AT AMAZON, new releases on Blu-Ray.

COOKING THE BOOKS ON PUBLIC PENSION EARNINGS FORECASTS. My favorite bit was this:

Actuaries got another rebuff this week when the labor-friendly CalPERS board voted to leave its earnings forecast unchanged, much like a CalSTRS board action in December that did not lower its forecast as far as actuaries recommended.

A lower earnings forecast raises pension costs for state and local governments struggling with budget cuts during a deep recession. But another rate increase also might fuel the drive for pension reforms that increase worker costs and cut their benefits.

“I was afraid we were going to throw gasoline on the fire in the public pension debate,” Neal Johnson of the Service Employees International Union told a CalPERS committee after a key vote.

You’d think a representative of public employees would want to ensure that their pensions are actuarially sound. Instead, the priority is keeping the whole issue from coming to the taxpayers’ attention.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF ARRANGING mass evacuations. “Emergency authorities have only in recent years begun to realize that evacuations are often regional and even multistate events. Evacuating almost any city in the United States requires significant preparation and resources in surrounding cities. And some events are simply too resource-intensive or too complicated to plan for.”

POLITICS:

“The people who claim to be feminist and pro-gay” — i.e., the crew at the BBC — “oppose the one country in the Middle East that does not subjugate women and persecute gays. What does that tell you?” Plenty.

Indeed.

RUNNING INTERFERENCE: Piggyback Virus Could Curb HIV Pandemic. “Rather than destroying HIV, a proposed treatment would embrace its infectious abilities, sending the virus into competition with a harmless, stripped-down version of itself.”

HEH.

FOREIGN POLICY in the ditch?

PERSONALLY, I THINK A WAITING PERIOD FOR AN ABORTION is no more reasonable than a waiting period to buy a gun.

TALKING FAMIILY CARS with the Car Lust guys.

WELL, IT’S CAUSING A LOT OF OTHER PROBLEMS: Is policy uncertainty the cause of anemic growth in nanotechnology innovation?

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

REASON TV: Walter Williams: Up From The Projects.

SOCIAL MEDIA’S DARK SIDE: “Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, was out to cause ‘anxiety and concern’ among his audience. His argument: Internet companies that focus on ‘crowdsourcing,’ getting the public to do odd jobs for small or no fees, are morally questionable ventures.” You mean, companies like the Huffington Post?

A DECADE OF boosting breast size: “Breast implant operations have surged 40 percent in the past decade, with nearly 300,000 women last year opting to increase their breast size.”

NUCLEAR PARANOIA: Geiger counters have sold out . . . in Paris. “In Europe, it makes no sense for people to be buying them for personal use here. It’s crazy.”

7 IMPLICATIONS of an AT&T / T-Mobile Merger.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Amity Shlaes: Harvard Isn’t Worth It Beyond Mom’s Party Chatter.

JACK GOLDSMITH: The president’s campaign against Libya is constitutional. I agree, even though — unlike Bush with Iraq — he didn’t go to Congress for approval first.

WSJ: Insolvency Looms as States Drain U.S. Disability Fund.

JAPANESE DECISION-MAKING: Tepco Slow On Reactor Decisions After Earthquake.

TEXAS FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: At this rate “we will become insolvent, the question is when.” Sooner than projected, is my guess.

TODD ZYWICKI: The Auto Bailout And The Rule Of Law.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Ramen Hacks: 30+ Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Instant Noodles.

GAS-PRICE EXPECTATIONS: Dealers snatching up used hybrids, four-cylinder vehicles.

UPDATE: Rachel Pereira reports firsthand experience of huge price increases for used Priuses. I suspect one reason is not just an expectation of higher gas prices, but an expectation of higher gas prices coupled with a holdup in Prius shipments from Japan due to the earthquake. This would be a big boost for Chevy Volt sales, except that the Chevy Volt’s transmission comes from Japan.

JOHN TIERNEY: Do You Have Free Will? Yes, It’s the Only Choice.