Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
After the Great Recession: Long-term Unemployment and Older Women
From the Federal Reserve: In this essay, we focus on changes in the age distribution of long-term unemployment (LTU), the component of unemployment that grew to prominence during the Great Recession and its aftermath. In particular, we consider the differences between unemployed male and female workers. We also compare years before and after the Great Recession. more »
New Year's Peeve; Forgetting Self-Improvement Vows
Rose Madeline Mula writes: Am I glad I didn't live in Babylonia 4,000 years ago; the New Year celebration lasted eleven days. By the eleventh day, the Babylonians must have had prodigious hangovers. They probably weren't even fully conscious for the first month of the new year. That's not for me. It would mean missing all those great post-holiday sales. more »
Scout Report: TechKnitting, Life and Death in the Artic, Ars Technica, Boston Museum of Science, Railroad History, Rockefeller Family Archives
Knitters of the web rejoice: TECHknitting can elevate your skills and answer your questions. In 1845, two ships left England to explore the Canadian Arctic, locate a northern route to China and gather geomagnetic data. Both ships and 129 men disappeared. Ars Technica will be interesting for technology news, policy analysis, scientific advancements, gadget reviews, software, hardware. Recent Neurologica posts examine the neural correlates of delayed gratification, the nature of irrational fears and thoughts on the possibly holographic nature of the universe. 15 chapters take readers from the advent of the American railroads in the 1820s, through the golden age of the 1880s and 1890s to the 1980s and onward. more »
Patients with Shingles Face Increased Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke; A Personal Note About Repeat Cases and Post Herpatic Neuralgia
Patients have an increased risk of heart attack and stroke up to three months after being diagnosed with shingles, according to a new study conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The research, published in PLOS Medicine, showed the risk is greatest during the early stages of shingles, with a 2.4 fold increase in the rate of stroke and a 1.7 fold increase in the rate of heart attacks in the first week after shingles, compared to time periods when the patient did not have recent shingles. more »
