YOU KNOW, YOU NEVER SEE ED DRISCOLL AND CAMILLE PAGLIA photographed together.

HEH: Obama, Kerry, Bush et al discuss Syria on Facebook.

BUT FALLEN ANGELS IS JUST A SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL, RIGHT? This summer, the US has experienced the fewest number of 100 degree readings in a century.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Some Of You Are Clearly Drinking Whiskey Wrong.

HAVE THERE EVER BEEN ANY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SUCCESSES? A Devastating Affirmative-Action Failure.

IT’S POTEMKIN VILLAGES ALL THE WAY DOWN: Sorry Ladies: Bobby Riggs Threw His Match Against Billie Jean King.

SIRI can be a bit jealous.

AT AMAZON, end-of-summer savings in Patio, Lawn & Garden.

WHY DO THE GREENS WANT CHILDREN TO DIE?

Vitamin A deficiency also depresses the immune system, raising overall mortality from other causes such as diarrhea, measles, and pneumonia. For these diseases the additional toll is estimated at 1 million preventable deaths a year, or around 2,700 per day, mostly among children younger than 5.

Greenpeace, with its $335 million annual revenue, has nearly four times more funding than the entire International Rice Research Institute (most of whose work involves conventional plant breeding). Greenpeace has waged a decade-long campaign against golden rice because it involves transgenic technology. The scientists at IRRI insist that there was no other way to get genes for beta-carotene into rice.

Greenpeace’s scaremongering includes the regular production of glossy reports spreading unscientific myths about golden rice. In China last year it successfully created a fake media scandal which landed some of the key Chinese project scientists in jail. Greenpeace Southeast Asia spokespeople took to the media to speak in support of the destruction of the golden rice trial in the Philippines.

Don’t lecture me about corporate evil when a $335 million multinational “nonprofit” is fomenting violence against those who are trying to save kids.

Related: Greenpeace Founder: Biotech Opposition is Crime Against Humanity.

WANT TO LEAVE A LEGACY? PLANT A TREE: One of the first fruit trees planted in America is still alive and well at age 383. Hero of the Napoleonic Wars Cuthbert Collingwood planted oak trees all over his property so that Britain would be able to build wooden ships a century hence. They don’t do that any more, but many of the trees remain.

THIS DOESN’T SURPRISE ME: Lena Dunham Was A 19-Year-Old Virgin.

IT’S LIKE THE GREENS WANT MISERY AND DEATH OR SOMETHING: Golden Rice, Green Idiocy. “With golden rice, we have a real, cost-effective way to safely provide millions of people with healthier food. The anti-GMO crowd is doing its best Marie Antoinette impression, saying the world’s poor should get the vitamin A this new rice provides by eating more fruits and vegetables. A well-balanced diet is a luxury many can’t afford. Cheap, nutrient-rich golden rice can save lives.”

AT AMAZON, best-selling Kindle books.

Also, end-of-summer markdowns on Mowers & Power Tools.

GUT FEELINGS: The Future Of Psychology May Be Inside Your Stomach. “Greenblatt’s provocative idea — that psychiatric woes can be solved by targeting the digestive system — is increasingly reinforced by cutting-edge science. For decades, researchers have known of the connection between the brain and the gut. Anxiety often causes nausea and diarrhea, and depression can change appetite. The connection may have been established, but scientists thought communication was one way: it traveled from the brain to the gut, and not the other way around. But now, a new understanding of the trillions of microbes living in our guts reveals that this communication process is more like a multi-lane superhighway than a one-way street. By showing that changing bacteria in the gut can change behavior, this new research might one day transform the way we understand — and treat — a variety of mental health disorders.”

Interesting to see if this pans out.

AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Meteor that hit Russia may have had close shave with the Sun. “A study of its composition showed the space rock had undergone ‘intensive melting’ before entering Earth’s atmosphere and streaking over the central Russia’s Chelyabinsk region in a blinding fireball, they said in a statement. . . . The meteor is estimated to have been 17 metres wide before exploding with the equivalent force of 30 times that of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. Its shockwave blew out windows and damaged buildings across five Russian regions.”

READER BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Working Class Foodies Cookbook: 100 Delicious Seasonal and Organic Recipes for Under $8 per Person.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: What To Do When Your Car Gets A Blowout.

GENETICS: Tomatoes Are Ripe For Improvement.

ROGER KIMBALL: Annals Of Intolerance, Tulane Edition.

Perhaps “Hobbit” is prosecutors’ code for “low life” in Louisiana. That’s where Letten plied his trade for nearly three decades, until forced to resign last year because some of his top assistants were revealed to have been making anonymous “provocative, even pugnacious comments about active criminal matters” on a public web site. Or maybe it is just part of Letten’s personal lexicon of imprecation, which also, for reasons that baffle me, include the word “spud,” a term I’d always regarded with affection as a familiar diminutive for “potato,” a tuber I hold in high regard.

These are deep semantic waters.

Especially for such a shallow guy. But watch the video. Is this the sort of conduct Tulane endorses on the part of its administrators?

ON MY USA TODAY COLUMN, Rick Wilson comments: “GOP candidates, take note: this is how you play populism.”

IN WORLD WAR II, side-wheel aircraft carriers on the Great Lakes. You know, Nick McCall and I were going to write a novel about a U-boat in the Great Lakes, being chased by, among other things, these very carriers, but we couldn’t come up with a good way to get it there. (Assembled somewhere along the shoreline? Not plausible enough).

HERE IN THE GUN-FREE ZONE WHERE I WORK, I just got this email from the UT Police:

A robbery occurred at the Carolyn M. Brown University Center at around 11:30 a.m. today. The University Center has been evacuated. The campus community should avoid the area until further notice.

The suspect is a black male, wearing white scrubs, a white apron, and a white mask. An investigation into the situation is ongoing. Anyone with information should call the UT Police Department.

I saw a bunch of police cars — the UC is just across the street — and wondered what that was about.

UPDATE: Here’s a report from the News-Sentinel.

POLITICAL PROSECUTION: Exclusive: Jim Letten Tells Charles C. Johnson That the Decision to Prosecute O’Keefe Was Made “At Highest Levels of the Justice Department.” And notice that they kept him out of the game until after the 2012 election.

ANGRY CONSTITUENTS: A rough town hall for Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA). “Sherman faced a bevy of angry constituents at the event held in Woodland Hills, Calif., during the August recess. Originally asked about his lack of transparency on the host of scandals plaguing the Obama administration’s second term, the California Democrat seemingly attempted to skirt the question, further frustrating attendees who demanded answers.” Video at the link.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: The Dream Derailed: Fifty years after the March on Washington, civil rights activists have shredded Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. If Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the grand old men of your movement, you’ve got a lousy movement.