Did you know...

...that as you walk, your hips follow a sine curve while your head remains relatively stable?

Source: Wikipedia article on walking

On Walking Speed

Some fodder for thought about walking - is there a link between the average walking speed of an city and its other characteristics? Another segment of radiolab that details physicists Geoffrey West and Luis Bettencourt's equation that unlocks the underlying logic of these connections.

Francis Alys, As Long As I'm Walking...

11 Years Walking

Quebec man spends 11 years walking around the world to raise awareness about children that suffer violence.

Thinking about pilgrimages and other acts of endurance...

This is an episode of a pretty good radio show on human endurance, from WNYC's Radiolab. The beginning details a triathlon gone awry and a bike race so long and intense that participants duct tape their heads to their backs when their necks give out.

Approximate Nuit Blanche Walking Route

Apart from everything else, I enjoy that on Nuit Blanche it suddenly becomes acceptable to walk incredibly long distances.

Time Lapse Mushroom Videos

Mushroom Foray

A little over a week ago, I went on my first mushroom foray. Initially, I felt a bit conflicted as (like many others, I'm sure) I had always been told never to touch/eat/pick strange mushrooms, but our professor assured us it was safe to pick them. Our class was given special access to an area of the arboretum that is not normally open to the public. Due to a bizarre bike accident I had earlier that morning where a pair of boots I was carrying came unsecured and caught in my wheel, myself and my bike weren't in the best of shapes and I had some difficulty getting to the meeting spot on foot, as well as a serious date with a truing stand and some oversized band-aids. Luckily I arrived before the group departed into the path-less forest.  

I broke off from the group and slowly meandered through the trees, being extra cautious not to step on any fungi. I found that no matter where I crouched down to look, if i spent enough time I would find some sort of tiny mushroom poking up through the dead leaves, or the littlest of yellow fungi adhered to the bark of a tree or log. At first I was reluctant to disturb any mushrooms, but my attitude quickly changed as I came across more and more mushrooms I probably would have overlooked on any other day.

I was amazed by the diversity of mushrooms and fungi our class collected. I am now keeping my eye out for a good field guide to better my knowledge of mushrooms for future walks.