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Hidden brain benefits come with pet ownership Owning a pet, like a dog or cat, especially for five years or longer, may be linked to slower cognitive decline in older adults, according to a new study. In fact, having a dog for more than 10 years may have important brain benefits. “Prior studies have suggested that the human-animal bond may have health benefits like decreasing blood pressure and stress,” said study author Dr. Tiffany Braley with the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann...
I became alarmed when what I thought could become treasured gifts to my grandchildren might turn into indecipherable codes by the time they received them. Back in 2013, it was called to my attention three times in less than a week that cursive handwriting was on the way to becoming obsolete. Since before each grandchild was born – Harlen in 2006 and Amelia in 2009 – I have kept a journal for them. Written in cursive. The plan is to give these diaries to them when they turn 18 or graduate from hi...
In 1911, near the village of Tikigaq, Howard Rock's shaman grandmother predicted he would become a great man. More than 50 years later, the prophecy came true. Rock, small in stature, did indeed become a giant among men. Raised in the traditional Eskimo way, Rock learned to hunt with his father and embraced his culture. But he also had a foot in the western world. Like many Native children of the time, Rock had to leave his village at the age of 15 to continue his education past the eighth...
Joe Cornet never initially considered now 92-year-old Don Murray for a role in his 2021 western film "Promise." "I wanted an iconic actor for one of the roles and approached two other veteran western stars, but for one reason or another neither worked out," said Cornet, from Los Angeles, who wrote, directed, and co-produced the almost two-hour-long western drama. Already acquainted with Murray's son, Cornet explained his dilemma to the younger Murray who proposed a simple solution: "Why don't...
Dear Savvy Senior: I am planning to retire and apply for my Social Security benefits in July. When can I expect my first check, and is direct deposit my only option for receiving my monthly payment? -- Almost 62 Dear Almost: Generally, Social Security retirement benefits, as well as disability and survivor benefits, are paid in the month after the month they are due. So, if you want to start receiving your Social Security benefits in July, your July benefits will be distributed in August. The day of the month you receive your benefit payment,...
People believe a lot of things that aren’t actually true. Butter doesn’t help a burn. Your hair and fingernails don’t continue to grow after you die. Sarah Palin didn’t say she could see Russia from her house. In estate planning, the biggest myth is that having a will avoids probate. I don’t know how many times I have looked at the astonished face of someone in my office when I tell them there would have to be a probate case, even though they have a perfectly good will. Many people, having be...
Imagine losing access to your phone and all the data you ever created. If that thought scares you, read on. The terms “Digital Legacy” and “Digital Inheritance” describe what happens to digital information created by someone who is deceased. Buried beneath the tech-speak is a very simple idea: your digital information contains precious family photos, important PDFs, vital passwords, social network identities, and perhaps much more. As more records exist only in digital form, those records may be stored on devices that relatives may not know ho...
Q: What are my chances of finding work over age 60? A: Amid the disruptive loss of jobs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been one counterbalancing force: An urgent demand for older professionals to return to work from retirement or a career break. Employers have historically viewed this group of potential employees with skepticism, a perception that their skills have deteriorated or become obsolete or that they are overqualified, require long ramp-up times, lack commitment to the...
Editor's note: Al Clayton, who died in 2008, wrote this story about a cold misadventure. It's been edited and submitted by his daughter and Senior Voice Correspondent Maraley McMichael. I made a snowplane and used it for many years for various trips and adventures. It was a great vehicle to travel through snow, especially on frozen rivers in Interior Alaska, similar to modern day snowmachine travel. Built in Seward in the mid 1950s, it had a metal tubing frame, reinforced canvas-covered body,...
In March, Alaskans celebrate Seward's Day in honor of the man who succeeded in persuading the United States to buy Alaska from the Russians. And there are many landmarks named after President Lincoln's Secretary of State William Henry Seward. However, when Seward was chosen for the name of the town on Resurrection Bay, it took the personal intervention of President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt to make it possible. By 1902, John Ballaine, originator and promoter of the Alaska Central Railway and...
Not even a youthful warning from her grandfather, a powerful entertainment attorney during the Golden Age of film, could prevent Sharon Gless from attempting the journey to Hollywood. Neil S. McCarthy, who counted Cecil B. DeMille, Katharine Hepburn and Lana Turner among his clients, cautioned his young granddaughter that the movie industry could be a "filthy business." Aided by loyal friends and associates, however, as well as possessing a fierce determination to succeed, Sharon beat the odds...
When I was a kid, I lived for a while in a town near Brazil. Not the big country down in South America, but the small town of Brazil, Indiana. What was strange about the place was that they pronounced it BRAY-zill. I thought that was really odd, until I got back home to Alaska and learned that most of the world pronounces Valdez and Cordova differently from what I grew up with. Yes, we do it differently in Alaska. It’s a snowmachine, not a snowmobile. We don’t refer to our highways by route num...
Q. My computer is seven years old. Everything seems normal when it first starts up, but the longer I use it, the slower it runs. After an hour, the wait is awful. Restarting returns it to normal, but the slowdown repeats. Help! A. This is a challenging problem to troubleshoot. Different things may cause this behavior. The instant a computer starts up, it begins to use three things: CPU, disk space and memory. The computer is designed to keep these in balance, so the computer feels fast. Your computer should have a built-in application that...
While the chances of action begin as slim at best, House Democrats recently reintroduced a Social Security reform bill designed to give lawmakers a few more years to figure out how to fix the long-term solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds, among other things. Right now, those trust funds – the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (OASI), which pays retirement and survivor benefits, and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, which pays disability benefits, are both scheduled to run out of money in just 13 years. At that time ...
Editor’s note: This press statement was received on Jan. 19, 2022. Medicare beneficiaries may have grounds to ask for a refund on a portion of their 2022 Part B premiums, according to The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a Washington D.C.-based senior advocacy organization. “It appears that Medicare is overcharging 57 million older and disabled beneficiaries for their Part B coverage this year,” says Mary Johnson, a Medicare and Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. The increase in Part B premiums in 2022, which cover...
African American older adults are disproportionately affected by diabetes, which affects more than 10% of African American adults. Without proper management, diabetes may increase the risk for other diseases including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. One way to understand this concept is to think about how sticky sugar becomes when you caramelize it in a frying pan. This is the same process that occurs in our arteries, since the average...
Promising advance in treating Parkinson’s disease Researchers have solved a decade-long mystery about a critical protein linked to Parkinson’s disease that could help to fast-track treatments for the incurable disease. The researchers have developed a “live action” view of a protein called PINK1 in exquisite molecular detail. The discovery explains how the protein is activated in the cell and leads to the development of Parkinson’s disease. When this protein is not working correctly, it kills...
Q: Seniors in Alaska have a higher mortality rate due to behavioral health conditions. What are some of the leading causes of death among seniors in Alaska, and how we can work to improve behavioral health outcomes for this population? A: Correct, as Alaskan seniors struggle with behavioral health conditions, their mortality rates increase. Let’s examine more about the impact of these conditions and what resources are available. In February 2019 the Alaska Dept. of Health and Social Services r...
There are many Alaskan wintertime sports. I always preferred cross-country skiing over downhill, but my son, Patrick, is the other way around. The Hatcher Pass Mountains in the Matanuska Valley are a winter playground for skiers, snowboarders and snowmachiners. During his high school years, Patrick and his friends loved to downhill ski in the area, mostly because it was close and there was no lift ticket expense, not to mention the abundance of white fluffy powder. The absence of a chair lift...
As a young man, famous American novelist Rex Ellingwood Beach struck out from Illinois in 1897 in search of his fortune in the gold-filled Klondike. Along with others who had some money and time, he chose to travel the all-water route. Hopeful prospectors like Beach hopped onboard steamships leaving Seattle and other West Coast ports bound for St. Michael, where they connected with flat-bottom sternwheelers for the 1,500-mile trip up the Yukon River to Dawson. However, many travelers discovered...
The movie world was shocked when the body of 43-year-old Natalie Wood was found floating lifeless in the ocean off Catalina Island on the morning of Nov. 29, 1981. Forty years later, sister Lana still can't accept that the incident was nothing more than a tragic accident. Natalie's watery demise remains one of Hollywood's enduring mysteries, recently resurrected in Lana's book, "Little Sister: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood," published last November, 40 years after...
Today I want to talk about Marx. No, not the guy who wrote the Communist Manifesto. Not the comic with the big eyebrows either. Not even the ‘80’s rocker. I want to talk about a Marx you probably haven’t heard of. His name was Lawrence Marx, he lived in Southeast Alaska, and he died a few years back. And oh, did he leave a mess. Lawrence and his wife had a living trust. It had fairly typical terms; it was for their benefit while they were alive, and then it left everything to their two sons,...
There are newer, more secure, and more convenient choices available to make payments at most cash registers. Secret PIN codes and signatures are making way for methods like tap-to-pay plastic cards and smartphones. Savvy consumers can take advantage of these methods to reduce the likelihood their credit and debit card numbers could be stolen. Even better, the new methods are faster and easier to use. After years of swiping cards, signing receipts, and entering PIN codes, the new methods may...
Kaiser Health News editor Elisabeth Rosenthal, in a recent opinion column, argues that two of America’s toughest problems can be tempered with one solution. Older people, many isolated, are ill-equipped to meet people or even have their health monitored at their homes. Meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service, has gone $160 billion into debt, in part, as digital communications have replaced old-school mail. Rosenthal suggests having letter carriers spend less time delivering mail, much of which these days involves fliers and unwanted s...
Help Wanted signs have sprouted up all over. Without enough workers, businesses can’t stay open. The day after Thanksgiving – the day when all chain stores start clamoring for everyone’s gift-buying dough – I stopped at the nearest dollar store for some paper towels. The store was closed. On the day after Thanksgiving. Why? The sign on the door vaguely cited “staffing shortages.” A supervisor later explained to me a lot of workers had been out sick. Seems nowadays “staffing shortages” can mean a lot of workers are out sick but the store doesn’t...
