CHANGE: Cambridge researchers translate graphene into printable circuitry material, bring basic ‘Skynet’ factory to you.

IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, MEGAN MCARDLE REVIEWS James Roberts’ Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have in Search of Happiness We Can’t Buy. My favorite bit:

One of the running themes of the economist Robin Hanson’s excellent blog is that arguments like the ones found in these books are actually an elite-status proxy war. They denigrate the one measure of high-visibility achievement—income—that public intellectuals don’t do very well on. Reading “Shiny Objects,” you get the feeling that he is onto something.

Consider the matter of status competition. Mr. Roberts, like so many before him, argues that conspicuous consumption is an unhappy zero-sum game. But this is of course true of most forms of competition: Most academics I know can rank-order everyone in the room at a professional conference with the speed and precision of a courtier at Versailles. Any competition, from looks to money to academic credentialing, both consumes a lot of resources and makes many of the participants feel bad about themselves. Why, then, does the literature on status competition always tell us that we should redistribute capital gains or inheritances and never tell us that we should redistribute academic chairs or book contracts?

Indeed. Read the whole thing, where Megan also reviews James Livingston’s Against Thrift: Why Consumer Culture is Good for the Economy, the Environment, and Your Soul.

HISTORY: Achtung Baby by U2: Twenty Years in the Rear-View Mirror.

NEIL MUNRO: 12 Charged With Voter Fraud In Georgia Election.

CLIMATEGATE UPDATE: Climategate scientists DID collude with government officials to hide research that didn’t fit their apocalyptic global warming. “The emails paint a clear picture of scientists selectively using data, and colluding with politicians to misuse scientific information.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: $5.3B goes to students who government says don’t need it. “Universities and colleges are giving $5.3 billion in aid this year to students who the federal government says don’t need financial help, according to figures from the College Board. An additional $4 billion in federal tuition tax credits went to families making $100,000 to $180,000 — at least double the median income for U.S. households. The schools use the money — more than 20% of all U.S. financial aid — to compete for applicants who have high grade-point averages and SAT scores. Some discounts serve another purpose: They lure high-income families that can write a check for the rest of the tuition.”

NEW MARS ROVER is on the way.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Inspector General: 82% Error Rate in Investment Theft Loss Deductions.

MICKEY KAUS: More evidence for my contention that Ann Coulter is really quite sensible if you don’t provoke her with liberal BS.

ADVICE ON STAYING TRIM WHEN FAT RUNS IN THE FAMILY. I recommend the Gary Taubes approach. Also the Livestrong App.

#OCCUPYFAIL: Arrested for occupying a food court. And, even in San Francisco, ignored by shoppers.

INSTAVISION: I talk to Frank J. Fleming about his new book, Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything.

EUROPE: Germany, France Not Immune To Debt Problems.

NEWS: NY Fed Issues Mea Culpa That Nobody Saw at 6PM on Black Friday. “In a report released on Black Friday around 6 PM, when nobody is around, let alone paying attention, except for crazy people like me, the NY Fed posted a mea culpa on just how lousy its economic forecasts have been.”

ARAB SPRING: Cairo rally: One day we’ll kill all Jews.

PAKISTAN: Pakistan stops NATO supplies after raid kills up to 28. “NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations, already deeply frayed, further into crisis. Pakistan retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, used for sending in almost half of the alliance’s non-lethal materiel.”

TODAY ONLY: Helmet-mount 1080p HERO camera for $169.

OUCH: “President Obama ranks among the 25 “least influential people alive,” according to GQ Magazine, which placed him in the company of House Speaker John Boehner and MSNBC host Ed Schultz.”

The Ed Schultz thing has got to hurt.

A SMALL GROUP: Jewish Lesbians For Palestine.

CHANGE: Bond market hammers Italy, Spain ponders outside help.

REMEMBERING MIKE SPANN: CIA officers mark death of spy with rare request.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Regarding the Mike Spann comment, I guess it is no longer newsworthy for the AP to note that Mr. Spann was killed in attack in which John Walker Lindh, an American, took part and which John Walker Lindh could have warned Mr. Spann earlier that day. Given that Lindh has supporters that want him released from prison, it is important for everyone to remember that an American hero was killed with the complicity of another American and that traitor should spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

MORE SCANDALS: McCaskill calls for probe into smallpox-vaccine boondoggle.

Almost two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times reported on the peculiar case of Siga Technologies, which got a no-bid contract to supply the Pentagon with an experimental vaccine for smallpox, a dead disease, when we have a plentiful supply of traditional vaccine to handle an outbreak. Siga Technologies has close ties to the Democratic Party with its primary investor, party donor Ronald Perelman, and relatively new board member Andy Stern, the former head of the SEIU and a frequent visitor to the Obama White House. The deal amounts to almost a half-billion dollars for Perelman and Stern, and the White House appears to have intervened to relax contract requirements and eliminate any hint of competition for the project.

Under those circumstances, it should come as no surprise that a member of Congress wants this deal investigated. Should it surprise us that the demand comes from a Senate Democrat?

Not anymore.

THE HILL: Republicans see opportunity to beat Obama with Pentagon cuts. “The potential for $1 trillion in cuts to the defense budget is thrusting the issue of national security back into the spotlight of the 2012 presidential race. The cuts, set for January 2013, could also turn a strength into a vulnerability for President Obama, who has more to brag about when it comes to security and foreign affairs than the economy.”

#OCCUPYFAIL: Why African Americans aren’t embracing Occupy Wall Street. “Occupy Wall Street was started by whites and is about their concern with their plight.”