So in 2011 the opportunity presented itself and I jumped.  It caused some real economic shock.  I was going to say hardship but in the perspective of the larger world that would be a silly overstatement.  The first two years was tough until SS started but even then I never had to give up pot or premium channels.   Shorter version, I have never regretted it for a second.  

LATimes review

Catherine Gund's documentary "Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity" captures the Extreme Action Company in rehearsal, performance and offstage conversation, all with a vérité immediacy that's in sync with the business at hand. (Prolific documentarian Albert Maysles, whose credits include "Gimme Shelter" and "Grey Gardens," is one of the film's three cinematographers.) On a giant hamster wheel in their Brooklyn studio, and in spectacular feats on London landmarks, performers seemingly defy the laws of physics. Without question they reject conventional notions of what's humanly possible or wise.

Take your savings on health insurance premiums and treat yourself to a day at a spa. Or better yet, take what you save for the year and take a trip to somewhere you have always wanted to go.

I also suggest looking at a Medigap policy as an alternative to Medicare + supplemental.

Every day there's a reminder of some part of the face or body that used to be "up to here" and has now shifted "down to there

And once the stuff that you were holding up for years shifts down, you do not have to worry about carrying it anymore... you lose the need to bother keeping up all the BS.

More energy for the things you want to be doing.

The news media is the promotion and public relations arm of ISIS. War profiteers are among the media's advertising elite; and these clients are served by showing/promoting fear. Responsible reporting means telling a story from all sides in order to inform the viewer/reader. Today the media is competing for viewers/readers by amplifying the most sensational news in order to get an audience. Fear drives media consumption and the media feeds that fear.

In our media if it bleeds, it leads. By over-emphasizing each horrific beheading video and war images, our media does its audience a terrible disservice. They are omitting the root causes for the rise of ISIS. Where is the funding money coming from? Who is buying ISIS' oil at below market prices that subsidizes ISIS? Who and where are the banks facilitating the transfer of $2-4 million a day in oil sales to ISIS? Where are the banking regulators who have access that information? To be sure, this is a complicated story to tell to an audience that wants to understand the situation but doesn't want to invest a lot of time in getting educated. But that's the story that I'd like to see.

Link

And more Joel Silberman, here.

Since it's a big one, I decided to splurge and bought myself a new pair of skis.  One of my favorite birthday traditions is buying myself a present.  As nice as it is to get stuff from other people, once a year I make sure to get myself something I really want too.

Schellman said he didn't know why the body camera the wounded officer was wearing was turned off during the shooting. link

The officer had the means to remove any question about the circumstances surrounding the encounter but choose not to use it?

The protesters had one advantage: momentum. Dramatic scenes of thick tear gas clouds and young protesters dragged away by riot police have captivated Hong Kong and the world, evoking memories of the 1989 demonstrations the culminated in the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown. China limited reporting of the Hong Kong protests mostly to official statements that condemned them as "illegal action" and blocked images of the unrest from appearing on social media sites.

The U.S. expressed support for Hong Kong's "internationally-recognized fundamental freedoms," urging all sides to "refrain from actions that would further escalate tensions."

I very much related to your musings on aging. It is hard not to notice material under my armpits that used to be in front. And the doors that realistically are permanently closing. It occurred to me the other day that I really am not ever going to have a fancy sports car. Somehow I just always assumed I'd be tooling around in a wonderful Mercedes roadster some day. Not gonna happen, and that is fine. I guess.

My mother's flight to HNL from LAX this morning was cancelled by United, and she's being re-routed by that carrier through SFO, so she's arriving here later this afternoon, nearly seven hours later than she had originally planned.

Dry mustard and water.