WOTBA's Walking News Digest: "Walking Away," Walking for Beginners, and Amy Winehouse

Time for the roundup of global walking news. I like to report the best of the world's walking stories as a transition between walks. Last week I walked around Central Park, enjoying the flora and fauna and the park's free Wifi. I also walked 28.7 miles, according to my pedometer, but subtracting dog walks and going to the grocery store, I may have only walked 10 miles inside the park.

It's raining mightily in Manhattan today, but as the clouds clear as promised tomorrow, I intend to wander around the Lower East Side in search of entertainment, art, food and culture.

• The Municipal Alliance Committee in Brick Township, New Jersey organized a project for the residents of Brick to collectively walk 25,000 miles, the equivalent of the journey around the Earth, in three months. They just recently walked the final mile. APP.com (Asbury Park Press) April 29, 2008.

• WOTBA has taken note of the increasing use of the phrase "walking away" to describe the abandonment of homes when the value of the homes drop below the mortgage obligation. Both The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times this week explored whether or not the walk-aways constitute an urban myth. The hard evidence leads to "maybe." LA Times story here.

• The Brewton Standard in Alabama published an article titled "Walking recommended for all," that seems to be geared toward adults who grew up sitting on the couch. A beginner's guide, the article gives basic advice such as what types of shoes to wear, how to find places to walk and cheery words of encouragement like "Keep your eyes focused ahead of you and hold that smile." My favorite line comes at the end: "If walking doesn't work out for you on one day, pick it up again the next day." If you have a hard time remembering how to put one foot in front of another, let this be your guide.

• Controversy erupted last week over the new book, South Beach Diet Supercharged, and its claims of the benefits of interval walking. Some exercise specialists think that interval walking does not hold that much extra benefit over regular walking, at least as far as the South Beachers claim. For me, all walking in New York is interval walking - strolling a couple of blocks, followed by running across intersections, then race walking to get to the movie, then slowing down to look at windows, etc. But I don't know that interval walking does more than sustained walking. Read the controversy at USA Today, April 30, 2008.

• Seasonal historic walking tours of downtown Prescott, Arizona resumed last week, according to the Daily Courier, with the main point of interest being Whiskey Row, once home to 40 saloons. The 80-minute walk of less than one mile also highlights "the occasional ghost."

• WOTBA has a soft spot for bad girls, and when not walking or reading classic literature I enjoy wasting time at the tmz.com website and others like it. That's why I'm able to report that this past Friday troubled singer Amy Winehouse was found strolling a motorway after her car got stuck in traffic. Ever resourceful, Ms. Winehouse decided just to get out of the car and wander around to other vehicles in search of a cigarette. Observers noted that the talented Rehab singer bore some cuts and scratches on her arms that were probably not caused by a pet cat. WOTBA, a Texas native, understands big hair and wishes Ms. Winehouse a speedy recovery. UK News Yahoo.

WOTBA's Walking News Digest: Walking Off the Tribeca Fim Festival, Walking on Concrete at the Olympics, and Other Stories

The first news item is from Walking Off the Big Apple.

• Blogger Walks 15,246 Steps on First Day of Tribeca Film Festival
While walking from my apartment and back to attend two film screenings and one reception on the first day of the Tribeca Film Festival yesterday, I walked 6.73 miles, 15,246 steps, and burned 461 calories, according to my Omron pedometer. Wow! Audience applause, please! Entrepreneurial weight-loss gurus should look into opening film fat camps around the country.

• The UK's Superiority in Walking Culture
The UK, once again, shows up other parts of the world when it comes to walking appreciation. This article describes a 16-day walking celebration, one longer than the film festival I'm attending (but theirs doesn't include Lou "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" Reed) and features a veritable cornucopia of themed events including tight-rope walking and stilt walking." (Travel Connect website, UK)

• Walking Tour of Norwich, England's Architecture
Here, again, advantage UK with a walking tour to explore the attractive architecture of Norwich. (BBc, UK)

• Everything A British Woman Spending Euros for Walking Could Need
Not only do the people of the UK know where to walk (Norwich) and how (stilts, tight-ropes, and regular), they're given all sorts of advice about shoes and pedometers, etc., in their newspapers.

• Walking on stilts
This story comes from Blissfield, Michigan – "A Blissfield man plans to walk 830 miles on stilts this summer to support United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan (UCP). During the eight weeks of May and June, Neil Sauter, who has mild cerebral palsy, will cross the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan, sharing his story and encouraging others to support UCP’s disability advocacy." That's pretty amazing! Finally, a good walking story from this side of the pond. (The Daily Telegram, Adrian. MI.)

• The Beijing Race-Walking Course is Made out of Concrete
Olympic race-walkers complain that the new walking course in Beijing is too hard, literally. Most would prefer asphalt. The Beijing Olympics has all sorts of issues. Add this one. (AFP)

• AHA's Start (Exclamation Mark) Walking Day
I gathered many stories on The American Heart Association's National Start! Walking Day. The numbers of participants varied from place to place. According to WCTV in Florida, "Dozens of folks in Tallahassee are participating in the rally, walking around Remington Green Circle." Dozens! Count 'em! (WCTV, Tallahassee)

• Brooklyn Poet Waxes Poetic About Walking
Brooklyn-based poet Edward Hirsch elegantly explains the relationship between writing and walking in an essay for The Washington Post. Truly nice, and nothing for me to make to make fun of, darn it. (Washington Post)

Image: shoe repair sign, outside of shoe repair store, University Place, New York, New York, and near venues for the Tribeca Film Festival. They know how to cash in, don't they?

WOTBA's Walking News Digest: Walking in Tehachapi, Walking Robots, Clinton's Walking & Dissing Exercise, and Much More

I bring you fresh walking news from WOTBA's Google "walking" alert. With tax day here, coupled with increasing news of contracting retail sales (NYT story, and, by the way, I saw the whole subprime mess coming in late 2007, with Walking Off the Wall Street Bears), perhaps many will seek in walking a less expensive form of transportation.

• Wednesday, April 16 is the launch of the American Heart Association's National Start! Walking Day. It's time to remind you that Donny Osmond will be present on the AHA website to help you along on your walking journey. If you would like additional motivation to walk, please feel free to read all 402 posts on this website.

• The Google "walking" alert always brings encouraging news of new walking tours of towns both great and small. In evidence, downtown Tehachapi, in a sunny, and here, specifically windy, part of California. Note the picture of muscular guys working on a picket fence. (Tehachapi News)

• Galveston, Texas, an historic town on the Gulf of Mexico, is a pretty town to walk, especially with its Victorian houses. The Dallas Morning News, the paper of WOTBA's very own original hometown, lays it all out for you here. (Dallas Morning News)

• Hillary Clinton walked 30 minutes around Scranton neighborhoods, trash-talking Barack Obama. This is how candidates exercise their feet and mouth on the campaign trail at the same time. Check out that pic of Hill. She looks transfixed, beatified, martyred. (Blog, Washington Post)

• Walking news always brings evidence of the UK's superiority in all hiking/walking matters. I can't compete. I present you news of Pembrokeshire's first walking festival. (Western Telegraph UK)

• A Walking Robot sets the distance record. (Physorg.com)

• The Illinois state legislature is considering a bill to ban talking on a cell phone while walking across the street at the same time. (NBC5)

• My reality can't compete with the virtual reality of this web page of spectacular walks that illustrates real walks around the World. (World Reviewer)

Image: Walking Times Square. Walking Off the Big Apple. April 2008.\

See Previous Walking News

The Blogging Stress Story, and Manhattan, the Skinnier Borough

I am compelled to comment on two articles published yesterday in The New York Times.

Bloggers Have Health Issues. In an article published in The New York Times on April 6, "In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop," Matt Richtel reports on the untimely death of a couple of high-profile bloggers. In describing the stress-inducing culture of the blogosphere, one in which bloggers feel they need to write timely posts to stay ahead of the game, Richtel suggests a correlation between this new type of exhausting work pressure and the rise of serious health issues.

It's true. Early last summer, before I started Walking Off the Big Apple, I walked around New York with a backpack filled with a notebook, bottled water, granola bars, and art supplies. Over the course of two months, I developed shapely legs and a glowing tan, and I lost 20 pounds. As soon as I decided to share my city experiences with the world in the form of a blog, however, I went downhill. When I started to obsess over whether I was posting enough, I became glued to the chair. Whenever I got up from the chair, it would be to go open the freezer door of the refrigerator to see how much ice cream was left from the day before.

Fortunately, in my blogging case, the content is linked to exercise, i.e. walking, and so I have to walk before I blog. Mostly, however, I have to learn how to balance between walking and writing, because I can not do them at the same time.

Manhattanites, We Are So Special. In another story from the April 6 NYT, "Sveltest Borough Award Goes to...," Sam Roberts reports that Manhattanites are in better position than those in the rest of the city to not get too chubby. While 1 in 4 New Yorkers are overweight, those of us who live on the island of Manhattan tend to walk more to work or up and down subway stairs to get somewhere, a study shows. That's nice, but the way I see it, Manhattanites who blog for themselves at home can order many different types of food for delivery, stay indoors all day long and pack on the pounds. Except those, of course, who blog about walking around Manhattan. With layoffs and buyouts in the print industry, I think it's possible that even more journalists-turned-bloggers will stay inside their apartments, post all day and eventually become the pale overweight versions of their former selves.

Every blogger should get a personal trainer or a dog. I have two dogs, but one of them refuses to cross Sixth Avenue.

Image above: Gandhi statue in Union Square. Gandhi did not write a blog.

WOTBA's Walking News Digest: The Dodos, Donny Osmond's Walking Blog, and Walking Around Baghdad

I have a Google Alert set up for the word "walking" that fetches all sorts of disasters. Many of the walking items in the news deal with terrible things that happen to individuals who are just out for a stroll and minding their own business. Bad things happen to good people walking home, going to work, and also to nice people trying to find meaning in life by sauntering near the railroad tracks. It's a disgrace.

I feel like our civil rights and liberties as walkers are constantly under attack. Maybe, one day, I will take up this issue in a public forum, and eventually, someone will notice my hard-working efforts on behalf of walkers. Maybe this advocacy will set a course toward the governor's office in Texas, my ultimate career goal.

On the other hand, walking news is sometimes full of hope. Thusly,

• The Dodos Walking Song
The Dodos, a duo, recorded a whole set of songs based on walking around. "All of the songs sort of wrap around this coming and going theme," says Meric Long, 1/2 of The Dodos duo. We love them, says I, in the royal "we." NPR story here.

• Donny Osmond's Walking Blog
Don't miss this promised online feature for The Start! Walking program sponsored by the American Heart Association. The very face of hope.

• Walking Facing Oncoming Traffic
I, too, was always taught to walk toward oncoming traffic. A letter writer in Ontario, Canada thinks people are getting too slack in this department. I am in full agreement. I like to stare down anyone who is attempting to run over me so as to not get broadsided by strangers from the rear.

• Six Million Years of Walking Heritage, outlined in the NYT, explains new revelations about the long march of the upright.

• Reporter Walks Nervously Around War-torn City
Daniel Smith, writing for the New Haven Advocate, is braver than most people. Sometimes, you need to go for a stroll in the city just to get out of the house. The fact that the city is Baghdad, Iraq presents some issues. Story here.

Image: brave souls attempting to stroll the lower sections of Broadway in New York, New York.

Walking News Digest: Prevention's Top Walking Cities, Brits Hurt Themselves While Walking, and Electronic Walking Stick

A few newsworthy items to pass along:

Prevention Magazine Selects New York City as #2 Best Walking City. The college town known as Cambridge, MA comes in at the number one spot. Why? Beats me! Must be the work of Red Sox and Patriots fans. See the feature story here.
• Related story: Residents of Gadsden, Alabama, a city that ranked low on the list, are not surprised and a little ashamed. Gladsden Times.

Brits Slamming Into Posts While Text-messaging May be Fiction. Network World, a website located in the New World, is skeptical of news reports in the British press that 1 in 10 Brits hurt themselves while walking and texting at the same time. Skepticism and links here.

Electronic Walking Sticks May Not Be Totally Useful. Coolest Gadgets.com reviews the Tactile Wand Electronic Stick. The device uses a sensor to detect objects in front of one. The reviewer wonders if the stick can detect other potential walking hazards, "such as an open elevator shaft." See review here.

Image: Giants fans walking through the lower section of Prevention Magazine's #2 walking city.

Walking News: British Man Gives Up Trek to India Because He Couldn't Speak French, and Other Stories

For my irregularly-scheduled roundup of walking headlines, I would like to share these choice stories from the global highways and byways:

• Try this, sir: "J'ai faim." A British man planned to walk to India with no money to prove a point, but he gave up in Calais because he couldn't speak French. See UPI story here.

• Hey, man, I own this shopping mall. Mall walkers at Jefferson Valley Mall became upset when the mall managers changed the opening times and shut off the mall's second floor. See In Curbing Walking Sprees, a Mall Sets Off Protests by Kate Stone Lombardi, NY Times. March 2, 2008.

• Be careful walking down an unfamiliar hill in the dark. "How a walk in the dark changed my life" by Geoff Strong from the February 20, 2008 edition of The Age in Melbourne, Australia is a chilling tale of how things can go wrong with one false step. Not for the faint of heart.

• Naturalist John Muir was famous for his treks through the Sierras. Hence, his founding of The Sierra Club. A naturalist writes about Muir's walks through the Feather River area of California in an article for the ChicoEr.

• Losing his chops. A man who lost his dentures while walking in the pretty Lake District of England a year ago was recently reunited with his teeth. Read the amazing story here on a Dentistry UK website.

Image: at Broadway and Houston. March 3, 2008, by Walking Off the Big Apple, who hasn't driven a car in over a year.

Walking News Week in Review: The Sustainable Flâneur and Other Top Stories

Strolling Device Converts to Electricity and Thusly Saves the Planet from Environmental Destruction (Discovery News)
Mechanical engineers have found that a wearable knee device can turn any flâneur into a self-sustained power house, charging up our cell phone or whatever powered device we may be carrying in our Vuitton bag. So great! And we thought we were only good for drinking absinthe in cafés.

The Mayor of London Wants People Out Cycling and Walking (The City of London)
Ken Livington, the Mayor of London, announced plans to invest 500 million pounds in new expenditures to get folks in London out of their motor vehicles and into the open air. The pedestrian plans call for better signage to help navigate pedestrians from one place to another.

A Guy Who Calls Himself Fellow Human Walks and Eats Sardines (Explorer News)
A guy who calls himself Fellow Human is walking across America wearing a 45-pound backpack and living off sardines.

West Virginia Students Told to Walk More (Marshall Parthenon)
West Virginia is trying to persuade college students to walk to class so they won't be so chubby.

I've signed up for a Google Alert on the topic of walking, and I like to share the best stories from time to time. Most of the news stories, however, involve pedestrians who are injured or harmed in some malicious way while walking, but I don't like to share those types of reports.

WOTBA's Walking News Digest: Walking Felon Preachers, Maryland's Issues With Walking, and No One Walks in Arlington

Florida Man Shoots Himself While Walking His Dog
Florida Today.com. When I'm walking my dogs, I try not to carry too much in my pocket. I don't advise packing heat.

Walking Preacher Is Really a Felon
Natchez Democrat. This guy was walking around the country, he explained, because God told him to. Turns out he was walking away from some hard time.

No One Walks in Arlington, Texas
Fort Worth Star Telegram. Arlington, Texas was built as a car-friendly suburb, with the residential areas far away from places of employment. Ergo, Arlington comes in last place in the number of people walking to work, according to a study conducted by hr.blr.com, a human resources web site. NYC comes in a fourth place behind Boston, Washington, and San Francisco.

Walking in Snowy Fond du Lac, Wisconsin is No Fun
Fond du Lac Reporter. Recent snow storms have left snow piling up on the sidewalks, and some folks in the land of the Frozen Tundra are mad they have to walk in the streets.
Same for Idaho Local 8 News (Idaho Falls, etc.)

Maryland's Experiment in Making Walking the State Exercise
(AP) Some people in Maryland don't think walking is Maryland-specific enough to warrant adoption as the state exercise.

Image: The globe inside the Daily News building on 42nd St. Walking Off the Big Apple is fixin' to put together a themed self-guided midtown walking tour of the buildings designed by architect Raymond Hood. See also The Building That Would Glow at Night.

WOTBA's Walking News Digest: Walking Stories from the Chinese Snowstorm, Walking for 911-related Illnesses, and the Discovery of Shoes

This just in from the English edition of the People's Daily Online from China: Many individuals, stranded in the recent heavy snowstorms, ended up walking home or setting out on foot in search of loved ones. One young man, Du Dengyong, walked 16 hours to rescue his girlfriend who was trapped in a bus. He lost contact when her cell phone died, and he didn't find her. He is determined to resume the search and told the reporter he would crawl if necessary. See more at "When the going gets tough, the tough get ... walking."

William Rhoden writes in today's NYT of former New York Giants star George Martin's trek across the country to raise awareness of the health needs of the September 11 rescue and recovery workers. Martin is walking 20-30 miles a day to raise money to donate to the hospital systems treating the workers. Since he began in September Martin has walked 1600 miles. He said that the wind in Oklahoma was kind of rough. Wind come sweepin' down the plains - Yes, I have heard of that. See more at Miles to Go Before Martin Finishes Journey by William C. Rhoden.

Discovery News sends word of the origin of footwear - "People started wearing shoes around 40,000 years ago, according to a study on recently excavated small toe bones that belonged to an individual from China who apparently loved shoes." A fascinating article, because it explains that barefoot people use more of their middle toes than those wearing shoes. Shoe wearers rely on the big toe to get them moving forward. Also, be advised that there's an argument about whether Neanderthals wore shoes or not. See more at Earliest Shoe-Wearers Revealed by Toe Bones by Jennifer Viegas.

Image: Eadweard Muybridge.