HERSCHEL’S greatest hits.

JOE HICKS: Census Nonsense: Ignorant Multiculturalism, Intrusive Micromanagement.

JOHN TIERNEY: NASA, We’ve Got a Problem. But It Can Be Fixed. “Normally, once a pioneer makes the first trip somewhere, the cost goes down as others follow and technology improves. That’s why so many colonists could follow Columbus to the New World, and why the masses today can afford to fly in Lindbergh’s path back to Europe. The real costs of shipping freight by rail and air have declined by an order of magnitude since locomotives and airplanes were invented. In space transportation, though, many costs have actually risen since the days of Apollo.”

SAVAGELY BEATEN FOR WEARING PALIN PINS? I blame Tina Fey’s eliminationist rhetoric.

UPDATE: Beating happened, Palin pins not present, according to this report.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More blogging.

HEADLINES YOU DON’T SEE VERY OFTEN: Tempura consultants hired by police.

UPDATE: Reader Jim Breed writes: “Were the police Tempura consultants investigating battered women?”

AT POPULAR MECHANICS, Rand Simberg reports from the Space Access Conference.

The era is being ushered in by a radical (at least to many) change in space policy by the Obama administration. It is not, as many in the media, and even in Congress have mistakenly and even hysterically characterized it, an “abandonment” of human spaceflight, or a “surrender” to the Chinese or Russians (pick your paranoia). Indeed, that is a bizarre interpretation of a plan that includes the extension of the International Space Station to 2020, and likely beyond; the acceleration and encouragement, with billions of dollars, of near-term commercial human spaceflight; and the development of the myriad technologies required to get humans to the moon, the asteroids and ultimately to Mars and its moons.

Read the whole thing. Like Simberg, I think the new Obama space policy is a good one, and that the criticism is largely misplaced. I think he’s right, though, that they handled the PR on the change badly.

ORIN KERR: Does Attaching a Thumb Drive to a Shared Computer Waive Fourth Amendment Rights in its Contents?

THE LATEST Law Professor Blog Rankings are out.

I MENTIONED NEW THREATS TO FREEDOM a while back, and I should note that it’s now shipping. I have a chapter — on the dangers of complacency — and it includes such other contributors as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Epstein, David Mamet, Anne Applebaum, Bruce Bawer and Christina Hoff Sommers.

ATTENDING A TAX DAY TEA PARTY? PJTV is looking for citizen reporters.

TRACY QUAN EXPLAINS the “half-hooker” economy.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Freitas awarded first mechanosynthesis patent. “The winner of the 2009 Foresight Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory), Robert A. Freitas Jr., has now been granted the first diamond mechanosynthesis patent. This is not just the first DMS patent but also, I believe, the first mechanosynthesis patent that has ever been issued.”

THE BEST DEFENSE: NJ’s Christie Stays On Offense: Wants Union Head Fired Over Memo.

GALLUP: REPUBLICANS UP 4 ON GENERIC BALLOT: “This marks the third week since the U.S. House passed healthcare reform on March 21 that the Republicans have tied or led the Democrats.”

SO HOW’S THAT “ENGAGEMENT” STUFF working out?

LARRY KUDLOW TO CONSERVATIVES: A boom is coming — don’t fight the tape.

UPDATE: Great news: This year’s deficit on pace to be only $1.3 trillion!

From the comments: “Oh, thank GOD! I was worried it was going to be, like, a lot of money or something.”

CHANGE: Per Capita Income Has Fallen 3.2% Since Obama’s Inauguration; 47 of 50 States See Decline in Income.

HILLARY SPOTS THE 800 Pound Radioactive Gorilla.

NICK GILLESPIE ON Norah O’Donnell and racism.

IS DEMOCRACY LIKE SEX? As we talk about federalism, limited government, and special interest parasites, this paper of mine is relevant and many people may find it interesting and useful. Or so I hope! (Bumped).

TURNABOUT: Judge Baltazar Garzón Indicted.

MORE ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN red-light cameras and shortened yellows. “Mogil says he’s already checked 65 intersections and found that only seven yellow lights are long enough.”

THIS SORT OF THING SHOULD HAPPEN MORE OFTEN: Barney Frank gets a high-altitude haranguing on health care. Two women ophthalmologists, whom Frank’s partner, Jim Ready, dismissed as “bitchy” — which really set them off. Frank got an earful. As far as I’m concerned, these guys shouldn’t be able to go anywhere without getting an earful. Luckily for Ready he’s the partner of a gay Democrat, because if he were a Republican that remark would have been sexist.

UPDATE: Ann Althouse chides me for encouraging discourtesy, but most commenters seem to disagree.

NEW kitchen and dining stuff.

GALLUP: Obama Weekly Approval At Lowest Yet.