deathternity

Monday, July 14, 2014

"A Dog Has Died" by Pablo Neruda=Wonders of Dogs as Pets

For Better or For Worse:

Strip For 113002

7 / 13 / 2014

Poem of the Day: A Dog Has Died

BY PABLO NERUDA

My dog has died.

I buried him in the garden

next to a rusted old machine.

Some day I'll join him right there,

but now he's gone with his shaggy coat,

his bad manners and his cold nose,

and I, the materialist, who never believed

in any promised heaven in the sky

for any human being,

I believe in a heaven I'll never enter.

Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom

where my dog waits for my arrival

waving his fan-like tail in friendship.

Ai, I'll not speak of sadness here on earth,

of having lost a companion

who was never servile.

His friendship for me, like that of a porcupine

withholding its authority,

was the friendship of a star, aloof,

with no more intimacy than was called for,

with no exaggerations:

he never climbed all over my clothes

filling me full of his hair or his mange,

he never rubbed up against my knee

like other dogs obsessed with sex.

No, my dog used to gaze at me,

paying me the attention I need,

the attention required

to make a vain person like me understand

that, being a dog, he was wasting time,

but, with those eyes so much purer than mine,

he'd keep on gazing at me

with a look that reserved for me alone

all his sweet and shaggy life,

always near me, never troubling me,

and asking nothing.

Ai, how many times have I envied his tail

as we walked together on the shores of the sea

in the lonely winter of Isla Negra

where the wintering birds filled the sky

and my hairy dog was jumping about

full of the voltage of the sea's movement:

my wandering dog, sniffing away

with his golden tail held high,

face to face with the ocean's spray.

Joyful, joyful, joyful,

as only dogs know how to be happy

with only the autonomy

of their shameless spirit.

There are no good-byes for my dog who has died,

and we don't now and never did lie to each other.

So now he's gone and I buried him,

and that's all there is to it.

Source: Poetry (February 1999).

PABLO NERUDA

Biography
More poems by this author

Friday, July 11, 2014

FUTURE of Medicine/Health:Hospitals=Data Surveillance Centers for Human Health via Sensors

stock photo of medical future - successful person making use of innovative technologies - JPG

Picture or Photo of Brain Cells and Deep Space elements of this image furnished by NASA

Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, July 8, 2014, Page R22, WSJ.com/125, WSJ 125 section, The Future of Everything:

Lab-grown custom organs for transplant: 15% of adults surveyed feel this won't happen in the next 50 years; 81% feel that it will happen.

July 7, 2014 4:30 p.m. ET

The WSJ's 125th Anniversary

See more from The Wall Street Journal's 125th Anniversary Report, including essays by leading thinkers, artists and innovators on the future of everything, and an interactive history of the past 125 years told through the Journal's headlines and historical video clips.

"In 20 years, humans will finally attain the status of cars for their medical care. They'll have wearable and embeddable sensors with predictive analytics, and, most importantly, autonomous driving capabilities. Most cases of cancer will be successfully treated, Alzheimer's will be substantially delayed or even pre-empted. DNA sequencing will be performed for most individuals at birth (or as a fetus). Hospitals, except for certain key functions like intensive-care units and operating rooms, will be completely transformed to data-surveillance centers. People will look back and laugh about the old physical office visit and the iconic 'stethoscope' along with the way so much of health care was rendered in the pre-digital era."

— Eric J. Topol, chief academic officer of Scripps Health and professor of genomics at the Scripps Research Institute

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Future of Retirement/Elderly-Retire"Retirement Communities" !!

Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, July 8, 2014, Page R14, WSJ 125 The Future of Everything section: RETIREMENT(scroll down please past BINGO picture below):

July 7, 2014 3:55 p.m. ET

Over the past 100 years, we have added 30 years to the length of our lives. But "retirement," as we know it, is making poor use of this public-health dividend. Rich or poor, older Americans—counting down their days in enclaves of the elderly—are asked to contribute little of enduring value.

Dr. Fried is dean and DeLamar professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The Future of Everything

125 Years of WSJ

The Wall Street Journal published its first edition on July 8, 1889. Explore the history of the past 125 years through the Journal's headlines, see an interactive version of the first front page, and track the companies that have been in and out of the Dow.

And that's what must change. At heart, public-health scientists are optimists. Crystal ball in hand, I see a future that retires the retirement community and fully integrates older adults into every facet of American life. We need to invest in an America where older adults are healthy and remain among us, living out important roles and responsibilities that leave a lasting legacy.

That future will begin with living arrangements that are energy-efficient, accessible and adaptable as our health and our needs change. Research demonstrates that we live longer, and healthier, in communities that bring us into the mix—whether in buildings designed for several generations to cohabitate, in dwellings where we live with spouse and friends in a group of small apartments, or in multigenerational communities or high-rises with ample space for people of all ages to socialize, to walk, sit outside with friends and exercise.

'Age-Friendly Cities'

We will make our homes in communities where we can walk to get groceries, cleaning and haircuts. The World Health Organization calls such places "age-friendly cities." Pedestrians will enjoy safe and accessible benches, parks and playgrounds. Public transit will be fully accessible and have the potential to take us everywhere. Healthy foods will be available and affordable, whether through green carts, grocery stores or home delivery for those who are disabled. Everyone will benefit from such communities, but none more than older people who will be less isolated and less dependent on others.

Of course, we'll still seek a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Because many will want, and need, to keep working, we will not only keep our jobs longer, we'll serve on intergenerational teams that extract the strengths and capabilities of each age group. As universities have roles for emeritus professors, other institutions will ask the most senior workers to solve complex problems that need the most mature minds, and to mentor new generations of employees. Some workplace policies will permit flexible hours and a gradual step-down in the amount of time worked in a year, while other employers will adopt flexible locations: summers in the North and winters in the South.

Columbia University's Mailman School

As ever, older adults will want and need roles that reassure them they are leaving the world, as well as their children and grandchildren, in good shape. With expanded social roles, they will address multiple unmet social needs, ensuring that children succeed in school, have the skills to get jobs and understand the critical importance of healthy behaviors that start in childhood.

Builders and Contributors

Some will mentor young entrepreneurs; others will help students, serve as first responders or counsel young people in communities of need. These roles will be carried out through national service, part-time employment or volunteer opportunities—a variety of approaches in which accumulated experience and wisdom have the potential to secure, and transform, our future.

With the proper investments in healthy communities and healthy populations, we can redefine retirement not as separation but as integration, a period of continuing constructive contribution with meaningful roles and responsibilities that leave the world better for next generations.

I know of no more exciting prospect than building a new life stage we never had before, and designing these 30 additional years of life so they are a win-win for all.