Clippings

Lettrs

The Lettrs app will let you send snail mail from an iOS device. Sounds like a crossover between digital and analog communication. Two paragraphs sum up the hold handwriting still has in my life.

According to lettrs, an estimated 40 billion letters are stored in boxes, drawers and basements across the United States. The new mobile app furthers lettrs' commitment to help people preserve those beloved letters from family and friends, and to highlight the happiness in sending and receiving snail mail.

"Implicit with the phrase 'I sent you a letter' is the notion that someone took time to choose more deliberate words, more completed thoughts," Bartkiewicz says. "And the words of a letter delightfully exist without a 'reply' button hanging over them.

The app will be introduced at PostalVision 2020/3.0 and the developer will lead a panel "on the future of written communications."

Here's Why I bought a Fitbit

This study is reported at Medical News Today with the headline "Stroke Survivors Benefit From Regular, Brisk Outdoor Walks" and contains the following

Previous studies have already suggested that exercise that doesn't put undue stresson the body can help stroke survivors increase their quality of life, but these have mainly studied the effect of indoor activities such as walking on a treadmill or using an exercise bike."Little is known about the effects of community-based walking programs in persons with chronic stroke," write the authors.

So lead author and physical therapy lecturer Carron Gordon and colleagues decided to carry out a randomized controlled trial to investigate effects of aerobic training, namely walking outdoors, on stroke survivors.

Early results indicate I'm a long way from the 6000-steps-a-week recommendation I saw in another journal, but I can at least make sure I'm active.