THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT’S SHOCKING GENDER GAP. Contrast that with the Tea Party movement, which is 55% women. Stacy McCain thinks he knows the reason for the difference.

#EUROFAIL: Nigel Farage: The Euro Is A Failure. “It looks like UK Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage took an opportunity to speak truth to power in a way that the Occupy protesters can only dream of. Okay, so it’s a little over the top. And yet . . . this euro doesn’t seem to be working out, does it?”

#UCDAVISFAIL? University president vows pepper-spraying probe at UC Davis. “The president of the University of California system said he was ‘appalled’ at images of protesters being doused with pepper spray and plans an assessment of law enforcement procedures on all 10 campuses, as two police officers and the police chief were placed on administrative leave.”

UPDATE: Reader Joshua Hall writes:

My daughter currently attends UC Davis. The media coverage of the pepper spraying incident is not giving an in depth report.

The students are protesting the tuition increases at UC Davis and standing with the Occupy Wall Street protestors.

On Tuesday student protestors occupied Mrak Hall forcing its closure (see photos 33-36 here: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/20/4068847/occupy-california-campus-protests.html ). This interrupted normal administrative business that directly effected students. Student and staff safety became a real concern for campus administrators and police.

On Friday tents were removed and students asked to leave or face peppering. I do not think the police used proper judgment. Hence the video footage on the airways.

It’s big of the CTA to stand in support of the students who were pepper sprayed calling for the Chancellor’s resignation. Meanwhile, their union is working to block Chancellor Katehi’s efforts to make available on-line classes to assist student’s ability to finish their degree program in four years. In the end, the faculty is working for their security while saddling students with more debt.

My daughter is a sophomore and two of her lower general education requirement classes will not be offered until her junior year, if at all, due to budget cuts. She could be faced with needing to attend a fifth year in order to graduate. At $30,000+ per year cost of attendance, the union blocking on-line classes could get very expensive for our household. On-line classes could be a tremendous benefit.

Would be nice to see this group of students protest the union. Now that I could get behind.

Not likely, alas.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Were the UC Davis Police Justified in Pepper-Spraying Students?

CEO SALARIES and pharmaceutical costs.

IS RUSS FEINGOLD playing a duplicitous game on the recall? “The fact that the signature effort may fail is just one of the reasons why Russ Feingold has taken the official position that he will not run. Yes, some people might be more willing to sign the recall petition if they knew the strongest-polling Democrat was ready to go, but the signature-gathering-effort would turn into a discussion about whether Feingold is preferable to Walker, and — as I read Feingold’s mind — Feingold would prefer for people to leave him out of it and concentrate on how bad Scott Walker is. By disclaiming the desire to take power, Feingold is able to present himself as a statesman, appearing at numerous anti-Walker events to bolster the morale of the protesters and, seemingly selflessly, to criticize Walker.”

UPDATE: Trading Cigarettes For Illegal Signatures in Milwaukee. “In this video, you can see them recruiting young children to sign the recall petition, and then paying them off with cigarettes. Nice.”

THE KINDLE FIRE gets a lengthy hands-on review from Tania Gail. She likes it.

I like mine, too. Over the weekend I finished Neal Stephenson’s Reamde — good, but a straight thriller, unlike his last several books — and read Frank J.’s new magnum opus in its entirety, both on the Fire. I like it, but I prefer the double-page view you can get on the iPad. Of course, that’s because the iPad’s screen is twice as big.

UPDATE: On the other hand, the browser keeps crashing on me tonight. First time it’s done that, but it keeps happening.

ANOTHER UPDATE: On Reamde, reader Geoff Well writes: “On first glance it’s a straight forward geeknothriller, and not a bad one. On further thought, it’s about ethics and family loyalty.” Yes, and that’s a recurring theme of his: the Forthrast clan reminded me of the Shaftoes.

MORE: Reader Thomas Prewitt writes:

I followed your lead and advance ordered the Fire. Overall, it meets my needs.

I look at the Fire as a “Kindle with benefits”. Good for reading, particularly in bed at night after my wife turns out the lights. And the Fire travels much easier than a laptop. I can keep up with Instapundit, news, etc. better than using my Android phone.

And here’s an interesting observation. We were in the Mississippi Delta at a wedding this weekend and stayed at a Hampton Inn. The hotel had free wifi but the signal was very weak. My wife couldn’t log on with her iPad, but I could log on with the Kindle Fire with no problems. A friend of mine even had to watch the Saturday debate in the hallway because his iPad could pick up a signal in his room.

Chalk one up to Kindle Fire!

Interesting. I haven’t tried mine where the wi-fi is weak — I have a good signal pretty much everywhere.

STILL MORE: Another reader writes:

Having read every word Stephenson’s written several times over, it strikes me that his underlying theme is “People who find themselves in
societies in transition, and the technology that drives the transitional events.”

The fact that his fiction has been converging on our reality is noteworthy.

Yes, and in such times, family and ethics are particularly important.

HMM: U.S. Sued for $25 Billion Over AIG Takeover. I wonder if we’ll see more such suits, given the many shady activities involved in a lot of the financial-crisis bailouts.

ANOTHER LAME “STIMULUS” EFFORT: $1B homeowner program mainly benefited 3 states.

CHANGE: Main Street making a comeback at the expense of the shopping mall. “Development of new malls has almost completely stopped, with only two being erected in the country since the beginning of 2009, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Outdoor town center concepts, featuring brick sidewalks, streetlights and even public clocks evoking the Main Street of yore, are climbing to a degree that many owners of enclosed malls are considering dramatic makeovers, some including plans to tear off the roof of, or ‘de-mall’ enclosed shopping centers.”

That’s certainly true here. Knoxville’s giant enclosed malls are visibly suffering, while the revitalized downtown, and the faux-downtown at Turkey Creek, seem to be thriving. But I wonder if “de-malling” is really an answer. The biggest problem with our big malls is that the owners drove out all the lower-price tenants (like Walgreen’s or Morrison’s Cafeteria) and replaced them with more expensive stores that don’t generate as much traffic.

REVIEW: 2012 Jaguar XJ Portfolio.

#OCCUPYFAIL: Poll: ‘Occupy’ movement fails to capture Americans’ interest.

WELL, IF OBAMA’S GOING TO RUN AGAINST A “DO-NOTHING” CONGRESS, IT’S IMPORTANT FOR CONGRESS TO DO NOTHING: Left Blogs Cheer Supercommittee Collapse. Of course, failure was baked-in from the beginning.

JOSE GUARDIA: Spaniards Boot Out Socialists: Is It Too Late?

PROF. BAINBRIDGE: I have seen the STOCK Act to “ban” Congressional insider trading and I am unimpressed.

AT AMAZON, Top Deals In Electronics.

CALIFORNIA: Kids Play With Toy Gun, Parents Lectured by Local Cops. Vote against their pensions.

MICKEY KAUS TEST-DRIVES A NISSAN LEAF and finds an existential void. And who but Mickey, really, could manage that?

FASTER, PLEASE: Novel ALS drug slows symptom progression, reduces mortality in phase II trial.

XKCD on money.