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Design Awards Enable Aging in Place
Tweet Share on Facebook February 4, 2010 Comment (8)Making homes suitable for elderly occupants is easy to describe, but it can be very expensive to do. The cheapest solution is to make homes senior-friendly when they are built, rather than trying to retrofit them. Some of the most elegant and cost-effective solutions are recognized each year by AARP and the National Association of Home Builders. The winning designs employ imaginative solutions that reduce energy consumption and use smart communications tools for home security and health-related "telemedical" applications. It will be some time before these "early adapter" designs are widely available. But they point the way toward solutions that older residents should explore for their existing homes or in new housing if they are considering such a move.
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Is it OK to Make Fun of Older People?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 3, 2010 Comment (18)"Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!" is one of my favorite radio broadcasts. The National Public Radio news quiz show has a rotating panel of visiting wits and a celebrity guest each week, along with call-in participants who are asked to answer questions about recent events both real and fabricated. Host Peter Sagal has a sure touch in keeping the discussion lively and entertaining. And while Carl Kasell may have retired from doing the morning news on NPR, his familiar and comforting tones may still be heard here.
[See Best Affordable Places to Retire.] -
Obama Retirement Proposals Tell a Sad Story
Tweet Share on Facebook February 1, 2010 Comment (58)Arguing against new government inducements to improve retirement plans is an uncomfortable place to be. Who could possibly be opposed to the goal of a comfortable retirement? Who doesn't want to help older Americans achieve that goal? Who doesn't agree that something is terribly wrong when middle-class salaries actually are lower, after inflation adjustments, than they were a decade ago? Surely, we must do something about this.
[See Best Affordable Places to Retire.]
