A third of Minnesota’s lakes have cocaine in them
Minnesota—a relatively unpolluted state if you don’t count the iron mine tailings and farm run-off—today released Pharmaceutical and Endocrine Active Chemicals in Minnesota Lakes. This study of 50 lakes looked at the presence of 125 chemicals, including DEET (found in 76 percent of the lakes, making it the most frequently discovered chemical), bisphenol A (second...
Glamping, now with garbage and vermin
Glamping is proving itself to be an exceedingly plastic notion, applicable to pods, safari tents and now—says this person in the N.Y. Times—a blacked-out apartment 10 floors up a dark stairway above a rubbish-clogged, soon-to-be-black-moldy rat-scape. Hats off to New Yorkers, and all you folks in New Jersey and Delaware. Everyone who was clobbered by...
What happens after the parks reopen?
The first priority now, in the aftermath of Sandy, is to take care of the people who have lost their loved ones, homes and worldly goods. They need food and water and a jump-start. The complicated and interlaced systems that keep the East Coast hive functioning—all that needs to be drained, cleaned and in many...
Your National Park Service announces fee-free days for 2012
If you are 62 (or older) and sane, this won’t apply to you, because you already have your $10 lifetime pass for the most astonishing collection of natural wonders on the planet.* For everyone else, the National Park Service has announced a deal that is not quite as unbeatable but...
Breaking: Old age not a cakewalk, according to NPR, Harvard and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
This just in: a new study commissioned by National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health has discovered that for “one in four retirees,” life after retirement is worse than the 5 years before retirement. There’s a lot more to...
Graybeard surfers: “I thought you’d be less wrinkled when you dried out”
Outside of the actually sport, the word “surfing” seems to suggest something that is easy and effortless. (“I’ve been eating nachos and channel surfing all afternoon.” “Those kids spend all night surfing the web.”) This is odd because the sport of surfing strikes the non-surfer (we are...
The year of the microadventure
By rights, we should hate Alastair Humphreys. He is pretty clearly having more fun than we are, in more exotic locations, with better gear. But it’s very hard to take issue with a person who has such infectious enthusiasm. And we especially like his campaign to make 2011...
More good beer (or wine) news
This isn’t the first time you’ve heard this but it bears repeating. Alcohol, in moderation, is part of a healthy lifestyle. The latest proof comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—your go-to source for health information—which puts alcohol up there with diet, exercise and...
It’s not that unusual: over 60 and radically fit
There’s a condescending “good for you” tone to many profiles of very fit seniors. The implication is that tough old birds are also rare birds. We much prefer articles like this recent overview of senior athletes—runners and bikers and mountain hikers—living in the Los Gatos, California, area. The...
Sarah Palin places second again
At 47, Sarah Palin is a few years shy of fitting into this site’s target demographic. But still, credit is due the former Alaska governor for her performance last weekend in the “Jump Right in and Run” half-marathon hosted by Iowa’s Storm Lake Running Club. Running under her...
The Silent Generation? Really?
The Pew Center is doing interesting work on how people use the internet. Did you know that the thing people do the most online is search, and second most is get health information? At every age. So teenagers and olds are all preoccupied with their bodies and how they are...
Is it too early in the season to write about old people skiing?
No, it is not. We’ve seen some interesting changes in gear (which we’ll address in the near future) but for now we’re paying attention to the ever-escalating cost of senior tickets. Not that many years ago, ski hills would give a free ticket to any...
