This Week in Dim Light

"Watching late night TV causes depression." That's what some scientists over at Ohio University are saying. Hamsters viewed dim lights at night  and then they were unhappy. Maybe I don't have that exactly right. Go read about it over here at Reuters. What I wonder about then is, if I am a hamster, should I be staying up to watch The Colbert Report? And should I then sit at my computer typing away? Of course, I do have the bright overhead light on, so maybe it will be okay.

Stephen admitted that his main reason for doing the show was to depress hamsters. To do this, he has included segments such as "Elusive Water Bottle," "That Wheel is Getting You Nowhere," and "This Week in Dim Light." That's strange. I watch all the time and I don't remember ever seeing those segments. Oh great! Now I'm losing my memory. That is depressing.

It's hot. Not right now and not right here, but I think you all know it has been a hot summer. In fact, some say it even rivals the droughts of the Dust Bowl. Stephen had Stormy Nimbus on with an update about the heat this summer and then welcomed Bruce Babcock of Iowa State to the show through the miracle of some kind of a satellite hookup. He knew a lot about corn. The corn crop has not done well this summer in Iowa because of the hot dry conditions. Stephen is not too worried because he doesn't eat a lot of corn. However, there's more to the story than that. Cows eat corn and cows give milk which is made into cheese which goes on pizza. Ahhh. Now Stephen is paying attention. And chickens eat corn and we get eggs from chickens. So, we can expect the price of eggs to go up. Luckily, the vast majority of farmers in Iowa have crop insurance, so it won't be total disaster for them. Stephen pointed out to Babcock that it seems like that is Obamacare for Corn.

James Fallows was Stephen's guest on the show tonight. He came on the show just like he was supposed to. No backing out for him at the last minute. I am sure Stephen was relieved that his guest showed up. It can't be fun when someone cancels at the last minute.

The two of them discussed "China Airborne," the latest book by James Fallows. Both Stephen and James Fallows had an interest in the airplanes flying over China. For James, it seemed to be the fact that the stewardesses were all basically quite new to the industry and therefore quite young. For Stephen it was that whole taking off and landing part that intrigued him. China has the airlines but is trying to get into the aircraft business. They are working very hard on getting all of this off the ground so to speak, and have plans to build 100 new airports in the near future.

That was about it for the show which was sad because the two of them had just gotten started discussing honey roasted peanut technology. If only Stephen had asked about that first thing into the interview, we could have learned he secrets of that tempting snack. That gives me an idea for a late night treat.