This isn't exactly publishing industry-related, except to the extent that most people reading this blog are doing it from their workspace: Australian researchers have discovered that extended sitting is bad for your health. According to the study, "those who took more breaks from sitting had lower waist circumferences, lower body mass indexes and lower levels of triglycerides and glucose in blood," which meant they were at lower risk for heart disease and diabetes. So get up from your desk whenever you can; tell operations to spring for a headset so you can walk around your office—or, more likely, pace back and forth in your cubicle—whenever you're on the phone. (But, no, smoke breaks should not be used as an excuse to get out of your chair. Not even if you're taking the stairs instead of the elevator.)

If you want to abandon your desk and wander around for a bit, perhaps you could persuade your boss to let you telecommute from Starbucks, where, at some vague indeterminate point in the future, card-carrying customers will get free WiFi access. The plan, developed with new service provider AT&T, calls for "Starbucks card" users who have an active cash balance to receive credit for two free hours of wireless Internet connectivity. Of course, there's a marketing angle: As reported in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "when customers use the free WiFi, they will be directed to a page that Starbucks also could use to promote CDs or books sold in stores." Heck, don't be surprised if somewhere down the line, they start selling ebooks to customers in a book-biz parallel to the existing relationship with Apple's iTunes.

(If somebody actually does try this as a work plan—I'm guessing an agent, maybe—please just remember to get up and move about once or twice. Hey, maybe you could have a work buddy to watch your stuff if you leave the table!)