PATRIOT ACT EXTENSION FAILS as Republicans defect.

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

KEITH HENNESSEY: The President’s Hidden Trade Message.

VERIZON INTRODUCES IPHONE, ALSO SUCKY DATA PLAN:

On the day that iPhone preorders began last week, Verizon quietly revised its policy on data management: Any smartphone customer who uses an “extraordinary amount of data” will see a slowdown in their data-transfer speeds for the remainder of the month and the next billing cycle.

It’s a bit of a bait-and-switch. One of Verizon’s selling points for its version of the iPhone is that it would come with an unlimited data plan — a marked contrast to AT&T, which eliminated its unlimited data plans last year.

Verizon incidentally announced a plan for “data optimization” for all customers, which may degrade the appearance of videos streamed on smartphones, for example.

Verizon didn’t send out press releases to alert the public of this nationwide change regarding data throttling and so-called “optimization.” The only reason this news hit the wire was because a blogger noticed a PDF explaining the policy on Verizon’s website, which Verizon later confirmed was official. Obviously it’s bad news, so Verizon wanted to keep a lid on it.

Indeed.

STUDY: Whispering harder on vocal cords than talking softly.

SHOCKING NEWS FROM SCIENCE: Women are more attracted to men whose feelings are unclear.

HEH: “And you wondered how Elvis got all those women to scream his name. It wasn’t his hips; it was a Jedi Mind Trick.”

REGULATED PROFESSIONS: CAT GROOMERS AND LAWYERS.

REASON TV: Flex Your Rights.

PETER SUDERMAN: Internet Cop: President Obama’s top man at the Federal Communications Commission tries to regulate the Net.

BOB ZUBRIN: Soaring Oil Price Threatens U.S. Economy.

THE HIDDEN MCBAIN MOVIE: “It turns out that if you stitch together all the little over-the-top McBain movie clips shown in several seasons’ worth of Simpsons episodes, they form a coherent mini-feature — a little Easter egg planted by the fun-lovin’ Simpsons writing staff!” I love it.

TAKING ON OBAMACARE: Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s State of the State statement.

UPDATE: More from Perry here, including audio. “Contrast Gov. Perry’s words with California’s Gov. Jerry Brown, who tried invoking Egypt’s unrest to justify raising taxes, and the Democratic leadership in Illinois, which is raising income taxes 66%, and it’s not difficult to see why businesses are flocking to Texas, bringing jobs with them.”

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY: Construction Begins On 1000 mph Rocket Car.

ED DRISCOLL ON THE NEW YORK TIMES: Lisa, in this Newspaper, We Obey the Laws of Thermodynamics!

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Improving on self-assembly.

ANN ALTHOUSE: More thoughts on Larry Tribe and choice.

UPDATE: More on Tribe here.

THOUGHTS ON genetic privacy and psychopathic robots.

MORE ON THE ROKU BOX: Reader Erin Willis writes: “I bought the Roku the day you recommended it. It was the first electronics purchase I had made without input from my husband (I’m not old-fashioned; I just know the comparative advantages in our marriage). I’m no technophile but I set it up, linked it to the wireless, and immediately accessed my Amazon video on demand. The husband was very impressed with the picture and quality of the feed. We plan on spending more time with it tonight but I wanted to thank you for the recommendation. Keep them coming!” Will do.

TAXPROF: Fact-Checking President Obama’s Claim: ‘I Didn’t Raise Taxes Once’.

UPDATE: Reader Mike Campbell defends the Prez: “He wasn’t wrong to say that he didn’t raise taxes once … he raised them many times, apparently.” Heh.

A LOOK AT GUNOWNERS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: “Basically, hundreds of residents have registered thousands of firearms. More than 2 years have passed and the predicted mayhem is not here.” This should suprise no one who has been paying attention.

STEPHEN DUBNER ON POLITICAL BIAS IN ACADEMIA: “It is interesting — and sobering — that two fields, psychology and economics, that we rely upon to describe and amend bias in the world are themselves so susceptible to bias within the ranks of their practitioners.”

It also may lead many people, reasonably, to dismiss much of their work as politically tainted and untrustworthy.

A LOOK AT the Infinit M35h hybrid.

MORE FIGHTS over red-light cameras.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON CASHES IN with $18 million take from AOL deal. “It’s been a life of hard work.”

UPDATE: Tom Blumer says it’s sweatshop profiteering: “Hundreds of millions, on the backs of free help. Imagine the outcry if a conservative site did that.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: HuffPo Commenters Not So Happy.

And Chuck Simmins wonders if we’ll see a bidding war for other properties.