NEWS YOU CAN USE: SpongeBob Doesn’t Harm Kids’ Brains.

No word on the effect of the infamous Spongebob Barbie.

BRITISH TO TEST Geoengineering Scheme. “In October, British researchers supported by the U.K. government will attempt to pump water a kilometer into the air using little more than a helium balloon and a rubber hose. The experiment, which will take place at a military airfield along England’s east coast, is meant as a test of a proposed geoengineering technique for offsetting the warming effects of greenhouse gases. If the balloon and hose can handle the water’s weight and pressure, similar pipes rising 20 kilometers could pump tons of reflective aerosols into the stratosphere.”

BINARY SUNSET: Kepler Spots a Planet Orbiting Two Suns, Just Like Star Wars’ Tatooine.

BECAUSE THEY’RE DEMOCRATS: Professor Jacobson: Why do these people feel no fear of bragging about assaulting a lawmaker?

AT AMAZON, 10% to 30% off on Men’s Jeans & Tees.

WHY LAUGHTER feels so good.

REUVEN BRENNER: Want Less Inequality? Stop Subsidizing Schools And Universities.

JAMES RAY PALMER and the truth about gunfights. “When bad things happen, lots of folks will have no clue what’s going down. Even though the angle of the camera doesn’t show the actual shooting, it shows something else that blows my mind. At the 2:28 mark, right in the middle of the gun battle on the courthouse lawn, a dark minivan drives down Main Street, right to left, directly in front of the courthouse. I wonder who was in it, and did they happen to actually notice the gunfight going on less than 50 yards away?”

ED DRISCOLL: Mister President, We Cannot Afford a Porn Shaft Gap!

CONSUMERS WANT GENETICALLY BOOSTED FOOD ANTIOXIDANTS: “While genetic modification of crops elicits considerable opposition in Europe the opposition is much less in the United States. An Iowa State economist says in a survey he did consumers indicate they would pay more for crops genetic engineered to contain more antioxidants.”

I LIKE MY TOYOTA HYBRID, BUT DOES THE MARKET? Toyota pins comeback hopes on hybrids; predicts they’ll be 20% of market by 2020.

THE EDUCATION OF STEVE JOBS: Why do so many talented entrepreneurs drop out of school?

ED DRISCOLL interviews Terry Teachout.

JOEL KOTKIN: Declining Birthrates, Expanded Bureaucracy: Is U.S. Going European? That approach has been working sooo well for Europe. . . .

GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO SPEND MORE, S.A.T. Scores Continue To Fall.

CENSORSHIP DOWN UNDER? Government Won’t Rule Out A License To Publish. “A licence to publish? A licence to speak? This is becoming very serious indeed.”

Licensing publishers is, of course, a serious break with the English-speaking civil liberties tradition.

MICHAEL Z. WILLIAMSON on poverty in the U.S.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Friday Sale.

STEVE CROWDER: Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme? I called the S.E.C. to find out. Hope they did better than they did with Madoff . . . .

MICKEY KAUS: What Did Peter Orszag Know And When Did He Know It?

LIGHTSQUARED: ANOTHER SOLYNDRA? “A pattern of providing White House support to favored companies — at taxpayer risk — is emerging.”

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, THE WHITE HOUSE WOULD BE CRUSHING DISSENT. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! The Hill: White House officials work to quell Dem dissent over jobs bill.

SOLYNDRA IS NOT THE ONLY SUBSIDIZED GREEN FAILURE: “Solyndra, the solar panel company whose highly publicized failure and consequent investigation by federal authorities has flashed across headlines recently, isn’t the only business to go belly up after benefiting from a piece of the $800 billion economic stimulus package passed in 2009. At least four other companies have received stimulus funding only to later file for bankruptcy, and two of those were working on alternative energy.”

ER, BECAUSE IT WAS A SCAM? Why Solyndra Wasn’t Good Stimulus. I mean, just for a start . . . .