I'll turn 51 in about 3 weeks and all of this is so true (although I don't have a love thing for my car--that's just me). One more truth I think can only become more and more true as I get older: I am still all the ages I ever was. I carry with me the 16-year-old me, the 24-year-old, the 35-year-old, the 42-year-old.

I no longer have an active yoga practice--instead I ride my bike everywhere, which is its own form of moving meditation (and mindfulness is essential in traffic!).

I'd have a bike corollary to #14 and #15 to the effect that I don't have to prove I can ride faster than anyone else--I know that it's enough to enjoy the ride for what it is. At the same time, I love the feeling of strength and speed I can have that comes completely from within myself and there's an extra zing to thinking that I may be 50 but I can still fly down the street like a kid.

At 28 or 34 I wouldn't have guessed how strong I'd feel at 50. At this rate I expect 60 to rock.

So.... I read the piece about offering a positive comment before offering a negative one. This piece is nice if you're a collector of vintage ad images showcasing women's bodies. It's also probably awesome for your web traffic with that title.

Other than that, it feels way off base for the kind of thoughtful material I've come to expect of Elephant Journal. It misses the chance to talk about or show how riding a bike makes you feel strong, happy, healthy, and free, thus potentially boosting your sex drive if that's what you're after. Given that you've run very frank material that respects and celebrates the joys of the human body I actually had high hopes for something that would be worth sharing.

Much of the bike industry (and a lot of other industry sectors, for that matter) has a long history of leaving women out entirely or objectifying them. This piece for me just perpetuates that; it doesn't do anything to create a more enlightened society or a better planet, to quote from your mission statement. Pin-ups are quaint but we can do so much better.

I highly recommend "Is This Thing Sexist?" by Elly Blue http://takingthelane.com/2012/09/17/is-this-thing.... I had the privilege of being there when she presented this at the National Women's Bike Summit a year ago. Hint: These images fail the test.

See, that's what happens when you listen to "them". Mom was right--next "they" will tell you to jump off a bridge.

I appreciate the intended satire, while agreeing with some of the other commenters that this is very much a developed-world set of choices. Simply thinking about our food and where it comes from is a first step.

My own choice is to eat vegetarian, buy and preserve locally grown food as much as I'm able to given all the other choices in my life, cook from scratch, and not judge anyone who doesn't do these things. When I became a vegetarian I recognized immediately that I'm able to get enough nutrients to survive without meat because I live in a rich nation, and because I'm at a certain income level I can afford local foods that may cost more. That doesn't make me more virtuous than anyone else.

These folks don't live in my neighborhood, to use @shelisrael's great description of Twitter as a place with lots of global neighborhoods. For folks who want to go see the stars on the sidewalk in Hollywood, though, it's a chance to visit the glamor--little harm done and certainly no skin off my back. I just didn't choose to move there.

To draw a parallel, reality TV could be taken as a sign that TV has jumped the shark (yet again), but there are still a few shows worth watching here and there.

Noise only crowds out signal if we allow it to by tuning in to that channel.

For another slant on one of the names on the list, take a look at the Fast Company piece on Ashton Kutcher, who says he's creating a whole new way of being a media/entertainment/something-or-other property: http://bit.ly/7tJYWl. Is he right?

@BarbChamberlain

Ike,

This is great, and thought-provoking for those who might recommend that people dive headfirst into the Twitterstream without first learning how to swim.

In answer to your question, I use the Web interface for the vast majority of my Twitter time. I use my phone occasionally to tweet an event live, or for Web access when I'm away from my computer.

The real gurus of Twitter's use for anything commercial or recruitment-oriented will be the ones who figure out how to attract and interest those following 100 or fewer, WITHOUT being spammy and intrusive in the process.

I did find it useful when @problogger put a list of Top Ten people to follow in one category on TwiTip, and invited others to chime in with any category they liked.

If it's only 10, it's a manageable starting point, and they come recommended by someone who's paying attention in that interest space. But starting out by following 200 people? I would have drowned the first day, when the water's really fine.

@BarbChamberlain

Oh, agreed absolutely. Creepy Stalker Man is everywhere (most often in the family, statistically speaking).

I still think the very strengths of social media--the ability to connect one to one, and feel you're getting to know a person--can affect the ability to recognize things that would be warning signals if you were meeting for the first time from scratch, with no previous interactions. Parents have to be good educators and listen to/talk to their kids--nothing new there.

@BarbChamberlain

Okay, I'm going to go all Mom on you. I have a 14YO daughter I introduced to Twitter. She greatly enjoys it. That doesn't mean I'm totally comfortable with the idea of her meeting people she knows only through Twitter, even in a public venue.

It sounds great on the surface. But anyone can "be" 14 or 15 on the Web, while in real life being a creepy stalkerish person of any age who would exploit this scenario.

I'm not a "Smother"--I've had both daughters riding public transit alone for quite a while. I want them to develop street smarts and be able to handle unpleasant situations appropriately. But as a parent, I am wary of the false intimacy of social media for impressionable kids who want to be grown-up.

The coffee shop that does this should also consider how to engage and reassure parents of the younger teens. The private-room idea sounds great for 18 and up (I have a daughter that age), but tell me my baby girl is going into a room where they're going to close the door, and I'm going to get twitchy. And chaperone.

@BarbChamberlain

Thanks for the topic--definitely overlooked, and one that interests me. The communications staff I oversee handles both external and internal communications, and we're not using any new tools yet.

We're part of a much larger organization, and a couple of us who are on Twitter have talked about using that, or maybe Yammer, to connect everyone who's so spread out.

No matter what tool or platform we choose, there will be a learning hurdle that some of them have to get over if they're not already in that space.

To state the obvious: I'll continue to use email in addition to whatever I land on. Email is a common tool that I mention because it is a means of carrying on a conversation. I think we're so excited about the new shiny objects we often leave it off the list, and doing a better job of using email for internal communications would be a vast improvement in many workplaces and committees.

@SuzeMuse wrote a blog post on managing email recently that may be of interest: http://suzemuse.netfirms.com/2009/01/13/what-away...

@BarbChamberlain