Ear to the ground:

“It’s the new farting.”
– Local woman discussing how the iphone ringtone has become the latest faux pas in yoga class

The rest of us

If your idea of athletic competition is couch surfing, then we’ve got the app for you.

“Movementum” is the latest Smartphone gadget aimed at getting us off our butts and on our feet.

Created by Centura Health (owner of Mercy Medical Center among others), it is billed as filling the gap in the “athletic app revolution” – created courtesy the Strada craze – between those “training for a marathon or obsessed with setting a new alpine biking record” and “the rest of us.”

Think of the app as your own personal Jillian Michaels, minus the sweat and screaming. The app tracks participants’ daily movements (as in physical movements) and rewards them with points and achievement badges for certain milestones. Daily and overall totals are provided in miles logged, calories burned, personal bests and overall ranking among all participants. The app also includes training tips as well as real-world comparisons, like hiking the equivalent of a 14er or biking enough to burn off last night’s pizza or fries. Users can compete with themselves or against co-workers, spouses, friends or anyone else whose butt they would like to whup, at least virtually. Users also are eligible for like prizes to encourage them to keep on keeping on, from cruiser bikes and exercise video game systems to yoga classes and Visa gift cards (hey, shopping is exercise, too.)

Look for “Movementum” at your nearest App Store or Google Play.

Going to the wolves

And speaking of a little kickstart, Telegraph contributor Stew Mosberg is looking for one as well. Mosberg is making the leap to the world of childrens books and recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund it.

According to Mosberg, his self-published book, White Feather and the Wolves,  follows a wolf pack through a season of hunting and the birth of its pups. The story is told through the voice of the main character, White Feather, a tribal elder.

Mosberg said his interest in wolves stemmed from an unsubstantiated fear of them as a child. “Living in Durango, surrounded by its natural beauty and the many Native American dwelling places, it felt appropriate to share factual information about wolves through the voice of a tribal elder,” he said.

Mosberg hopes to give partial proceeds from book sales to the Wolfwood Refuge.

“My hope is that young readers will gain a deeper understanding of the significance of wolves ... and to gain new found respect for the species,” he said.

To donate go to:www.kickstarter.com/projects/stewmosberg/white-feather-and-the-wolves. Deadline to donate is Sun., June 9.