MICKEY KAUS ON the demise of private-sector unions. “The most significant number in the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics release on unionization is probably this: Only 6.9 percent of private sector workers are in unions. That’s the same percent as last year. In the middle of the 20th century, it was 35%. … The number is significant because it suggests that labor’s much-publicized private sector organizing drives have failed. They appeared to be meeting with some success a few years ago–the private sector rate actually rose from 7.4% to 7.6% between 2006 and 2008. Those union gains have now apparently been lost, and the private sector unionization rate again asymptotically approaches zero. … Are Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB labor’s last hurrah?”

BOINGBOING COMMITS RACIAL PROFILING.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF’S NOVEL Night Trains is now out on Kindle. I read it when it first came out and it’s quite good.

UPDATE: Andrew Morriss writes:

Just a note to say how useful your book recommendations are – I’d estimate 20% or more of my fiction purchases result from a mention on InstaPundit (and I do try to go back and buy through your link, even if I don’t buy right away) – an excellent addition to the Amazon recommends method of finding new authors.

In particular, your readers who are authors and who offer cheap or free editions of books, are folks I consistently buy to try something new. Neil Gaiman has a great interview (linked on TigerHawk recently) on this point – he found giving away electronic editions of books boosted his sales. http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/2012/01/neil-gaiman-on-copyright-and-piracy.html

Keep telling us when you read something good!

The biggest problem is finding time to read something good. I’ve been unusually busy lately and it’s really cut into my leisure reading. On the other hand, I find that if I don’t do enough leisure reading, my efficiency falls off anyway.

TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC: A fast and cheap optical version of Wi-Fi is coming.

IS IT PARENTAL MALPRACTICE TO PUT YOUR KID IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS? Sex Criminal At Age 6. “I typically blog several of these cases a month these days — sexual assault charges or ‘weapons’ charges for some kid whose granny put a paring knife in her lunch bag to cut her apple.”

And nobody ever seems to get fired over them, though this Principal should be unemployed, and unemployable, after this incident.

21ST CENTURY EMPLOYMENT: “Applicant needs to be responsible and willing to work (no constant cell phone).”

SCIENCE: Astronomers solve mystery of vanishing energetic electrons in Earth’s outer radiation belt.

BARTENDER, mix me something hot!

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Why You Should Postpone College.

JOHN KANG: In Praise of Hostility: Antiauthoritarianism as Free Speech Principle.

NEXT UP IN NUCLEAR: Small, Modular Reactors.

BOB OWENS: New Emails Suggest Eric Holder Perjured Himself. Was he sworn? If not, it could still be a False Statements Act violation.

USING E. COLI to turn seaweed into ethanol.

RON BAILEY: An ethical case for terraforming Mars.

Here, by the way, is an excellent treatment of that topic by my former student Robert Pinson, in the Environmental Law Reporter. It started as a paper in my Space Law seminar.

COLLABORATION IN the war against nature.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN WE’D SEE NEW HIGHS IN HOMELAND-SECURITY PARANOIA — AND THEY WERE RIGHT! British pair arrested in U.S. on terror charges over Twitter jokes. “‘I almost burst out laughing when they asked me if I was going to be Leigh’s lookout while he dug up Marilyn Monroe. ‘I couldn’t believe it because it was a quote from the comedy Family Guy which is an American show.” Yeah, but in Homeland Security’s defense, it kinda sucks.

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO WIN AN IPAD in the PJ Media Nostradamus Contest.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Has the Higher-Ed Revolution Begun?

DEFENDING YOUR CELLPHONE against malware.

MAURICE STUCKE: Is Intent Relevant?

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Beyond Blue Part One: The Crisis of the American Dream.

FRIEND OF BIG BUSINESS: Elizabeth Warren made her mark helping insurance companies use bankruptcy to avoid paying asbestos claims. If she were a Republican, this would be a big story, and people would be calling her “Mesothelioma Madam” or something.

MICHAEL WALSH: A Fast & Furious Fib: Holes In Holder’s Testimony? Lying to Congress puts you in violation of the False Statements Act.

FINISHED J. WESLEY BUSH’S Knox’s Irregulars last night. A good read, with a Gordon Dickson sort of feel.