WTF-Beta

@Mik would a stair lift work? Curved staircase gets pricey but a straight shot up 12 stairs was a little over $4000 for a Bruno unit.

From my Canadian physiotherapist this week, for anyone looking for a basic workout:

I want to be strong at 93. But I don't want to spend the next 60 years in the gym.

My goal isn't to spend my life working out. It's to exercise enough that I can spend my life living.

Playing with my kids. Travelling. Playing sports. Staying strong, mobile and independent well into my 80s and 90s.

So today, I thought I'd share something a little different:

My exact workout routine right now.

And it might be a lot less than you'd expect.

Here's what my week looks like:
​

MONDAY — Chest + Back​
→ Bench Press or Push-Ups
→ Bent-Over Rows

​

Bench Press + Bent Over Rows

TUESDAY — Legs + Shoulders​
→ Weighted Squats
→ Shoulder Press

Squats + Shoulder Press

WEDNESDAY — Arms​
→ Bicep Curls
→ Tricep Pushdowns

Bicep Curl + Tricep Push-Downs

THURSDAY — Accessory Muscles​
→ Calf Raises
→ Shrugs

Heel Raises + Shrugs

FRIDAY — Upper Body​
→ Bench Press or Bent-Over Rows

​

SATURDAY — Lower Body​
→ Deadlift or Squat
​

SUNDAY — Rest

And throughout the week, I sprinkle in:

10–20 minute brisk walks after lunch when I can.

🧘 5 minutes of stretching and mobility before bed.

That's it.

No two-hour gym sessions.

No complicated workouts with 12 different exercises.

Most days, my strength workout is literally one or two exercises.

The bigger point
Now, is this the "perfect" workout routine?

Of course not.

There are things I could add. More cardio. More balance training. More mobility. More exercises.

But I've learned something over the years:

The best workout routine isn't the one that looks perfect on paper.

It's the one that fits into your actual life.

Especially in this season of my life, with two young kids, work, family and everything else going on, this is what works for me.

And because it's simple, I can actually stay consistent with it.

That's what I want you to take away from this email.

You don't need to build your life around exercise.

Build an exercise routine that supports the life you want to live.

Stay strong
​

@chas

For a man, maybe "sahib"?

@Mik said:

I've been trying to convince Janet to install a small laundry unit in our walk in closet. It's right on the wall that has the waste and water lines. Easy peasy and we don't need nearly the closet space we used to when working.

Thought about doing the same thing in a closet in a spare bedroom that is set up as an office that we basically don't use anymore. There are those dryers that vent moisture into the drain rather than to the outside.

Two story house here plus basement. Our laundry setup is currently in the basement. Installing a washer and dryer on the second floor would save trips up/down the stairs but doesn't eliminate them altogether. Of course I wouldn't have to carry the clean laundry up two flights, though now I bring small armloads up to the first floor and hang them in the front hall closet until I head up to 2. And I wouldn't be likely to hang out on the second floor while things washed and dried.

Part of me thinks that hiring someone to come in and do laundry for us once a week if I can't do it myself might be the way to go rather than investing in a second setup upstairs. Dunno.

Portable dryers:

https://www.thespruce.com/best-portable-dryers-5224945

@Bernard

OMG, I hadn't even thought of that. Guess the administration isn't long on geography. First the Strait of Hormuz and now this....

His head would explode if they threatened to raise fees for using the canal...(insert devil emoji here)

https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/garden-ghosts-set-of-3

Steve and Ron, the Thelma and Louise of 2026...

Great photos, @steve-miller ! Always love your travelogues.

@DougG said:

Great, now Jon’s last post expects me to come up with a rhyme for “lits”.

I’m pretty sure there isn’t one. Could this be the end of the word association thread?

Right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos deported from US to UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlw52vr0dwo

Putin signs decree allowing state seizure of businesses hit by drone strikes

The edict covers energy, transport, logistics and any facility deemed critical to national security, and can be imposed by presidential instruction alone. Experts called it "hybrid nationalisation," warning it would be used to seize assets from companies under the pretext of security failure.

https://www.euronews.com/2026/08/26/putin-signs-decree-allowing-state-seizure-of-businesses-hit-by-drone-strikes

...that corgis are a thing in Lithuania...

Link to video

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/other/lithuania-s-corgi-race-just-had-its-biggest-year-yet-and-the-costumes-prove-it/ar-AA2aPwz8

Satellite images show bedrock and glacier collapsed on Nepal-China border, then rivers flooded

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-nepal-tibet-glacier-collapse-floods-b3eda9410f9941f69add384944047bc3

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcgB52RD4Ak/?hl=en

A little blip in the system. Ting recorded it.

Link to video

More proof that he's an idiot.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/honoring-the-american-history-of-the-great-lakes-and-renaming-lake-ontario-as-lake-america/

@rontuner Maybe something from this collection?

https://www.capable.design/

Weckert’s earlier work involved using 99 smartphones in a cart to make Google Maps believe there was a traffic jam.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/03/berlin-artist-uses-99-phones-trick-google-maps-traffic-jam-alert

I want one, just for fun.

Designer Simon Weckert has created a colourful camouflage shirt that cannot be detected using AI video systems.

Developed in response to a pilot project to use artificial intelligence (AI) video surveillance at Berlin's Kottbusser Tor, which starts this month, the shirt was designed to stop the user being recognised as a person..

https://www.dezeen.com/2026/08/25/digital-camouflage-shirt-ai-video-surveillance-simon-weckert/

Not a good choice of thread title on my part…I thought adding the tag would help but it probably didn’t…

What got my attention in the article was the idea that websites may be specifically tailored to get picked up by AI. Sort of the next generation of SEO. And that people either won’t take the time or maybe don’t even think to investigate what sources the chatbot used. The possibility for mischief explodes with AI.

This post was linked in the Guardian story and flushes it out more:

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-influence-chatgpt/

Me neither.

A pro-Israel messaging website badged with the name of a thinktank that does not exist has published more than half a million words in nine days, built on a commercial platform that promises to optimize content so that AI chatbots will cite it.

The site gives Israel’s position on subjects including the torture of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli war crimes and whether Israel has deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza, all presented as neutral research.

The New York media production company Piro Inc filed the site with the US justice department this month under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara), a 1938 law that requires anyone working for a foreign government to formally disclose it, as material it distributes for the Israeli government.

The site publishes in the name of the Hanover Institute for Public Policy, which apparently does not exist as a legal entity in any jurisdiction, has no physical address, and carries no named staff and no bylines on any of its reports. Its own terms of use are governed by the laws of “the state in which the Institute is established”, which they decline to name.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/26/fake-thinktank-israel-ai-propaganda