A Swedish study tells us what common sense should have already: the elderly, both men and women, should ride women's-style bicycles. The upper crossbar that adds stability to high-speed bikes contributes to accidents when mounting or dismounting.

Four out of ten of the people seriously injured or killed in single-vehicle accidents involving a bike is aged over 65-years-old, according to data compiled by the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).

Hip injuries are one of the most common types of injuries incurred when and these often occur at low speeds or when the elderly are getting on or off their bikes.

Researchers at the institute have thus come to the conclusion that it would be preferable if men switched to the traditional low-crossbar design of ladies' bikes when they get older.

The researchers added that the health benefits of bike riding still outweigh the risk of injury for the elderly. Maybe it would be a good idea to get rid of the labels for "mens" and "women's" bikes and come up with terms that just indicate whether the style has a high crossbar. Link -via Arbroath  

This is a guaranteed way to get the grandkids to visit! Steve and Jeri Wakefield of Dallas, Texas, had the world's best treehouse built around the pecan in their backyard nine years ago, when their two grandsons were preschoolers. The tree grows through the house, but does not bear the weight. As the boys grew, they added play equipment to the structure. Now that the grandsons are grown, the neighborhood children use the treehouse. It has several furnished rooms (with air conditioning), which you need to see at Houzz. Link  -via Everlasting Blort

(Image credit: Sarah Greenman)

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Ronan the sea lion is said to be the first non-human mammal to keep a musical beat without other cues. Sure, humans and birds can do it, but they also sing. Ronan was trained to do this, but once she got the hang of what the researchers wanted, she can synch her "dancing" to new songs with different beats. Link

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The Utah Kirishnas Holi celebration, the Festival of Colors, took place this past weekend in Spanish Fork, Utah. Devin Supertramp produced a video of the highlights, including the simultaneous release of colored powder to welcome spring, captured by remote control helicopters equipped with cameras. The song is "Light It Up" by Scott & Brendo. The next Festival of Colors will be April 20th in Salt Lake City. -Thanks, David Oakes!

Chet Phillips (previously at Neatorama) has a new series of posters featuring your favorite quotes from the movies of the Coen Brothers. My favorite is Raising Arizona, above. Continue reading to see The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and Miller's Crossing.

The curators of George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon periodically sell whiskey made from the first president's recipe. Whether you'd want to drink it is your own decision, because in its day, Washington's whiskey wasn't regarded as the greatest, or even average.

Peter Carlson’s essay in the June 2010 edition of American History describes the scene at Washington’s Virginia plantation, where, in 1797, the former president installed a 75-by-30 foot distillery and made “very bad rye whiskey” from his neighboring farm’s excess grain. (Carlson interviewed Dennis Pogue, Mount Vernon’s associate director, who politely described the swill as having “a pretty sharp taste.”) No matter about the harsh flavor, though. Washington was a rock star, so, in 1798, his distillery produced 4,000 gallons of the white lighting and sold it for 50 cents per gallon. One year later, Mount Vernon produced 11,000 gallons for public consumption. Cha-ching!

Then as today, the value is in the name, not the actual product. Read more at Death and Taxes. Link

Some animals seem to have gotten the short end of the stick from evolution. In a humorous post at Scientific American, some of these animals let their grievances be made known. A letter from an Emperor penguin starts out:

Let’s start with the wings: did you really have to turn them into flippers? Don’t get us wrong—we appreciate the swimming and diving talents. But couldn’t you have come up with some kind of compromise so that we could still fly? Maybe a 2-in-1 special, a wing/flipper hybrid? After all, there are fish that can fly. Some squid can fly. And they don’t even have feathers. We know we’re not alone in being flightless, but you made ostriches, emus and cassowaries total badasses, what with their powerful legs and deadly claws. We’re more like large tuxedoed kiwis.

That's just the first part of the poor penguin's complaints. But it's not all bad. Some animals express gratitude for perks as well as quibbles. Link -via Boing Boing  

The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research.

A personal insight
by Professor Felicia Schmutzgarten

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The author is a professor at a liberal arts college in the United States. We have disguised her name and location, for reasons that may be apparent to the reader.]

There is a simple way to get girls interested in science. It was revealed, indirectly, at a faculty meeting I attended last week.

At my college, most of the students are female, and so are most of our faculty members. The problem on the table was student attendance -- or rather, the all-too-frequent lack thereof. “I’m surprised,” said one of our brand-new biology professors, a man I shall call Dr. Fox. Dr. Fox is a recent Ph.D. with Ivy-League medical training, several publications in prestigious journals, a postdoc in genomics, Atlantic-stormy blue eyes, high faceted cheekbones, broad shoulders, and perma-tousled raven-black hair. “Do you know,” he went on in his smoky baritone, “it’s mid-October already and I haven’t had a single absence all semester.”

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Dog trainer Omar Muller shows of what Australian shepherd Jumpy can do. Is there anything beyond the talents of this intelligent, strong, and fearless dog? -via Daily Picks and Flicks

Jen Yates of Cake Wrecks has declared it. The famous visage of Grumpy Cat got rendered into an Easter bunny cake by Julie Freund. Sweet! Link

Redditor laporkenstein's father constructed this awesome breakfast for his 2-year-old granddaughter. She was a little hesitant about it at first, but them giggled and ate it. Luckily, this picture was taken first. Link

In Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, lies a 45-acre temple complex dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Parvati and her husband consort, Shiva. The Meenakshi Amman Temple is surrounded by ten towers, which are each covered with thousands of stone statues depicting Hindu figures. The picture shown here is but a small detail of one tower. Kuriositas has photographs of the towers up close and far away, the temple complex itself, and interior shots, all with breathtakingly intricate details. Link -via the Presurfer

(Image credit: Flickr user muvare)

The University of Louisville beat Duke Sunday to advance to the NCAA Final Four. But that's not the big story. Louisville sophomore Kevin Ware suffered a freak accident that resulted in a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula. The injury was shown on live TV, and it was frightening. The image above is the Louisville bench's reaction. The video is available on the internet, but you don't want to see it. A commenter on Fark asked those who've seen the video to rate it on a scale from one to Theismann. The response was that it was worse than Joe Theismann's 1985 football injury of the same kind. Louisville coach Rick Pitino shed tears and there are reports of fans throwing up. Ware underwent surgery to set the bones, and a steel rod was inserted in one of them. He is expected to recover completely. Meanwhile, a debate has sprung up about the ethics of showing the injury on video or even still images. You can learn about the incident and the controversy without watching the footage. Link

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It's all so clear now -YouTube was a big, eight-year-long contest. And we'll have to wait ten years to find out who's the winner. But then again …when YouTube is scheduled to go black at midnight tonight, it will be April Fool's Day. -via Viral Viral Videos

(Image credit: Flickr user Thomas Hawk)

Uncle John took us out to an exclusive nightclub, and wouldn't you know it -Ol' Jay was the bouncer. "You can't come in unless you know the password!" he barked. Then a man came up to the door and Jay said, "12."

The man replied, "6," and Jay let him in.

Then a woman walked up and Jay said, "6."

The woman replied, "3," and was let in.

Brian exclaimed "This is easy!" and stepped up to the entrance.

Jay said, "8."

Brian replied, "4."

Jay yelled, "Wrong! Now go away!"

While we were driving back home to the Bathroom Reader Institute, Uncle John figured out what Brian should have said. What was it?

Think about it, and then when you give up, continue reading to see the answer.