firecat

Auld Lang Syne, anyone?

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 14:19:05 GMT

Recycling an old post from Facebook:

"RT @ ThatEricAlper: Without revealing your actual age, what something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?"

Here’s my entry. I’ve heard that reading the time on an analog clock is no longer a universal skill. So I think some young people would find it hard to understand where the phrase “watch my six” comes from.

(This entry brought to you by Faith Hunter’s Shining Smith series, a post-apocalyptic story in which a woman infected by mesmerizing nanobots runs a junkyard with the help of a clowder of sentient, telepathic cats. She says it a lot in combat situations…not to the cats though.)

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Ursula K. Le Guin writes about old age

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 03:53:47 GMT

And she writes about it brilliantly, as she writes about so many things.

http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2013/06/10/the-diminished-thing/

Excerpt (but this isn't the best part. Go read the whole thing. And definitely read the poem she uses as a frame):

Americans believe strongly in positive thinking. Positive thinking is great. It works best when based on a realistic assessment and acceptance of the actual situation. Positive thinking founded on denial may not be so great. (Like, look at Lance Armstrong.)

Everybody who gets old has to assess their ever-changing but seldom improving situation and make of it what they can. I think most old people accept the fact that they’re old — I’ve never heard anybody over eighty say “I’m not old.” And they make the best of it. As the saying goes: Consider the alternative!

A lot of younger people, seeing the reality of old age as entirely negative, see acceptance of age as negative. Wanting to deal with old people in a positive spirit, they’re led to deny old people their reality.

(via Body Impolitic)

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A meme

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:11:33 GMT

'If someone from the 1950s suddenly appeared today, what would be the most difficult thing to explain to them?'

This is a strange meme. I know plenty of people who were alive during the 1950s. If they are any indication, the most difficult thing to explain is how to use a modern cell phone or smart phone to make a phone call while not accidentally doing anything else with it.

(I recently got my dad what was advertised as a basic, unsmart cell phone. Every time I picked it up, I managed to trigger the voice recognition function.)

I think the other most difficult thing to explain would be certain kinds of humor that have come about since the 50s. I'm not sure how to explain which kinds, though.

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Notes for Wiscon panel "Feminist Perspectives on Elder Care"

Mon, 28 May 2012 19:32:09 GMT

Feminist Perspectives on Elder Care
Track: Feminism and Other Social Change Movements

Panel description
Like child care, the vast majority of elder care is done by women and is frequently unpaid. (When it is paid work, it is often paid extremely poorly.) Many WisCon attendees are dealing with elder care issues, either because they have aging parents, or because they are the aging parent. Are there political solutions we could be working toward? Are there pragmatic solutions we can share with each other? Are there new ideas (for caregiving, accessibility, communities, etc.) that we can offer as a shared vision?

twitter hashtag: #ElderCare

Panelists:
(I did not list most panelists' journal/blog info, for reasons of privacy; if you want your panelist name associated with your blog or journal, leave a comment or send me a private message.)
Criss Moody
Janice Mynchenberg
L J Geoffrion ljgeoff
firecat
Naomi Kritzer

I was a panelist and I was not able to take notes. This is what I remember, and I hope others on the panel and attending the panel —and anyone with questions or information—will contribute comments/resources.

During the panel I was wondering if it would be useful to create a DW and/or LJ community and/or mailing list for eldercare resources for people who are fannish and/or alternative in other ways. Thoughts?
( Read more... )

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firecat goes to the movies: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:01:37 GMT

First things first: Benedict Cumberbatch alert! He plays Smiley's protegé in the movie. So now he has played the super-detective (in the BBC Sherlock) and the sidekick, with equal aplomb.

I got very confused while watching this movie, even though I've read the John le Carré book it's based on. It has been a long time since I read the book, but I was sitting there thinking "I'm just not cut out for watching twisty movies any more." (It didn't help that I watched it in the theaters with no subtitles, and I've lost what little facility I had with hearing softly spoken dialogue, especially in non-American accents.)

So for me the movie was as if someone had taken the book, cut it up into scenes, put the scenes in a hat, and picked out a few of them at random to film them. They were beautifully, lovingly filmed. So it was actually as if the book were cut into scenes and then haikus were written out of the scenes, and then the haikus were filmed.

Afterward, I saw Roger Ebert's review, and he said, "the screenplay...is not a model of clarity. I confess I was confused some of the time and lost at other times....perhaps...I don't have a mind suitable for espionage." So if he couldn't follow the story either, then I guess I don't have to feel bad. I might re-read the books and then re-watch the movie to see if it makes more sense.

It was nice to see Oldman play someone other than a sociopath. Although I have to say he went as far as he could toward making Smiley sociopath-like.

( tiny spoiler. also, possible spoilers in comments )

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Cool linkspam of the day

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:29:23 GMT

via andrewducker

http://gravityandlevity.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/your-body-wasnt-built-to-last-a-lesson-from-human-mortality-rates/
"This startling fact was first noticed by the British actuary Benjamin Gompertz in 1825 and is now called the 'Gompertz Law of human mortality.' Your probability of dying during a given year doubles every 8 years." The article goes on to explain what we can conclude from this statistic: "By looking at theories of human mortality that are clearly wrong, we can deduce that our fast-rising mortality is not the result of a dangerous environment, but of a body that has a built-in expiration date." (Also, the law refutes the popular notion that thin people don't die.)

via onyxlynx

Face-recognition camouflage: http://www.cvdazzle.com/

Four rhetorical techniques the media or government can use to increase fear and hatred in the populace: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2011/12/05/new-lse-research-the-psychology-of-security-threats-evidence-from-rwanda/

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Gee, ya think?

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:30:20 GMT

Via moominmuppet

"Mortgage defaults are causing health problems in people over 50" by Annalee Newitz

Excerpt:

The study was led by University of Maryland epidemiologist Dawn E. Alley, who said:
More than a quarter of people in mortgage default or foreclosure are over 50. For an older person with chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension, the types of health problems we saw are short term consequences of falling behind on a mortgage that could have long-run implications for that person's health.
...
While this information may seem like common sense, this study is one of the only examples where such "common sense" has actually been confirmed scientifically.

Well, I'm glad research like this sometimes sees the light of day.

Original study

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"Food for Thought" Pyramid

Sat, 02 May 2009 05:51:47 GMT

This is awesome.

http://www.food-for-thought-pyramid.com/

Designed as a tongue in cheek response to and criticism of the FDA’s Food Guide Pyramid, the “Food for Thought” Pyramid offers an alternative approach to enhancing your health. The “Food for Thought” Pyramid will help you become more conscious of the bigger picture of your health.

http://www.food-for-thought-pyramid.com/articles/pyramidsample.pdf

You can buy it as a poster.

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