Alzheimer’s–New Research Suggests Trouble Starts in the Liver, Not the Brain

Posted on March 15, 2011 by

If True, It May Be An Open Door To New Treatments With The Liver As Target

Recent research suggests the amyloid protein making up the brain plaque associated with Alzheimer’s Disease may start in the liver and be moved by the blood stream to the brain. At least that’s the theory put forth by research investigator, Greg Sutcliffe, at Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA.

The findings surprised the investigator who used sophisticated methods of identifying genes that protect against beta amyloid and detecting where in the bodies of mice those genes were produced. Results suggested that some of the genes that controlled AD were, against almost all current medical opinion, produced in the liver and not the brain.

If the Scripps research is confirmed by others, it will open the door to new studies directed at the liver, possibly testing already existing drugs such as Gleevec, now used for leukemia and tumors, but used in this research on mice to “dramatically” reduce the beta amyloid in the mouse brains and blood.

Read that last sentence again: an existing drug dramatically improved the physical evidence of Alzheimer’s in mouse brains. If the Scripps findings are confirmed by other researchers, this line of thinking might continue into human trials and then into real world treatment. We’ll wait and see, but keep an eye out for more on the liver-Alzheimer’s connection.

As with any news that upsets known apple carts, the old guard is often suspiscious of new findings and sometimes rightly so. But sometimes not. Whatever the truth in this case, William Theis, chief medical officer at the Alzheimer’s Association, was not optimistic and is quoted as saying: “You could have any number of reasons (a treatment that targets the liver) might fail”.

Me,  I’m betting  more studies will target the liver. In fact, researchers at UC Irvine have been looking at the role of DHA, an omega 3 fatty acid,  in the liver and its connection to Alzheimer’s. Also focusing on the liver a few years ahead of these findings were some family members  on Web-based medical bulletin boards! Good for them.

(Ordinary people dealing with medical issues are not bound by received professional opinion. Their brains don’t live in content cages.)

Brains in cages

Here’s a link to Scripps with much more scientific detail: http://bit.ly/i9OTiC

The take-home from Scripps: Maybe we’ve been barking up the wrong tree. Maybe the answer will be found in teeny mouse livers. And then in ours. Stay tuned. I’ve got a Google alert on Alzheimer’s and livers, so I’ll post as new findings come in.

Best from Mel Walsh

PS: Subscribers—Thanks for subscribing. It means a lot to have an audience when the research and writing are entirely a volunteer project. If you have friends of a certain age who might be interested in a website just for adults who are better than 60, please send them a link to www.geezerdiary.com. If reading this on the website, there’s a Share This option below. Many thanks.

Brains in Cages: Photo by Kevin Hutchinson/Flickr

Posted in Brain & Memory, Health | Tagged | 1 Comment

Lost & Found: The Pleasures of Life

Posted on March 8, 2011 by

Have you noticed a weird category of life experiences—things that give great pleasure, but because they are not part of your habit pattern, you forget how wonderful they are and so you don’t pursue those pleasures? Then you run across the great experience again, repeat it and resolve not to forget and then forget and so on and so on?

Are we all forgetters of fun?

These memory lapses are not the Alzhammered forgettings of age. As a teen, I would forget how much I loved swimming in a lake at night until some friend would say, let’s go swimming under the moon. In the water, I would remember and resolve to do it again and then I would forget. Forget the lake, forget the moon.

Today what I forget is how much I like jazz, clarinets and saxophones. Also, I keep forgetting how I love gardenia perfume,  peanut butter on fresh bread, Doris Day, a roast chicken stuffed with spaghetti and cheese and dinner parties where the laughter of six people is the sauce of the evening.

It’s a mystery…

So how can a human designed to seek pleasurable rewards, keep forgetting her pleasures? Maybe my reflexes need re-conditioning. I don’t get it and want to take this up with Pavlov, but he’s permanently retired.

Maybe I will just settle for naming the phenomenon—forgetting the unforgettable.

Lord, another paradox to fog up life.

But I’m trying to pull the wonderful forgottens back into my life. For instance, what I saw last weekend at a jazz festival is reminding me about the power of music. I saw that you can settle a sedate 91-year-old into a concert chair, but if he hears something like Pennsylvania 6-500, he will be smiling and tapping and rocking and swaying and having a 1940’s kind of good time.

Ditto for me and Cranky Pants. There’s nothing like the pleasure of Dixieland, swing or ragtime to get the body going and the endorphins doing the double lindy in your brain.

So that’s my resolution. To become again what an old boyfriend once called me…a Pleasure Potato. To that end, I will write, not a Bucket List, but a Buck Up list, things to do that bring joy to the spirit.

One resolution is to turn on jazz every day at 3 PM, The Mind Sludge Hour. Yep, get the pleasure habit locked into the life pattern: Jazz, tea and a peanut butter snack at three. And then there are still chickens to roast and I can bite the ladle and ask friends to dinner.

I don’t live near a lake now, but I still live near a moon. Now I have to remember what else you can do with a moon.

by myyorgda/flickr

Posted in Brain & Memory, Lifestyle, Music, Nostalgia | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

LAUGHS, CONFESSIONS AND A CAT

Posted on March 1, 2011 by

First, the confession: I have not been posting recently on The Geezer Diary because I’ve moved again, so I am still slightly Mayflowered out.

by Paolo Camera/Flickr

And then I also need to solve the mess I made as an avowed blogaholic—someone who makes blogs and makes so many of them loaded with so many posts that I no longer know which blog is which, where I should post or even why. (I make new blogs because it’s fun. Go figure.)

As of this morning, I counted 13 blogs on WordPress and Typepad along with too many domain names stored up at Network Solutions. I made blogs for Cranky Pants, my grandkid posse and my house, for my rebel side, my health writer side and the self who is a newspaper columnist. I also have one for business writing—Words 2 Go—that’s my corporate communicator who is now ghost-writing business blogs—and though I have not yet made one for my plants, that might be coming.

As penance for going AWOL and as a plea for forgiveness, I hereby offer a humor compilation of one T. Marni Vos, a speaker with a gilt-edged sense of fun. (If you like this, check out her website—www.tmarnivos.com.) I know from experience that Marni can even make a dying man laugh. She mightily amused our friend in hospice care, Fred Hargesheimer,  shortly before he died last December at age 94.

So here’s Marni’s roundup of thoughts on the recession….

The Recession hits everybody…..

I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

Wives are having sex with their husbands because they can’t afford batteries.

CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.

Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.

A stripper was killed when her audience showered her with rolls of pennies while she danced.

I saw a Mormon polygamist with only one wife.

If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

McDonald’s is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America …

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names.

My cousin had an exorcism but couldn’t afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!

A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico .

A picture is now only worth 200 words.

When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.

The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.

Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!

And, finally…

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Pakistan , and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.

From Mel–stay warm and happy… and know I am busy unclogging the blogs. Also, for  info about senior health and the delicate subject of growing older, check out my column archives at www.melwalsh.com.

Last, this cheering photo from a friend, Gail Calder. It’s her cat, Milo. I’d title it: Life Imitating Art–Feline Division.


Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

When retirement is a pain in the posterior…

Posted on January 26, 2011 by

Though retirement is stereotyped as a geezer Garden of Eden furnished with recliners and a flat screen TV, it can be tough. You’d never know it, though, from the ads. You’ve seen them—beautiful Botoxed models with silver hair, riding bikes on a country lane or sitting in seaside bath tubs waiting for the moment to be right.

In reality, retirement is no chocolate truffle. It’s a mixed bag. Some people love it, some hate it and some just struggle, trying to understand who they are besides unemployed and what they should do now since they are finally in charge.

Sounds good—being in charge of your life, but if you’ve invested total energy in a job now gone and in a family now departed, facing the future is scary. What will you do with yourself? Who will you become?  The silly old person of the stereotypes? A super senior who skydives and makes the news? A grandpa who babysits and loves it because he missed out on his own kids’ childhoods? (Too busy earning a living.)

Maybe a grandma who starts a new business?  Or someone who never retires—who works as a consultant or at a part-time job to make money or to feel useful? (The biggest poverty of the later years may be the lack, not of money, but of meaning.)

How to get a grip

First, go easy on yourself. You don’t have to get the new you in place tomorrow. A good first thing to do: practice some personal archeology. That means digging out the interests you used to have. Did you always want to raise orchids, sing in a choir, be an artist, take photos like Ansel, help abused animals?

You may reply it’s too late for all that and I will reply it’s only too late if you don’t start now. Actually, that’s the title of a book by Barbara Sher—It’s Only Too Late If You Don’t Start Now: How To Create Your Second Life At Any Age. Sher is a genius at getting people off the dime, out of their fear freezes and into new lives that fit. Certainly her books helped me go back to school in my sixties and get an MA in Gerontology, the study of older people. So any Sher book on Amazon would be number two on my get-going list.

Third: Find a retirement buddy, someone who struggles with the same issues. This could be your mate, a former co-worker or a neighbor. It helps to know you are not alone. Exchanging ideas may result in a new perspective on retirement issues. Sometimes others can see you better than you can and might share what things they think you could do and enjoy.

Fourth: Test out some ideas with classes. Take classes in your interests at community colleges or adult ed classes in your area. Also look online. I got my degree from USC totally online. If you don’t care about credit—you just want the subject matter—-take free online university courses.

A major wakeup call for the brain

Free online courses from major schools are a treasure chest of ideas and information and a good way to get your feet wet in any subject. For a list of high-quality courses, go to http://tinyurl.com/2xr7sd.

MIT excels at this, and not just in science, but In the humanities with a wide offering of music courses. Carnegie Mellon is a leader online with many science courses. Tufts has wide offerings and excels in nutrition and medicine, both human and veterinary. UC Berkeley is not to be outdone. I had to stop writing this column just to listen to a computer class. All the links to these universities are at the website above.

Fifth: Don’t wait for the perfect thing to magically come your way. It takes effort and bravery to go down unknown paths. To his credit, Cranky Pants ventured forth to fall in a river after a fish, to suffer through golf lessons in the heat of an LA summer and to spin out on a race track going over 100 mph. He decided who he was not: a fisherman, Tiger Woods or Sterling Moss. He found civil grand jury work instead—interesting and done on cool dry land at zero mph.

So, again, we salute him and others who get out there in retirement as test pilots of their own lives. Fly on.

Mel Walsh is a columnist, blogger, gerontologist and author of HOT GRANNY, Chronicle Books. She lives in Carmel CA with Cranky Pants.

Posted in Growing older, Lifestyle, Retirement | 4 Comments

Turkey Soup: The Remains of the Day

Posted on November 30, 2010 by

What differentiates us from the younger generation—besides not smoking our house plants?

I say it’s turkey soup—knowing how to make it, eat it and value it enough to rescue the carcass from a hostess’ intent to throw it in the garbage. To cooks of a certain age, turkey bits and bones are poultry gold. The day after Thanksgiving, I drove home with my daughter’s turkey carcass in the back seat.

Turkey soup is chicken soup with muscle and worth every minute it takes to make, which is actually about ten minutes to start and another five at the end to strain it and get it ready for the refrigerator. The cooktop does the rest, simmering the infant soup into adult shape in about two hours.

By JaseMan

But let me begin at the beginning, which is after Thanksgiving when most of the meat has been harvested to make white bread sandwiches with lots of mayonnaise. The actual soup recipe is so simple it should not be called a recipe…maybe just heirloom instructions for getting the most out of a bird. Our grannies did this after Thanksgiving the way our grandchildren get up now at 3 AM to wade into Black Friday shopping—both post-turkey day traditions.

First, pull any remaining chunks of turkey off the bird to save for another meal. Then put the bones in your biggest pasta pot. You may have to break up the carcass to have it fit in the pot. Add a few carrots, celery stalks and chopped onions if you have them. (Stores sell the packaged beginnings for stuffing—chopped celery and onions—and those will do nicely instead.)

Fill the pot with water to cover the bird. Put on high heat until it just boils. Turn down immediately to just a simmer. (You need to make sure it doesn’t boil over.) Let it stew for 2 hours bubbling away slowly.

Then turn it off. Let cool. Add salt and pepper to taste. Strain the cooled soup into a large bowl. Throw the remains away. Refrigerate the soup.

When ready to use, skim the fat off the top of the bowl and take out as much cold soup as you want to warm up for a meal. (The “soup” may look like jelly at this stage and I love to eat it cold and jellied with plenty of lemon pepper grated on top, but that’s peculiar to me.)

You can eat this soup warmed up as just a plain broth or instead, boil various pastas in the broth—tortellini swimming in warm broth with sprinkles of cheese on top are good. Adding bits of veggies ups the nutrition, which is why I keep grated carrots and frozen spinach leaves on hand. Or you can make a turkey vegetable soup—adding turkey bits and veggies of choice and maybe a handful of couscous to rev up the bulk.

Turkey broth can be frozen, but I never have enough left to freeze.

By David Masters

And that’s how to get the most from your turkey. Now, if I could only figure out how to squeeze the most out of each day, boil the time down to one delicious essence.

Posted in Family, Food | 2 Comments

A Geezer’s Turkey Day- A Little Salt, Lots of Sweet

Posted on November 23, 2010 by

Let us give thanks for…

…The fact that the CD rates in our retirement funds have not yet gone below zero. When interest rates go to zero, we may owe the bank money for the honor of their holding it. So what shall we do with our remaining assets to make sure we won’t end up having Thanksgiving 2020 in a church basement?

I had relatives who, during World War II, buried their money in Mason jars in the backyard. When they dug it up after the war, it was full of mold and they had to hang it out to dry. Moral of the story: no matter what you do with your retirement money, you will be hung out to dry.

However, cynicism is like salt—just a touch is enough. Too much is bad for your mental health and we need all the mental health we can get. So let’s really really give thanks for….

Longevity and health—Yeah, yeah, our medical system is a mess,  but we are living much longer than people did 100 years ago, when the average age of death was the late 40′s. If decades of life aren’t a huge gift, I’ll eat a turkey neck.

Life. What a gift. Thank you.

And how about that warm, well-lighted place we live in? Not under a bridge, not in a tent in Haiti, not in a refugee camp anywhere, but in a warm house, insulated in more ways than one.

Home. What a gift. Thank you.

And then there are those around the table—that salty, nutty mix of family and friends who show up to eat in 20 minutes what it took 8 hours to prepare. Well, never mind. They are the ones who hold us up when we begin to sink, who let us know we are not wandering  alone on the planet, but part of the Family of Man.

Family and friends. What a gift. Thank you.

And then there is the Internet, which is how we stay in touch, especially on holidays. It’s so busy today, in fact, that I can’t upload all the great photos I found for this post. Again, never mind.

Communication over the river and through the blog to grandmother’s house. What a great thing. Thank you.

And last, thank you for reading this when your mind is really on what to put in the stuffing. Is this finally the year for oysters?

Hint: Probably not.

Posted in Family, Food | 5 Comments

Reading your medical future: The spinal tap/Alzheimer’s news

Posted on November 8, 2010 by

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a senior in possession of a brain, must be in want of a diagnosis.

By Shaheen Lakham

 

If you missed the specifics, researchers reported that doing a spinal tap—a lumbar puncture with a needle— and examining the withdrawn fluid for certain proteins can tell who has or will have Alzheimer’s Disease or AD. Enthusiastic commentators fantasized about diagnostic spinal taps becoming as common as mammograms or colonoscopies. Maybe there would be specialty spinal tap clinics. All in all, the media greeted the spinal tap method of obtaining an AD diagnosis as a great step forward.

What got lost in the reporting

Two important things got lost in the headlines and articles—the opinions of consumers and the uncertainly of the spinal tap method.

First, consumers—that’s us—do not want to get spinal taps for any reason, least of all to tell us we are doomed to get a disease for which there is no cure except death.

Also, spinal taps have a risk, persistent headaches being one of them. And, like other medical procedures, they cost, though a consumer will search in vain on the net for their actual cost, so removed are we from the financing of our medical care. But risks and costs are not the biggest objections I hear from readers.

Their reaction can be summed up this way: Are those researchers nuts? Do they think we want to ruin our present lives with worry over a terrible future where we don’t even know our own kids?  Do we want to condemn ourselves to Death Row with a spinal tap?

This is the standard answer to those questions: knowing ahead of time about AD gives one the chance to prepare. But I say we should be prepared with wills, medical directives and plans for our old age no matter what. We shouldn’t need predicted disasters to get us off the dime.

The results are not as clear as headlines claim

The second objection: If you actually read the research abstract in the Archives of Neurology—Diagnosis-Independent Alzheimer Disease Biomarker Signature in Cognitively Normal Elderly People— you will read that not all people clinically diagnosed with AD had the all the AD biomarkers in their spinal fluid. And about 30% of those people who were cognitively normal with no outward sign of AD had the AD biomarkers in their spinal fluid. So there were not perfect match-ups.

Some commentators guess that the apparently normal people with AD markers will go on to get AD, but that’s a guess only time can confirm. Meanwhile, work continues on other methods of diagnosis including PET scans combined with memory tests. But don’t look for a lot of older people lined up to get needles in their spines.

By landofnodstudios

Neglected: Cause and prevention

Truth to tell, it is probably a great help to researchers to have more stable ground, a biomarker spinal fluid test, under their feet, but what I want to know is why the main thrust of research is aimed at a cure. Why not a big push on finding the cause of AD? All things have a cause. What causes AD? And then, how can AD be prevented? But there is profit in selling drugs and procedures once the AD horse is in the brain barn, and prevention is not likely to inflate anybody’s bottom line.

Anyhow, that’s a consumer take on one of the many unfolding AD research stories. Stay tuned because it’s going to go on and on, including the fascinating possibility of a vaccine.

By Petusse

 

Posted in Brain & Memory, Health | Leave a comment

Wisdom: What’s Your One Parting Shot?

Posted on October 26, 2010 by

The one thing I hate about the prospect of dying someday—other than not knowing how things come out with the grandkids or the Giants—is that each brain has a library in it and when the brain goes, so does the library—burned down like the famous library in Alexandria. It bothers me—all that hard work gaining knowledge…all those good ideas and facts that could benefit others now gone to dust—unless, of course, each of us records the one most vivid fact we think is vital for the world to know.

Words on paper, video or audio recording, a blog like this—it doesn’t matter as long as our bits of wisdom don’t get lost. And they will unless we take the time to put them down.

So I ask myself and you—what’s the one idea, insight or piece of advice you’d like to leave behind? Never fry bacon naked? Life is too short to stuff a mushroom? Well, those are my second-tier wisdom-ettes. My first concern and parting shot of wisdom would be something that humans need to know and act upon or the species is going to massively expand the trouble it is already in.

Too many people on too small a planet

By James Gridland

 

Overpopulation. We add 18 million people to the planet each year, but it happens so imperceptively that it escapes notice until you’re in a traffic jam or told that you need to ration water or that the world population will double in 50 years. Double trouble with natural resources—water, food, air—our natural habitat. But few people talk about it—not since Paul Ehrlich and the ’60′s.

But here’s what’s happening while we fiddle:  To see, click on this short video for the famous “dot” piece. It’s fascinating to see what’s happened to us from year 1 AD on up.

So, since too many people are at the root of many of our problems—air, water, food, traffic, health, pollution, energy—why are we not giving out condoms like popcorn?

For starters: Ignorance of the issues, dysfunctional religious opinions, reluctance to talk about sex, inadequate birth control distribution channels, the old-fashioned idea that it’s our duty to populate the earth, inability to look ahead, narrow focus only on the here and now, corporations wanting more consumers, people making love when they’re drunk or on drugs and forgetting precautions and the abortion issue clouding up the whole matter as if abortion were anything anyone preferred over plain old effective methods of contraception such as the condom, the pill, the IUD, the morning after pills and other ways of keeping the sperm away from the egg.

So, it’s all those things plus the positive publicity given to people who have 18 children. Isn’t that cute? Not in my book. Population issues aside, try giving quality time and adequate education to 18 kids.

So that would be my one parting piece of advice: Pay attention to population issues. If you don’t feel the hurt now—you will—we will. Check out these organizations and donate if they make sense to you:

www.populationconnection.org   www.plannedparenthood.org

www.populationinstitute.org

Our children will certainly feel it and if the world keeps adding 18 million people every year, adding to the warming climate,  our grandchildren are going to be leaving the too hot and dry parts of the lower 48 and living in Alaska or Northern Alberta where the climate has turned temperate because of global warming and darn, it will be too far away for them to come to your house for Thanksgiving. Not that they could make it through the traffic.

By GJ Lingaraj

If you have your own soapbox to mount, your own favorite piece of advice, kindly help yourself to the comment section below. And if you are reluctant to express an opinion, I offer some folk wisdom that I’ve posted on the fridge door:

Be who you is, because if you is who you ain’t, you ain’t who you is.

So be who you is and bless your soul for risking it.

Posted in Family, Growing older, Lifestyle | 4 Comments

Bad Moods: Changing into something more comfortable

Posted on October 19, 2010 by

Moods come in all colors—black, grey and blue for starters. Am I the only one seeing more blue moods in the morning?

By D. Sharon Pruitt

Evidently not….

By Lainey Powell

Maybe it’s economics—the rates on retirees’ CDs are going so low, we’ll soon owe the banks money. Or maybe it’s being in a country where the politics are so partisan, it’s like living in the same house with a mom and dad who are always fighting and you can’t get out.

Whatever the cause, it’s no way to live and too many downer days have prompted me to review my favorite ways of slipping into something more comfortable in the way of moods.

Music…the most instant and effective mood changer I know. Put it on, leave it on, move to it, sing along. Listen in the car, in bed and secretly with a pair of earphones during boring lectures, waits in the doc’s office or on planes, trains, buses or walks. Jeremiah was and still is a bullfrog and to listen to Joy to the World will turn you into a rainbow rider. If it doesn’t, a pulse check is in order. Women can hide earphones under their hair and nobody has to know they are listening to iTunes.

By Laser Guided

Clothes….Clothes make the mood. I should know. I’m a writer who gets up, starts to write and am still in a bathrobe and bunny slippers at lunch time, wondering why I don’t feel more professional. But to tell the real secret of clothes, it’s socks. Socks can be mood changers. The reveal of a red ankle cheers others up too, just like the 19th century—to say nothing of the uplift of even wilder patterns.

By Nina Matthews

Animals…I borrow my animal uppers from neigbors right now—baby goats, donkeys, miniature horses and chickens. Dogs and cats are more usual and quite reliable as mood modifiers, but really, nothing can equal an anti-depressant as much as a good hen.

By Leoncillo Sabino

Perspective….We are lucky to live now, for space travel and Hubble images offer an unprecedented way to get comforting perspective—-visual and emotional. Google NASA’s picture of the day to see how tiny we humans are. Or just contemplate the image of the Earth from space. Others may get the creeps from knowing how insignificant humans are, but it cheers me up to know we are not the be-all and end-all, but just dinky dots on a very pleasant planet.

By NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Relaxing after a hard day’s mood…If you don’t have trouble with alcohol and don’t take meds that can’t pair with booze, then one nice glass of wine at the end of the day might improve your mood. (Much more can ruin both health and mood.)

By Steve Jurvetson

Today, the old thing about never drinking alone is pretty much out the door when you have a population of older widows or single women who want to relax over a glass of wine. What are they going to do? Go out and bring in a passerby so they can have drinking buddies? No, I have news for the “never drink alone” people. Every older woman I know who lives alone and enjoys wine also drinks alone….either before dinner as she cooks or with her Trader Joe’s entree. We are not talking about women at risk, unless it’s the risk of relaxing.

Dancing…I do something I call Dopey Dancing, just moving around to music in a stupid way in the family room. Others ballroom dance, tap or line dance to get the exercise, another predictable mood elevator. Sometimes just watching other people dance can get the good vibes going as my friend Judith reminded me this morning, sending a short video of great dances from the movies.

So, if you want to shed a blue mood or improve a rosy one, click here on Judith’s prescription:

Posted in Health, Lifestyle | 1 Comment

Tech for the older adults: Can you handle more?

Posted on October 13, 2010 by

If you’re reading this, you’re an experienced net tourist, not a newbie to the wonders of the web and email. But, if you’re like me, you wonder if you want or need more. Should you complicate your life with Skype, Facebook, Twitter, texting, smart phones and e-readers?

 

By Douglas Woods

 

Hard to know what to do…

How to decide? All of us have different ideas about what’s important to add to our vocabulary of tech opportunities. Since this is a not a scholarly look at the subject,  I’ll just tell what has worked for me and some of my family and friends.

Skype…I resisted this for months, not wanting to add one more thing I’d have to stress out learning. I was wrong. Skype, with free downloadable software, is easy to learn and is a terrific way to stay in visual and audio touch with friends, families and clients.

 

By Joe Shlabotnik

 

No matter where they are, if they’ve signed up with Skype and are online and if you’ve done the same thing, you can call them. If they accept the call, up comes their live moving and talking image and if you click a small icon for video, they can see you. I think it’s much better than talking on the phone as you can see expressions and body language. Everybody in the room can crowd into the picture if they want to.

Skype is a great way to stay in touch with traveling family, with people overseas or with people who can’t get to your holiday gatherings. I love Skype and it’s free. No long distance charges. Downside: you need to keep your hair combed and don’t Skype naked, though Skyping with a sexy loved one does offer some chances at visual play which I leave to your imagination.

Facebook… I have friends who love Facebook as a way to keep in touch with family and friends, to post photos, to report on activities and just keep up. I admit I have stigmatized the site as for only for young people who want to have 700 friends.

 

By Day Taylor

 

But different tech for different folks and the only way to know is to try it. However,  if your kids and grandkids use it and invite you to join in on Facebook, feel honored and give it a try.

Twitter….I can’t warm up to Twitter, generally short, short messages about what’s going on in your life. I don’t want to intrude on my own life to report on it every second. (Once a week here on this blog is enough.) But Twitter has proven useful in revolutions, wars and disasters as ordinary people turn into reporters, telling the world what’s happening as it happens. I’ll Twitter come the revolution, but not until then.

Texting…This is using the tiny keyboard on a cell phone to write short messages such as OMG i luv u. My kids and grandkids are switching to texting from voice cell phone and that tells me I’d better learn to have flying thumbs on the keyboard if I want to stay on their communication wave length. I am beginning to think that email is the way they now humor their granny. (Why doesn’t the old dame text, anyhow? Maybe arthritis in the thumbs?)

Smart phones…What can I say except my iPhone and I are joined at the hip. I love all its functions…voice, email, camera, web surfing, reluctant texting plus a much used iPod so, bells on my fingers and rings on my toes, I will have music wherever I go. I haven’t progressed to an iPad because I have an iPhone and an e-reader, the Kindle, so can’t see the need for an iPad.

E-Readers…

 

By goXunuReviews

 

I’m aflame over the Kindle and like it because of its extraordinary battery life, many available books, instant ordering without a computer, and because it’s so darn light, you can carry it with you wherever and whenever. Some people prefer the iPad with its backlit screen, but that feature is such an energy hog, the battery life is not great. If I want to read in the dark, I attach a Mighty Bright reading light, the best I’ve run into.

What the Kindle has done for me is start an orgy of reading—not just Kindle books, but more library books plus many used books from Amazon, the ones I’d like to physically hand on to others.

So that’s just one geezer’s run-down of her tech adventures. You may have different ideas and I bid you good luck and fun with each and every one.

 

By D. Sharon Pruitt

 

Posted in Lifestyle, New Tricks | Leave a comment