Category Archives: senior lifestyle

Happy Mother’s Day

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My parents are pictured to the right. My aunt and uncle are to the left. I have shown this picture before in DigiDame. It’s one of my favorites. It means so much to me. The four of them were very close. I hope they have each other in the afterlife. We love and miss them all so much. Happy Mother’s Day to everyone.

Leggo my Eggo

https://youtu.be/UY789mG36AQ

Embarrassing to admit, but I get breakfast in bed everyday. It’s usually comprised of two rice cakes with low sugar jelly, coffee with half and half, and brown sugar.

I’m not an egg person, but if I were, I would want the “LEGO Breakfast Machine.” It can fry bacon, crack eggs and scramble them. Yum.

It was created by a financial company called The Brick Wall. The video demonstrates a couple of different egg combination. Go for it.

One Of The Boys In The Band, 1968

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Larry Luckinbill, at home in Palm

Springs.

Larry and his wife, Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, with my family, last Thanksgiving, in Palm Springs.

I’m forever the PR person. I couldn’t help myself. When I heard that my pal, actor Larry Luckinbill, was going to the opening night of Boys in the Band on Broadway later this month, I jumped at the chance to tell the press. The minute I issued a media alert, every Broadway writer called me to interview Larry.

Larry is one of three actors who are still alive from the original production of Boys in the Band. Larry played Hank in the original workshop (January, 1968), then the Off-B’way production that followed it (March or April, 1968), then the London company (late 1969), followed by the shooting of the film in NYC (1970), at Hy Brown’s studio (affiliated with CBS).

The others, who are still alive, are Peter White (who played Alan), and Mart Crowley, the author. All of the other actors died of AIDS except for Cliff Gorman (Emory) who had a brain disease.  All of the original production crew–including the producers–died of AIDS.  The original director died of AIDS.

Larry said it was a 60’s-70’s-80’s epidemic.  “And it was so bad in part because gay folks were so targeted, and therefore so closeted.  Epidemics thrive on ignorance and lack of information–and the gay population was generally hidden away from general notice.  Now, it’s all different–but it’s instructive to go back and look and see what misery closeting and isolating and turning whole groups of humans into pariahs makes.”

Larry was the first actor to say yes to being in it. Mart Crowley (writer) and Larry met when they were both in college. Larry said the play was a powerful agent for social change and social justice during the Off-B’way run. He saw the effect it had on people, including his conservative, Roman Catholic, Southerner parents.  It confirmed for him, “What an actor’s mission should be–to search out and appear in work that has the potential to change lives in some positive way,”

He has spent the last two days doing interviews with print, broadcast, and internet media. More to come. If you Google Larry’s name, you will start to see the interviews appear. The press loves Larry, and Larry loves them. This is such a nice experience.

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I Hope I’m Around To See This

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I first saw this slide show months ago. I couldn’t decide if it was a joke, or it was for real. When I did some research, I learned that Richard Branson was on a mission to save animals. I became fascinated. I always thought killing other living things, so we can eat, was a little weird. I accepted that was the only way we could survive.

Then I read that Branson believed there was an alternative. There are many stories about Branson’s determination. You can read one particular story in Forbes. Click here. This is going to be very interesting to watch.

Should The Galapagos Be On Your Bucket List?

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Many family and friends have asked me just how fabulous the Galapagos is, and is it worth the trip? I’m going to “yes” right off the bat because anytime you can see wildlife in their natural habitat, it’s a treat. This is probably truer for a gal who grew up in a city atmosphere than those who were raised in rural areas.

The natural beauty of the unspoiled islands make you realize what this Earth is all about and what we are doing to mistreat it. The Galapagos naturalists make you wonder why while some of us devote ourselves to the land, and the rest of us are not even aware of what makes the Earth tick.

The following photos, taken by Eliot Hess, give you a sense of the beauty that awaits you.This set of photos were taken on Española, the southernmost of the Galápagos Islands. It’s also one of the oldest. Geologists day it’s about four million years old.

A 31 Year Relationship

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My friend Maurice de Hond is probably one of the most famous people in the Netherlands. You can’t walk around most places in Amsterdam without him being recognized. If you are Dutch, you know Maurice.

Most of his fame comes from being a TV personality. He is a pollster, a computer expert, and the founder of School Suites, a start-up that promotes personalized learning in the school system. Maurice believes that each child should be educated on his or her own individual talents and interests. The days of mass learning in a traditional classroom is over. The transformation will take place over the next decade. Click here to read all about it. http://scoolsuite.nl/en/. He travels all over the world giving lectures about it.

He is also working with a cancer research company that will have a big announcement in the not-to-distant future. Keep your fingers crossed. We may beat this disease in our lifetime.

Maurice and I met though business but have remained friends for 31 years. We usually see each other once a year and speak to each other via email, social media and phone calls. Eliot and I also know Maurice’s adult children and their families.

Maurice is pictured with his wife Mari and daughter Daphne in the above photo. Maurice met Mari on his trip to Cuba almost 13 years ago. He went there to learn how to Salsa dance, and came back to Amsterdam with a bride.

We have all gotten together a number of times on both sides of the ocean. I’m thankful for the Internet because without it, we never would have maintained such close ties. I have done other profiles on Maurice before in DigiDame. This won’t be the last.

Pictures taken at Wynwood Walls.

A Facebook Gift

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This video was created by Facebook about my trip to the Galapagos. I opened my Facebook account today and there it was. Interesting to note, some of these photos were never posted on Facebook. They were taken from my camera roll on my iPhone. Watch out what you store on your phone. Facebook can grab them.

Photos on your camera roll are stored by city, and by date. It’s not that difficult for a software program to capture a group of photos that are related to each other. The video did have one mistake and I was able to eliminate the photo from another story.

I’m pretty proud that I was able to take the video off of Facebook and post it here. That was something I couldn’t do before. All I had to do was save the video to my camera roll, then turn it into a YouTube video on my channel, and then post it here. It was so simple.

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Cremation Diamonds Are A Mourners Best Friend

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I’m shocked that this concept is still around. Yet. Inc magazine decided to do a feature story last month on Eterneva, a company that inserts ashes from a loved one into keepsake diamonds.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Our PR agency, HWH PR, represented the predecessor to Eterneva, over 15 years ago. When the owner of the first company, who came up with this concept, first debriefed me on his idea, I thought it was the craziest scheme I ever heard. We continued to do business for a while, but I got tired of convincing the press to write stories about this new type of jewelry.

Now years later. Inc says cremations are outnumbering burials. I guess timing is everything, and this concept now makes sense.

Carrying the ashes of a loved one around with you can be very comforting, What I once thought was very spooky, turns out to be very sweet after all.

My timing was off.

Smartphones Are The New Lie Detectors.

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It may not be so easy to tell a little white lie in the future. Computer scientists at the University of Copenhagen are working on turning the smartphone into a lie detector.

I don’t think the technology is totally accurate yet, but scientists are working diligently to get the new algorithm to identify honesty and dishonesty. The results are determined by analyzing how you swipe or tap a smartphone. “Dishonest interactions often take longer and involve more hand movement than honest ones,” according to a research paper from the University of Copenhagen

The algorithm is called Veritaps. The university claims a green check mark is flashed when truthful statements are entered into a smartphone and notes doubtful information with a red question mark.

Will this replace the polygraph? I guess we will find out when it becomes a reality. Read more about this in CNET.

Click here. https://www.cnet.com/news/your-phone-could-become-a-tool-for-detecting-lies-with-veritaps/

A Check Up From The Neck Up—A Must

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Image: Jonathan Harvey, New York Post

Pictured here: Jake Carlin, Alex Fisherman, Josh Chostaka and Ian Langan of the Cavallini Middle School in New Jersey created Head Safe.

In the last few years, I keep hearing stories about senior friends who have suffered head injuries and don’t seek medical help. Some slipped in the snow while others fell off ladders. If these folks didn’t experience bleeding, or lose consciousness, they assumed they were just fine and continued their normal activities.

Fast forward a few months later. Several friends experienced vertigo, headaches, double vision, and severe neck pain. Thankfully, no one died. Actress Natasha Richardson was not as lucky. She died in 2008, after a severe head injury in a skiing accident in Montreal. She refused immediate medical help.

The lesson here is that you must get checked out immediately. At least student football players all over the United States are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of head injuries. That’s why four New Jersey eighth-graders developed a device that can immediately detect serious brain injuries.

Samsung, headquartered close to the Cavallini Middle School, awarded $150,000 to the students as part of a technology contest.

Called Head Safe, a sensor is inserted inside a football helmet and “uses an accelerometer that detects a possible concussion based on the force of the impact. The data is then sent via Bluetooth to an app which alerts coaches, and other team members, that a serious injury might have taken place. The sensor calculates linear acceleration and also records vibration and shock.”

That is so amazing. The goal is to bring Head Safe to market. I’m available to help.

The New York Post was the first to report about Head Safe. Read it here.

Facebook Is Not Alone

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Image: CFO Innovation

For the last several weeks, I have had to listen to many of my contemporaries talk about the dangers of Facebook. I find it very interesting that most of the comments came from friends who know very little about Facebook, and why it became so important to so many.

While everyone is focused on Facebook, they seem to be ignoring the fact that they too are vulnerable because of their participation on digital media with giants such as Amazon and Google. Both companies are collecting far more information on all of us than Facebook has ever been capable of obtaining.

Think about it.

Amazon and Google know your personal email, home address, credit card information, purchases, websites you have visited, trips you have made, local tracking information, addresses of your friends, your reviews, on and on.

The so-called Facebook backlash is just the beginning of more truths about the digital world. Get ready for it. You are very involved and you better be prepared for all kinds of exposure.

Read about the realities of the digital world in Mashable.

Click here. Facebook isn’t the only one with too much of your data. Just ask Google and Amazon.