SCOTT CARPENTER, R.I.P.

IT’S NOT AN ACCIDENT: New Gender Crimes Undermine Justice.

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THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: NSA’s Own Hardware Backdoors May Still Be a “Problem from Hell:” Revelations that the NSA has compromised hardware for surveillance highlights the vulnerability of computer systems to such attacks. “In 2011, General Michael Hayden, who had earlier been director of both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, described the idea of computer hardware with hidden “backdoors” planted by an enemy as ‘the problem from hell.’ This month, news reports based on leaked documents said that the NSA itself has used that tactic, working with U.S. companies to insert secret backdoors into chips and other hardware to aid its surveillance efforts. That revelation particularly concerned security experts because Hayden’s assessment is widely held to be true. Compromised hardware is difficult, and often impossible, to detect. Hardware can do things such as access data in ways invisible to the software on a computer, even security software. The possibility that computer hardware in use around the world might be littered with NSA backdoors raises the prospect that other nations’ agencies are doing the same thing, or that groups other than the NSA might find and exploit the NSA’s backdoors.”

SOON TO BE A DISNEY MOVIE: Lonely Alien Planet Discovered Without a Parent Star.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why Do Stores Give Receipts? “It’s mostly so employees can’t steal.”

TWO OF THESE PICTURES CAPTURE the 1970s that I remember better than the others.

SO I GOT AN EMAIL INFORMING ME THAT I’M ONE OF TENNESSEE’S TOP-RATED LAWYERS. I’m suspicious since (1) I don’t practice law anymore, really; (2) While there are some narrow areas in which I have great expertise, most of them aren’t in much commercial demand; and (3) I know a lot of lawyers in Tennessee I’d rather have represent me than, well, me. But hey, maybe I’ll put it on my resume anyway.

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ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS AND “HELP:” It’s Not Your Help To Give. “Nothing so infuriates me as when a person, entrusted with authority by an institution, becomes so arrogant as to imagine that the authority they wield — the perks of their office, their power to reward or punish others — is their own personal possession. Anyone who has ever worked in a large organization knows the type. . . . Sherrod evidently regarded her government job as a personal possession, so that her exercise of official authority conferred upon her some special dignity, so that even a U.S. Navy veteran was required to approach her with an attitude of deference and supplication.”

WELL, THEY’RE GIVING OUT NOBEL PEACE PRIZES TO JUST ANYBODY THESE DAYS: Nobel Peace Prize Again Goes To Group That Has Done … What, Exactly? “As these unworthies collect their laurels, authentic peacemakers — such as 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, who was shot in the face by Taliban terrorists solely for urging girls to go to school — go ignored.”

THE VALUE OF REPUTATION: People Would Rather Buy a Self-Driving Car From Google Than GM. Well, GM was a damaged brand even before the bailouts. Google is down a bit from a year or two ago, but their products still work.

I WONDER HOW THIS WILL PLAY OUT ON THE BAR CHARACTER REVIEW? Wyoming ‘hate-f***’ hoaxer adds to checkered criminal past, now attends law school. “The latest criminal saga involving former University of Wyoming student Meghan Lanker-Simons has come to an end not with a bang, but with a whimper. Lanker-Simons announced her intention to plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a peace officer, reports the Laramie Boomerang. In exchange for the plea, the strident leftist will receive a ‘minimal’ fine and no prison sentence. The maximum penalty would have been a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.”

I’LL BELIEVE IT’S A CRISIS WHEN THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP TELLING ME IT’S A CRISIS START ACTING LIKE IT’S A CRISIS: Despite Climate Concern, Global Study Finds Fewer Carbon Capture Projects.

WELL, THAT’S ONE WAY TO GET OUT OF OBAMACARE: Living, breathing man will remain dead in the eyes of Ohio law.

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THE ECONOMY: Sears Eats Its Seed Corn.

SMARTEST PRESIDENT EVER: Obama: “We’ve Got To Create More Jobs.”

A READER EMAILED asking for information about radios his dad could use to listen to distant baseball games. I referred him to this post, which I’m repeating in case others find it helpful.

THE DANGERS OF over-elevating romantic love. The ancient Greeks saw romantic love as an undesirable species of madness.

HITTING THE ROAD WITH Toyota’s Semi-Autonomous Cars.

THIS GARDEN & GUN LIST of places to eat and drink in Knoxville only overlaps my own favorites list by about 1/3, but it’s not bad.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why Everyone Should Do Squats. Going back to squats has pretty much eliminated my knee and lower-back pain.

THINGS YOU CAN LEARN from golf.

THEODORE DALRYMPLE: When Doctors Decide Your Disease Doesn’t Actually Exist.