The Internet’s Richest Fitness Resource Is a Site from 1999. A deep dive into the history of Exrx.net. I remember visiting the site way back in high school in 2000 to use their one rep max calculator. What’s great about Exrx.net is that it hasn’t changed at all in nearly 25 years. Same great, extensive fitness information; same straight up basic HTML layout and design they’ve had since the turn of the century. It’s kinda comforting to know it’s still there and still carries on.
Eureka Springs, AR. This week our family drove to the small town of Eureka Springs, AR for a short spring break trip. It was our first time visiting, and Eureka Springs is one of the most intriguing places I’ve been in a while. It was a resort town in the 19th century, so it’s historic and many old Victorian buildings remain, but it’s also this artsy bohemian place at the same time. It was built on a mountain, so it has all these winding roads and alleyway staircases to get from one level of the town to the next. We checked out the shops, read the plaques that tell the history of the town, and hiked the nice trails in Lake Leatherwood Park. We’d like to go back and stay at the Crescent Hotel, supposedly America’s most haunted hotel. The town’s this truly weird place worth checking out.
Harry’s Taming Cream. Since I’ve been sporting the longer hair, I’ve been on the lookout for a hair product to tame my wild, sometimes frizzy mane. So I went to my nearby drugstore several months ago and saw that Harry’s has a hair cream that has “taming” right in the name. It’s great. It provides a lightweight hold and gives your hair a natural look. It provides just enough moisture that my thick coarse hair doesn’t poof out. Highly recommended if you’re in a similar hair situation.
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. This is a book that I think about a lot and comes up often in our podcasts about socializing and loneliness. In it, political scientist Robert Putnam argues that there’s been a sharp decline in “social capital” in the United States since the 1960s. He points to the decreasing numbers of Americans participating in civic and social organizations, such as bowling leagues, religious groups, and community organizations and argues that this decline has had negative impacts on American society, like loneliness and sharp partisan divides. The book was published in 2000 so some of it is dated, but I think Putnam’s main thesis is still worth contemplating.
Quote of the Week
If we search for the fundamentals which actually motivate us we will find that they come under four headings: love, money, adventure, and religion. It is to some of them that we always owe that big urge which pushes us onward. Men who crush these impulses and settle down to everyday routine are bound to sink into mediocrity. No man is a complete unit of himself; he needs the contact, the stimulus, and the driving power which is generated by his contact with other men, their ideas, and constantly changing scenes.
—Edward S. Jordan
