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  • Look Ahead to November: Marijuana, Gambling, Reverse Mortgages, Minimum Wage and GMOs on the Election Ballot

     By Jake Grovum, Staff Writer, Pew’s StatelinePlums engineered to resist plum pox

    In Colorado, voters will consider a huge tax hike on newly legal marijuana. New Yorkers could expand gambling. And Washington voters are in the midst of a multimillion-dollar campaign over the labeling of genetically modified foods.
     
    These transgenic plums called C5 contain a gene that makes them highly resistant to plum pox virus. Scott Bauer, USDA ARS. Wikimedia Commons
     
    Voters in six states will consider a combined 31 ballot questions on Nov. 5, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Many are non-binding advisory votes or relatively minor bonding questions. But in a light year for elections, some have sparked near-record-breaking levels of campaign spending.

    Stateline looked at some of the most consequential or controversial issues on the ballot this fall.

    Washington State: Genetically Modified Foods

    One of the more expensive ballot fights is in Washington, where supporters and opponents have poured almost $24 million into a campaign over whether genetically modified foods, known as GMOs, should have to be labeled.

    State campaign finance records this week showed contributions totaling nearly $24 million, surpassing the amount raised during the state’s 2012 same-sex marriage campaign and making it the second most expensive ballot question campaign ever.

    The Washington debate is similar to the fight that played out in California last year, when voters rejected a similar measure that was fiercely opposed by agricultural and food-business interests and backed by environmentalists and other liberal groups.

    “It’s really a proxy battle over genetically modified food, generally,” said Mark A. Smith, a political science professor at the University of Washington. Those opposing the labeling often see the proposals as a watershed: If one state adopts them, the theory goes, more will follow.

    With that in mind, the opposition is mobilized. More than two-thirds — $17.2 million — of the total raised is for the opposition. But supporters have millions as well.

    The outcome could hinge on turnout. In much of the state – including more conservative rural areas – there are few if any high-profile matters on the ballot to draw people to the polls. But in liberal Seattle, residents will also decide a closely contested mayoral race, which could boost turnout for those who support labeling.

    Colorado: Taxes in the Balance

    A pair of tax measures — one levying taxes on newly legal marijuana, the other altering the state’s income tax system to support education — could make history in Colorado.

    On marijuana, the question is whether the state should tax marijuana sales in two different ways, potentially bringing in a windfall of revenue but also driving up the cost of the drug. Opponents call it the biggest tax increase in state history.

    The first $40 million from a 15 percent tax on the wholesale price of retail marijuana would go toward education. The second 10 percent sales tax would be in addition to the state’s 2.9 percent sales tax, with proceeds earmarked for regulation, public health and police activities related to the legal pot market. Of those revenues, 15 percent would go back to the cities and counties where the sales occur.

    A vocal campaign against the higher marijuana taxes has taken shape in the state, with some arguing it unfairly targets marijuana users. Others say taxing too much will just drive the business back underground. Supporters say the new taxes are necessary to fund the regulation of the new market.

    The second tax measure would replace the state’s flat income tax system with two tiers, with the proceeds earmarked for education. It would collect nearly $1 billion, according to state estimates. It would also require 43 percent of all state tax revenue to go toward education.

  • The Empty Frames: Last Seen Exhibit by French artist Sophie Calle at the Gardner Museum

    “Flamboyant, imperious, with a deep belief in the redemptive power of art, Gardner built intimate galleries for her masterworks, each room extolling a different theme, each one its own creative stew. There’s a quiet, calming Chinese Loggia; a Gothic Room that recalls a medieval chapel; a Yellow Room lined with pastel-toned paintings by J. M. W. Turner and Edgar Degas. In her will, Gardner forbade any changes to her museum. She wanted her work of art to always remain her work of art. Nothing could be added or taken away. Not a Chippendale chair, not a Rembrandt canvas, not a bamboo window shade. Everything must remain in the same Victorian patchwork of wood-paneled corners and draped alcoves, or the trustees would be required to sell off the collection land donate the profits to Harvard University. And from Gardner’s death in 1924 until that March 1990 evening, it was a wish faithfully kept.”

    — The Gardner Heist, by Ulrich Boser, Harper Paperback, 2010

    The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is opening  an exhibition titled Last Seen by French artist Sophie Calle on view from October 24, 2013 through March 3, 2014. The exhibition will include Calle’s 1991 Gardner-inspired work on display for the first time at the Gardner, as well as new work created in 2012. 

    The 14 photographic and text based works in Last Seen consist of two distinct series. The first, created in 1991, titled Last Seen… is a series of photographs and texts created shortly after the 1990 theft during which 13 objects were stolen from the Museum. The second series, titled What Do You See?, includes new work which Calle made in 2012 at the Museum while revisiting the earlier project.Last Seen

    What Do You See? (Vermeer, The Concert), 2013; © 2013 Sophie Calle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy of Sophie Calle, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

    “It’s a thrill to welcome Sophie Calle to the Gardner Museum for this exciting exhibition,” said Anne Hawley, Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “She is a major artistic force and her exhibition will pave the way for an exciting fall and winter season of contemporary art at the Gardner Museum.”

    In 1990, during an exhibition of Calle’s work at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Calle was interviewed for a Parkett magazine article by Sheena Wagstaff. At Calle’s request the interview took place at the Gardner in front of Jan Vermeer’s 1658 – 60 painting The Concert, one of Calle’s favorite paintings. Later that March, the painting became one of the thirteen works stolen from the Museum. Wagstaff later jokingly hinted that perhaps Calle was responsible for the theft. This suggestion spurred Calle to consider creating a project focused on the Gardner’s stolen works.

    While standing in front of the empty spaces on the Museum walls where works were once hung, Calle asked curators, guards, conservators, and other Museum staff members what they remembered of the missing pieces. Calle used text from the interviews and the photographic images to create a visual meditation on absence and memory, as well as reflection on the emotional power works of art hold on their viewers.

  • Elaine Soloway’s Caregiving Series: The Turn Around Tango

    It’s 5:00 p.m. and the dance my husband and I perform daily — which I have dubbed “The Turn Around Tango” — is about to begin. Music would be nice, but our duet is staged in silence.

    I’m in the kitchen preparing dinner. A pot of spaghetti is nearing its boil on the stove. I remove a colander from its place in a cabinet and set it in the sink. When the timer rings, signaling al dente, I lift the pot by its two handles and turn around to dump pasta and water into said colander. Alas, the pockmarked utensil has vanished.

    In his fancy step, while my back was turned, Tommy has removed the colander from the sink, placed it back in the cabinet, and exited. He has not done this to vex me; this I know. He just can’t help it.

    I remain standing — a tricky move because I am holding the caldron with padded gloves, steam is clouding my eyeglasses, and I have nowhere to toss its contents. I hold this pose for a beat, then swivel and return the steaming pot of spaghetti to the stove.

    Early on, when I first encountered my husband’s stealth move, I would try this: “Honey,” I’d say, “Please come back into the kitchen and get the colander out of the cabinet where you put it. I need to drain the spaghetti.”

    Tommy would return, a contrite grin on his face, and perform his well-practiced steps. But, I no longer make that request. I have memorized my moves: button lip, pot back to stove, retrieve colander, return to sink, lift pot, dump.

    Our Turn Around Tango takes place in other areas of our house and at various hours. A pantry door opened to extract garlic and Italian spices, is closed before I get out the first dash. Same for refrigerator when soy milk is used for my Cheerios. Ditto the garbage can lid I keep open while doing kitchen prep.

    The reporter notebooks I use for Trader Joe’s and Target shopping lists are invariably returned to a neat stack after I have separated and laid them side-by-side for easy entries. All it takes to cue my spouse is for me to turn my back.

    “Don’t you get mad?” I was asked by a friend. “Don’t you want to scream at him? Tell him to leave your stuff alone?”

    I answer, “I think it helps Tommy when I remain calm.” I believe this to be true. My husband shows no rage in dealing with his illness.

    To this friend, who has had her own frustration with a stubborn, aging relative, I say, “I’m a patient person. This comes naturally to me.”

    But, I fear I lie. I can recall many instances when I am anything buy patient. See me drumming the table of a restaurant until the waitstaff comes for our order. That’s me at the hot dog stand, stewing, while the proprietor chats it up with the customer in the front of the line. And yes, that’s me fuming in any and all medical offices while waiting for my name to be called.

    So, how am I able to remain saintly with my husband? What good would it do to seethe or explode? His condition prevents him from veering from his compulsive, neat-making routine. The pattern of his dance steps is imprinted on his brain; he cannot do otherwise.

    As for me — petite and compact — I’m quick on my feet. Over the years, I’ve been able to practice my moves. Sometimes, I stumble if the steps are too difficult. Often, I wish I could get one maneuver down perfectly before another is introduced into our lives.

    Thus far, I’ve kept up with my creative dance partner. The trick is to let him lead.

    ©2013 Elaine Soloway for SeniorWomen.com

  • A New Study: Marriage Can Have a Significant Health Impact for Patients With Cancer

    Birmingham Stage & Wedding Party

    People who are married when diagnosed with cancer live longer than those who are not, report researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Married patients also tended to have cancers diagnosed at an earlier stage — when it is often more successfully treated — and to receive more appropriate treatment.

    The London to Birmingham Stage Coach, 1801. Oil painting by John Cordrey, showing a stage coach with a full complement of pasengers including a wedding party; Wikipedia

    The study’s findings were published online by the Journal of Clinical Oncology on Sept. 23, 2013*

    “Our data suggests that marriage can have a significant health impact for patients with cancer, and this was consistent among every cancer that we reviewed,” said Ayal Aizer, MD MHS, chief resident of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and the paper’s first author. “We suspect that social support from spouses is what’s driving the striking improvement in survival. Spouses often accompany patients on their visits and make sure they understand the recommendations and complete all their treatments.”

    Utilizing the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program, the researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 734,889 people who were diagnosed with cancer between 2004 and 2008. They focused on the ten leading causes of cancer deaths in the United States: lung, colorectal, breast, pancreatic, prostate, liver/bile duct, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, head and neck, ovarian, and esophageal cancer. They also adjusted the data to account for a number of demographic factors, including age, sex, race, residence type, education and median household income, that could have an effect on the health outcome.

    Their analysis found that in comparison with married patients, unmarried cancer patients, including those who were widowed, were 17 percent more likely to have metastatic cancer (cancer that spread beyond its original site) and were 53 percent less likely to receive the appropriate therapy.

    “We don’t just see our study as an affirmation of marriage, but rather it should send a message to anyone who has a friend or a loved one with cancer: by being there for that person and helping them navigate their appointments and make it through all their treatments, you can make a real difference to that person’s outcome,” said the study’s senior author Paul Nguyen, MD, a radiation oncologist at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s. “As oncologists, we need to be aware of our patients’ available social supports and encourage them to seek and accept support from friends and family during this potentially difficult time.”

  • Aging and Understanding How Testosterone Affects Men

    The complex effects of testosterone, investigators found, depend partly on its conversion in the body to a type of estrogen. The insights will help guide the development of better ways to diagnose and treat men who don’t produce enough natural testosterone.

    Chemical Structure of testosterone

    Testosterone is a sex hormone that plays important roles in the body. In men, it’s thought to regulate sex drive (libido), bone mass, fat distribution, muscle mass and strength, and the production of red blood cells and sperm. A small amount of circulating testosterone is converted to estradiol, a form of estrogen. As men age, they often make less testosterone, and so they produce less estradiol as well. Thus, changes often attributed to testosterone deficiency might be partly or entirely due to the accompanying decline in estradiol.

    Testosterone was first used as a clinical drug as early as 1937, but with little understanding of its mechanisms. The hormone is now widely prescribed to men whose bodies naturally produce low levels. But the levels at which testosterone deficiency become medically relevant still aren’t well understood. Normal testosterone production varies widely in men, so it’s difficult to know what levels have medical significance. The hormone’s mechanisms of action are also unclear.

    A team led by Dr. Joel Finkelstein at Massachusetts General Hospital investigated testosterone and estradiol levels in 400 healthy men, 20 to 50 years of age. To control hormone levels, the researchers first gave the participants injections of a drug that suppressed their normal testosterone and estradiol production. The men were randomly assigned to 5 groups that received different amounts (from 0 to 10 grams) of a topical 1% testosterone gel daily for 16 weeks. Half of the participants were also given a drug to block testosterone from being converted to estradiol.

  • Joanne Brickman’s Senior Women Sleuths, Part One

    by Joanne Brickman

    Probably the best-known mystery writer in most of the world is Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie Mallowan, better known as Agatha Christie, English mystery writer and playwright (1890-1976).  And undoubtedly, the best-known female senior sleuth is Christie’s Miss Jane Marple. 

    Of the 66 mystery novels and 145 short stories Agatha Christie produced in her fascinating and prolific life, twelve novels and 20 short stories featured Miss Marple, the appealing senior who solves crimes with her knowledge of human experience gained in a long village life in St. Mary Mead.

    As important as she is to the genre, Miss Marple was not the first senior woman detective.  That honor belongs to Anna Katherine Green’s Miss Amelia Butterworth. A book by Anna Katherie Greene

    US mystery writer Green (1846 -1935) published her first novel, The Leavenworth Case, in 1878.  The novel launched a memorable male detective character, Ebenezer Gryce,  whose adventures continued until 1917.  As the series progressed, Gryce often enlisted the help of Miss Butterworth, an elderly woman with a love of intrigue and absolutely no scruples when it came to satisfying her curiosity.

    Although enormously successful in her day, Green’s work is out of print now, except for the occasional reappearance of The Leavenworth Case.  (Editor’s Note: See below for her novel, The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow) Christie’s work, on the other hand, continues to sell almost like it was written yesterday rather than decades ago.

    Another Englishwoman, nearly as prolific as Christie but not as successful in the US, was Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell (1901-1983).  While Mitchell wrote five novels as Stephen Hockaby, and six mysteries as Malcolm Torrie,  the bulk of her books, which totaled 66 in all, were written were under her own name, and featured the spellbinding and reptilian Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley.

    This formidable lady was old in 1929 when she appeared in Mitchell’s first novel, Speedy Death.  Wrinkled and thin with claw-like hands, Mrs. Bradley had been married three times, had grown sons, and a multitude of nieces and nephews.  She was a psychiatrist, no mean achievement for a woman in 1929, with her own practice as well as a post of psychiatric consultant to the Home Office.

    Interestingly, Dame Beatrice (she acquired the title during the course of her adventures) does not age a single day from her first adventure to her last, The Crozier Pharaohs (1984). However, her sidekick, Laurel Menzies, aged naturally, marrying a policeman and becoming a grandmother by the time the series ended.

    As might be expected, Dame Beatrice is an acquired taste, which most American readers have managed to resist.  Only seventeen of her 66 adventures have been published in the United States.

    In contrast, Miss Jane Marple of the Kentish village of St. Mary Mead, a blue-eyed, frail lady who dressed in a black lace cap and mittens, has had a broad and lasting appeal, aging along the way.  Miss Marple first appeared in a series of short stories published in Britain’s The Sketch magazine. Her first appearance in a novel occurs in Murder At The Vicarage, published in 1930.  In the beginning, Miss Marple is a gleeful gossip and not particularly nice.  Unlike Dame Bradley, however, she modernizes and becomes nicer over the years. Incidentally, there are twelve years between the first Marple novel and the second, The Body in the Library published in 1942, although the lady appeared in some short stories between novel appearances.

    Miss Marple aged gracefully over the years, and was very old in Nemesis (1971).  However, Sleeping Murder, subtitled Miss Marple’s Last Case and published in 1976 one year after Christie’s death, was actually written in 1940, so the age chronology does not fit the series’ progression.  This could very well be a reflection of the some of the mysteries in Agatha Christie’s real life.

    The mysteries written by Mitchell, Green and Christie are best categorized as “cozies,” and, in many ways, are reflective of the societies in which the authors themselves lived.  Over the years as social rules changed, so did mystery female series’ characters.  Today, hard-boiled detectives like Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone or Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski lead millions of loyal readers through exciting Southern California adventures, down the mean streets of Chicago and through trails and roads in hundreds of other locales.

    Yet, cozies still attract readers and many of today’s more traditional mysteries feature a modern-day Marple or Bradley.  We’ll explore some of these contemporary authors and their senior women sleuths, as well as investigate a number of ladies ‘of a certain age’ who were solving crimes in past decades as this Senior Women Sleuth series continues.

    *Go to LibriVox, a service of ‘Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain’: http://librivox.org/the-mystery-of-the-hasty-arrow-by-anna-katharine-green/

    The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow

    Anna Katharine GREEN (1864 – 1935)

    It is the noon hour at a museum in New York City. The date: May 23, 1913. The weekday, attendance is light; the attendees are scattered between two floors. Suddenly a cry rings out from the second floor. Scrambling to Section II, the museum director discovers a teenage girl dead with an arrow through her heart. An older woman hovers over her whispering incoherent phrases in the girl’s ear and offering incomprehensible answers to the director’s questions. She is the only witness to the crime, or accident, as the case may be. How will the feeble, 83 year-old Mr. Gryce unravel this mystery when this witness is apparently insane?

    Murder at the Vicarage, You Tube Edition

  • Seniors On Medicare Don’t Need To Apply To The Health Law Marketplaces; Spending Changes Will Not Reduce Medicare Benefits

    By Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News Staff Writer

    Nearly 50 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. The 2010 health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act, will make some changes to the program. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about Medicare and the health law.

    Q: The health law creates something called a health insurance marketplace. What is that and can I apply for coverage on an exchange?

    A: There is no need for you to enroll in the health law’s exchanges. *It’s an online marketplace where individuals and small employers without group coverage will be able to shop for insurance coverage. Enrollment begins Oct. 1 for policies that will go into effect on Jan. 1.

    Medicare is not part of the health insurance exchanges.   Seniors will still get health coverage through Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service program or Medicare Advantage plans, private health insurance plans that are approved by Medicare. Those who are enrolled in Medicare Part A, which covers hospital care, or the Advantage plans will meet the health law’s mandate for individuals to have insurance.

    Q: Does the health care law offer any new benefits for Medicare beneficiaries?

    A: Beneficiaries receive more preventative care services – including a yearly “wellness” visit, mammograms, colorectal screening, and more savings on  prescription drug coverage.  By 2020, the law will close the Medicare gap in prescription drug coverage, known as the “doughnut hole.” Seniors will still be responsible for 25 percent of their prescription drug costs.

    Q: Does the law cut spending on Medicare?

    A: Medicare spending will continue to expand as increasing numbers of baby boomers reach 65. However, the law does cut the expected growth of Medicare spending by about $716 billion over the next decade.

    Those cuts are made by lowering reimbursements to nursing homes, hospitals, home health agencies and other providers. It also cuts payments to Medicare Advantage plans to bring those payments closer to what Medicare pays for care for beneficiaries enrolled in the traditional fee-for-service plan. Medicare officials stress that the spending changes will not reduce Medicare benefits.

    Some worry those cuts could lead to access problems, if providers drop out of the program. In the most recent Medicare Trustees report, Paul Spitalnic, then acting chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote that over the long term, some of the health law’s changes would cause Medicare payment rates for home health, hospital and other services to drop below those now paid by the Medicaid program, “which have already led to access problems for Medicaid enrollees.”

    Q: Does the health law require higher-income Medicare beneficiaries to pay more for their Medicare prescription drug coverage?

    A: It does. Currently, Medicare beneficiaries who earn more than $85,000 ($170,000 for a couple) pay more for their Medicare Part B premiums, which cover physician and outpatient services. The health law brought that same sliding-scale approach to beneficiaries’ prescription drug coverage in Medicare Part D for those with incomes of more than $85,000 ($170,000 for a couple). Those income thresholds will be frozen through 2019.

    Q: I’ve heard a lot about something called the Medicare “doc fix.” What is that and does the health law fix it?

    A: The “doc fix” refers to the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, which is the payment formula based on economic growth that Medicare has used to pay physicians since the late 1990s. Over the past decade, the formula would have cut Medicare physician payments but Congress has stopped the cuts. For example, it calls for a 25 percent drop next Jan. 1. Doctors warn that if the pay reductions were to take effect, fewer physicians will treat Medicare patients.

    The health law does not change that formula, but there is bipartisan legislation pending on Capitol Hill that would. The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a measure in July to repeal the SGR but the bill does not specify how to finance a fix.  The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee are working on legislation as well.

    This article was produced by Kaiser Health News with support from The SCAN Foundation. The SCAN Foundation is an independent nonprofit foundation dedicated to advancing a sustainable continuum of quality care for seniors that integrates medical treatment and human services with the greatest likelihood of a healthy, independent life.

    Editor’s Note: We find that Kaiser Health News articles are well researched, written and impartial. We recommend them as a source for health news. KHN is an editorially-independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit private operating foundation, based in Menlo Park, Calif.

    *Our former company, Time Warner, is moving retirees eligible – or who already have Medicare as a primary payer – for Medicare to privately run exchanges for their ‘second payer’ so there are, for a relatively small number of the over 65 population, a choice to be made on the exchanges.

  • An Exhibit That Begins and Ends With Lovers; Chagall: Love, War, and Exile

    Lovers Among Lilacs

    By Val Castronovo

    Marc Chagall (1887-1985), 20th  century modernist giant and renowned Jewish artist, is the subject of a new, dramatic show that opened recently at the Jewish Museum, located in the stately Warburg mansion on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

    Perhaps best known for his dreamlike images of floating figures celebrating life, love and Jewish identity, Chagall had a lesser-known darker side, which the museum explores in this rare exhibition of paintings and works on paper from the 1930s and 1940s.

    Lovers Among the Lilacs, 1930.  Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bequest of Richard S. Zeisler

    Born in the village of Vitebsk in Belarus (then part of Tsarist Russia), Chagall fled the tyranny of the Bolsheviks in 1923, when he moved to avant-garde Paris with his wife and muse, Bella, and their daughter Ida.  His art flourished there, and we see the evidence upon entering the exhibit, with two brightly colored paintings glorifying floral bouquets purchased by Bella at the Parisian markets.  (See The Lovers, 1937, and Lovers Among the Lilacs, 1930.)

    But while Chagall was cognizant of the many artistic movements in play during this period and swirling about him in Paris — cubism, surrealism, suprematism and abstraction — he didn’t adopt any one style. He created his own unique style, cherry-picking from the various movements and adding Russian iconography, folk imagery and Fauvist color to the mix.  As the show’s Senior Curator Susan Tumarkin Goodman elaborates in the catalogue:  “He maintained this independence consistently throughout his career. ‘I remained, and I remained myself,’ he once remarked, reviewing his life. ‘Why take anything from anyone else?’”

    The curators consider the works produced before, during and after the Second World War (1930-1948) as Chagall’s “neglected period,” a “lacuna” that they hope to fill by mounting this show, which lasts through February 2, 2014. It is their fifth exhibition devoted to the artist;  the first was staged in 1965 and focused on Chagall’s Biblical illustrations.

    The paintings from the war years are suffused with human suffering, violence and tumult, plus indescribable feelings of sadness, longing and loss.  Chagall mourned that he was forced to relocate (again) and live in exile in New York for the duration of the war, watching the horror of the Holocaust unfold from a distance.

     Undoubtedly, the most remarkable element of the works on display is the dramatic, recurring motif of Jesus on the cross — the image of the Crucifixion — which Chagall resurrected to symbolize the martyrdom of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. 

  • Two From Ferida Wolff’s Backyard Series: Bald Eagles Are Back! and Tomatoes — Again?

    Bald Eagles Are Back

     Bald Eagles are Back!

    I see many birds in my backyard, even some large ones like crows, hawks, ducks and the occasional turkey vulture. Bald eagles, however, are not among them. This weekend I took a mini-cruise on the Maurice River in NJ and had the opportunity to spot eagles galore. Some were on their nests, others were perched on the bare wood of trees along the banks of the river. The eagle pictured had caught a fish and was flying off with it. The bird landed on a branch and proceeded to enjoy its meal.
     
    The bald eagle, our national symbol, was once in trouble. A combination of land development, destroyed habitat, and hunting threatened to destroy the eagle population. Some claimed that the pesticides like DDT were responsible for thinning the birds’ eggshells and contaminating fish and water supplies. The population had gone from 100,000 nesting pairs to only 487 in 1963. DDT was banned in 1972 and on July 4, 1976, the US Fish and Wildlife Service officially listed the bald eagle as a national endangered species.
     
    Since then the eagle population has rebounded. On June 28, 2007, the Department of the Interior announced the recovery of our nation’s symbol and removal from the list of threatened and endangered species. There are now over 9,700 nesting pairs in the U.S. Quite a comeback.
     
    Seeing a bald eagle is thrilling. It has a presence. It also has a right to be here, as much as we do. We really do need to be more sensitive to our world. I’m glad to see the bald eagles are back.
     
    History of the Bald Eagle’s decline and recovery:
     
    Two pages of great Bald Eagle info:
     
    History and activities along the Maurice River: http://www.mauricerivertwp.org/environment1.html

     

    Tomatoes — Again?Tomatoes from Ferida's Backyard

    Challenges often lead to innovative solutions and this one did. We discovered that surrounding the tomato vine with fine netting seems to keep the critters at bay. I don’t know if they are confused or if the mesh coating covers up the tomato smell; what I do know is that we have had produce ripening on the plant without interference.

    I acknowledge that the patch is not pristine looking and I can’t imagine a real farmer doing it but for such a small plot, it has proved to be a reasonable answer to an annoying problem. Each day I eagerly go out to the garden and pick the latest juicy, red treat.

    Okay, I confess that I don’t deny the animals everything. After all, they can’t go off to the supermarket when they need food. I leave some of the lower hanging tomatoes out of the mesh for them to share. But at least now we can all enjoy Mother Nature’s bounty. I don’t need to wait until Thanksgiving to be thankful — I feel grateful every time I eat a tomato grown right here at home.

    Tips for growing tomatoes:

    http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/secrets-tomato-growing-success

    And now, recipes for those great tomatoes!

    http://www.cookinglight.com/food/in-season/fresh-tomato-recipes-00412000076956/page82.html”>http://www.cookinglight.com/food/in-season/fresh-tomato-recipes-00412000076956/page82.html

    ©2013 Ferida Wolff for SeniorWomen.com

  • Stopping Fake Online Reviews in New York: “Astroturfing Is 21st Century’s False Advertising”

    Benjamin Franklin

    New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that 19 companies had agreed to cease their practice of writing fake online reviews for businesses and to pay more than $350,000 in penalties. “Operation Clean Turf,” a year-long undercover investigation into the reputation management industry, the manipulation of consumer-review websites, and the practice of astroturfing, found that companies had flooded the Internet with fake consumer reviews on websites such as Yelp, Google Local, and CitySearch.

    Benjamin Franklin was accused of writing reviews (presumbly flattering) of his own publications using pseudonyms. Joseph-Siffrein Duplessis painting, circa 1785

    In the course of the investigation, the Attorney General’s office found that many of these companies used techniques to hide their identities, such as creating fake online profiles on consumer review websites and paying freelance writers from as far away as the Philippines, Bangladesh and Eastern Europe for $1 to $10 per review. By producing fake reviews, these companies violated multiple state laws against false advertising and engaged in illegal and deceptive business practices.

    “Consumers rely on reviews from their peers to make daily purchasing decisions on anything from food and clothing to recreation and sightseeing,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “This investigation into large-scale, intentional deceit across the Internet tells us that we should approach online reviews with caution. And companies that continue to engage in these practices should take note: “Astroturfing” is the 21st century’s version of false advertising, and prosecutors have many tools at their disposal to put an end to it.”

    Undercover Investigation of “Search Engine Optimization” Companies

    In recent years, the reputation management industry has exploded as businesses have become increasingly concerned about their online reputations.  So-called search engine optimization (“SEO”) companies routinely offer online reputation management as part of their services. 

    Posing as the owner of a yogurt shop in Brooklyn, representatives from Attorney General Schneiderman’s office called the leading SEO companies in New York to request assistance in combating negative reviews on consumer-review websites.  During these calls, representatives from some of these companies offered to write fake reviews of the yogurt shop and post them on consumer-review websites such as Yelp.com, Google Local and Citysearch.com, as part of their reputation management services. 

    The investigation revealed that SEO companies were using advanced IP spoofing techniques to hide their identities, as well as setting up hundreds of bogus online profiles on consumer review websites to post the reviews.  The investigation found that many consumer-review websites have implemented filters to detect and filter or delete fake reviews, with Yelp’s being the most aggressive. 

    “More than 100 million visitors come to Yelp each month, making it critical that Yelp protect the integrity of its content,” said Aaron Schur, Yelp’s Senior Litigation Counsel. “We take many steps to do this, including the use of automated filtering software, leveraging our vast user community for tips about suspicious content, undercover sting operations, legal action, and cooperation with law enforcement. We applaud NY Attorney General Schneiderman for his willingness to tackle the issue of illegal fake reviews head on, and for his success in shutting down these operators. We look forward to continuing to cooperate with the New York Attorney General’s office and any other interested law enforcement office or regulator to protect consumers and business owners from efforts to mislead.”