FROM ED DRISCOLL, a “new civility” update.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on teaching supplies.

OUCH: Dow Jones plunges 512 points; but don’t worry, President Obama’s birthday parties unaffected.

UPDATE: Reader Dave Ivers emails: “Having just had a discussion with a close friend on the Left, I truly believe that Obama and probably all of the Left think that 3.5% GDP growth year on year is some sort of natural phenomenon and that no matter what they do it will happen. They then proceeded to trash the things that make that 3.5% growth happen.”

Once again, the Robert Heinlein quote:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

It can’t be repeated enough.

STEPHEN GREEN: Wargaming The Electoral College.

ARNOLD KLING: They told me if I did not fall in line for a debt ceiling increase the stock market would tank, and they were right!

YA THINK? Matt Damon Has A Lot To Learn.

WHEN VEGETABLES ATTACK.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in grills & outdoor cooking.

SO A READER WROTE TO ASK IF RICK PERRY’S STEM CELL THERAPY would hurt his chances for the GOP nomination. I don’t see how it would. Here’s the key bit:

The governor’s procedure did not involve embryonic stem cells, which he and many other conservatives ardently oppose using for medical research on both religious and moral grounds. His treatment involved removing his own adult stem cells from healthy tissue and injecting them back into his body at the time of surgery, with the belief that the cells would assist tissue regeneration and speed recovery.

As I understand it, most social-cons are actually quite supportive of adult stem-cell therapy, as opposed to embryonic stem-cell therapy. The fact that the particular treatment that Perry got hasn’t been approved by the FDA doesn’t seem like something that would have a lot of people upset either, but perhaps as a libertarian I’m missing something here.

CALL ME CRAZY, but I don’t think a threat to shut down the government is going to strike fear into the hearts of Tea Partiers.

POPULAR MECHANICS: 5 Coolest DIY Projects From Detroit Maker Faire 2011.

LET’S HOPE: Research: Life Gets Better At 50.

PENTAGON’S LIGHTNING GUN sold for scrap on Ebay. I think the design critique is a bit harsh though. This was a prototype, right? Those are often kludged together.

ROGER SIMON: Dow Down 500 — Should Obama Resign? “Obama is ensuring his own failure. Should he resign? If you were a Democrat, you might want that, even with daffy Joe Biden waiting in the wings. Better yet, you would want Obama, in the grand tradition of LBJ, to decline a second term. No such luck. The man is evidently an (increasingly) bitter clinger.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: EVALUATING COLLEGES BASED ON DEBT PER DEGREE ISSUED. I did a panel on the future of legal education at the SEALS conference last week, and Rick Matasar proposed a ranking system that would be more useful to students than the U.S. News rankings: One based on how much you’d owe, and how likely you were to get a job that would let you pay off the debt. This is a step in that direction, it seems.

AT AMAZON, markdowns in Patio, Lawn & Garden.

VIDEO: WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

SUSANNAH BRESLIN: Can Freelancers Be Friends? A somewhat negative take.

PROTECTING YOUR MONEY FROM THEFT WOULD SEEM TO BE BANKS’ TOP JOB: Hackers Take $1B a Year as Banks Blame Clients. You’d expect law enforcement to take more of an interest, too. . . .

ICE AGES FUELED BY IRON-RICH DUST?

Dust is all that’s needed to plunge the world into an ice age. When blown into the sea, the iron it contains can fertilise plankton growth on a scale large enough to cause global temperatures to drop. The finding adds support to the idea of staving off climate change by simulating the effects of dust – perhaps by sprinkling the oceans with iron filings.

Iron-rich dust falling on the ocean has long been known to spark blooms of plankton, and researchers suspect the process could have intensified the ice ages that have occurred over the past few million years.

I’m getting an idea for an eco-terrorism-based thriller novel involving a crazy billionaire and a few freighters full of iron filings.

LIFE MAGAZINE: America Invaded, 1942.

RUMOR: Toyota And Tesla Prepping “Billion Dollar Deal.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: Another European Domino?

THIS SEEMS SUSPICIOUS: British Companies Trading With Iran Hidden by U.K. to Avert U.S. Sanctions.

LONGEVITY UPDATE: Retirement Plans For 1,000-Year-Olds. Right now a lot of people aren’t even up to preparing for current lifespans: “Research earlier this year by the Society of Actuaries revealed that as ages draw close to triple digits, many are woefully underprepared for the challenge.”

I addressed this issue in Forbes a couple of years ago.