Random randomness

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 2:59 pm

Oscar made it through the night. He was still drinking as of this morning, although we didn't catch him eating (and we counted the grubs we gave him - none were gone.) Still, the drinking is a good sign, and he was even preening this morning, which is a better sign. We made the trip this morning, and dropped him off with the rehabber out of Bloomington. She was very happy with how we'd handled his injuries, and I have high hopes that he'll make it and be releasable. I am a little worried that the depth and location of the wound - on his shoulder, right across his pectoralis - might keep him from being able to fly. But the woman rents her facilities from a rescue organization that has a variety of unreleasable animal ambassadors that they use for education a few times a year, including a female wood duck named River (who's a bit of a celebrity that we've seen in more than one story over the years), and she suggested that he may become a companion for her if that's the case.

And, of course, he's a bird. Ducks are fairly resilient, but he's not out of danger yet. They'll keep us informed one way or the other.

So, godspeed, Oscar. I'm glad I got the chance to get to know you.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:02 pm

Very cool. gorgeous guy.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:36 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:55 pm I remember salt on a bird's tail though I don't remember why it was said.

Today I walked 30 minutes. The vast majority of you that means little. To me it me it means time and energy to do it and it's been well over a decades since I last walked for exercise and that's the only exercise I get beyond being forced to do yard work. I just need the sticktoitiveness to get this going and keep it going into something more meaningful.

My 68 degree house now feels roasting hot. I need to keep this up while it's under 50 outside.

I'm evangelical about walking. Been doing it almost every nice morning for 17 years now, and it's the reason I'm in pretty good health at 65. Keep it up!

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:49 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:36 pm
LordMortis wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:55 pm I remember salt on a bird's tail though I don't remember why it was said.

Today I walked 30 minutes. The vast majority of you that means little. To me it me it means time and energy to do it and it's been well over a decades since I last walked for exercise and that's the only exercise I get beyond being forced to do yard work. I just need the sticktoitiveness to get this going and keep it going into something more meaningful.

My 68 degree house now feels roasting hot. I need to keep this up while it's under 50 outside.
I'm evangelical about walking. Been doing it almost every nice morning for 17 years now, and it's the reason I'm in pretty good health at 65. Keep it up!

+1

I'm not evangelical about getting my steps in every day, but I am obsessive-compulsive about it. Today is the 1,950th consecutive day that I've logged more than 10ksteps/day, with a current daily average of about 13.4ksteps. And, yes, I know that there is nothing magical about hitting 10ksteps but it's as good a threshold as any other number.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:03 pm

Do you walkers actually go anywhere or just walk the block lol. Walk to the store, the mall the movies

The old folks from a century ago could outwalk you!

....I dont walk at all unless its to food, bed, or bathroom. Well I do have to go to the mailbox. If I had a motorcycle Id ride it to the mailbox.

EDIT: And wow yes he is a pretty duck.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:11 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:03 pm Do you walkers actually go anywhere or just walk the block lol. Walk to the store, the mall the movies The old folks from a century ago could outwalk you! ....I dont walk at all unless its to food, bed, or bathroom. Well I do have to go to the mailbox. If I had a motorcycle Id ride it to the mailbox.

I have two basic routes, with variations on each one. The first mile of my core route is my warmup (all level), the second mile (hilly) is where I pour on the effort, and the last mile (mostly level) is my cooldown. My four-mile route adds a loop into our town square where I can complete some errands (bank, convenience store, drugstore, etc), and I almost always walk any trip shorter than a mile if the weather's nice. Then I have an alternate three-mile route that emphasizes hills when I really want to push myself.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:21 pm

Today it was just around the neighborhood. Literally the first time I've done so. I only walked about a mile or so, but baby steps. Almost literally. I plan to become a kraken but only after I'm fully retired and I don't have hills and I'm not likely to walk when it's too rainy/snowy/cold/hot or when I plan a day or yardwork, which will be my exercise for a day. Though that's yet to be defined. Like kraken I think I plan to do about 3 miles a day when I'm fully up for it. At a brisk walk that's just over an hour a day.

I dream of one day running but with my heart and lungs that dream likely won't ever come true. Here's to hoping if I lose 80 pounds or more that I find I'm wrong and my lungs and heart can bear the load.

stimpy · Post by **stimpy** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:25 pm

There is a guy at work that is an avid workout fanatic.
I told him yesterday that if I spent half of 300+ hours I spent playing Elden Ring so far working out instead, I'd probably look just like him.
He also games, so he gets it.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:25 pm

I don't have a vehicle, so I walk pretty much anywhere I go. I live alongside a big stretch of greenspace, so I have a variety of routes I can take for recreational walks although I have a few favourites that I tend to use by default. I also exercise in the apartment by jogging in place while watching a movie or TV show, instead of sitting.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:31 pm

I don't have it in me to do something physical just because when I'm at home. I don't know why. I've tried. Maybe I can force that change when I'm not working anymore. Here is to hoping.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:49 pm

A couple of weeks ago I walked from where I parked the truck to my doctor's office and back. Maybe a mile. I'm still recuperating. Went out today and replaced the battery in my car. Was not sure I was going to survive.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:58 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:03 pm Do you walkers actually go anywhere or just walk the block lol. Walk to the store, the mall the movies The old folks from a century ago could outwalk you! ....I dont walk at all unless its to food, bed, or bathroom. Well I do have to go to the mailbox. If I had a motorcycle Id ride it to the mailbox.

Right, because it's clearly so much more sensible to unbuild your body, and allow yourself to dilapidate into decrepitude rather than walk anywhere beyond your own bunk or khazi. As the American Heart Association puts it:

Walk this way - or any way - to better health

apnews.com wrote:( NewMediaWire ) Whether you’re taking a leisurely stroll through your neighborhood or a power-walk in the park, the American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, says taking part in physical activity is one of the best ways to manage stress, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and boost your mood.

Improved technology and the growing popularity of fitness applications, electronic wearables and step counters have made counting steps an easy way to count health benefits, as noted through a growing body of scientific research. A study presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021 (EPI), found that:

Study participants who took more steps in short spurts lived longer, regardless of how many steps they had in longer, uninterrupted bouts. The benefits leveled off at about 4,500 steps a day in short spurts.

Compared to no daily steps, each initial increase of 1,000 steps a day was associated with a 28% decrease in death during the follow-up period.

A 32% decrease in death was noted in participants who took more than 2,000 steps daily in uninterrupted bouts.
Middle-aged people who walked the most steps-per-day had a 43% lower risk of diabetes and a 31% lower risk of high blood pressure, compared to those with the fewest steps, according to research presented at the Association’s 2020 EPI Conference. For women in the study, each 1,000-step interval resulted in a 13% lower risk of obesity, and those with the highest step count were 61% less likely to have obesity, compared to women who walked the least.

People who took at least 7,000 steps a day had a 50% to 70% lower risk of dying compared with people who took fewer than 7,000 steps a day, according to a study published in September in the journal JAMA Open Network. Researchers found that a higher daily step count (over 10,000 steps) lowered the risk of premature death from any cause among Black and white middle-aged women and men.

“Walking is a great way to improve your health and your mental outlook, and it doesn’t take a lot of expensive sporting equipment to do it. Put on a good pair of shoes and grab a water bottle and you’re ready to go,” said Donna K. Arnett, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., B.S.N., a past president of the American Heart Association (2012-2013) and the dean and a professor in the department of epidemiology of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health in Lexington. “It doesn’t matter how fast or how far you walk, the important thing is to get moving. Counting steps doesn’t have to be part of a structured exercise program. Increasing your everyday activity, like parking slightly further from your destination, doing some extra housework or yardwork and even walking your dog can all add up to more steps and better health.”

The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week. You can knock that out in just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. And every minute of moderate to vigorous activity counts toward your goal.

Arnett points out that walking indoors at home, in a gym or even a mall can be easy ways to get beneficial physical activity. However, research indicates that being outdoors in areas rich with trees, shrubs and grass (i.e., a higher level of greenness) may help reduce the risk of dying from heart disease.

Lowering your risks of high blood pressure, improving your mental outlook, and a decreased risk of death all seem like fairly pragmatic motivations to take a simple daily stroll through one's neighbourhood, assuming you do not live in a cesspool (or New Jersey, but I repeat myself).

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 5:52 pm

I don't walk often (I do other forms of exercise, though), but when I do, it tends to be random. I walk outside and turn... whichever direction whim sends me. Repeat at the next street, and the next.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:06 pm

You walk 4 miles?? I cant imagine that. I live in the country / burb. Its 4 miles to our courthouse. It would take me 6 hours to get there and Id be so give out Id sleep on the steps then hitch ike home the next day.

As A teen I walked at least 10 miles a day with my friend to go fishing or swimming or just anything to be out. Would ride my 10 speed or bmx bike 30 miles all over town. Me and my wife would go to the mall for 6 hours and shop and Im sure we walked miles and miles in there. I just dont see it now.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:09 pm

Use it or lose it, is very accurate.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:09 pm

You don't start walking four miles, though. You walk around the block. And next week you walk around two blocks. And before you know it, four miles is a wink and a blink.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:12 pm

Until I can get my Sciatica repaired I'm stuck this way. The VA doesn't consider this a serious issue.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:41 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:03 pm Do you walkers actually go anywhere or just walk the block lol. Walk to the store, the mall the movies The old folks from a century ago could outwalk you! ....

i actually use local Little Free Libraries as destinations

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:48 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:21 pm Today it was just around the neighborhood. Literally the first time I've done so. I only walked about a mile or so, but baby steps. Almost literally. I plan to become a kraken but only after I'm fully retired and I don't have hills and I'm not likely to walk when it's too rainy/snowy/cold/hot or when I plan a day or yardwork, which will be my exercise for a day. Though that's yet to be defined. Like kraken I think I plan to do about 3 miles a day when I'm fully up for it. At a brisk walk that's just over an hour a day.

I dream of one day running but with my heart and lungs that dream likely won't ever come true. Here's to hoping if I lose 80 pounds or more that I find I'm wrong and my lungs and heart can bear the load.

When I started out, a 1-mile round-trip to the mailbox was a big deal. It took me a year to work up to 3 miles.

When I was at my peak, I could do 3 miles in 46 minutes -- just a whisker under 4 mph. Now those same miles take me 51 minutes. I chalk this up to the expansion of the universe. Miles are longer than they used to be.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:50 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:06 pm You walk 4 miles?? I cant imagine that. I live in the country / burb. Its 4 miles to our courthouse. It would take me 6 hours to get there and Id be so give out Id sleep on the steps then hitch ike home the next day.

As A teen I walked at least 10 miles a day with my friend to go fishing or swimming or just anything to be out. Would ride my 10 speed or bmx bike 30 miles all over town. Me and my wife would go to the mall for 6 hours and shop and Im sure we walked miles and miles in there. I just dont see it now.

Few of us are anywhere near as fit as we were as teens. But so what? That's no rationale for remaining as sedentary as humanly possible heading into your fifties or beyond. As the epidemiology professor aptly put it above, "It doesn’t matter how fast or how far you walk, the important thing is to get moving."

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:02 pm

Pass. Walking to the mailbox makes my back ache and nothing helps but to stretch and lay down. Same with just standing washing dishes.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:07 pm

Normally, moving more results in it hurting less. And often it is the lack of moving that causes the pain - or at least makes it far worse.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:43 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:50 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:06 pm You walk 4 miles?? I cant imagine that. I live in the country / burb. Its 4 miles to our courthouse. It would take me 6 hours to get there and Id be so give out Id sleep on the steps then hitch ike home the next day.

As A teen I walked at least 10 miles a day with my friend to go fishing or swimming or just anything to be out. Would ride my 10 speed or bmx bike 30 miles all over town. Me and my wife would go to the mall for 6 hours and shop and Im sure we walked miles and miles in there. I just dont see it now.
Few of us are anywhere near as fit as we were as teens. But so what? That's no rationale for remaining as sedentary as humanly possible heading into your fifties or beyond. As the epidemiology professor aptly put it above, "It doesn’t matter how fast or how far you walk, the important thing is to get moving."

I keep this tally going in the weight loss thread:

Miles walked this week 10.9
Miles walked this year: 76.1

Miles walked 2021: 561.1
Miles walked 2020: 652.6
Miles walked 2019: 488.8
Miles walked 2018: 449.4
Miles walked 2017: 514.5
Miles walked 2016: 725.8
Miles walked 2015: 593.9
Miles walked 2014: 735.7

I don't have any data from my first 10 years because I didn't get a smartphone until 2014, but I'm sure they were all 600+ miles since I was younger and more enthusiastic then. But the important point is that I started exactly as Blackhawk explained: Begin by walking around your own block. Next week, if that's going well, make it two blocks. When you're comfortable with that, add another one. The important thing is to keep it up.

At my last physical, I mentioned that the arthritis in my knees is getting worse and asked my doc if it was better to keep pushing myself or back off and save my remaining cartilage. He basically echoed Neil Young: It's better to burn out than it is to rust. The benefits of regular exercise are vast, and knees can be replaced.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:48 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:02 pm Pass. Walking to the mailbox makes my back ache and nothing helps but to stretch and lay down. Same with just standing washing dishes.

Yup, better to waste away into decrepitude and end up as a sad sack in a dismal community clinic with a Nurse Ratched shifting your bulk for you to prevent bedsores than endure the discomfort of walking to your mailbox while you still can.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:56 pm

Honestly, most people take those aches as a warning sign, panic, and get up and start pushing themselves at least just a little.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:20 pm

Found a place near where me and my wife shopped called Cheddars. Has that monte cristo. This look good? Also its $10

https://www.cheddars.com/menu/monte-cristo/prod7020475/

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:31 pm

They do individually constructed nachos, which is a travesty and an affront to the name.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:40 pm

I was 51 when I joined our community here. And now here it is 22 years later. Where'd all the time go?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:46 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:48 pm
When I started out, a 1-mile round-trip to the mailbox was a big deal. It took me a year to work up to 3 miles.

Whaaaaat? I thought you lived in a quaint compact old-fashioned Massachusetts exurb.

Or is the mailbox down at the quaint local Post Office?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:49 pm

Not even the mailman can deal with driving on ancient Boston streets!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:56 pm

Anyone ever use Pluto TV or Tubi? Was recommended to me. looks like free tv and stuff watching.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 7:22 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:46 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:48 pm
When I started out, a 1-mile round-trip to the mailbox was a big deal. It took me a year to work up to 3 miles.
Whaaaaat? I thought you lived in a quaint compact old-fashioned Massachusetts exurb.

Or is the mailbox down at the quaint local Post Office?

We lived midway between two drop boxes, each about 0.4 mile away in opposite directions. Now there's only one. USPS has been gradually removing mailboxes. Anyway, the round trip was just under a mile, and I used to drive it.

Fardaza · Post by **Fardaza** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 7:41 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:55 pm Today I walked 30 minutes. The vast majority of you that means little. To me it me it means time and energy to do it and it's been well over a decades since I last walked for exercise and that's the only exercise I get beyond being forced to do yard work. I just need the sticktoitiveness to get this going and keep it going into something more meaningful.

My 68 degree house now feels roasting hot. I need to keep this up while it's under 50 outside.

Be Nike...Just do it!
Seriously though, good going. Keep it up!

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:13 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:56 pm Anyone ever use Pluto TV or Tubi? Was recommended to me. looks like free tv and stuff watching.

Pluto is owned by Paramount. Tubi is owned by Fox Corp.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:34 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:56 pm Anyone ever use Pluto TV or Tubi? Was recommended to me. looks like free tv and stuff watching.

I have used them. Free with ads.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:45 pm

I've used Tubi from time to time as a free streaming platform and like it just fine.

I vaguely recall being annoyed because my Fire Stick was pushing Pluto at me as a featured app a while back, but then I wasn't able to use it because it isn't available in Canada or something.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Apr 06, 2022 11:31 pm

I have the Tubi app installed but haven't had a reason to use it. Last week a waitress recommended a movie ("Seven Pounds", I think) that turned out to be free on Tubi, and we *almost* watched it. But it looks like a romance with low RT ratings, and there's so much more good content than we can ever watch on our other services, that we passed. Try again, Tubby.

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 12:04 am

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:34 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 6:56 pm Anyone ever use Pluto TV or Tubi? Was recommended to me. looks like free tv and stuff watching.
I have used them. Free with ads.

I've used Pluto and maybe Tubi (maybe it was some other similar service or the Roku channel).

The ads can be a little annoying because they are not where they would have been in regular TV (commercial shows are usually structured to have specific commercial break points) and they're repetitive. You watch an hour show, you're watching literally the exact 3-4 commercials several times. Mildly annoying to me, majorly so to my wife who has gotten used to no commercials (DVR before, now streaming).

But other than that, pretty fair variety with a lot of focused channels (example: there's a Dr Who channel on Pluto that repeats old Dr Who's 24/7) and you can call up on demand most anything they show.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 12:22 am

Sounds like it might be ok. Those repeated commercials do annoy me in other places.

Seven Pounds

Good movie. Will Smith. My wife really liked it a lot. After Will smacked Chris I started thinking about the movies we liked him in and now how he tarnished that. Seven Pounds was one of the good one.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 2:52 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 12:22 am Sounds like it might be ok. Those repeated commercials do annoy me in other places.

Seven Pounds
Good movie. Will Smith. My wife really liked it a lot. After Will smacked Chris I started thinking about the movies we liked him in and now how he tarnished that. Seven Pounds was one of the good one.

Well that makes two recommendations now. Tubi, here I come. Eventually.