Getting Old Sucks


Where to start?

Here’s a new sport: chessboxing. Now THIS is something I’d watch on TV! Then again, probably not. But I think I’d enjoy playing it.

Happy 80th birthday to sliced bread! Still the standard for all things good.

Apparently Faux News’ Greta Van Susteren is mad at CNN’s Anderson Cooper. The best comment comes not from the Fark.com forums, from where I originally found this tidbit, but from the comment section of the original article:

“The world wants Coop to come out of the closet and slam the door behind him. The world wants Greta to go into a closet and slam the door behind her.”

Meanwhile, it’s now considered an act of paedophilia to film a public highschool cheerleading performance. Strike another one for the American Taliban. As one of the article’s commenters properly asks:

“Why isn’t the school charged with promoting child pornography in public?”

Speaking of idiotic ideas put forward by controlling governments, this report claims that Homeland Security wants to introduce electronic bracelets to be worn by anyone taking a flight in the USA. The bracelets would not only provide electronic information about each passenger, but would allow flight crew to remotely taser the wearer in the event of a security concern.

This ranks up there with similar idiotic ideas, such as equipping airliners with sleep gas so that the crew can anaesthesize all passengers remotely, or allowing the pilot to carry a gun. Why are these bad ideas… other than the obvious threat of malfunction and abuse of privilege? Well, by loading a plane with weapons, you just make the terrorists’ job that much easier. They no longer have to figure out how to smuggle a weapon on board, only how to take it away from the unsuspecting crew. Idiots.

On an entirely different topic, for you physics buffs, here’s an excellent site that demonstrated visually the famous “2 slit experiment” that forms the basis for quantum mechanics.

And here is a list of impressive visual illusions!

Lastly, E.K. Hornbeck sends us this interesting graphical display of newspaper reductions in America. Eerie.

Now, today’s real topic is aging. See, when I turned 25, I swore to myself that I would not age another day. Since then, I’ve experimented with megadoses of antioxidants, meditation, extreme hydration, melatonin and various forms of exercise. For the most part, my aging has been slower than most men my chronological age. But it’s begun to catch up with me, and I can no longer deny that I’m in my 40s.

The kicker has been sacroiliac joint pain these past few weeks. SI disorders are a hallmark of aging. Doesn’t matter how fit you are or how diligent you’ve been in taking care of your joints. t some point, your SI joint just refuses to budge. It’s tired. It’s fixable, and I’m well on my way to recovery, but it will likely happen to me again, perhaps in different joints. It’s my body’s way of reminding me that I cannot keep the vow I made at 25; it’s just not possible.

For twenty years, I was into competitive martial arts and squash, regular yoga, long distance running, weight training and even occasionally dance. But there has been a noticeable decline in performance. Four years ago, I would run 5km every morning, rain or shine. Today, I managed 1.5 km and it nearly killed me. Just last month, I was bench pressing 190 pounds. Today, I couldn’t finish 15 push-ups.

Make no mistake. I will run 5 km daily again. And I will be bench pressing 190 again in a few weeks. My point is that at my age, taking a couple of weeks off results in dramatic loss in performance. As recently as a couple of years ago, I could have rested for 2 weeks then jumped right back into my routine. The curse of aging is that the body is much less forgiving and cooperative.

I think it was Clint Eastwood who once said something to the effect that at his age he needs to work twice as hard for half the benefit. I suppose this is why it’s so important to develop discipline in one’s youth, so that one can rely upon it in later years. For this reason, I am thankful for my early martial arts training. It has gifted me with true discipline, perhaps the finest tool for facing the oncoming years with a degree of functionality.

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