Saturday, 23 June 2012
INTERESTING STUFF – 23 June 2012
IN WHICH I TAKE ON DRUG COMPANY PFIZER
Well, not that I intended to do so, but when Judith Graham, topic leader on aging at the Association of Healthcare Journalists website, asked my thoughts on Pfizer's new website about getting old, I couldn't resist a few choice words:
"The site fails aesthetically from page one; there is nothing inviting there, nothing engaging, nothing to pique anyone’s interest. It’s badly conceived and executed."
Judith has since published that and the rest of my Pfizer rant along with some kind words about Time Goes By. You can read it here.
LAMENTATIONS OF A FATHER
All right. I know it's a week late for Father's Day, but this 15-year-old lamentation from Ian Frazer is priceless. And if I, childless by choice, find it fall-down funny, parents and grandparents will, I am certain, kvell. Here is taste:
”And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me.
“Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke.
“Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away.
“When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck; for you will be sent away.”
You can read the entire lament at the Atlantic magazine.
BILL MOYERS ON HIS GRANCHILDREN'S FUTURE
Last week, Bill Moyers had some thoughts on the nature of our political climate and what it means for his grandchildren's future. (Hat tip to TGB reader, John Starbuck)
SECURITY CAMERA FOLLIES
Mostly, we think of security cameras as just that, security, in place to catch the robbers and other criminals at their nefarious deeds. But this video, sent by Cathy Johnson, shows something else again. Wonderful.
CURSIVE WRITING BEING PHASED OUT
Remember the hours we spent in grade school practicing the loops and curves of cursive writing?
It may turn out that boomers become the last generation that knows how to write cursive. Forty-five U.S. states have signed on to Common-Core State Standards for education which does not require teaching cursive but insists on “keyboarding.” I wonder if that means future historians won't know how to read documents like this one:
You can read more here.
HOW LUNCH WAS INVENTED
An exhibit opened this week at the New York Public Library called Lunch Hour NYC about how the Horn and Hardart Automats helped invent the lunch hour. Watch this terrific short history video:
The Automat was so ubiquitous in the first half of the 20th century that it was featured in many movies of the era. You can watch clips from more than half of dozen of them here with such stars Joan Crawford, Jean Arthur, Sylvia Sydney and more.
And there is more good information about the Automat in this New York Times story.
RYAN BUDGET INCOME STUDY
Presumptive Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney has endorsed Paul Ryan's Medicare and Social Security-killing budget plan. So have most Republicans in Congress. This week, a group of Catholic nuns took to the hustings against that proposed budget in the midwest with their Nuns on the Bus tour:
According to a study prepared by the congressional Joint Economic Committee and verified by independent experts, here is how the Ryan budget would change after-tax income of various income groups [larger image here]:
BABY/CHIMP KISS
Whew! After the awful news in that immediately preceding story, something warm and wonderful and cuddly is in order:
STUMBLE STONES
Have you ever heard of Stumble Stones? Me neither until this week. Here is what they look like:
The stumble stones - stolpersteine in German – are the project of German artist, Gunter Demnig who in the past 15 years has installed more than 34,000 brass-capped cobble stones in countries throughout Europe in front of the homes or stores of victims of the Nazis.
The stones are engraved with the barest details of the person's life beginning with HERE LIVED followed by name, birthdate, deportation destination and date of death. As Demnig told The New York Times,
"'Six million is an incomprehensible figure,' said Demnig, referring to the number of Jews murdered by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. 'But to carve the name of a single person on a single marker is to say, Look, this individual lived - lived right here at this actual address. He or she looked out this window or stepped out that door every day. This was someone just like you or me. Not just an anonymous victim of history.'"
There is much more worth seeing and reading at the Stumble Stones website.
SLEEPING LIKE A BABY KITTEN
I have been remiss in not posting Saturday kitty pictures of late, so here is one I found at Colette's French-language blog, Nifty and Fifty and the City.
Interesting Stuff is a weekly listing of short takes and links to web items that have caught my attention; some related to aging and some not, some useful and others just for fun.
You are all encouraged to submit items for inclusion. Just click “Contact” in the upper left corner of any Time Goes By page to send them. I'm sorry that I probably won't have time to acknowledge receipt and there is no guarantee of publication. But when I do include them, you will be credited and I will link to your blog if you have one.
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 05:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
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This is the best Interesting Stuff column ever. I really needed to see the Security Camera and the kissing baby. Thanks. It was all good.
Posted by: Marva | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 06:57 AM
I looked at the getold.com site. You choose between saying if you feel optimistic, angry, prepared or uneasy. During the course of a day, I usually have all of those emotions depending on the topic. And if that isn’t patronizing enough, you are asked to put in your age and sex to find a vignette supposedly related to your mood and demographic. Too bad Pfizer did not consult you first, Ronni.
Posted by: Mia McCabe | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 07:32 AM
I particularly liked Bill Moyers' comments. The Paul Ryan figures just make me mad. Great column.
Posted by: MerCyn | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 07:34 AM
You have a great batting average over the life of your blog (at least, as much as I've read in the past seven years, perhaps); but, you hit it out of the park with the bases loaded, today!
You and Judith Graham make one powerful team. I read every word that she wrote and followed her links. Right on!
Security Camera Follies brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you, dear blog friend!
Posted by: Cop Car | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 07:37 AM
I picked up on the fact that originally lunch "hours" were actually two hours long. Many are lucky today if there employer allows for a 30 minute lunch period to wolf your food down, supposedly for productivity's sake. But does ingestion from eating fast actually make you more productive?
Many in Europe still keep the 2-hour lunch timetable and their productivity doesn't seem to suffer at all. In fact in some countries like Germany, France and Hungary (well of course Hungary) lunch is the main meal, though there are signs however that the American version of lunch quickies are taking hold in the old world.
Posted by: Larry | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 07:43 AM
Loved the father’s lamentations! Jean Cocteau did a jesting piece called Petit letter à la dérive, which creates a litany of the dinner-table imperatives that parents deliver to their children:
Mange ta soupe. Tiens-toi droit. Mange lentement. Ne mange pas si vite. Bois en mangeant. Coupe ta viande en petits morceaux. Tu ne fais que tordre et avaler. Ne joue pas avec ton couteau. Ce n’est pas comme ça qu’on tient sa fourchette. On ne chante pas à table. Vide ton assiette. Ne te balance pas sur ta chaise. Finis ton pain. Pousse ton pain. Mâche. Ne parle pas la bouche pleine. Ne mets pas tes coudes sur la table. Ramasse ta serviette. Ne fais pas de bruit en mangeant. Tu sortiras de table quand on aura fini. Essuie ta bouche avant de m’embrasser.
Posted by: Diane | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 08:15 AM
What a nice start to my day. Bravo.
Posted by: Mage B | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 09:03 AM
There is so much good stuff today that I don't know where to begin to comment. I loved it all, but the Automat story brought back a long forgotten memory. When I was a child I saw the Automat in movies and really wanted to eat in one. On my second trip to NYC my to-do list included eating at the Automat. I did and I remember having a slice of pie. A silly dream fulfilled.
Bill Moyers has long been at the top of my most admired person list. I now include Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren along with Bill. I wish there were more like them.
Posted by: Darlene | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 10:03 AM
Great post, as usual. I couldn't agree more that Pfizer's new "old folks" website is a mess. Discerning colors isn't yet difficult for me, but I never have liked websites that are disorganized and jumbled, and this one is. Ronni, maybe you should offer to help Pfizer design a decent elders' website--for a hefty fee, of course!
Bill Moyers is terrific, while trying to comment on Paul Ryan without using a 4-letter word is, to say the least, difficult.
Posted by: Elizabeth Rogers | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 10:35 AM
These budget graphs and projections are so discouraging. I guess the rich aren't getting and the poor getting poorer fast enough for some people. Kudos to the nuns for taking this to the street, and for you, Ronni, for the posts.
Getold.com was certainly a huge disappointment, and with the money that probably went into it, that's a real shame. I agree with Mia that Pfizer has taken a very lazy and insensitive approach to this with their "one-size fits all" responses, based on the entry of the reader's age,gender and mood-du-jour. It could have been so much better. And I really dislike the website name. But thank you for the link to Judith Graham's article. I am now subscribed to future info from her, too.
Posted by: Cathy | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 10:41 AM
Oh, the memories you invoke for me -- I have eaten many a lunch at Horn & Hardart. What a kick!
Posted by: Miki Davis | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 10:45 AM
I'm totally biased when it comes to Pfizer since they've been cited & penalized by the government for so many misleading claims re their drugs/meds & for their questionable sales practices & pushing drs. to prescribe meds beyond what the FDA advised. I've always been amazed that the public has been so oblivious to the millions of $ they've been fined. I'm not surprised with the web site.
That said, I did love the kittens & everything else. Have a great w/end everyone. Dee
Posted by: Dee | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 12:29 PM
Good ones today Ronni
Laughed out loud at several especially the "baby kittens"
Posted by: Chancy | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 03:27 PM
The one that hits me is the one about cursive writing. My grandmother taught 3rd grade and to her, the handwriting lessons were just about the most important of all that she taught that year.
I deal with kids, middle school and older, every day. It is so heartbreaking to me to see that the vast majority of them cannot sign their names to a document. They print them, and even that is often a struggle. I suppose that even a personal signature will be obsolete in our techno society, but truly, it is such a loss.
Posted by: chlost | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 07:02 PM
Learning about "Stumble Stones" made me sad and happy all at the some moment. Such perfect memorials; wish his project had begun in 20th century.
We must never forget ways we allow abusive governments to victimize particular groups to advance their murderous goals. Thanks for posting.
Posted by: naomi dagen bloom | Saturday, 23 June 2012 at 09:38 PM
Diane--French/English, we all get/give much the same admonishments, don't we? I particularly appreciate the last entry in your listing concerning wiping one's mouth before kissing the admonisher. That particular admonishment I've not seen before; but, I like it!
Posted by: Cop Car | Sunday, 24 June 2012 at 02:05 AM
Say WHAT?!? No teaching of cursive?!?!?!?!? I had no idea! How is THAT going to work? It's seems unthinkable!
And, by the way, that uppercase "Q"... is THAT how it's written? I don't remember ever learning to do it that way. Maybe they taught us differently in Iowa... :)
Posted by: Nikki | Sunday, 24 June 2012 at 11:18 PM
Love Saturdays at TimeGoesBy! :)
Posted by: Nikki | Sunday, 24 June 2012 at 11:22 PM
Having gone through 8 years of Catholic elementary school, I learned the Parker Method and still write "like a nun." Of course, I also was one for 17 years! That said, I did not take Typing in high school because I "wouldn't need it in the future." Ha! Personally I don't care how kids learn how to write, as long as they can write well and it's legible.
I applaud the nuns on the bus! And have you heard about the Vatican cracking down on American nuns for being too involved in social issues like poverty, injustice, etc and not speaking out against abortion enough? Arghhhh!
Posted by: Kathleen Noble | Monday, 25 June 2012 at 10:55 AM
Nikki--The "Q" in the graphic is what we were taught in 3rd grade in Kansas City MO (that would have been 1948).
Ronni--It makes no difference how much I practiced in my youth; my essential tremor keeps me from writing legibly, now. Most of my life, my "hand written" stuff has actually been hand printed in block letters. Mostly, my block lettering is still legible.
Posted by: Cop Car | Tuesday, 26 June 2012 at 01:54 PM