I just read an interesting article about a rather unique playground in Manchester, outside of London. This isn’t a place for children, but rather for the elderly. The idea is to give older folks a free, convenient way to tone their legs, arms, and torsos without having to go to the gym. If this first one is a hit, Londoners can expect similar areas to pop up.

As far as anti aging products, I think this is a great one! Nothing keeps you feeling young at heart like exercise, so I’m hoping these playgrounds catch on big time — not just in London but all over the world. Maybe by the time I reach age 60+, there will be some near me.

The USPS is planning to stop Saturday mail deliveries in an effort to reduce debt and losses. According to the article I read, the post office is expected to lose $7 billion this year… seven BILLION!!! So I guess scaling back the work week for some of its employees is a step in the right direction. To be honest, I’m surprised the post office has held on to 6-day deliveries for this long. Within 5 years, they’ll probably be down to delivering just 4 days per week.

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, died yesterday at the age of 91. The report came from his son, who said the author succumbed to natural causes.

Salinger was mostly a recluse after the overwhelming success of Catcher. He rarely granted any interviews (the last was 30 years ago), and except for a couple of story collections and a novella, never published again after Catcher. But a writer doesn’t just while away his time watching TV, ya know? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are at least a couple of full-length manuscripts that come out after his death.

As for Catcher, I loved that book when I was in junior high, just like every other adolescent out there. I thought Holden was cool and had the right ideas about nonconformity. But upon reading the book again as an adult, I didn’t feel it had the same impact. It’s definitely something for the teenage crowd to hold onto. BTW, the book has sold 60 million copies to date, and will undoubtedly continue to sell well as long as it is included on nearly every American Lit class reading list.

RIP, Salinger.

Is it just me, or do you think the entire health care industry heaved a major sigh of relief when Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat on Tuesday? This means the president will have to rework the massive health care bill he has been pushing practically since Day 1, thereby delaying the proposed government takeover for the time being. That means healthcare jobs at private firms are likely safe for now, which should make lots of folks very happy.

I am not overly concerned with the health care debate from a personal standpoint. I have health insurance through work so this isn’t an issue I think about. I suppose you could say that’s selfish of me, but whatever. I just don’t have the energy to get worked up over any policy problems these days.

Have you been reading and/or watching the news about the Massachusetts senate race? This is for the special election being held on Tuesday, January 19 to fill the seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy. Democrat Martha Coakley had been leading, but Republican upstart Scott Brown has surged in the past few days, and is shown ahead by a few percentage points in some polls. The few percentage points is within the polls’ margin of error, so he might not actually be ahead, but it’s definitely close.

I would ordinarily have no interest in what happens in Massachusetts, but this particular vote has major implications for the health care bill and other legislation. A win for the Democrats would give them the 60 votes they need to push everything through. A win for the Republicans would give them the 41 votes they need to block pending legislation. I mean, this is HUGELY important no matter which side of the aisle you’re on!!

Anyway, look for the candidates to continue campaigning hard right through to Tuesday. They’ll likely hand out bumper stickers, placards, buttons, t-shirts, promotional bags, and everything else they can plaster their names and logos on right up until the polls open Tuesday morning. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. Who would’ve thought that our entire nation could have so much riding on a single senate race?? Wow!

Have you heard about this yet? I was just checking some news sites this morning when I saw an article about the Auschwitz sign being stolen Friday night. The police have no leads at the moment, but are said to be tightening border security to try to make sure the sign doesn’t get out of the country. Apparently, the thief or thieves just came in and took the iron sign down (the one that says, “Arbeit Macht Frei”, or work makes you free) while security guards were patrolling a different area of the compound.

WTF could anyone do with a sign like that? They can’t very well display it. And would anyone even try buying it on the black market? This makes no sense to me.

Have you heard about the Times Square shooting yet? Apparently a NYC police sergeant shot and killed a street vendor who was trying to scam tourists into buying CDs. The guy would allegedly go up to tourists, ask their names, then write their names on CDs and demand $10 for the discs. Police officers noticed what he was doing, and asked to see a license allowing him to sell stuff. The guy took off running, then pulled out a Mac-10 and opened fire. According to a published report in the New York Times, the man fired two shots, while the cop got off four.

This sounds like a very strange story. There’s obviously got to be more to the street vendor than just scamming people with these CDs. Why would he be carrying a Mac-10? And why would he start shooting instead of answering questions?

I’m sure more details about the Times Square shooting will be revealed as they become available. For now, everything else is just speculation.