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OLLI
E-News #27-09 of July 10, 2009
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issue #27-09 of Jul 10, 2009
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DO OLLI MEMBERS
LIVE LONGER?
From the executive
director
UNFORTUNATELY, I
CAN'T PROVIDE A DEFINITIVE ANSWER
to
that question, but a recent article published in Health Day: News for Healthier Living
refers to research findings that would lead me to conclude that yes,
individuals who are active in OLLI do greatly increase their chances of
living longer.
The gist of the article is that people who
have a strong sense of purpose
in their lives are physically and psychologically healthier than their
peers who do not. According to Dr. Patricia Boyle of the Rush
University Medical Center in Chicago, "...if you find purpose in life,
if you find your life is meaningful and if you have goal-directed
behavior, you are likely to live longer."
During my time with OLLI at Mason, I have
heard members state that OLLI has been "a life-saver" and a "God-send"
because it provided such a stimulating array of options during a
critical time in their lives. Membership in OLLI has the potential to
fill the void left for someone who has recently retired or has
experienced a recent loss of a spouse. Individuals can gain an even
stronger sense of fulfillment by doing more than signing up for
courses. Involvement as a volunteer to help develop a course, write an
article, plan a social event, or sponsor a club can increase one's
sense of purpose exponentially.
Someday we may have research studies that
provide evidence of a direct link between membership in OLLI and
longer, healthier lives. For now, I think it's safe to say that OLLI
adds a strong sense of purpose for its members.
If you'd like to read the entire article from Health Day, click here.
MICROPHONE TIDBITS
From the Tom Swift Squad
 By Paul Howard,
Audiovisual Support Committee Co-chair
 WE'VE BEEN USING HEAD-WORN WIRELESS
MICROPHONES
at OLLI since September 2007 because of the vastly improved
performance they offer over our previous arrangements. These
microphones place the element that picks up the sound of the
instructor's voice very near his or her mouth, reducing background
noise and
the potential for feedback -- the high-pitched screech that results
when the microphone is too close to the public address system's
speakers or the system volume is set too high. As the user of a
head-worn microphone moves his or her head, the distance between mouth
and microphone remains the same, eliminating dropouts that may occur
with lapel or lavaliere microphones.
However, because some of us making presentations wear behind-the-ear or
over-the-ear hearing aids, often complicated by eyeglasses, OLLI does
have lapel microphones available at all three sites for
those special instances (liaisons should ask staff when the need
arises).
We also have hand-held microphones in our
classrooms for liaisons and course
coordinators
to use when making announcements or introducing instructors. The
hand-held microphones are designed to be held very close to the user's
mouth to reduce extraneous sound pickup and the potential for feedback.
Now you know why staff and members of the Tom Swift Squad may
direct users of these microphones to "eat the microphone!"
The Tom Swift Squad (Audiovisual Support
Committee) is constantly looking for ways to improve presentations
at OLLI. One of the best ways is for Squad members to be in every
class, available to help when problems arise. Won't you join us?
Just contact me at plhoward@verizon.net.
MORE FREE EDUCATIONAL
VIDEOS
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Distance learning via...
NOT LONG AGO WE TOLD YOU ABOUT
a
free source of thousands of educational
videos -- YouTube.edu (see this E-News
notice). We've discovered another free Web site -- Academic Earth
--
that
offers "thousands
of video lectures from the world's top scholars." The
videos are from leading universities (Berkeley, Harvard, MIT,
Princeton, Stanford and Yale) and the National Institutes of Health,
and subjects range (alphabetically) from astronomy to religion.
Visit Academic Earth at www.academicearth.org.
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BOB RYAN AT OLLI
News4's chief meteorologist speaks on
global warming
Slideshow
(four
photos): Bob Ryan speaks and answers question at the summer's only
megaclass.
Photos by Gordon Canyock.
LAST
WEEK SOME 200 OLLI MEMBERS (almost
one-fourth of our membership) gathered at the Church of the Good
Shepherd for a presentation by News4's chief
meteorologist, Bob Ryan, on global warming. Mr. Ryan is the
longest-serving weathercaster in Washington, DC. In 1996, he was
elected president of the American Meteorological Society; he is the
only broadcaster to have led this prestigious organization.
Because of Mr. Ryan's expertise, he has been
called upon repeatedly to testify before various committees of
Congress. At this "full house" megaclass, OLLI members were
privileged to hear his perspective on global warming and to be able to
ask questions of this expert meteorologist.
Web link: Bob
Ryan's Global Warming Discussion
Back
to top
 OLLI BOOK CLUB MEETS ON MONDAY
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
THE
OLLI BOOK CLUB WILL MEET at 10:00
on Mon, Jul 13, at Tallwood. The book for discussion is Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. All
OLLI members are welcome to attend.
Interested members may read the book's table of
contents, excerpts and reviews at this
Google
books page.
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
A forum for members to voice their views
on OLLI matters
WE ARE HAPPY TO
PUBLISH your brief letters about OLLI and, if
a response seems appropriate, we will include an OLLI response from the
executive director or the applicable officer or committee
chair in the same issue. Submit your letter via email to the editor or
submit it as a "letter to the editor" via
the online
suggestion box or the suggestion box in the Tallwood Social Room.
To be published in a given Friday's issue, the editor must receive the
letter no later than 7:00 pm on Monday so that any applicable OLLI
response can also be published. Letters can be published
anonymously but you must include your name and email address or phone
number so we can verify that you are an OLLI member.
A
clerihew for Mike
Dear
Editor:
Regarding Mike McNamara's ode to the Dirty Knee Club in last week's OLLI E-News, here is--
A
Clerihew for Mike
McNamara, Mike
He’s the one we like.
Who in the world could so much please
Those of us with dirty knees?
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--
Bill Ackerman, OLLI
member
KEY CONTACT
INFORMATION
How to contact OLLI
HERE
IS A READY REFERENCE on how to contact OLLI. For email
addresses and phone numbers not listed below, please consult the online
Membership Directory (log in to Member
Portal).
- President:
Emmett Fenlon
- Executive
Director: Thom
Clement, phone 703-503-7866
- OLLI Office, phone
703-503-3384
- Tallwood
Administrator/OLLI Registrar: Maria
Buczek, phone 703-503-3384
- Board
members: See Organization page
(to send an email to the entire Board, send it to the office or the OLLI
E-News editor, and your
message will be forwarded to all members of the Board)
- Committee
chairs, resource-group chairs: See Organization
page
- Suggestions: Online
suggestion box
- Letters to
the editor or letters to Ms. Ollie Ettakit
(etiquette
matters): OLLI
E-News Editor Rod Zumbro,
phone
703-569-2750
COMING
ATTRACTIONS
Non-class events at OLLI for the next two
weeks
THE FOLLOWING LIST
covering
the
next two weeks is extracted for your
convenience from the master calendar maintained by the office (see Upcoming
Non-Class Events to view the real-time OLLI online calendar used by
the office). Note: Board,
committee, resource-group and 'membership-type' meetings/events below
are highlighted
in bold. OLLI members are
welcome at all Board, committee and resource-group meetings (except
during executive sessions).
Fri Jul
10
10am Recorder Consort - TA-2
10am Travel Club - TA-1
11am Homer Group -
Social
Room Annex
Mon
Jul
13 10am Bridge Club - TA-3
10am Book Club - TA-2
1:45pm Finance
Committee Meeting - Tallwood
Tue
Jul 14
11:30am
Knitting and Needlework
Club - Lake Anne Church
Wed Jul 15 1pm Reston Lunch Bunch -
Jasmine Cafe, Lake Anne
Thu Jul 16 11am Fiction Writers' Club -
Location TBA
Fri Jul 17
10am Recorder Consort - TA-2
10am Board of
Directors Meeting - TA-1
11am Homer Group -
Social Room Annex
Sat Jul
18 1pm
OLLI PC Users Group
(OPCUG) - Tallwood
Mon Jul
20 10am Bridge Club - TA-3
Tue Jul
21 9am
Special Event 954 - U.S. Navy Museum and Historical Center and
Washington Navy Yard - Bus Trip
11:30am
Knitting and Needlework
Club - Lake Anne Church
Thu
Jul
23 12:30pm Loudoun Let's Eat Out
- Jasmine Cafe, Lake Anne, Reston
Fri Jul 24 9:30am Photography
Club - TA-1
10am Recorder Consort - TA-2
10:30am Classic
Fiction Book Club - Cascades Library
11am Homer Group - Social
Room Annex
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About OLLI E-News and the
member/volunteers who
produce it
Rod
Zumbro
Editor |
John West
Deputy
Editor |
Barbara Kyriakakis
Associate
Editor |
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Review Team: Gordon Canyock,
Michael Coyne, Barbara Kyriakakis, John West, Susanne Zumbro
Database
Manager: Barbara
Kyriakakis; Photo
Editor: Michael Coyne
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- About
this newsletter. OLLI's
weekly newsletter, OLLI E-News,
is emailed to current
OLLI
members with email addresses on Fridays. When classes are in
session, printed copies of this newsletter are distributed in
classrooms. Comments,
suggestions or complaints? Please contact Editor Rod
Zumbro or Communications Committee Chair Gordon
Canyock.
- Submissions. We
encourage members
to submit news items, articles and photos for this newsletter. The deadline
to
the editor is 7:00 pm Wed (7:00 pm Mon for letters to the editor
for which an
OLLI response is appropriate) for that
week's issue; submissions earlier in
the week are strongly encouraged and greatly appreciated. Please
limit
articles to about 250 words. Submit material via email to Editor Rod
Zumbro
(email rzumbro@gmu.edu).
- Read the latest
issue early. The
new weekly issue of OLLI E-News
is posted to the OLLI Web site Thursday evening. Read it by visiting http://www.olli.gmu.edu/pubs.htm#enews,
where you will find a list of the last 12
issues; click the latest issue listed.
- Viewing or searching past
issues. Your options for finding items in past issues of OLLI E-News include viewing the last 12
issues; searching the content of
ALL issues for any word or words; and searching our
archive of all past issues by date or issue number.
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Updated: July 10, 2009
Copyright © 2009 Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute at
George Mason University. Materials in this publication subject to
OLLI-Mason copyright may be reproduced for noncommercial educational
purposes as long as credit is given to OLLI-Mason.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George
Mason University, 4210 Roberts Rd., Fairfax, VA 22032-1028
Phone: (703) 503-3384; Email: olli@gmu.edu;
Fax: (703) 503-2832
Original site design and construction by OLLI-Mason member Rod Zumbro. |
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