Humans are Difficult

December 9, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

That day at the Costco checkout, I paid for my groceries at a human-powered cash register and received the tiny oxytocin boost that comes from a random interaction with strangers, the kind that Mehret Biruk is always raving about, those small insignificant moments of connection that add to the richness of life…

This interaction made me realize that much of what I explore in this newsletter is about embracing inefficiencies—making phone calls instead of texting, planning your route ahead of time instead of relying on a GPS, waiting to check your email from a desktop instead of on-the-go, letting people know that you can’t always be instantly available across various communication platforms.

We live in a world obsessed with optimization. An era of contactless everything. This holiday season, lean into the inefficiencies. Make eye contact with strangers. Take your AirPods out of your ears and make small talk with the cashier instead of scanning your own groceries. Chat with the kind humans handing out samples at Costco. Choose human connection, however uncomfortable that may be. You might be pleasantly surprised. Humans are difficult – https://substack.com/@carmellaguiol

Choose human connection.

What’s Your America? (there are 10 Americas) – Updated with Scary Charts 02.01.25

December 6, 2024February 5, 2025 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Asians and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders definitively outlive other Americans. Is there anything we can learn from them? A confluence of factors may be at play. They tend to have relatively higher socioeconomic status, lower rates of obesity, and the lowest smoking rates of any racial group in the U.S. Healthier traditional cooking may also contribute to their longevity. When it comes to life expectancy, there are 10 Americas – https://bigthink.com/health/ten-americas-for-life-expectancy/

Attention Mortality Risk Experts

Sharpen your pencils and don’t ask me what a pencil is.

Updated 02.01.25 with Scary Charts

Nonrandom Thoughts on Retirement – Nov. 2024 (scary chart too)

November 17, 2024November 17, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Americans are split over the state of the American dream — https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/02/americans-are-split-over-the-state-of-the-american-dream/

Are you familiar with the self-fulfilling prophecy in psychology/sociology? Simply stated a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when what you believe about your future causes it to happen. When you believe something will become true, you’ll act to make it a reality. Look at the chart above. Looks like around 50% of the survey respondents under the age of 50 will never achieve their American Dream.

They will make choices and act in ways to ensure they will never achieve the American Dream.

GLP-1 – Compounded or Brand-Name?

November 16, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Caroline Apovian, MD, co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

“Doctors who are obesity medicine specialists like myself in academic centers do not prescribe compounded semaglutide or tirzepatide,” she said.

Many of the compounded prescriptions, she said, come from telehealth virtual–only companies interested in profits.

GLP-1 Prescribing Decisions: Compounded or Brand-Name? – Medscape – November 14, 2024 – https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/glp-1-prescribing-decisions-compounded-or-brand-name-2024a1000krd?

To be clear, all of my GLP-1 posts are not anti-pharma. If you can afford these medications and they work for you on your weight loss journey that’s great. Just be aware of the possible side effects and the fact these medications are for life. You will regain all that you’ve lost if you stop taking the drug.

Here’s the link to Complications? What Complications? (just another GLP-1 receptor agonist post)

Scary Charts 09.23.24 (another generational gap)

September 23, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

54 percent of Gen Z participants polled for Statista’s Consumer Insights survey in the U.S. between July 2023 and June 2024 claim that owning a car is important to them, compared to 69 percent of baby boomers. This suggests that the perceived necessity of car ownership is not only influenced by the availability and quality of public transit but also by generation. Owning a Car Is Less Important To Younger Generations https://www.statista.com/chart/33097/importance-of-owning-a-car-for-us-residents-by-generation/

Let me think about this. Digital from birth, Covid-19 pandemic global shutdown, social media, shared ride businesses, grocery shopping done and delivered, prepared meal delivery, inflation, cost of cars both new and used, shit jobs that don’t pay much, cost of car insurance and maintenance, cost of gasoline, going Green, fear of accidents, fear of violence, self-fulfilling prophecy, coddled since birth, never learned to drive, never wanted to drive…

Did I miss anything?

Cannabis Use and Psychosis Risk (Aussie Version)

July 24, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Professor Emmerson says Queensland’s Metro North Health — Australia’s largest public health service, based in north Brisbane and the surrounding region — is seeing increased presentations of psychosis due to medicinal cannabis.”The Metro North early psychosis service reports 10 per cent of their new presentations — so these are kids aged 16 to 21 — are people who’ve ended up on medicinal cannabis and are becoming psychotic,” the Brisbane-based psychiatrist says.

Doctors warn of significant increase in people hospitalized with psychosis after being prescribed medicinal cannabis — https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-21/medicinal-cannabis-psychosis-harm-risk-prescription-marijuana/104116952

Cannabis Use and Psychosis Risk

July 19, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

The investigators found that cannabis use was significantly associated with psychotic disorders during adolescence (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 11.2; 95% CI, 4.6 to 27.3), but not during young adulthood (aHR, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.6 to 2.6). Adolescents who used cannabis also had a substantially higher risk for hospitalizations and emergency department visits (aHR, 26.7; 95% CI, 7.7 to 92.8), while there was no substantial risk observed in young adulthood (aHR, 1.8; 95% CI, 0.6 to 5.4). Growing Evidence Supports the Link Between Cannabis Use and Psychosis Risk — https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/news/cannabis-use-and-psychosis-risk/

Have you read the book The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana by Laura Stack? https://johnnysambassadors.org/book/

If you have small children I highly recommend this book.

More Random Thoughts on Retirement – Memorial Day 2024

May 27, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

JP Morgan data showing expectations vs. reality on the timing of retirement:

Source: When Life Forces Your Hand – https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2024/05/when-life-forces-your-hand/

Memorial Day 2024

The Boss once again is outside in the yard doing her thing. I’m inside doing my thing, drinking coffee, reading, writing. One of my addictions is staying current with the news and this post popped up in my RSS feed. At my age it doesn’t take much prompting for me to reflect on retirement. The Road to 70 is nearly complete. Soon I’ll be writing the next chapter of life The Road to 75. Dear Reader, if this sounds “old”, it is.

Critical thinking and understanding risk are the cornerstones of what I do. So when I have an opportunity to validate or repudiate the key assumptions in my plans I am in my Happy Place. When I decided not to retire several years ago my personal mantra focused on the following two critical variables in my retirement planning:

Stay healthy.

Find a willing employer.

Number One. I just had my annual wellness checkup. Bloodwork normal. Tendency towards obesity curtailed. Blood pressure elevated on two readings. Per Doctor’s orders I bought a BP machine and started keeping a log. All of my readings at home have been normal. A little white coat effect and the excitement of seeing my physician (Redhead Effect)…all good.

Number Two. Don’t underestimate how essential having or finding an employer who will pay you to work as you get older. Too many of us know the feeling of being cast out to the street for becoming too “old”.

As I prepare to write the next chapter it’s time to revisit and revise the two most important goals that got me to where I am. After some considerable time and effort here are my revised goals for the next five years.

Stay healthy.

Keep working for my current willing employer.

Happy Memorial Day.

OK Boomer

May 2, 2024 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

The workplace is evolving, too, with businesses increasingly seeking the experience and wisdom of senior talent. Currently, 19% of adults 65 and older are employed, compared to 11% in 1987, according to Pew Research. Moreover, individuals aged 65 and older constitute the most rapidly expanding group within the labor force. By 2032, it’s expected that one in every four U.S. workers will be 55 or older, with nearly one in 10 being 65 or older, showcasing the growing presence of seniors in the workplace.

Boomers are defying age norms and you are losing out – https://www.fastcompany.com/91116274/boomers-are-defying-age-norms-and-you-are-losing-out

I am finally on the cutting edge of something.

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