SCIENTIST JAMES HANSEN arrested at a protest.

HMM: Study: Women look away more from abnormal babies. “Puzzling new research suggests women have a harder time than men looking at babies with facial birth defects. . . . articipants rated each baby’s attractiveness on a scale of zero to 100, and used keystrokes to make the photo stay on the screen longer or disappear faster. Women pressed the keys 2.5 times more than men to make photos of babies with the facial abnormalities disappear, researchers reported in PLoS One, a journal of the Public Library of Science. That’s even though they rated those babies no less attractive than the men had.”

A BUNCH OF new releases on DVD and Blu-Ray.

HEH: “Rarely in human history has a gay man been that obsessed with a married woman’s vagina.”

DAN RIEHL WONDERS what Hillary’s up to?

A ROUNDUP OF IRAN NEWS, at the Berman Post.

POLITICO: WHAT OBAMA DIDN’T MENTION.

A couple of surprising words were missing from President Barack Obama’s 55-minute news conference on Wednesday: “Iraq” — and “Afghanistan.”

Also MIA: “Korea,” “Pakistan,” “soldiers,” “surge” and “war” — as well as the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

How many times did the word “I” appear?

MORE ON THAT fascinating new approach to money and debt. “Don’t buy stuff you can’t afford!” Who’d have thought it?

A.P. FACT CHECK: Obama’s words about Iran get tougher. “President Barack Obama described himself on Tuesday as being ‘entirely consistent’ in his expressions of concern about the disputed Iranian election and the government crackdown that followed street protests. But his language clearly has gotten tougher since his first statement that the suppression of dissent was ‘of concern to me.'” Whenever Obama starts talking about his consistency, it’s a pretty safe bet he’s in the process of changing his position.

LOOKING BACK ON GOING SOLAR, after a year’s experience. “It’s been nearly a full year since we had our 6.1KW solar power system installed. During that year, we experienced the peak of summer and the low point of winter. . . . So what was my total power bill for twelve months? $1,460.73. That’s my power bill for twelve months. It’s equivalent to about 3-1/2 months of peak winter power cost prior to installing the solar power system. To put it another way, our annual power cost for twelve months prior to installing solar power was $4,430. Based on those earlier rates, which are a little lower than current rates, we’re paying about 32% of what we did in the year prior to installing solar power. . . . Clearly, I’m saving money, but I also sank around $38,000 into the system. At $3,000 per year in savings (which assumes a constant rate for power cost and the same power usage pattern), that’s a 12.5 year payback.”

MAYBE HARRY REID SHOULD HAVE AN AFFAIR: “Which Nevada senator has a higher approval rating, Harry Reid or John Ensign? According to Mason-Dixon, it’s John Ensign, and it’s not really that close.”

REPORT: Drone kills 60 in Pakistan. Still unconfirmed, and that death toll seems rather high for a drone attack, unless there were other explosives in the vicinity.

ANN ALTHOUSE IS back at her original blog, and figuring out who Obama reminds her of lately.

MATT COOPER: Why are Obama’s polls slipping?

WALL STREET JOURNAL: What your body is telling you.

A TALE OF TWO DEPRESSIONS. These depressing graphics suggest to me that people are following the Saturday Night Live “don’t buy stuff you can’t afford” advice.

But that’s terrible for the economy!

WIRED: Cyber Security Czar Front-Runner No Friend of Privacy. “That track record would not put Davis out of the running with Obama, who, after winning his party’s nomination, embraced expanded government wiretapping powers, and voted to extend retroactive legal immunity to the telecom companies that helped the Bush’s administration’s secret spying.”

CORY DOCTOROW: The crap they built where the beautiful old train stations were.

RECORD LOW AUDIENCES for CBS and ABC evening news.

FASTER, PLEASE: Stem Cell Therapies Move Into Clinical Trials.

NEWLY UPSCALE: Wine in Boxes. “The next time someone tells you box wine is gauche, you can tell them you drink it for the superior flavor.”

REASON TV: Turning Japanese: Is the United States Creating Its Own “Lost Decade?”

BILL LOCKYER, CALL YOUR OFFICE! THE NATIONAL PRISON RAPE ELIMINATION COMMISSION has released its report. I hope we’ll see some action here.

ANN ALTHOUSE TRANSLATES: “Excuse me. If I may be so bold. I hate to trouble you but…. I don’t mean to impose… I’m not interfering… Far be it from me to suggest anything that you might be able to characterize as meddling. I’m no meddler. Not at all. I’m just over here, modestly deploring violence.”

Jules Crittenden: “It isn’t his problem, he’s steering clear of it, and he wants the world to know that.”

But aides want him to get whatever credit is to be had: “Privately, Obama advisers are crediting his Cairo speech for inspiring the protesters.”

Plus, “Weenie diplomacy.”

UPDATE: Praise for Obama from Ed Morrissey: “I’ve been highly critical about Obama’s lack of response on Iran; I think he did very well today. He condemned Iran in unequivocal and harsh terms. Charles Krauthammer says he finally ‘adopted McCain language,’ and points out that Obama always claims consistency whenever he changes direction. Obama should have rescinded our offer of ‘weenie diplomacy,’ which belies the tough talk. At least, though, Obama has caught up with most of the rest of the free world.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Tom Maguire: “Apparently Team Obama has opted for a tougher line. Well, he had nothing to lose on the ‘engage with the mullahs’ strategy anyway.”

Plus, from the comments: “Yes comrade, wheat production is up an amazing 34%. Thank you for asking such a wonderful question.” But I don’t think that’s fair. Frankly, Nico Pitney at HuffPo has put the establishment press to shame, and deserved a question. Nor was it a softball.

MORE: Reader Michael Tubergen writes: “I can’t help but wonder why the President couldn’t just read from the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. That pretty much says everything that needs to be said about the Iranian situation.”

Might start too many people thinking.

A ROUNDUP on Artificial Intelligence, at Forbes.