HOW A SINGLE OXYCONTIN PILL nearly ruined one man’s life.

AT AMAZON: Summer Clearance: Up to 70% off on Jewelry.

FROM BILL QUICK, A QUESTION FOR CHRIS ROCK: You have to stoop to this level, why, exactly, dipshit?

THE HILL: Romney pressures Obama to denounce controversial cancer ad.

Related: ABC News: Obama Campaign Admits Knowing Story Behind Man in Super PAC Ad. “One day after claiming the Obama campaign had no knowledge of the story of the man included in a pro-Obama super PAC ad, spokeswoman Jen Psaki admitted the campaign had worked with him before.” Pathetic.

VIA ZILLA OF THE RESISTANCE, a blogger who needs help. I sent a donation, but note that she really wants work.

AT AMAZON, coupons, coupons, and more coupons.

OLYMPIC COVERAGE THAT CAN HOLD MY INTEREST: Gallery: Best Beach Volleyball Pictures.

MARY KATHARINE HAM: Video: Obama supporters stumped on why government should pay for birth control.

BLENDED WING: Meet the New NASA-Boeing X-48C.

MICKEY KAUS: Romney Has A Point On Welfare: “Romney’s attack on Obama over welfare reform must have tested well, given the President’s firehose-like stream of defenses. Many of those defenses are bogus.”

THAT BLOOMBERG IS SUCH A KILLJOY: City officials pull the plug on vibrator giveaway, leaving thousands dissatisfied. Bystander: “I have a problem with the smoking ban, and the soda ban — and now this!”

THE DESCENT INTO SELF-PARODY CONTINUES: Obama: Let’s repeat auto industry bailout success with every industry.

JOURNALISM: Conspicuous silence on Obama, SuperPAC collusion: Using the Reid standard, Team Obama needs to disprove.

PROFESSIONALISM: Zimmerman Prosecutors Screw Up, Release Confidential, Potentially Jury-Tainting Documents by “Accident.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Future of Online University Education. “The current rate of tuition hikes is clearly unsustainable, and I believe that within the next 10 years there will be a big disruption. The traditional 4-year college experience won’t go away, but what if you could also earn credits with an online class taught by an Ivy League professor and graded to equivalent standards of mastery? What if it cost less than community college?”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 10 Tips for Getting Along with Your College Roommate.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Covering The Olympics With Three iPhones And Some Binoculars. “As you can image, transmitting photos from the iPhone on deadline is a breeze. All Chung has to do is e-mail them, whereas the other photographers have to physically get their cards to an editor or find a wireless system that communicates with their cameras. More than anything Chung says the iPhone has allowed him to take chances visually. One of his favorite photos, he says, shows British runner Mo Farah celebrating his win in the Men’s 10,000m final. Chung shot the photo from up in the stands looking down through the heat waves from the Olympic torch, creating a kind of blurred aesthetic. Chung says he probably wouldn’t have gone searching for that shot if he didn’t have the freedom to see differently with the iPhone.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Big Jump in Student Debt for Well-Off Families. “The biggest jump in student borrowing (by economic group) between 2007 and 2010 was from families with incomes of $94,535 to $205,355.” That makes sense. These are people who are too “well-off” for price discrimination financial aid, but not well enough off to bear the full sticker price.

But we’re starting to see more price resistance. Good.

DELI OWNER TO OBAMA: TAKE MY STORE OUT OF YOUR AD, IT’S COSTING ME BUSINESS:

The owner of the store, Debra Krause-McDonnell, said that she did not give permission for her business to be shown and that some customers have told her they’ll no longer shop there.

“I’ve been put into a position I didn’t ask for,” she said Wednesday. . . . “I’m a little angry.”

Welcome to the club, sister.

WILL WILKINSON ON Chick-Fil-A And Corporate Responsibility. “Matters of moral truth aside, what’s the difference between buying a little social justice with your coffee and buying a little Christian traditionalism with your chicken? There is no difference. Which speaks to my proposition that CSR, when married to norms of ethical consumption, will inevitably incite bouts of culture-war strife. CSR with honest moral content, as opposed to anodyne public-relations campaigns about “values”, is a recipe for the politicisation of production and sales. But if we also promote politicised consumption, we’re asking consumers to punish companies whose ideas about social responsibility clash with our own.”

Conclusion: “I’d suggest the best arena for moral disagreement is not the marketplace, but our intellectual and democratic institutions.” That would require intellectual and democratic engagement, instead of bullying.

USING YOUR BODY’S ELECTRICAL FIELD to uniquely identify yourself.

FIVE NEW-CAR FEATURES That Aren’t Really New.

BILL WHITTLE: GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!

LOSER: Robert Pattinson Is “Drunk Dialing” Kristen Stewart.

NUMBERS: Alt-fuel vehicle sales slowed in July as EV demand stalls.