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November 2007 Archives

November 1, 2007

Age With Rage

Kavan Peterson, a crack writer and one of the driving forces behind this blog turned the spotlight in this provocative piece on the emerging power of the Aging Services sector of the American economy.

Aging Industries Ranked Among Most Lucrative Markets For Making Millions

Kavan works with us at the Erickson School and we are poised, IMHO, to make history. From its home-base on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) campus, the school will, in short order, have influence in every corner of the nation. Our school offers opportunities for incoming freshmen, transfer students, graduate students and people working in the field who seek premier Executive Education coursework. And yes we also have plans for world domination.

Great faculty, great staff, great campus, we are all about Changing Aging.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 1, 2007 6:12 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

"They Die First..."

Last week I blogged about the incredibly stupid and racist comments of the Department of Justice's Voting rights section chief John Tanner. ("minorities don't become elderly the way white people do: They die first.") I thought at the time that this insult would be lost in the fog of information that surrounds us all.

I was wrong.

First off, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) publicly called for Tanner to be sacked based on those remarks.

Now comes the "please don't fire me!" Mea Sorta Culpa...

I want to apologize for the comments I made at the recent meeting of the National Latino Congreso about the impact of voter identification laws on elderly and minority voters. I understand that my explanation of the data came across in a hurtful way which I deeply regret. The reports of my comments do not in any way accurately reflect my career of devotion to enforcing federal laws designed to assure fair and equal access to the ballot. I am honored to have the opportunity to do this work, and I am honored to serve with the dedicated employees of the Voting Section who, day in and day out, work hard to protect the rights of all Americans under the Voting Rights Act.

It's worth noting that Tanner does not actually retract his conclusion that voter ID laws discriminate against whites, he just sort of wishes people had not gotten so worked up about it-- that's all.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 1, 2007 10:28 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Choice Matters

Rich makes a telling observation in the comments.

I also have people in my life whom I believe are not stuck in adulthood but are simply not ready to move to the next chapter yet, if ever. One such friend is in her mid 80's and is having the time of her life still "doing" and may never find the time for just "being". But that is her choice, and while it would not be mine, I reject the notion that she is somehow misguided or missing out on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of life. The rub for me is when people find themselves in boxes not of their own making or choice. Death is the enemy of the happy man but it is not the kind of enemy to be feared but rather avoided at all costs. I know that I will embrace my elderhood with passion. I also will celebrate with those who are enjoying the fine patina of a rich extended adulthood. I believe that some people simply never need or want desert with a carefully prepared and joyfully eaten main course.

Some academics argue that the impulse toward gerotranscendence is a primal human drive and thus an elemental part of human nature. Others respond that these changes are more likely to represent a kind of widely shared "tendency. In either case, the culture in which one lives can either enable or impede change in late life.

(Cultural norms are well known as inhibitors of other "universal human tendencies.")

Our task is to dream of, and then bring into being , a society where people can freely choose the kind of elderhood that fits them best.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 1, 2007 12:04 PM |Permalink |Comments (7)

November 2, 2007

Eyes Wide Shut

Last week a new national poll on long-term care in the 2008 elections was released. Commissioned by Genworth Financial, the fieldwork was done by Public Opinion Strategies and the Mellman Group it included this little gem...

- Nearly 7 in 10 Americans have not made any plans for their own, a spouse’s or another relative’s long-term care needs. Yet, over half of those surveyed have had a loved one who needed a form of long-term care.

Nicole and Tom are likely to be able to pay out of pocket for whatever kind of long-term care they, or the people they love, might need. Rolling in the bucks does not and can not, however, gurantee a life worth living. (Anyone seen Howard Hughes around lately?)

If you are reading this blog then you are very unlikely to be a multi-millionaire, international star of stage and screen.

The wealth that flesh and blood human beings need to need to live into advanced old age (or with a chronic disabling illness or injury) and retain personal dignity and autonomy must come in two forms...

1) Financial Capital. You know, the bacon (as in "bring home"), bread, dough, cabbage, lettuce, kale, folding green, long green, mazuma, moolah, oscar, pap, plaster, rivets, scratch, spondulicks, bone, buck, bullet, case note, clam, coconut, frogskin, lizard, peso, rock, scrip, simoleon, denaro, folding dead presidents-- cash.

2) Social Capital. This is one creative approach to the generation and investment of social capital.

Both kinds of wealth are necessary and neither is sufficient.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 2, 2007 6:44 AM |Permalink |Comments (4)

November 3, 2007

Otis Skinner and Jenny Joseph

He says:

There are compensations for growing older. One is the realization that to be sporting isn't at all necessary. It is a great relief to reach this stage of wisdom.

She says:

“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me."

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 3, 2007 8:47 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

She Bang

Pulled up these two comments because they inspired me to comment...

My mother, a woman of theatrical bent, remembered Cornelia Otis Skinner with great fondness. Now in the next generation, I appreciate but am tired of seeing women in purple dresses topped by red hats on every corner then having to explain them to my grandchildren.

Two points resonate for me here:

First, I had a heck of a time sorting out the source of "no need to be sporting" quote. Several websites attributed the words to Cornelius Otis Skinner but the Wikipedia only mentions an Otis Skinner, father of Cornelia Otis Skinner. Try as I might, I could not find a citation that attributed the quote to Cornelia herself. Does anyone know the true source of the quote?

Second, I was not aware that the Red Hat Society was becoming passe. If it is, that represents great progress toward escaping that prim and proper straight jacket that has so long confined older people, especially older women. (in the same way that the March of Dimes was changed by the development of the polio vaccine) If it is still a vibrant and growing movement then many women must continue to feel that it offers something important. Are there any Red Hat Society members out there and would you be willing to offer your thoughts?

I so agree with the previous comment by Ms. Bailely. I enjoyed the original; anything since has gotten "old hat" red purple or whatever. Wouldn't it have been nice to read a more thoughtful comment from a woman, rather more like the "he says", the one here makes women too stereotypical.

The irony is that both comments may have been made by women. Here is a quick sketch of Cornelia Otis Skinner written by Michael G. Cornelius. Apparently she was a wildly talented, deeply original woman who may have been ahead of her time in many ways.

A Renaissance woman, Skinner was the author of numerous essays and several collections of light verse. Her work is characterized by wit and deft social criticism.
Collections of her work include Tiny Garments (1932), Excuse It, Please! (1936), Nuts in May (1950), and The Ape in Me (1959). Her best known work is the best-selling Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1942), a humorous travelogue written with Emily Kimbrough describing a European vacation. Skinner also penned a well-received biography of Sarah Bernhardt, Madame Sarah (1967).

Although she is best known as a stage actress, and especially for her one-woman shows and monologues, Skinner also appeared in several films. Her first role was a small part as Miskah in Kismet (1920), and her most notable roles were as Mrs. Hammar in The Swimmer and as Miss Holloway in The Uninvited (1944).

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay is an interesting mix of lesbian homoerotic subtext and an almost childish naïveté regarding sexuality. Kimbrough seems surprised by such erotic contexts as the painting "Leda and the Swan" and startled to hear why Oscar Wilde was sent to prison. Skinner, the narrator of the book, recites these passages with an almost bemused tone, though she never describes her relationship with Kimbrough as anything more than homosocial.

Skinner's works often feature close bonds between young girls. She was also attracted to sexually ambiguous roles as an actress. Perhaps the best example of this is the rather heavy-handed lesbian subtext in The Uninvited involving the Gail Russell character's late stepmother (one of the ghosts now haunting the manor) and Skinner's mysterious Miss Holloway.

Despite her marriage to Alden Sanford Blodget (1928?-1964), the relationships that were most important in her own life seem to have been with other women.

Does anyone have some good quotes about women and aging?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 3, 2007 5:21 PM |Permalink |Comments (9)

November 4, 2007

The God of Longevity

One of the Fu Lok Sau Trio, Shou Xing is depicted here carrying peaches (these perishable fruits are thought to represent immortality) and a good fortune bat.

More to come on Shou Xing later this week.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 4, 2007 8:01 AM |Permalink |Comments (4)

November 5, 2007

At War Over Lipitor

Sunday's New York Times highlights the upcoming war between Pfizer and the American Health Care System. Lipitor, the company's flagship cholesterol lowering drug, will lose its patent protection sometime in 2010 or 2011. That's bad news for Pfizer becasue Lipitor is the number one prescription drug in America. Generic versions of the drug will provide an equally effective, low cost alternative to the pricey brand name drug and slash profits at the pharmaceutical giant.

The Lipitor battle has become a test of the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to defend name brands, even as insurers, patients and doctors seek to whittle the nation’s $270 billion annual prescription drug bill by using generic alternatives whenever possible.
[snip]

Many doctors have come to see simvastatin [This is the low-cost generic version of Zocor] as a viable substitute for Lipitor. Studies show that at commonly prescribed doses Lipitor and simvastatin are equally effective at reducing LDL cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol.

A big difference is that Lipitor costs $2.50 to $3 a day, while simvastatin sells for 75 cents to $1 a day at most retail pharmacies, and as little as 10 cents a day at discount pharmacies like Costco’s.

[snip]

Dr. Mark Fendrick, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and a specialist in health care economics, notes that for patients with extremely high cholesterol, Lipitor may be a better choice. An 80-milligram daily dose of Lipitor, the top dose, can reduce cholesterol by up to 60 percent, compared with about 50 percent for an 80-milligram dose of simvastatin, also the top dose.

But most patients with moderately high cholesterol take 10 or 20 milligrams of Lipitor a day, and can get comparable benefit from 40 or 80 milligrams of simvastatin, Dr. Fendrick said.

I was interested to read the quotes from Dr. Mark Fendrick because we went to medical school together in the mid 1980's.

Here is a quote from Dr, Fendrick that surely raised hackles at Big Pharma...

“We believe that some people should get their drugs for free, and a small class of people should even be paid to take them.”

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 5, 2007 7:41 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 6, 2007

Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing

In case you missed it, the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature is Doris Lessing. She happens to be the oldest person to be awarded this honor and it is reasonable to ask, "What took the Nobel Committee so long?

I was also interested to read an account of her appearance at a "Hay Festival" in the UK during the summer, before she won the prize. The reporter wrestles with Lessing's demeanor and her views and, I think, does a good job of seeing through the ageist blinkers so favored by Western culture.

Doris Lessing's u-turns, evasions and apparent contradictions could be explained away as a sign of age, but I think she knew exactly what she was saying.
"I don't think a writer should deliberately set out to be provocative, but there's certainly something very abrasive about me," Doris Lessing conceded. "But one of the great advantages of being a writer is that you can't care what other people think of you. We're as free as anyone can be in this society."

Maybe it's her age (87 last birthday), or her reputation ("Britain's Greatest Living Author" etc), but Lessing does give the impression of not giving two hoots for the world's opinion. Taking the stage at Hay, the old dame of English letters acknowledged the applause with a comically dismissive shrug. She then proceeded to dynamite pretty much every question that was lobbed her way. "That doesn't make any sense," she snapped at one adoring fan. "Explain yourself!" Later she sat with what appeared to be infinite patience through one particularly lengthy inquiry only to remark at the end that she actually hadn't heard "a single word of it".

The entire deserves a look...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 6, 2007 6:11 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 7, 2007

Reverse Reverse Aging

One thing that people who write books about their ability to "stop and even reverse aging" do (without even being aware that they are doing it) is set up a natural experiment. Surely the author of an anti-aging book will remain, shall we say, "forever young."

How about this book...

An author with insights this unprecedented, this earth shattering, this history-making would surely use them for his own benefit- don't you think?

This is a picture of Dr. Chopra...

And this is a picture of Dr. Chopra...

I know what you are thinking.

You are thinking "Holy Cow that stuff really does work, Dr. Chopra looks super young!" But, umm actually, Dr. Chopra is the gentleman on the left not the gentleman on the right.

It turns out that when the author of "Grow Younger Live Longer" turns sixty-- he looks (drum roll please) like a sixty year old man!

Will wonders never cease?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 7, 2007 6:13 AM |Permalink |Comments (5)

November 8, 2007

Sticks and Stones

Let's put first things first. The research on which the osteoporosis article I am blogging about was funded by Merck & Co. Inc. Merck also, by the way, manufactures and sells an anti-osteoporosis drug called FOSOMAX.

Got that?

The fact that the company funded the research doesn't automatically mean that the results are biased but it is important to know where the money came from and be alert to the possibility the source of the funding influenced the outcomes.

Now what about the research itself?

It turns out that communication is good medicine. Doctors and nurses have known that for a long time but here is some proof. When e-mail messages, letters and phone calls are directed to patients and their primary care providers after a bone fracture, the information provided can dramatically improve the diagnosis and management of the patients' osteoporosis. This is the largest study to
show that electronic medical records improve the continuity of care for
osteoporosis, according to a Kaiser Permanente study in the September issue of the
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

"Often when a patient sustains a fracture, there is a disconnect between the treating orthopedist and the patient's primary care physician. With Kaiser Permanente's computerized database and integrated care delivery system, we can closely monitor and follow patients with fractures and prevent that disconnect," said Adrianne Feldstein, MD, MS, an investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (CHR) in Portland and the lead author of the study. "This intervention has broad applicability to a large group of health care providers - from local health departments to HMOs to PPOs - with access to electronic billing or clinical data. Armed with that data, these health organizations can make sure their patients with fractures get appropriate bone density screening follow up."

Does it matter? Heck yeah...

"Osteoporosis now causes more deaths annually than breast cancer and ovarian cancer combined," said Dr. Feldstein "This study shows that we can cost-effectively improve management with interventions as simple as e-mails, letters and phone calls. That in turn should reduce fractures and mortality, and improve quality of life."

Here is the thing, despite what their advertising agencies would have you believe, not every medical breakthrough is the product of a drug company laboratory. In fact many of the most important discoveries involve learning more about the safe and effective use of the medications and treatments we already have.

Want to learn more about x-rays of the hip? Click here. It just takes practice!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 8, 2007 6:02 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 9, 2007

Trigger Finger

All right, you've seen the picture. Write your own caption and leave it in the comments. Then you can go here and find out what it's really all about.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 9, 2007 6:40 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

Power Up Friday

Dr. Al Power guest blogs on Fridays here at ChangingAging.org.

Musician, Physician and all around great guy, he dropped me a note concerning quotes from women about aging.

One comment comes to mind. I recently facilitated a Management Team Retreat for St. John's and we had an hour when we were addressed by elders from St. John's Meadows. One of the elders, Margaret Thirtle, is 92 and worked for many years for the Sibley's Corporation. During that time, she oversaw the visits of almost 200 celebrities to Rochester. Margaret told us that one such celeb, Gloria Swanson, "gave me some advice I'll never forget: She said, 'After 40, my dear, always sit with your back to the light!'"

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 9, 2007 11:19 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

Spam-a-lot

Changing Aging readers -- many of you posted comments this week and are probably wondering what the heck happened to them. We've been tweaking the junk filters to weed out the spammers who are just starting to pick up the blog, and inadvertently junked a large number of comments. We've salvaged most of them, but if you don't see yours or are still having trouble posting, please email your comments directly to changingagingATgmailDOTcom.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 9, 2007 4:17 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 10, 2007

Shou Xing: Let's Make a Deal Edition

"Shou Xing" means "Star of Longevity", and he has an enormously high bald head. He supports himself on a knotty staff. In his hand he holds the peach of immortality.

Symbolically he is represented as a mushroom or a turtle. Aha, the turtle rears his bald scaly head once again!

According to one legend there was once a boy called Zhao Yen who, as a child, was told the had only nineteen more years to live. He was advised to go to a certain field on a certain day and bring with him a jar of wine and dried meat. In that particular field he would notice two men playing draughts under a mulberry tree. He should offer them wine and meat, but under no account answer any of their questions.

Zhao Yen followed that advice. When the men had partaken of the wine and meat, they discussed how they might best thank the boy for his hospitality. In the end they decided to reverse the digits of the number of years the boy could be expected to live, thus changing 19 into 91. He was later told that one of the players had been the God of the North Pole, who determines the day on which people are born, and the God of the South Pole, who fixes the dates of death.

Nice work--- if you can get it!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 10, 2007 2:47 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 12, 2007

The Duplex Planet

Judith Shapiro cuts loose in the comments bringing us a wonderful bit of art/poetry called the Duplex Planet.

In 1979 David Greenberger became the new young, fresh-out of art school activities director of the home. David encouraged Ernest to write poetry and over the last seven years of his life he wrote more than four hundred poems. David published a collection of Ernest’s poems, “We Did Not Plummet into Space”. David also published “The Duplex Planet”, 6-page typed and photocopied fold-over volumes that came out almost monthly, direct transcripts of conversations by the residents of the nursing home in response to typically quirky questions posed by David. I subscribed to “The Duplex Planet” twenty years ago and I hadn’t looked at my copies in many years, but thanks to this blog I found them in the bookcase, dusted them off and had a lovely afternoon revisiting them. I also found The Duplex Planet alive and well in the electronic age.

Welcome to the Planet.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 12, 2007 9:11 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 13, 2007

King Pong

USATT Magazine reports...

On any Monday or Friday evening at the Tidewater Table Tennis Club in the Kempsville Recreation Center in Virginia Beach you’ll find Ulpiano Santo playing challenge matches. After a match or two, “Mr. Santo,” as he’s respectfully referred to at the club, will match wits with Celus Weeks, at checkers. Nothing unusual, except for the fact that Mr. Santo was 98 years young on April 3.

Not only has Mr. Santo been blessed with a long and fruitful life, but he has had a long and distinguished career in table tennis; he has won 11 U.S. National titles – three times in the over 70 event, three times in the over 75 and five times in the over 80. In every event he played, he was, in his words “always the oldest.” He played in the over 80s for 11 years. Since no event existed for players age 90 and over, he retired from active U.S. National play since, in his words, he “could no longer compete with the youngsters.” He still maintains a 1300+ rating.

In addition to playing U.S. National events, Mr. Santo competed in the U.S. Senior Olympics and in the World Senior Championships – in 1990 in Baltimore, where he and his partner won the over 80 doubles; 1992 in Dublin, Ireland where he won a silver medal in the over 80 singles and in 1994 in Melbourne, Australia where he and his partner won the consolations in the over 80 doubles.

Born in Leyte in the Philippines, Mr. Santo’s career in table tennis began during his service in the U.S. Navy, which he joined in 1929. For the most part, the game was a hobby for him and he only played while his ship was in port. Following his retirement from the Navy in 1956, he took up the sport in earnest and began competing in tournaments.

During his career, Mr. Santo met and competed against some of the legends of table tennis, such as Lazlo Bellak, Sol Schiff and Jimmy McClure.

When asked about the contribution table tennis has made to his longevity and good health he said, “Table tennis has been good for me, especially for my legs, arms, reflexes, hand-eye coordination and eye peripheral vision which is why I’m still able to drive my car at age 98.”

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 13, 2007 6:03 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 14, 2007

A Series of Tubes

The Latin root of the word "Senator" is "sennex," which means "old man." The United States Senate is clearly a case in etymological point. ("Senior" is also from the same root.) We like to believe that old people are likely be upright, honest, unlikely to cheat others and wise in some fashion or the other.

That's what we like to believe but is it true?

Let's consider the recent conduct of Alaska's senior Senator. Ted Stevens is 84 years old ( nine years younger that the table tennis athlete from yesterday's post) and he is running into a buzz saw of speculation about and investigation of his conduct in office. Older, it seems, does not necessarily mean more ethical.

Readers of this blog will, I think, also be interested in Senator Stevens' understanding of the Internet and its uses. He famously gave a speech comparing the Internet to a "series of tubes."

Now here's something that I love about the Internet. Youtube has a video that offers a hilarious send-up of the Senator's, shall we say, limited understanding of the Internet.

So, not only are there questions about the Senator's ethics, but we also have ample evidence that Changing Aging.org readers are very far ahead of one Senator's understanding of this crazy thing we like to call-- the Internet.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 14, 2007 6:10 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Speak Up Speak Out

John has a point, this is important and living in a democracy requires us to pay attention.

The House is expected to attempt to override the President’s veto of the Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) possibly as early as this week. Two-thirds of each chamber must approve the bill in order for it to pass into law without the President’s support. For this to happen, Republicans would need to break ranks with the President.

Take Action
Ø Call your Representative(s) today and tomorrow. You can reach any DC legislative office through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. It is particularly important that you reach out to Republicans — they hold the cards in this vote.
Ø Identify yourself, your agency if applicable, and where you are calling from in the state/district. Ask to leave a message for the Representative.
Ø Sample message: “Please vote in support of H.R. 3043, the Labor/HHS appropriations bill that provides our community with critical dollars to support older adults living independently at home, supports their family caregivers, and, in doing so, helps save the federal government Medicaid dollars which would otherwise go to nursing homes. There are modest increases for these home and community-based services for seniors in the bill and we ask the Congressman/woman to ensure that older adults in our community are able to continue living independently by overriding the President’s veto.”

Background & Talking Points
The Labor/HHS bill would provide $150.7 billion in discretionary spending, which is $6.2 billion above the fiscal 2007 level and $9.8 billion more than Bush proposed. President Bush vetoed the bill over his objection to this $9.8 billion difference.
The bill contains $63 million more for Older Americans Act programs and services under the Administration on Aging, roughly a 4.6 percent increase over last year.
It would also fund a wide range of social service, education and other critical federal support programs in addition to OAA, such as the Community Service Block Grant, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the Social Services Block Grant, and many others.
If Congress cannot override the veto, they will have to either cut the bill to meet the President’s demands or another series of continuing resolutions (CRs) may continue to fund federal programs at last year’s levels.
To see how OAA is funded under the bill, n4a members can go here.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 14, 2007 4:15 PM |Permalink |Comments (4)

November 15, 2007

It Is Rocket Science

Caleb and I are building a Big Bertha model rocket. We are looking forward to a launch date before the end of the year if the weather holds out. When she takes off, she should look something like this...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 15, 2007 8:42 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Never Too Old for the Tooth Fairy

A guest-post from the UMBC’s Kavan Peterson:

The closest thing China has to a tooth fairy might be Dwayne Arola, an engineering professor from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County who has a thing for Asian choppers.

Prof. Arola is an innovative engineer here at UMBC who may be the Baby Boom generation’s best hope for maintaining a healthy set of teeth into later life. The Baltimore Sun’s Chris Emery explains in a news story today:

Not long ago, Arola returned from a trip to Shanghai with a plastic lunch box containing a dozen prime specimens from Chinese dental patients - large, cavity-free wisdom teeth - destined to endure a regimen of abuse that he once reserved for aircraft parts.

How the Chinese molars hold up under Arola's stress tests may explain why Chinese teeth are more brittle than American teeth. Ultimately, that knowledge might lead to a dental Fountain of Youth: a high-tech process to make old teeth young again, and less prone to cracking under pressure.

"We are trying to figure out how fast cracks grow and why they grow faster in older people," said Arola, 41. "Ultimately, we'd like to figure out how to arrest those cracks."

Bravo Prof. Arola! While exploitative anti-aging industries are making billions of dollars peddling farcical fountain of youth products that often harm people, it’s refreshing to see someone genuinely working to improve the quality of life for older adults.

Read more here about what inspired Prof. Arola -- an aerospace engineer by training – to tackle one of the brittlest facts of aging – teeth.

Posted by Kavan Peterson on November 15, 2007 10:58 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Would You Believe?

It's getting crazy out there. For a completely random look at the puzzle of unintended coincidence. Look at this blog post.

Trust me. I don't understand it either.

UPDATE: Aha! This is Ian Power the (semi) adult son of the legendary Al Power, author of the "Power Up Friday" series of ChangingAging posts.

Father

Son

Way to go Ian!

I wouldn't mention this to your dad if I were you...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 15, 2007 3:35 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 16, 2007

War-- What Is It Good For?

This weekend, Frank W. Buckles, traveled to Arlington National Cemetery for a ceremony honoring his service in World War I. Buckles, 106 years old, is one of just three known surviving World War I veterans. Asked about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Buckles told the Washington Post, “I’m no authority, but I’m not in favor of war unless it’s an emergency.”

From the Washington Post...

One by one, members of the small crowd on a hilltop at Arlington National Cemetery approached the man who had beaten all the odds.
Some saluted him. Others shook his hand, had their pictures taken with him or patted him on the back, as if touching one of the last surviving veterans of World War I would be like touching history itself.

Frank W. Buckles, 106, knows the feeling. Having lived through the Great War and imprisonment in a Japanese camp in the Philippines during World War II, Buckles said his most vivid memory from those years was meeting Gen. John J. "Blackjack" Pershing after World War I.

"He noted that we both had the same Missouri accent," Buckles recalled with a laugh. Buckles told the general that he had been raised near Bethany, Mo., and the general replied: "That's 40 miles as the crow flies from where I was born."

Yesterday, Buckles's service was honored in a Veterans Day ceremony to remember Pershing, who commanded U.S. forces in World War I. The ceremony at Pershing's grave, organized by the Military Order of the World Wars, was one of several in the area as crowds converged on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and smaller groups gathered at various statues and memorials.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 6:41 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Could We Live Forever?

Sorry, but the answer is no.

Dr. Perls rains on the parade and that is a good thing.

Dr. Thomas Perls at Boston University runs the world's largest study of centenarians. He's learned from subjects like Esther MacKay that long life isn't just a matter of genes. It has a lot to do with lifestyle.
"There is no such thing as a fountain of youth," he said. "There may be a fountain of aging well. And the fountain of aging well has to do with your good health habits, and knowing that things like smoking are truly terrible for you and can knock 20 years off your life expectancy."

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 9:25 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

I think our society would be enriched in more ways than we can count if America saw more innovations like the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 9:31 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Co-Housing

Zev and Naomi know from Co-Housing. Take a look at their website ELDERCOHOUSING.ORG here.

Any co-housers out there?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 1:56 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Walter's New Gig

It looks like former CBS News anchorman and living journalism legend is going to be producing commentaries for the Retirement Living Network.

In September, The New York Times reported that Mr. Cronkite “would be the highest-profile hire for the channel.” Mr. Cronkite’s son Chip works for Retirement Living TV, which is based in Columbia, Md.

In his “Cronkite Commentaries,” he will comment on topics like the presidential primaries, political party conventions and environmental issues, the channel said in a news release.

In an interesting twist, Katie Couric, the current anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” will voice the introductions for Mr. Cronkite’s essays. Mr. Cronkite served as the announcer for Ms. Couric’s newscast when it debuted last year.

Should be interesting. I remember watching him sign off for the last time on CBS. I was working as an orderly in a hospital at the time.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 4:04 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Ripple

This is how I spent my Friday night.

The song, not the wine...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 7:20 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 17, 2007

It Takes A Team: To Fight Generics

Generic medications are safe, cost-effective substitutes for expensive brand-name drugs.

Switching to generics saves money for individuals and for the health care system as a whole.

Naturally, the big drug companies see generics as a threat to their profits.

So...

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC -- 10/25/07 -- Branded pharmaceutical companies plan for generic competition years in advance. A solid head start isn't enough, though -- to build the best counter-generics plans, companies need contributions from personnel in different departments.
Involving multiple people is key to prolonging brand life, according to a new study by Cutting Edge Information (http://www.PharmaGenerics.com). While marketing teams almost always contribute to counter-generics planning, stakeholders from other groups ensure that strategies include as many viable options as possible. They also help to establish contingency plans.

Those with strong stomachs can read the whole pile of rubbish here.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 17, 2007 5:08 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 19, 2007

One Womans's Thoughts on Aging

The text below comes from a blog post that I find fascinating for its compelling honesty and self-awareness.

I loved turning 50. We spent the day before at Tokyo Disneyland (not as exciting as it sounds; we were stationed in the area),and he gave me black pearls at a 5 star dinner at the military hotel in Tokyo on my actual birthday. I wore a burgundy stretch velvet dress and had a guy literally walk into a wall looking over his shoulder at me. I looked 35, no one ever believed my age, and I once had to show I.D. at a club to PROVE I was actually turning 52. I’ve aged fairly gracefully, thanks to good bones and staying out of the sun (I am a natural redhead, though I do dye it these days—red hair doesn’t go gray, it fades to a peculiar apricot shade that looks phonier than the dye) because after ten minutes in the sun, I burn and peel. But I have aged. And I am no longer passing for 35. I look good—but now I look Good for Almost Sixty.

PHYSICAL
Changes in appearance are inevitable. Your skin isn’t taut as it was at 40. You sag around the jawline. The laugh lines become crow’s feet, and the smile lines around your mouth deepen. No matter how much moisturizer and night cream you use, you will never look 30 again. Your lips thin a bit. After menopause, you tend to gain a few pounds around the waist unless you exercise like a fiend. I don’t mind my lines—they are part of me, roadmaps that show where I have been, which doesn’t mean I wouldn’t get collagen injections to plump up my lips a little (I may have a big shanty-Irish mouth as far as being opinionated, but my physical mouth is small small) if I could easily afford it (and I’d feel guilty about wasting the money on vanity). I admit to vanity—but not enough for plastic surgery.

MENOPAUSE
For most women, the biggest change is menopause. A few years before it officially kicks in and you become post-menopausal, you hit peri-menopause. Your periods go wild. You’ll have two periods in 6 weeks, and then skip three months. Your flow will be light one month, and two months later you’ll feel like you’re hemorrhaging. You have insomnia or are constantly tired. You forget things. You may feel cranky or teary far more often than you normally do. In fact, except for the hot flashes, it’s a lot like being a teenager again, because your hormones are going nuts. I hit peri-menopause at 44. I squeezed in a move from Maine to Japan in between mild hot flashes, insomnia and mood swings. I was glad to have my suspicions confirmed because it meant I wasn’t losing my mind or having early onset Alzheimer’s.

For some women, especially those who are heavily invested in being a mother, menopause is depressing because it means the end of fertility—no more babies, ever. If you think of yourself mainly as a mother, that’s a major change in your identity. Since I am childless by choice, I didn’t have that reaction. But I can understand why losing that side of being a woman could be devastating to some. I was just grateful to be rid of PMS which began 10 days before my period started and 24 hours of agonizing cramps

For me, the worst parts are the physical changes. You become less flexible, so regular stretching exercises are a necessity, and osteoporosis is a real possibility without strength training. I loathe exercising but it is a health requirement, not simply an option. I hate the neck and shoulder pain I have sporadically—as my doctor reminded me, heads are HEAVY and they take their toll on the cervical vertebrae.

Which brings me to perhaps one of the most important physical issues:

SEX
After menopause, the vagina thins and you lubricate less, which can make sex painful. It can take longer for you to become aroused, longer to lubricate (and you get less wet), and longer to orgasm. Even worse, that same lack of estrogen that makes lubrication scanty and can cause the vagina to thin, can also cause you to itch internally, worse than any yeast infection you can imagine. It’s bad enough that you contemplate inserting a backscratcher and just going to town. Fortunately, the cure for the tissue atrophy, the dryness and the itching is simple: Vagifem. It’s a small prescription tablet you insert in the vagina, and leave in for 8 hours, no muss or fuss. Twice a week is what they usually specify, and within a couple of weeks, you’ll feel much better and much more comfortable. If you still don’t get wet enough for comfortable penetration, you can use a commercial lubricant like Astro-glide or KY, or, my preference, Vitamin E oil. You also need to spend more time on foreplay. As for orgasms, if you can’t climax from mouth, hands or penetration, incorporate a vibrator into your play. I recommend the Hitachi Magic Wand. It’s expensive, but it (and you) are worth it.

Some women , freed from fear of an unwanted pregnancy, may get a rush of Mneopausal zest and increased desire while others may not care much about sex. One of the side effects of menopause is a drastic decrease in testosterone, which has a lot to do with sexual arousal. Tests involving giving testosterone to menopausal women indicate it plays a role, but haven’t been conclusive. You can get testosterone pills from your doctor, but there are side effects. I tried them and ended up with acne, and stopped taking them. There is just something wrong about being post-menopausal and having acne, y’know? Vagifem worked, however; turned out most of my lack of interest was fear of discomfort. There may also be psychological reasons. Some women don’t feel attractive any more because they don’t look like they’re in their 20s. Some don’t have partners any more—divorce and widowhood leave many of us without a lover, and many men date younger women after a divorce. They may not have the options.
Which leads right into:

CULTURAL NORMS
As I noted above, American culture has a limited view of older women. We’re supposed to be grandmothers, ready to bounce grandkids on our knees and be content with that. But we’re more than just built-in babysitters. If I have a problem, it’s not with how I look, but with the way America regards older woman—all too often viewing us as sexless creatures well past their expiration date. We aren’t sexless. We aren’t just grandmothers. We’re wives or single women, too. We want to look attractive. Many of us don’t want to be stuck wearing Age Appropriate Clothes (those horrid floral print elastic waist dresses with puffed sleeves and lace collars and cuffs). My advice is to find your own style and stick with it.

Hollywood doesn’t help. When was the last time there was a romantic comedy with someone like Meryl Streep or Susan Sarandon as the leading lady? Harrison Ford can play a leading man married to someone Angelina Jolie’s age—can you imagine Susan Sarandon paired with Brad Pitt? And how about a movie with Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, her real life husband? Not very likely. Europeans appreciate "a woman of a certain age"—but American pop culture worships youth when it comes to women. And that can affect how we view ourselves. You have to fight to hold onto your sexuality and your image of yourself as desirable. But the fight is worth it.

FEELINGS
The best part of getting older is psychological. At 58, I feel more secure in knowing what I can do and what I can’t. Mostly I have stopped worrying about what I can’t do, because we all have different talents. I’ve also stopped worrying about other people’s expectations. I am who I am, a bellydancing kinky Irish-American liberal Dem feminist Goth Wiccan writer. I am more confident, physically, emotionally, sexually. I am still an activist with many of the same passions for women’s issues, writing, theater, music. I don’t have many regrets other than not having been employed for the last 17 years because I was a military wife, which means you will never have a professional job during his time in. There are things I would like to have done, but they are balanced by having my first short story sale make Year’s Best Fantasy and by getting to spend 7 years in Japan and being married to a man I love and. Don’t regret not having kids. Not at all.

Unlike Nora Ephron, I don’t hate my neck. I like the woman I’ve become. I’ve made mistakes along the way, but learned from them, and most of them were made from the heart, not mean-spiritedness or a need for control. I like myself better now than I did at 25. I am more competent than I was at 25. Or 30, for that matter. I have faced the foreclosure of a house, bad health, widowhood at 34 and rebuilding my life, moved so many times I have lost count, cried my eyes out from loneliness after the death of my first husband or while my second was deployed overseas with the Navy, and come through it more or less intact—lots of cracks, but no breaks.

I’ve given you my story. Other women will have different ones to tell, different reactions, different opinions on sex, looks, etc. So, what are your feelings about growing older? What worries you the most? What do you fear least? What do you see as advantages and disadvantages? Who do you want to be when you hit my age? What would you like to have accomplished?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 19, 2007 6:35 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

November 20, 2007

Art and Love

Beauty reveals itself slowly and, sometimes, not at all. There are those, however, who seem to have an eye, an ear or a touch that senses the deeper beauty that is hidden behind the mundane nature of everyday life. Lawrence Schneider is one of those people. He says...

"In addition to a poignant message, it is essential that my sculptures provide imaginative design, striking aesthetics and quality workmanship. My greatest joy is to see viewers receive insight and pleasure from my work.”

This is my favorite image from Mr. Schneider's online gallery, it's titled, "Mother and Child."

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 20, 2007 5:10 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 21, 2007

Deep Knowledge

In the comments, Judith goes deep into what it means to be alive--- not to be missed

I have a friend who at 63 was diagnosed with terminal lymphoma and given six months to live. By her own description, she looked at her husband of thirty-some years lounging on the couch and decided to leave him. As she explained it to me, after all the years of thinking about ending her marriage, she wasn’t about to spend her precious last six months confined by it. I remember marveling at her courage, her conviction, her what I now figure must have been the ultimate “If-not-now-when?" moment. I simply couldn’t imagine ever feeling that way. Who would hold her hand when she was ill; when she cried; when she died? I was 49, with a husband and two daughters ages eight and eleven, and the notion of doing anything drastic, making changes, going off on my own, was inconceivable. As it turns out, (true story) my friend’s diagnosis was incorrect. She remarried, moved to Florida, opened a gallery, has since moved to Colorado to be near her children and grandchildren.

Why does this come to mind in response to reading irishwitch’s diary? What strikes me about her thoughtful, open, sharing description of herself and turning 58, changes, thoughts on aging, etc., is a seeming lack of a need for any big deal “If not now, when?”. I envy what appears to be her contentment with her past, present and future. I’m 57 and I sometimes feel awash in “If not now, when?”, making big and little changes; contemplating others; measuring my time and considering possibilities; at the same time trying to stay the course and be clear on holding on to what is right and good.

In 1974, I started Transcendental Meditation. (It was the rage.) As part of the ceremony to teach me how to do it, in which I was to bring a fruit, a flower and a cloth to place on an alter, I was given my own special, secret mantra. (It turns out we all got the same mantra that day, but what of that.) I’ve used that mantra to meditate all these many years. It appears that it’s time for a change. Looks like I’ll be using “If not now, when?“ for a while.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 21, 2007 7:03 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 22, 2007

A Surname by any other Name

Try this cool web tool that tells you how common your last name is among all Americans.

"Thomas" is number 14...

How about your last name?

Love to see some rankings posted in the comments...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 22, 2007 7:58 PM |Permalink |Comments (6)

Worse Than The Worst Country and Western Song

Busted

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 22, 2007 9:23 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 26, 2007

Here. Be. Now.

I've spent the past couple of days trying to think of ideas and expressions around which young and old could find common cause. Strangely, the phrase...

Here. Be. Now.

Keeps coming back to me.

What does this mean to you?

Is there a "there" there?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 26, 2007 6:02 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

Destinations Known and Unknown

The Times offers an unconventional look at where "retirement housing" might be headed.

Consider the lede paragraph...

WHEN Gayla Groom scoots the cats from her bed and walks outside to check on the yard, the neighbors don’t care if she is minus her clothing. Nor do they mind living next to her 20-by-20-foot slab-wood cabin that cost $14,000 to build. It is also perfectly normal for one elderly neighbor to call her each morning, as a courtesy, to say she has not died.

If you have a few minutes to spare, consider watching the "Retiring at Rainbow Vision" audio slide show...

H/T Krissy Heitkamp in the comments...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 26, 2007 6:07 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Wealth, Age and Society: Part One

First, I am going to ask for a little patience. This is a long-ish post and another of its kind might soon follow. The reason is that I am sorting through some new ideas and I think that the blog might be a good place to take them for a spin.

Here is the challenge: Is it possible to create an easy-to-understand, flexible, useful framework that can truly integrate aging, public policy and management?

Let’s start with the conventional wisdom...

Aging-- The aging of America (and the rest of the industrialized world) is a demographic “plague of locusts” which threatens the financial underpinnings of the status quo. (namely the greedy geezers are going to bankrupt us all)

Public Policy-- Policy-makers often present choices in terms of a zero-sum game. For example, if we expand eligibility for this program, we will have to cut the resources available for that program. Policy is seen, almost exclusively, in terms of the transfer of resources from one group or program to another.

Management-- Conventional business doctrine draws a bright line between the common good and the measurable performance of a particular organization. Whether the organization is for-profit or not-for-profit hardly matters, the most important thing is success in meeting particular quantified goals.

I can find exceptions to each of these statements but, for the most part, the exceptions will help to prove the rule.

Now the challenge is to find a way to unify these seemingly isolated domains. This will require us to gain access a deeper, much more fundamental level of meaning. My candidate for the role of unifier is...

Wealth

Before proceeding, I need to unpack the conventional wisdom of “wealth.” People, countries, communities and families who are said to be wealthy earn this distinction, almost exclusively, as a result of their ability to attract and retain financial capital and its equivalents. Wealth is equated with access to and control over financial capital. Money is what makes “rich” rich.

True Wealth

The definition offered above holds true as long as access to financial capital can be seen as an end in itself. The Forbes list of the richest Americans operates on that basis and its list is ranked according to a strictly numerical accounting. When we venture beyond the world of the marketplace, however, we can see other kinds of wealth on display. We can honestly speak of a “wealth of knowledge” or comment that a person is “rich in friendship.” It seems that there are other forms of wealth and that our society does a poor job of accounting for them. This is, I think, understandable in that financial capital is a strictly quantitative affair and so-called “social capital” is almost exclusively qualitative in nature. Just to be clear, I am going to define social capital this way...

“The net value of all of the voluntary, reciprocal, social relationships in which a person, or community, participates in over time

.”

I believe that I have the majority of philosophers and theologians on my side when I argue that real wealth is a hybrid that blends the virtues of access to social and financial capital.

Both are necessary...
Neither, alone, is sufficient.

Wealth Creation and Wealth Destruction

One more base to touch before we can begin using this “theory of wealth.”

When it comes to financial capital, we are immersed in powerful, highly accurate measuring, forecasting and tracking tools and methods. Just imagine walking into your local bank, asking for your account balance and hearing the teller respond, “Well I can’t say for sure, you see it sort of depends, on a lot of things, hard to tell, really. Now, is there anything else I can do for you?” Who would accept such an answer?

On the other hand, we find that considerations of social capital to be are bound to be inexact. “Hmmm. The value of the friendships that are part of my life? What my freely chosen, mutually beneficial relationships have contributed to my sense of well-being? That would be hard to say wouldn’t it?” Yes, that would be very hard to say.

As a result, the idea of wealth is gradually taken over (conquered really) by the equation of wealth and money. The “softer” side of wealth, in contrast, is exiled to the drugstore greeting card rack. Warmth. Sentiment. Love. Enduring commitment. Honor. Patience. Tolerance. Forgiveness. All of these thing, are at once vital to the “wealth” of every living soul and dismissed as strictly private, emotional matters.

A moments reflection show us that both financial and social capital can be created and destroyed over time. The accumulation of financial capital can be carried out skillfully and purposefully (recall the great “captains of industry”) or it can be a matter of plain dumb luck, such as a lottery ticket or an inheritance. Similarly, we understand that some people are able to build and maintain vast social networks which contribute to the quality of their lives in ways both tangible and emotional.

The same holds true for the destruction of wealth. Everyday, financial fortunes are lost as a result of poor management and the thoughtless assumption of risk. Everyday, the money that makes some people “wealthy” is lost because of chance events, runs of bad luck that disperse all that was gathered together.

We don’t often think of it in these terms (mostly because we are reluctant to see social capital as a legitimate form of wealth), but social networks, long a rich source of a person’s well-being can also be destroyed. Anger, jealousy, a grudge nurtured beyond reason, or the uncomplicated workings of misfortune, all are capable of damaging relationships and networks of relationships.

Wealth and poverty are complex phenomena which change with circumstances (that is they can be influenced but not controlled) and they involve matters that include but are not limited to access to financial capital.

Coming Soon...

The First Connection: Wealth and Age

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 26, 2007 1:28 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

Thought Crime Bill

Ronni at Time Goes By nails this issue with a definitive post

Please go read it.

This snip is good, the whole thing is great...

When I attended the first Blogher conference in the summer of 2005, Jay Rosen, who runs the excellent media blog, PressThink, spoke to the 300 of us gathered for the final session. I don’t remember what else he said - only these six words:

“Blogs are little First Amendment machines.”

As soon as I got home, I posted a little badge linking to the Electronic Frontier Foundation with Jay’s quote. It’s been sitting at the bottom of the left sidebar, but I’ve promoted it today to the top and linked it to the Thought Crime Index page listing all posts on this topic. It will remain there until this bill is defeated. If you copy and save the image, you can post it on your blog too.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 26, 2007 2:11 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 27, 2007

No Aging For Old Men

A guest-post from the UMBC’s Kavan Peterson:

“That's what some male movie stars would have you believe - though the smart ones use age rather than fight it,” writes Boston Globe film critic Mark Feeney in a sharp review of how aging male movie stars act their age – or not -- in recent films.

Feeney offers a refreshing critique of the responses of Hollywood’s leading men to the inevitability of aging – which range, he says, “from furtive evasion to forthright embrace.” As Feeney rightly argues, Hollywood’s leading men tend to get a free pass when it comes to confronting age. Think Harrison Ford attempting to reprise his role as Indiana Jones at age 65 (that’s not a hypothetical -- we’ll get to see how gracefully Ford plays an aging Indiana Jones in the fourth installment of the franchise in 2008).

Here’s Feeney’s take on aging Hollywood hunks from a few recent films:

Tommy Lee Jones
'Age will flatten a man," Tommy Lee Jones says in "No Country for Old Men." Yes, it will. It can also deepen, strengthen, and enrich him, too. One look at Jones in "No Country" - or in "In the Valley of Elah" - and you see demonstrated the power of age to bring up as well as bear down.

Jones is 61 now, and in those movies the weight of every minute of his time on earth seems recorded on that face. A moonscape of seams, crags, and creases, Jones's visage doesn't look so much lived in as lived on - a spiritual terrain, an Old Testament geology. Even more than that bark of a voice or big-as-Texas presence, that face is what lends Jones his enormous onscreen authority.

George Clooney

You'd think gravitas would be no less a problem for someone as good looking as Clooney. But it isn't. Maybe it's as simple as not reaching for the Grecian Formula. Clooney's letting himself go gray was always a smart career move. He still looked great, but now had the aspect of a regular guy. It made him seem more honest - more serious, too. In "Syriana," he added a thickened waist and unbecoming beard (which made him a dead ringer for New York Times columnist Paul Krugman) and got himself an Oscar.

Clooney looks a lot better in "Michael Clayton," but he does nothing to disguise the effects of the wringer his lawyer-fixer character goes through: a giant lawsuit on the verge of collapse, a friend losing his mind, a very large debt needing urgent settlement. There are bags under the eyes, a puffy face, a general sense that soon enough the mirror will be as much enemy as friend. The movie ends with a very long close-up of Clooney sitting in the back of a taxi, and there's no mistaking that it isn't just the cab's meter that's running.

Robert Redford

Redford is more or less playing his age in "Lions for Lambs." He's a college professor who served in Vietnam, so he has to be at least 60, and probably older. Yet it's as if he's a superannuated Sundance Kid with tenure. The hair is as thick and golden as ever, the handsomeness little touched by the years.

Partly, that's the benefit of great facial structure (it's always the bones that go last). More than that, though, it's a suspiciously unlined dullness around the eyes that makes him look (there's no polite way to put this) weird. Is it Botox? Lighting? Makeup? Nipping and tucking? The strange thing is, in person, Redford's eyes look normal enough. Whatever the reason, their unblemished deadness in "Lions" helps make his performance all the more wooden - and Redford has never exactly been the most expressive of actors.

Tom Cruise

Underscoring the unfortunateness of Redford's unnervingly age-resistant appearance is the presence in "Lions for Lambs" of Tom Cruise. It's a good thing they don't have any scenes together or gerontology might never recover. Playing a very ambitious Republican senator, Cruise is the best thing in the movie - certainly the liveliest. Yet he seems so unbearably young. At 45, he suffers from a terminal boyishness that makes him seem like a can of Red Bull yearning to be a bottle of Bordeaux. The risky business of aging can cut both ways.

Dustin Hoffman

Wonder, if only titular, informs Hoffman's performance as the most aged character seen on screen this or any other season, in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium." The toy store owner is all of 243. Oddly enough, this isn't Hoffman's first crack at triple figures. Jack Crabb, the Indian-raised Western pioneer he plays in "Little Big Man," lives to be 121. Hoffman was 33 then, yet through the magic of latex he looked old, seriously, deathly, prune-shriveled old. The curious thing about Hoffman as Magorium, a character twice Crabb's age, is that he looks so, well, good. Does the AARP need a new spokesman? Magic will do that for a man, fictional or real - and when it comes to appearance, there's no magic like the movie-star kind.

Read the full review here.

What do you think? What actors or roles do you think provide a positive portrayal of aging? And what about the double-standard for female actors?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 27, 2007 10:54 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 28, 2007

I Own This Book

And I like it...

Award-winning photographer Jerry Friedman is an inspiring and inspired seeker of truth and meaning. And he found wisdom and spirit through his four-year journey around the world – meeting, photographing and talking with the 62 oldest people on earth.

Folks call these oldest old [over 110 years of age] Supercentenarians, and through his visits Friedman gained a deeper understanding of what the elderly in every culture have to offer. Jerry was inspired by the opportunity to improve the quality of life of the elderly, and has launched a program to teach children to recognize the wisdom and value of the elderly as positive and essential parts of our families and our society.

This is a great holiday gift. For information on the Earth Elders book and the foundation visit: http://earthseldersfoundation.org/

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 28, 2007 5:35 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

On The You-Tube Picket Line at Age 94

Hey folks -- below is a post from today's issue of Age Beat Online (ABO), an e-newsletter for the Journalists Exchange on Aging, which is an excellent network supported by the American Society on Aging. We'll be featuring interesting highlights and commentary from ABO on a regular basis.

Satirist PAUL KRASSNER forwarded a link to a You-Tube segment (see below) that presents one Hollywood writer’s case (cue GROUCHO here) for the Writers Guild of America in their strike. IRVING BRECHER, who will turn 94 next month, pleads the writers’ brief in 1:38 minutes: “Since 1938, when I joined what was then the Radio Writers Guild,” he recalls, “I’ve been waiting for the writers to get a fair deal. I’m still waiting. I’m still angry that they took away our copyrights. I’m very angry that they took away the residuals for everything up to 1960.” For Brecher, “everything” includes compensation on video, DVD and the like from a few little Hollywood classics he wrote, such as “The Marx Brothers at the Circus” “The Shadow of the Thin Man” with WILLIAM POWELL, MYRNA LOY and ASTA (arf); “The Life of Riley” with WILLIAM BENDIX; and “Meet Me In St. Louis” with JUDY GARLAND. Brecher continues, “Don’t let them take away the Internet -- it’s our future.” He concludes simply but proudly, “I’m Irving Brecher, and I’m a writer.”

Brecher’s writing partner, HANK ROSENFELD, e-mailed ABO that the pair has worked for six years on Brecher’s memoir, “The Wicked Wit of the West: The Guy Who Made Groucho Funny,” to be published next spring by Ben Yehuda Press (www.benyehudapress.com). Rosenfeld noted, “Brecher is remarkably sharp and relentlessly retortable. He has been on NPR (‘All Things Considered’) and now, of course, is a big star on You Tube, even though he can't even see it.” He added that the pair, who live in Santa Monica “spend a lot of time sitting listening to PHILIP ROTH audio books and eating pastrami sandwiches.”

Reprinted with permission from Age Beat Online, e-news of the Journalists Exchange on Aging, www.asaging.org/agebeat, copyright JEOA 2007

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 28, 2007 3:14 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 29, 2007

Perverse Incentives

I continue to believe that health care is a right, not a business.

Diane over at Cab Drollery: "A place for a tired old woman to try to figure things out so that the world makes a bit of sense." We find a bit more evidence of what happens when profits come before people.

At the end of September, I posted on how some private contractors for a Medicare audit had turned into bounty hunters eagerly savaging the bills of rehab hospitals providing services to Medicare beneficiaries. The audit was a trial run ordered by Congress and involved three states: California, Florida, and New York. In California, records show that the auditors routinely rejected bills (up to 90%) from those rehabilitation hospitals providing services to those who'd had total knee or total hip replacements. As a result, several of those hospitals have closed or are about to.

There is a rat here somewhere. Either these hospitals have been dragooning elders into un-needed and un-necessary rehabilitation on a massive and unprecedented scale, turning entire hospitals into giant engines of fraud...

Or the auditing company is being too aggressive and retroactively denying huge number of legitimate claims.

Which could it be?

Among the biggest concerns is that the congressionally created program relies on "recovery auditing" – auditors who are paid a percentage of the money they recoup from hospitals through claims denials.

"This contingency fee or bounty mechanism sets some incentives for these auditors to be overly aggressive and to make questionable decisions in their favor by denying claims," May said.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 29, 2007 6:55 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 30, 2007

It's (Not) Your 401k

From MSNBC

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court struggled with the changed world of retirement plans Monday, trying to decide whether a worker has a right to sue to recover losses when his instructions on where to invest his retirement money are disregarded.

The justices debated the case of James LaRue, who says he lost $150,000 in a market downturn when administrators at his 401(k) retirement plan twice failed to carry out his requests to sell stocks and move his money into safer investments.

Allowing LaRue to seek recovery of the money under a federal pension reform law would result in "no end to the kind of claims one could imagine," Washington attorney Thomas Gies told the justices. "We think Congress did not want those kinds of claims."

[snip]

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter seemed sympathetic to LaRue's argument that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act enables him to seek recovery of his alleged losses through the federal courts.

Gies suggested that LaRue "could have picked up the phone" or sought a court order directing that his instruction be carried out.

Ginsburg pointed to LaRue's argument that many months passed before he became aware plan administrators had twice not carried out his investment instructions.

By the time LaRue realized what had happened, "it's over and done with," Ginsburg said.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 30, 2007 6:03 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Arkansas Celebrates First Green House

From Jeff Mores of the Benton Daily Record in Arkansas:

BENTONVILLE — There was a day when senior care meant moving into a hospital-style nursing home.
Things have changed. And in Arkansas, Bentonville’s Legacy Village is leading the way.

Click here to learn how.