Another Excuse Gone

12 Thursday Aug 2021

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Another Excuse Gone

Tags

It’s not age that makes people fat.

“Metabolic rate is really stable all through adult life, 20 to 60 years old,” said study author Herman Pontzer, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University and author of “Burn,” a new book about metabolism. “There’s no effect of menopause that we can see, for example. And you know, people will say, ‘Well when I hit 30 years old, my metabolism fell apart.’ We don’t see any evidence for that, actually.”

Well, there goes the long-standing science we can always trust. Still, there are plenty of other excuses left – big bones, no self-control, the munchies, big is beautiful, the thyroid, hey-I’m-‘murican, etc.

Dotard Elders and Cloddish Youth

05 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Comments Off on Dotard Elders and Cloddish Youth

Tags

age, America, climate change, generations, politics

Derek Thompson, a millennial, takes aim at the trio of elderly gents in the presidential ~~pony show~~ contest. Trump, Biden, and Sanders are old, that’s certain. However, the ending of his article doesn’t help the cause of sprightly discontent:

Finally, the most important challenge before the U.S. and the world—climate change—is profoundly intergenerational. Solving it requires a farsighted approach to diplomacy, invention, and technological deployment that a creaky old country will simply never master. This crisis urgently requires the input and ideas of the generations that will be most affected by it. If government of the elderly, by the elderly, and for the elderly will not perish from the Earth, the rest of us might suffer instead.

The ancient plutocrats can’t remember their names; this will not alleviate the unicorn epidemic. I’ve thought of a Gen-Xer who could potentially bail the nation out if elected. He’d loath running and you probably wouldn’t vote for him anyway.

Act Your Age?

14 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

≈ Comments Off on Act Your Age?

Tags

age, excercise, health, weight loss

If one can spare a few minutes from the important Pokemon crash test, then one may use a quick, six-step test to determine one’s oxygen-use based fitness level. Then one can extrapolate ones “real” age. Note: make sure you properly choose English or metric values. And, try to be honest…

CLICK HERE to take the easy test, courtesy of the Daily Mail.

The end result will be your VO2Max level. Mine is 47. What does that mean?

Check out this chart:

nimbus-image-1468499793202

machars.net.

My 47, for my age, falls into the high-end of the “excellent” range; I’m one point away from “superior”. I suppose the cigars are holding me back…

A 47 would also be an excellent score for a twenty-something and “good” for a teenager. What’s my physical age? I really can’t calculate it with specificity but I’ll just say “28”. (There are other, more in-depth tests available if one looks for them).

Out of curiosity I went back and took the test from my (unhealthy) specs, circa 2012. Oddly, despite my heavy weight then and my relative inactivity, my score was almost the same. The test is age sensitive and aerobically oriented. I was younger then and I have always had a low resting heartbeat.

13606941_1259754540701648_5954926869772226154_n