Morning Update: 10/04/24

Morning Update: 10/04/24

October 4, 2024

Welcome to a Friday with no rain in the forecast! Well, not for most of us. Sure, there are a couple of showers coming in Northern Illinois and scattered wetness along the Gulf states, but nothing remotely close to what we saw last week. Overall, this should be a good weekend to grab the kids and go apple picking, select a pumpkin or four, take a hike, enjoy some art or live music, and take advantage of everything the first weekend of October has to offer.

The biggest question around the house yesterday was, “Is Tipper here or there?” She desperately wanted to go to her friend’s house. Her friend desperately wanted to see her. The problem was transportation. Kat was working, the friend’s mom was working, traffic was heavy, and in the end, she sat here and moped. They’ll try making a connection again today, perhaps with better luck. With the Eight-Hour Road Race at IMS this weekend, Tipper desperately wants to be somewhere other than around the track.

There is good news this morning: the Longshoremen have ended their strike against East Coast docks. This isn’t the big sigh of relief one might think, though. What they’ve done is postpone the thing until January 15. The official reason is to allow time for negotiations, but that’s bullshit. It didn’t take them long to see how the strike was going to be politicized and they didn’t want any part of that. Everything will keep moving for now, get us through the holidays, and then it will be a problem.

Everything else I’m reading this morning is a bit blah. There’s speculation about this and that, accusations about him and her, but the facts are missing so there’s no point in getting all angsty about any of it. Everyone has enough challenges in their own life. No one needs to be concerned with the affairs of people who will not affect their lives in any way. Just let it pass.

There is one frustrating note: Using the Uber Eats app can negate any action you might want to take against the ride-sharing company. A New Jersey couple is finding this out the hard way. This is the second time in the past two months that we’ve seen people getting stung by the fine print in user agreements. Such agreements might be legal, but they’re immoral as hell and need to be stopped. Congress could end them fairly easily, but they won’t. Why? Because cheating people out of what they rightly deserve is how the GOP defines capitalism.

Under food no one asked for, McDonald’s is introducing a Chicken Big Mac on the 10th. Why? Because chicken sounds healthier than beef. But it still has the special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickle, and onion on a sugar-intensive bun. Pair that with the fries you know you’re not turning down and you have a day’s worth of caloric intake in about three bites. Don’t be surprised to see other menu additions from fast food vendors this fall. People have been eating at home more and they’re all desperate to get you back. Just wait, someone will come up with a pumpkin spice sandwich of some kind. Just in time for Thanksgiving, I’m betting.

Oh, in case you weren’t feeling old fast enough, Eminem announced that he’s about to become a grandfather. Tipper responded with, “All these music people are suddenly getting old.” I said, “It happens to the best of us.” She shot back, “Nah, we’ve known you were old a long time.” Damn, girl! Someone hand me my cane.

I’m going to stop here because I need to finish getting ready for my oncology appointment this morning. Whee! I get to give them more blood! I’m not expecting anything to have dramatically changed. We have six more months of this mess. I’m ready for it all to be over.

Meanwhile, does coffee count as a meal? I’m thinking anything after the fourth cup…

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 09/10/24

September 10, 2024

All I want to do right now is curl back up in bed and go to sleep. The problem is pain from both the chemo and arthritis. It kept me down yesterday and this morning isn’t feeling any better. I know a lot of people were excited to hear that Princess Kate had completed her chemo and will resume some of her royal duties. While that’s great news for her, there are still millions of people, probably people you know, who are just being diagnosed and beginning the arduous treatment of using one poison to fight another. The number of new diagnoses I’ve seen this fall is rather frightening. Patti Scialfa, Springsteen’s wife and bandmate, revealed her cancer diagnosis recently. While the survival rate for many cancers has improved tremendously over the past 20 years, the treatment isn’t any less painful.

Cancer isn’t the only killer, either. James Earl Jones, one of the greatest bass voices ever, the voice for Darth Vader and Mufasa among others, died yesterday from complications of Type 2 Diabetes. Yes, I have that one, too. If the cancer doesn’t kill me, the diabetes almost certainly will. There’s no escape. And while I might want to live every moment to its fullest, the reality is that I spend most of my days in bed, trying not to cry, being thankful for the company of pets who refuse to leave me alone.

Nothing about this getting old shit is being fun. There are no grandkids to bounce on my knee and spoil. I can’t be as involved with G and Tipper’s school as I would like. My income is too limited to go traveling, and even if it wasn’t, my body couldn’t handle it. I often wonder if I’m serving any purpose at all. I can’t take pictures. My creativity is at an all-time low. Just writing these updates every morning is a chore. The kids get in from school in the afternoon and I try to be awake and present for them, but it isn’t easy. There’s a 44-pound bag of dog food in the kitchen that needs to be dumped into the storage container. I can’t lift it by myself. What good am I to anyone?

Yes, it could be worse. Hurricane Francis is going to mess up everything between Houston and New Orleans. No one is sure yet how strong it might be when it makes landfall, but even a Category 1 storm has proven to be enough to knock out power and cause tremendous flooding.

An Israeli strike on a Gaza humanitarian zone tent camp killed at least 40 people. No matter what Palestinians do to try and stay alive, Israel’s leaders seem determined to kill every last one of them. The UN chief calls the death and destruction in Gaza the worst he’s seen. “Secretary-General António Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that it’s “unrealistic” to think the U.N. could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a U.N. role.” Israel, for its part, seems willing to negotiate short-term cease-fires, such as the one that allowed the administration of the polio vaccine, but leaders there are not interested in ending the war.

South African farmers are accused of killing 2 women and feeding them to pigs. You have to wonder how any human can be so cruel.

The Death toll from the Vietnam storm rises to 87 with 70 people missing. A typhoon blasted the country, leaving it in worse disarray than that stupid war.

A Swiss city councilor apologized for firing a gun at a Mary and Jesus poster. How the hell does anyone wrap their head around that?

If there’s any “good” news, it’s that both Google and Apple were unable to get away from the EU’s tough laws. Google will have to pay 2.4 billion Euros. Apple gets to fork over 13 billion to Ireland. If the US had any guts, the two companies, among others, would be paying out the nose here as well.

If you fly, you’ll want to know that Battery-powered devices are overheating more often on planes and raising alarm. The biggest culprit: vapes. Anything with a lithium battery can potentially overheat. If that device happens to be in checked baggage, which is illegal but still happens, the resulting fire may not be caught until it’s too large for immediate suppression.

SpaceX finally launched that billionaire and his crew into space. I’ll still be surprised if their spacewalk goes off without a hitch.

And yeah, that debate is tonight. I’m not watching. The only outcome that’s going to please me is if VP Harris literally devours the Orange Felon right there in front of everyone. I’m good with catching the highlight reel in the morning.

No, I’m not in a good mood this morning. There’s no reason for me to be in a good mood. I’m sick and tired of all the pain and I want a box of fresh apple fritters. And Frank has figured out how to close all my open windows. He’s done it twice this morning, so far. The temptation to say, “Fuck everything,” is really strong.

I’ll stick with my coffee, for now. I’m not making any promises about later, though.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/04/24

August 4, 2024

Sunday Morning Lite

Yelling Into The Echo Chamber [2019 original with AI background]

Music from the 1973 Disney animated feature, “Robin Hood” is running through my head this morning, and has been pretty much all night, after hearing a young woman cover Roger Miller’s original song. The lyrics, “Robin Hood and Little John, walking through the forest, Laughing back and forth at what the other’n has to say. Reminiscing this and that and having such a good time. Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day.” That verse summons an image of an idyllic summer stroll through animated woods, wandering along without a care, enjoying time with a best friend. When you think about it, isn’t that pretty much what all of us want from summer? If only we could make it happen. Unfortunately, for too many of us, there’s a Sheriff of Nottingham lurking in the shadows waiting to spoil everything.

Yesterday was just kind of there and I see no good reason to dwell on it. I was in bed. The kids were doing their own things. Even local news is rather boring. The biggest thing to happen is that Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty, almost spun out as he took a corner too fast just now. He seems largely unaffected by the near mishap. I’ve told the kids we have to mow today and they’ve both agreed, but we’ll see how much actually gets done.

Much of the world news is a continuation of previous topics. Taiwan’s Yu-ting beats Staneva to ensure medal amid boxing gender debate. And then, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif clinches a medal at the Olympics after an outcry fueled by gender misconceptions. Remember, the IBA is a Russian-backed machine and probably doesn’t need to exist anymore.

The Orange Felon is still lying. VP Harris is still flexing her muscles. I don’t think anyone is surprised by either of those statements. The Felon is trying to claim “home turf” for a September debate, The VP is saying, “Nope.”

Tropical Storm Debby is looking to give most of West Florida and Cuba a hard time today. The storm hasn’t been able to maintain hurricane-force strength, but it could still cause a lot of damage and upset lives and vacation plans.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff acknowledges affair contributed to the breakup for his first marriage, but is this even an issue when the Orange Felon has cheated on all his wives, including the present one while she was pregnant and no one seems to give a fuck. Open this can of worms and the Felon takes the most heat.

There are a couple of good reads if you have the time. The Associated Press takes a look at how adult children in India are abandoning their aging parents. This isn’t a pretty picture and yeah, I think we have to worry about the concept spreading.

Then, the New York Times has a really interesting story about the intersection of commercial development, segregation, and Islamaphobia … in Minnesota, of all places. Yeah, you’ll need a subscription to read it, but damn, this is a captivating story. In the end, we see how legitimate concerns too easily dissolve into dirty politics and name-calling. It’s definitely worth the subscription price.

While you’re at the Times, there’s also an interesting story about how abandoned church buildings are being converted into commercial space. The vaulted ceilings are a big draw. This isn’t just a New York thing. I know we’ve seen similar conversions to downtown church buildings here in Indy. The allure of religion may be fading, but the architecture is pretty cool.

Everything else hasn’t dramatically shifted all that much since yesterday. If anything, some of it is becoming a bit of an eye roll. Today’s a good day to sit back and catch up on some of that reading you keep saying you’ll get to “when you have the time.”

Pour another cup of coffee. There’s no rush.

Art / Current Issues / science / Social Commentary

Have Sex, Avoid Alzheimer’s? Well, Maybe

April 5, 2024

My paternal Grandfather died of Alzheimer’s disease before it had that name. He was 82 and the last five years of his life were among the most horrible I’ve witnessed. Last year, my Uncle Joe also died of complications from Alzheimer’s. He was 89 and had been much healthier than Granddaddy, but the last few years of his life weren’t any walk in the park, either. Poppa was 72 when cancer took him, so we don’t know if there were signs of Alzheimer’s in his future or not; there were other medical priorities. Still, it seems obvious that Alzheimer’s runs in the family. Therefore, it makes sense to take reasonable precautions against it.

A Washington Post article from February of this year came across my feed this week with an interesting premise: Viagra may reduce the frequency of Alzheimer’s disease in men over the age of 50. Researchers at University College London studied 270,000 men over the age of 40 between 2000 and 2017. All had been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. During the study, 1,119 of the men were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. A pattern was noticed: The men who were prescribed Viagra or a similar drug had an 18 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared with men who weren’t given the medication.

But wait, there’s more: “The researchers also found an even larger difference in men who appeared to use Viagra more often. Among the highest users, based on total prescriptions, the risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s was 44 percent lower.”

So, to be perfectly clear, the study appears to indicate that, if you have erectile dysfunction and take Viagra, and have sex regularly, you may reduce the chance of getting Alzheimer’s by as much as 44 percent.

Maybe. The study shows an association between Alzheimer’s and Viagra use; it does not show cause and effect. Men who have erectile dysfunction and are prescribed Viagra are told that a) if you take the pill, you need to have sex, and b) don’t take more than one pill a day. To have sex with the level of frequency that might result in a significantly lower risk factor for Alzheimer’s requires a pretty decent amount of physical activity. Physical activity has a higher association with lowering the risks for Alzheimer’s. Therefore, it may be that running around the block each morning helps just as much as having sex, though, I would argue, that one is definitely more fun than the other.

How is this possible? Not surprisingly, this was never the anticipated outcome. Sildenafil, the generic name for Viagra, was developed by Pfizer as a heart medication. During clinical trials for the drug, some men reported that taking the pill resulted in getting an erection. There was no way in hell that Pfizer was going to pass up that marketing opportunity.

For both heart and ED issues, Sildenafil works by increasing blood flow throughout the body. It is also used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension in both men and women. We’ve known for a long time that there’s a link between erectile dysfunction and coronary artery disease. We also know for certain that there is a link between increased blood flow and certain kinds of dementia, including Alzheimer’s. This study shows a significant association as to warrant additional, focused study as to whether there is a direct cause and effect of the medication.

However, the study also raises a lot of questions. The one bugging me most relates to men as they age. For a 40- or even 50-year-old man to have sex on a regular basis doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. Men of that age are more likely to be in a relationship (for the third or fourth time) and it makes sense that they would be sexually active.

Once we get over 60, though, the entire environment begins to break down. Other diseases, like cancer, interfere with one’s ability to be active. Partners die and finding new ones becomes increasingly difficult. Body parts, such as knees and hips, begin to give out, and replacing them seldom results in a full range of motion.

There are also questions on the sex side of the equation. Is jerking off enough, or do you need to involve your body in the act fully? Does it matter who’s on top or how many positions are used? Who wakes up for the 3:00 AM feeding of one of those little swimmers gets through?

If a direct correlation between Viagra and treating Alzheimer’s disease can be established, can a sex worker then be prescribed as a medical necessity? Would Medicare/Medicaid pay for it?

I agree that a great deal of study needs to happen, and I would hope that it began a couple of weeks ago. In the meantime, I would like to volunteer myself for additional personalized study. Who wants to help?

Art / News & Comment / science

You’re How Old?

March 23, 2024

Maternity [2014 original photo with AI background]

You don’t need me to tell you that pregnancy can be rough on a body. There are so many things going on during the gestation of a fetus that one might feel that those nine months are years long. Some people get their youthful feelings back once the baby is born, but plenty of others don’t. This isn’t new information. Mothers have experienced the same symptoms for ages on end.

The scientific study of pregnancy and how cells change continues to be an area of study yielding valuable information. There is so much more that we don’t know than what we think we know. Studies published this past week, however, caught us by surprise as they revealed a cellular elasticity that hadn’t been expected. During pregnancy, a woman’s cells can age as much as two years beyond her calendar age. Sometimes the cells regain some of the youthfulness, even appearing younger than they did prior to the pregnancy. Other times, they remain the older age and continue to age with each subsequent pregnancy. In other words, for some women, the more children you have, the older you’re getting.

I know. Some women are reading this and thinking, “Yeah, and that’s surprising how?”

The fundamental importance of this research isn’t so much the degree to which pregnancy ages a person, but the proof that aging isn’t linear. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been as surprised as we are. After all, we’ve known time isn’t linear. Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity showed us a different way of looking at time that hadn’t been considered, or provable, before. If time isn’t linear, then it makes sense that aging, which is dependent on time, wouldn’t be linear either. Yet, we continue linearly counting our age.

The journal Cell Metabolism published an article this week titled, “The effects of pregnancy, its progression, and its cessation on human (maternal) biological aging.” What they discovered was interesting. In their words, “In mice, the authors reported evidence for pregnancy-associated biological aging, with a partial reversal of this effect after the cessation of pregnancy (i.e., in the postpartum). They also observed pregnancy-associated biological aging in humans, with suggestive evidence from a cohort of 14 women that these effects may be partially reversed in the postpartum.”

Human translation: Working from evidence in mice that pregnancy results in the actual aging of cells, they looked for similar findings among women and observed that not only do women age faster during pregnancy, but that in 14 women, the effects were partially reversed after the baby was born. Are you staying with me here? Yeah, you feel older during pregnancy because your body really is biologically aging faster than you would if you weren’t pregnant. But some women actually see a reversal of that aging post-partum!

The surprise of regenerative cellular development sits in the middle of some not-so-surprising news. In general, pregnancy is rough on the body. When researchers “analyzed changes in blood samples taken during early, mid, and late pregnancy, they found unusually high amounts of chemical wear and tear. That included levels of DNA methylation that they would expect to see in people 1 or 2 years older than the study participants actually were. In other words, the stress of pregnancy may have caused their biological age to increase faster than their chronological age.”

This “wear and tear” is particularly concerning because of the degree to which it makes women more susceptible to disease. While that “aging” process typically peaks in the third trimester, the effects linger. The result is women appear more fragile and prone to serious illness, including cancer and heart disease, after pregnancy. That’s a pretty damn important matter to consider when thinking about whether to add to the planet’s burgeoning population.

But wait! There’s good news!

According to the research, “blood samples from 68 participants, collected 3 months after giving birth, revealed a dramatic about-face. Although being pregnant had initially aged their cells between 1 and 2 years, O’Donnell says, their biological age now appeared to be 3 to 8 years younger than it had been during early pregnancy—with different epigenetic clocks algorithms providing slightly bigger or smaller estimates. The effect appeared to be slightly muted in people who had a higher body weight prior to pregnancy, whereas it was enhanced in women who reported exclusively breastfeeding.”

So now, while one might age a couple of years during pregnancy, they might end up three to eight years younger than when they started! That would mean less body wear and tear, making one healthier. The caveats are that the type of epigenetic clock algorithm used to calculate age makes some difference, higher body weight reduces the effects, and women who exclusively breastfeed come out the best.

Obviously, findings like this demand further investigation. For example: if a 25-year-old woman ends her first pregnancy a net five years younger at six months post-partum, then ends a second pregnancy three years younger two years later, is she, physiologically, only 19 years old? What are the dominating factors in determining who does and who doesn’t experience the regenerating effect?

I know some people look at the research and respond that we’ve known that aging is not linear because of the effects of diet and exercise. May I point out that the effects generated by intentional actions are not identical to those generated by biological processes? You change your diet and exercise habits knowing the potential for physiological change. What this research indicates is that physiological rejuvenation may be part of the natural process of childbirth, not something cultivated by intentional activity.

This is exciting research that could begin to help us answer questions about premature aging, the development of health problems, and why the US mortality rate is so fucking steep. Plus, it’s nice to know that there are physical benefits to having a child that test your patience and sanity at every turn.

Perhaps next they can work on eliminating morning sickness.

Current Issues / Long Read

Put These In Your Pocket

June 30, 2017

charles i. letbetter - put this in your pocket

Many people are taking vacation time this weekend and we have some ideas on how to spend it.

The extended weekend holiday is a good time to catch up on some reading.

[dropcap]Whoever said summer was a time for relaxing didn’t have children running around, out of school, getting into every form of mischief they can imagine. Summer is grueling. I struggle to get in ten minutes of actual work each day, between preparing food, doing copious amounts of laundry, bandaging cuts and scrapes, and retrieving a hound dog whom I’m ready to rename Houdini for his unexplainable ability to escape the yard. [/dropcap]

I keep seeing different articles on summer reading lists and I’ve yet to actually read any of those lists to find out what I’m supposed to be reading because my summer isn’t nearly as leisurely meandering as everyone else’s. Why bother picking up a new book when I know I’m not going to get past the first paragraph before hearing, “Daaaaaaaaaaad!” from the one direction I hadn’t been looking? I love reading, but I have to wait until the kids are back in school.

The problem with this problem is that there are a lot of articles I would like to read and fear missing. Books will be there come September. Online articles, though, frequently disappear after a few weeks. One has to really search to find them, if you can remember what the article was about in the first place. Fortunately, there’s a solution for people like me; it’s called Pocket.

Note: This is an uncompensated and unrequested endorsement. Think of Pocket as an online file cabinet. Using a convenient browser extension, when one comes across an article or website they might want to explore but don’t have the time, one simply saves the article to their Pocket account. Pocket saves the links and even allows you to categorize them with tags if you wish. One can then go back later, on any device, and read once you’re not quite so horribly distracted. Think of it as bookmarking well organized and efficient.

What I really appreciate about Pocket, though, is the email I get every afternoon suggesting articles that I might not have found on my own. They cover a wide array of topics, including a lot of new research and trending issues, and are typically well-written, intelligent pieces with information that is either helpful or, at the very least, makes me feel just a tiny bit smarter.

Those emails are the source of my recommendations for the coming long weekend. You don’t even need a Pocket account, though I strongly suggest signing up for one. You’re going to have some downtime over the next four or five days. This is a good opportunity to catch up, maybe learn a thing or two, and enlighten your brain before returning to the madness. Take a look at these and see if they don’t leave you better than when you started.

The Wellness Epidemic by Amy Larocca. From Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to the lady selling essential oils out of her home, America’s fascination with wellness is a billion dollar industry that is often not based in science and research and more on convincing yourself that you feel better, even if you don’t. Larocca attempts to take an objective look at the industry in this long read from The Cut.

What Jobs Will Still Be Around In 20 Years? by Arwa Mahdawi. Two of my three sons are finding it challenging to decide exactly what to do with the rest of their young lives. As a parent, that concerns me. I want them to have more than a job. I want them to have a career they can enjoy. The problem is, 47% of American workers could lose their jobs to automation within the next 20 years. This raises the question of what jobs are safe and what skills are necessary to survive in the future? Parents and young adults alike are going to find some value in what is said here, even if it dashes a few dreams.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Selects the Eight Books Every Intelligent Person on the Planet Should Read by Maria Popova. You know you’re going to eventually have time to read more books. The question is which books are going to actually provide you some benefit. There are plenty of lists running around for the summer, but if you really want to make the most of your reading time, Neil deGrasse Tyson has a list that is packed with must-reads. I have to warn you, though, reading these books may very well change your opinions about life on this planet.

Before The Internet by Emma Rathbone. Remember what life was like before the Internet? If you were born after 1990, you likely don’t have a clue how people survived without being plugged into some social-neural network 24/7. Ms. Rathbone takes just a few lines to remind us of what it was like when we didn’t have Google at our fingertips, or our entire life history in a searchable database. Remember, and then maybe reconsider a few things.

Meet the chef who’s debunking detox, diets, and wellness by Tim Lewis. Remember that article above about the wellness epidemic? Much of that has to do with diets and nutrition and a very large amount of that information is pure horse shit. But when your friend is posting about how wonderful her new diet is, where do you go to find evidence refuting her claims? Anthony Warner, aka the Angry Chef. Take a moment and see what he’s doing. As a diabetic and someone who is very concerned about the food I eat, this was helpful reading.

How to Cut Back On Playing Video Games by Patrick Allan. I’ve never been a fan of video games. I don’t like them. When I do try, just to stay relevant, I don’t do well. Yet, the most frequent complaint I hear about teenagers and young adults, mostly males, is that all they do is sit around playing video games and no one can get them to break the habit. Marriages and relationships have ended because someone can’t put down the fucking controller. This link is as much for my own sons as anyone. We’re not asking you to quit, just cut back and show a bit more responsibility.

Are you forgetful? That’s just your brain erasing useless memories by Angela Chen. My paternal grandfather died of complications due to Alzheimer’s disease. As my already addled brain sometimes leaves me confused, displaced, and forgetful, I tend to worry. Where did I set my sunglasses? Why don’t I remember that conversation you claim we had? Those things bother me. This article helps explain that our brains were never meant to remember everything. I still worry, though.

The Paradox of American Restaurants by Derek Thompson. Food in American restaurants is supposedly getting better. Yet, despite that fact, the restaurant industry continues to struggle. We see popular dining establishments closing less than a year after they open. Why? Derek Thompson takes a look at the causes (without blaming Millennials) and why the future may be one of take out.

That should be enough of a list to get you through the weekend or at least allow you to escape the pain of sitting with inlaws for a couple of hours. For more, check out Pocket and sign up for the daily emails. Stop missing the information that can make you smarter.

Current Issues / News & Comment

Avoiding Old Age Problems

January 31, 2017

We all want to stay active and alert

The Short Version

As adults grow older, they face the risk of reduced mental acuity and even dementia. However, researched published Monday in the JAMA Neurology journal indicates that simple activities help avoid some of the worst aspects of mental deterioration without the use of expensive gadgets or treatment.

A Little More Detail

While I won’t speak for anyone else, my greatest fear of growing old stems from the possibility of losing my mental awareness to some form of dementia. My grandfather had Alzheimer’s and I remember far too well how devastating that was for everyone. I don’t want to put myself or my family in that situation. I don’t know anyone who wants their final days to be spent in such confusion.

Unfortunately, to date, many of the programs designed to ward off the mental health issues that accompany aging have been on the expensive side, some involving experimental appliances that insurance wouldn’t cover and medicines with some not-so-nice side effects. We haven’t had a lot of choices outside the woo-community’s herbal solutions, which are no solutions at all.

However, a study published Monday n the JAMA Neurology journal gives us some hope. Doing just normal things, the low-level type of activities that many of us are already doing, help to stave off some of the more devastating effects of dementia even past the age of 70, when those problems tend to start presenting themselves more heavily.

What kind of activities are we talking about here? Five areas were specifically studied: computer use; making crafts; playing games including chess or bridge; going to movies or other types of socializing, and reading books. 2,000 adults aged 70 to 93 without any memory problems participated. They were tested for the condition in mental exams at the beginning and every 15 months for about four years.

All of the activities listed worked in providing some level of protection except reading. Why not reading? Apparently, page turning doesn’t provide enough physical activity and promotes isolation. All the other studied areas provided 20-30 percent less likelihood of developing dementia.

What does that mean? Staying active, even if it seems minimal, is better than doing nothing at all. While they weren’t specifically studied, activities such as talking on the phone, going to church, or going shopping would likely have similar protections. The worst thing any of us can do is to stay in and let our brains melt. They need both physical and mental stimulation to survive.

We can’t keep ourselves from growing older, but we can slow down some of the effects.

Advertising / News & Comment

12/11/16: 5 Things You Need To Know

December 11, 2016

charles i. letbetter - 5 things you need to know 12-11-16

Baby, it’s cold outside

https://youtu.be/ooHJxkcKr4U

Good morning! It is a brisk 21° this morning in Indianapolis. Many of us woke up to a dusting or a little more of snow covering the roads. Today’s forecast calls for a little more snow converting to ice and eventually rain before the day is over. The ice is what you’ll want to watch. While no significant accumulation is expected, we all know that any ice at all can make surfaces dangerous, so be especially careful before noon today.

Being the weekend, the world is a little quieter, which is a nice thing. We did manage to find five things we think you should know today, so let’s take a look at those now.

1. Tragedy in Nigeria

Worshipers at a church in Lagos, Nigeria were trapped this morning when the steel girders holding up the recently constructed structure suddenly fell. At this point, Associated Press is reporting at least 160 are dead, but that number is likely to rise.¹

Rushed construction is getting the early blame for the accident. Apparently, workers were rushing to finish the job in time for a special service there yesterday installing the church’s founder, Akan Weeks, as bishop. A crane being used to lift the steel girders out of the rubble is said to be hiding more bodies. Journalists in the area say that church leaders are attempting to prevent anyone from getting an accurate count of the dead or taking any pictures.

The Nigerian government has said there will be a full investigation. However, you should know that building collapse is common across Nigeria due to corruption with contractors and shoddy building practices. A similar collapse occurred at a church in 2014 killing 116 people. While two engineers and church leaders have been accused of wrongdoing in that collapse, the state government has not been able to bring anyone to trial.

^{1. Associated Press:}^{HOSPITAL DIRECTOR: 160 DEAD IN COLLAPSED NIGERIAN CHURCH}^{BY HILARY UGURU AND MICHELLE FAUL Dec 11, 4:43 AM EST}

2. From the You’ve-Gotta-Be-Kidding-Me Department

You’re probably not going to want to believe this, but the Ku Klux Klan has told the Associated Press that they’re not White Supremacists^₁. I know, crazy, right?

First off, let me just be very clear that the young woman in our picture is not a White Supremacist and does not support them in any way. We don’t have any pictures of sheet-clad idiots, though, and her posture in this image reflects the weariness we feel from having to put up with the constant babbling from the Klan and other white supremacy groups since the November election.

Of course, like most everything else the Klan and other hate groups say and do, this statement is utter nonsense. Even the Klan rulebook, published in 1915 and still used by many groups, declares them to be white supremacists dedicated to those ideals.

So, to all members of the KKK and any other neo-Nazi, white supremacists hate group, we have two words for you: fuck off. As long as you spew your hate, as long as you fail to recognize that all people have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as long as you paint swastikas and burn crosses, as long as you hide your identities under robes that represent hate, as long as your actions lean toward violence, as long as you claim that white people are the only ones fit to govern, as long as you attempt to deny people of color and equal place and standing, as long as you divide people by religion and country of origin, we are going to call you what you are: white supremacists.

We’re going to call you something else as well: Haters. That’s what you are and no matter how hard you try to deny it, an ass doesn’t become a thoroughbred just because you put a saddle on it. We’re tired of this nonsense littering our public discourse. Sit down and shut up.

^{1. Associated Press: “}^{KKK, OTHER RACIST GROUPS DISAVOW THE WHITE SUPREMACIST LABEL”}^{BY JAY REEVES Dec 10, 4:27 PM EST}

3. Our longevity just slipped a bit

Children born in 2015 are not likely to live quite as long as those born the year before. Now, before you go getting upset, the difference is only about a month. A child in the United States has a life expectancy of about 78 years and 9½ months, on average. This is according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control this past Thursday.¹ When compared to a 1950’s life expectancy of around 68 years, we’re not doing too bad.

However, this is the first single-year slip we’ve seen since 1993 when the US was in the middle of the AIDS epidemic. What is worth noting about this decline is that there is no outstanding disease or war factor that can claim responsibility. There were increases in deaths due to several of the nation’s top killers, from heart disease to chronic lower lung disease, accidental injuries, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease and suicide.²

Who do we have to blame for this downturn? Ourselves, for the most part. While medical care among the poor and indigent remains a factor, the fact is we’re not taking care of ourselves, eating right, and exercising. I know I’m just as much to blame as anyone else. We all need to improve.

^{1. Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Mortality in the United States, 2015 By Jiaquan Xu, M.D., Sherry L. Murphy, B.S., Kenneth D. Kochanek, M.A., and Elizabeth Arias, Ph.D.

2. Associated Press: “US LIFE EXPECTANCY FALLS, AS MANY KINDS OF DEATH INCREASE” BY MIKE STOBBE Dec 8, 6:41 PM EST}

4. The Power of Pizza

Remember last weekend when some gun-toting conspiracy theorist walked into a Washington, D.C. pizza joint and opened fire? Well, as you might imagine, that wasn’t all too good for business. The pizza place, which has the rather strange name of Comet Ping Pong, has been struggling a bit this week since that happened. So have all the other businesses in that immediate vicinity. Even once the police finished their investigation and the tv cameras moved out, people were still a bit hesitant to satisfy their pizza craving in that part of town.

So, over 2,000 people showed up this weekend, starting on Friday, to show their support for Comet Ping Pong and other restaurants targeted by fake news stories. At one point, according to the Associated Press¹, patrons had to wait an hour and a half just to get a table and 45 minutes for take out. The restaurant has also been getting help through a GoFundMe that so far has raised over $28,000.

^{1. Associated Press: “}^{PATRONS USE DOUGH TO BACK PIZZA PLACE TARGETED BY FAKE NEWS”}^{By BY JESSICA GRESKO Dec 10, 12:38 PM EST}

5. And Finally …

If Kermit the Frog thought it wasn’t easy being green back in 1979, he’s really going to have problems with 2017. Pantone, those wonderful keepers of color definition, has decided that the color for 2017 is one called Greenery. According to AdWeek¹, the color was chosen to help us out with the year ahead. Given some of the other prognostications I’ve seen for next year, they could be right about this one. Green is widely known to be a color that has a calming influence. Given the political and economic landscape going into 2017, I would say we need all the calming influences we can get.

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said in a statement: “Greenery bursts forth in 2017 to provide us with the reassurance we yearn for amid a tumultuous social and political environment. Satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate and revitalize, Greenery symbolizes the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.”

I’m not sure painting everything green is going to help that much if we see the economy turn South or find ourselves in yet another war. Still, it’s not a bad color to look at. Be thankful they didn’t choose Puce.

^{1. AdWeek: Pantone’s Color of the Year Is Greenery, Designed to Perk Us Up in 2017}^{By Kristina Monllos December 8, 2016, 4:08 PM EST}

That will have to do it for today. Thank you for sharing your time with us. We look forward to seeing you back here again tomorrow.

Art / Personal / Photography / PotD

It’s My Party & I’ll Post What I Want To

December 1, 2016

All niceties are tossed out the window. Nothing about this article is safe for work.

December 1. My 56th birthday. How did I start my morning? By doing children’s laundry. Damn school uniforms. School uniforms don’t make a damn bit of sense for children who are growing so fucking fast that you can barely keep them in underwear. What parent has the money to keep buying and replacing the same clothes over and over and over and over throughout the year? We don’t. So, their pants are either a bit too long or are riding at their ankles. We just ignore the scuffs on the knees.

It’s my birthday and I’m doing laundry at 4:00 AM so that the little ones will have fresh, warm clothes to wear to school. No one ever did that for me. Probably because the washer and dryer were out in the garage. Oh, and Poppa didn’t start getting up at 4 himself until after we were out of the house. If we wanted warm clothes on cold mornings, we had to set our clothes over the heat register the night before. Don’t give me funny looks over that. I know we weren’t the only ones who did it.

Of course, over the years I’ve heard of others trying to warm up their clothes by putting them on or close to space heaters. The results were not pleasant. At the very least, it’s a good way to lose your best set of jeans.

I sometimes look back at my childhood and wonder how the hell we didn’t die. We took risks—lots of them. Many of them with our parents’ blessing, the rest without their knowledge. If I had ever seen one of my boys trying to tight-rope-walk a barbed-wire fence, I’d have thrown a fit. Yet, we did it. More than once. We didn’t stop until I ripped the seam from a pair of jeans. There were dangerous makeshift bicycle ramps, tree houses that were not safe for occupancy, and daring feats of, “do you think that’s safe to eat?” It’s a wonder any of us made it to our 18th birthday. Yet, here I am at 56. Rather frightening.

A good age to die

Actually, it turns out that 56 is a fairly common age for people to start dying. Heartwarming thought, isn’t it? On one hand, there were all the news stories about the world’s oldest woman celebrating her 117th birthday earlier this week. Things like that didn’t happen when I was a kid. We should all be encouraged about our prospects for living a long life. At the same time, however, the list of notable people who died at 56 is a bit too long and too impressive. Death waits for no one, I suppose. Look at these names:

Alexander Pope, 1744
Abraham Lincoln, 1865
Ian Fleming, 1964
Charles Mingus, 1979
Betty Grable, 1973
Steve Jobs, 2011
Ludwig von Beethoven, 1827
John Hancock, 1793
King George VI (The Queen’s father), 1952

Looking at that list is daunting. Consider all that those people accomplished before they died. Here I am, having never been president during a civil war, never written a great spy novel, never composed thousands of musical masterpieces, never acted in any movies, never built a high-tech empire, haven’t signed a declaration of independence (yet), and am not even close to guiding Britain through a war. When I look at what I’ve done compared to all these people had achieved by the time they died at my age, I feel just a bit like a failure.

There is one name I intentionally left off that list. Adolf Hitler was 56 when he died. I guess that’s one thing I have going for me: I’ve not tried to rule the world and killed millions of innocent people. Perhaps I should put a “yet” at the end of that statement. I suppose anything is possible. After all, I once tried tight-rope walking on barbed-wire, you know.

Do we really want to live that long?

While I’m not in any mood to kick the bucket today, at the same time I have to wonder if any of us really want to live all that long. Consider the plight of Emma Moreno, the world’s oldest woman. She hasn’t exactly had a great and wonderful life, you know. Her fiancè was killed in WWI. She married an abusive brute she didn’t like. She kicked him out of the house, and shortly after doing so her only child, a son, died. She worked in a factory until she was 65, which seems young compared to where she is now. She has outlived her eight brothers and sisters. She eats the same thing every day: two eggs, one raw, one fried. Even she admits she hasn’t had a good life.

So, if living long means outliving everyone you love, being left alone in a nursing facility somewhere in Italy, having the only time people pay any attention to you is on your birthday, if you make it another year, or when you eventually give up and die, is it worth the trouble of even trying? I can see wanting to live a long time if we still have our friends and still have our families and can still go and do things that we enjoy. Take all that away, though, and what the fuck is the point? At this juncture, it seems that Ms. Moreno is more in torment than happy. She smiled for the cameras, but she had to force it.

I wonder if we make too much of living a long life. Certainly, as long as there are people around to love, then, by all means, keep going. But when one has outlived everyone of what value is life? I suppose one could claim that they are producing carbon dioxide for the plants and trees. At least that’s something productive, right?

There are still options

I don’t suppose all is lost. Not having been wildly successful by age 56 isn’t necessarily a major concern, is it? Look at all the people who were older when they finally “made it.”

“Colonel” Harlan Sanders was 65 when he started his chicken franchise.
Laura Ingalls Wilder didn’t publish her first novel until she was 65, and managed to get in 12 others after that.
Grandma Moses was 76 when she first slapped paint across a canvas, and she was productive for nearly 20 years.
Edmund Hoyle was around 70 years old when he first began recording the rules of various card games in 1741.

There are several others whose names you likely wouldn’t recognize, like the guy who invented the taser, or the guy who founded Hare Krishna. And how many presidents, including our president-elect, were well over 56 when they took office? Not that I would ever want to be president, mind you. There would probably be a civil war and then I’d get shot. I’ll let Mr. Lincoln keep that dubious honor, thank you.

Still, the point I’m trying desperately to make is that there are plenty of examples of people who didn’t even get a good start on whatever it is that made them famous until they were older and had a good bit of totally unrelated experience behind them. While I’m not sitting on any earth-shattering ideas right at this moment, in theory I’m well positioned to have a brainstorm of some kind that would propel me into the history books. Let’s just hope it’s for a good reason.

Of course, there’s still photography

I suppose, in some sense, all this sounds as though I’m giving up on photography. I’m not, despite how this year has gone. The past four years, for that matter. The number of photographs I’ve taken has been steadily declining, each year being the fewest yet that I’ve ever taken. Rather depressing when one stops and thinks about it. Although, one might say that the reduction in number makes the photographs that were taken all the more valuable. Scarcity can be a good thing, I suppose. Especially after I’m dead.

See, there’s that dead thing again. It keeps popping up.

Part of the issue with photography is a lack of models with whom I can enjoy working. The young woman who posed for the images here, all shot back in 2005, had just turned 21 when I met her. She was lively, adventurous, and willing to pretty much try anything. In fact, there was a lot she was already trying when we met. She was 5′ 10″, perfectly proportioned, and looked sufficiently wonderful dressed, but at the same time didn’t have much hesitancy about getting naked just about anywhere, including once at the ruins in Holliday Park. She understood the artistry and that getting the shots that no one else had sometimes involved taking some risks. As a result, I have a truck-load of archived images that I still enjoy pulling out and re-processing every once in a while.

I need more models like her. We’ve had several over the years, but inevitably, as they get older, they get married, have kids, or take advantage of better offers elsewhere, such as Las Vegas or LA. I don’t blame anyone for improving their lives, but they each leave a special void that is never filled. We once had relationships with our models that enabled us to do some really dramatic and interesting things. No one seems remotely interested in that anymore, though. Without willing subjects ready to step in front of the camera, it is difficult to feel inspired about taking new pictures. Sure, equipment, transportation, and space issues factor in as well, but it’s the litany of muses, the knowledge that for whatever concept I conceive I have the model(s) to pull it off, that is missing.

The Forthcoming Novel

There is no forthcoming novel. At least, not anytime soon. I tried the novel-writing thing in November. I made it two days. Writing a novel, for me, means not being interrupted by chores or children or news or presidential elections or idiots running the stop sign on the corner. Writing, for me, requires that I be able to dedicate my full attention to the process. I need to be able to research everything. Even this article had its share of research, every one of them does. I need to know that the things that I say, the ideas that I present, are at least plausible and preferably possible. I can do fiction, but fantasy is a bit beyond me.

If I ever do complete a full novel, it will be between moments of getting lost in the wonderment of watching cats playing across the living room rug. This morning, it’s the kittens who are leaping and rolling and butt-wiggling all over the place. Their energy is boundless and the entertainment factor is dramatically distractive. I have never been much of a cat person, but the past couple of years with our careful selection of rescued kitties has changed my mind in that regard. They are wonderful little creatures to have around. I can sit and watch them for several minutes at a time, becoming totally lost in their play. Of course, that means I’m not writing a damn thing.

Then, there’s the dog. I love the big guy. He loves me. And sometimes that’s an issue. He wants to play. A lot. And I enjoy playing with him. A lot. I can easily take a couple of hours from my afternoon out in the yard with him, playing tug of war and throwing balls. But again, if I’m doing that I’m not writing, am I? Perhaps I’m gaining little tidbits of information and experience that I might eventually work into part of a story, but I’m not piercing light with pixels (which is the modern substitution for putting pen to paper). Maybe I’ll get around to writing something great and wonderful one of these days, but I don’t see it happening this year, and probably not the year after. There are just too many distractions in life.

What will happen in this next year? Most immediately, I’ll re-work the website a little bit. It’s time to update the template. There’s a new version of WordPress coming out next week, so we might as well get all the kinks worked out of everything at the same time. I’ll move things around a bit, change header pictures, stuff like that. In general, though, I like the layout we’ve been using this year. The number of eyeballs has more than doubled what we had for last year. So, a little tweaking should suffice for the next 12 months.

I would love to shoot more this year, but again, that whole model issue is a concern. Perhaps we’ll meet some people. Perhaps we already have and just don’t know it yet.

Either way, we’ve completed 56 years now. Let’s see what happens next. I fear a new dystopia, but hey, maybe we’ll get cool robot overlords from it.

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