COUNTERINTUITIVE: Research: Access to a Wal-Mart store is associated with a lower probability of being obese. “Further, we found that Wal-Mart’s effect on weight is largest for women, the poor, African-Americans and people who live in urban areas.”

ARCHITECTURE AND SOTOMAYOR. Not all high-rise housing projects are bad.

I TWEETED TWEETING. Twitter gets to your brain. In think it’s made me more Instapundit-y this go-round subbing for Glenn. Lord knows how he got so concise and spontaneous, pre-Twitter, but we’re all catching up.

“MUSICALLY, IKE WAS BY FAR THE GREATER OF THE TURNERS.” Tweeted, by Phil Spector. Response #1: Nervy to say that — given Tina’s story of domestic abuse — when you’re in prison for shooting a woman to death. Response #2: If I knew I’d get a laptop and WiFi in prison, my calculation about whether to commit crimes would change radically.

UPDATE: The clever Tweeter confesses he’s an imposter — and adds that Twitter should learn a lesson from this.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.

PAUL WOLFOWITZ: Egyptian liberals like Ayman Nour should be able to take comfort in Obama’s words.

ONE OF THE LARGEST MUSLIM COUNTRIES? According to Le Monde, Barack Obama said on French television that the United States is one of the world’s largest Muslim countries. Um, no, says Roger L. Simon. The U.S. is 38th.

H-PLUS MAGAZINE: How Close Are We to Real Nanotechnology?

RICHARD EPSTEIN: Libertarians vs. Conservatives: Two Different Approaches to the Sotomayor Nomination.

“THESE SCREW-UPS HAPPEN.”

“ONE GUY THAT WAS HOME AT NIGHT WAS BATMAN. He was introduced in Detective Comics number #27 by Bob Kane. I always loved Batman. The way I looked at it, you had to come from another planet to be Superman, but I could be Batman… and you know I tried.” Just one item from a list of the best of Theme Time Radio With Bob Dylan. I love that radio show. I love satellite radio. And Bob Dylan. And now, I guess, Batman. Are you staying home tonight? I am. But I don’t think I could be Batman. Or even Bob Dylan. Do you?

A BAD REVIEW for a diet book for men. “Honestly, if I saw Skinny Bastard sitting on a dude’s bookshelf, I would hightail it out of his apartment before he could even suggest going to a raw food restaurant for dinner and doing wheatgrass shots.”

LEBANESE ELECTION WATCH: What if Hezbollah wins next week?

UPDATE: See also Michael Young, Lebanon’s best political analyst, at the Council on Foreign Relations.

SHOULD THE U.S. overthrow Kim Jong Il?

MEAT IS MURDER… and fun.

NOAH POLLAK has thoughts on the Obama Peace Process. “Obama talks a lot about the imperitives of dialogue, diplomacy, and humility. His behavior, especially in this case, couldn’t be more at odds with his rhetoric.”

FREAKED OUT by egg twins.

MORE DECENT THAN PLAYBOY? That’s the distinction you’re seeking?

KEVIN SULLIVAN at RealClearWorld wonders if Egypt is really the best choice of venue for President Obama’s address to the Muslim world.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: A Conspiracy of Euphemism in the media. “Why not tell people what is actually happening in the world?”

VIDEO: Todd Lappin takes the tank tour.

GORDON RAMSAY’S FINANCIAL NIGHTMARES.  Turns out the famously abrasive Scot has gotten himself a wee bit overextended.

EMPHASIZING FEDERALISM VALUES and adherence to Supreme Court precedent, a unanimous 7th Circuit panel, consisting of Easterbrook, Bauer, and Posner, adhering to Supreme Court precedent, says that the 2d Amendment is not incorporated in the 14th Amendment and thus does not apply to the states. It remains to be seen what the post-Heller Supreme Court will say, but — as I say in the linked post — the panel makes a clear and elegant argument for decentralized decision-making about the scope of the right to self-defense. ALSO AT THAT LINK: “Ah, the gods of Supreme Court confirmation are smiling on Sonia Sotomayor. Now, I will place my bet that the white firefighters will lose Ricci v. DeStefano.”

IN COMMENTARY MAGAZINE: A Tall Order for Saudi Arabia? “The idea that Saudi Arabia can’t have diplomatic relations with Israel until the Palestinian question is resolved has become mainstream, even axiomatic, but it’s nonsense.”