LIFE IN THE ERA OF HOPE AND CHANGE: FBI Releases Plans To Monitor Social Networks.

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES and the law.

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: Alabama tornadoes: Storms show limits of warning sirens.

That’s why it’s good to have a weather radio. I have this one, and it’s been good. But some readers who have both say that this one is better.

UPDATE: Reader Jenny Parker writes: “Glenn, my weather radio (neither one of your links) wasn’t being reliable the other night, so we tried the Wx Alert USA app for our phones, and it was fantastic. We just programmed it to sound for tornadoes, but it will sound or message for whatever you like (only absent zombies, really). Gives off the hideous NOAA sound, sure to wake you from anything.” Hmm. I’ll have to give that one a try. Though the reviews seem uneven.

THAT’S OKAY, HE’S NOT A REPUBLICAN: Biden Does Fake Indian Accent During Outsourcing Speech?

FROM FOSSIL IDEOLOGY to fossil fuels.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: 8 Ways To Avoid One-Night Stand Awkwardness.

WHAT IF A CRUISE SHIP wrecked in Alaska? “The Costa Concordia wreck shocked the world last week. Although at least 16 died, thousands more lived because they were able to escape the ship into the warm Italian waters. However, ship traffic to frigid Arctic waters is on the rise. And if the Costa Concordia had run aground in the Bering Sea rather than the Mediterranean, the result probably would have been much deadlier.”

UPDATE: Well, there’s this unfortunate precedent, forwarded by reader J.M. Heinrichs.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IS THAT COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE BECOMING MORE LIBERTARIAN:

Even though on an issue-by-issue basis the opinions of incoming freshmen are becoming less conservative, the number of liberal students per se is not necessarily on the rise.

As students over the past couple of years have become more likely to self-identify politically as “middle of the road” (47.4 percent in 2011, up three percentage points since 2009), the percentage who consider themselves “liberal” has actually declined more than that of those who say they’re “conservative.”

Which makes sense. More here.

ROCKET MEN: Meet the 21st-century pioneers who want to take you into space.

SHOCKER: 2012 Business Tax Climate: Chilliest in Blue States.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Why You Should Spend A $2 Bill At Starbucks On February 14.

RWANDA’S coffee success story.

MEGAN MCARDLE: HOW RICH IS WARREN BUFFETT’S SECRETARY?

In sum, the presentation of these numbers is quite confusing, and I suspect a little bit of cherry-picking to maximize the invidiousness of the comparison. Ms. Bosanek probably does have a somewhat higher effective federal tax rate than her boss, and it may even be much higher. But if so, this is because she is a very unusual taxpayer–exactly the opposite of what is implied by comparing Warren Buffett’s taxes to those of his secretary.

Update: apparently, she makes $60K. So I gather what Buffet is talking about is comparing her federal marginal tax rate, including both sides of the employer tax, to what must be his effective tax rate, since there is no marginal rate of 17.4%. That comparison is beyond bizarre.

About as honest as I’ve come to expect. And let me add: What a cheapskate Buffett is. My secretary at Dewey Ballantine made over $50K back in the 1980s, and he’s only paying his secretary $60K today? Hey, Warren — how about focusing your redistributive efforts a little closer to home?

AN ONLINE POLL ON REPEALING VIRGINIA’S ONE-GUN-A-MONTH LAW. So far the “yeses” are winning, which seems right to me.

ONE STEP TOWARD THE JETSONS: A Folding Electric Car.

NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR BEV PERDUE won’t seek a second term. “Seek” being the operative word in this case, I think. Her record has been poor. (Via NewsAlert.)

IS CHIVALRY DEAD? Male and Female Perspectives. My observation is that chivalry can exist only when embedded in a larger social structure that supports it in various ways. Abolish that structure — as has been done quite deliberately — and chivalry is unlikely to survive.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Poll: “85 per cent of respondents believe that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution means that individuals have the right to keep and bear arms, while only seven per cent openly disagree with this view.”

CHUCK SIMMINS: Whip Inflation Now!

#BLOOMBERGFAIL: NYC ‘food police’ caught in an ad lie. “A fear-inducing advertisement, posted around New York City, warning that too much sugary soda will give you diabetes and cause you to lose limbs has come under scrutiny because the amputee in the poster lost his leg due to Photoshop, not diabetes.”

FAST AND FURIOUS: Rep. Darrell Issa says Holder should apologize to Mexico: ‘Justice has blood on their hands.’

CONVENIENT MEMORY LAPSE: “If you came away from President Obama’s State of the Union address thinking nothing worth mentioning happened during his first two years in office, then you got precisely the message he intended.”

RAND PAUL UPDATE: A security video of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul at a Nashville International Airport checkpoint doesn’t show him being “irate,” as police asserted. I’ll bet he is now.

MORE ON THAT GINGRICH MOON BILL: Reader Jonathan Fellows writes:

It looks like the bill was introduced in the 97th Congress as HR 4286, The National Space and Aeronautics Policy Act of 1981. Title IV of the bill dealt with the government of space territories.

The bill had 12 cosponsors — both R’s & D’s, including Tim Wirth, Robert Roe, Charlie Wilson, Bob Dornan, & Ed Derwinski.

Yes, that comports with my (vague) memories from the time. I think he may have introduced it more than once, though.

UPDATE: It’s also sad to see all our punditry miss out on what Newt’s doing here — he’s pandering to the tens of thousands of space workers in Florida who have been, or will be soon, laid off under Obama. Honestly, this should have been the lead item: “Pandering Newt,” not “Daffy Newt.” Do try to think outside the storyline, people.