A GOOD LIFE DECISION

Not that I'm a closet fan or anything, but Bush Sr. going sky-diving at 80 is impressive.

What's weird about people is that their risk aversion increases as they get older and have less to lose. Teenagers (incremental life expectancy 70 years or more) drive drunk too fast on icy streets without wearing seatbelts while smoking. Meanwhile 80 year-old women drink organic boullion and stay indoors.

And they've discovered that old people who work out and are physically active do much better than those who give in to the cultural expectation that they shut up, eat their oatmeal, and watch TV.

But T.S. Eliot had the best take: "Old men should be explorers." Why send a perfectly good young adult on a suicide expedition to the Antarctic? Send some old geezers no one will miss anyway. I'll volunteer.