LarsonsWorld -- just another persons /dev/null

Since this happens in downtown Denver, I actually take the day off and ride down for all the festivities.

Read more about World Aids Day here and news here.

The Crisis in American Walking: How we got off the pedestrian path -- Tom Vanderbilt / Slate

A few years ago, at a highway safety conference in Savannah, Ga., I drifted into a conference room where a sign told me a “Pedestrian Safety” panel was being held.

The speaker was Michael Ronkin, a French-born, Swiss-raised, Oregon-based transportation planner whose firm, as his website notes, “specializes in creating walkable and bikeable streets.” Ronkin began with a simple observation that has stayed with me since. Taking stock of the event—one of the few focused on walking, which gets scant attention at traffic safety conferences—he wondered about that inescapable word: pedestrian. If we were to find ourselves out hiking on a forest trail and spied someone approaching at a distance, he wanted to know, would we think to ourselves, “Here comes a pedestrian”?

... The United States walks the least of any industrialized nation. Studies employing pedometers have found that where the average Australian takes 9,695 steps per day (just a few shy of the supposedly ideal “10,000 steps” plateau, itself the product, ironically, of a Japanese pedometer company’s campaign in the 1960s), the average Japanese 7,168, and the average Swiss 9,650, the average American manages only 5,117 steps. Where a child in Britain, according to one study, takes 12,000 to 16,000 steps per day, a similar U.S. study found a range between 11,000 and 13,000.

Read on ...

4 Things Grosser Than Pink Slime -- Mother Jones

The specter of "pink slime" -- pureed, defatted, and ammonia-laced slaughterhouse scraps -- has caused quite the uproar over the past six weeks. (The latest: Propublica has a great explainer on pink slime and other filler products.) The current fixation on pink slime may well lead to the demise of the product; already, supermarket and fast-food chains and school cafeterias are opting to stop adding the stuff into their burger mixes. The company's maker, Beef Products International, has had to temporarily shut down three of its four plants in response to collapsing demand, which doesn't augur well for the company's long-term health.

Read on ...

Just How Unhealthy Is That Steak? The Deadly Dangers of Eating Red Meat -- Time

Researchers measure how much a serving of steak can hasten death from heart disease or cancer. But don't worry: substituting it with fish, chicken or nuts can protect you from an early grave

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Do Multivitamins Really Work? -- Mother Jones

I didn't start taking vitamins until a few years ago, after Target began selling adult multivitamins in the form of gummy bears. I've been dutifully popping two bears a day ever since, getting my daily candy fix while ostensibly improving my health. After all, to hear the $28 billion supplement industry tell it, the gummies could be all that stands between me and scurvy. "Some people, like if you're eating kale for breakfast or something, get all their nutrients from food," says Duffy MacKay, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the industry's leading trade group. "But in this complex world, that's getting increasingly rare."

Read on ...

Diet Tricks the Pros Tell Their Friends - Health.com

We asked celebrated weight-loss pros to share the one strategy they feel makes the biggest difference. Weave these seven wonders into your daily routine and you'll be wowed by how the little changes really do add up.

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Eat, Smoke, Meditate: Why Your Brain Cares How You Cope -- Forbes

Most people do what they have to do to get through the day. Though this may sound dire, let’s face it, it’s the human condition. Given the number of people who are depressed or anxious, it’s not surprising that big pharma is doing as well as it is. But for millennia before we turned to government-approved drugs, humans devised clever ways of coping: Taking a walk, eating psychedelic mushrooms, breathing deeply, snorting things, praying, running, smoking, and meditating are just some of the inventive ways humans have found to deal with the unhappy rovings of their minds.

But which methods actually work?

What's the Deal With Methyl Iodide and Strawberries? -- Mother Jones

Pesticides usually do their bug killing away from public view. But one such poison, a fumigant called methyl iodide, has been making headlines. So what makes this pesticide so evil? MoJo food and ag blogger Tom Philpott explains.

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Just How Dangerous Is Antibacterial Soap? -- Mother Jones

The soap lobby has launched an ambitious campaign to convince you that the controversial antibacterial agent triclosan is "effective and safe for humans and the environment." So how legit is this claim? And should you be worried about antibacterial products?

Read on ...