This Week in Elder News: 03 January 2009

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.

There’s an amusing story in the Port Townsend, Washington newspaper about people, mostly old, who still use rotary phones and an increase in sales of vinyl recordings. In a sidebar, a list compares technologies we grew up with to those that Gen X, Y and Z use. (I’m mildly ticked off at old technology being identified with boomers. There are 35 million people in the U.S. older than boomers. We’re still alive.)

Over the holidays, I received more than a dozen emails from people who said they read about Time Goes By and me in Working Wealth, a quarterly publication sent to clients of Smith Barney. Why would they write about me, I wondered. When I finally tracked it down, I vaguely recalled doing the interview nearly a year ago.

There is a photo of me that I actually like and Millie Garfield of My Mom’s Blog is interviewed too. Millie’s son, Steve, posted the story to his Flickr page where you can see it.

Chancy of driftwoodinspiration sent this video of a 66-year-old chair balancer. If you, like me, get the creepy crawlies at heights, it might not be your cup of tea, but it is amazing. [1:43 minutes]

Forbes reports that in the third quarter of 2008 alone, the world’s largest drug maker, Pfizer, spent nearly $3.1 million lobbying the federal government on various issues including their efforts to maintain the ban on Medicare negotiating drug prices. Pfizer makes the world’s largest-selling drug, Lipitor. I recently switched to a generic. More here.

Alexandra Grabbe of Wellfleet ChezSven Blog sent along a link to a story about elder crime in Japan. Petty crimes like pick-pocketing and shoplifting have doubled over the past five years, attributed to bad economic times and loneliness. The elder perpetrators are rarely prosecuted. More here.

In a Memo to Washington, Money magazine provides the incoming federal administration with three ways to help elders weather the financial crisis. I’m particularly in favor of the first one: to rescind the requirement to begin withdrawing funds from 401(k) plans at age 70-1/2. This is the worst bear market since the Depression, not the time to cash out if you don’t need to. More here. (Hat tip to Mary Jamison.)

There is a good story at alternet.org on 10 Reasons to be Hopeful about 2009 and 3 Reasons to be Terrified. You can skip the three, but the ten really do give hope for the future.

Digging my car out of the snow a dozen times each year has diminished the charm of winter storms for me. But the joy of the dog in this video knows no bounds. I dare you to watch it and not be grinning before the end. (Hint: it's even better with the sound turned off.) [2:36 minutes]