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Pennsylvania
Navigating
This site has two central locations:
I. THEME: No shelter from the storm
II. DIGRESSIONS (not related directly to the theme; my daughters Joanna and Amelia [ “You regard your family as a diversion?), stories, career, and whimsy.
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Navigating NO SHELTER FROM THE STORM
Where do I want to go?
To a neighborhood which must be developed: A global model of independent living for elderly and disabled individuals consisting of:
a) An experimental residence for an individual or a family. For example, Blueroof’s Experimental Cottage in McKeesport, PA–a one story residence on inexpensive land in a burned out section of a Rust Belt town where a community could be developed.
b) Low-cost factory housing (mobile home) residences where sensors and other off-the-shelf technology are embedded in the walls.
c) Technology includes: +Security system. +Motion detectors to monitor falls, especially high risk areas such as the shower.+Computer voice simulation combined with wireless communications so the walls of the building call family or emergency services for help.
d) Research facility at a major university, e.g. Penn State’s Immersive Construction (ICon) lab where a virtual reality (animated 3-D) model of the real experimental residence helps prospective residents, the architectural, engineering, and construction community, caregivers, et al. change design before additional construction takes place.
e) An inter-generational accessible community.
How a 10 cent increase in the minimum wage put me on page one of the Centre Daily Times
Note: Sunday, September 9, 2012, State College, PA 5:57 PM, EDT. My friend Philip Moery is fond of quoting William Faulkner’s observation, “The past is never dead. It’s not even the past.” This observation became trenchant yesterday when I received a post from Scott W., who, like me, is a member of a lively discussion group […]
Report by former FBI director Louis Freeh’s on the scandal at Penn State
Beaver Stadium where Penn State plays football at home The following Executive Summary, Findings and Recommendations are six pages from the downloadable 267 page: Report of the Special Investigative Counsel Regarding the Actions of The Pennsylvania State University Related to the Child Sexual Abuse committed by Gerald A. Sandusky [Note: The Board of Trustees of Penn State hired former FBI […]
Today is Bloomsday
State College, PA, June 16, 2012, across Beaver Avenue from Webster’s Bookstore and Café where next year [not in Jerusalem, but at Webster’s] Bloomsday http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsday will be celebrated properly]: “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.” This is the first […]
Celebration of the Use of Virtual Reality to Improve Housing for the Elderly and Disabled
University Park, PA. On Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 10a.m. Penn State’s Department of Architectural Engineering and its Smart Spaces Center for Adaptive Aging in Community celebrated progress made in a coordinated effort to reduce the cost of housing for Pennsylvania’s elderly and disabled residents today and in the future. The celebration took place at […]
Saving Medicare billions: Trying too hard can get in the way
Today is Sunday, February 26, 2012. I took the photograph above last week. My apartment is within an eight-story building housing 90 low-income elderly and disabled individuals, an ambulance parks outside my window at least once a week. Sometimes my neighbors and I return. Sometimes, not. The cost for Medicare, Medicaid, and other services to […]
How the Rust Belt became rusty
“In 1900, Pennsylvania was the nation’s second largest state [now, sixth largest]….Pennsylvania steel began its decline four decades ago, when management decided not to keep up with new technology”….–Almanac of American Politics 2012 by Michael Barone and Chuck McCutcheon