1) Chuck Schumer folks. A big round of applause. He’s not only the most annoying member of Congress, but the one with the least backbone.2) Steven Levitt talks about going to the White House for the Presidential Medal of Freedom award. U of C economist Gary Becker won it and Levitt discusses what it was like to go to the White House. Most bizarre is his discussion of how easy it would have been to sneak a gun into the reception. My guess is that the next time he goes to the White House, he’ll be getting a more thorough pat down. 3) This story seems too absurd to be true. Torture. Drugs. Money. Oh, and freshly baked cookies. 4) The new Coen Brothers movie looks good. Really good. The villain looks like he could be one of the best villains of all time. He essentially seems like the bounty hunter from Raising Arizona. Except take all the ridiculous parts of that guy and make them merciless. 5) If I were to index my quality of life, it rose 10% the minute I downloaded AdBlock Plus. 8% of that rise was entirely due to the defeat of ESPN videos on their website.