AFRICAN ENGINEERING: Africa’s Top Tinkerers Display Their Projects at Maker Faire Africa.

SOME PHOTOGRAPHIC PLAYFULNESS from Matt Drudge.

FASTER, PLEASE: Drug Success Against Malignant Melanoma.

And I really mean, “faster, please.”

A small percentage of the patients experienced disappearance of tumours. But do not expect it at a doctor’s office any time soon.

Further studies are needed before the drug can be approved by the FDA.

I find this infuriating. Once you’ve been given a death sentence diagnosis and have months to live why should you have to die without being able to try experimental treatments?

Stage IV metastatic variety of melanoma has a 5 year survival rate below 20% and even lower in some cases. Malignant melanoma diagnosis amounts to a check-out notice from the Life Hotel. Such check-out notices ought to entitle you to a “Get out of the FDA jail card” where you get to try experimental treatments.

Yes.

NEWS: Alaska Libertarian Party says no to nominating Murkowski. Well, she’s not much of a libertarian, is she?

BLACKFIVE ON IRAQ AND THE DEFEATISTS: “I wonder who will get the credit for fixing Iraq, per President Obama. I don’t really expect him to mention President Bush, but he damn well better mention the troops. And he shouldn’t take the credit for a plan he opposed, Vice President Biden opposed, Speaker Pelosi opposed, Speaker Reid opposed, Secretary of State Clinton opposed… Thank you, to General Odierno and our troops, for doing the impossible.”

DEPRECIATION: An electric-car Achilles’ heel?

UNEXPECTEDLY: Democrat leads by just 6 in WV Senate race. He may still win, but he’s underperforming expectations.

JOHN FUND: Obama Builds a Big Tent . . . for Conservatives. “In the past, more secular Tea Party types might not have showed up at a religiously-themed event like ‘Restoring Honor.’ Similarly, many of the devoutly religious people I met at Saturday’s rally probably would in the past have shunned an explicitly political event such as Friday night’s Freedom Works meeting. But I kept bumping into the same people at both gatherings. . . . The conservative movement is maturing and learning to incorporate a wider cross-section of people under its banner. That may well be one of the more enduring accomplishments — albeit inadvertent — of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid these past two years.”

I told you it was a new Great Awakening.

SHIKHA DALMIA: GM’s Politically Timed IPO. “The General Motors IPO, the second largest ever, is arguably this decade’s most hyped financial event. But it might also turn out to be this decade’s biggest financial fiasco. Its timing is driven not by the financial needs of the company– or the interests of taxpayers who are poised to get royally screwed–but the election-year needs of the Obama administration.”

A PLUG-IN HYBRID RAM PICKUP? “Guess what? You can’t buy it. Ever. It is part of a small ‘demonstration fleet,’ with no plans to sell such a vehicle to the general public.”

HOW CADAVERS make your car safer.

IN THE MAIL: From Kathleen M. Galotti, Cognitive Development: Infancy Through Adolescence.

JONATHAN STRONG: Is the EPA to blame for the bed bug ‘epidemic’? “Around when bed bugs started their resurgence, Congress passed a major pesticides law in 1996 and the Clinton EPA banned several classes of chemicals that had been effective bed bug killers. . . . According to research at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, academic headquarters for studying the six-legged beast, some strains of bed bugs can survive, zombie-like, for up to 16 days after being directly sprayed with currently used pesticides.”

TUNKU VARADARAJAN: Why The GOP Should Endorse The Tea Party Message In The Midterms.

THE HILL: Jindal calls for greater ‘urgency’ from Obama on ending drilling moratorium.

UPDATE: Why Does Louisiana Think This Is Obama’s Katrina?

ONLINE EDUCATION: Bill Gates Enrolls His Kids In The Khan Academy.

A WHILE BACK, a reader wrote me for a recommendation on a camera under 69 bucks. I couldn’t help him much at that price point. But now there’s a one-day-only sale at 59 bucks on a Kodak EasyShare that looks pretty good. I’ve got a Kodak (here), and it’s a nice, reliable little camera that takes excellent pictures. And did I mention that this one’s only 59 bucks? There are better cameras out there, but not at this price.

UPDATE: Reader Ross Hardy emails: “I have to say that I am very grateful that you posted that link on your website. My current camera is three years old and an 8 megapixel (also Kodak). Even though I got a good deal at Wal-Mart for it ($100) and it still works fine, I just couldn’t resist buying the newer 12 megapixel for only $59. Thanks!” Yeah, you can’t beat that price.

CHARLIE MARTIN: You Can See November From The Washington Monument.

POLL: Rasmussen: 61 percent say finding new energy sources is more important than conservation.

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED, if you were out, you know, having a life or something this weekend.

Lawyer suspended for billing more than 24 hours in a day.

Buying ammo online.

The danger of re-emerging heirloom diseases.

Mort Zuckerman: The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government In U.S. History.

How bad is U.S. pension debt? Very bad.

“Oikophobia” among the cognitive elite.

Problems for Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX): Congresswoman Violated Nepotism Rules, Funneled Thousands to Family and Friends.

A roundup of reactions to Glenn Beck’s big Washington shindig.

Tech needs women? Don’t blame the men.

EPA backs down on lead-bullet ban.