Portfolio Life .net

43folders has a guest post, Cooking for the Creative Beast that’s worth a read be you blogger, article or novel writer.

…My creative beast is restless and hungry, and I’ve learned that if I starve it by arbitrarily limiting its routine, it’s not happy. It’s all well and good to cut the fat out of your life to make time for what’s important, but you can take it too far. By turning off the internet, I turned off my source of inspiration. I was trying to write in a vacuum….

C/net news has an article - Elderly to benefit from ‘fuzzy logic’ research

…The technique has already been used in a number of applications, but Coupland said the project’s researchers will now focus on quality of life for the elderly.

he Centre for Computational Intelligence will work with the University of Missouri’s Center for Eldercare and Rehabilitation Technology, which has carried out extensive research on sensor technology.

Specially developed sensors can monitor people’s movements, capture sleep patterns, or measure pulse and respiration, making them useful in identifying medical emergencies or diagnosing health problems.

Using the information gathered by the sensors, for example, fuzzy logic will be able to distinguish between similar-sounding but disparate events such as someone falling over and a door slamming, therefore reducing the number of false alarms….

they go on to describe how the technique doesn’t use cameras or other privacy intrusive devices. It does include audio monitoring but is looking for key sounds like someone falling or a door slamming.

“One of the big things is to do this without impeding on their personal life,” Coupland said. “We’ve got to be careful how we use this.”…

Professor Robert John, director of the Centre for Computational Intelligence, said this kind of technology will play an important role in allowing people to lead more active lives in the future, with less dependence on social care….

It’ll be at least fives years before it is fully tested, approved and implemented. Sounds very timely given the boomer generation’s independent streak.

The Wall Street Journal’s Independent Street blog has an entry on entrepreneur networking: Online Entrepreneur Networks – Worth Joining?
Several links and ideas.

The Wall Street Journal’s Independent Street blog has an entry on going entrepreneur later in life:

Going Solo at 60-Something

A recent Journal article on backward career moves tells the story of Larry Kirshbaum, who left his post as chief executive of Warner Books at age 61 to pursue his dream of being a literary agent.

“If you have a strong predilection for entrepreneurship, exercise it as early as you can,” he says, to avoid the “financial jolt” he experienced from abandoning his big paycheck.

He later retracts somewhat: “But it seems to me that if anyone today feels the way I do at the age of 60, which is as if I were 30, then the timing doesn’t matter.”…

The author links to an older article he did Work…and Then More Work: Building a Start-up After Retiring

…Overall, he’s having a great time. But he says the new role forces him to be a “jack of all trades,” something he wasn’t accustomed to in the corporate world. “The downside is you’re doing it pretty much by yourself — I don’t have a secretary or support staff I used to have,” he says.

Like Mr. Obermeyer, growing numbers of adults age 50 and older want to start their own businesses, often after decades of working for someone else. But while being older offers some strong advantages for entrepreneurs — such as vast life experience and extensive personal connections to draw upon — it also poses unique risks and challenges….

Currently, older adults are drawn to self-employment for a variety of reasons. Some are disenchanted after years in corporate America and crave the autonomy of being their own boss. Others see a chance to finally pursue a dream or hobby. And some are driven by pure necessity: They need income and can’t find other work. Meanwhile, it’s easier than ever to start a business from home with just a computer and Internet connection….

“It’s a pretty substantial risk to be taking with your money at that age,” says Bill Morland, Orange County chapter chairman of Score, a group of retired business executives who volunteer to counsel entrepreneurs. “You don’t want to be putting your retirement savings on the line.”

Then there’s the problem of sustaining the “entrepreneurial bug.” Older adults sometimes lack the energy and stamina to work 80-hour weeks and constantly promote their businesses, says Robert Litan, vice president of policy and research for the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., resource center for entrepreneurs….

It goes on to talk about franchises as a middle ground.
Still, what that retirement nest egg… grow it, don’t shrink it.

Being in a state where 60% of the population lives in one mega-city and 20% in another berg, I’m attentive to the medical issues facing the remaining 20%. Especially as they age. The key is letting them stay in place for the social support while getting quality specialist care when needed. Things like this from the American Academy of Family Physicians will help:

Virtual Office Visits: A Reachable and Reimbursable Innovation
They’re convenient, they’re efficient, and for a growing number of physicians, they pay….