NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN for the Foresight Institute Nanotechnology Prizes.

ERIC SCHEIE: Sometimes I wonder whether “getting the government out of our bedrooms” (supposedly accomplished by Lawrence v. Texas) wasn’t just a ruse so people could imagine they were more free.

PLUGGING MICROORGANISMS into the energy grid. “Microscopic organisms from bacteria and cyanobacteria, to fungi and microalgae, are biological factories that are proving to be efficient sources of inexpensive, environmentally friendly biofuels that can serve as alternatives to oil, according to research presented at the 109th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.”

BUY MORE, SAVE MORE: A Blu-Ray sale.

EDWARD TENNER ON GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO FORCE TECHNOLOGY: “The problem of any legal mandate is that it is often impossible to say in advance what researchers are capable of. This is sometimes discovered only under great pressure.”

“JUNK” DNA: Not actually junk. “Now researchers from Princeton University and Indiana University who have been studying the genome of a pond organism have found that junk DNA may not be so junky after all. They have discovered that DNA sequences from regions of what had been viewed as the ‘dispensable genome’ are actually performing functions that are central for the organism. They have concluded that the genes spur an almost acrobatic rearrangement of the entire genome that is necessary for the organism to grow.”

STOCK PERFORMANCE: Energy vs. Financials.

A 60 MPH UNMANNED TANK.

RECIPE: The Panther’s Paw cocktail.

HINDSIGHT ISN’T ALWAYS 20/20:

But what do you say about a book that approvingly quotes the wisdom of Bernard Madoff, published the same month he was arrested for running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history?

How can you not wince at his decision to include the opening statement of Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd at hearings looking at the “mortgage market turmoil,” after Dodd became involved in his own turmoil, allegedly helping Countrywide Financial – one of the biggest subprime culprits of them all – after the company allegedly provided him with below-market mortgages on his property?

Nobody’s perfect.

PIRATES AND THE LAW: A RETROSPECTIVE. “Most important in bringing pirates to their end was a series of early 18th-century legal changes that made it possible to effectively prosecute pirates.”

PETER ROBINSON: The protest of a patriot.

A CONVENTION OF Obama Administration auto-industry advisers?

HOME-BREWED BIODIESEL: Careful about the fires!

TO BOLDENLY GO: New leadership at NASA.

IN THE MAIL: From James Walsh, Libertarian Nation!: The Call for a New Agenda.

PUBLIC PENSION UPDATE: Baltimore Pension Dispute Illuminates Public/Private Divide.

Severe market downturns lay bare any number of Ponzi schemes, and under-funded defined benefits pensions, public and private, can be justly described as such schemes. The problem with private plans is large enough. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which insures the pensions of 44 million Americans, said in a report this week that its deficit has tripled in just six months to a record $33.5 billion. Chances are it will have to be added to the growing list of entities to be bailed out by Uncle Sam. But this is trivial compared to the under-funding in public plans, which cover about 22 million workers. The deficits in the latter systems are said to total more than a trillion dollars. And these are not insured.

So, when Mayor Dixon capitulates to Baltimore’s public safety unions, withdrawing a pension reform measure and suggesting there is a need for a “bigger fix,” we are left wondering what that could possibly be. If the public safety unions had their way in blocking this proposal, how will “more comprehensive changes” be enacted? Yet, how can they be avoided?

A “bigger fix” is a code-phrase for “higher taxes so we can continue business as usual.” But here’s why voters aren’t interested:

The gap between the public sector and private business in wages and benefits continues to grow. Last month, USA Today reported federal figures showing that public employees earned benefits worth $13.38 per hour in December 2008, compared to $7.98 for private sector workers.

A full-time government worker receives benefits worth an average of $28,830 per year. A private worker’s benefits are worth an average of $16,598. Yet in this time of recession/depression, the shrinking private sector foots the bill for massive bailouts of public employees. In the nongovernment world, jobs are being lost by the hundreds of thousands each month. Government workers are secure in theirs. As the ordinary American becomes more aware of the disparity and unfairness of the current system, anger builds.

Right now the Political Class is more interested in explaining that anger away than in doing anything about it. But I think a tipping point is in the offing.

DOLLAR LOSING ITS IMPORTANCE? Jeffrey Sachs says that’s a good thing.

WHY NOT negative interest rates?

SAN ANTONIO: Notes from the Underground Economy. Pay attention: By the second Obama term we’ll all be part of it. . . .

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE meddling with newspapers.

WE SHOULD BE ENCOURAGING RESILIENCE: Will Obama Kill Navigation Backup System as GPS Threatens to Fail? “Obama’s budget attempts to ax LORAN-C, a navigation backup program, even as experts at the Government Accountability Office sound warnings about satellite reliability. What will happen if GPS fails?”

Plus, a look at the backup system.

Meanwhile, Cringely says this is just the GAO playing politics.

ANN ALTHOUSE: Since when are American children expected to identify with the President?

An explanation, in the comments.

HOW TO KILL 66,000 JOBS.

BROADBAND AVAILABILITY around the world.