Scientists have said a brisk daily walk of just 20 minutes could add years to your life.
They blame lazy lifestyles and the lack of exercise for shorter lives.

The Cambridge University study of 334,000 people found even a modest amount of activity prolonged life. And the least fit had the most to gain.

I come into the least fit category, left disabled after a hip operation went wrong. Doctors ordered a special hip with a metal shaft to insert into the femur after it shattered in 2002. The inner support is held in place with bolts and twists of wire. After the operation, I was reasonably fit and continued working on my feet for 8 hours a day. However, since retirement, my walking ability has deteriorated.

I decided to do something about it. Yesterday, I took my first organized walk. I live in Elstree, Hertsmere, UK. If you live in England, you should be able to find a scheme near you. Here's the one I joined:
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The Hertsmere Health Walks is part of a countywide programme of free, volunteer - led walks, which aims to help people get outdoors, get more active and reap the benefits. The walks are all sociable and you don't need any special equipment to join in, just comfortable shoes. The free programme runs all year round and offers choice of different walk grades, start points and times. Source: Hertsmere Health Walks: Walking for Health. 

Well, I found the pace too strenuous on the short walk for disabled people I chose. Seeing as I only walk alone up and down a hill outside my home, I didn't have the fitness of the six regular walkers who turned up yesterday. They took off at a good pace, and soon they were small figures in the distance. The early rain had ceased, leaving the gravel walk beside flowing water littered with wet autumn leaves. My rollator rattled over loose stones and shook my arms, while jacket-wearing volunteer kept me company for as long as I felt comfortable to continue.
“Do you stop walking in winter?” I asked, during out chat.

“We carry on rain, snow and cold,” he said. “We walk every Wednesday of the year.”

After crossing a street, I admired the Canada geese, ducks, and moor-hens where the waterway widened beside the smooth path. But, I turned back before the end. And I was glad I did because my legs dragged on the approach to the finish.

The volunteer driver, a retired doctor and gentleman arrived to take me home shortly after we stopped on the street outside a local café. He lifted my muddy-wheeled rollator into his spotless boot and then held out his elbow. I tucked my arm into his firm support on the way to his car, seated myself in his luxury car and he helped my legs in.

“Thank you. I'm so sorry about the mud,” I said. “I should have brought plastic to line the boot.”

“That will clean off. Don't worry about it.” He handed me the seatbelt strap, and then went around to his side, climbed in, and drove off. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

“I did, thank you. It's a treat for me to get out. Sometimes, my husband takes me shopping, but he has trouble lifting the heavy rollator. So I decided to do something on my own. I hope to do it again, but the man at Community Transport said I wasn't priority, so I might not be able to come often.”

We parted with the understanding that he would drive me again if possible.

Have you ever thought to join other walkers in your area? The social contact changes a lonely walk to an event.

The good 'ol Aussies and other scientists have discovered this fascinating fact locked inside zircons.
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Scientists previously thought life first appeared on Earth 3.83 billion years ago. However, the newest findings suggest life started 270 million years earlier.

This would also mean the spark of life began only 440 million years after the Earth formed—about
​4.54 billion years ago.

Researchers have suggested the rapidity of life springing up on Earth means life in the rest of the universe could be abundant. How little we know. Despite all mankind's searching, astrologers have yet to find proof of life on other planets.

The scientists came to their conclusion after analysing more than 10,000 zircons - heavy, durable stones used as imitation diamonds - which had formed from molten rock in Western Australia.

These time capsules preserve materials from their environment as they form.

Out of the thousands of zircons they studied, 79 of them looked like they might contain graphic, which is made of pure carbon which life depends on.

'As an element, carbon occurs in a striking variety of forms. Coal, soot, and diamonds are all nearly pure forms of carbon. Carbon also occurs in a form, discovered only recently, known as fullerenes or buckyballs. Buckyball carbon holds the promise for opening a whole new field of chemistry.
Carbon occurs extensively in all living organisms as proteins, fats, carbohydrates (sugars and starches), and nucleic acids.' Source: Chemistry explained.

But only a single zircon in the study contained graphite, which turned out to be 4.1 billions years old.
'The study's co-author, a geochemist at the University of California (UCLA), told the Live Science website: "It was nerve-wracking to manipulate the sole tiny zircon fragment — about half the width of a hair on your head — containing the graphite inclusions.' Source: Express. 

Anyone for chemistry? Well—not me, and I suspect you have no interest either. However, we can now astound our friends with the amazing fact that life on Earth began 4.54 billion years ago.

I'd prefer to think about when MY life on Earth began—(this one. I'm not talking reincarnation). Born on the eighth of January 1942, I entered the world as a bonny baby. How about you?

Who makes up these rules? The planet supports all kinds of life—animals, birds, fish, insects and … man. Somehow, humans have given themselves the top position. And they're gunning for any other creature who gets in their way.
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Despite the fact that only four USA Florida residents have been injured in bear attacks in the past two years, a huge proportion of the bear colony will be annihilated—320 in total.

I can understand people wanting to cull a huge rogue animal—well four of them to be exact. But not decimating so many. Here in the UK, recent badger culls have been largely unsuccessful in the hope of controlling TB in cattle. I think every animal, no matter how large or small, has a right to be here.

The Wildlife Commission's advice on encountering a black bear is to remain standing upright and speak to the bear in a calm, assertive voice while backing up slowly towards a secure area and leaving the bear a clear escape route. This must be founded on the fact that a bear won't harm a human if treated with respect.


​But now, Florida is holding its first bear hunt in more than two decades, despite opposition from animal rights campaigners and lack of public support.


The state's Wildlife Conservation Commission has issued 4,000 permits for licensed hunters to shoot a total of 320 black bears with the aim of stabilising the growing number.

More than 200 bears were on target on Saturday. The hunters included a 16-year-old boy who said he fulfilled a dream when he potted an 80kg bear.

I hope the count is accurate and up to the minute, because 4,000 hunters are out to shoot them down. There'll be a lot of disappointed men out there in them there hills. I hope someone bows the whistle to halt the game of 'hunter and hunted' when the tally is reached.
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This is not the image I want to see for mankind. How does that make man kind?

After waking from an unconscious state on the way home, a student found a heartfelt note a stranger had left beside her.

Ellie was travelling by train from Surrey to London on Wednesday to teach a fitness class when she fell ill.
When the 27-year-old came around she noticed a note left for her by a man called Tom.

The note read: "Hi Eleanor. I hope by the time you read this you are feeling better. You had a seizure on the train and I took you off.

"You didn't hit your head but I may have hurt your leg as I walked on it before realising you were on the floor having a fit! sorry!

"I'm also sorry I can't stay with you now but here is a coffee to perk you up later and £10 to make sure you get a taxi home.

"Sorry I don't have anymore money so I hope you don't live far away. I've contacted people from your phone and medical help is on its way and you're with train staff.

"Wishing you all the best and a quick recovery. Love Tom."

The part-time acupuncture student said the action Tom took had "restored her faith in humanity". She is now trying to locate him.

Ellie told the Evening Standard: "I have no idea who this man was or if he was sitting next to me but I wanted to show how grateful I am to him.

"If Tom does come forward, first of all I would like to give him back his money and then thank him for what he did. He deserves a lot of praise.

"It was so nice of him, it's one thing helping people but doing additional things like what Tom did is something else." Source: The Huffington Post UK.

Nowadays, people live such busy lives. Everyone has deadlines to meet and places to be. It's understood that if you're travelling on a train you have to reach your goal.

Wikipedia says: Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are, or who they believe to be, injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated. The protection is intended to reduce bystanders' hesitation to assist, for fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death.

But what is a Good Samaritan? In the Bible, a man fell ill beside the road. Many men passed by without offering aid. Then, the man who had more to lose than the others stopped and did what he could to help.

​ Even now, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, the poor, the homeless, the unattractive, gays, lesbians, the handicapped, the mentally ill, and countless other groups are still sometimes the victims of ridicule, hatred and discrimination.
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What would you do if faced with a similar situation in which Tom found himself? Would you continue riding the train to your destination, or would you stop to help?

 A UK radio station invited a regular listener into the studio for coffee when he admitted he was feeling lonely.

95-year-old 'Bill' from Southampton called BBC Radio Solent during a mid-morning show last week.

During the conversation, Bill revealed his wife had been taken into a nursing home after a bad fall.

The pair had been friends for 30 years before they wed last year. Bill said he was "missing her" and he visited her every day, BuzzFeed reported.

On hearing his story, the radio station team organised a taxi to pick Bill up and bring him to the studio. He became an honorary 'special guest' and even fielded calls from listeners. Source: The Independent.

What a great Good Samaritan story. The gesture benefited both parties, and spread the feel-good factor to their listeners too.

After all, a lonely person just wants a sympathetic listener.
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 Opera says: 

A small gesture—an offhand invitation to lunch—is often a better antidote than showering someone with too much attention.

Offer to accompany someone to a medical appointment. One study found that doctors said they treat socially isolated people less well than patients with supportive families, and they've seen other health practitioners do the same.

(Our neighbour always takes my husband to his hospital appointments, and sits in to give him mental support.)

Remind your friend that doing things alone—going to a movie, eating out—is hard for a lot of people, especially the first time. You might take her to the coffee shop that gives you a sense of community when you're on your own and volunteer to help find a place in her neighborhood.

When I answered the loneliness quiz questions, I got a high score. However, by reaching out to people over the WWW, I feel as if I'm conected. Of course, nothing would beat a real cup of coffee with someone I respect.

Take your own loneliness quiz. 

Go out and spread the kindness, people. Be a friend to someone in need.

 Affluent men in England and Wales are outliving the average woman for the first time since official records began. The Office for National Statistics has stated that higher managerial and professional men can expect to live over 82.5 years longer than the 82.4 years of life expectancy for the average woman.

These latest ONS figures, for 2007-11, mask deep inequalities between social classes and geographical areas of the country.

The research pointed out while male solicitors, clergy, surveyors etc. have an average life expectancy of 82.5 years, men working in jobs such as street-sweepers, fishmongers, welders and window fitters will survive to only 76.6 years.

Even what we think of as super-fit male fitness instructors have a lower life expectancy than the average male journalist. Meanwhile, female florists live shorter lives than female care workers and several years less than a female estate agent.

According to the ONS, women have outlived men throughout recent times. Back in the early 1980s even women in the poorest group could expect to live longer than the most advantaged group of men.
However, since the 1970s, men have caught women up in terms of survival thanks to the sharp reduction in smoking and the decline in manual work.

The biggest gains in life expectancy are enjoyed by those earning the most. So, having money does count in the strongest possible way.

Health professionals warn that the epidemic of obesity and diabetes could throw into reverse improvements in lifespans. Source: The Guardian.

Here's a case where physical fitness shows no benefits. From the statistics, it would seem that sitting at a desk and working with your brain will give the fullest life possible.

I'm okay then, sitting here at my computer. It hardly matters that I have difficulty walking. I exercise my mind day after day, and go to bed each night tired, the way I would expect after a hard day of walking for miles.

Tomorrow, my husband will have lived for 77 years. He's fighting C, and although stress gets to him, he's enduring. Having a slender, elegant body, he's always worked at a sit-down job, and is a member or Mensa. Maybe his past employment has contributed to his survival.
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Do the ONS statistics on life expectancy ring true to you?