Sleepless in Midland

Doing volunteer work might help ward off mental decline says a researcher

Found at WSJ.com, Research Finds Volunteering Can Be Good for Your Health, behind the paywall. Here's the key part:

A recent study of 2,705 volunteers age 18 and older from UnitedHealthcare and VolunteerMatch found that 75% of those who volunteered in the past 12 months said volunteering made them feel physically healthier.

A much larger study—one involving more than 64,000 subjects age 60 and older from 1998 to 2010—has found results suggesting that volunteering slows the cognitive decline of aging.

The author of that study, Sumedha Gupta, an assistant economics professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, used data from the long-running University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study to reach her conclusions. After dividing respondents into three categories—volunteers, nonvolunteers and individuals who switched back and forth—she found that an individual who is volunteering 100 hours a year scores on average about 6% higher in cognitive testing than a nonvolunteer.

“The effect is significant. It’s consistent,” Dr. Gupta says. As people age, their cognitive scores drop, but those who volunteer score higher at every age.

Of course, it could be that people with the inclination and energy to work for free may be less inclined to get dementia, anyway. But it's nice that someone actually put it into a study that sounds scientific. That said, there's some rationality backing it up. To wit:

The reasons behind volunteering’s boost to cognitive health, Dr. Gupta says, have to do with the unique characteristics of such activity.

For starters, unlike paid work, there is a “different subjective well-being” or “warm glow” that a volunteer experiences from helping people. Volunteering is also unique “because it supplies mental, physical and social stimulation in one package,” Dr. Gupta says. “You have to move around, you interact with people, you think about activities.” Whereas doing a Sudoku puzzle offers one type of intellectual stimulation, she says, volunteers get all of these types of stimulation simultaneously.

Makes sense. But take a look at this prediction from New Alzheimer’s Association Report Reveals Sharp Increases in Alzheimer’s Prevalence, Deaths and Cost of Care:

By 2025 – just seven years from now – the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s dementia is estimated to reach 7.1 million – an increase of almost 29 percent from the 5.5 million age 65 and older affected in 2018.

Baby boomers had better get busy with those volunteer jobs.

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1:19 PM 4/24/2018

Hospice of Midland -- we honor veterans

Although you wouldn't know it from their website, Hospice of Midland in Midland, Texas, has a very active We Honor Veterans program.

Any veterans out there who want to help some of those guys and gals who fought for our country and are now fighting for their lives could be of great service to them by becoming a volunteer with Hospice of Midland.

The photo of the flag display was taken on Memorial Day, 2017, at the front of the Hospice of Midland Building.

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1:50 PM 5/29/2017

Joan Rivers unapologetic about calling Obama gay -- good for her

It was three weeks ago. Joan Rivers responded to some reporter's question about whether the country was ready for a gay president with a remark that we already had one. Barack Obama is gay and Michelle Obama is transgender. See the video here.

First there was the expected outrage, but it died quickly as soon as the grievance squad stopped to think about it. After all, what exactly is wrong with calling someone gay? Gay and transgender are categories protected with great zeal by the PC police. It can't be an insult to identify someone with a politically powerful group. They were reduced to whining about the use of the word "tranny." Yawn.

But the best part is that Joan Rivers didn't apologize. According to the above linked article she explained that it was a joke and moved on. Contrast that with the groveling Steve Martin did recently after some joke about ethnic spelling. The poor lefty, always having to walk that tight rope between humorous observation and perceived racist remark.

Gay, transgender -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Keep on trucking Joan. May we all be as productive when we're 81.

If you're old and you're happy clap your hands

Old people are generally happier than young people. Why is that so? When you hear scientists explain it, there's a forehead slapping "Aw, I knew that," affect. Laura Carstensen does explain it right here (transcript). Excerpt:

As we age, our time horizons grow shorter and our goals change. When we recognize that we don't have all the time in the world, we see our priorities most clearly. We take less notice of trivial matters. We savor life. We're more appreciative, more open to reconciliation. We invest in more emotionally important parts of life, and life gets better, so we're happier day-to-day. But that same shift in perspective leads us to have less tolerance than ever for injustice.

Less tolerance for injustice wouldn't seem to be an element of happiness unless they had the capability to right that injustice. Maybe that's why old timers vote in such high percentages. Let's continue:

By 2015, there will be more people in the United States over the age of 60 than under 15. What will happen to societies that are top-heavy with older people? The numbers won't determine the outcome. Culture will. If we invest in science and technology and find solutions for the real problems that older people face and we capitalize on the very real strengths of older people, then added years of life can dramatically improve quality of life at all ages. Societies with millions of talented, emotionally stable citizens who are healthier and better educated than any generations before them, armed with knowledge about the practical matters of life and motivated to solve the big issues can be better societies than we have ever known.

For some reason I'm reminded of an old joke. When you're young, old people just won't stop talking. When you're old, young people just won't listen.

Via via.

Signs telling you you're all grown up

With so many recent graduates this year this might be a good time for a guidepost on what they can expect. There must be millions of them. And Bromygod.com has pinned down a few, with photos to boot. See 22 Things That Make You Realize You’ve Grown Up.

Some of the good ones:

6:am is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's leftovers.
Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.

And finally, my favorite:

You hear your favorite song in the elevator.

Welcome to the real world, kids. Blink your eyes and you'll be a senior citizen.

Conan O'Brien reviews Grand Theft Auto V

There was a time long long ago when there were businesses called "game rooms" wherein patrons would put their coins in machines and play pin ball where a real ball would roll around and ring bells and make lights go off. Or maybe the customer preferred more high tech games like Pong or Pac-man.

Those games to today's gamers are like horse shoes or washers were to the hipsters who used those game rooms.

These days games like Grand Theft Auto V keep seem to keep the kids busy for hours. There must be others besides me who see TV commercials for such games and wonder, "How the heck to they do all that with just by pressing a couple of buttons?"

Well, along comes Conan O'Brien with a series called Clueless Gamer in which he attempts to conquer video games with jokes. Check out Conan O'Brien Reviews "Grand Theft Auto V" which really is enlightening, at least for this video game simpleton.

And if you watch it you'll figure out the answer to how they do it with just a couple of buttons. Practice, practice, practice.

Via BitsandPieces.us.

P.S. Be nice. Some day those kids will be using video game controllers to take out your prostate, conduct war, and audit your taxes. -- Robo-ed.

Rosie the Riveter and other old photos

Long long ago, in the time before circuit boards, cameras used film which had to be developed and then printed onto paper. It was a labor intensive process, and photographers had to take care to get the shot right the first time.

Shorpy.com is a site devoted to old photos, and it's well worth checking out. The photo you see on the right is an ancient banner ad before they jumped onto computers.

That one, from the Very Old Ads category, was colorized for our viewing pleasure.

Speaking of color, be sure to check out the Kodachrome photos of the various Rosies the Riveters. I like the one below titled Paging Rosie: 1942.

Back in the good old days before all that OSHA business you could drill, grind, rivet, or anything you wanted without eye protection. Hair protection, now that's a different matter.

 

School Bond part 2 -- the over 65 exemption

You know you are getting old when the political solicitations you receive are targeted at the elderly.

The local school district here in Midland, Texas, wants voters to authorize a $163 million bond on election day. And their supporters have made a very earnest effort to persuade the electorate that taxpayers need to take on more debt. Previously on these pages see local government bond debt still under a billion -- school district hopes to change that.

So the particular solicitations -- two since I started saving them -- were either signed by or show photos of some prominent locals who beseech the recipient to vote "For" the bond with the assurance that it will not cause the recipients school tax to increase.

Here's why. The state of Texas allows qualified property owners to get an "over 65" exemption which caps the property owner's school taxes. From the Texas Comptroller:

What is a homestead tax ceiling?
It is a limit on the amount of taxes you must pay on your residence. If you qualify your home for a 65 and older or disabled person homestead exemption for school taxes, the school taxes on that home can't increase as long as you own and live in that home. The tax ceiling is the amount you pay in the year that you qualified for the 65 or older or disabled person exemption. The school taxes on your home may go below the ceiling but not above the amount of the ceiling. However, if you improve the home (other than normal repairs or maintenance), the tax ceiling may go higher because of the new additions. For example, if you add on a garage or game room to the house after you have established a tax ceiling, the ceiling will be adjusted to a higher level to reflect the value of that addition.

The legislative rationale was probably that senior citizens would not likely have children in the school system and shouldn't have to pay so much for educating other people's children. But the practical effect is the creation of a class of voters who can vote to raise the tax on another class of voters.

All eight of the individuals whose signatures appear on one of the solicitations show up as property owners in the Midland Central Appraisal District search engine. Furthermore, the search engine shows that all eight have claimed the over "65 exemption." That means their school taxes were locked in as of the year they applied for the exemption.

A few years ago some MISD board member was talking about working to eliminate the over 65 exemption. But they figured out how to use it to their advantage. A vote for the bond by someone with the exemption is in effect a vote for someone else to pay the extra tax. So the senior citizen who votes for the bond has nothing to lose. It's a very clever marketing strategy on behalf of the bond advocates. As for pitting the old against the young, what could possibly go wrong?

Hip or unhip -- photo comparisons

Are you hip? Are you cool? It's all in how you look. NYmag.com has a slideshow called Street Style at New York's Most Stylish Campuses.

All well and good, and the trend setting youngsters really must be hip. But wait. A site called Replacement Hipsters has the mission of putting old timers on display with their own fashions. And you know what? Their attire doesn't look all that different from what those young hipsters are wearing.

Take a look at a few and ask yourself, "Who's the real hipster here?"

  

 






Oh who am I kidding? There's a cutoff somewhere over a certain age. But if there's one thing to look forward to with old age it's that we won't care what the hipsters think and we can be as judgmental as we want about what they wear, what they have tattooed, and ... you got your what pierced??