Did you know -

• the Meals on Wheels program for homebound elders is being cut by an estimated 19 million meals?

• thousands of elder cancer patients are being denied needed chemotherapy treatments due to Medicare cuts?

• 140,000 low-income families – mostly disabled elders and families with children - are losing rental assistance vouchers?

• 7,000 children are being kicked out of Head Start programs?

These cuts and others are already in progress and will increase in the coming months due to the “sequestration” law (the Budget Control Act of 2011) that went into effect on 1 March this year requiring across-the-board, mandatory cuts to the military and all federal agencies and programs.

Now, did you know this:

Last week, Congress – both houses – fast-tracked their individual bills to exempt the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from its share of sequestration cuts?

What happened that got Congress in such a tizzy to actually do something (and it's even bipartisan) is that a lot of air traffic controllers were furloughed on Monday 22 April resulting in a slow-down at airports throughout the U.S. inconveniencing business travelers along with members of Congress who fly to and from their home states a lot.

Following that first day of furlough, it took Congress just two days to prepare legislation to get those air traffic controllers back on the job and pass it by the end the week.

In case, given the above list, you are disgusted by Congressional priorities, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney explained at a press briefing last week that if passed, President Barack Obama would sign the legislation because:

“This is causing unnecessary harm to travelers around the country.”

So on Thursday, the Senate passed S.853, Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013 by what is called “unanimous consent” which means there was no roll call vote.

After some minor back and forth on Friday, the House passed an identical bill (H.R. 1765) 361-41 with 30 not voting. Only 29 Democrats voted against the bill.

My representative, Democrat Kurt Schrader, voted yea. I wonder if he knows this is a deal breaker for me in next year's election. You can see how yours voted here.

Although President Barack Obama had been expected to sign the legislation on Friday or Saturday, that had to be postponed due to a typo - a missing "s" - in the bill's text. He is now scheduled to sign it today. But that missing signature didn't stop the bill from going into effect immediately:

Even if we despise Congressional preference for their own convenience over food and health care for millions of Americans, at least the House voted fair and square by rules we understand and we know who voted which way.

The 100 contemptible Senate wretches, however, didn't even take a public vote. They hid behind that “unanimous consent” stuff.

That led me to wonder how it works and if any of the senators – were they to have a backbone and care about the vast majority of Americans who can't afford to travel by air – could have stopped unanimous consent passage of the bill.

As it turns out, it would have taken only one senator, just one, to bury this shameful legislation. Courtesy of a lucid explanation from Republican Senator Tom Coburn, here's how it goes. (By the way, there is no counterpart to this maneuver in the House.)

Bills to be passed by unanimous consent are said to be “hotlined.”

A “hotline” is an informal term for a request to members of the Senate to agree to allow a bill or resolution to be approved by the Senate without debate or amendment,” writes Coburn. “A measure that is 'hotlined' is recorded in the Congressional Record as being agreed to by unanimous consent (UC).

The majority and minority leaders of the Senate decide together to hotline a bill. All the senators' offices are then notified of the hotline and if they object [called a 'hold'], they are asked to contact their leader's office. Without any holds, however,

”In practice,” writes Coburn, “instead of requiring explicit unanimous consent to pass a bill, the hotline process only requires a lack of dissent...

“In some Senate offices, the hotline, or request for unanimous consent to pass a measure, may never even reach Senators, and the decision to allow a bill to be approved without debate is determined by staff. Staff may also place a hold on a bill without the knowledge of a Senator.”

That's bad enough. But wait. Get this:

”A 'hold' is placed when the Leader’s office is notified that a Senator intends to object to a request for unanimous consent (UC) from the Senate to consider or pass a measure.

“A hold may be placed for any reason and can be lifted by a Senator at any time. A Senator may place a hold simply to review a bill, to negotiate changes to the bill, or to kill the bill. A bill can be held for as long as the Senator who objects to the bill wishes to block its consideration.”

Personally, I think it's a dumb rule to allow one senator (anonymity allowed) to withhold a bill from the Senate floor indefinitely. But as long as we are stuck with it, it could have been used this time to stop a repellent bit of unwarranted favoritism.

Judging from past performance and publicly professed ideology, I would have thought there are several senators who coulda/woulda/shoulda stopped this legislation: Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), maybe even my two Oregon senators, Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.

But no. Not one senator (nor even the president) took a principled stand for needy elders, children and their families not to mention Medicare cancer patients denied chemotherapy drugs, some of whom will die as a result. (Yes, they will.)

But never mind. Congress members and rich people will not be caused "unnecessary harm," (as Carney so helpfully explained) by airport delays. This is the country we live in now.

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At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Joyce Benedict: The Will to Live

It was about three-and-a-half years ago that we had a terrific discussion about long hair on elder women. I went back to re-read it over the weekend because I was delighted with this comment that arrived on Saturday from a reader named Catherine.

”Just came across this and agree with the story. I have worn my hair short and 'neat' since the age of 25, was lucky to be one of those that just ran their fingers through and it was done. However, I hit 51 and broke loose.

“My hair has been growing wild for a year now and before I hit a very stressful period it was growing thick and curly as it had done when I was little, I am lucky that it still has a lot of its own colour but there is grey becoming more obvious now [and] this funnily enough bothers other people more than me.

“The stress has caused some loss and lack of lustre but it will recover. I love it, I love feeling the hair on my back and I love the way the wind makes it look wild and messy and I am longing for the day when I have a head of white curly hair.

“I don't care that it will age me. Why? Because I will be old and finally me, without needing to conform to the expectations of others. I love my hair, I am proud of my hair. It's part of me.”

Doesn't Catherine make you feel good? Her enthusiasm for her wild and messy, graying hair blowing in the wind rubs off. And her attitude toward her future elderhood is something I wish I could bestow on everyone alive.

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At The Elder Storytelling Place today, I.S. Kipp: Fun Baba, Funny Baba or the Green Smoothie

This Sunday Elder Music column was launched in December of 2008. By May of the following year, one commenter, Peter Tibbles, had added so much knowledge and value to my poor attempts at musical presentations that I asked him to take over the column. He's been here each week ever since delighting us with his astonishing grasp of just about everything musical, his humor and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here.

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You’ll probably think I’ve finally gone completely round the twist and I must say that I’d agree with you. I have written columns on hours, days of the week, months, years and decades.

I won’t link to the years as there are too many of them, however, if you’re interested, they consist of nearly half of the columns from 2011. The next logical step is to do songs from various centuries.

My choices today aren’t necessarily indicative of the times; I’ve just chosen something, pretty much at random, from the particular era. Don’t read anything into it.

I’ll work backwards, starting from where we are in the 21st century and this could be difficult as I pretty much stopped listening to new music around about 1975, so this is not as easy as it seems. But I’ll manage somehow as I seem to trip over some interesting performers now and then.

One of the really interesting singers I’ve discovered is MARIAN CALL.

Marian lives in Alaska these days for some reason best known to herself. However, she tours now and then and I imagine it’s to escape the cold. Here she performs It was Good for You Too.

♫ Marian Call - It was Good for You Too

The 20th century is more than a bit problematic, as you can imagine. What single tune could I select?

After a bit of thought, I decided to go for something around about the middle of the century, an artist whose roots lie in the music of the early years but whose style presaged the rest of the century. The one who fits that bill is T-BONE WALKER.

T-Bone could play jazz guitar with the best of them; he was a blues player and his music has distinct rock overtones, years early.

Chuck Berry said he was his main influence and pretty much every rock guitarist, whether they acknowledge it or not, owes a great debt to T-Bone. Not just rock musicians either; jazz and blues guitarists too. Probably some classical ones as well.

The track I’ve chosen is I Wish You Were Mine and I think it encapsulates what I want. This is an alternate track to the official one and at the end, T-Bone says that he messed it up.

It sounds all right to me and I prefer it to the officially released version.

♫ T-Bone Walker - I Wish You Were Mine

The 19th century had too many bombastic composers for my taste. Fortunately, there were others who didn’t follow that trend so I’ll be able to come up with something I like and I hope you’ll like as well.

I originally thought of Scott Joplin, but his best works were from the next century, so he missed out unfortunately.

One composer who was mostly on the other end of the bombastic scale is FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN or Fryderyk Chopin to give him his Polish birth name.

Fred’s dad was French and he moved to Poland. Fred reversed that trend and spent the second half of his (rather short) life in Paris. He was only 39 when he died; he’d always been a sickly lad.

He was a child prodigy on the piano and most of his compositions involve that instrument, the vast majority for solo piano. This is one of them, the Mazurka, Op. 24, No. 1 in G minor.

♫ Chopin - Mazurka Op. 24 - No. 1

The 18th century is certainly my favorite musically, although I sure wouldn’t want to live there or then.

Considering that at the start, there’s J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, Mr Handel and Telemann. Then later there’s Haydn, Mozart, Johann Christian Bach and the young Beethoven towards the end. Lawdy mama, what an array of talent.

It reminds me of the music of the sixties (that’s the 1960s). There was Bob

Dylan and The Beatles and all the rest were in their shadows. However, it meant that all the rest were aspiring to improve their music because of those towering figures.

The Beach Boys were an example of this and they had a bit of a rivalry going on with The Beatles. John Lennon said that he was looking at what Bob was doing and trying to beat him.

Back in to 18th century I can see the same thing happening. There are many composers who, it strikes me, were influenced by the greats of the time and produced works that they might not have under different circumstances. I’m thinking of Dittersdorf, Pleyel, Boccherini, Saint George and many others whose work I love.

I’m going for one of the biggies though, my main man, JOSEPH HAYDN.

Papa Jo bestrode the century, being born 18 years before J.S. Bach died and living into the 19th century, befriending Mozart and teaching Beethoven along the way.

He was one of the most prolific composers who ever lived and all of his compositions are really fine and some the work of genius. He had a sense of humor that often showed up in his compositions, particularly the symphonies (the “Surprise,” the “Farewell,” the “Palindrome” and others).

I’ll play something from a type of composition he pretty much invented, the string quartet. Okay, nitpickers will aver that this was around before him but he pretty much made it his own and created something that composers still use as a model to this day.

Here is the third movement from the String Quartet in C Major, Op. 1 No. 6.

♫ Haydn - String Quartet Op 1 No 6 (3)

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI was the link between the music of the Renaissance and the development of the Baroque. He was probably the most important composer of the 17th century.

Like Haydn in the next century, he took a rather undeveloped type of music, the madrigal, and created a full-blown style. Until he was 40, he worked on nothing else.

Later in his life he composed other forms including a number of operas. He was certainly the first major opera composer. Notwithstanding all that, I’m going to play a duet sung by Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb called Chiome d'oro.

♫ Monteverdi - Chiome d'oro

The 16th century is rife with composers. There were Thomas Tallis, William Mundy, Christopher Tye, Orlando di Lasso (generally known as Lassus) and a considerable number of others. However, I’ll eschew those big names and go for CIPRIANO DE RORE.

Cipriano was probably born in a small town in Flanders. It’s not known where he received his musical education but it is known that he had a long term thing going on with Margaret of Parma, the illegitimate daughter of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor at the time.

She married into the Medici family and he decided it was best if he went elsewhere. That elsewhere was Ferrara where he spent some considerable time composing and performing.

He returned to his homeland a couple of times but revolution was in the air so he returned to (what we now know as) Italy, settling eventually in Parma. He was influential in the early development of madrigals. This is one of his, Musica dulci sono.

♫ Rore - Madrigali, Musica dulci sono

GUILLAUME DUFAY was born near Brussels around about 1397, so he spent pretty much all his life in the 15th century.

Some say that Willy was the son of a priest and Marie du Fayt. She took him to Cambrai where she had relatives and his musical talents showed themselves very early on. While still a teenager he had several positions in the local cathedral.

Later he lived in several cities in Italy and eventually became a priest. He was the main musical man for a couple of popes, Martin V and Eugene IV. There was some considerable turmoil at the time so he and Gene got around a bit.

Popes and anti-popes were coming and going and Willy decided to head for Turin where he completed a law degree so he could become a canon. He later went to Burgundy and ended his days back in Cambrai.

Here is an actual recording of his from the time (just kidding), La dolce vista.

♫ Dufay - La dolce vista

GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT was a French poet and composer who was generally held to be the most important composer of the 14th century. He is also one of the first composers about whom we know quite a bit.

He was a poet of considerable skill and greatly admired by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Willy attached himself to King John of Bohemia and travelled around with him for a while until John got himself killed in some war or other. By then, Willy was famous and many nobles and popes and other such big-noters vied for his services.

Several of those died in the Black Death but he survived and spent his final years in Rheims composing and writing his life story.

This is a musical setting of part of one of his poems, Le Livre dou Voir Dit, a piece of work that goes on for 9,094 lines arranged in octosyllabic rhyming couplets. Yikes.

I got that information from the booklet that came with the CD. I haven’t read all of the poem (only the bits in the booklet). The hunk of it I’ve chosen is Sans cuer dolens.

♫ Machaut - Sans cuer dolens

The 13th century gave us, among others, COLIN MUSET who was from Lorraine in what is now France.

He lived around about either 1210 to 1250 or 1230 to 1270, no one is quite sure. He was a bit of a troubadour and wandered around Champagne (well, who wouldn’t?) singing and playing the vielle.

That instrument is like a violin but bigger and fatter and has five strings. It looks a bit like one of Bo Diddley’s guitars.

He wrote a bunch of songs about love and life on the road. Nothing has changed in 800 years. Surprisingly, quite a number of his songs have survived.

This is one of them, Trop volentiers chanteroie, sung by Margaret Philpot.

♫ Margaret Philpot - Trop volentiers chanteroie

There’s no one other than HILDEGARD OF BINGEN that I considered for the 12th century.

Hildegard was an author, counsellor, linguist, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet and all-round polymath. She was the head nun at the nun shop where she worked. She also wrote music, quite a lot of it.

Mostly, her compositions are for voices but here is a rare instrumental track called Instrumental Piece (snappy title). It sounds to me as if Hildegard also invented bluegrass music.

♫ Hildegard - Instrumental Piece

And finally to 1066 and all that. Well, maybe not that specific year but sometime in the 11th century.

Music from this time is a bit thin on the ground in my collection but I found a couple of options. One piece was by Pierre Abélard, he of Héloïse and Abélard fame. Pierre also lost a piece of his anatomy when Héloïse’s uncle Fulbert found out about their affair (all the males reading have just crossed their legs).

Pierre’s music, unfortunately, is far too long for a column such as this so I’ll go with the other one. This is by that most famous of composers, Anonymous, and it’s a French carol from about 1090 called Planctus Guillelmus.

♫ Anonymous - Planctus Guillelmus

A BABY HUMMINGBIRD IN NEED

TGB reader Nana Royer send this video of a rescued hummingbird.

There is an update on the YouTube page that says in part:

”When she thought she was ready to leave, she flew off to her favorite patch of the back yard and her instincts instantly kicked in. Now she's just like all the other hummingbirds. She is thriving and has even successfully migrated and returned back to my yard.”

AFTER HUNDREDS OF YEARS RUSSIAN SOLDIERS GET SOCKS

Socks are pretty much a necessity or, at least, that's what you would think. But not to a Russian soldier. Only this year have they been ordered to wear socks instead of the portyanki they have been required to wear for 300 years. Take a look:

You can read more here.

A BOSTON PHYSICIAN'S MARATHON STORY

Dr. Sushrut Jangi had volunteered in the medical tent at Copley Square for the Boston marathon this year. And then two bombs exploded. He wrote about his harrowing experience for The New England Journal of Medicine.

”I almost fled, thinking there might be more bombs nearby. There was an exit onto Dartmouth Street, where the crowds were swiftly moving away. But from within the tent I heard [medical coordinator] Andersen's voice, an echo of my own conscience: 'All medical personnel stay with your patients.'

“...when I saw the first of the wounded, I was overwhelmed with nausea. An injured woman — I couldn't tell whether she was conscious — lay on the stretcher, her legs entirely blown off. Blood poured out of the arteries of her torso; I saw shredded arteries, veins, ragged tissue and muscle.

“Nothing had prepared me for the raw physicality of such unnatural violence. During residency I had seen misery, but until that moment I hadn't understood how deeply a human being could suffer...”

We should all know what it's really like when bombs explode. You can read Dr. Jangi's full account at the NEJM; it is not behind a firewall.

YOUNG COMEDIAN WOWS BRITISH CONTEST JURY

Fourteen-year-old Jack Carroll is one of the bravest stand-up comedians I've ever seen. The jury at Britain's Got Talent TV show thought so too when he made his cerebral palsy part of his act and effortlessly made it okay to laugh.

You can read more about Jack here.

NANCY ALTMAN TELLS CONGRESS ALL ABOUT CHAINED CPI

Nancy Altman wrote the book on Social Security – the best one there is, The Battle For Social Security – From FDR's Vision to Bush's Gamble. It's my bible for all things SSA on this blog.

Last week she testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in Congress about chained CPI. Here is the video or you can read her statement here [pdf].

A LOVELY ACT OF KINDNESS

There's no point in telling you anything about this; it explains itself. No one I can find knows who the good Samaritan is.

THE FULL TIME JOB OF GROWING OLD

TGB reader P Hallet-Mainguy sent me a CBC video of 85-year-old Joe Schlesinger, correspondent emeritus at CBC News, talking about what it's really like to get old.

It was easy to see, watching the video, why Schlesinger is beloved by Canadians, and what he says about aging is smart, enlightening and inspiring.

I intended to show it to you today, all seven minutes of it and worth every second. But the CBC has removed it from YouTube and as of Friday when I was writing this, they've also blacked it out at their website.

In the interests of delicate sensibilities, I'll not say what I think about the CBC doing that.

UPDATE:The video is now available from YouTube again. Here it is.

Schlesinger, who gets around in a wheelchair these days, tells us that he has an “army” of more than 15 medical specialists along with “oodles of pills” but he's not complaining.

”OK, so I have some false teeth and wear eyeglasses. Yup, I've needed the care of nurses at times. But I assure you, no later-life mewling or puking from this quarter.

“Still, it takes patience to be a patient.”

After a decade of insisting here at this blog that the internet arrived just in time for my old age and that it is a godsend for elders in general, my grin nearly split my face when I read this from Schlesinger:

”Once upon a time I used to do things like jumping out of a helicopter in Vietnam as it hovered over a landing pad under enemy fire, climbing a sacred mountain in North Korea, crossing the famed Khyber Pass on foot from Pakistan into Afghanistan, and riding an elephant with an army patrol chasing Khmer Rouge troops through rice paddies in Cambodia. (I fell off the elephant, but never mind.)

“I can no longer do these things, but, thanks to the internet, I can get around to distant places and events by letting my fingers do the walking. And I do.”

You really should read the whole story at the CBC. It's not clear if this is a transcript of the video, but it seems, to my memory from a few days ago, to be close and it is a trustworthy report from the midde of one man's ninth decade by a life-long accomplished journalist.

You'd better go read it now – there's no telling when the CBC will snatch even the print copy off their website.

SCIENCE LESSONS FROM THE SPACE STATION

Another Canadian, astronaut Chris Hadfield, is the commander of the International Space Station. He's been answering questions from Canadian school kids about how things work in space. Here's one about how astronauts brush their teeth.

Hadfield has answered a whole lot more questions about life in space. You'll find them here.

CAT SHOWER

Yeah, yeah, I know - wasting water. But you gotta admit it's funny.

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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.

Today's is the last report of the Elderblogger Survey covering personal finance and politics. I haven't posted charts for all the questions or even mentioned some. If they put me to sleep, I have no doubt you would feel the same. You're not missing any important information.

As with all parts of the survey results, these caveats apply:

• It is not balanced against the general population


• It is not balanced against even the elder population


• Respondents are self-selected, so not a representative sample


• Therefore, the survey has no statistical validity

Also, please note that the capital letter “R” does not show up well when it appears in a label on the horizontal axis (it's a free, online chart service, and I don't know how to fix that). Total of percentages may be slightly off due to rounding.

What is your annual gross income (in U.S. dollars)?
This chart looks pretty nice, solidly middle class and comfortable. Let's not forget, however, the more than 20 percent who undoubtedly are scrimping by.

The numbers in the horizontal axis represent thousands of dollars.

What are your sources of income?
This was as multiple choice question with the problem I explained in other parts - the percentages in the charts reflect the percentage of all the answers chosen rather than of the number of people who answered. There are 996 choices represented in this chart.

What percentage of your income is from Social Security?
Horizontal axis is percentage of income; vertical axis is percentages of respondents.

Have you ever or do you now skip meals because money is tight?
Of the people who answered this question, about 30 say they sometimes skip meals.

Have you ever or do you now skip medications and/or not fill prescriptions for financial reasons?
More than go hungry skimp on medications – about 50 people in this survey. This should never happen in our country.

Did you lose money in the financial collapse of 2008?
Wow. Look at that number. Seventy percent of us.

If you answered yes to the question about losing money in the 2008 financial collapse, have you recouped those losses?
I'm part of the 24.3 percent in this chart who haven't recouped. I lost so much money that I have never regained my stomach for even the slightest risk. I know this is stupid, but I can sleep at night.

What are your political leanings?
It's obvious that I'm speaking to choir here on political issues. The truncated labels in the horizontal axis are:

Democratic Party member
Republican Party member
Green or other party member
Liberal/Progressive
Moderate
Conservative
Independent

Have you contributed money to a political party or candidate?

Do have have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of President Barack Obama?

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Congress?
When professional pollsters ask this question, they often follow up by asking about each respondent's own representative and senators. The surprise (to me) is always that nearly everyone approves of their representatives. Given the number of lawmakers who vote against the people's interests, I am baffled by that.

But in general, Congress better look out for the TGB crowd in the next election.

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Supreme Court?
I'll bet this would look quite different if I had asked about individual justices.

How concerned are you about the political sustainability of Social Security?

How concerned are you about the future of Medicare?
I'm surprised how close the numbers are on these two questions. Personally, I am hugely more concerned about Medicare than Social Security.

Do you contact your Congressional representatives about Social Security and Medicare issues?
Apparently, we are an activist group in this regard. The two yes answers are modified by “frequently” and “occasionally.”

Social Security can pay 100 percent of benefits for about another 20 years. After than, it can pay about 75 percent if nothing is done.There are several small fixes that would keep Social Security solvent for 75 years. Which do you prefer?
This is the last multiple choice question. It includes the problems cited on all the previous ones. In this case, there are 860 answers. The abbreviated labels in the horizontal axis mean:

• Increase the Social Security tax by one or two percent
• Eliminate the salary cap
• Raise the salary cap but don't eliminate it
• Collect Social Security tax on additional kinds of income, not just salaries
• Gradually raise the full eligibility age to 69 or 70
• Apply a means test
• Other

There are two charts to include all the answer choices.

And that chart brings us to the end of thie 2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey. I'm glad some of you enjoyed it and as unscientific as it is, it's given me a general sense of who reads Time Goes By. Thank you all who took part.

2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 1
2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 2
2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 3

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At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Marc Leavitt: The Good Old Days

Today we will take a look at what the survey tells us Time Goes By denizens relate to the computers, the internet, blogs and electronic gadgets.

Think about that: for most of us at this blog, nothing much but the telephone and radio were available when we were growing up. It's all new to us compared to the digital natives – the ones who are about 25 and younger. For them, this is the only world they have ever known.

As with all parts of the survey results, these caveats apply:

• It is not balanced against the general population


• It is not balanced against even the elder population


• Respondents are self-selected, so not a representative sample


• Therefore, the survey has no statistical validity

Also, please note that the capital letter “R” does not show up well when it appears in a label on the horizontal axis (it's a free, online chart service, and I don't know how to fix that). Total of percentages may be slightly off due to rounding.

What kind of telephone(s) do you use?
This was “select all that apply” question and as I explained a couple of days ago, the percentages in the charts reflect the percentage of all the answers chosen rather than of the number of people who answered.

The total number of responses to this question is 414 with no way to know how many people made that many choices.

Have you given up your landline?
According to one survey published last December, more than 35 percent of American households have switched to mobile phones only. Here is our percentage:

Have you given up cable television?
When it comes up for discussion here now and then, a lot of commenters tell us they have given up cable television, mostly due to high prices from the mostly monopolist providers in the U.S.

What kind is your primary computer?
I keep reading how sales of desktop and laptop computers are declining in favor of tablets and smartphones. I suppose that works if you don't do anything but poke at the screen. But if you do any kind of writing more complex than a text message, I don't see how the two newest instruments are useful.

How did you learn to use a computer?
Children, very small ones, take to computers so easily that I've joked for years they are born with little, tiny mice in their hands. (I think I need to update that joke to “born clutching a teeny, tiny smartphone.)

Baby boomers are probably the last generation of whom it makes sense to ask this question. (Sphone on the chart means smartphone and there's that damned R problem in the label for the yellow bar: it means Friend/Relative.

What is your level of computer proficiency?
Zero newbies here.

What other electronic equipment do you use?
This is another multiple choice question. If you skipped it, see the explanation of the the problem above.

The total number of responses to this question is 2156 with no way to know how many people made that many choices. It takes two charts to make the choices readable and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to translate the labels on the horizontal axis.

What social media do you regularly use?
Multiple choice again with the same problems as noted above. Total number of answers is 807. The truncated labels in the horizontal axis are:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Google+
Other
None

How do you spend your personal (non-work) online time?
Multiple choice once again and the need for two charts to show all the selections. 3226 total answers. The truncated labels mean:

Email
General Research
Blogs
News
Shopping
Banking
Investing
Health research
Watching Video
Games
Twitter
Facebook
Skype

How much time do you spend reading/commenting on blogs?
I'm surprised at the high number for daily.

Why do you read blogs?
Yes, another mutliple choice, this one with 1313 total responses. The labels mean:

Stay informed
Connect with friends
Enjoy the community
For fun
For work
For inspiration
Other

If you keep a blog, how long have you been blogging?
The largest percentage do not blog. It's interesting how long the second largest group has stuck with it.

[For bloggers only] On average, how often do you post to your primary blog?

[For bloggers only] Why do you blog?
Another multiple choice. Total number of responses equals 487 with two charts to accommodate all the answers. The labels mean:

Enjoy writing
Fun
Personal journal
Friendship
To tell stories
Community
Share experiences
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Tomorrow the last batch of charts will be published covering personal finances and politics.

2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 1
2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 2
2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 4

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At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Mickey Rogers: Thanks a Lot!

Following along on results from the 2013 Elderblogging Survey, today we'll look at health and related end-of-life issues. The usual caveats for this kind of survey apply:

• It is not balanced against the general population


• It is not balanced against even the elder population


• Respondents are self-selected, so not a representative sample


• Therefore, the survey has no statistical validity

Also, please note that the capital letter “R” does not show up well when it appears in a label on the horizontal axis (it's a free, online chart service, and I don't know how to fix that). Total of percentages may be slightly off due to rounding.

Do you have any chronic illnesses?
This question included whether such conditions restricted mobility or limited life in other ways.

How do your health problems limit or restrict your life?
This was an open-ended question to which respondents wrote their answers rather than choosing from a list. About 135 answered but due to complexities and overlaps of responses, there are no numbers or percentages. Most of the problems reported are common among elders.

Pain – chronic or intermittent and severe to mild - from varieties of sources were mentioned most frequently. Arthritis is the biggest culprit. A lot of foot and knee pain limits the ability to walk for many and back pain keeps some readers at home more than they would like.

Breathing problems including COPD, asthma and others plague more than a few. There was less mention of back pain than I would have guessed.

Several people mentioned that they tire easily, that their energy and stamina are reduced from when they were younger which we've discussed in these pages from time to time. Quite a few report diabetes.

While a lot of people shared the above-mentioned diseases and conditions, this one was unique:

“Bullet to the hip – re-learning how to walk smoothly and efficiently.”

I'm pretty sure I know how this happened and am so glad the person is here to do the re-learning.

In general, how is your health?
Even with all those impediments in the question above, just over 80 percent of us rate ourselves quite healthy.

Do you drive a car?
I'm impressed with how many of us drive. Only two people in the question about health restrictions mentioned that they can no longer drive.

If you no longer drive, how to you get around?
The "Public" label means public transportation.

Do you have a will?
Let me say right away that on this question and the three following, I'm impressed with how many of us have prepared for our demise by having the documents our survivors will need.

Do you have an advance directive?

Do you have a DNR (do not resuscitate) order?

Have you appointed a health proxy, sometimes called a health advocate, who will make decisions for you if you are unable to do so?

Are you a full- or part-time caregiver?
I'm surprised that less than 10 percent are doing this right now. I think (?) that's a good thing.

Beginning with this chart, the label "percentage" does not appear on the left. My mistake and I didn't have time to re-do the charts.

If you are currently a caregiver, whom do you care for?
The yellow bar is labeled Other Relative.

What is your employment status?
On the chart, FT means full time away from home; PT means part time away from home.

If you are employed, how many hours a week do you work?

Do you volunteer? If so, how many hours per week?
Another mistake: I forgot to provide a choice for “no.”

If you keep pets, what kind do you have?
I mentioned yesterday that I cannot get correct percentages on questions like this one that allowed multiple choices. 319 people answered but we don't know how many of them selected more than one answer. Sorry.

More charts tomorrow.

2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 1.
2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 3
2013 TGB Elderblogging Survey Results – Part 4

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At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Arlene Corwin: Broken Sleep