In the 1980s, 88-year-old California dreamer Bob Wallace invented Polar Pure: a plastic bottle that contains crystallized iodine at the bottom to purify water. Flood victims and campers love the things, but so do meth cooks (an outcome that Wallace probably should have anticipated).

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are asking the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Justice to "do something" about Silk Road, the go-to website for illegal drug-takers who appreciate convenience. They don't like the site's user interface.