Eat my dust, James Bond

While driving to work Thursday morning, I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR (as usual).

The story that occupied most of my drive-time was this: Although more and more Americans are concerned about getting better gas mileage, fewer and fewer are choosing to drive manual transmission vehicles.

I've always driven stick. It's what I learned on. I find second gear particularly useful in the winter. And you can't beat the $800 sticker-price savings. Or the fact that a manual transmission car is less likely to get stolen, because there's a very small market of potential buyers.

But here's the clincher. Daniel Craig, who's the most recent incarnation of the legendary 007, doesn't know how to drive stick. He's had to take lessons to learn how to peal out in his Aston Martin for the forthcoming Casino Royale.

So, nyah, nyah, Mr. James Bond. I don't care if your car does have a big chrome start button. I'm still a better driver than you.