This Week in Elder News: 29 March 2008

In this regular weekend feature you will find links to news items from the preceding week related to elders and aging, along with whatever else catches my fancy that I think you might like to know. Suggestions are welcome with, however, no promises of publication.

In an astonishing presentation at the recent TED Conference, brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor showed how the stroke she suffered eight years ago gave her new insight into her studies. Unfortunately, I can't get the video properly embedded here so you'll need to click over to the TED website. Believe me, it is worth the effort and every moment of the 18 minutes. (Hat tip to David Wolfe of Ageless Marketing)

Many of us become caregivers to our parents and other loved ones, and public radio station KQED in San Francisco is holding a live discussion about people’s personal experience with it on Monday, 31 March, which can also be heard online. They are asking for real-life stories and thoughts about caregiving that may be included in the program, and you can contribute here – I did. (Website registration required)

It is probably safe to say that to bloggers in general and elders in particular, words are of interest and matter a lot. A Way With Words is a regular PBS radio show on topics ranging from linguistic disputes to grammatical pet peeves and how about this for a topic: “Insegrevious Paratereseomaniacs”. You can listen to archived shows online and there are also written summaries of the programs.

Ruthe of Fat Old Artist recently pointed out that our politicians in Washington are proposing that new nuclear weapons be built. The Union of Concerned Scientists has set up a website for comment and protest of this action from the publifc.

TechCrunch calls it a “scourge on the web” – 33 percent of surfers who are still using the Internet Explorer 6 browser years after it was upgraded to IE7. It means web developers must waste time optimizing websites for non-standard features that plague IE6 and not newer browsers. If you are one of the laggards, you can help out the web developers by upgrading to IE7 or try one of the other browsers here.

Senior World Chronicle is exactly what its name says, a daily chronicle of stories from around the world that relate to elders. There is hardly a country not included, or a topic, and regular reading gives an excellent comparison of aging issues – similar and not-so-similar to one’s own country.

Early last week, The New York Times ran a story about how aging boomers are transforming neighborhood senior centers into more lively gathering places than the bridge-and-doughnuts clubs of the past, even attracting the younger set.

In case you missed it yesterday, TGB guest blogger, Linda Burnham, contributed an important and thought-provoking piece on feminism and racism in the primary campaign. I urge you to read The Tightrope and the Needle, think about it and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Personal Commentary of the Week: Does Senator Hillary Clinton have any idea what social and political chaos she will create if she succeeds in her campaign to get duly elected and pledged delegates to defect from Senator Barack Obama to her? I predict outrage like we haven’t seen since the Vietnam War from every corner of the country.