THE SMARTEST, BEST Terminators of all time.

I also recommend S.M. Stirling’s novels on the subject.

DELL’S ALUMINUM LAPTOPS delivering electrical shocks? I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s less to this than reported.

BARACK OBAMA and the Anti-Defamation League.

JOHN LEO: What’s new in diversity.

THE NEW YORK TIMES AND VETERANS: Ralph Peters gives them both barrels. “To a darkly humorous degree, all this reflects the Freudian terrors leftists feel when confronted with men who don’t have concave chests. But it goes far beyond that. . . . the Times’ feature was an artful example of hate-speech disguised as a public service.”

USING DNA FOR nanotechnology construction.

DAN RIEHL: “There was absolutely no reason for Huckabee to bring up the Confederate Flag issue in South Carolina, especially with such a coarse remark destined for a Democrat commercial in the Fall should Huckabee ever get the nod.” That seems to be Huckabee’s style — “any weapon to hand” — with little concern for consistency or consequences.

UPDATE: Bob Krumm says Huckabee might as well be a Democratic plant. “Notice that he’s the only candidate in the Republican field who prefers to pander to identity politics instead of talking about issues.” The Republicans’ Al Sharpton? Sharpton has better hair . . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CARY GRANT. In response to some blog posting or other I just bought His Girl Friday. Maybe I’ll watch it today, to mark the occasion!

THE COMING American matriarchy?

HELEN AND I DID EARLY VOTING, and the turnout is reportedly quite high.

Based on what people were chatting about when I voted, the big turnout in Knoxville was drawn mostly by local races — big County Government issues here — and secondarily by people who wanted to vote for Fred Thompson and Barack Obama.

I don’t think that’s transferable to other elections elsewhere, but we’ll see.

DAVE WEIGEL: “If you’d said in January 2007 that Congress would fully fund the Iraq War, that there would be no timelines, and that a pro-war group fronted by Ari Fleischer would humiliate MoveOn… well, you’d be smarter than me.” Hard to imagine that anyone could be that smart!

SAFE, LEGAL, AND RARE: No one left to gloat to.

TOM CRUISE explains Scientology.

LIMBAUGH ENDORSES FRED THOMPSON: Well, David Limbaugh, anyway.

BRING IT ON: “Breakthrough Could Mean 40-Hour Laptop Batteries.”

TEN YEARS AFTER MONICAGATE. Plus, James Taranto on The Lewinsky Decade.

IF Y0U MISSED IT ON XM SATELLITE RADIO, you can listen to this week’s PJM Political online now.

MY EARLIER POST ON SCIENCE EDUCATION produced this email from reader Jenn Oates:

Glenn, I teach science at a middle-class high school in Elk Grove, CA—it’s a suburb of Sacramento. Many of my students—entirely too many—come into my 9th grade classroom woefully unprepared for even the most basic rigors of high school science. They do not study. They do not do homework. They do not get the direct connection between how much effort you put into something and the quality of the results. They do not know the difference between an inch and a centimeter. They have trouble with the simplest algebraic calculations (like f=ma). They pay no attention whatsoever (beyond the Al Gore school of bad science) to what is going on in the universe, so much of what I teach has no brain Velcro to stick to. Worst of all? They are embarrassingly incurious. They really don’t care, and if what I do isn’t magically fun, they’re not interested. I work very hard to make what I do interesting and relevant, but they can’t be bothered. My graduate work in science and my efforts thereof mean nothing to them. Not all of them, of course, but enough.

Still, I am expected to turn every student into a science genius-in-the-making. Right. I can do that. Give me better prepared students and perhaps I could.. But it isn’t a Science or Math problem, it’s an attitude problem on the part of the students—their education is excellent, as our district has very high standards. What they make of it is, sadly, too often…not.

It’s quite discouraging. What is the answer? Let me totally revamp the educational system in California and I might be able to begin to address the problem. J

Thanks for keeping things like this in the forefront…

Kids used to be more excited by science. But back then science was doing more visibly exciting things — moon flights, etc. — and got more favorable, and modestly more substantive, mass-media coverage. There’s still good science coverage now, but it’s more of a niche item, I think.

NO ITUNES REQUIRED: LOTS OF TV SHOWS FOR FREE DOWNLOAD, including episode one of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I actually watched the first two episodes of that show, and I think it’s pretty good.

ROGER SIMON: Will new media destroy Hollywood?

A MEMBER OF CONGRESS unprepared for discussion? I’m shocked.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL looks at Republican candidates’ tax plans.

THOUGHTS ON AFGHANISTAN, from Herschel Smith.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: Huckabee going off the rails: “Mike Huckabee joins Mitt Romney on my personal list of candidates for whom I would not vote even if the only alternative is Hillary Clinton.”

MORE ON THE DELIGHTFUL Mazda Furai. I think it should inspire the RX-9.