YOU CAN HATE CROCS ALL YOU WANT, but they’re damned comfortable, and they protect your toes in a way that sandals don’t. That’s why I like to wear ’em on dive boats.

UPDATE: A geography problem.

OH, NO: “Alert: People who moved into an area with a gun club are unhappy about living in an area with a gun club.”

ON CAPITOL HILL TODAY: Vets for Freedom.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OPRAH? The dangers of too much girl-talk.

IPHONES: WiFi killers?

GO HYBRIDS: Hybrid Toyota Supra Wins Tokachi 24-Hour race.

SO WE VISITED MY BROTHER THIS WEEKEND, and the train set that I gave my nephew is still going strong. For several months he carried the remote-control with him everywhere — and I mean everywhere — and it still works fine, which is no small feat considering that he’s two. My brother calls it “a marvel of engineering.” I just sent them some more tracks and accessories. Always nice when something turns out that well.

UPDATE: Reader Dana Brown emails:

I have two boys – two and four – and they love their GeoTrax trains (sometimes too much!). We’ve had the trains for about two years now and they are still going strong, which is more than I can say for just about anything else we’ve bought them. They haven’t even been able to break any of the tracks! If you do get extras, don’t bother with the switch yard. It’s neat but way too complex for toddlers. I think the coolest accessories are the windmill and the factory.

I’ll keep that in mind.

LEARNING TO walk without legs.

A REPORT ON MALARIA, from National Geographic.

And note this bit:

Soon after the program collapsed, mosquito control lost access to its crucial tool, DDT. The problem was overuse—not by malaria fighters but by farmers, especially cotton growers, trying to protect their crops. The spray was so cheap that many times the necessary doses were sometimes applied. The insecticide accumulated in the soil and tainted watercourses. Though nontoxic to humans, DDT harmed peregrine falcons, sea lions, and salmon. In 1962 Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, documenting this abuse and painting so damning a picture that the chemical was eventually outlawed by most of the world for agricultural use. Exceptions were made for malaria control, but DDT became nearly impossible to procure. “The ban on DDT,” says Gwadz of the National Institutes of Health, “may have killed 20 million children.”

Read the whole thing.

SOLAR POWER: Enthusiasm but not money.

GOOD NEWS FROM OSHA: Labor Department Announces It Will Revise Overreaching OSHA Explosives Rule

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new “explosives safety” regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with.

Gun owners had filed a blizzard of negative comments urged by the NRA, and just a week ago, OSHA had already issued one extension for its public comment period at the request of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. After continued publicity through NRA alerts and the outdoor media, and after dozens of Members of Congress expressed concern about its impact, OSHA has wisely decided to go back to the drawing board.

Looks like this stealth gun-control move is dead for the moment.

SUNSHINE MAY BE GOOD FOR YOU: “Americans who live in the South may be less susceptible to the life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis, a new study finds. . . . One explanation may lie in the increased vitamin D people in the South get because of their sunnier location.”

LEFTY DISAPPOINTMENT in Russ Feingold.

SENATOR WEBB ANNOUNCES IMMINENT VICTORY IN IRAQ: “He was attempting to declare a failure but accidentally got his facts right.”

THE RISE OF Islamic Creationism.

INFORMATION WARFARE: “In essence, the claims of a massacre at Haditha are now looking false. That said, al Qaeda, through some adept media manipulation, has still won a victory.”

It’s easier when you can count on media cooperation.

YET ANOTHER record high for the Dow: I credit the new Democratic Congress!

21 HOURS OF SEX: Beats an all-night Senate debate. (Link probably not safe for work).

CRITICISM of Bush’s Palestinian policy.

A BIGGER SURGE IN IRAQ?