Many of us–the vast majority of Boomers in fact–deal with the trials and tribulations of vision loss. Corrective lenses address some issues, but not all, which is why some opt for SMILE eye surgery or similar to surgically correct their vision. Not everyone can have access to this for various reasons though, so those still struggling with vision loss need a solution. Reading glasses can help focus on things
All posts by Jim Selman
Second-Guessing
By Jim Selman | Bio
Over the past few years, I have written about how life in our society is increasingly becoming a ‘spectator sport’. I am again reminded of this as I listen to week after week of pundits second-guessing President Obama and other leaders as if their points of view are a) true, b) somehow contributing to a civil public discourse, and c) honest and not contrived to produce controversy or provoke conflict and drama. I am not naïve: I am aware that the media is in the business of creating and satisfying audiencesand that drama, conflict and controversy sell more than relatively straight-forward information. Personally, I’ve managed to disconnect from the mainstream media channels about 90%, but even so the conversations are persuasive whether we’re getting them first or second-hand. If my observation about all of us is valid that we’re becoming spectators rather than being active participants in the democratic process, then the question becomes what can we do about it? As an example, a majority of us voted for a President and before the ink was dry we began to hear daily ‘score cards’ about his ‘popularity’ and is he doing a good or a bad job. Mostly we’re second-guessing his decisions and undermining his (or anyone’s) capacity to lead. Imagine what it would be like if you got married and then had a daily report by all your neighbors of how the marriage was going and how you were doing as a spouse. Either you’d have to stop listening or you’d end up reacting to the feedback to the point where you are a pawn of public opinion and no longer an actor in the relationship. I admire any leader’s capacity to balance sage advice and counsel from those committed to making things work and their ability to ‘screen’ out all the ‘devil’s advocates’ who have no other commitments than to destroy whatever possibilities may exist for change and/or to forward their own points of view. Lately there is a back-and-forth argument about whether the President is being tough enough on Wall Street. Frankly, I don’t know what his longer-term game plan is, but I would bet the story isn’t finished. He is fighting wars on a dozen fronts. He must pick his battles. He must be strategic. If any president were to declare war on Wall Street, it is not clear who will win and, as has been the case with healthcare, we will, in all likelihood, lose the opportunity to correct and clean up the mess we’ve created.There is very little (if any) benefit to second-guessing our leaders. If we have personal priorities and requests, there are lots of ways for them to be communicated. There are lots of forums for discourse and debate that are not daily ‘spectacles’.
We remember the story of Emperor Nero watching Rome burn. We forget that, for years before it burned, the population was drawn to the Coliseum to watch the gladiators live or die. They voted on the life
Investing in Farming
Climate change, peak oil and soil depletion will inevitably drive up food prices globally in the future. Some nations are looking to secure their future by investing in farming in developing countries. This can create the possibility of addressing local food shortages and rural development. But when wealthy developed countries (like China, Saudi Arabia, India and Japan) start purchasing land in poor countries (like Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Sudan), it is for growing their own crops.
Understanding Money as Debt
There are innumerable expert opinions available these days about solutions to our current economic crisis. But are those solutions just band-aid solutions? How did we get here? What is money at its root? What are the problems with interest?
Money As Debt offers a different perspective on the basic principles of the current financial system. Watch the full 80-minute Promises Unleashed series online to better understand the historical
Holiday Travels & H1N1
Here are some helpful tips for travelling this holiday season:
Review international policies. Some countries do screenings and exams at airports, and can quarantine passengers in a hospital or hotel chosen by the government for up to 7 days. Around the holidays, screening procedures (including filling out questionnaires and having your temperature taken) could cause significant delays. At the moment, neither the U.S. nor Canada screen incoming travellers
Trashing Tiger
By Jim Selman | Bio
I have not spent any time at all reading, watching or listening to the media about what are euphemistically referred to as Tiger Wood’s “transgressions”. I haven’t had to: it seems to be on every channel, and the ‘talk of the town’ wherever I go. Whatever the pain and anguish this is causing him and his family, it is disgusting for our voyeuristic nation to be so fixated on what, at the end of the day, have been human foibles for centuries and are commonplace in many parts of the world. I know that celebrity-watching is becoming a growth industry, but have we ever considered why?We seem to put our heroes on pedestals one day and then begin to systematically destroy them the next. None of us are Saints. If we don’t keep our agreements and commitments, we will pay the consequences. But we should be relating to this and stories like it with at least some compassion, rather than self-righteously deciding who is the villain and who is the victim and dramatizing what already is a tragedy into a public spectacle.
I understand that public figures must
Life Expectancy and Income
Statisticians have long seen life expectancy rates as being a superficial measure of longevity and quality of life. We know that life expectancy in Canada, for example, is 82 for a woman and 76.9 for a man. Statistics Canada has been drilling down into this data to look beyond mortality, and has now come up with Disability-Free Life Expectancy (DFLE) figures. DFLE is 68.6 years, which means most people can expect to live almost a decade with a chronic health condition or significant mental or
Destiny
By Shae Hadden
Choose to wait, wish and hope. At the end of your life, when you
reflect on the chance encounters, strange coincidences, unlikely timing,
and uncanny
events you experienced, you may say that all of your ‘bad luck’ was
your ‘destiny’.
Choose to be, do and have. At the end of your life, when you reflect on all the chance encounters, strange coincidences, unlikely timing, and uncanny events you experienced, you may say that all of your ‘good fortune’
Cap and Trade
Annie Leonard, who brought us The Story of Stuff, just released her latest animated online video, The Story of Cap and Trade. It only takes 10 minutes to watch this fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate change solution on the table in Copenhagen and in the halls of Congress. You’ll learn how cap and trade works, who benefits, what the major concepts
Alternative Economic Paradigms: Holiday Alternatives
By Shae Hadden | Bio
Perhaps as a reaction to the annual peak of consumerism (the pre and post-Christmas holiday season sales), I’m thinking these days of ways of alternative non-material gifts for my friends. What comes to mind are the types of things we, in our technology-driven world, may be taking for granted as everyday conveniences. Yet, in many parts of the world, these are considered luxuries.It’s easy enough now to share images and videos of ourselves with either the world at large or a select group of friends and colleagues using sites like Flickr, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Facebook and YouTube. When it comes to gifts for loved ones, creative items