Dr. Bill Thomas

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December 2007 Archives

December 1, 2007

Nest Egg: How Much is Enough?

The financial section of the msnbc.com website has posted a range of amusing and alarming answers to the question: "How big should your retirement nest egg be?"

An individual net worth of $3 million or $4 to $5 million as part of a couple. This assumes a pleasant residence in the Bay Area (where I currently live and plan to retire), which is paid off and a second rental home paid off, which provides cash flow. This may still be too modest since I plan to retire in 20 years. Also assumes the potential to live until 90 and not working at all for the 30 years between 60 and 90.
- Barbara, Fremont, Calif.

Unless my six numbers come up, I'm screwed.
- Daniel C., Albany, N.Y.

I believe that most people ready to retire are more worried than they need to be about their financial situation. What counts is not how much of a nest egg you have accumulated or even how much your pension is, but how well you can adjust to less money coming in. In other words, it's not how much you make but how much you spend that matters. I have been retired for 12 years and find that my expenses are less than I had planned for. So, forget the gloomy forecasts and enjoy your retirement!
- Serge P., Albany, N.Y.

The concept of retirement is a relatively new one in the history of man, an invention spawned pretty much by big companies trying to retain loyal employees. Not that the idea was a bad one, but the idea has come and gone. I plan to "work" in some fashion until I can physically no longer do so. By "work" I mean generate some type of income. However, if I HAD to name a figure for retirement, I would have to say $1 million might do it, as that would generate an income of about 50K a year, and I could live frugally on that amount.
- Greg, Houston.

Much, much more here...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 1, 2007 7:18 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 3, 2007

The Bickersons

This reminds me of the old radio serial--- "The Bickersons" the whole deal was that they were a married couple who argued all the time and the show consisted almost entirely of their arguments...

The Beethoven symphony is what makes it...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:59 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Wealth and Age: Notes

Dorothea hits the ground running...

I just finished reading the msnbc.com article posted on the 12-2-07 blog comment about preparing for retirement. The website had a calculator where you can plug in certain numbers (some requiring an incredible amount of foresight, i.e., "how long do you project to live?")and calculate the amount of money you need to retire comfortably. Well, I was thinking, what would this same calculator look like if we find the answer to Dr. Bill's question? The universal truth about wealth and aging and retirement? Would the calculator ask you questions like "are you happy today?", "whose life have you touched this year?", "how many new friendships have you made this month?", "were you able to vote this year?". OK, maybe I am getting ahead of myself. But as I read this blog, I feel so excited to be a part of the team who will be searching for these answers and creating a meaning out of them.

I am excited too. The point she makes here is that the "retirement calculator" has a built in and unacknowledged bias. It assumes that the needs of older people can be reduced, in their entirety, to financial needs and that the prudent investor must salt away enough financial capital to meet all of those needs. This is the essence of retirement planning, as it is known today.

Dorothea's hypothesis is that planning for late life should embrace explicit strategies for building both financial and social capital. I think this is very wise.

Of course the people who publish "retirement calculators" make nothing on accrued social capital and, in a bizarre way, suffer when ordinary people (investors) find that they social capital can often function effectively as a replacement for financial capital.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 11:29 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

Time Goes By Goes Bye Bye

Man this is sad.

I accept it. I honor it and, in some ways I understand it. But still, it's a sad day for the elder blogosphere.

As of this post, Time Goes By is over.
The decision to do so has been building for the reasons below and other related ones, but response to today’s post – and it’s only 11AM here - tipped me over the edge. Isn’t it odd how often decisions are made on small events.

I can’t tell you which of half a dozen emails telling me that 60 isn’t old or you’re only as old as you feel or age is relative or whatever other excuse did it. It’s all bullshit. Old is old. The Crabby Old Lady in me is finished arguing that, along with all her versions of old-is-as-worthy-as-every-other-age.

Too many people want to slice and dice the language and proclaim their youthfulness in other ways unto the grave and if that is your position, this or any blog is unlikely to change your mind.

But all this age denial (the negative ones never publish publicly; they just rant in emails to me) before noon has made the decision for me. I’m out of energy to move forward with this.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:28 PM |Permalink |Comments (3)

Fashion Statement

And really did love this post ...

This one too...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 4, 2007

Small Houses

Very cool...

Take a look.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 4, 2007 6:01 AM |Permalink |Comments (5)

December 5, 2007

Its the Race We Run-- Not the Destination

Young. Old. Doesn't matter. It's about change, growth and development in whatever form speaks to the individual...

Fitness does not belong to the young-- or to the old-- fitness means being well-suited to the life we choose to live. To live. Ultra-Marathons are great if that's your thing. If not, find your thing.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 6:27 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

List of Shame

A guest post from UMBC's Kavan Peterson:

In an unprecedented move, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is shining the public spotlight on America's Worst Nursing Homes by publicly releasing a list of 54 facilities with the most serious health and safety problems in the nation. Thanks to The Consumerist for alerting us to this development:

CMS has released the first-ever official list of America's Worst Nursing Homes— a move that leads us to suspect that the Department of Health & Human Services must be getting pretty fed up if they are resorting to public shaming. The list includes the 54 most egregious health and safety violators of the 128 SFF, or "Specialty Focus Facilities," in the U.S.
A Special Focus Facility is basically a nursing home that is on double-secret probation— subject to twice as many inspections as a non-SFFs, with the threat of funding cuts for non-compliance.

According to the CMS, the average facility isn't perfect (6-7 violations is the national average.) Those designated as SFFs are guilty of either more violations or more serious violations than usual, as well as a history of fixing problems just long enough to pass inspection, then going right back to business as usual. The CMS dubs this "yo-yo compliance," and the SFF program is designed to deal with it by combining more frequent inspections with more stringent enforcement until the nursing home falls back in line.

If the facility in question doesn't shape up, correct the underlying problems that lead to violations and "graduate" from the SFF program (in about 18-24 months) their funding is cut and they will likely close.

Of course, the first thing I looked for on this list was the names of any nursing homes that cared for loved ones in my family or employed members of my family. To my absolute dismay, I found that the only nursing home in Montana to make this infamous list was none other than Evergreen Missoula Health & Rehab. This facility not only cared for my wife's grandfather during the last months of his life, but it is located on the corner of the street I grew up on and where my parents still live today. I can only hope the public humiliation of making this list will work where government regulations and inspections have not.

Besides sharing this list with as many people as possible, CMS recommends families use its Nursing Home Compare tool to review the ratings of any nursing home they are considering.

For those looking for a ray of hope, go to www.edenalt.org

Posted by Kavan Peterson on December 5, 2007 9:55 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Update Shame on CMS

Guest Post by UMBC's Kavan Peterson:

Almost immediately after posting the below story I came across this update from the Des Moines Register:

Names of worst care centers witheld from public, but given to lobbyists

The federal agency that refuses to publicly identify three of the worst-performing nursing homes in Iowa has shared that same information with lobbyists for the nursing home industry.
"This is absolutely outrageous," said John Tapscott, a former member of the Iowa Legislature and an advocate for nursing home reform.

"I don't know when I've been so livid in all my life," he added. "This just speaks to a larger problem, which is that the lobbyists are now running the government."

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has compiled a list of 128 "special-focus facilities" that are among the worst-performing nursing homes in each state. Those care centers are alleged to have consistently provided poor quality care while repeatedly falling in and out of compliance with government health and safety regulations.

But the federal agency has publicly identified only 54 of those 128 nursing homes. Among the 54 is Blair House, a care center in Burlington.

Shame on me for giving CMS the benefit of the doubt below. Des Moines Register reporter Clark Kauffman sums up my amazement at this egregious action:

It's unusual for a government agency charged with protecting the public to give information to an industry it regulates while withholding that same information from the public.

I'll also give Hillary Clinton credit for being the first presidential candidate in Iowa to lash out at CMS over this.

Stay tuned.

Posted by Kavan Peterson on December 5, 2007 10:56 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Wealth and Age: King Lear

The one unalterable fact with which aging related public policy must contend is that...

"You can't take it with you."

Financial capital is no good to the dead. Social capital matters only to the living.

Society must therefore find effective and just means for transmitting wealth across the generations. It must.

Just think of Shakespeare's Lear. An aging monarch, convinced of his own decrepitude, whose intention is " To shake all cares and business from our age, / Conferring them on younger strengths, while we / Unburden'd crawl toward death."

How did it work out? Well, the play is among the Bard's greatest tragedies and nearly all of the main characters are dead before the closing curtain so let's just say that Lear does not offer a firm footing for thought in this area.

Lear transfers his financial capital en bloc to his two older daughters and thereby makes himself into a pauper. He banishes his youngest and most beloved daughter and thereby squanders the greatest part of his social capital.

EdwinAustinAbbey-King%20Lear-CordeliasFarewellLarge.jpg

Following this act of unparalleled folly, the King still expects to retain the full measure of his status and authority. The fool is right when he names the King the greatest fool of all. "Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise. ....."

There is a nexus, a dynamic interplay between social and financial capital which the fool understands but the King does not.

Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind,
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind.

This is the essence of the problem with which public policy and its bigger stronger cousin, human culture, must forever struggle.

How shall the transmission of wealth across the generations be meshed with the intergenerational social obligation?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 5:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 6, 2007

Posted Without Comment

How to Get the Sexy, Sleek, Attractive Look You’ve Always Dreamed Of

Part 1 –Turn Back the Clock Anti-Aging Fitness Program
Part 2 – Unleash the Power of Your Mind
Part 3 – Nourish Your Body to Get Young
Part 4 – Spice Up Life with Supplements
Part 5 – Get Fit and Beat Your Body's Aging
Part 6 - Put it All Together

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 6, 2007 6:21 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

December 7, 2007

Power Up Friday: Moon River Edition

Dr. Al Power offers the quote of the week:

"People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,
reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone."
- Audrey Hepburn

Had she lived, Audrey Hepburn would be approaching her 80th year. I think she would have become a fine elder.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 7, 2007 6:22 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 10, 2007

The Blogosphere Gets Better

Judith Shapiro has entered the blogosphere with Remembering Matters and it looks and reads great. She runs with Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska's poem on the joy of writing. I am in the final stages of writing a new novel so I found the following lines to be an inspiration....

Is there then a world
where I rule absolutely on fate?
A time I bind with chains of signs?
An existence become endless at my bidding?

The joy of writing.
The power of preserving.
Revenge of a mortal hand.

By Wislawa Szymborska
From "No End of Fun", 1967
Translated by S. Baranczak & C. Cavanagh

This is the poet, not the blogger--- just so you know...

Amazon adds some perspective here.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 10, 2007 9:39 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Sunshine Down Under

Similar studies show the same results in the U.S. -- the older we are the less likely we are to be depressed, stressed and anxious:

Middle-aged 'more anxious than elderly'
Elderly Australians are less anxious and depressed than those in middle-age, according to a new study which paints a refreshingly bright picture of growing old.

A major survey of 5,000 people over 45 has found that baby boomers have significantly higher rates of psychiatric and anxiety disorders than those in their twilight years.

"This is a new and very positive view of ageing," said psychiatrist and co-investigator Dr Julian Trollor, from the University of New South Wales.

"The general perception out there is that disease and burden is what you've got to look forward to as you age, but we can be much more positive than that."

Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 10, 2007 9:48 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 11, 2007

Which Witch

Once again, science lags behind myth and legend.

This story...

"Our focus has always been on tightening and lifting the soft tissues, skin and muscle in an attempt to cosmetically restore patients' youthful appearance. Based on this information, it might actually be better to restore the underlying bony framework of the face to its youthful proportions."
Since growth plates found in most of the body's bones stop growing after puberty, experts assumed the human skull stopped growing then too. However, the bones that comprise the human skull have no growth plates.

Using CT scans of 100 men and women, the researchers discovered that the bones in the human skull continue to grow as people age. The forehead moves forward while the cheek bones move backward. As the bones move, the overlying muscle and skin moves as well and that subtly changes the shape of the face. "The facial bones also appear to tilt forward as we get older," explains Richard, "which causes them to lose support for the overlying soft tissues. That results in more sagging and drooping."

People have long understood and feared these changes and even created a mythic construct to deal with those fears...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 11, 2007 6:52 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Fear of Witches?

Help is on the way...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 11, 2007 8:33 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 12, 2007

Malleus Maleficarum

Real Witchhunts...

"At Baldshut, on the Rhine, in the diocese of Constance, a witch confessed, that offended at not having been invited to the wedding of an acquaintance, she had caused herself to be carried through the air in open daylight to the top of a neighbouring mountain, and there, having made a hole with her hands and filled it with water, she had, by stirring the water with certain incantations caused a heavy storm to burst forth on the heads of the wedding-party; and there were witnesses at the trial who swore they had seen her carried through the air.

"The inquisitors, however, confess that the witches were sometimes carried away, as they term it, in the spirit; and they give the instance of one woman who was watched by her husband; she appeared as if asleep, and was insensible, but he perceived a kind of cloudy vapour arise out of her mouth, and vanish from the room in which she lay—this after a time returned, and she then awoke, and gave an account of her adventures, as though she had been carried bodily to the assembly….

"The witches of the Malleus Maleficarum appear to have been more injurious to horses and cattle than to mankind. A witch at Ravenspurg confessed that she had killed twenty-three horses by sorcery. We are led to wonder most at the ease with which people are brought to bear witness to things utterly beyond the limits of belief. A man of the name of Stauff in the territory of Berne, declared that when pursued by the agents of justice, he escaped by taking the form of a mouse; and persons were found to testify that they had seen him perform this trans-mutation.

"The latter part of the work of the two inquisitors gives minute directions for the mode in which the prisoners are to be treated, the means to be used to force them to a confession, the degree of evidence required for conviction of those who would not confess, and the whole process of the trials. These show sufficiently that the unfortunate wretch who was once brought before the inquisitors of the holy see on the suspicion of sorcery, however slight might be the grounds of the charge, had very small chance of escaping out of their claws.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 6:50 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

James Dean James Dean

Frank Greeve at McClatchy has a nice piece on what fancy-pants experts call...

"the compression of morbidity"

This means more life and living with less illness and disability. The idea is not that people get a greater lifespan (the top end remains about 110 years) but rather that more and more people are blessed with a greater healthspan.

Most people hope for healthspan to equal their lifespan. The actor James Dean accomplished this with the only problem being that he wrecked his car and was killed when he was still in his early twenties. Not sick a day in his life though.

More attractive is the option of achieving both longevity and a generous healthspan. This dream seems to be coming true for more and more people. The full article is here.

WASHINGTON — The remarkable thing about National Public Radio senior news analyst Daniel Schorr, 91, who only recently gave up tennis, and Landrum Bolling, 94, the globe-trotting director at large for the relief agency Mercy Corps, is the same: They aren't.
A surprising decline in disability rates among older Americans since the 1980s is enabling millions more to lead longer, richer, spryer lives.

[snip]

"This is a very important positive outcome," said Dr. Richard Suzman, the director of the behavioral and social research program at the National Institute on Aging...

[snip]

Already, the decline has put to rest fears that greater longevity would mean only more years in pain. A National Center for Health Statistics study published in August found the opposite: that older Americans typically are disability-free for the roughly 10 months of life expectancy that were added from 1992 to 2003.

(H/T Alex M)

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 9:44 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Serenbe

People often ask me what I think the new old age is going to be like.

The first and best answer is---- diverse.

Here is one example of the creativity that is beginning to illuminate this new diversity of community and built environment.

Serenbe

The most common answer I get is an insistence, always politely phrased, that there must be some single best way to encounter aging in the 21st Century.

There isn't.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 11:04 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Time Goes By Comes Back

Ronni is in the house!

Wooooo. Hooooooo!!!

Love the Elderish Wisdom that permeates her return to the blogosphere post.

She is one of the greats.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 11:25 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Bizzaro

How does creativity work? I am sure there are as many answers to that question as there are creative people--- that would be billions. For my part, an important part of the process has to do with opening my mind up to the possibility that everything, and I mean everything, I know is wrong, upside down and backward. This is much harder than it seems, at least for me.

I remember...

When I was a student doctor a professor, whom I revered, asked me to see one of his patients and then report back what I found. I was thrilled, and nervous and determined to do my best. I saw the man, took his history, life-long smoker, now with shortness of breath and weight loss. I listened closely with my stethoscope and heard just what I expected to hear--- wheezing.

When I was nearly done the patient start cursing and complaining about "that murderer Benedict." Didn't seem relevant.

My diagnosis? Emphysema-- end stage.

I reported all of this to my mentor and he questioned me closely. When I was done, he told me I was wrong--- dead wrong.

Wheezing is the sound people make when they are working hard to breath out, stridor is the sound people make when they are working hard to breath in. I'd heard sounds in the lungs and they "sounded like wheezing" mainly because I assumed they would be wheezes.

The patient really had cancer of the voicebox and that often causes stridor. He had been seeing a Dr. Benedict for six months and Dr. Benedict had diagnosed emphysema and prescribed treatments for the same, increasing the dosages as the symptoms worsened. All the while, the tumor grew. By the time the patient came to see my mentor, it was too late. "That murderer Benedict's" error had eliminated any hope of recovery.

I remember a shudder running through my body as my mentor explained this to me. I had made exactly the same error. I had failed because I saw only the obvious and, unfortunately, what was obvious was also false.

So how is this related to creativity? I believe that creativity is a discipline, like music or poetry. I takes hard work and the hardest work is questioning our own assumptions.

Take King Lear, for example, the easy thing to do with a play like Lear is to read it as a simple morality play. Senile old king has three daughters, one good, two bad. He makes foolish choices with death and destruction as their natural consequences. End. Of. Story.

Not.

There is a comic book character called Bizzaro, which turns out to also be a very helpful when it comes to thinking about what is upside down and backwards.

Wikipedia has a nice introduction to Bizzaro, here's a taste...

The original Bizarro was created when Superman was exposed to a "duplicate ray." In accordance with the science fiction concepts of Superman stories of the era, Bizarro relocated to "the Bizarro World," a cubical planet called Htrae [in keeping with Bizarro logic, Earth spelled backwards] which operated under "Bizarro logic" (it was a crime to do anything good or right) and which Bizarro populated with inverted versions of Superman’s supporting cast and other DC heroes.

This is interesting because it turns out to be difficult to imagine the opposite of everything.

So let's practice... Imagine a Bizzaro King Lear where everything is opposite and backwards. Now imagine that you are a character in "Bizzaro Lear World."

What would you do?

Who would you be?

How would you act?

What would you say?

How would you intervene?

Think hard for a few minutes. The easy silly thing is to say, "I will persuade the characters to do what is right and thereby avert tragedy!" How noble! How good and wonderful!

How wrong!

Just for a taste of how challenging this can be, consider the King's Fool. Shakespeare makes him into the the Fool who is really wise, so the Bizzaro Fool would be a Wise Woman who is really a fool. Must. Stop. Head. Spinning.

Finding the opposite of a thing requires you to truly understand the thing itself. As I noted above, a man died because his doctor (and later on the medical student) could not even appreciate the simple difference between breathing in and breathing out.

Consider this blog open for business for any and all who would like to accept the challenge of turning King Lear into Bizzaro Lear and then showing us what that means and how that works. Let us rewrite the Bard's Immortal Play (or at least one scene) and turn the whole world upside down.

This, in my mind, is where the roots of genuine creativity are to be found.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 5:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

December 13, 2007

Senior Theater

The 2008 Senior Theatre USA Festival will be held in Baltimore on the UMBC Campus from June 10 - 15.

Like the previous festivals, it will bring together hundreds of performers, professionals and other Senior Theatre lovers. There will be shows from many different types of Senior Theatre companies from across the nation, plus workshops and social events.

There will be a couple celebrity highlights this year: John%20Astin.jpg Keynote speaker John Astin (who currently teaches at Johns Hopkins but is perhaps best-known as the mustachioed comedic actor Gomez Adams) will appear as Baltimore’s own Edgar Allen Poe, performing excerpts from the one-man show Once Upon a Midnight.

Stuart%20Harris.jpg New York playwright Stuart Harris will premiere his comedic one-act play Spindrift Way.

For more information.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 13, 2007 6:16 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Remembering Matters Matters

Remembering Matters is a really good Blog.

I am just sayin'

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 13, 2007 1:56 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 14, 2007

Power Up Friday: New Job Edition

First, news from Dr. Al Power...

I wanted to let everyone know about exciting changes in my life. As of 1/1/08, St. John’s Home has offered me the position of Eden Mentor, full-time. This means that, for the foreseeable future, I will be leaving the realm of daily medical practice (after 23 years) and devoting all of my hours to Eden, here and for the larger organization.

My job will include:
Helping guide St. John’s on our journey through neighborhood teams, to our next stage as a Green House facility, which will help the model evolve in new ways
Giving talks to other organizations on culture change, Eden and enlightened care of people with dementia
Completing my book on the same topic, (which is moving along quickly)
Continuing to do CEA trainings wherever I can
Participating with the Mentor group as much as possible

I hope this new phase will give me even more opportunities to interact with all of you, and hopefully we can help each other grow in this remarkable path.

For those in my area, I am doing a radio show for our local PBS affiliate, WXXI-AM 1370. I will be talking for an hour about Eden and its implications for elder care and especially care of people with dementia. It will be taped on 12/18 and broadcast during the Holidays, most likely on 12/28. Hopefully this will eventually be available to all via webcast on www.wxxi.org.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 14, 2007 6:20 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Rethinking Retirement

I think this might be interesting.

Would love to hear from anyone who listens in...

Tuesday, December 18th
From 3pm - 4pm Eastern

Denise Snodgrass is hosting a Free Teleseminar

"Create Your Retirement Your Way"

We're going to be talking about two programs that were designed to meet the needs of people just like YOU, who are ready to figure out how to thrive in life's second half:
The Creative Retirement Exploration Weekend;

and

Paths to Creative Retirement

This isn't creativity the way you normally think of it. It's about
finding creative solutions for designing the life and the lifestyle
you want for your retirement. It's about place. It's about
community. It's about transitions. It's about making a difference.

The only catch is that you must register to get the
recording access information. But what a great catch!

All YOU have to do is tell us you're interested in
being on the call!

Just click on the following link to register:
Gail@celebrateaging.com.

Put December 18 Seminar in the subject line, and Your
Name and Phone Number in the message.

Gail will make sure that you receive the conference call number and code for the call, as well as the access information for the recording.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 14, 2007 1:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

Kiva Giving

Been thinking about holiday giving?

Ready to try something new?

Try this.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 14, 2007 2:29 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 16, 2007

Free Rice

Here's another creative way to lend a helping hand--- and you might even learn something in the process.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 16, 2007 9:57 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 17, 2007

Ontogeny and Neoteny

I have been looking at human development from the point of view of evolutionary biology and have found a theory that I think might help us understand our relationship to the rest of the primate family...

Here's the heavy stuff...

"To support the argument that we evolved by retaining juvenile features of our ancestors, Bolk provided lists of similarities between adult humans and juvenile apes:

"Our essential somatic properties, i.e. those which distinguish the human body form from that of other Primates, have all one feature in common, viz they are fetal conditions that have become permanent.

What is a transitional stage in the ontogensis [embryonic development] of other Primates has become a terminal stage in man" (1926a, p. 468).

Bolk (1926c, p. 6) provide[s] an abbreviated list in the following order:

1. Our "flat faced" orthognathy.
2. Reduction of lack of body hair.
3. Loss of pigmentation in skin, eyes, and hair.
4. The form of the external ear.
5. The epicanthic eyefold.
6. The central position of the foramen magnum (it migrates backward during the ontogeny of primates).
7. High relative brain weight.
8. Persistence of the cranial sutures to an advanced age.
9. The labia majora of women.
10. The structure of the hand and foot.
11. The form of the pelvis.
12. The ventrally directed position of the sexual canal in women.
13. Certain variations of the tooth row and cranial sutures.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 17, 2007 6:02 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 18, 2007

Bloggy Goodness

I suspect that some portion of the ChangingAging readership is new to the blogosphere. I know that we have some veteran blogospherians out there as well but, in the holiday spirit and just for the plain old bloggy goodness of it all, I declare this to be ChangingAging's first ever "Let's Visit the Blogosphere Week."

Here is how it works. I will start with the blog roll on the left-hand side of the page, I'll follow that link and then use what I find there to follow another link etc. and so forth until I get tired or whatever.

Ready for something new?

Buckle up Intrepid Bloggonauts, here we go!

First stop...

Ageless Marketing

Marketeer David Wolfe's journal about ideas, people and events in the Marketing Revolution.

I'm guessing that this is a snapshot of David with his Trusty Horse Named Dusty

Anyway David pops off on "Lessons for Prospering When the Economy Isn’t" so we take a gander at his "blogroll" we find...

Boomers which is the creation of Brent Green who weighs in on the tragic death of Boomer Acoustic Music Legend Dan Fogelberg

Brent%20Thin%20Ice%204.jpg

But hey, what's this?? He links to Dr. Bill Thomas so here we are right back home again.

See all you blogonauts tomorrow when we take "A Little Red Hen" out for a spin!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 6:22 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

News You Can Use...

It doesn't take much time traveling outside of these United States to realize that the world has it's own, highly variable, take on this great nation of ours.

In a global village it pays to pay attention to what the other villagers have to say...

Watching America offers a news and opinion roundup that gives readers a unique outside looking in perspective...

(H/T* Cab Drollery)

H/T is short for Hat Tip which is an expression of polite thanks for leading me to something good and useful.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 1:38 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Delurking is Good

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 1:45 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

How About Some Sexism?

Here is a report from an Australian newspaper which highlights a photo that "shows how much Hillary Clinton has aged"

Message

Aging men look distinguished or even-- "senatorial"

Aging women look-- "old"

Rush Limbaugh-- noted expert-- weighs in...

"We know that the presidency ages the occupants of that office rapidly. You go back and look at… Well, you can’t use Clinton because he dyed his hair based on the audience he was speaking to, but take a look some pictures of Bush in 2000, when he was campaigning, or 2001 when he was inaugurated. Take a look at him now. Just been eight years. The difference is stark. He’s kept himself in good shape and so forth, but you can say that this is a sad, unfortunate thing. But men aging makes them look more authoritative, accomplished, distinguished. Sadly, it’s not that way for women, and they will tell you."

His rant and this recent call and response from a McCain political rally are really one of a piece..

WOMAN: How do we beat the bitch?
McCAIN: May I give the translation?

The amount of sexism in our society is staggering and what is interesting is how the rise of a political figure, who is a woman, brings out this latent sexism for all to see.

It is not about the desirability of one particular woman for one particular office, it is about the poisoned barbs which wound women of all ages when they transgress traditional ideas about the proper (and subordinate) role of their gender.

America needs to get over it.

Men age. Women age. Men can lead. Women can lead.

Gender, which is irrelevant, is offered as a highly distracting piety. Grown men who really ought to know much better (I mean you Rushbo), dispense reheated conventional wisdom from the 1950's and then go on to delude themselves (and others) with the notion that their comments are somehow daring and provocative.

Hollywood's Take on Women and Technology

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 3:42 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

We Owe Money

America is sitting on a pile of debt of almost unimaginable proportions.

That matters for young and old alike. It matters, even more, for those yet to be born.

The dead--- they really don't care.

Andy Sullivan has more...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 4:38 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 19, 2007

The Little Red Hen Who Could...

Ready for today's journey?

First stop is A Little Red Hen which has what must be a contender for all time great taglines...

"peace, politcs, yarnlife after 60"

Her blogroll will, if we let it, whisk us off to...

The Crone Speaks

Got to love her post on Bad Santa

Anyway, the good old crone links to feministing.com

This is a kick ass feminist blog. Gotta love 'em.

Not-so-shocking news: Working moms are happier

I'm sure this study will bring out the whole "most women want to stay at home but can't afford it" argument. The thing is, I have no doubt that most women (and men) would like more time with their children and more flexible schedules and workplace policies to facilitate that being possible. That's definitely what feminists want. But when it comes women who are stuck at home with no outlets for public productivity, less financial security and--as Amanda points out--less ability to be social--it's not exactly shocking that they would be less satisfied and happy. Thoughts?

So, Feminsting.com links to...

Buddha Stew

Who Says the Buddha Can't Climb Mountains...

And Buddha Stew links to Friendly Hostility

The cartoonist writes...

I'm Sandra, the chick that draws and writes this comic. I come from a large tight-knit Mexican family. I'm studying microbiology (virology emphasis). I like microbes more than people on most days, which is why I decided on a PhD instead of an MD. I've been in a serious relationship for some odd years. I have two ferrets and way too many stories inside my head. I'm deeply interested in politics, and thus frequently full of rage. I collect pretty boxes, stuffed toy bats, and interesting turns of phrase that stick in your head. Those are way too many sentences that start with "I," so let's move on.

That's the best advice a blogonaut can get... "let's move on!"

Tomorrow we launch from Better Than I Ever Exptected.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 19, 2007 6:27 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Would It?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 19, 2007 10:56 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

Wow

Read it...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 19, 2007 4:17 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 20, 2007

Photon Torpedoes

Today we launch from Better Than I Ever Expected.

The blogger is Joan Price...

I am an advocate for ageless sexuality and the author of Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty. I started this blog so that we can continue to "talk straight" about topics involving sex and aging. I hope that by bringing the topics that concern us out in the open and sharing our attitudes and experiences, we'll start to change society -- one mind at a time!

She links to Eldr

Hey man what's this the eldr site all about anyway??? I clink on the links and they all take me right back to eldr.com.

Red Alert. Red Alert.

Whoop. Whoop. Whoop. All hands to battle stations.

This is not how it's supposed to work my fellow blogonauts. We have unwittingly wandered into and been trapped by a commercial tractor beam and we must break free...

Must. Break Free.

Punches buttons and mumbles gibberish about photon torpedoes...

Off to Overland Park Kansas and Revered Thom

And he links to the Eclectic Cleric

Who was...

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, sailing summers in the San Juan Islands and warding off the gloominess of the incessant winter rains by reading voraciously and drinking more than my fair share of Seattle's Best espresso. Five (count 'em) college degrees, making me an honest-to-God Crimson Dawg Duck Beaver Viking. Have served Unitarian Universalist congregations in both Midland Texas and on Nantucket Island (which made the 2004 election VERY interesting), as well as numerous other smaller UU fellowships along the I-5 corridor in Washington and Oregon. Recently relocated from the affluent faux rural suburbs of "the Neighborhood of Boston" (just beyond the Old North Bridge and through the woods from the site of Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond), to the bustling shores of Casco Bay at the southern edge of "Down East."

See you all tomorrow!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 20, 2007 5:08 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Elder Cars

Toyota steps up to the plate.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 20, 2007 4:07 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Cab Drollery

Yeah sure she's got bird blogging. That and so much more. I really enjoy this blog. Eclectic. Incisive. I stop by often.

Contributors Ruth and Diane have important things to say and they say them well.

Ruth considers Time's Person of the Year with "Rivaling Putin Deep in the Heart of Texas"

The Dynamic Duo also happen to link to...

This...

which links to

Hecate

which links to

The Practice Room

Incoherent ramblings from an expat musician trying to keep up with the world from her undisclosed location in the Alpenland.

And that expat musician links to...

Vermont, Away and Back

And that links to...

The Smithsonian Photo Archive

Have fun at the Smithsonian--- take your time and look around.

See you tomorrow!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 20, 2007 4:10 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

December 21, 2007

Pills that Kill

Lucette Lagnado over at the WSJ

She takes a look at the damage being done by the overuse of prescription medications in nursing homes all over America.

It is sad.

And true.

The widespread use of antipsychotics among the elderly has begun to draw criticism from regulators, researchers, lawmakers and some in the nursing-home industry. Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, this month asked several drug manufacturers for records on how they may have marketed these drugs for use in geriatric patients. He also has asked the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate use of the drugs in nursing homes.

The take home message is that the "system" is biased toward using powerful drugs in place of recommended levels of staffing and ongoing staff training and development.

It can be different.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 21, 2007 11:42 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 22, 2007

The Law...

of unintended consequences, will be strictly enforced...

Predatory lending comes back to bite the predatory lenders.

From Calculated Risk

See these comments from Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis via the WSJ: Now, Even Borrowers With Good Credit Pose Risks
"There's been a change in social attitudes toward default," Mr. Lewis says. Bankers typically have believed that cash-strapped borrowers would fall behind on their credit cards, car payments and other debts -- but would regard mortgage defaults as calamities to be avoided at all costs. That isn't always so anymore, he says.

"We're seeing people who are current on their credit cards but are defaulting on their mortgages," Mr. Lewis says. "I'm astonished that people would walk away from their homes." The clear implication: At least a few cash-strapped borrowers now believe bailing out on a house is one of the easier ways to get their finances back under control.

... there is a new class of homeowners in name only. Because these people never put up much of their own money, they don't act like owners, committed to their property for the long haul.

If every upside down homeowner resorted to "jingle mail" (mailing the keys to the lender), the losses for the lenders could be staggering. Assuming a 15% total price decline, and a 50% average loss per mortgage, the losses for lenders and investors would be about $1 trillion. Assuming a 30% price decline, the losses would be over $2 trillion.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 22, 2007 8:55 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 24, 2007

Shaka Santa

I love me some Shaka Santa

Merry Christmas to all of my friends in the Island Paradise...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 24, 2007 2:17 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 26, 2007

Meowwyy Christmas

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 26, 2007 12:15 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Eden in Europe

I've always said that I married the most beautiful woman in the world.

Drop by the Eden In Europe website. I love the style and I think it is very effective. In case you don't read German.

Try this.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 26, 2007 2:58 PM |Permalink |Comments (3)

December 28, 2007

Boomer Elders

A couple of thoughts...

As Boomers creep toward old age, some peer into the future, seeking to understand, what comes next. They sense the possibility of a new life, freed from youth’s fevered illusions. They are our Elders-in-the-Making, seeds of the last, and greatest, counter-cultural movement the Boomers will ever know.

Elderhood awaits them like an undiscovered continent. This new old age lies beyond adulthood, beyond the boundaries of the world we know today. Soon, there will be crones and sages among us, much more than half a million strong.

Joni Mitchell said…

But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Old age is not failure. It grows within us, the last frontier of human possibility. The Boomer’s greatest journey is just beginning.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 28, 2007 3:05 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 29, 2007

The Onion's Year in Review

The Onion is satire, fake news, very funny and worth a look.

Here is the 2007 Year-End Update

Often more truth than fiction...

Secretary Of Defense Humiliated As U.S. Credit Card Rejected

ST. LOUIS—An attempt to build international goodwill backfired horribly for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Monday, when he was unable to pick up the tab for Australian Defense Minister Sen. Robert Hill's order of 11 Apache AH-64 helicopters using the U.S.'s credit card.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 29, 2007 9:52 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 30, 2007

One More from the Onion

Sorry, I just couldn't resist...

New Speaker Of The House Caught Wearing Women’s Clothing

WASHINGTON—After successfully gaining a majority in both the U.S. House and Senate in the 2006 midterm elections, the Democratic Party was mired in controversy when the newly elected speaker of the house, Rep. Pelosi (D-CA), was caught on camera wearing what appeared to be a skirt, ladies top, necklace, and pair of high heels.

New-Speaker.article.jpg

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 30, 2007 11:45 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 31, 2007

Ruh-Roh

Big business is ever eager to privatize the profits while at the same time socializing the risks...

Prediction: In 2007 we will see corporations dumping their obligations on public (tax-payer funded) safety net programs at a record pace.

Who knew that the big shots loved socialized medicine so much?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare.
The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65 and more limited benefits — or none at all — for those older.

More than 10 million retirees rely on employer-sponsored health plans as a primary source of coverage or as a supplement to Medicare, and Naomi C. Earp, the commission’s chairwoman, said, “This rule will help employers continue to voluntarily provide and maintain these critically important health benefits.”

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 6.1 percent this year and have increased 78 percent since 2001, according to surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Because of the rising cost of health care and the increased life expectancy of workers, the commission said, many employers refuse to provide retiree health benefits or even to negotiate on the issue.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 31, 2007 6:52 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

2008

It is going to be a good year....

I'm glad I'm going to get to share it with ChangingAging readers!

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December 2007 Archives

December 1, 2007

Nest Egg: How Much is Enough?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 1, 2007 7:18 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 3, 2007

The Bickersons

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:59 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Wealth and Age: Notes

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 11:29 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

Time Goes By Goes Bye Bye

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:28 PM |Permalink |Comments (3)

Fashion Statement

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 4, 2007

Small Houses

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 4, 2007 6:01 AM |Permalink |Comments (5)

December 5, 2007

Its the Race We Run-- Not the Destination

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 6:27 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

List of Shame

Posted by Kavan Peterson on December 5, 2007 9:55 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

*Update* Shame on CMS

Posted by Kavan Peterson on December 5, 2007 10:56 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Wealth and Age: King Lear

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 5:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 6, 2007

Posted Without Comment

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 6, 2007 6:21 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

December 7, 2007

Power Up Friday: Moon River Edition

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 7, 2007 6:22 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 10, 2007

The Blogosphere Gets Better

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 10, 2007 9:39 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Sunshine Down Under

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 10, 2007 9:48 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 11, 2007

Which Witch

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 11, 2007 6:52 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Fear of Witches?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 11, 2007 8:33 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 12, 2007

Malleus Maleficarum

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 6:50 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

James Dean James Dean

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 9:44 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Serenbe

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 11:04 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Time Goes By Comes Back

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 11:25 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Bizzaro

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 5:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

December 13, 2007

Senior Theater

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 13, 2007 6:16 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Remembering Matters Matters

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 13, 2007 1:56 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 14, 2007

Power Up Friday: New Job Edition

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 14, 2007 6:20 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Rethinking Retirement

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 14, 2007 1:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

Kiva Giving

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 14, 2007 2:29 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 16, 2007

Free Rice

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 16, 2007 9:57 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Update Shame on CMS