Are They Trying To Tell Me Something?

I received my "AARP Membership REGISTRATION" in the mail last week. Old people like capital letters, it seems. Or maybe REGISTRATION is an acronym. TLA, the twelve-letter acronym. There's a prize for the best acronym submitted as a comment. Anyway, the first line of the form reads:

Our records show that you haven't yet registered for the benefits of AARP membership, even though you are fully eligible.

Now, I've always been a little confused by AARP, since I don't think that retirement is a prerequisite for membership. Is it now also the case that you're fully eligible once you're within a stone's throw of 30? Maybe 29 is the new 50. Or maybe we should just be suspicious of their record keeping abilities.

Which Once Again Proves My Old Theory...

...complex problems don't have simple solutions.

Ned sent along an interesting article from the Times today. Apparently the solution to the Omnivore's Dilemma (disclaimer: I have the book, but have yet to actually open it) is not simply to purchase more locally grown foods. There may, in fact, be more to it. This falls into that "what if growing, transporting and refining all of that corn-based ethanol requires more energy that it produces" category. The issue is a serious one, but what I really liked was how the article concluded:

In the meantime, Ms. Feenstra said, the research has already led her to one conclusion: Don’t drive your sport utility vehicle to the farmers’ market, buy one food item and drive home again. Even if you are using reusable bags.