I grew up playing at this church in the 1970’s and passed it everyday until the early 2000s when I moved a bit further north.
It’s a wonderful building and a loss for the town, but as a whole the town has completely changed (for the worse) since the internet grabbed local commerce by the neck. It’s not a unique story, probably most of us in the smaller towns in England have seen it.
I was born the 70's, played outside for all my childhood amidst all the leaded petrol and sulphur dioxide, I handled leaded petrol for a job at a petrol station for solid three years and I lived in dense urban town from childhood until today.
Everything seems to be way lower than it ever has been:
> So why is everything framed as being more deadly now than it was given the all time lows?
Because it's a false predicate for the war on the car and the removal of personal agency in urban areas - a war being waged at multiple levels of government in the UK in particular.
If I was being a pedant (which I tacitly now am), I'd be tempted to add two things:
1 - mindfulness meditation. Building the ability of the mind to hold attention is arguably just as useful as training the muscles. Especially for longer term knowledge workers who "get a bit bored of this staring at the screen thing". Like me. This comment is evidence of my ability to procrastinate.
2 - eat wide and well. Up to the individual to decide what that translates into, but eating wide and well will give you all the range of macro and micro nutrients you'll need for optimum cognitive performance.
This ̶m̶u̶s̶h̶r̶o̶o̶m̶ ̶ fungi is easy enough to grow and cultivate yourself[2][3] - IF - you have time for such shenanigans. I did this last year through summer and autumn in my garage. I'm making no claims about effects or health benefits, but it is tasty and I managed to grow it on a number of substrates (including waste such as brown cardboard and coffee grounds).
If you're in the UK (as I am)and you see it wild, don't pick it though as Lions Mane / Bearded Tooth is a protected species[1].
Gourmet mushrooms are starting to filter into food chains in various locations through local independents who are very passionate and skilled about their cultivation practice[4].
Mycology is a fascinating hobby and plays very nice with woodworking as the waste from one activity feeds into the next on a small scale.
It's surprising more mushrooms aren't actively cultivated. One thing is the mycorrhizing kinds which are hard to farm, but there are plenty of types which just need the right substrate and some care. Lion's mane, which unfortunately doesn't grow in my country, is one, but there is also sulfur shelf a.k.a. chicken of the woods which I would have thought would be a great candidate for mass cultivation. Shaggy mane inkcaps have terrible shelf life, so I understand why those aren't cultivated, but it should also be fairly straightforward to do on a small scale.
If I had a few more days per week and few spare hundred K kicking around I'd be having a poke at some of this stuff as a small scale business.
I totally agree, it is surprising that fungi and mushrooms (the fruiting bodies of fungi) are not more widely cultivated - especially as use goes beyond food.
I'mn currently experimenting with hollowing out Fomes fomentarius [1] brackets(hoof fungus), polishing them up, flattening the backs and finishing them with hardwax. Not quite sure where this will go but I'd like to see if I could fit battery powered lights in them and use them as odd but quirky reading lights.
It's surprising more mushrooms aren't actively cultivated
I asked a mycologist acquaintance this at a party some time ago (several folks were talking about unusual recipe ingredients). He said it's just that most mushrooms don't travel well enough to be profitable enough for the grocery chains. But local mushroom growers seem to be showing up more and more at the famers markets at least around here, so we're getting more variety.
Chicken of the woods has an odd texture. Kind of gritty. So though it's abundant where we live, most mushroom hunters don't pick them. Cutting off and eating just the edge gives you a better texture than the entire mushroom.
Additional edible mushrooms are here; warning: many edibles have non-edible lookalike “twins” - and whole books are written on the topic on identifying mushrooms:
I'd ask them why, I'm sure they can explain it. My initial thought is that when you powder fruiting bodies (mushrooms) the weight is effectively divided by 10 4oz (113g?) of dried powder probably has 40oz (1.3kg) of input. By the time you add in processing and packaging who knows what the cost is.
I know I looked at what you could realistically charge to restaurants in the UK and it was somewhere around £15 a kilo. This is why I'd prefer to eat the thing, rather than a product of the thing.
Ask them - see what they say. I'd be surprised if they didn't explain it.
You'd need to ask the woodland trust that question but I get the feeling it's because it is rare thing to see wild in the UK.
It could also to be something to do with the Plant Health Act 1967 which is aimed at stopping the spread of <insert thing you're trying to stop>. Inadvertently Introducing new fungal varieties into a woodland may cause damage to the woodland.
I don't know for certain though but probably down to a different take on policy approaches to ecology between our two countries.
I've seen them often sold at the weekend farmers' markets. Last I saw them was the Sunday Marylebone market (which is a small one so I assume they're more readily available at larger ones)
I'm in Newcastle / Northumberland but I dare say as you are in the capital you'd be able to find a suitable independent retailer somewhere. Newcastle has a place on Chilli Road and given the size of Newcastle compared to London, you'll be able to find somewhere.
I'd probably start with businesses that sell organic food. But you already probably knew that and so these words are futile. I offer them in good faith.
For what it's worth, I had the same growing concerns over my tech career though I have to be honest, I wasn't as down on it as you seem to be. I totally get the idea of doing something to make yours (and maybe someone elses) universe a little better,
I started in tech in the late 90's making websites, that lead into design and development, I ran a company for a bit doing consultancy from 2007 to 2013 and then took at job at a start up as the first technical and design person. I stayed there for nine years, moved into the CTO role, then the CIO role and then last year I quit the industry to go back to a local rural college and study arboriculture and forestry. I now spend my days learning about trees and doing chainsaw work. By the time summer comes around I'll have all the qualifications I need to actually work as a climber who can use a chainsaw up a a tree or as a forester to go into plantations and fell timber stock. I also got pretty interested in woodworking in 2018 and I've spent a few years slowly self renovating my (very small) garage into a workshop capable of small scale production of "craft" items. Between the tree work and the creative sales I'm hoping to get a modest income up and running by the end of the year. It'll never be a tech salary, but that's fine because I'm out in the woods and in nature and that's a price tech could never pay. Even when the weather is cold, wet and grey there's still something to being outside and working (though I'm sure that will wear off after a few years)
People often congratulate me on quitting to get "my dream job", or because I'm "following my passion" and neither of those things are true. My dream job is to work on whatever I want without having to worry about money. What I'm doing now is something I'm prepared to do for money because a) it is great fun and b) I'm doing something that at the end of the day leaves the planet in a slightly better state than it was at the start of the day.
My unsolicited advice to you is to turn some of that cynicism into harnessable energy. It's not easy for sure, but that's kind of the point. If you stay with that easy pay check everything will be hard because you don't want to be there. Turn that around and do the hard thing of finding or up-skilling into something else and then you'll find most things will be easy because the simple act of changing your life will give you some wind in your sails.
If it's important - I'm in the UK. Northumberland to be precise.
This may be a random link[1] to a page on the internet, but this author seems to have picked out a lot of benefits and whilst the page is aimed at seniors, much can apply to adults in general.
I agree but I think it is worth pointing out the two activities (cardio vs lifting) use different energy pathways (aerobic vs anaerobic). You almost certainly know that, so my comment is aimed at giving other readers some deeper context.
It's also worth pointing out that no energy pathway acts alone. You're always using all of them in some degree, but a particular activity will use one of them over the others. You will strengthen them in conjunction, though what you focus on will improve the most.
People who are into lifting are more likely to associate the term Weightlifting with the practice of Olympic Weightlifting. This article is about powerlifting.
Olympic lifting focuses on the two dynamic, technique-driven main movements. The clean and jerk, which is a two-part lift and the snatch, which is a single movement lift. Up until 1972, the press was also an olympic movement, but it became too hard to judge and was so removed. There are rigorous criteria in competitions.
Powerlifting, as the article goes onto state is centered around three movements, the squat, the deadlift and the bench press. Just like olympic lifting (or weightlifting), powerlifting has strict criteria for competition lifts. The aim of powerlifting though is to move as much weight as possible.
For people who do not lift, they typically hear the phrase "weightlifting" and think of the practice of bodybuilding which is concerned with hypertrophy of muscle groups to build a balanced and awe-inducing physique.
Context: I like to dabble in weightlifting as a fun pursuit and held a very minor title for a short time period. It was a hollow victory, as due to my only competitor weighing in 0.4kg too light, I ended up as the only person in my age/weight category. I won because I made all my lifts. I was competing against myself.
To make it a little more confusing, olympic weightlifting's lifts are more powerful (think watts--energy over time--explosiveness) than the three power lifts.
Weightlifting is very technical. If you want to compete in weightlifting (or just perfect more complicated lifts than the power lifts), go do it. I'm not aware of weightlifting (properly coached) being any more dangerous than powerlifting - anecdotally, I know more injured powerlifters than weightlifters.
The older I get, the more I want to be a 'jack of all trades, master of none' in terms of fitness, but that's just a personal bias. I don't have the patience or the motivation to ever learn how to do a snatch or squat clean properly, but I see the appeal.
I feel the part of weightlifting that makes it more dangerous is probably why weightlifters are less injured than powerlifters. Weightlifting is technically hard, and most weightlifters start from day one with a coach. Powerlifts are "simple," and as such most powerlifters don't start with a coach and end up doing things wrong and hurting themself.
Or, you could go the route I did, and start with a coach, and still injure yourself.
Just because you know how to do something correctly doesn't mean you always will. I personally believe the combination of speed and weight makes olympic lifts inherently dangerous.
Most sports have a lot of survivorship bias. It looks like people can do them forever because a lot of other people have dropped out.
Powerlifters will definately bench press more because weightlifters don't bench.
When comparing the squat - powerlifters perform a low bar squat and hence you cannot compare it to the high bar squat the weightlifters do. I think weightlifters have much more powerful legs though - when you compare across the same lifts.
Weightlifters dont specialize in the deadlift however it is a part of their training and I think weightlifters will out deadlift powerlifters if they focus on it.
Good summary! One could almost say that the main point of weightlifting is maximum power production, while the main point of powerlifting is moving as much weight as possible. Ha!
I'm in this world and never bring this up when people are discussing it. It's like bringing up difference between hacker/cracker. People don't care and their eyes will glaze over in disinterest.
Do I really need to squeeze my shoulder blades together and pull my shoulders down during bench? It feels SO unnatural..but otherwise my shoulders hurt.
You don't need to. But it will allow you to press more weight with less risk of injury. It only feels unnatural because you're used to just lying flat on the bench with a relaxed back - doing that now feels "unnatural" to me.
Try this: walk over to a nearby wall and "try" to push it over. That is, put yourself into the position that feels like you have the best brace and power to transfer force into the wall, and actually do it. Notice where your hands, elbows and shoulder blades end up. That's basically the same position as a good powerlifting bench.
Do my push-wall exercise in front of a mirror, and look at your back. I bet you it's arched.
Obviously, don't do something that's painful. But it's important to recognize the difference between "painful" and "uncomfortable." One is a sign you are doing something detrimental to your body; the other is a sign you are doing something you are unfamiliar with. If a low to moderate arch is what works for you, that's fine. I bench with a low to moderate arch, and yes, my bench is also considerably weaker than my other lifts.
335 squat, 440 deadlift, 215 bench... I feel my deadlift and squat are good. Squat a bit weak but it's progressing. I've been at 215-235 bench for years.
It took me over a year of benching before I realized that my shoulders shouldn't feel anything from benching correctly. There are a ton of good youtube videos on scapular retraction, if you learn to do that and make it part of your routine you'll never have shoulder pain again. I'm not sure if it makes benching more or less efficient, but I'm able to recover significantly quicker and so I've made better progress since learning to retract.
If you feel nothing in your pecs you might have your hands too close together. Hand separation generally selects from a gradient of tricep vs chest for me.
Yep, pecs triceps and lats are where I feel it when I bench. "Proper" hand positioning should be double the length of your clavicle, if you can measure it.
Yes. But like all things, it takes time and practice doing something different before it feels natural. Doing it this way is better for your shoulders.
Good idea to do this during squats as well, but for a different reason: engaging the lats (the "pulling my shoulders down" part) helps to make your back more rigid.
Pragmatic preparative and preemptive steps. Ensuring you have tinctures, medication, arranging to work from home, rearranging child care. Small things, but when you're dealing with a foggy head, stuffed nose and a cough then every small thing helps.
It’s a wonderful building and a loss for the town, but as a whole the town has completely changed (for the worse) since the internet grabbed local commerce by the neck. It’s not a unique story, probably most of us in the smaller towns in England have seen it.