It's been an action-packed 10 years since 1999, a decade that has seen everything from full-blown terrorist attacks to the sinking of New Orleans, from a President elected by the Supreme Court to a President whose father was born in Kenya. So you're forgiven if you failed to note that NYLON has now reached its tenth birthday. In magazine years, that means it's somewhere well into middle age -- an interesting turn of events for a publication targeting some subscribers who had barely started reading when it was launched.

My concept of outdoors is the space between my apartment and a Broadway theater. Turns out, there's a whole lot of shakin' going on in nature. It's not just trees and grass and what passes for pastoral calm in Central Park. There are deer and turkeys and walleyes - and some of them may find their way onto your plate -- if Outdoor Life, the source for hunting and fishing adventure, has anything to say about it.

In the magazine business, it's hard to argue with pedigree. So there's no denying the tagline in every issue of The Saturday Evening Post is a beaut: "Founded A.D. 1728 by Benjamin Franklin." Take that, Jann Wenner. Any mag that can safely get away with inserting A.D. into its year of birth would seem to be in no need of introduction. Yet Ben Franklin's SEP was not Norman Rockwell's SEP, and today's version is another periodical altogether.

I'll admit it: I'm a little jealous of those who are fortunate enough to be collecting Social Security while there's still some left. And as it turns out, they get a fairly interesting magazine to read as part of their $16 per year AARP membership fee.

Any metropolis in America big enough to boast of a professional sports team or a sitcom setting already has a regional magazine. But the quality of so many of those periodicals is rather cookie-cutter, sustained by cover profiles of local newscasters or advertorials disguised as "weekend getaway" vacations. In fact, I have a journalist friend who told me many such mags survive on the advertising generated by the annual Best Local Pizza Issue or Best Local Ice Cream Issue or Best Local Dentists Issue (chances are each of the winners and runners-up bought at least a quarter-page ad).Yankee is different. …

This magazine is in its 25th year, billing itself as "All Travel, All the Time." In this economy, I'd be happy with some of the time -- or at least once before Thanksgiving. As a former travel writer, I love seeing the world. It expands your mind. It touches your soul. It makes your friends jealous, which is why we send postcards in the first place! As NGT notes, "Cities are postcards to the world. Complex, alluring, dynamic and intoxicating." I agree. I don't feel safe unless I have concrete beneath my feet. These boots are made for walking, so …

As women's lives and roles keep evolving, so do their magazines. Look at veteran long-time rivals Good Housekeeping and Ladies' Home Journal. No longer hard-core "little homemaker" pubs, both now include more of what's become the generic formula for women's books, including stories on beauty, fitness -- and yes, sometimes unfortunately, celebrities. How do these mags compare now?

The Feb. 9 & 16 anniversary issue of The New Yorkeris as good a specimen as any to take the pulse of what has often been considered the nation's greatest magazine. The dramatic ascendancy of Tina Brown to the editor's desk in the early 1990s ushered in changes such as more timely articles and color photography, changes that can still be seen under current editor David Remnick. And yet the 2009 New Yorker still has an awful lot in common with the 1925 New Yorker: great writing, great reporting, great artwork.

It isn't just stocks that are splitting. So is Parenting. This month, the magazine transforms itself into two targeted editions: Parenting School Years and Parenting Early Years. Both are getting a design makeover. I have to limit myself to the former. Yes, kids are cute, but much better company once toilet-trained. Then you can take them to the theater, even if it's "Curious George Goes to the Moon." At least, it's a live performance. Later, they can toe-tap to "Guys and Dolls" and wonder at "Wicked."

The folks at Hoffman Media must have some serious chutzpah. While other magazines are folding left and right (at last count more than a dozen bit the dust in January alone) here comes the premiere issue of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade.