Observations at the Gym

In his Observations at the Gym, Michael Gilleland notes that the gym crowd is "voluntarily adopting practices that used to be visited on prisoners as punishments," such as running on a treadmill — originally invented by William Cubitt as a punishment for prisoners (and a way to grind grain) — and wearing tattoos — which used to be the province of barbarians, slaves, and prisoners.

(Hat tip to Mangan.)