I think I know why they called them "The good old days"

[ER]

Over the summer I went with a collector friend of mine (who also happens to be a doctor) to an auction of nineteenth-century British medical books, and one of these was a journal from 1889 published by the Birmingham Royal Society of Physicians. Something sticks out in my mind. One Physician writing in the journal decried the alarming presence of diabetes among the elderly, citing the unacceptability of 1 in 600 of his patients over age 50 being so afflicted.

1 in 600.
 1 in 600.
   1 in 600.

I assume that wasn't a misprint.

Yes, there is something to be said for the good old days.

[Newt]

Here's irony for you: a 15 y.o. boy ran away from home here in Ontario a few weeks ago after his parents had grounded him from his X-Box.  They felt he was addicted to it (actually to a certain game and its online community). They argued about the time he was spending gaming and the boy took off on his bike.  His body was found last week.  The autopsy results released yesterday concluded that his death was due to a fall from a tree.   

So...was it being out in the great outdoors, tree-climbing, that killed him, or was it the lack of practice? 

I really hope his parents do not go the "If we had not got into it, he would have been safe in his room and not up that tree" route.   

[Mr. DS]

Here's irony for you: a 15 y.o. boy ran away from home here in Ontario a few weeks ago after his parents had grounded him from his X-Box.  They felt he was addicted to it (actually to a certain game and its online community). They argued about the time he was spending gaming and the boy took off on his bike.  His body was found last week.  The autopsy results released yesterday concluded that his death was due to a fall from a tree.   

So...was it being out in the great outdoors, tree-climbing, that killed him, or was it the lack of practice? 

I really hope his parents do not go the "If we had not got into it, he would have been safe in his room and not up that tree" route.   

I want to make comments on this story but I simply can't find anything tasteful to say.   

[ghouck]

Here's irony for you: a 15 y.o. boy ran away from home here in Ontario a few weeks ago after his parents had grounded him from his X-Box.  They felt he was addicted to it (actually to a certain game and its online community). They argued about the time he was spending gaming and the boy took off on his bike.  His body was found last week.  The autopsy results released yesterday concluded that his death was due to a fall from a tree.  

So...was it being out in the great outdoors, tree-climbing, that killed him, or was it the lack of practice? 

I really hope his parents do not go the "If we had not got into it, he would have been safe in his room and not up that tree" route.  

I'd tend to believe the lack of practice. My kid spends quite a bit of time outdoors and knows how to take a fall better than friends that DON'T spend as much time outdoors, but not as well as I did beck when I was growing up in a time where we spent MUCH more time out there. The kid that stays inside a lot is the kid that doesn't react quickly enough or correctly when something comes flying at them or when they loose their footing. They say one gets injured more when they stiffen up and a relaxed person gets injured less, and I think there's a bit of truth to it that applies OUTSIDE the realm of drunk drivers.