The first time I heard Leonard Nimoy say the words in the title of this post I thought it was someone trying to sell me long-term care insurance or a condo in Florida. No I guess that was Captain Kirk, and it was hotel rooms in Baja rather than condos.
Anyway I guess living long and prospering is something we'd all like to do. I don't worry too much about prospering but I've been thinking a lot lately of lifespans, the things people do to try to lengthen them and the things to which long-lived people attribute their longevity.
Maybe it's because I whined at my wife a few days ago about leaving the upstairs bathroom window open when it got down to nearly forty degrees that night. She said that her dad always keeps the window open at night and he claims the fresh air is one of the things that has helped him make it into his nineties. To strengthen her argument she pointed out that the next-door neighbors always have their bedroom window open, even if it snows. I have to admit that that's true, but they're usually out only when it's dark and probably aren't even in the room when it gets that cold in the middle of the night. I think they're vampires or something. Judging by the contents of their recycle bin on trash pickup day they drink a lot of red wine and I've heard that's a sign. Besides, they're younger than we are. So I'm not buying the fresh air – longevity connection.
The things that people assert have made them live longer than average or that some proclaim will make you live longer are sometimes pretty bizarre. I read an article about a 72-year-old Japanese broadcaster , Shiro Suzuki, who loves the game, Resident Evil, and believes it is responsible for his lifespan which, frankly, doesn't seem all that long to me. I read another article that claimed that rich people live longer. That one I can believe. At least, I think that those with more money than average can probably have the best medical support and that seems as though it would make you live longer. As soon as I think about that, though, several celebrities and other rich people who died young come to mind. I guess Steve Jobs is the latest example. So maybe that “rich live longer” thing doesn't pan out either.
A lot of people assert that your diet is what makes the difference. I guess that's sort of a “you are as old as what you eat” philosophy. I kind of like this article from Scientific American that is just one of many that claim positive results for drinking alcohol. Of course most folks aren't content just to drink in order to prolong their lives. Other food groups play a part in this too. In some cultures this emphasis on eating right in order to achieve happiness and long life starts out with the first meal of the new year. At least that's what I got from this article from the west side of the Pacific. I'm not sure that works here on the gulf coast though. Quite a few people on this side of the pond seem to follow diets like the Mediterranean diet or the South Beach diet or whatever, and some of them adamantly oppose anything that doesn't fit their dietary convictions, as this Sydney Morning Herald story about Loma Linda, California demonstrates. Interesting that the decision of a relatively small town in the US could become international news, but that just shows you how much faith people put in diets as a vehicle to make them live long. I have older relatives that get these ideas about nutrition from articles in the paper or wherever and then make dietary changes based on them without ever trying to determine if they are true or not. So my wife and I hear “I never eat beef” or “I never eat anything from outside the US” or “I have shrimp and grits for breakfast everyday” and the folks that tell us that are sure that that is what has made them live so long. I'm not buying it.
There is no dearth of studies that claim to provide the answer on how to live long and prosper. This story in the LA Times which starts out talking about Betty White lays out the findings of a study that has been underway since 1921. A slightly different set of guidelines can be found in this article about a group that has divided the world into sort of longevity zones. I guess if you don't live in any of those places then you better start whipping through that bucket list right now.
I'm not an authority on aging, gracefully or otherwise. I'm just someone who realizes that there has been a lot more road pass under the tires than there is left to travel; but I kind of like the viewpoint of the 104-year-old woman interviewed for this article. Her parents both died in their sixties so she discounts the “it's all in the genes” theory of long life and, when it comes to the “I never drank, smoked or chewed” theory her response is that she did it all. She never followed any particular diet but just ate “plain food” and didn't take any more medicines than she absolutely had to.
That fits in real well with what I have always suspected and have mentioned more than once in this blog: It all boils down to balance. I'm surely no expert but I think if a person gets a reasonable amount of exercise, eats a balanced diet and keeps his mind occupied that's about all he can do to live a long and happy life; and I suspect that if you make it into your nineties you don't even care about prospering. Well, that's my two cents worth anyway.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
What!?
I recently read an article about a person who won a contest to see who could make the best map of the United States. That made me wonder who in the world uses hard copy maps these days. I mean, it seems as though everyone I know either uses a handheld GPS or a GPS application on their smart phone to get them from here to there. If they don't do that then they use Google Maps or something like that. I don't know anyone who uses hard copy maps. Well, except for Ellie and me anyway. We do carry hard copy maps with us when we travel, but that's only to justify the money we spend for our AAA membership. Mostly they just sit in the map pocket of the car while we use Tess, our name for our GPS, to show us the way to go home.
Maps aren't the only paper goods that are rapidly becoming obsolete because of technology. Look at books, for example. “What!?” you say, “I don't read books anymore. I either get audio books on CDs to play in the car while I'm behind the wheel or I read e-books on my Kindle, Nook, Ipad or whatever.” Which is precisely my freaking point: I'm about the only person I know who reads actual books made of paper and filled with printed words and silverfish. New technology has just about replaced them.
Another area where the printed word has disappeared is user manuals. Did you get one with your last cell phone? I bet not. You probably had to go to the manufacturer's website and download a pdf file before you could figure out how the damn thing works. That's even the case with computers and their many peripherals. You're in serious trouble if you buy a new computer and don't know how to hook it up to the great user guide server in the cloud. You're not gonna get any printed help. You'll just have to call the Geek Squad. If, that is, you can find their number without looking it up on the internet or a Yellow Pages CD.
It seems like all the folks who provide you with goods and services of any kind are pushing you away from paper too. Recently one of my service providers, who always sent me a nice invoice and pre-printed envelope so I could send them a check for services rendered, started sending me emails with a pdf of my invoice attached. So now I have to use my ink (which costs so much that I don't even print photos with it; I send them to Walgreens, electronically, of course) and my envelope to send in the check for the service I'm paying for. I'm sure that before long they'll want me to pay electronically too.
Even the government is getting into the act. Try sending in your income tax return on paper. Sure, you can do it, but they give you a little disclaimer to let you know that they're going to drag their feet if you do. And they want to deposit the check directly into your bank account instead of sending it in the mail like they used to. I'm thinking they could go a long way toward solving the employment crises if they didn't eliminate jobs by using all this electronic communication instead of paper! No wonder the post office is in big trouble. Even the government doesn't use them to correspond with you. In fact, even the freaking post office tries to get you to buy your postage online. Hello! I think I see why they need to close post offices all over the country. And I'm beginning to understand all this business about going postal.
Of course I realize that all this is really nothing new. Technology has been replacing old forms of things with new ones ever since the first cave man realized that he would get a better spear point by putting a broken piece of bone on the end of the stick he used to skewer rabbits or his neighbors or whatever. Still, I find myself holding on to the old forms of things for as long as I can, even when I've replaced them with the newer, faster, sexier version. For one thing it seems as though as soon as I donate the old stuff to some charity it shows up in a thrift shop or antique store where my wife buys it as a decorator item for three times what we paid when we bought it new. Maybe that guy that spent two years making the best map of the US had the right idea after all. He'll probably sell copies of it to people who hang it on the wall of their office where it will be ignored while they use Google Maps or their Iphone to plan their next trip. Oh well, I guess that's progress.
Maps aren't the only paper goods that are rapidly becoming obsolete because of technology. Look at books, for example. “What!?” you say, “I don't read books anymore. I either get audio books on CDs to play in the car while I'm behind the wheel or I read e-books on my Kindle, Nook, Ipad or whatever.” Which is precisely my freaking point: I'm about the only person I know who reads actual books made of paper and filled with printed words and silverfish. New technology has just about replaced them.
Another area where the printed word has disappeared is user manuals. Did you get one with your last cell phone? I bet not. You probably had to go to the manufacturer's website and download a pdf file before you could figure out how the damn thing works. That's even the case with computers and their many peripherals. You're in serious trouble if you buy a new computer and don't know how to hook it up to the great user guide server in the cloud. You're not gonna get any printed help. You'll just have to call the Geek Squad. If, that is, you can find their number without looking it up on the internet or a Yellow Pages CD.
It seems like all the folks who provide you with goods and services of any kind are pushing you away from paper too. Recently one of my service providers, who always sent me a nice invoice and pre-printed envelope so I could send them a check for services rendered, started sending me emails with a pdf of my invoice attached. So now I have to use my ink (which costs so much that I don't even print photos with it; I send them to Walgreens, electronically, of course) and my envelope to send in the check for the service I'm paying for. I'm sure that before long they'll want me to pay electronically too.
Even the government is getting into the act. Try sending in your income tax return on paper. Sure, you can do it, but they give you a little disclaimer to let you know that they're going to drag their feet if you do. And they want to deposit the check directly into your bank account instead of sending it in the mail like they used to. I'm thinking they could go a long way toward solving the employment crises if they didn't eliminate jobs by using all this electronic communication instead of paper! No wonder the post office is in big trouble. Even the government doesn't use them to correspond with you. In fact, even the freaking post office tries to get you to buy your postage online. Hello! I think I see why they need to close post offices all over the country. And I'm beginning to understand all this business about going postal.
Of course I realize that all this is really nothing new. Technology has been replacing old forms of things with new ones ever since the first cave man realized that he would get a better spear point by putting a broken piece of bone on the end of the stick he used to skewer rabbits or his neighbors or whatever. Still, I find myself holding on to the old forms of things for as long as I can, even when I've replaced them with the newer, faster, sexier version. For one thing it seems as though as soon as I donate the old stuff to some charity it shows up in a thrift shop or antique store where my wife buys it as a decorator item for three times what we paid when we bought it new. Maybe that guy that spent two years making the best map of the US had the right idea after all. He'll probably sell copies of it to people who hang it on the wall of their office where it will be ignored while they use Google Maps or their Iphone to plan their next trip. Oh well, I guess that's progress.
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