CAPTAIN OBVIOUS HERE with a couple pieces of information that will be news to you, if you don’t know about them already.

1.  The following news is from the New York Times (which is a New York City newspaper):

Study: Exercise in middle age is important to health

Yes, a landmark, ground-breaking study found that men aged between 65 and 83 who exercised several times per week were healthier and less likely to die over the 11 years of the study than men who were sedentary. And there’s more: previous studies have found that not smoking is healthier, as is being moderate with alcohol, and that wealthier people have fewer health problems.

These studies took years to complete and no doubt thousands, if not millions, of dollars to implement. Of course, they could have just asked some middle-aged people why they exercise regularly.

Now to give the Times a little credit for running this piece, the study also looked at sedentary people who started exercise in middle age. These people aged nearly as successfully as those who were active their entire lives. All exercisers lived longer and better than those who remained sedentary.

So while exercise throughout one’s lifetime is best, it’s never too late to start and gain the benefits. This is great news. So why are you still reading? Get up and DO something, slouches! Come back in 30 minutes. I’ll wait.

2. There are people online who would love to steal your money during the holidays.

I got a nice message at work today from our helpful SysAdmin, warning us about the proliferation of emails pretending to be invoices, “order confirmations” or offers of free gift certificates. All you have to do is “click here” for details. And if you do, you’re in for a nasty surprise. You, too, can have your identity stolen and your laptop hijacked to join the botnet!

Since I love collecting scam emails (you wouldn’t believe how many lotteries I’ve won that I never entered) I was already aware of the practice. But I just had to share this one.

Looks fairly convincing at first sight, right? Naturally, there are a few clues – like it doesn’t know my name, and the bad grammar. But here’s the kicker:

Well, it IS caroling season!

Gotta go. I’m going to do a study to find out if people who stand in the rain get wetter than those who stay indoors. And for a few extra thousand, I’ll also study whether you get wetter walking in the rain, or running in it. Where do I send the proposal?