WELL, THIS SEEMS LIKE GOOD NEWS: Iraqi Army dismantles Mahdi Army caches in Sadr City.

Meanwhile, this seems like bogus news.

ISN’T THIS WHAT’S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN? Gas prices drive changing habits. Now for some other changes.

SKIN OF microscopic thinness.

BOB SOMERBY: When journalists swoon. I’ve never understood how anybody who pays attention to these guys can “swoon” over any of ’em. They’re politicians. I guess the kind of people prone to swoon over politicians are the kind of people prone to go into political journalism, which is probably a reason why you shouldn’t take what political journalists say very seriously. . . .

THE PHOENIX HAS LANDED, on Mars.

SO WHEN I MENTIONED THIS GENERATOR ALTERNATIVE yesterday the price was 180 bucks. Now they’ve more than doubled it. I guess that’s “dynamic pricing” at work! Or maybe we should call it “Heisenberg pricing” . . . .

ENERGY FEARS LOOMING, survivalists prepare: “These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves.” I’m all for preparedness, but this seems a bit overwrought. Some related thoughts here.

LOOKING FOR E.T.’s neutrino beam: “John Learned of the University of Hawaii and colleagues have worked out that advanced alien civilizations could send messages within the Milky Way using neutrinos, and that these messages could be picked up using neutrino detectors currently under construction here on Earth.”

BOB KRUMM (now Major Bob Krumm) emails:

The New Republic has a story about Al Qaeda’s diminishing movement entitled, “The Unraveling.”

Meanwhile, here in Iraq, Coalition Forces have just experienced their least costly week of the entire war. There has been only one American serviceman killed in action over the last seven days. On four of those
days there wasn’t even a combat-related injury.

Certainly, there are going to be more rough days ahead–especially as a cornered Al Qaeda feels the need to demonstrate that it is still a major force. But all in all, there is more good news than bad.

Seems that way.

UPDATE: TNR link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!

AND THIS IS WHY WE NEED NICE, CLEAN, NUCLEAR POWER: Ocean Acidification: Another Undesired Side Effect Of Fossil Fuel-burning. No word on how this will affect those underwater cemeteries . . . .

JAKE TAPPER: What the FARC was Obama talking about? “One reason why Obama may be so forgiving (even if his campaign was not) about Sen. Hillary Clinton’s assassination reference? The man has been a one-man gaffe machine.”

UPDATE: Speaking of FARC, apparently a lot of people were happy to talk to them.

BOB BARR WINS THE Libertarian presidential nomination. I predict he’ll outperform Michael Badnarik.

UPDATE: Much more is reported by Dave Weigel, including charges of a “neocon takeover” of the Libertarian Party. Funny, Barr doesn’t look neoish.

PROGRESS: High-Tech Devices Keep Elderly Safe From Afar. “Sensors attached to the wall are able to register when Mrs. Trost gets out of bed and whether she stops at her medication dispenser, and to alert her daughters to any deviations from her routine that might indicate an accident or illness. The family is updated by electronic report every morning.”

SO MUCH FOR GUN CONTROL IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA: WA has more guns than before Port Arthur massacre. Of course, the story goes on to fret about unlocked storage — which has nothing to do with crazed gunmen or massacres, except in terms of making it harder for people to respond appropriately.

PRIME REAL ESTATE: “The crook of your elbow is not just a plain patch of skin. It is a piece of highly coveted real estate, a special ecosystem, a bountiful home to no fewer than six tribes of bacteria. Even after you have washed the skin clean, there are still one million bacteria in every square centimeter. But panic not. These are not bad bacteria.” Plus, an argument for benign despotism: “The bacterial cells also outnumber human cells by 10 to 1, meaning that if cells could vote, people would be a minority in their own body.”

LET’S SPIN AGAIN, like we did last summer.

GEE, DO YOU THINK? John Kerry as an imperfect messenger. “The idea that Iran has not been talked to about its nuclear program is absurd.”

KIMBERLEY STRASSEL on the Obama learning curve.

IMPROVING CANCER THERAPY with nanotechnology.

BURY ME IN THE MIDST OF A CORAL REEF: “The Neptune Memorial Reef, which opened last fall, is seen by its creators as a perfect final resting spot for those who loved the sea. They hope that one day the reef will cover 16 acres and have room for 125,000 remains.” Okay, I’d rather be shot into space.