SO, AFTER VARIOUS READER RECOMMENDATIONS I wound up replacing my old GPS with a Garmin 1390t. Haven’t had much of a chance to test out the traffic feature, but the first thing I noticed is that it acquires the satellites much faster than the old one, and calculates routes faster, too. Almost worth upgrading just for that.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Getting Beyond Petroleum Won’t Be Easy.

STEVE CHAPMAN: Jon Corzine’s Big, Fat Political Mistake. Well, we’ll know just how big tomorrow, won’t we?

A GENE FOR bad driving?

AT CAR LUST, excitement about New Car Season.

REASON TV: Rand-O-Rama: The Long Shelf Life of Ayn Rand’s Legacy.

JOHN FUND: Absentee voter fraud may play a significant role in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election. If that happens, I’m sure the Justice Department will be right on it.

PROTECTING AIRCRAFT from high-powered lasers.

YES, IT WOULD BE BAD TO BLOW YOUR CREDIBILITY WITH HYPE: Fresh Warnings On Climate Overstatement.

DEVAL PATRICK LOVES HIM SOME RED-LIGHT CAMERAS: And the campaign donations from red-light camera companies. (Via Michael Silence, who comments: “It’s nice to see some pols finally coming out and acknowledging the devices are cash cams.” In more ways than one!)

MICHAEL BARONE: Detroit: A Vast Empty Canvas?

IN POPULAR MECHANICS, Rand Simberg writes on NASA’s Ares Problems.

THE INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE’S BONE-MARROW CASE: An introduction.

More here, and a (sort of) related interview with Virginia Postrel, here. And this piece by Virginia is related, too.

ERIC POSNER: Does the UN Human Rights Council cause states to treat their citizens better than they otherwise would? I’m not sure whether a “yes” or a “no” answer is more depressing . . . .

EVEN MODEST AMOUNTS OF EXERCISE can benefit your heart.

IN THE MAIL: From Gal Luft and Anna Korin, Turning Oil Into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice.

ROGER SIMON: “California Dreamin’” becomes “I Got the Blue State Blues.” “It’s almost as if we are living in Friedrich von Hayek’s posthumous joke. All our best intentions have gone to mush in a welter of competing, greedy interest groups. Now, according to Voegeli, and as every California commuter knows, even the state highway system in low taxes Texas is better than the world’s fabled first freeway system.”

SALENA ZITO: “Pink Slip” Tea Party Puts Elected Officials On Notice.

AFP: One year on, Obamamania gives way to luke warm support.

A quick look around downtown Washington confirms that the Obama trinkets are still for sale, but more than one strategically placed street hawker have found little point in displaying the T-shirts, posters, and “Yes We Can” buttons bearing the new president’s image.

“They stay in the truck,” grumbled a vendor who identified himself as “Dick,” as he pointed to a rusty vehicle behind him. “They don’t sell anymore.”

Read the whole thing.

WELL, AT LEAST SOMEBODY’S DISPLAYING SOME ENERGY: Conservative revolt good news for Republicans.

ROGER SIMON: False transparency: we know more about the Obamas’ marriage than we do about healthcare.

TAXPROF: A 95.2% Tax Rate?

WSJ: Stimulus And The Jobless Recovery. “The unemployment rate, now at 9.8%, has continued to rise, and job losses have remained at high levels throughout the stimulus period. Few will be comforted by the good-news-only claim that the stimulus ‘created or saved’ over one million jobs.”

Well, it may or may not be a recovery, but it’s certainly jobless so far . . . .

SAY IT AIN’T SO: Examiner: White House Featherbedding Economic Stimulus Numbers.