Random randomness

[Daehawk]

Just saw where a guy i went to jr high and high school with passed away. My age of course. Ive seen a couple before but its always strange to come across my age gone. People die of all ages..saw one that was 24 and one that was 98 on the same obit page. But when its someone you went to school with and personally knew it hits different. Just shows we're next too i na way. Our gen's time.

[TheMix]

Random...

Oddly, I got a Facebook message passed along to me yesterday telling me that I guy I knew from high school (he was actually a couple grades ahead) and hung out with afterwards passed away. I stopped interacting with that group many years ago. So it was unexpected.

[Fardaza]

I also didn't know we had no income tax. Weird.

How did you not know this? Do you not file taxes each April?

It's one of the main reasons I wanted to move to Tennessee!

[hepcat]

So I'm moving at the end of this month. Only about 4 miles away, but I still wanted to see if there was a closer gym than my current one at a reasonable price. I am thinking now that I'm just going to drive the 16 minutes to my old one as I have an incredible monthly cost that they gave me to stay during the pandemic. Plus, free parking.

However, I do see that one of the amenities offered by a gym near my new place could be beneficial to my fellow OO members if I decided to use it:



Y'all could just send me your requests and I would gladly post them for your enjoyment. Although I suspect Daehawk's fascination with something called "banana thongs" might get me kicked out....or made the alpha male of the gym!

...no, it would be kicked out.

[TheMix]

Congrats on the move. I remember you were looking. I hadn't heard you'd found.

[TheMix]

Also, if the posing doesn't include a lucha libra/luchador mask, then I'm out.

[hepcat]

Yeah, I'm paying about 400 bucks more a month than I was, but I was paying ridiculously low rent for a long time. Plus, the amenities are killer. A parking space (in Chicago, mind you) included, central air/heat, free laundry and an extra room for a home office. All in a neighborhood that seems safe (for Chicago). I make decent money, but I have what's known as "poverty mindset". I simply live way below my means because I'm convinced the sky is going to fall any minute. Considering I have a substantial nest egg saved up as well, that way of thinking needs to end.

Plus, I figure 3 or 4 years at this apartment, then I'll start looking for a place to retire and settle in. As I don't know where I want to retire to just yet, I'll work on figuring that out over the next few years.

[Daehawk]

I also didn't know we had no income tax. Weird.

How did you not know this? Do you not file taxes each April?

It's one of the main reasons I wanted to move to Tennessee!

Nope no taxes. not has taxes since 1987. And that makes me wonder...with no income tax why are we filing taxes?

[Daehawk]

Although I suspect Daehawk's fascination with something called "banana thongs" might get me kicked out....or made the alpha male of the gym!

Good luck with that ...Brings to mind that terrible image of Borat..shiver.

But if you really want to see a slingshot bikini worn right check out the YouTube channel Dare Wears. Its Dare Taylor's site and she wears them well. Its her favorite type of bikini and Im VERY happy for her

[YellowKing]

Just saw where a guy i went to jr high and high school with passed away.

Last year my high school reunion committee posted pictures of the "In Memoriam" table at the reunion and apparently my high school bully passed away.

This kid basically made my lunch times hell. I ate alone a lot because I didn't have any friends in that lunch period, and he'd always come up with his crew and start shit or make fun of me in front of the popular girls, etc.

It was a strange feeling because even pushing 50 I never forgot those days. And I firmly believe the bullying I experienced in high school contributed immensely to lack of self confidence as an adult.

On the other hand, I also know kids are mean and people can change. And if I'd met the guy as an adult I know I'd not have had a grudge. The whole thing just made me sad.

[Max Peck]

I take the whole "you need to walk these many steps a day" thing with a grain of salt. It's like the "you have to drink 8 quarts of water a day" or whatever. They eventually discovered that bottled water companies were behind that. And the other day, I heard a news report that the suggested steps was also dubious. Although I can't imagine walking MORE is going to be anything but beneficial.

I have a Samsung smart watch and the damn thing gets cranky when I've been sitting for more than a few hours. It starts telling me to get my fat ass up and do something.

Your instincts are good. The origin of the 10,000 steps per day thing was a marketing gimmick.

[Harvard Medical School] 10,000 steps a day — or fewer?

10,000 steps a day has become the gold standard for many people. That number has sold many step-counting devices and inspired interoffice competitions. But it’s a big number that can be hard to reach. When people continue to not hit five digits, eventually some ditch the effort altogether.

Dr. I-Min Lee is an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a researcher on physical activity. She and her colleagues wanted to look at the basis for 10,000 steps and its validity. Their new study in JAMA Internal Medicine answers two questions about mortality: How many steps a day are associated with lowering the mortality rate? Does stepping intensity level make a difference in mortality when people take the same number of steps?

Where does 10,000 steps a day come from?

Dr. Lee discovered that the origins of the number go back to 1965, when a Japanese company made a device named Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” “The name was a marketing tool,” she says. But since the figure has become so ingrained in our health consciousness (it’s often the default setting in fitness trackers), she wanted to see if it had any scientific basis for health.

She had already been studying the relationship of physical activity and health in older women, and it made sense to stay with that population, she says. This group tends to be less active, yet health issues that occur more often as people age become more important. The research looked at 16,741 women ages 62 to 101 (average age 72). Between 2011 and 2015, all participants wore tracking devices called accelerometers during waking hours. The central question was: are increased steps associated with fewer deaths?

What did the research find?

Key findings from the study include these:

• Sedentary women averaged 2,700 steps a day.
• Women who averaged 4,400 daily steps had a 41% reduction in mortality.
• Mortality rates progressively improved before leveling off at approximately 7,500 steps per day.
• There were about nine fewer deaths per 1,000 person-years in the most active group compared with the least active group.

So, if mortality — death — is your major concern, this study suggests you can reap benefits from 7,500 steps a day. That’s 25% fewer steps than the more common goal of 10,000 steps.

[Kraken]

I take the whole "you need to walk these many steps a day" thing with a grain of salt. It's like the "you have to drink 8 quarts of water a day" or whatever. They eventually discovered that bottled water companies were behind that. And the other day, I heard a news report that the suggested steps was also dubious. Although I can't imagine walking MORE is going to be anything but beneficial.

I have a Samsung smart watch and the damn thing gets cranky when I've been sitting for more than a few hours. It starts telling me to get my fat ass up and do something.

I take it with a grain of salt as well but 10,000 steps is still my goal. It burns calories. It's taken fat out of midriff (a lot). It's loosened up my joints. It's helped my breathing and heart. It's slowly helping with my endurance. Until I got hit, it helped me clear my head. Until I started increasing to a jog, it guaranteed me being active for at least 90 minutes a day.

It was the first step in the right direction toward taking control of my health and I actually had to work up to it. So I'm a fan, even if it's just a tale.

The gold standard is 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. That's five 30-minute brisk walks. But it really depends on how sedentary one is as a baseline. People who start out very sedentary see considerable improvement in their life expectancy by walking just a few thousand steps per day. Moving more is always good, but you don't have to go from zero to 10k to make a difference.

That said, I've been fitness-walking for 19 years now and am rather evangelical about it.

[Daehawk]

I was think this week how in my 20s and 30s and a little in my 40s we went to the malls and spent half a day or more shopping and that was mostly walking. Now Ive sat in a chair at the pc 28 years and going to the mailbox Im breathing harder and my legs feel sorta numb'ish tired. I can credit some of that to age at 55 and my health and disabilities. But mostly its because Im lazy.

In my teens and before id be out all day going miles and feel no tiredness. I was a kid then so yes that was a big part but i was also doing all that. I could eat the fridge and cabinets full of food and gain now weight. Now i cant because im not young, AND Im not moving.

I used to watch my little wife grab her hand weights and walk back and forth fast through the house carrying them to the beat of music. Ive started doing that a little. Surprised the shit out of me that after going back and forth for only 10 min i was give out. legs tired and numb'ish, breathing hard. My back was KILLING me. Sad. Maybe Ill keep going and do more and maybe more. but really I just don't care that much any longer.
Yesterday I had to keep laying down in bed due to my insides aching down low. Wasn't a kidney stone but was across my lower stomach area. I took all the crappy non working over the counter stuff I had and laid down. I went to bed way early too.

[Holman]

Keep working it, Dae.

A journey begins with a single step.

[Blackhawk]

If your only exercise is walking, then 10k is a fine goal that serves mostly to get it out of the abstract (I took a walk) and into something more concrete (I walked enough to matter.) When people treat it like the one and only true objective, and like people are failing if they aren't doing it, that's when it gets silly.

I take the whole "you need to walk these many steps a day" thing with a grain of salt. It's like the "you have to drink 8 quarts of water a day" or whatever. They eventually discovered that bottled water companies were behind that. And the other day, I heard a news report that the suggested steps was also dubious. Although I can't imagine walking MORE is going to be anything but beneficial.

I'd heard that the 6-8, 8oz glasses of water actually originated with a statement by some government agency back in 1945 that the average person needed a minimum amount fluid per day to offset natural water loss. It presented that as 2.5 liters of fluid from any source (so a salad contributes, as does a piece of fruit, as does a slice of pizza.) Someone reinterpreted the statement as needing to drink that amount of water per day. It was years ago, and included quotes from the original author of the statement, but I do know that the myth predated the bottled water craze by decades.

Other similar myths:

Vitamin C prevents colds. It doesn't. This one was, again, someone taking a study from WWII and turning it into a 'fact.'

Drink water until your urine is clear. Don't. You're just leeching nutrients and salts out of your body if you're doing it this way. Drink if you're thirsty. Honestly, thirst is the best water gauge that we have.

Sleep gets complicated. 8 hours is only a very general goal. It's more of somewhere in the 7-9 range, with variations between individuals, plus it tends to decrease as we age. What is far more important is the consistency of sleep. Going to bed and waking up at approximately the same time every day (don't vary it by more than an hour, even on your days off) plays a huge role in how rested you are. And if your (personal) need for sleep is 8 hours, then sleeping for 10 has about the same effect on your system as sleeping for 6 (and 11 as 5, and 12 as 4, etc.)

'Screens' ruin your sleep. There is no magic aura about a screen that messes with your rhythms. Certain wavelengths of light can ruin your sleep, which is why nighttime filters exist.

Cut (blank) from your diet to get healthy. Most diets (cut carbs, cut protein, eat like cavemen - as if that were possible - do nothing.) Many of those specialty diets are straight up dangerous, and others were designed for people with very specific needs (like bodybuilders getting ready for a competition - in which case they only do it for a few days.) There is some good data supporting intermittent fasting, but for the most part just eating less food, avoiding sugar, cholesterol, and saturated fat, and making sure you're getting the right nutrients is, by far, the most effective way to lose weight and improve your health by eating.

Eating at night makes you gain more weight, because the food is in your system longer. It does not. Your digestive system slows down at night, and picks up where it left off in the morning. Everything you eat is going through the entire process, regardless of when you eat it.

Bonuses:

Cold weather doesn't make you sick.

Most supplements are garbage (because most are of horrible quality - some supplements are beneficial if you do the research and find the right supplier. Hint - none of them sell at Walmart.)

We use 100% of our brain, not 10%/25%/30%. This one's still a source of shame for me, thanks to RM9 a couple of decades ago.

Sugar doesn't make you hyper.

Alcohol won't kill you when you're cold. This one's mixed. It will actually warm up your extremities. With that said, if you're facing actual hypothermia, it can speed up the process. Your body lets your ears, nose, and feet get colder in order to retain more heat in your core and brain (the stuff you need to live.) Drinking alcohol gets around this by dilating your blood vessels, moving some of that heat back out to your fingers and ears. Good when you're just cold, bad when your core temperature is struggling.

You won't drown if you go swimming after eating.

[Blackhawk]

The gold standard is 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. That's five 30-minute brisk walks.

Yep, with the twist that if it's vigorous exercise (if you're panting rather than just breathing hard), then it counts double.

[Blackhawk]

I can credit some of that to age at 55 and my health and disabilities. But mostly its because Im lazy.

[snip]

I used to watch my little wife grab her hand weights and walk back and forth fast through the house carrying them to the beat of music. Ive started doing that a little. Surprised the shit out of me that after going back and forth for only 10 min i was give out. legs tired and numb'ish, breathing hard. My back was KILLING me. Sad.

That's awesome. The thing is, it'll kill your legs and back, but skip one day and do it the next, skip one and do it the next - and the ten minutes will be twelve, then 16, then 22, your back will start hurting less, and the rest of you will recover faster and faster. What you are describing is simply how the process starts - but it's only the first couple of weeks that are so hard on you.

I can credit some of that to age at 55 and my health and disabilities. But mostly its because Im lazy.

For the latter part - good for you. It's a big deal to be able to point at yourself and take responsibility for your own failings (as long as you're being honest and not just putting yourself down.) It's how you gain control of your own mind and behaviors.

For the prior part - nonsense. 55 is old enough to be slowing down. It's old enough to be bouncing back a little more slowly. 55 isn't elderly, though. 55 isn't old enough to be the cause of most of your problems. You could be walking ten miles day in a year or two if you chose to (yes, really, even with your disabilities.) You could likely continue to do so for decades before age really did become a prohibitive factor.

[hepcat]

I'd heard that the 6-8, 8oz glasses of water actually originated with a statement by some government agency back in 1945 that the average person needed a minimum amount fluid per day to offset natural water loss.

This piece in the British Medical Journal states it was from a "study" paid for by advocacy group Hydration for Health, which turned out to be created by food giant Danone...the owner of Volvic, Evian, and Badoit bottled waters.

[Blackhawk]

(Uh-oh. They're at it again!)

I'd heard that the 6-8, 8oz glasses of water actually originated with a statement by some government agency back in 1945 that the average person needed a minimum amount fluid per day to offset natural water loss.

This piece in the British Medical Journal states it was from a "study" paid for by advocacy group Hydration for Health, which turned out to be created by food giant Danone...the owner of Volvic, Evian, and Badoit bottled waters.

Oh, now you're making me do research!

Hydration for Health was founded in 2008. The article you link lists one refutation of the myth dated six years before HFH even existed.

Here's Snopes:

Back in 1945 the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council stated that adults should take in about 2.5 liters of water per day (which is roughly the equivalent of eight glasses of water), but it also noted most of that intake level was already satisfied through the consumption of food without the need for the additional drinking of water. And as other nutritionists of the time noted, any shortfall in water intake could be made up through the consumption of beverages such as coffee, tea, milk, or soft drinks; one need not specifically drink water only in the form of water.

Another source:

Thus, a human being needs to replenish the roughly 2 litres of water they lose every day from sweating, breathing, and urination. The actual notion of 8 glasses a day originates from a 1945 US Food and Nutrition Board which recommended 2.5 litres of daily water intake. But what is generally forgotten from this recommendation is, firstly, that it was not based on any research and that secondly the recommendation stated that most of the water intake could come from food sources.

[hepcat]

Next you're going to tell me that our flavor levels are dangerously low.



note: I'm not entirely sure why your reply reminded me of this.

[Isgrimnur]

Drink if you're thirsty. Honestly, thirst is the best water gauge that we have.

Unless you're in a super hot and/or humid environment.

[Unagi]

Or if you have rabies.

[hepcat]

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, don't drink your own urine. I won't make THAT mistake for the 8th time!

[Blackhawk]

An empty bottle does not a stillsuit make.

[Unagi]

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, don't drink your own urine. I won't make THAT mistake for the 8th time!

And, again, other people's urine is also off the menu.
The way you worded it makes me think you are forgetting the details of the 2nd and 5th time.

[hepcat]

An empty bottle does not a stillsuit make.

But it was wedged down my sweats, so I assumed the mechanics were the same!

[Daehawk]

And that tube in your nose shouldn't come from the urine bottle.

[hepcat]

Well now you're just taking all the fun out of a homemade stillsuit.

[hepcat]

Time to go. A good neighbor doesn’t flood their bathroom. The private equity firm will depreciate the building and let it deteriorate, as Section 8 tenants don’t have as many options.

And she stopped by my apartment today because she wanted to see the damage. I made the mistake of letting her see the wall she damaged with her shenanigans. She then promptly explained to me that the building wasn’t up to code because it doesn’t have a drain in the middle of her bathroom floor. Which…again…why are you flooding your bathroom floor?

I then steered her towards the exit and she launched into a weird story about “damn foreigners living in the storage spaces in the building’s basement”. She seemed very upset by all the foreigners as she brought them up repeatedly over the course of just a few minutes.

Finally I got her out the door and she turned to say I was such a nice man, and asked my name. I told her and she simply replied “You can call me Miss Jaqueline”.

I’m moving in 16 days. I cannot wait.

[Daehawk]

Realizations:

Im 55. Oh hell Im a senior!

Oh hell Golden Corral, the steak and buffet place, that would honor a senior at 53 with a discount went out of business at least 10 years ago.

Now I need to get online and see who gives senior discounts at age 55..food or stores. My wife wouldn't tell them she was a senior...but I damn well will. Cheap stuff!

Oh hell Ive lived long enough to be a senior..

[dbt1949]

Only discount I ever got was at Lowe's on VA day.

[em2nought]

Only discount I ever got was at Lowe's on VA day.

Everyday is veteran/military day at Lowe's and Home Depot with a discount at each. Doesn't apply to appliances and a few other things though.

I never shop anywhere without at least asking if they have a veteran or senior discount.
First Tuesday of every month is veterans/military 10% discount day at Ollie's.

[LordMortis]

Who gives a senior discount at 53? Even 55 seems "young" but I guess I'll have to start paying attention in 2025.

[Brian]

Oh hell Ive lived long enough to be a senior..

It runs on a little long but you get the idea...

[Holman]

Our local grocery store gives seniors a discount every Wednesday, but they have to be 60 and up.

[Daehawk]

Who gives a senior discount at 53? Even 55 seems "young" but I guess I'll have to start paying attention in 2025.

Tons do 55..I see Chilis is one of very many. For 53 Im not sure. it was some local eatery a good while back.

[Max Peck]

I'm old enough to remember when a senior was 65+.

[gilraen]

Who gives a senior discount at 53? Even 55 seems "young" but I guess I'll have to start paying attention in 2025.

AARP starts sending you stuff once you turn 50 AARP membership is cheap, and loads of businesses have AARP discounts.

[Daehawk]

I joined AARP free through Walgreens. Awful decision. All they do is SPAM the f out of you with useless crap. And even worse than that I stopped being a member a good 4 years ago and they STILL spam my mailbox with come back come back crap and offering a free $2 tote...GO AWAY AARP I hate you!

Now I know why my wife quit after 1 year.

[Hrdina]

Who gives a senior discount at 53? Even 55 seems "young" but I guess I'll have to start paying attention in 2025.

Tons do 55..I see Chilis is one of very many. For 53 Im not sure. it was some local eatery a good while back.

Huh, I ate at a Chili's last week but didn't take advantage.

I honestly don't think I am emotionally ready to start getting senior discounts.