RETINOPATHY A MARKER FOR COGNITIVE DECLINE. “One thing noteworthy here: the vascular system is incredibly important. If I had to choose just a few rejuvenation therapies out of a much larger set then one I’d be tempted to go for is a complete rejuvenation of the vasculature. Aging blood vessels do not deliver enough nutrients. They also rupture, causing dead of neurons in the brain. The damaging effects are manifold.”

A QUARTER-CENTURY OF data lost and found.

SEXISM ON TV: I keep seeing commercials with Joan Lunden hawking A Place For Mom. What about dad?

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE ARRESTED FOR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT. “Boise Police arrested Cynthia Clinkingbeard, 58, Boise, on Friday after she reportedly walked into a store at Eagle Road and Chinden Boulevard and threatened employees with a gun.”

GREEN CAR UPDATE: Toyota Prius C outsells monthly totals of Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf in three days.

ILYA SOMIN ON the politics of The Hunger Games. “The series is subject to such widely disparate interpretations in part because Collins’ world-building is relatively weak. We don’t learn very much about the political and economic system of Panem, and some of what we do learn is internally inconsistent.”

You want your libertarian kids’ fiction, you gotta go with Harry Potter.

MARK TAPSCOTT: Is lefty “grassroots activism” just one Potemkin Village after another?

That seems like the way to bet, especially after seeing how they astroturfed campaign finance “reform,” and then bragged about it. But they’ve got this going for them: “It helps when so many journalists covering American politics desperately want to believe these Potemkin villages are reality.”

AN INTERESTING PROJECT: Crowd-Sourcing James Madison’s Notes of the Convention.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD ON SCHOOL LUNCHES, REGULATORY CAPTURE, AND THE NANNY STATE.

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Placement Data Controversy Hits Elite Law Schools. My Dean has been steadfast in his insistence that we not lie about this stuff. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s the only one to feel that way. Upside: He doesn’t have to worry about jail.

BIDEN BOOED at St. Patrick’s Day parade. “A chorus of boos rained down on Biden and his supporters.” Video at the link.

NERVOUS: The Hill: Vulnerable Senate Dems Don’t Rule Out Voting Against Obama Cost-Control Board. ObamaCare doesn’t seem to have won people over.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Will Bill Maher Go The Way of Keith Olbermann? When he’s no longer an asset.

JACOB SULLUM: Did Dharun Ravi Commit a Hateless Hate Crime? The mob was angry and demanded a sacrifice.

Related thoughts from Ann Althouse. “That sounds like Ravi was found guilty because he couldn’t disprove a motivation that was inferred based on Clementi’s subjective perception. And yet the defense was deprived of much of the evidence of Clementi’s subjective state of mind.”

The mob was angry and demanded a sacrifice.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Short sales and foreclosures made up 52 percent of all recent Southern California home sales.

FARHAD MANJOO: It’s the battery, stupid: The looming 4G smartphone crisis.

Whatever other features it may have, a phone’s battery is its limiting factor. If the battery doesn’t work, nothing else does. This week J.D. Power and Associates put out its 2012 smartphone customer satisfaction survey, and the results bear this out. The study shows that battery life is one of the most important factors in determining whether people love or hate their phones. Owners of 4G phones were less happy with their devices’ batteries than owners of 3G phones, mainly because 4G phones don’t live as long as 3G ones. What’s more, among people with 4G phones, battery life was the deciding factor in whether or not you’d be willing to buy the same brand of phone again. If you give your phone a 10 out of 10 for battery life, you’re definitely buying that same phone next time. If you give it anything less, you’re going to look elsewhere for your next device.

That underlines a looming problem in the smartphone business, one that will haunt every manufacturer and may undermine the post-PC revolution over the next few years: Every year, everything about phones keeps getting better—except the battery.

Batteries don’t follow Moore’s Law.

UPDATE: Reader Matt Andrade writes: “If Batteries followed Moore’s Law, by now my MacBook Pro, fully charged, would be able to power my house.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Eric Klien emails:

PLAYBOY PARTY JOKE FROM APRIL 2012 ISSUE

The economy has become so bad that wives are having sex with their husbands because they can’t afford batteries.

The bloom is off the lily.

AMERICA’S FASTEST-SHRINKING INDUSTRY: Newspapers.

CROSS-CULTURE: Chinese Fish For Meaning In U.S. Carp Rampage. “To understand why Chinese netizens have taken such an interest in the story, it’s absolutely essential to know that the most popular dinner-table fish in seafood-crazy China is carp, bar none. Thus, news of America’s carp problem doesn’t set off alarm — it makes Chinese mouths water. Add the fact that Chinese covet wild carp — an expensive treat compared to cheaper, more common farmed carp — and poetry ensues. . . . The dominant thread in the ongoing discussion is this: The Chinese people, and their voracious appetites, are the solution to America’s carp woes.”

Instead of an invasive-species problem, let’s think of it as a solution to the trade deficit! It’s just a bigger version of my lionfish solution.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT:

THIS LETTER TO THE EDITOR is typical of something I’ve heard a lot of: Andrea Yates’ husband, we are told, is guilty too. The writer, as usual, is a woman.

Had Mr. Yates killed his children, would these women be blaming his wife for failing to take responsibility for his mental health? Or for having children to such a father?

Some things haven’t changed a bit.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Men’s Clothing.

TOM MAGUIRE ON TRAYVON MARTIN: Who Are You Going To Believe, Me Or Your Lying Ears?

SOMEONE SHOULD ASK HIM: How will President Civility explain Cee Lo Green to Sasha and Malia?

A ST. PATRICK’S DAY KINDLE DEAL: Jay Dolan’s The Irish Americans: A History for 99 cents.