THIS IS KINDA COOL. ER, OR WARM. Karns gardener creates microclimates to grow tropical plants and produce.

PROFESSOR JACOBSON: The Other Jerry Brown Insult. “Compared to calling one of the most successful businesswomen in American history and a nominee for Governor a ‘whore,’ mocking whether the police chiefs read is not as sensational. Nonetheless, if I were a policeman in California, I’d be pretty upset with Brown’s snide and demeaning comment, which evidences a lack of respect.”

THE 19 COUNTRIES MOST LIKELY TO DEFAULT. Ireland moves up to number 5.

A REPORT FROM THIS WEEKEND’S Richmond Tea Party Convention. “The convention has about 2,300 registered attendees and is conducting a straw poll that includes potential 2012 candidates from all political parties – including current President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

AS WE MOVE TOWARD NOVEMBER’S ELECTIONS, a reader reminds me of this piece by James DeLong from last year. “The Special Interest State that has shaped American life for 70 years is dying. What comes next is uncertain, but there are grounds for optimism.” Worth reading.

YOU CAN STILL BUY ROTARY PHONES. I wonder if they come with how-to-dial tutorial videos for today’s youth? I’ll bet they’re not up to classic Western Electric standards, though.

UPDATE: Hey, no fair — closer inspection reveals that they’re faux rotaries, with push buttons not real dials. This reminds me of an interesting question: In the old days, you could pulse-dial a phone by clicking the receiver hooks up and down — 3 times for a 3, 10 times for an 0, etc. — but can you do that anymore? Assuming you’ve got a phone with a hook, that is, and not a “talk” button.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Craig Forrest writes: “You can still buy western electric rotaries…I have two and my kids love them! Boldoldphones.com.”

And reader Clifford Grout writes: “Our current home had a 60’s rotary wall phone in the kitchen when we bought it, and we have kept it for – I must be honest here – purely comedic reasons: It gives my wife and myself no end of amusement watching our kid’s friends trying to make a phone call. Never fails – they put their fingers in the holes, press as hard as they can…”

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Check out Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg.

POLITICO: ROSSI ON UPSWING AGAINST MURRAY? “After weeks of trailing Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, Republican Dino Rossi appears to have rebounded in the pivotal Washington Senate race. Two recent polls show Rossi taking the lead, and the Republican announced he’s raised more money than Murray in the last couple weeks of the campaign – a cash haul that will be helpful in the final stretch of the midterm elections.”

MAYBE MY CYBORG WIFE CAN GET AN UPGRADE: New Software Conveniently Integrates Your Heart Implant With Your Android Phone.

IN SLATE: “The guardians of feminist purity are not amused by the idea of right-wing girl power.” Reading the various other comments, the question of whether you can call yourself a feminist seems to be pretty much all about abortion.

Related: Kirsten Powers: Jerry Brown and the women-hating liberal women. “While we, sadly, are all too familiar with the casual misogynistic comment, what perhaps is more surprising is where these slurs lately have been coming from—progressive bastions like the Brown camp, and liberal women.” It’s like Mean Girls without Lindsay Lohan.

SILICON VALLEY EXECUTIVES growing disenchanted with politics.

IS CONSUMER DELEVERAGING LEADING TO A COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE COLLAPSE? I don’t know much myself, but I keep seeing more and more empty storefronts.

Related: “Moody’s Investors Service is reviewing whether or not the credit rating agency should adjust ratings downward on tens of billions of dollars worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities to account for increased losses from specially serviced and troubled loans.”

HOW TO AVOID BEDBUGS:

After a dormant period following World War II, Cimex lectularius is back. In the 1990s, the insects started reemerging in overcrowded urban settings and of late have catapulted to star bugdom status, surfacing in hotels nationwide, in Manhattan retail stores, in Broadway theaters and in other environments that involve numerous people in a semi-somnolent state.

“They’re all around,” said Wayne White, a board-certified entomologist with American Pest in Takoma Park, who attributes the rise in bedbugs to the uptick in international travel and a shift in pesticide usage. “They’re just finally showing up in places that are more public.”

Well, how about killing them off again? I don’t like this fatalistic attitude: “This is something that we’re going to have to live with for a while.” I miss the days when scientists told us we didn’t have to live with things like bloodsucking parasites.

MORE EXTREMIST RHETORIC: Joe Biden: “If we lose, we’re going to play hell.”

FEMINISM: NOW Endorse Jerry Brown For Governor One Day After He Called Whitman a “Whore”…

MICHAEL BARONE: WHAT DESPERATION LOOKS LIKE: “Democratic candidates like Andrew Cuomo in New York and Michael Bennet in Colorado are running ads suggesting that if their opponents are elected abortion will be banned in the United States.”

MINKY WORDEN: China’s Nobel Threats Backfire.

PROF. JACOBSON: Nicky Diaz, meet Mr. I.C.E.

A LOOK AT MTV, Teen Mom and domestic violence against men.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Friday Sale.

MARK TAPSCOTT: “PJTV is, quite simply, the most important video news media operation on the Right side of the Internet, or for that matter anywhere on the Internet.”

Hey, that’s a good reason to subscribe to PJTV. We can’t do it without your support.

REVOLT OF THE ACCOUNTANTS: “The coming rebellion in the voting booth is not only about the economic impact of spending, debt and deficits on America’s future. It’s also to some degree about the feared impact of all those things on the character of the American people. There is a real fear that government, with all its layers, its growth, its size, its imperviousness, is changing, or has changed, who we are. And that if we lose who we are, as Americans, we lose everything. . . . We’re supposed to be building the Empire State Building. We were meant—to be romantic about it, and why not—to be a pioneer people, to push on, invent electricity, shoot the bear, bootleg the beer, write the novel, create, reform and modernize great industries. We weren’t meant to be neat and tidy record keepers. We weren’t meant to wear green eyeshades. We looked better in a coonskin cap!”

A JOHN TIERNEY SCANDAL? The Massachusetts congressman, not the New York Times writer.

HMM. SHADES OF KEITH HENSON’S PERSECUTION? Daniel Montalvo Defects From Scientology, Gets Arrested By Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. It seems like there are a lot of questions remaining.

ANOTHER ONE bites the dust.