Airport Scare-Ya

Here’s another one of those Airport Scare-ya articles. This time it’s Health Risks of Walking Barefoot Through Airport Security.

But I detect a hint of an ulterior motive . . .

Read Full Post »

Mid-Flight Mis-Focus

The New York Times has weighed in again, this time regarding bare feet on airplanes, and yet again focus on the wrong culprits.

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.

Read Full Post »

One in Six Podiatrists . . .

On his America’s Podiatrist blog, Dr. Michael Nirenberg points us to a survey of podiatrists in the magazine Podiatry Management. The survey asks “Do you recommend barefoot running?”

The response is (somewhat) better than I thought it might be.

Read Full Post »

Hope on the Trail

I hiked at Lake Hope State Park a few times in the last week, so I thought I’d combine my photos from those two hikes.

But first some deer.

Read Full Post »

Saturday Comic

Our cartoon for this weekend comes from Frank & Ernest. It appeared October 3, 2013.

Frank & Ernest, October 3, 2013

 

What barefooter doesn’t like a podiatrist joke?

 

Read Full Post »

What’s Glove Got to Do With It?

This is the time of year when many people are beginning to wonder what they will do as winter approaches. Some of these are folks who have recently come to barefoot running, and that has led to their going barefoot much more in their lives, not just in running. Many are asking, what should I wear now?

I don’t want to address barefoot running in cooler temperatures, just what to do if you want to go barefoot while out and about.

My words of advice are . . .

Read Full Post »

These Feet Were Made for Walkin’

There’s an interesting new study that looks at how our hands and feet are wired in our brains. The results of the study suggest that hands for tool use evolved before feet for walking (the debate is over whether we evolved walking to free up our hands for tool use, or we evolved tool use after our hands were freed up because of upright walking).

But I was fascinated by another aspect of the study.

Read Full Post »

Colorful Characters — Adam Hrankowski

Would you give a kidney to somebody you barely knew?

Well, that’s what barefooter Adam Hrankowski did.

Read Full Post »

Snakebitten

Barefooters will get comments from people who ask if they aren’t concerned about venomous snakes. The thing is, when it comes to such snakes, being barefoot really isn’t that much more dangerous.

I’ve got two snakebite stories here to show that.

[Warning: one of my pictures will be really horrible looking (no, it’s not “graphic”, the latest euphemism; it’s “horrible”), so be careful clicking through.]

Read Full Post »

Rapa Nui

For most of its existence, the default for the human race has been to go barefoot. Sometimes weather conditions induce shoe-wearing, but when we look at cultures that live where the weather is relatively benign, temperature-wise, we find that they’ve almost always gone barefoot.

Today I’m going to take a look at Rapa Nui: Easter Island (Isla de Pascua, Île de Pâques).

Read Full Post »

Saturday Cartoon

I think Dennis the Menace is the comic strip that most often shows the joys of going barefoot (though it’s rare even there). Today’s cartoon is from April 12 of 2004.

Dennis the Menace, April 12, 2004

It’s nice that it shows an adult realizing how going barefoot is part of enjoying life.

 

Read Full Post »

Jimmy Buffett — Timid Barefooter

Jimmy Buffett is pretty well-known for going barefoot, at least during his concerts. It’s part of being a relaxed parrothead. I’m reminded of him since I caught him on the Ellen Show yesterday.

But celebrity barefooting always seems to be rather limited.

Read Full Post »

Cumberland Gap

The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park on the Kentucky/Tennessee border is a very interesting place to visit. Daniel Boone’s “Wilderness Trail” used to Cumberland Gap to do its final crossing of the Appalachians to get into and settle Kentucky.

And it has a barefoot connection.

Read Full Post »

Barefoot Lincoln

Yesterday I noted how the Lincoln Museum whitewashes the fact that Abraham Lincoln went mostly barefoot as a boy. My guess is that the concept of going barefoot is so alien to them, and that they are so fearful, that they don’t want today’s kids to get the “wrong idea” about going barefoot.

Today I thought I’d look at some more of the descriptions of Lincoln going barefoot, thus also providing historical evidence to that effect.

Read Full Post »

Boyhood Lincoln: Unwelcome at the Lincoln Museum

I spent the weekend in Springfield, Illinois, for the wedding of a dear friend’s daughter. I’m afraid I’ve reached the age where my own kids are getting married, along with the kids of my sibling and close friends.

And you know what that means: shoes.

Read Full Post »