INSIDE the biggest tornado hunt in history.

PERSONALIZED MEDICINE ON THE SPOT: “A new device can rapidly test biological samples for genetic variations that could cause dangerous reactions to some drugs.” Faster, please.

FASTER, PLEASE: Implanted Neurons Let the Brain Rewire Itself Again.

MOST FATTENING FRIES in America. I’ve never understood why anyone would want to ruin perfectly good fries by pouring a bunch of glop on them, personally. A little ketchup — Heinz, of course — and you’re good to go. Anything else is just gilding the lily.

TENNESSEE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE BILL HASLAM disses the Tea Party? That seems ill-advised.

UPDATE: Maybe not. See the update.

POLITICS GETTING UGLY: Jules Witcover takes a by any means necessary approach to health care, (“In any event, the political risk to Mr. Obama of appearing to be an inept leader cannot be underestimated if he fails to achieve the primary legislative goal to which he devoted his first year in office. He needs to employ whatever means are available to him now to get it.”) and Bill Quick responds in kind.

As a remedy, I recommend Bill Whittle quoting Lincoln. But stick around for the rest.

MILKY WAY GALAXY contains alien star clusters.

A ONE-DAY SALE on a TV/DVD player combo.

CAN — AND SHOULD — LAW SCHOOLS STRIVE TO graduate happy students? I try to ensure that my students are no more than unavoidably unhappy, anyway.

MODERATION: “Considering that there is a great deal of research showing that it is a positive health benefit for a man to drink 1 or 2 beers a day, I would think that a 6 foot 1 1/2 inch man like Obama could easily drink 3 or 4 beers a day without there being an actual negative effect of concern to a doctor.” In solidarity with the President, I’m heading to the Brewery later this afternoon. And despite what Drudge is doing, I think this is probably boilerplate.

FROM DON BOUDREAUX, an open letter to two NPR reporters.

UPDATE: Oh, hell, I’m reprinting the whole thing.

Ms. Chana Joffe-Walt and Mr. David Kestenbaum
All Things Considered
National Public Radio

Dear Ms. Joffe-Walt and Mr. Kestenbaum:

Your excellent February 26, 2010, report on the history of how government officials chose the different methods that Medicare has used over the years to determine doctors’ pay is frightening because…

… in your report, Joe Califano, a chief architect of Medicare, admits that the first method of determining doctors’ pay was chosen for political reasons, namely, to buy doctors’ support for Medicare.

… you report that Mr. Califano, LBJ, and Congress were genuinely surprised by the rapid cost increases sparked by this first method.

… you reveal that much of the treatment that Medicare paid for was previously provided free by physicians; that is, Medicare crowded out a sizable chunk of private-sector philanthropy.

… you tell how attempts to change this first method of paying doctors were deeply influenced by skilled lobbyists working on behalf of doctors.

… in describing the development of the method currently used for determining doctors’ pay, you (perhaps without realizing it) reveal that this current method is the product of a comically childish labor-theory-of-value analysis – the same sort of analysis that is at the foundation of Marxian economics.

… your report ends with the admission that, because the current method isn’t working so well, Uncle Sam – 45 years after Medicare was launched – is still searching for a sound method for determining physicians’ pay.

Given this history, what reason is there to suppose that Obamacare is a good idea?

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030

Good question. . . .

HOW TO QUIET A loud personal computer.

OVER AT DAILYKOS, a pretty good economics cribsheet on that Keynes/Hayek rap video.

GLOBAL LITHIUM-ION BATTERY MARKET FACING “significant overcapacity?”

WARREN BUFFETT TO OBAMA: Start Over On Health Care.

CAP-AND-TRADE TRIGGERS an Allan Mollohan primary challenger.

WHAT EVERY BOY SCOUT NEEDS: A backpack hydroelectric generator.

FROM REASON TV, IT’S THE NANNY OF THE MONTH:

From the comments: “If only we could pass a law banning bullshit laws like this… oh wait, it was called the Constitution…”

PRINTING flexible coatings of micromachines.

ED MORRISSEY: Rangel to keep gavel in most ethical Congress evah.

TEST-DRIVING the new Audi A8. Doug Weinstein — successful-but-understated lawyer type that he is — has driven one of the big Audis for years. It’s a sweet car.

A CHANCE TO HELP A paralyzed Chicago police officer.

NOBODY TELL FRANK RICH: Anthrax suspect was cross-dresser, into bondage, hated Dick Cheney.

Ivins wrote that “Dick Cheney scares me. The Patriot Act is so unconstitutional it’s not even funny.” He added, “I’m voting for Obama!” A laboratory co-worker reported that Ivins hated the New York Yankees and thought New Yorkers were “elitist.”

I wonder if he and Amy Bishop ever met?

ALEX LONG ON LYING LAWYERS: Attorney Deceit Statutes: Promoting Professionalism Through Criminal Prosecutions and Treble Damages. I suspect that these statutes may be useful against lawyers who overreach in the process of bullying bloggers and others over sketchy intellectual-property claims.

IN THE MAIL: From Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Fledgling.