Odd lots and bolt ends from the past week: As pointed out in an earlier post, research demonstrates that “exercising with an interactive computer game improves brain function among the elderly.” Now comes news that you might not need the exercise part of that: a study by North Carolina State University...
Gentle reader, if you have at your disposal some way to forward a link to this web site to a kind soul in Ulan Bator, or anywhere else in the fine high country of Mongolia, please do so. Here’s why: As of today, we’re six months into this experiment and reasonably...
We have become a nostalgic lot. This morning I was Googling, recollecting the back-of-the-calf supports that were slid into or otherwise added to old ski boots. All I came up with were Jet Stix, the lame supports that losers strapped to their Rosemount boots. (Who used Rosemount boots anyway?) I...
When it comes to basic survival needs—like potable water—it is irresponsible to recommend a product based on anything less than functionality. So we are not recommending the CamelBak All Clear UV Microbiological Water Purifier, because haven’t tested it. (Yet.) We can only say this: if it reliably does what it claims it...
There are many, many things to say about this, and there is nothing that is necessary beyond the following: at the age of 100, Robert Marchand—citizen of France, former inhabitant of Venezuela and former Canadian lumberjack—has just ridden a bike 15.1 miles. In an hour. That sets a new record because it...
As we approach the end of national Medical Marijuana Week, it seems like a reasonable time to review where older people stand on this issue and the larger matter of a more comprehensive legalization. The research shows what you already know: on pot, people seem to have difficulty making...
Typical: We’re a tad late for Valentine’s Day. We thought about trying to let it slip by, without saying anything, but then we came across this touching video from British Cycling. Sure, it’s corny. Love’s like that. The organization asked readers to confess whether they spent more on their bikes or...
If you lift weights you can rupture an aneurysm. If you sit calmly at work or at home, you risk increased coronary disease (which is why some people insist on saying that “sitting is the new smoking”). If you run or play volleyball, you can damage your knees. There...
The Villages Group, which develops and operates retirement communities in locations around the world, has announced that it will build France’s first equestrian village. It will be “aimed at buyers in the over 50 age range who want to live in a community with sporting and outdoor activities.” While horseback riding is...
The Underwater Project has produced this sweet video describing what it does and showcasing the talents of founder Mark Tipple. The 29-year-old Australian has something interesting here—people have photographed other people underwater for many years, but you haven’t seen them holding on as a 12-foot wave collapses above them....
We aren’t dumb…but we are susceptible. Which is why we were drawn in by the press release touting Bicycling Magazine’s latest readers’ poll, which leads with the finding that 58 percent of the publication’s female readers would give up sex for a month rather than spend a similar time off...
If it is true that a sailor’s survival often depends on iron resolve, and if it is true that old men are inherently stubborn, then no one should be surprised by 84-year-old Tom Corogin. Last month, the Ohio native was rescued from the vast, empty Pacific after “broken rigging...