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Saturday, 06 October 2012

INTERESTING STUFF: 6 October 2012

RANDOM HAIR GROWTH AND OTHER AFFLICTIONS OF OLD AGE
This invocation at a 2009 convention from Mary Maxwell has been around for awhile but it's still funny as Darlene Costner reminded me this week.

There is more from Mary Maxwell here.

WHAT OBAMA DID THE MORNING AFTER THE DEBATE
In Madison, Wisconsin. Wow.

THE MOUSE COSTS EXTRA
Real estate is too dear in Manhattan for there to be suburban size supermarkets. But there is one on the upper west side and Fairway has become beloved there although this might give people pause at olive counter:

GERIATRICIAN WINS MACARTHUR AWARD
The annual MacArthur Awards – sometimes known as the genius awards – were announced this week. One of the winners is geriatrician Eric Coleman, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He developed a program that

”...trains nurses and social workers to help patients and their caregivers manage issues like medication use and organizing appointments,” explained The New York Times.

“The impetus behind starting the program was the constant stream of stories about patients discharged from hospitals only to be readmitted in short order.

“Hundreds of hospitals and community agencies across the country and abroad have adopted the intervention, which has been shown to reduce the likelihood of readmission by 20 to 50 percent.”

Coleman's program is a crucial advancement in the medical safety of elders and in helping reduce the costs of Medicare. You can find out more about Coleman and the MacArthur Foundation Awards here.

BROKAW EXPLAINS CANADA TO AMERICANS
A lot of Canadians read Time Goes By and - shame on me - I hardly ever pay attention to their country sitting there right above the U.S.

For example, Monday is Canada's Thanksgiving Day and I would not have thought to mention that if doctafil, who lives in Montreal and blogs at Jive Chalkin', had not sent this video which is packed with information I never knew about Canada.

Thank you, Canada, and Happy Thanksgiving Day.

ME IN UTNE READER
Last month, a new friend here in Oregon, Ken Pyburn, sent me a copy of a column in a recent issue of Utne Reader written by the magazine's founder, Eric Utne. Why, you might ask? Because Utne says the nicest things about moi:

”One of the best sources of on-going coverage of all things age-related, including this invented generational war, is the daily blog Time Goes By, by Ronnie Bennett.”

Okay, he spelled my name wrong, but what the hell – it's a treat to be mentioned in such a prestigious magazine. Utne is referring to this blog post in which I took on The New York Times's David Leonhart. You can read Utne's entire column here.

P-P-P-PAUL RYAN GIRL GROUP SONG
The vice presidential debate comes up next week so why not take a little poke at Paul Ryan – all in fun. If you miss some of the words, lyrics are here. (Not quite safe for work and small children.)

A TATTOO TO REMEMBER
I've been re-reading Survival at Auschwitz, Primo Levi's wrenching memoir of his time there so I was riveted when I ran across a story last week about Israeli children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who have branded themselves with the same numbers with which their relatives were tattooed by the Nazis.

”When Eli Sagir, who is now 21, showed her grandfather, Yosef Diamant, the new tattoo on her left forearm four years ago, he bent his head to kiss it.” (Photo credit: Uriel Sinai for The New York Times)

”All my generation knows nothing about the Holocaust,” said Ms. Sagir. "You talk with people and they think it’s like the Exodus from Egypt, ancient history. I decided to do it to remind my generation: I want to tell them my grandfather’s story and the Holocaust story.”

The entire Times article is here. There is also a slide show including short audio discussions with those who have adopted the tattoos.

WRINKLES
Or, in Spanish, Arrugas, the name of a full-length animated movie about the friendship of two old men, one of them in the early states of Alzheimer's disease, who live in a retirement home.

The film is based on a series of comic books in Spain and was introduced at a European film festival in 2011. I have scoured the internet for it – to buy or rent - and can find nothing. Here is a news report with some clips that was done about the movie when it was screened at the festival.

PROOF THAT LAUGHTER IS CONTAGIOUS
My old friend Jim Stone who lives in the wilds of Wyoming sent along this video taken on the U-Bahn in Germany. He noted in his email that the men try to hang on longer without laughing than the women do.

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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.

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