SHOCKING RESEARCH REVEALS women more likely to “unfriend” than men. Coming next, a study on which gender changes profile pics more often.

AT AMAZON, coupons galore.

#GOVERNMENTFAIL: DA had chance to nab fugitive teacher accused of sex crimes.

New questions have emerged over the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office’s handling of a substitute teacher wanted for alleged sex crimes.

The teacher, George Hernandez, was arrested by Huntington Park police in September 2010 for allegedly exposing himself to a girl outside a middle school. Detectives who searched his Inglewood apartment discovered a videotape they say shows Hernandez molesting a second-grader in a classroom. He was released on bail and fled the country.

Court records reviewed by The Times show prosecutors chose not to seek the extradition of Hernandez even when they learned of his whereabouts in Mexico.

The records contradict statements made this week by a deputy district attorney, who said the teacher would be extradited as soon as authorities could locate him.

It’s almost like they don’t want to get to the bottom of what’s going on in L.A. public schools.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: High-Tech, But Still Human.

WENDY KAMINER: The New York Times’ Disingenuous Campaign Against Citizens United. It’s as if they’re just some sort of technological dinosaur in search of legal protection for their power and income stream.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: “Don’t go. I want to tell you more about my mask. It’s a tribute to Vicki’s vagina.”

AN ANTI-PUTIN RALLY in Putin’s hometown.

CLIVE CROOK: Why Can’t Democrats Do Populism?

Because hatred of the populace — that is, Oikophobia — is at the core of their approach to politics.

AT AMAZON, warehouse deals in home furnishings.

VIDEO: NY Democratic Rep. Booed By Constituents Over Contraception Mandate. The press was dumb enough — or complicit enough — to go with the White House’s ZOMG! Republicans Are Stealing Your Ladyparts!!! spin, but the public seems to be brighter.

UPDATE: Reader Sean Owner writes: “I think media is unintentionally doing Obama harm by playing yes man to him, as they’re keeping him blissfully unaware of any problems in the area of public opinion.” Yes, that’s a theme James Taranto has hit repeatedly.

FROM THE TAR-AND-FEATHERS DEPARTMENT: Man Arrested After 4-Year-Old Draws Picture of Gun.

Police arrested a Kitchener, Ont., father outside his daughter’s school because the four-year-old drew a picture of him holding a gun.

Jessie Sansone told the Record newspaper that he was in shock when he was arrested Wednesday and taken to a police station for questioning over the drawing. He was also strip-searched.

“This is completely insane. My daughter drew a gun on a piece of paper at school,” he said.

Officials told the newspaper the move was necessary to ensure there were no guns accessible by children in the family’s home. They also said comments by Sansone’s daughter, Neaveh, that the man holding the gun in the picture was her dad and “he uses it to shoot bad guys and monsters,” was concerning.

Police also searched Sansone’s home while he was in custody. His wife and three children were taken to the police station, and the children were interviewed by Family and Children’s Services.

What these officials did was child abuse itself. They should be punished personally and individually, as an example to others.

WELL, WE ALREADY KNOW THAT THEY DID, SO. . . . Should Global-Warming Activists Lie to Defend Their Cause?

Related: Why The Climate Skeptics Are Winning.

WHAT THE HOME-BREWING MOVEMENT can teach us about emerging technologies.

Gosh, this could be the inspiration for a book.

REMEMBER WHEN PUSHY UNILATERALISM BY AMERICANS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BAD? The Indian prime minister has blamed US non-governmental organisations for the delay in commissioning the Koodankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu state.

AGING EYES LINKED TO HEALTH WOES:

The gradual yellowing of the lens and the narrowing of the pupil that occur with age disturb the body’s circadian rhythm, contributing to a range of health problems, these studies suggest. As the eyes age, less and less sunlight gets through the lens to reach key cells in the retina that regulate the body’s circadian rhythm, its internal clock.

So if you’re older, it’s even more important to get out in the bright sunlight. And drink a glass of red wine while you’re there. You don’t want to take any chances.

WELL, THAT’S NICE: My Second Amendment Penumbras piece has made it to #2 on the Social Science Research Network’s list of Top Ten Downloads.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Resource Curse Works For Putin.

Rising energy prices may be political poison for American politicians, but it’s just the reverse in Russia, filling state coffers and funding new rounds of government giveaways to keep a restless population happy. The FT estimates that Putin needs oil to be at least $80 a barrel to keep this system functioning smoothly. Fortunately for Putin, oil prices are currently around $120 per barrel, and may go even higher due to the situation with Iran.

Besides relieving pressures for democratic change, high oil prices have another effect as well: Russian foreign policy gets a lot tougher.

This is a great example of the resource curse at work.

Indeed.

METAPHOR ALERT: It’s Official: Shepard Fairey Is A Fraud. “Note that this possible jail time isn’t for creating the poster, but for lying to the court in a lawsuit he filed. . . . Fairey’s ego was threatened, and he didn’t think the rules that apply to everybody else should apply to him. So he hit back hard and lied outrageously in the process.”

DISSONANCE: “Every Day I Hear About How Folks Are Struggling, How They’re Sacrificing” — “Didn’t she just return from a ski trip to Aspen?”

AT AMAZON, spring reading recommendations.

Also, today only: $1.99 Kindle books in the “Best American” series — Best American Short Stories, Best American Sports Writing, etc. I picked up the one on nature and science writing.

And just out: new Canon full-frame lenses for DSLRs.

LONGEVITY UPDATE: Sirtuin protein linked to longevity in mammals.

At last, a member of the celebrated sirtuin family of proteins has been shown to extend lifespan in mammals — although it’s not the one that has received the most attention and financial investment.

Sirtuin genes and the proteins they encode have intrigued many researchers who study ageing ever since they were first linked to longevity in yeast. Results published today in Nature suggest that the overexpression of one gene, called sirtuin 6 (SIRT6), can lengthen lifespan in male mice by as much as 15.8% . . . The new focus on SIRT6 does not mean that the other sirtuins have been left by the wayside, says Miller. Researchers are beginning to look at the effects of SIRT1 when expressed in specific tissues, and work on the other members of the family is continuing apace. “People are just beginning to come to grips with the fact that there are seven sirtuins and each may do different things,” says Miller. “The quicker people stop thinking in terms of ‘it’s either gold or tin’ and start addressing the nuances of sirtuin function, the better.”

Well, stay tuned.

SCIENCE: How scientists taught monkeys the concept of money. Not long after, the first prostitute monkey appeared.

SHOCKER: U.K.’s 25% Tax Hike on the ‘Rich’ Produces Less Revenue. It’s impoverishing everyone, but I imagine quite a few will still support it in the name of “fairness.”

IS GLOBAL WARMING JUST a much more expensive version of the “millennium bug?”