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Monday, November 22, 2010

Fast Track for the Elderly - Help or Hindrance?

I went to the Illinois Secretary of State office today to get new a license plate sticker. In and out in five minutes! The office has put in place a fast track for seniors (65 and older). Age has its benefits. However, this approach is a reflection of the general view that equates elderly with poor and infirm. Whereas I enjoy the benefits of the elderly I recognize the unfairness of institutionalized preferential treatment for people who have no real right to preference or deference. The negative side of the silly equation is workplace discrimination and chronic underemployment of the aging.

My generation had the good fortune of being born slightly ahead of the baby-boomer wave. The boom provided a steady supply of workers for the pre-boomers to manage who could fund retirement of the pre-boom generation. When the boomer wave breaks as the generation begins to turn 65 this year, the retirement system breaks with it - and the world economy is grappling with how to support the elderly with health and dignity. Preferential treatment in government offices is a symptom of government trying to address the problem with no observable impact on budgets. It lets the legislators and bureaucrats feel they are addressing the problem without really doing anything. I may as well enjoy it while it lasts.

For folk who do not live in the USA - Secretary of State sounds like an impressive title. It is not. It is the administration department of State Government.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Fall in the Botanic Gardens


Clickenzee on the image to see more from the Botanic Gardens

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

London Street


I was trying to do some real street photography in London, but all I came up with was boring pictures of people - so I changed my approach and took boring photographs of streets - but I think they are graphically more interesting.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Image Sensor Implant Restores Partial Sight

Just add a Compact Flash card and I will not need to carry a camera any more.

Image Sensor Implant Restores Partial Sight:

"Electronics Weekly, BBC News: German firm Retina Implant reported testing results of the chip that has restored limited sight for people blinded by retinitis pigmentosa and similar diseases, destroying only the eye's photoreceptors, and leave its layers of image processing neurons intact."


Sunday, November 07, 2010

SOFA So Good

We arrived at SOFA, checked our coats, bought tickets, and had our tickets checked by the ticket checker at the door. I noticed that he scanned preprinted tickets, tore bought tickets in half, but just looked at my tickets taking no action.
When we left I pulled out the coat check tags and noticed that they looked remarkably like tickets to SOFA and not at all like coat check tags.
Turns out we had entered the show by displaying our coat check tag, and we now have two unused tickets for SOFA. They would be worth $24 - if the show did not end in 55 minutes.