IN THE MAIL: Decoding The Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Expert Guide to the Facts Behind the Fiction.

POLITICO: CMS: House bill increases health care costs. “Democrats have promised that health reform would reduce health care costs, but legislation the House passed last week would increase costs over the next decade by $289 billion. By 2019, health costs would rise to 21.1 percent of GDP compared to 20.8 under current law, according to an actuarial report prepared by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”

FRUITS OF THE AUTO BAILOUT: Federal Officials Demand Free Passes to Detroit Auto Show.

HOPE, CHANGE, AND doing the impossible in economics.

TOM MAGUIRE: Finding An Impartial Jury for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Should Be Easy.

UPDATE: How KSM looks from Baghdad: “Will KSM beat the Americans at their own game? This is what Iraqis are asking about the case of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. It’s hard to say how many are paying close attention, but some Iraqis are watching the developments. The most common answer I’m hearing is that yes, KSM will win.”

GO BAREFOOT FOR GAIA!

NATIONAL PICKLE DAY? Why wasn’t I told?

IF THERE WERE A PILL PROVEN TO PREVENT CANCER, WOULD PEOPLE TAKE IT? Apparently not.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I was on finasteride a few months ago. A couple of points regarding this
drug:

1. It was not prescribed as cancer preventative. My doctor never even
mentioned that it could help prevent cancer.

2. It brought my libido down to zero.

These two points may help explain why finasteride isn’t used more widely.

You know, I thought Gina Kolata was a little quick to write these drugs off. Cancer prevention isn’t even an approved use of finasteride, and I’d never heard of that use.

IS LAW SCHOOL a good investment?

ARMED LIBERAL: “At some point it would be nice if there was a decent amount of transparency around what Soros is doing; if he genuinely believes in open societies, he ought to lead it, but since he doesn’t – perhaps a decent journalistic project would be to connect the dots and create a map of his involvement in US and foreign affairs.”

QUESTIONING THE “First Pacific President” assertion.

MORE THAN EVER, YOU CAN SAY THAT ON TELEVISION:

It is not simply that the language is becoming more raw on broadcast networks but that the language, violence and sex that formerly was restricted to the 10 p.m. hour has migrated to earlier time slots.

Recent research by Barbara K. Kaye of the University of Tennessee and Barry S. Sapolsky of Florida State University found that in 2005 television viewers were more likely to hear offensive language during the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. hours than at 10 p.m. Technically, there has not been a “family hour” since 1976, when the United States Supreme Court struck down the imposition of such a policy by the Federal Communications Commission. But broadcast networks observed the practice long after that. No more, it seems.

I’m untroubled by this, but I can see how others might feel differently.

CHANGE: China dissidents ‘detained ahead of Obama visit’.

AMAZING AERIAL PHOTOS from a homemade gas-powered paraglider.

THE MOST UNUSUALLY PACKAGED DVDS: I hate to admit it, but I kind of like the Terminator 2 “endoskull” packaging . . . .

ED DRISCOLL: In The Future, Everyone Will Be Emanuel Goldstein for 15 Minutes.

LADY GAGA GETS the Geek Treatment.

By Molly Lewis.

Plus, breaking up with Wikipedia. “You’re sometimes vague and often inconsistent. . . . and I tell you you know zilch about romance.”

JOHN LEONARD: Race, Violence, and the Columbia Professor.

HOW TO clean dust off your DSLR sensor.

TIME TO ditch cable for Internet TV? Well, I think I watch more TV on the Internet than on cable, but I’m probably unusual.

TOP 20 toys under 20 bucks.

POLIWOOD: Are the Oscars corrupt?

ER, NO. Is law school non-partisan?

GIZMODO: At what point would our cyber-selves cease to be human?

SMACKDOWN: Droid vs. iPhone.