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Savvy Senior: How to Protect Seniors from Scam Calls
Dear Savvy Senior,
What tools can you recommend to help protect trusting seniors from scam calls? My 74-year-old mother gets tons of unwanted telemarketing and robocalls on her cell and home phone and has been duped out of hundreds of dollars.
Frustrated Daughter
Dear Frustrated,
It’s a great question! Scammers are always looking for new ways to dupe people out of money, and in the U.S., phone calls remain the primary way swindlers hook older victims.
The Federal Trade Commission recently found that 24 percent of adults over age 60 who reported losing money to a scam in 2021 said it started with a phone call – the largest percentage of any method, including email, text and mail.
To help protect your mom from the onslaught of robocall scams, telemarketing and spam calls, here are some tips and tools you can help her employ.
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Hotel Review: Boston’s Verb Hotel Gets 4.5 Fresh Towels
Prefer to listen? Just click for the audio version.
Hotel reviews are based on a Fresh Towel rating. Five means a top destination, one means check in at your peril.
Welcome to the first hotel review. It’s being added to my restaurant reviews (1-5 Yums), and my general travel reviews and blog posts.
Like a lot of people, we’ve been traveling a lot since the removal of pandemic restrictions. We’ve been to Delaware, Atlantic City, and we’ll be heading to California and Las Vegas soon, as well as taking a cruise to Canada in October that arrives back in Bayonne, NJ, on my birthday!
I was especially prompted to kick these off because we’ve come to Boston to visit one of Frank’s oldest friends (who takes the ferry to Provincetown every year in August when we head their for our annual time share). Frank booked us into The Verb Hotel, and I was wowed!
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Dreamshaping Podcast #19: My Robot’s Name is Josh (Adventures in AI Narration)
This is my first adventure in AI, using a service called ElevenLabs voice synthesis. It’s frankly amazing, and it opens up a lot of new opportunities for me as a creator. Podcasts, blog posts, short stories, anything I wanted to have narrated can now be offered as audio. It’s very exciting, and I’m looking forward to new frontiers as a writer and podcaster.
This first one is called ‘When You’re Older, Son,’ and the Slippage of Time.’ As with all things Dreamshaping, it’s a look at the human experience and how we create and experience the ultimate dream of our lives.
‘When You’re Older, Son’ and the Slippage of Time
Are human beings the only animals aware of time passing? Do cats know they’re getting old? Do fish ever wish they’d swum in this direction instead of that one? Is a tree concerned at all with the number of years it has stood rooted in one spot?
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The Twist Podcast #216: Headlines and Horse Feathers, Brad Shreve Joins the Chat Room, and a New Guest Listicle!
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we scan the headlines, introduce our new Chat Room feature with our first chatterbox, author and podcaster Brad Shreve, and treat listeners to a listicle from Allison DeMarcus on the best things about sharing your life with a country musician.
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Q Audiobooks: Enemy of My Enemy (Executive Office, Book 2) by Tal Bauer, Narrated by John Solo
Enemy of My Enemy
Executive Office, Book 2
By: Tal Bauer
Narrated by: John Solo
Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
4.8 out of 5 stars (153 ratings)President Jack Spiers and former Secret Service agent Ethan Reichenbach throw caution to the wind, committing themselves publicly as the first out male lovers and partners to occupy the White House. Jack moves Ethan into the Residence, but as Ethan settles into his new role as first gentleman of the United States, not everyone is thrilled with their choices. When it seems like the world turns against them, Jack and Ethan must turn to each other, finding the strength together to press on.
In the chaos, Jack’s relationship with Russian President Sergey Puchkov grows closer, and the two nations find themselves working almost as allies. But President Puchkov has secrets of his own, secrets that could rip everything apart. And Ethan steps back into the action with Lieutenant Adam Cooper, taking charge of a covert kill team tasked with hunting down General Madigan once and for all.
But Madigan is elusive, and his dangerous reach is long. He strikes at Jack and Ethan from the shadowy corners of the globe, unraveling their entire world. As the mad general draws new allies together, he is single-minded in his quest to destroy the only two men who ever beat him.
Contains mature themes.
©2017, 2020 Tal Bauer (P)2020 Tantor -
An App for That: HealthyWage Lets You Lose Weight and Gain Money!
It sounds like a scam but it’s not. I just joined HealthyWage as a way to make some money while I lose the extra pounds. The plan is very simple: you wager an amount (payable monthly or in one lump sum) against the pounds you want to lose, and when you succeed within a certain amount of time, you get the winning payout. For me, it’s $60 a month for six months ($360), with a calculated winning of $745.
The formula is easy to understand: If you don’t lose the weight, they keep the money, and use the income to pay those of us who do make our goal – which I will! I’m wagering that I’ll lose 30 pounds by August. Success is the only option.So if you’re looking to lose weight and you’re confident of success, check out HealthyWage and see if it’s a nice little side gig for you. I will report back in August when I hear that ca-ching!
Enjoy what you hear and read here? Subscribe for regular updates!
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Restaurant Review: The Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm Rates 5+ Yums (Holicong, PA)
The Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm
5281 York Rd., Holicong, PA 18928
(215) 794-5104
Food: 5+ Yums (out of 5!)
Service: 5 Yums
Atmosphere: 5 Yums
Price: $$$$‘Astonishing’ is not a word you see much in restaurant reviews, but in this case it’s required. The meal we had at The Inn at Barley Sheaf was nothing short of amazing from start to finish. Hyperbole, you say? You won’t think so once you’ve eaten here.
We have a dear friend visiting from Delaware, so it was appropriate we take her to a terrific restaurant. Frank and I had been there once before and knew you get what you pay for, which is considerable and worth every penny.
Once owned by playwright George S. Kaufman and located in historic Bucks Country, PA, the Inn sits on over 100 acres of pasture and country gardens. It’s just an hour’s drive from Philadelphia, two hours from New York City, and it offers the very definition of destination dining. Along with the stellar restaurant, the Inn is a bed and breakfast, offering guest suites that feature, in some cases, whirlpool tubs, steam showers with body sprays, private balconies, individual fireplaces and more.
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The Weekly Readlines February 17
Now with a side of audio!
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) offers news you can use every Friday.
Say it ain’t so: Amsterdam bans weed in its red light district. And the Eagles lost the Super Bowl.
Quote for the Week: “Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.” – Lift Every Voice and Sing, James Weldon Johnson
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESFirst the good news: California moves to enshrine marriage equality in their Constitution. And Senator Diane Feinstein announces her retirement at the end of her term. We salute you, Senator Feinstein!
Governor Ron ‘New Sheriff in Town’ DeSantis secretly wanted guns banned from his election night bacchanal, asking the venue to say it was their idea. They refused. And in a pointless gesture, Nikki Haley announced her run for the Republican nomination (but her speech was pretty good).
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The Twist Podcast #215: Super Bowl Freakout, Mardi Gras Grub, 80 Years Young, and Our Move to Sundays!
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we consider the right-wing freakout over the Super Bowl, imagine the great food Rick’s going to scarf at Mardi Gras, confirm Biden’s running again, and announce our move to Sundays!
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Cat Talk Radio with Molly DeVoss and Dewey Vaughn: Dr. Brian Hurley, DVM, Talks About Dental Care for Cats
How important is it to have an annual feline dental cleaning? Why is it SO expensive? Do cats get cavities? Does feline dental disease lead to other medical issues? What are the signs your cat is having dental issues? What are things you can do today to prevent problems with your cats teeth? Brian Hurley, DVM and Molly talk about all things cat dental in this episode.
Cat Talk Radio is all about cats, what makes them do what they do, why they occasionally misbehave and what cat guardians can do to fix it. We educate you on how to modify unwanted cat behavior by providing the proper environment and stimulation, enabling cats to express their natural behaviors in ways that are preferable for both the humans and cats. You will learn how to have fun with your cat, fascinating cat facts and be inspired to try new things, which will lead to a happier relationship and closer bond with your cat. We’ll also call attention to the plight of cats in our country, feel compassion for their challenges and share the message.
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The Weekly Readline February 10
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) offers news you can use every Friday.
Say it ain’t so: NYC Fire Department Ends Famed Beefcake Calendar.
Podcast Pick: Stuff You Should Know
Stuff You Should Know is an informative and entertaining podcast covering strange facts and science. It’s a perfect choice for listeners who want to learn a little of everything. Do fish get thirsty? Is bariatric surgery a smart move? What is absinthe, and are cats an invasive species? Hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant can make even the most obscure topics intriguing.
Quote for the Week: “Black people have always figured out ways to teach our history in spaces beneath, beyond, and betwixt the machinations of people like Ron DeSantis. The only thing he ever got right in his life was understanding how insurgent our stories really are, how threatening to the status quo of a nation built on theft.” – Eve L. Ewing
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIESFirst the good news (and lots of it!): Biden crushed it, even seeming to enjoy the crass clowning of some Republicans during his State of the Union address. Iowa and New Hampshire will no longer be the first primaries for Democrats. The January jobs report blew past expectations, adding a phenomenal 517,000 for the month. And Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker fired back at the College Board and Florida’s fascist governor, declaring his state would reject an AP African American Studies course if it remained neutered to mollify MAGA world.
A Chinese balloon floating over Montana caused a panic among Americans more accustomed to being spied on by their iPhones. It was shot down off the South Carolina coast, allowing the country to return to its regularly scheduled surveillance.
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Savvy Senior: How to Cover Dental Care in Retirement
Listen to my One Thing or Another Podcast interview with Jim Miller.Dear Savvy Senior,
I had dental insurance through my work for many years but lost it when I retired and joined Medicare. Where can retirees find affordable dental care?
Uninsured Al
Dear Al,
Unfortunately, about two-thirds of U.S. retirees don’t have dental insurance today. Without coverage from traditional Medicare, and with private dental insurance typically costing too much to be feasible, most seniors are stuck paying full out-of-pocket prices every time they visit a dentist. While there’s no one simple solution to affordable dental care there are a variety of options that can help cut your costs. Here’s where to look.
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Podcast Pick: Stuff You Should Know, with Hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant
If you’ve ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.Stuff You Should Know is an informative and entertaining podcast covering strange facts and science. It’s a perfect choice for listeners who want to learn a little of everything. Do fish get thirsty? Is bariatric surgery a smart move? What is absinthe, and are cats an invasive species? Stuff You Should Know dives into exciting and often strange topics to provide unique, engaging insights.