"I asked Galahad Clark, the brand's creator, if he thinks the general public's shoe-coddled feet will be able to handle running with such little support. "Yes," says Clark, "but it will be a big transition for people accustomed to wearing highly cushioned, inflexible shoes. The foot muscles are weak and need to time to adjust." Not such a bad thing, he believes. "Trainers artificially allow unfit people to run longer than their bodies are conditioned for. It's rather like hitting yourself over the head while wearing a crash helmet: it might not hurt immediately but the long-term harm is obvious."

"The health service is portrayed as an intractable managerial nightmare. We spend so much time deploring the waste and inefficiency that we often forget that at the heart of the whole unwieldy system is a routine compassion, which is simply magnificent. And even more remarkable is that we attempt to guarantee this consideration to every person in the country who needs care."

I've never been at war with salt myself.

minor9th: Trust me on the vaseline - Seven things I've learned the hard way about running http://bit.ly/j4MSL7

"We are confused about fats," says Al Overton, who buys gourmet oils for the organic supermarket chain Planet Organic. "People are always asking me what to cook with. The simple answer is, keep a range of oils. Keep coconut or a similar saturated fat for heavy frying, olive and rapeseed oils for light frying and salads, and pumpkin and avocado oils for dressings and dips."

"Everywhere Western ideas touch down, people get fatter. Urbanization is literally making us sick."

"These events are trail races governed by three rules: no fees, no awards, no whining. Distances are typically 50 kilometers or 50 miles, but vary according to a race director’s whims or ability to borrow his buddy’s GPS device. There are no lotteries, no expos, no qualifying times, no triple-digit entry fees subsidizing multimillion-dollar “running clubs.” No one will urinate on you from the upper span of the Verrazano Bridge, and you won’t shiver for hours in a corral before the starting gun."

Lots of interesting bits here but the stats in particular stand out. "The death toll is not small. The UK, despite having an excellent road safety record, sees more people killed on the roads every year than died during the entire duration of the Troubles in Northern Ireland; "According to the World Health Organization motor vehicle collisions are the 6th most common cause of death in developed nations, with an average rate of 20.8 per 100,000 populations in the year 2000 (30.8 for males, 11.0 for females). African nations have the world's highest road traffic injury mortality rates." (Wikipedia on traffic-related death rates.) 1.2 million were killed and 50 million injured in road traffic accidents in 2004."

"Build your own multi-purpose mobile self-tracking application."

"In the cozy confines of personal life, we rarely used the power of numbers. The techniques of analysis that had proved so effective were left behind at the office at the end of the day and picked up again the next morning. The imposition, on oneself or one’s family, of a regime of objective record keeping seemed ridiculous. A journal was respectable. A spreadsheet was creepy. And yet, almost imperceptibly, numbers are infiltrating the last redoubts of the personal. Sleep, exercise, sex, food, mood, location, alertness, productivity, even spiritual well-being are being tracked and measured, shared and displayed."

"Based on your biomechanical evaluation, your qualified technician will hand craft your insoles (orthotics) while you wait and integrate them into the correct running shoe, ski boot or other footwear." Hot foot tech.

"In the second half of the nineteenth century, the cure for scurvy was lost. The story of how this happened is a striking demonstration of the problem of induction, and how progress in one field of study can lead to unintended steps backward in another."

"Social capital is an abstract measure that wraps up how many people you know, the information flow in your network, how many people owe you favours, that kind of thing."

Hilarious. Ill-advised.

"An example of cognitive bias in which "people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it". They therefore suffer an illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average."

As both the Internet and casual sex continue to rise in popularity, e-cards have also seen a rise in use. But the e-cards that connect all of those things aren't your typical "Happy Birthday" with a picture of a cat popping out of a cake; they're aimed at notifying partners that they've been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease or infection.

"Why do double decker buses have windows? I’m not talking about the big windows we look out of, but the small letterbox shaped windows above that we can open and close? The answer, obviously, is so that passengers can regulate temperature and ventilation, but they come with a major problem: for half the year, they make passengers on the bus ill. At least, that’s my theory."

Raaaar.

"A web application that translates GPS data into functional analysis and online mapping for endurance and outdoor athletes."

"The Nokia Step Counter not only counts your steps, it also determines the distance you have covered and your energy expenditure. Your steps are measured by analyzing the output from an accelerometer in your S60 mobile device."

"Adbusters have changed their Turnoff TV week into Mental Detox Week, its tagline is Escape the Fantasy."

Condom Essential Wear online panto thingummy.

"Government campaigns appear to have had limited impact, because sexual health has worsened in 2006, the last year for which the HPA has figures, particularly among young men and women."

"The evidence from the £12m four-year project will end years of debate and is likely to overturn government advice that eating organic food is no more than a lifestyle choice."

"Allows you to track and visualize your fitness progress and goals."

New Boots site. UK only.

"A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage." Great timing.

Probably.

"For years, 'Dr' Gillian McKeith has used her title to sell TV shows, diet books and herbal sex pills. Now the Advertising Standards Authority has stepped in." Nice one!

"Having just turned 50 - and with my last visit to a doctor somewhere in the 1970s - I thought that getting some checks like this might be a very good idea. My NHS GP agreed, although explained that, as I wasn't displaying any worrying symptoms, I would h

"A website created to help people share and discuss raw, vegan food recipes from around the world."

"We claim to be a nation of foodies, yet vegetables still mystify many cooks - especially those weird specimens that turn up in the weekly organic box. What exactly do you do with chard or salsify? Do turnips have to be a turnoff?"

Rude.

"A hard-hitting government advertising campaign on sexual diseases, featuring raunchy scenes of young people grappling in pubs, clubs and on deserted footpaths, launches today in an attempt to make 18- to 24-year-olds think of condoms as "essential wear"

"A little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW."

"Leading independent mental health organisation in Islington"

"Constant stress can increase your cholesterol, suppress your immune system and make your stomach ache. Why not avoid it altogether? Unfortunately, it's not that simple."

"What can I do about weak and painful knees? I'm a 21 y.o. male with weak, creaking, grinding, and occasionally dislocating knees. Cause/options/suggestions?"

"Scientific evidence on how to get in shape for parenthood."

"Recent research finds that a snap decision to quit smoking cigarettes is actually two to three times more effective than planning ahead for the big day."

"We are working with restaraunt and catering businesses to show them the benefits of opting to go smoke free. Our aim is to create an internationally recognised logo that customers will know denotes a clean, smoke-free environment ."

"Eighty per cent of us will suffer back pain in our lifetimes [...] Yet for decades sufferers have been given the wrong advice. Instead of lying down and taking it easy, we should be up on our feet."

"It is one of the easiest and least stressful forms of exercise you can do. But is walking really enough to get you fit? Only if you do it right"

"While we Brits struggle to meet our fruit and vegetable quota, in Japan they aim for an astonishing 17 portions daily. But who is right? And what counts anyway?"

"The KNEEguru website is a resource for patients who want to know more about their own knees - knee problems, knee surgery and knee rehabilitation."

Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit.

Not that I'm bothered...

"A "healthy food hot list" consisting of the 29 food that will give you the biggest nutritional bang for you caloric buck, as well as decrease your risk for deadly illnesses like cancer, diabetes and heart disease."

"I picture myself as having all these pipes running into my head, and each one is a piece of technology that's a pressure connection - something that is feeding me content that needs to be processed, and that puts some pressure on my mental well-being."