From my own backyard: Larry Powell, a Republican state legislator from Western Kansas, has asserted that increased CO2 levels will make crops flourish. He cites a study that says that, "atmospheric CO2 enrichment will boost world agricultural output by about 50 percent." They don't deny global warming anymore, instead they insist that it is good for us. Here is the link to the Lawrence Journal-World article. The comments are actually much more interesting than the idiotic assertions in the article itself.

About time, dude. Amanda pulls the move she had to pull on Survivor:China, and James shows he's a mensch by admitting he screwed up in the post-toss camera confessional. Now that she's rocking Ship Todd, what is Amanda's next move? I think she needs to appeal to Eric's masculinity, Peih-Gee's paranoia, and Denise's sense of self-preservation. A final three with some of those people doesn't obviously favor any one of them, except maybe Amanda for engineering it.

In a promo after Bionic Woman this week, NBC announced the return of American Gladiators, premiering in January. Awesome! This was one of the first shows I watched when I came to this country for college, and it was God-awful. I loved it. I think of it as a precursor to the modern wrestling TV phenomenon, like WWE lite. I can't wait to see how they update it, if they even bother.

Over the years I've seen a lot of posts about buying prescription glasses online. The latest is this one, Matt Haughey's account over at 43 Folders. It has helpful notes on what measurements you need and a liberating result: instead of ordering one cheap pair, order five cheap pairs in different styles! As he points out, after a lifetime of wearing one pair of glasses every day for two years, having a choice of frames each day... wow. I can't wait. Anyone have any experiences to pass on? Anything I should watch out for? Besides the wrath of my eye doctor?

I know the price has always been low, but I don't think I can pass it up this year. We just got a letter from the National Geographic Society offering a year subscription to their magazine (12 issues), a world map, and a "100% guarantee of your satisfaction" for $12.00. Unless you live in Kentucky. There it'll cost you an extra 6% sales tax. I will pass on the obvious Kentucky joke. But I think we're getting the magazine. I cut up many an issue from my parents' stash for grade school reports, and I'd like a big heap of them for the boys to look through some day. (It'll cost you $15 on the National Geographic subscription site.)

I've been hearing a lot about Chevrolet's new electric car, the Volt. It is supposed to be America's answer to Toyota in the green car exhibition. On Chevrolet's electric car site, they proudly proclaim, "It’s unlike any previous EV (electric vehicle), thanks to its innovative rechargeable electric drive system and range-extending power source." This "range-extending power source" can be gasoline, E85, or biodiesel. Which makes it a hybrid, no? Like the Prius parked in my garage. The only difference seems to be that the Volt does not use the gasoline engine unless you run out of electricity, making electric-only trips possible for short distances. Of course, I can do that today with a modded Prius, or one I buy in Japan. The Volt is a plug-in hybrid concept vehicle with lot of marketing hype. And not much else.