Help Beat Cardiovascular Mortality With Your Phone

 

Lots of research indicates that heart rate is a good indicator of an increased risk of heart disease, demonstrating a “link between heart rate and sudden death.” They say fewer than 64 beats per minute is good, and 80 beats per minute is a bad sign.

Thinking it is a good idea to know my own rate, especially when exercising, I bought a heart rate monitor, but it can sometimes be inconvenient to use. I was delighted to discover this iPhone app called Cardiograph, from MacroPinch, Ltd.

 

Somehow, all you have to do is hold a finger lightly against the camera lens on your phone, and it measures your heart rate, and draws it on a little chart, just like at the doctor’s office. I’ve found it to be pretty accurate compared with my other monitor.

It’s easy, convenient, and, well, hard to beat.

 

Let me know how it works for you....

How USA Today Headlines Are Deliberately Screwing With Your Head

Scanning the headlines on this page, USA Today, August 23, 2012, it is obvious that we are in serious economic decline. If you read the copy, however, that’s not the case. Why is it reported that way?

 

 

One snippet of the always fluid stock market shows a 30-point drop over a few hours. It was up to13,292 a few days later.

 

 

The 2000s were hard on the middle class in that 60 percent of those who left went up in income level, above $118,000. So apparently not just the rich get richer….

 

 

Placed under the middle class decline article, but above the fold, the impression is more doom, gloom, despair. But the article is about how the stock market has been within one point – one point – of matching the level it was before the “financial crisis” of 2008-09, and within 1,000 points of the all-time high. Which sounds like a full recovery to me, but not according to USA Today.

 

 

Yes, HP desktop sales are down, but only minimally, simply because we are less and less of a desktop world, as everyone knows. Apple picked up the slack, so wouldn’t that be a wash for the economy? As for the $8.9 billion reported loss, $8 billion of it was the result of HP buying another business, not slumping sales. Why would USA Today mislead us like that?

 

A non-story based on minutes from a meeting weeks earlier, back in July. The Fed isn’t going to step in, at least not before “late 2014,” so why scare us like this?

 

 

Mullaney, Taylor, And Pew: More Reasons Not To Trust USA Today And Other Measly Rags That Bash Successful Americans

 

If you read a headline that says “2000s hardest on middle class,” you’re going to assume that economics aren’t too good for millions of Americans classified as middle class. Right? Well….

That’s the approach USAToday takes in the August 23, 2012, article by Tim Mullaney. The first six paragraphs tell us how dismal the past decade was for those who used to do pretty well. Now, according to Mullaney, 29 percent of “middle class Americans say they are still cutting back and having a hard time paying their bills,” and “one in six reported trouble making rent or mortgage payments,” and “the middle class got smaller.”

 

Lacking a credible source, Mullaney quotes Paul Taylor, vice president of Pew Research, the company that conducted the poll. (My journalism instructor would have slapped us for such sloppy, lazy reporting.) Taylor says it is no longer true that middle class Americans enjoy “a rising standard of living,” and that this was the worst economic decade since World War II. To prove it, Pew says that only 51 percent of Americans are middle class, compared to 61 percent in the 1970s.

Well, that does indeed sound like bad news for the middle class. But let’s look at some of the numbers Mullaney, Taylor and Pew use, and some of the facts they seem to ignore.

Middle class is defined as households that earn between $39,000 and $118,000 per year. Having been in that group from time to time in the past 30 years, I suggest that most households sometimes have to cut back to pay the mortgage and bills. This isn’t news.

 

What is news, if Mullaney’s numbers are right, is that 5 of 6 middle class households report not having trouble paying rent/mortgage, and that 71 percent of middle class Americans are not cutting back. That sounds like prosperity to me, you know, the American Dream. That’s great news. Why isn’t that the headline?

If the middle class is shrinking, then Mullaney’s implication is that many thousands of households have become poor. It isn’t until the next to last paragraph that we learn that 60 percent of middle class households that left the classification – 3 of every 5 families – have earned enough income to be classified above the $118,000 standard. They have become rich.

That is also good news. Why is it reported as more tragedy for American families? What is the motivation behind this negativity?

 

Disclaimer: You and I know this was a rant, to expose one small manipulative technique disreputable media can use, but what you don’t know is that I am highly allergic to surveys. The sample in this survey was extremely small, only 1,140 people. And, those 1,140 people were adults “who said they are worse off.” The cherry pickers at Pew Research don’t say how many people claimed not to be worse off. Their answers were ignored.

Have Bill Cosby Himself Over For The Weekend

 

Bill Cosby is a very funny fellow (Right!) so why not top off your weekend fun with my favorite of his videos. Bill Cosby, Himself makes me laugh every time, especially as I get older and have more experience as a parent.

Choclolate cake for breakfast, mothers, dentist visits, brain damage, they all crack me up. You can watch all of it on Youtube, you can buy it on Amazon, or  you can do what I did. Kelly and I love thrifting at flea markets, and I always watched for dollar VHS tapes. We would find one or two, grab some sweet and sour chicken, then curl up on the couch to watch. I bought three copies of Himself, $1 each. So if you can’t find a copy, stop by and I’ll loan you one.

 

The First 60 Years Of Marriage Are The Hardest

 

My parents met late one night when my dad crawled into my mother’s bedroom window behind her older brother. The first thing she heard him say was “how old’s your sister?” It turns out she was just 14 and wanted nothing to do with this older guy from Minnesota. Two years later they were wed, September 1952.

 

My mom and dad had their 60^th wedding anniversary this week. Mom made light of it, claiming that all you have to do is live long enough, but I know something of their long struggles to get along and to raise and provide for six sons. They both had roles in their relationship that didn’t always overlap or sync especially smoothly, but they made it work when they could, and waited it out when they couldn’t.

 

Most of my memories of them are fun, warm recollections of all the good times and laughter over the years. They are good people, and while maybe not perfect, they were perfect parents for me. I want as much as ever to do right by them, and make them proud of who I am and what I do.

 

Sadly, at times the good times are over shadowed by dad’s health. He had a series of strokes almost 12 years ago that left him unable to move and unable to communicate. He wasted away and often had pneumonia over a couple of years, but my mom nursed him through it all. She learned to do all his therapy because his caregivers were largely uncaring. Mom has learned exactly how to position dad in his bed with pillows and pads in exactly the right places so he is as comfortable as he can be. She has fought all his battles with the administrators, and won most of them.

She spends two hours with him every morning, making sure he is up and bathed. She comes back every day at lunch time to make sure he is put down for his nap. She comes back for five or six hours every night to just sit with him, then to make sure he is put to bed for the night. She never fails, and after a dozen years, it still breaks her heart to leave him for the night.

 

The staff threw a delightful party for them. There was a marriage reaffirmation ceremony and gifts, lots of food and a beautiful cake. There were balloons and 80s music. I was one of about 70 people who watched, family, friends, people in wheelchairs. It was nice.

I asked my brother Jeff what we did for their 50^th anniversary, and he couldn’t remember anything. “We must be bad children,” he said. “Well,” I said, “we may be, so let’s make sure to do something for their 75^th anniversary.”

A Labor Day Of Love

 

Our holiday weekend started with a trip to Mimi and Papa’s house for a Skype visit from Lucy. We got to spend 15 minutes with her and it was wonderful. She was so happy to see each of us. As we moved the laptop camera around to each person, she would squeal with delight and call out their names.

 

Unlike our unlucky friends who had to go boating or fishing or picnicking or to a baseball game or something dreadful like that, we got to spend 78 hours at the mall on Monday. Oh boy! It might have been less, but it seemed to make the long holiday weekend seem much, much longer.

 

One of the girls has a school dance coming up, and she has spent the past couple of weeks worrying about a dress and about who would ask her to go. She turned down one loser who asked by text message.

 

At the end of the night, she had her invitation – a balloon inside a balloon, tied to our front door. Interestingly, the boy put the surprise on a neighbor’s house by mistake, but luckily the neighbor knew her name and moved the invitation to our door. We didn’t settle on a dress, but at last, she had her prize.

 

And the other met up with an old friend….

Six Degrees Of Norwood

 

I like Kevin Bacon, Kevin Norwood Bacon, as an actor and now as a musician.

Mr. Bacon first crossed my path 30-some years ago when he played Tim on The Guiding Light. What I was doing watching The Guiding Light, I don’t know, but I remember Roger the bad guy, and I remember Kevin Bacon. Like you, I’ve seen him in many movies, notably Diner, Footloose, He Said She Said, AFew Good Men, and Apollo 13.

Searching for a movie to watch one night, I came across a link to the Bacon Brothers, which turned out to be Kevin and his brother, Michael. Doubtful, assuming here was yet another bored, pampered actor trying to cash in on his name, I went to YouTube for a looksee.

First, they are pretty good guitar players. Michael is a legitimate, long-time musician, well-known for scoring movies and television. They’ve played together professionally since 1995 and have released a half dozen or so albums. Their band is solid, and the tunes tend to stick in my head.

Both brothers are good singers, who harmonize well, but I like the edgy passion Kevin brings to his sound. Kevin is also the more prolific song writer. His lyrics are compelling, surprising, authentic, and, dare I say it, at times profound.

Photo from SmokeStackLightning

With a gift card from my mother-in-law, I purchased Philadelphia Road - The Best Of The Bacon Brothers, and it has made me want the entire catalogue.

Check them out on YouTube, or go to Amazon and listen to some samples. I suggest starting with Unhappy Birthday, Old Guitars, Guess Again (my favorite), Only A Good Woman, and Angelina.

This just in: Daryl Hall of Hall and Oats has a great show called Live From Daryl’s House, where he and his band have guest artists over to  his place for food and music. The Bacon Brothers episode is great fun, but check for some of your favorites, too, including the Plain White Ts.

That should give you plenty to do this weekend.