used for stabilization. When the water was dumped, the species eagerly took up residence in the area.”

This picture is just plain scary, though. When I scuba-dive in jellyfish conditions I put anti-sting cream on my exposed hands and face. I don’t think it would be up to handling this guy . . . .

DAVID FRUM ON being attacked by Rush Limbaugh.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I still kinda like the sound of Reynoldistas, though, even if Dan Riehl didn’t.

PUTIN HAS MADE SATIRIZING HIM ILLEGAL: He’s also pretty much made it impossible, as he moves beyond parody . . . .