Question...

Does anyone here have any recommendations for compact, small cardio exercise equipment? Something that takes up space in use, but which easily folds away, like those treadmills that can fold up, is also an option. (No non-recumbent bikes, plz, those things hurt me!)

I'm just looking at things that take significantly less floorspace than the recumbent bikes. My current bike needs about 6' x 3.5' of space.

Things That Scare My Cat

The April 21-27, 2010 issue of the Fort Worth Weekly.

(on tumblr)

Hm...

For lunch, I am eating a taco salad composed of taco meat, refried beans, shredded cheese, sour cream, a good deal of lettuce and ... exactly no taco chips, as I forgot to bring them. Oops.

(no subject)

Walk around building 15 min. Miles: 1* Total: 1182 mi. From Lorien: 324 mi. Still at the higher Emyn Muil.



* Rounding up. Rounding way, way up

(no subject)

If you're interested in nutrition and like listening to lectures on audio or video, I recommend The Teaching Company's* Nutrition Made Clear. (For those of you unfamiliar with the company: before you have a heart attack at the price, note that all courses go on highly-discounted sale at least once a year. I got my copy of the download for about a quarter of the price.) I'm about a third of the way through, and the professor has a great voice, is interesting, and makes the material easy to follow. At the moment, you can watch one of her lectures for free, #4, the one on calories.

I also recommend Robert Sapolsky's Stress and Your Body on the basis of the first two lectures (I'm finishing Nutrition before I finish this one) and the books of his I've read. He's funny and dynamic. I also note that, at the moment, the course is on sale for $34.95.

And as long as I'm recommending courses I've recently listened to, if you listen to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe you may already know that Steven Novella also has a course out with them. We bought it (on sale, natch!) and I've listened to it and recommend it. Medical Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths: What We Think We Know May Be Hurting Us



* Now The Great Courses, I think.

QWOP

Right, some time ago I posted a link to QWOP, the world's most difficult game, although I didn't bother to tag it anything unique so I can't find it at the moment. In case you missed that, or need reminding, it's a Flash game in which you control a runner using the Q W O and P keys. "Control" being loosely applied here - what usually happens is you manage to stagger a couple of steps, then fall over in a heap. Video and commentary on it.

Well, someone on Reddit posted Real Life QWOP (WAAIT before clicking there! The runner broke his leg, in case that squicks you. Now you can click with knowledge.) Comments from the thread informed me that the maker of QWOP had done an AMA (Ask Me Anything). Which also led me to find a video of another insane game, Sumotori Dreams, a sumo game, in which it seems you have only marginally more control over the characters, and I've been sitting here giggling madly at it for about ten minutes.

ETA: A shorter video of Sumotori Dreams. (The guy who did commentary on QWOP also did commentary on Sumotori, but I haven't watched it.)