Nice site here on hand health. You may want something simple like a stronger grip but training grip only leads to imbalanced hands and raises the potential for injury so like it or not, you have to train the hands in all kinds of different ways.

Interesting article here on the importance of glute strength and there are several tests you can do to find which stretches / exercises you need to balance your glutes / hip flexors / etc.

Interesting article here that makes a strong case for doing 1 leg squats because these involve more muscles and are more functional than traditional squats.

Also mentions 1 leg straight leg deadlifts and slideboard leg curls (which seem to require some fancy equipment I’ve never seen before).

I found this old New York Times article by accident. It talks about how Male hormone replacement therapy or testosterone therapy has been around for over a century (although back in the day they would put ram testicles in men) and how we haven’t really done research to see how safe and effective it is.

That was in 2002. I’m not sure what (if any) research has been done since then. Does testosterone help reduce the aging process in men? And if it does, is it really necessary consideri9ng guys like Willie Gault and Jack LaLanne who are doing fine with “just” exercise and diet?

The Guardian has an interesting piece on Orwell and the writing of 1984. The information about the treatment of Orwell’s tuberculosis (TB) seems to indicate that he suffered a fairly severe skin hypersensivity reaction to streptomycin.

“In 1947 there was no cure for TB - doctors prescribed fresh air and a regular diet - but there was a new, experimental drug on the market, streptomycin. Astor arranged for a shipment to Hairmyres from the US.

Richard Blair believes that his father was given excessive doses of the new wonder drug. The side effects were horrific (throat ulcers, blisters in the mouth, hair loss, peeling skin and the disintegration of toe and fingernails) but in March 1948, after a three-month course, the TB symptoms had disappeared. “It’s all over now, and evidently the drug has done its stuff,” Orwell told his publisher. “It’s rather like sinking the ship to get rid of the rats, but worth it if it works.”

Streptomycin was the first aminoglycoside antibiotic developed, in the early 1940s, and was used first line in the treatment of tuberculosis. Martindale tells us that:

Hypersensitivity skin reactions are reported in about 5% of patients, and eosinophilia may occur. There have been reports of Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, severe exfoliative dermatitis, and anaphylaxis.

Skin reactions are not uncommon. Orwell’s seem relatively severe, if not life-threatening, and is illustrative of how people make judgements about the risks they are willing to accept from treatment in the face of a disease.