Still Clickin

This has been a very frustrating week! The automated spam engines are on the attack once again. This time, their attack is deliberately targeted toward wiki sites.

Readers of StillClickin know that another facet of this web site offers WikiSenior, a collaborative senior lifestyle guide. The purpose of WikiSenior is to provide an organized Internet space that permits seniors to freely share their insights on the joys and frustrations that they face at this time in their lives. The index of topics is diverse, and the ease of entry is fairly straightforward. The software is deliberately structured to be welcoming. Unfortunately, that makes it a sitting duck for spammers.

If you are starting a new Internet site, there are a number of firms that offer to boost your ratings with the search engines. They do this by placing a link to this new Internet site on every other site they can locate that will accept it. Essentially, they are stealing the hosting services and infrastructure of the site they invade. When a search engine such as Google crawls through the invaded site, they will note the URL and raise its ranking.

At first, WikiSenior was open for contributions from anyone, even anonymous users. When new porn and drug sites seemed to appear on the site every morning, anonymous users had to be cut off. Only registered users could make postings to the site.

Recognizing that, the spammers now have a new program that will automatically register hundreds of wiki users at a time. They then slip “contributions” by these users containing scads of URL’s into every wiki site they can find. Interestingly, they even follow proper wiki formatting.

Every wiki site administrator has to remove each of these new “users” one-by-one. Last week, WikiSenior received about 500 “users”, so this administrator had no choice but to shut off all new users. Obviously, that is totally contrary to its purpose.

What comes next is a question mark. If anyone has any novel ideas, I’m listening. Frustrated, but listening.

Well, the votes are in and the campaigns are over.  What happens next?

I remember standing down on Broad Street on V-J Day, fiercely waving my little flag with 48 stars on the field of blue.  Everyone in the town was so excited.  We were so proud of our country that we got hoarse from shouting.  Patriotism bubbled through our blood.

Today, those days are a distant memory.  I suspect that the abysmal ratings experienced by our current President are in large part due to the fact that he abused the good will of the country and defined patriotism as loyalty to his particular agenda.  That agenda was never developed with a broad consensus.  Any questioning was characterized as unpatriotic.  Instead, a closed-door, siege mentality seemed to reign.  His definition of patriotism, i.e. support anything I ask for, is an unfortunate reminder that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Hopefully, this new President will demand patriotism of us all.  How he defines it, however, will be critical.  So far, his words seem to strike the right cord for many people.  But his most serious initial challenge will be to defeat the spirit of partisanship that has infected our land.  In my own judgment, partisanship has become the greatest threat to patriotism today.

Partisanship is arrogant, deaf, and divisive.  It strikes at the heart of the Union.  It breeds vindictiveness and contempt.  It doesn’t show respect.  Worse, it doesn’t even listen.  It concentrates on keeping score and getting even.  It has infected Washington to the point where the People it supposedly represents have developed a fundamental lack of trust in its institutions and its members.

We, the People, are hungry for fairness, decency, thoughtfulness, and cooperation.  We want to believe again and feel proud.  We want to feel that our country, and our individual districts and states, are being fairly represented.  The particular party involved has to take a back seat.  There is too much serious work to be done to allow time for “party games.”

This new President-elect is saying all the right words about partisanship.  But politics, as we all know, can be a dirty business.  Hopefully, he will be able to lead us back from party-first to country-first.  He deserves our support to achieve that.  If he strays from that, he deserves our honest questions.

Our biggest Halloween 2008 scare is certainly the financial news. For seniors who have retired, or are about to, this type of news is certainly not encouraging. The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by half a point once again, and the stock market seems to be primed for ‘another record’ rise or fall. The only sure thing happening is uncertainty. Whatever nest egg anyone has is certainly smaller at this point. Any income from that smaller egg is shrinking.

Of course, the financial picture is never just about finances or sub-prime mortgages. In this week’s cover story for Newsweek, The World That Awaits, by Richard N. Haass, Mr. Haass addresses President #44. He writes,

“There will be days when you will wonder why you worked so hard to get this job. What will make it so difficult is not just all that awaits, but the constraints that will limit what you can actually do. When George W. Bush became president nearly eight years ago the world was largely at peace, the U.S. military was largely at rest, oil was $23 a barrel, the economy was growing at more than 3 percent, $1 was worth 116 yen, the national debt was just under $6 trillion and the federal government was running a sizable budgetary surplus. The September 11 attacks, for all they cost us as a nation, increased the world’s willingness to cooperate with us. You, by contrast, will inherit wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tired and stretched armed forces, a global struggle with terrorism, oil that has ranged as high as $150 a barrel, a weaker dollar (now worth 95 yen), substantial anti-American sentiment, a federal budget deficit that could reach $1 trillion in your first year, a ballooning national debt of some $10 trillion and a global economic slowdown that will increase instability in numerous countries.”

What does this mean for seniors? Truthfully, I have no idea. I can only share my suspicions.

• Since the current mess isn’t just financial, I suspect this downward cycle will be both deep and long. Financially, the world is too inter-linked for anything to happen too quickly.
• If you are mainly in stocks, I wouldn’t anticipate much performance over the next year. The bottom of the stock market isn’t going to be the result of any daily spike. It will occur as the result of some external event in the middle of a long trough. The improvement out of that trough will be very gradual for a number of weeks. I suspect the current daily spikes are simply nervous, knee-jerk reactions.
• If you are mainly in cash, feel blessed that you have maintained the principal. However, the revenue you can generate from that cash will get less before it gets better. One-year CD’s may be a smart choice at the moment, because rates may not improve that much over the next 12 months.
• If you are on social security, the cost of living formula that penalized seniors last year made up for it this year. At 5.8%, that adjustment together with the lower energy costs that are starting to ripple through the economy, will help dealing with this coming year.
• With the outlook for cash so dim, I also intend to take another look at restarting the social security clock. Check out the . Such a move might be rash, but it is certainly worth doing the math.

NB. Click below to make a comment. Or, if you would prefer to make an enhancement to the original article, please go to wikiSenior and click on edit.

Whether you have a daughter traveling around the globe, a son and his family living on the opposite coast, or a longtime friend in another city that loves a long chat, Skype is a service that you should consider. Last night, we talked to our daughter in South America, and it was great the hear her voice. Of course, there is always email or plain, old long distance, but Skype is a new alternative.

With Skype, you are talking through an Internet connection from one computer to another. The advantages -

• The price (free) is right for everyone’s budget.
• If you have a video camera, you can even see the people at the other end on your computer screen. And,
• It is extremely easy to use.

Slight disadvantages that were noticed -

• There is a greater delay in the switch between speaking and listening, but you seem to quickly adapt to the rhythm of the conversation.
• You need to have a microphone and headset to plug into the computer. You can purchase a reasonable headset pair together with a video camera for about $40.

The wonder is that it works as well as it does. For the free service, you both have to be at the computer at the same time, but we found that it was reasonably easy to schedule that ahead of time via email. (There is also a method to place a call from the computer directly to a telephone, but there is a slight charge for that service.)

To use Skype, the technical requirements are -

• a PC with 400 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 10 MB free disk space, a sound card, and Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, or Linux, - OR -
• a Mac G4 800 Mhz and above, any G5 or any Intel processor, 512MB RAM, 40 MB free disk space, and OS X v10.3.9 Panther or newer,
• an Internet Connection - either dial-up: minimum 33.6 Kbps modem, or any broadband: cable or DSL (you need the broadband for the video),
• a microphone and speakers or headset, and
• the Skype software which you can download for free from Skype

That is the entire deal! If you are intimidated by the technology, have one of your grandchildren set it up for you. Once it’s there, it is very easy to enjoy. You’ll love it! And the price is certainly right!

NB. Click below to make a comment. Or, if you would prefer to make an enhancement to the original article, please go to wikiSenior and click on edit.

There is something about a surgery that makes you stop and reflect. Lying there on the table and surrounded by people in masks, it seems a bit surreal. People move quickly. They have a definite agenda. You may be at center stage with the lights all focused upon you, but as the mask goes over your face and you start to breathe as instructed, you suddenly realize that you are not the subject of all this attention, but the object. You are the “cutee”, and the “cut to cure” process is about to begin.

Rather than blogging during the past month, I’ve had a couple of surgeries. The more painful one was the less serious. Neither one was that threatening, but both engendered their own thoughts and concerns.

One thing that surgery forces you to confront is physical pain. Pain is a very personal issue, and try as they might, no one else can directly share or lift that burden from you. It is yours alone to deal with. Of course, you can drug your way through it, but drugs bring their own kind of pain. Ultimately, we all have to face some of it. Some thoughts -

• The biggest thing you want to understand about your personal pain is its duration. How long will it last. If you can know what that time line, you can deal with it far differently than someone who faces a chronic situation.
• Pain is a great communicator of health status. Synapses shooting through to the brain send the message that you may or may not want to try to move in a certain direction. That alert could increase your cure rate considerably. The hurt may actually help, so that you may want to reconsider the amount of medication used.
• Pain also tells you how your sutures are working. Fundamentally, you are told to keep the wound higher than your heart, but that tough to do when they run across your gut. Instead, I was told to use ice packs, and they were very helpful during the first couple of days.
• Overall, pain is very personal. Each of us has their own level. The best thing to do is respect that individuality and handle it in the way that’s right for you.

Another thought that surgery sparks is about the medical profession. My sense is that lawyers and the insurance industry have unfairly placed the medical profession on the defensive. How often have you heard of a lawyer being sued for malpractice? And for insurance, all we have to consider is the AIG Bail Out. I’m not saying that doctors don’t make mistakes, but fundamentally, these are the people that are out there trying to cure you. Generally, they do a very competent job, and I think that we are all very fortunate that they are trying so hard.

Some of my sutures have been removed. Others are being adsorbed. The ridge of scar tissue that remains, I’ll just have to deal with. But I appreciate the fact that I’ll be able to deal. Fundamentally, at the end of a surgery with a good prognosis, you feel quite blessed.

NB. Click below to make a comment. Or, if you would prefer to make an enhancement to the original article, please go to wikiSenior, and click on edit.

Did you ever wonder how people actually decide to vote? People can make many statements before or after, but what do they actually do behind that partition? Voting can become a very personal decision, and that decision process can have a lot of variables.

For example, people can select a candidate because they feel that -

• their gut reaction tells them that candidate is cute, smart, experienced, or safe.
• a particular choice least offends their prejudicial inclination toward age, race, gender, or religion.
• one person is most committed to one particular cause.
• commitment to a particular party is paramount.
• an analysis reveals that a candidate’s positions on issues would be best either for the country or for themselves

Pundits agonize over these variables.

In trying to analyze my own decision process, I strongly suspect that my final choice will be driven by a mixture of factors. I do think that an analysis of the issues is very important, even though their simplicity and limited input can only express an orientation rather than a pragmatic plan of action.

But my gut reaction is probably going to be the most influential. In personnel decisions over the years, I have always deferred to my gut. However, in this selection, my gut is going to be strongly influenced by whom I feel would be the best consensus manager.

In business, you don’t have to be a consensus manager. You can launch a new initiative with the cooperation of just a few key people. Successful government decisions, on the other hand, require the buy-in of a large number of people. Typically, the resulting initiatives only partially reflect the initial intent because of all the compromises that have to be made. But if done in a proper and transparent manner, the final initiative can have added dimensions that improve on the original intent.

A consensus manager can orchestrate that type of initiative. Keeping diverse groups on target, listening to a variety of views, guiding the selection of the possible elements, securing the final consensus, and monitoring the execution of its implementation are all components of any consensus manager’s portfolio.

The current administration, as evidenced by their secrecy and management blunders, simply lacked this capability which is why it is so sorely needed now. The prejudicial soup of influences - age, race, gender, or religion - aren’t really important factors in this election, consensus management is. It is desperately needed, and I hope the best consensus manager wins.

Looking to meet some fellow seniors? I’ve found out where they are. Doctors’ offices! For someone who has been generally blessed with good health, I have never spent much time reading magazines in the waiting room of a doctor’s office. However, three out of the five days of this week, that is exactly where I will be. I’m starting to feel that this time of our lives is called our ‘Golden Age’ because we have to become quite malleable.

Doctors are generally very nice, caring people. I enjoy being with them socially. I just can’t believe I’m spending so much time on their examination tables. I know my body is slowly diminishing, but I’m starting to feel that it’s become a spectator sport.

I am not alone.

Most of the inhabitants of the other chairs in these waiting rooms are also filled by my contemporaries. They have a lot of style. More often than not, I will hear a good joke or an intelligent discussion rather than a complaint. Frankly, we are a rather classy group.

Doctors’ offices are one of the few places today where you can have an intelligent conversation about that most incendiary of all current topics, politics. My fellow seniors seem to have sufficient confidence in their own observations and respect for those of others that they can conduct honest and interesting exchanges. I find that very refreshing in our current, vehemently partisan, culture.

So, ‘Hats off to you’ my fellow seniors. I’d rather not play ‘medical object’, but if I have to, I feel privileged to be a member of your group.

NB. Click below to make a comment. Or, if you would prefer to make an enhancement to the original article, please go to wikiSenior and click on edit.

My kayak was initially launched in the northeast. It became very familiar with the inlets and open waters of Narragansett Bay and has even tasted the swells of the Atlantic. It was there I discovered the joys of kayaking - wading with, and surprising, observant egrets, capturing glimpses of beautiful waterfront vistas, and delighting in the sounds and life of tidal estuaries.

It was also a great way to get a good swim. Tying a light cord between the kayak and my ankle, I could slip overboard and take a nice long swim in the open water with no threat of chlorine to spoil the day.

In a kayak, you barely ripple the surface of the earth. But you can glide rather quickly along while you listen to the whispers of nature. It is funny, but a kayak gives you that same surprised reaction from nature that a Prius gives you from pedestrians that have no idea that a car is close by. It is that same ‘sound of silence’ that evokes both surprises.

When we decided to change oceans and move to Seattle, I questioned whether I should try to bring my kayak along. I guess that I was so sad to leave the sailboat behind that I forced the kayak to make the trip. I am so happy that I did.

When my kayak first kissed the waters of Puget Sound, the air was still and warm. We eased into the waters so effortlessly that a few miles glided by before we even noticed. The coast is far more regular here. Rather than explore inlet after inlet, you tend to go from point to point. But there are some interesting surprises. The egrets are still there, not to mention some bald eagles. The biggest surprise, however, was an actual shipwreck, probably beached fifty years ago. The sea always brings surprises.

On both coasts, this wonder of nature can often be blasted away by someone on a jet ski that is addicted to speed in any form. The roar of those engines ignore the precious beauty through which they travel. But they are soon gone, and the gift returns. My transcontinental kayak can handle those small wakes, and the peace you experience while paddling can help quell many other disturbances that life throws at your psyche.

We just changed our small TV in the kitchen and learned a few things in the process. The comments made in the Still Clickin article of Nov 28, 2007 need some further refinement.

1. In this world of new, digital HDTV’s, there are two different worlds that can best be separated by size, i.e. less than a 32″ screen and 32″ screens or larger. For example,

• This big discussion between plasma and LCD TV’s only applies to those that are 32″ or larger. The manufacturers don’t make plasma TV’s smaller than 32″.
• The ability of LCD TV’s to deliver with powerful contrast, i.e. blacker blacks, has improved considerably. The contrast ratio of the model we just purchased was 3000:1. Look for that type of ratio. Just a few months ago, a contrast of 500:1 was considered to be quite good.
• The display density format of 1080p really doesn’t impact the smaller sets and is often not available for them. The issue is really one of physical size. On the smaller sets, it is very difficult to notice any difference between the 1080p format and the 720p/1080i format.

2. Once you have purchased a new TV, you are left with a new problem - Getting rid of the old one. Once you could simply donate a TV or leave it out for the trash. No longer! Apparently, there is a fair amount of lead and other toxins in a TV (as well as computers and other electronics) that will leach into our water supply. So now, what do we do?

• For the full scoop, read the Consumer Reports article.
• For specific locations in your area, go to Earth911.org and enter your zip code. A list of locations in your area will be displayed, but all will likely charge a fee. Another information source is the EPA’s information site
• The best choice I found was the box program at Office Depot. Buy a recycling box (small $5, medium $10, or large $15) and fill it with whatever electronics they permit. They send the items to a plant where they are crushed and the materials recycled. The simplicity of this program is compelling.

There is no question that age discrimination is very real. It’s not due to workers costing more or driving up health care costs. It’s due to fear.

Step back and take a look at your standard corporation, Stagnant, Inc., today. The principal job most employees are working at is survival, i.e. to look good and avoid blame. One of their biggest exposures in that job is the hiring process. A brilliant hire reflects well on them; a poor one is an exposure.

Enter the headhunters, the experts in ‘safe’ hiring. They are in the business of providing clones of whatever that manager considers to be a brilliant hire. Age is definitely one of the criteria, and it is going to be less than the age of the hiring manager. Certainly, the hiring manager does not want to feel threatened by someone with more market savvy and business acumen.

Unfortunately, this leaves Stagnant, Inc. with the ‘same old, same old’ orientation and vision. Their hiring practices not only insulate them from experience in their own field, but in other fields as well. Today, it is impossible for someone from the petrochemical industry to switch to manufacturing. But if they did, think what a different orientation they would bring to the job. Cross pollination would be at work, and innovation would be the result.

Innovation used to be the business skill that set our country apart. Is our current economic struggle due to a loss of innovation? Certainly, you see very little innovation sparked by major US corporations today.

In the face of this, what actions should a senior take?

1. Forget the large companies. Follow the innovators, i.e. young companies doing less than $25 million in annual sales. The owner doesn’t have the time or the temperament for fear. That owner simply has a thirst for market survival and success.
2. Research the small companies in your area and identify ten that are in a growth mode. Study those firms and their competition. Identify ways that facets of your experience can help them develop their competitive edge. Once you determine that angle at a particular company, you are no longer old, you are golden.
3. Once you have an angle, get aggressive. Visit their lobby. Pick up their literature. Walk out the door and explore the lunch spots in their neighborhood. Pick one and talk to your server about the company. They may know someone or something that can help.
4. Take a deep breath and check your confidence level. Attitude is everything. Everyone is impressed by competence and confidence.
5. Once you feel confident enough to that you have something to say, it might be smart to make a ‘cold call’, i.e. walk through their door and ask to see the CEO or their HR honcho. A good outfit will route you to an assistant.
6. Use your time with the assistant to convey and validate your understanding of the company’s issues. Because they are at the assistant level, they will typically try to convey their best knowledge. They will also take your paperwork and contact information.
7. If you are uncomfortable with the cold call, write directly to the CEO. Stress your competence in the area you believe is under performing. It is always your responsibility to make the follow-up. Never leave it to them.
8. In negotiations, be flexible. If you start out as a contractor or temp, you will limit their legal and compliance exposure while getting a chance to demonstrate your skill set. If the chemistry is right, they would be foolish to miss the opportunity.
9. Smile and get to work. You have a challenge awaiting you, and the CEO is watching.