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00:01 Speaker 1: Welcome to another broadcast of Boomers Plus Radio, the Internet program that serves your generation. You may be part of the lucky few generation, a baby boomer, or a child of generation X. But Boomers Plus Radio wants to bring you the memories of old, the events and problems of today and of the world to come. And this, we’ll do using correspondents located throughout Central Florida and The Villages, as well as with our associates at www.villagesactivities.com. And if you or your organization have an event or a story that our audience would appreciate, don’t forget to let us know by emailing us. Your announcer today is Don Howard.
00:50 Mark Newhouse: Welcome to Boomers Plus Radio: Adult Spoken Here, and I’m your host, Mark H. Newhouse, the author of “How To Sell Your Books Checklist” and this is our co-host, the very charming Lois Podoshen. How are you, Lois?
01:03 Lois Podoshen: I’m fine, thank you.
01:05 MN: And what is the name of your book?
01:06 LP: It’s “Trying On Bathing Suits and Other Horror Stories.”
01:10 MN: And Lois, what I love about you is you can take the simplest thing and turn it into a horror story. So, what have you been up to lately?
01:17 LP: Well, I have been playing Mahjongg.
01:20 MN: Oh, no. My wife plays Mahjongg too. [chuckle]
01:23 LP: Well, I have to admit that until seven years ago, I didn’t know a bam from a crack.
01:30 MN: Well, I still don’t know a bam from a crack.
01:32 LP: Well, I…
01:32 MN: There’s only one crack I know, and that’s a butt crack, but we won’t talk about that.
01:35 LP: Well, after playing it for several years, I’m still not sure I know the difference. So I’m giving it my best shot. But what I found is this is a very very popular game for retirees, mostly women, although we see some men playing.
01:52 MN: You’re kidding me. You actually had men playing Mahjongg?
01:54 LP: Absolutely.
01:55 MN: To me, that has always been the opposite of the sexist game. I mean, I’ve seen women standing in line for an hour…
02:01 LP: Yes.
02:02 MN: To play Mahjongg, and there’s not one man there.
02:04 LP: However, that… I believe Mahjongg started in China and it was actually a game for men. They smoked opium and they bet on the games. So, look how this game has changed from being a game that men actually were… Where it was a betting game and they were smoking opium and now we have women playing it and we think it’s a women’s game and that’s just really not true.
02:31 MN: How do you think that happened? I don’t have any idea how that happened?
02:34 LP: I don’t know. I think…
02:35 MN: Maybe it’s the pretty little tiles.
02:38 LP: The tiles can be very beautiful, yes, especially the flowers that have gorgeous little designs on it.
02:43 Speaker 4: There’s only one thing you have to be careful of. If the tiles are made of ivory, you better look out the windows before the FBI comes in and confiscate it.
[laughter]02:51 LP: But the old sets made out of ivory are absolutely gorgeous. Of course, some of them have yellowed, but even through they’re yellowed, they’re really really beautiful.
02:59 S?: What are the new ones made out of?
03:01 LP: Probably plastic. Maybe…
03:04 S?: She said plastic, folks.
03:05 LP: Plastic, but I didn’t realize that it was a game that really gets very emotional for many people. To me, it’s just a game, but there are many people that take it extremely seriously. There’s a lot of people that play for money, and there are people that are such serious game players.
03:33 MN: Do they hide tiles up their bra?
[laughter]03:35 LP: No, no, no, but there are times when I’ll look at my hands and I wish I were playing scrabble where you get a chance to throw your tiles in because most of my hands look like I need to throw them away.
03:49 S4: Alright. Now, I’ve never understood the object of this game.
03:53 LP: Okay.
03:53 S4: How is it different than, let’s say, playing cards?
03:56 LP: It’s different because you have a card that changes every year and the card has different hands that you can play.
04:04 MN: Is this the one my wife spends like $15 a year on or something like that?
04:07 LP: The card, I believe, is only eight or nine dollars depending on whether you want the big print version which I do.
[laughter]04:16 LP: It cost me an extra dollar because I’m old and can’t see.
04:21 MN: You are not old. You’re charming.
04:23 S4: Oh, I don’t know. Years ago, my first wife, she used to play Mahjongg, she was only in her 20s.
04:28 LP: Yeah…
04:29 S4: In the Bronx.
04:30 LP: Well, people here think I’m a little weird because my mother never played, my grandmother never played. I really was not exposed to it and most women tell me… Well, their mothers played and their friends played and I never had that experience.
04:45 MN: Well, how often do you play?
04:47 LP: I play every Monday afternoon and I play every other Tuesday evening.
04:52 MN: Okay, and you play with the same people all the time? Or do you play in a tournament or… How does that work?
04:57 LP: No, I play with the same people all the time, and honestly, I’m not good enough for a tournament.
[laughter]05:05 LP: Try as I may.
05:06 MN: Look, most card games have a lot of luck involved. Now, is Mahjongg any different?
05:12 LP: Yes. There certainly is luck. If you pick the right tiles, that’s great. We’ll see.
05:18 MN: Thanks, Lois, for sharing with us all about Mahjongg.
[music]05:32 MN: Lois, I’m very happy to introduce to you Professor Birdsong who is a law professor at Barry Law School right here in Orlando. On April 7, 2014, Leonard was awarded the Professor of the Year by the Barry students for upper level teaching at the Barry Law School.
05:49 MN: How are you, Leonard? How’s everything going?
05:52 Speaker 5: Mark, I’m doing fine. Thanks so much for having me. It’s been quite a school year. It’s coming to an end now, and I got quite a surprise at the end winning that award. I was very honoured that students thought that much of me. In my younger days, I was a federal prosecutor in Washington, DC. In Washington, DC, you do the local crime and federal crime, so I got involved in bank robberies, prosecuted drug deals, prosecuted murders. Later in life, I was defense attorney in Washington, DC, and now among other things, I teach criminal law and white collar crime, and immigration law. And I write humours books on criminal law, that was called “Professor Birdsong’s Weird Criminal Law Stories,” volumes one through six now. That is all…
06:38 LP: Yeah, I was very intrigued by the titles of your book; “Weird Criminal Law,” and “Weird Stories from Way Out West.” How did you get involved in “weird” stories?
06:50 S5: Well, all in Washington, DC, I used to do some radio. It was a middle-of-the-night type radio, overnight radio, and there was a guy that wrote these, or found these weird stories from around the world and put them in the city paper, and he told me that I could use them on the air if I wanted, and sometimes I did, I’d read these kind of stories. So in 2008, when I started a blog for my students, I started looking for some of these weird stories, but I just limited myself to criminal law stories. They’re the kind of stories that it’s more that the dog… “The man bites dog”, I mean the kind of stories that you don’t really expect to happen.
07:35 S5: One of the ones in the “Way Out West” story that you mentioned, there was a lady down in Texas, doing some yard work one Saturday morning; it was a windy day. She loved gardening, and she saw a snake in the garden; she was frightened, she called her son and said, “Could you kill the snake?” and the son said, “Yeah.” He threw some gasoline on it and lit it on fire. The snake of course, was in agony and wiggled into a brush pile that turned into a wildfire that ends up burning their house down.
[chuckle]08:05 MN: It burned down the house down?
08:07 S5: It burned her whole house down.
08:09 LP: Oh my God.
08:09 S5: And again, I don’t know if this is some kind of poetic justice or not, but these are the kind of stories.
08:16 MN: But…
08:17 S5: And here’s another one, this one comes out of Louisiana. We sometimes wonder, why do people do this kind of thing? A woman got into a taxi, one afternoon, in a small town, Covington, Louisiana, and demanded that the driver take her to Michigan. We don’t know why she wanted to go to Michigan, or where she wanted to go in Michigan. This is more than 1500 miles from her town in Covington, Louisiana. The driver refused to take her anywhere. They began to argue, and she completely disrobed, leaving all her clothes on the side of the road, slid into the driver’s seat and raced off in the taxi, completely naked.
08:54 S?: Now that’s my kind of passenger.
[laughter]08:56 LP: Yeah.
08:58 S5: The driver called the police, and after a brief chase, she was arrested, and we suspected she was impaired in some kind of way.
09:06 LP: That’s about right. [chuckle]
09:08 S5: Those are the kinds of stories that I find, and I would put these on my blog and my students love them. There are just a lot of them; people do silly things. When I was a prosecutor many years ago, I’d tell about the story of a bank robber who was dyslexic; he couldn’t spell very well, but he wanted money; went into a bank, he had written a note; he wasn’t a very good speller; the note read, “This is a rob. I have a pen. Give me mon.” Of course the teller laughed, [chuckle] and rang the alarm. He ran out and was soon arrested. He still got prosecuted for attempted bank robbery. People do these kinds of things.
09:44 MN: Well, everybody has weird things that happened to them, but you’ve made sure of a hobby of collecting these. How do you go about doing that?
09:52 S5: Well, one thing, I still read newspapers. I also have an app on my telephone that gives me a newsfeed for about a 100 news outlets around the world and it’s sort of a hobby. I just collect these stories, the funniest ones I find, and re-edit, and put them on my blog. Sometimes I put a funny little kicker line to them. It’s just a hobby, it started out as a hobby and it’s something I enjoy doing, and since the students liked it, I continued it.
10:17 MN: For our listeners, what’s the URL for your blog?
10:21 S5: It is www.birdsongslaw, no apostrophe, BirdSongs, with an “S” on the end, law, all one word, dot com.
10:34 MN: And the names of the books?
10:37 S5: Well, I have… The very first one, and these are digital books now, “Professor Birdsong’s The 157 Dumb Criminal Law Stories”, and then I have the series starting with “Professor Birdsong’s Weird Criminal Law Stories,” volumes one, two, three, four, five and six.
11:01 LP: Oh, and How do the Women Get Themselves in Trouble.
11:04 S5: Well, here’s one. You may have seen the movie, “Casablanca,” where the line was, “Of all the joints in the world,” or “all the gin joints in the world, why did she have to walk into mine?”
11:14 LP: Yeah.
11:15 S5: We can paraphrase that by saying, “Of all the joints in the world, why did she have to walk into this one?” We know that an incident took place one night in South Dakota, when a woman who’d had too many drinks, was driving and got lost. Unfortunately, she picked the wrong person to ask for directions. She pulled over and knocked at the door of a nearby home, it just so happens that the sheriff’s deputy answered. She drunkenly sought directions. The deputy then told the 32-year-old lady she could not get behind the wheel of her truck or get back behind the wheel, and the police report maintains that a wrestling match ensued. The lady lost and was charged with DWI.
11:56 MN: That’s all she got?
11:57 S5: That’s all she got.
11:58 MN: Let me ask you something, though. You’re gonna be doing some of these stories for us on others in the series here. Let’s talk about some of these series for a moment if I may, what do you think about crime today as it was let’s say in the past. Do you think there’s more crime? How do you characterize that?
12:17 S5: Well, crime goes up and down, Mark. I just read some statistics earlier, well, actually it was last week that in Central Florida, crime has dipped to its lowest point in 43 years.
12:30 MN: Wow! That’s amazing.
12:31 S5: Well, it is amazing, and it probably indicates a couple of things. There may be better policing, there may be people doing fewer crimes or it may mean people who are apt to commit crimes are locked up. You have an awful lot of people in jail, off the streets in prisons, and this has something to do with it. So the Department of Justice keeps statistics and over the last 25-30 years crime has been going down generally things like homicides or homicides rather stay steady but things like rape and burglary and robberies have been going down.
13:12 LP: But does that include any crimes like identity theft and…
13:17 S5: No, identity theft mostly is on the way up because criminals are using computers to do better crimes and more crimes. This is something that law enforcement has not been able to get a handle on because it spans many countries…
13:35 MN: Should boomers feel safer now than against about violent crime?
13:42 S5: No I don’t think they all do, but I think some do, I think there is less violent crime going on in the streets certainly in the bigger cities there’s less of it. There are these aberrations like Chicago where I understand on Easter weekend, 45 people were shot. [chuckle] But generally the streets are safer.
14:06 MN: Leonard, I have to thank you so much for adding your expert storytelling and expert law information to our program. I can’t wait till you do your next segment. It’s been a pleasure being with you. Lois.
14:22 LP: Thank you so much and I can’t wait to read about “weird criminal law.”
[music]14:37 S1: From the time she was 13 when she was kidnapped and then ransomed by her father for $50,000, Laura was indebted. After 20 years, her father, now with Alzheimer’s, felt as if he owned her, both body and soul. To repay that debt, Laura obediently did as she was told, that is, until that fateful day when she abandoned him at a county fair. He didn’t have any identification. Just a note stating that his name was Larry. During detective Liz Roberts’ investigation, secrets emerged from their lives. Secrets leading to an unimaginable climax. Alzheimer’s: Dutiful Daughter, the first in a new series of Liz Roberts mysteries by award winning journalist Don Canaan and Shawn Graves is available as e-book or as a print novel or audio book from Amazon.
15:37 MN: Lois, we have a very special guest with us, this is Arlene Bentz and she is from the Villagers for Hospice. We learned about Arlene and the Villagers for Hospice through our affiliation with thevillagesactivities.com which as you know promotes fund raisers, special events and also books and businesses from people. I am so impressed with what you do. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
16:04 Speaker 6: What we do is we do fundraising. We’re the fundraising arm for Cornerstone Hospice which is located on 466 in The Villages.
16:12 MN: Now nobody I know loves fundraising, Lois, I bet you hang up on all the fund raisers on the phone.
16:18 LP: Well, not all, but having done fundraising myself for years for various organisations, I know that it is very difficult to get people to part with their money, so how exactly do you do that?
16:33 S6: We find it quite easy, when you talk to the people in The Villages, everyone has a story to tell us about Hospice, how they’ve helped their family, their neighbours and so when we go to them they’re always willing to give a hand.
16:49 MN: Could you tell us a little bit about The Villages itself because our listeners are all over the country, in fact we broadcast internationally. So could you tell us a little bit about The Villages so we understand the context of this?
17:01 S6: I would be happy to. The Villages is a retirement community located in central Florida, and now it has approximately 110,000 residents and is currently in three counties.
17:17 MN: And because it is a retirement community, hospice of course plays a very important role.
17:23 S6: Absolutely.
17:24 MN: Okay, so tell us how you got involved in this.
17:26 S6: Oh I got involved in when I moved to The Villages 17 years ago, and I started doing patient care and saw that there was a need in The Villages to have a hospice house, so I started talking to the CEO and eventually it became a reality, and we now we have The Villages Hospice House.
17:46 MN: So you were one of the originators of the idea?
17:49 S6: I was, and that’s when we started our organisation in 2001.
17:54 MN: How did you go about… This seems like such a massive task. How did you go about doing this?
18:00 S6: Well, I was actually talking to the people at Cornerstone Hospice. They had already thought about it, but there is a time The Villages was only 22,000 people. So, the more they studied it and looked into it, they realized there was a need here in Sumter County. At that time, they only had one hospice house, which was located about an hour from The Villages. So, they knew there was the need up here in Sumter County. So, they put it in, in 2003.
18:29 MN: What would you say is the purpose of hospice? To me, the concept has always been little bit frightening, how do we make people aware of what it does?
18:41 S6: Hospice, it’s a legend in itself. It gives the person the dignity and respect. It helps them through their remaining days. It gives them that quality of life that they need to spend the remaining days with their family, it takes away the scare of death and people are afraid to talk about it, but once a family has worked with hospice, they wish they would’ve known about it sooner.
19:09 LP: Absolutely. Everyone has been touched by a similar story and years ago my mother was suffering with cancer and we only got her into a hospice situation in the very very end of her disease and we were sorry that we had not done it before, but it is difficult for people to put their loved one into hospice because they have to admit that this is the end of someone’s life, but that said, how many people would you say that your organization helps per year?
19:50 S6: Right now Lois, we have over 750 people that Cornerstone Hospice is caring for in the seven counties. Here in The Villages, there is approximately may be 125 that are being cared for right now. Most patients are cared for in their homes.
20:11 MN: Really?
20:11 LP: Really? See, I didn’t realize that.
20:13 S6: 98% are cared for in their homes; however, what happens is if you have two elderly people and the one can no longer take care of that person, or if a person is living alone and they need hospice care, then they would come to our hospice house and we have 12 bedrooms in our current hospice house.
20:31 LP: And we’re talking about palliative care, we’re talking about changing of bandages and things like that and what about the families? Do you help the families because…
20:41 S6: Absolutely.
20:43 LP: It is a very trying time for them as well and they need care also.
20:48 S6: Absolutely. It’s a team effort. When you come into hospice, there is an entire team that works with the family from the doctors, the nurses, the social workers, the chaplain, the home health aid, the volunteers, everyone works with the family and when they go there, the room is set up that the family can actually stay with them. There are sofa beds in each room. There is refrigerators. There is TVs, so that they can stay with their loved one until they pass.
21:16 MN: So, this is what your fundraising does?
21:19 S6: Yes. What wine bingo is? Instead of wining money you win all bottles of wine.
21:25 LP: Wow! Okay, I’m not…
[overlapping conversation]21:26 S6: And the tickets sell out every single time we have it, the people love it.
21:30 MN: And when is your next one?
21:30 S6: You bring your own snacks and whatever you wanna have to drink and we do fun bingos. It’s not just the regular bingos. We do things such as stand-up bingo, so you stand up and as soon as your number is called then you sit down, so it’s last man standing. So, that’s a fun game.
21:47 MN: Oh, I once did that.
21:47 S6: That’s May 16th and then we’re doing something new in The Villages. We have never done this before, but it’s going to be an eight-inch cup mixed golf scrabble.
21:58 MN: It’s a what?
21:59 S6: Eight-inch cup, meaning, do you know how when you’re playing golf and the ball gets really close to the hole, but you always need that extra inch or two to have the ball fall in?
22:10 MN: Yes.
22:10 S6: Well, all the cups are gonna be eight inches large.
22:14 LP: Oh, eight inches, oh. I might even be able to see that.
[laughter]22:18 S6: I was thinking the same thing Lois, I thought, may be I would even try it and it’s gonna be… It’s a new concept, but we thought would have a lot of fun with it.
22:26 MN: And when is that?
22:26 S6: So we’re gonna be having that on July, the 10th and registrations will begin mid May and we’re going to take about a 100 people and see how it goes.
22:36 LP: Oh, I bet it’s gonna be sold out immediately.
22:38 S6: Oh, I think so. I think so and I want to get started, a lot of groups will join and start doing it, so it will become a fun event each year.
22:46 MN: Where is that going to be held?
22:48 S6: That’s gonna be at our Cane Garden Country Club.
22:51 MN: Oh, And that’s right in The Villages.
22:52 S6: Absolutely.
22:53 MN: Okay and what else they have coming up?
22:58 S6: Right now, there are the two major things we’re doing and then we’ll start, in the summertime is when we do our planning and then we started planning for the next year, but what’s happening is we do a lot of… Well, I could tell you like in January and February, we have two cruises and one is in January, one I believe February 4th, one is a seven day and one is a 14-day. They’re both on celebrity. And they are full fundraisers.
23:24 LP: Where are you going? Because it sounds like something I might be interested in. What are…
23:28 MN: Lois is ready to pack her bag.
23:29 LP: Yeah. Where are you going? Caribbean?
23:31 S6: Both of them are going to be the Eastern Caribbean and one does like St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. Kitts and San Juan, and the other one does Aruba, Carousel, Barbados, St. Martin, a lot of different places. And…
23:48 MN: Lois, you can’t go, we need you for the show.
23:53 LP: Oh, I’m ready to pack my bag.
23:53 S6: Oh, there is one really neat thing about this…
23:53 MN: Tell me, how do we get information about all your activities?
23:57 S6: Actually Mark, you can get onto our webpage which is www.villagersforhospice.org.
24:07 MN: Well, I wanna thank you, Arlene, so much. It’s been really fascinating. I think it’s a very worthwhile cause.
24:13 LP: Yes, thank you, and I’m gonna think about some of those cruises.
24:16 S6: Well, thank you, and I look forward to seeing you on these cruises, and I’ve really enjoyed speaking with you today.
24:24 MN: And now a word from our sponsor.
24:27 LP: Gosh, I can’t stand marketing my books. Woe is me! Woe is me!
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[background noise]24:46 LP: Look up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane. It’s… Who are you, stranger?
24:51 MN: I am Super Marketing Man, and this is the, “How to Sell Your Books” Workbook by marketing guru Linda TerBurg, and the “How to Sell Your Books Checklist” by multi-award winning author, Mark H. Newhouse.
25:07 LP: They look so simple to use, and inexpensive, too.
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25:19 LP: How do I get these super helpful books?
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[background noise]25:38 S?: And folks, don’t forget to visit Amazon.com and order your “How to Sell Your Books Checklist and Workbook”, now.
[music]26:00 MN: Living in Florida, you do know that identity theft is not only a serious world problem, but I recently read that the number one state in the United States where these crimes take place is right here. So, what I’ve done, is I have invited a very special guest again to our program. This is Jack L. Hayes. Now, Jack is a great non-fiction writer who has written about his experiences with baseball. He was a bat boy. He’s had just a fascinating life. But what we’re really interested today is, in his career in business, he learned a tremendous amount about fraud and scams, and has written a wonderful book. Jack, I wanna introduce you to Lois, our co-host.
26:47 LP: Hi, Jack.
26:47 Speaker 7: Hello, Lois.
26:48 MN: Tell us a little bit about your book first of all about fraud.
26:52 S7: Well, the “Business Fraud” book was written… In fact, it won the Florida Writer’s 2010 First Place Non-Fiction. It’s based primarily on my experiences and the experiences of other people, regarding fraud and embezzlement in businesses. Business fraud, I’ve studied the subject for over 30 years, and I’ve interviewed literally hundreds of thieves of all types, to learn how they steal and the various things they do.
27:29 MN: And what’s the title of the book, Jack?
27:31 S7: Business Fraud: From Trust to Betrayal.
27:35 MN: And what I wanna point out is, now I’ve read this book, and Lois, there’s so much in it, not just for people in business, but for people like you and I who are dealing with business people, and unfortunately with this identity theft. So, Jack, let’s get right to it. As boomers, should we be concerned about identity theft?
27:54 S7: Everyone has to be concerned about the identity theft today. The bad news is that everyone’s vulnerable in one way or another to it. For example, the Federal Trade commission released a report covering 2013 statistics and 43% of those victimized were reached through email, 21% through telephones, and 20% were defrauded through a website.
28:29 MN: So, we’re all vulnerable through email, telephone, and website. And Lois, you use these things, don’t you?
28:37 LP: All the time.
28:37 MN: Is this something you’re concerned about?
28:39 LP: Actually, I’m very concerned about it. We have a shredder, and anything that has our name and address on it, or any kind of security number, we shred that and then throw it in the garbage, not in a recycle bin. But I think as older people, we tend to be as a group more vulnerable to identity theft. Perhaps we don’t take as many precautions and thieves see us as easy marks.
29:11 MN: Is it that we don’t take enough precautions, or is it that they have the conception that we’re older and more vulnerable?
29:18 S7: They do prey on older people, and oh, your senior citizens particularly have a tendency to trust people more than the younger people.
29:32 MN: That’s how I got Lois suckered into this job.
[laughter]29:36 MN: So, Jack, tell me, if 43% of these frauds take place through email… I don’t know about Lois, but I’m not techie at all. So, I worry about this a lot.
29:48 LP: I’m semi-techie.
29:49 MN: Semi-techie? Alright. So, Jack. Is this a thing we should be first concerned about, email?
29:56 S7: Certainly, to me without any question, email is the area to focus on. And the thing with the email, it’s a fairly easy area for the consumer, the senior to prevent these crimes from happening.
30:16 MN: So, you’re gonna be giving us practical advice on how we can do that?
30:18 S7: Yes.
30:18 MN: Well, let’s get right to it. What can we do?
30:23 S7: Well, to me, the first thing you have to do is to start with a good password or PIN number. And you use passwords or PIN numbers of things that are somewhat difficult for the thief to decipher and use hard-to-guess codes. By this, I mean, if you’re using a name of a friend, say that as your password, you may want to capitalize a letter in between, a letter beginning, use a number front or back or anywhere in. You want to make it so that an individual cannot sit down and go through a series of steps. For example, people use their home addresses, their birthdays, things like that. Those are so well known that these thieves go after them.
31:22 MN: I’m gonna use passion. Nobody knows that one.
31:25 LP: There are only, let me see, about seven of us at the moment in the entire world. If anybody can pronounce it, much less spell it, good luck to you.
[laughter]31:36 LP: But I’m… We… I try to make up words as my password. I’ll pick a word that’s familiar to me and I will change it into a new word.
31:45 S?: Yes.
31:47 LP: The only problem I have is then remembering that word.
31:49 MN: That’s what I was gonna answer Jack. I mean, none of the problems I have is for every account I’ve got a different password. How do you go about remembering these?
32:00 S7: Well, there are different… You can purchase software programs that’ll help you remember them. People will record them in diaries, in books, in things of that nature. So, those are the basics for passwords. Couple things I really want to make certain I bring out today: Number one is, protect your computer. Now, I happen to live in The Villages, Florida. So, I know that a great deal of this is taking place. I’ve had it… The phone calls come in my cell, where an individual calls and they represent themselves to be a security organization, say like, Microsoft Security, and that they need to check something on your computer.
32:50 S7: They want to gain access to that computer, and don’t accept calls like that. You hang up, you give them no information. Another thing that’s taking place across the country and a lot of times when I’m talking here, internationally, beware of the email scams where the scammers are calling or sending you an email and asking you to verify an account. For example, maybe your cable company, they’re saying that the payment wasn’t processed properly and they need for you to re-enter the information. Well, these are scams but they look exactly like the cable company, like your bank and things of that nature. So, again, stay away from those.
33:45 LP: And they’re getting better at making it look legitimate. I’ve noticed that. That there is something from, I get that look like they’re coming from the airlines.
33:53 S?: Yes.
33:56 LP: And they, you would swear it’s from the airlines. Then on, I’d look at it more carefully, I realize that it’s a scam.
34:00 MN: Well, my rule has always been “No info at all.”
34:05 LP: Exactly.
34:05 MN: And I recently had a situation like this where someone I know said, “I’m sorry, my husband isn’t home.” And I think that’s a very dangerous thing to do because you’ve giving away information.
34:16 S7: Yes.
34:18 MN: Jack, we’re not gonna cover all these today. And I want you to come back because I think this is such an important segment that I think everybody’s gonna be wanting to listen to this. But going back on this, one thing I wanna talk to you about, when you talk about protecting your computer, right?
34:31 S7: Yes.
34:33 MN: Okay. Now, we’re not talking about physically protecting your computer. We’re talking about… What is it that…
34:37 LP: Software.
34:38 S7: We’re talking about the software because if they can get to that computer… I use… For example, the fraudster that uses the thing of they’re from Microsoft Security. They aren’t from Microsoft Security. They want to get their software into that computer and once that happens, they’ll have your bank accounts. They’ll have your personal identification, any passwords that you have. And these are things you absolutely must avoid.
35:10 LP: Like they say, “Now is the time to update your software. Something’s been detected.” And it’s not your program. It’s another program that wants to get your information.
35:19 MN: Is a good general rule not to give information to anybody?
35:25 S7: Absolutely. You should never give information unless you specifically know the source that you’re giving it to.
35:33 MN: Okay. Jack, as I said, what is the name of your book?
35:36 S7: Business Fraud: From Trust to Betrayal.
35:40 MN: Good. You are going to be back a lot. Because this is so vital for boomers.
35:42 LP: Absolutely, we will take [35:43] ____ from you. Boomers need to hear this.
35:46 MN: And you’re performing an important public service. So Jack, I wanna thank you so much. We’ll be talking to you very soon.
[music]36:07 S?: Everyday I wake up at five to give dad his medicine. Everyday I wake up at five to give dad his medicine. At six I make his breakfast. Everyday I wake up at five to give dad his medicine. At six I make his breakfast, at seven I shower. Everyday I wake up at…
36:23 S?: For those caring for a loved one, we hear you. That’s why AARP created a community to help us better care for ourselves and the ones we love. Visit aarp.org/caregiving. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council.
36:37 S?: Chances are there’ll never be an emergency ever again. But, just in case, let’s talk about a plan.
36:42 S?: Okay.
36:42 S?: Who is going to grab the go bag?
36:44 S?: What’s a go bag?
36:45 S?: It is a bag we do not have that is filled with things we really, really need in an emergency.
36:50 S?: Guess we won’t have to worry about it then.
36:51 S?: Well, this is great. I am so glad that we don’t have a plan.
36:55 S?: I know.
36:56 S?: Winging it is not an emergency plan. Make sure your kids know what to do during an emergency. Who to call, where to meet, what to pack. Visit ready.gov/kids for tips and information. Brought to you by FEMA and the Ad Council.
37:08 MN: Lois, we had such a good time last time with our talk about lie detectors that I asked Bill to come on back.
37:16 LP: So you’re gonna make me sweat again.
37:18 MN: We’re gonna make you sweat again. So this is William J. Warner, author of ‘Going Knee to Knee’ Confessions, Tales and Tribulations from… Are you ready Lois?
37:27 LP: Oh yes.
37:28 MN: Inside the FBI’s Polygraph Program. And this is the first book of it’s kind that I know of, or that anybody knows of that actually is from inside one of the FBI’s most revered programs. Bill welcome back.
37:40 Speaker 8: Thank you Mark.
37:41 MN: We’re talking about verbal cues here which can help us understand not only if a criminal has committed a crime, but if a family member’s not telling you the truth, if a politician is not telling the truth, right?
37:55 S8: Right.
37:56 MN: Okay. So, let’s talk about a couple of ones we talked about the last time. You talked about selective memory. Again, what does that mean?
38:04 S8: Selective memory. When you ask somebody where they were like say the day before, say I were to ask if you were at the park the day before and there was a heinous crime committed there, say in the morning. And I’ll ask you whether or not you were there and you come back with “I don’t recall being there. I don’t remember ever having gone there” things of this nature, that’s selective memory.
38:32 MN: Now when you have… You’re the criminal okay, are you saying that generally when they give you that kind of statement “I don’t remember” that sort of triggers a light bulb in your head?
38:45 S8: Sometimes. It depends on how much time we’re looking at. If the event occurred a year ago, I might give you some leeway there and say maybe he really doesn’t recall that. However, if you are guilty of the heinous act, you know you did the deed.
39:04 MN: So you would know where you were.
39:05 S8: You would know where you were. You might not recall the exact time, but you know you did the deed. Now if that happened yesterday or a week ago, you’re gonna know the day and the time.
39:15 MN: But I’d be kind of suspicious if someone told me they know exactly where they were a year earlier.
39:21 LP: Well, but is it true that people remember, let’s say the bad things more than they remember the good things that happen?
39:30 S8: I think so especially if you’re guilty of doing the bad things.
39:34 LP: So that certainly would be a trigger to say, “Well, I don’t know, I don’t remember… ”
39:38 MN: Gee, I don’t remember anything bad I’ve ever done.
[laughter]39:40 LP: That could be, I hate to be sexist to you. But…
39:45 MN: You’re gonna do it aren’t you?
39:46 LP: I’m gonna do it. Men do tend to have selective memory.
39:51 MN: Men do…
39:52 LP: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
[laughter]39:55 MN: And women are perfect. Go ahead.
39:56 LP: Yes.
39:57 MN: Invoking religion.
39:58 S8: Invoking religion. “I swear on the Bible, as God is my witness. How could you accuse me of that I’m a Christian man.” These are examples of people invoking religion into the interview really unnecessarily.
40:12 MN: And this arouses your suspicion.
40:14 S8: It does, but we take this with regard to other verbal cues that we may be seeing or hearing during the discussion.
40:24 MN: Such as?
40:24 LP: Everything is in context.
40:26 S8: Such as the one we just talked about, selective memory.
40:28 MN: Oh I forgot about that, already.
40:30 S8: Right.
[laughter]40:32 S8: Or people who failed to answer the question directly.
40:35 MN: Oh Lois, you never answer my questions directly.
40:38 LP: I try not to Mark.
40:39 MN: Okay.
[laughter]40:40 LP: It will get me in trouble.
40:41 MN: How about challenging the interviewer which is what Lois always does.
40:46 S8: Well, when you accuse somebody of a crime, or you confront somebody about a crime and they come right back to you and attempt to turn the table on you, take control of the interview basically by suggesting that “you’ve insulted me by implying that I would do such a thing,” they’re challenging you.
41:07 MN: And again…
41:08 LP: And deflecting away from themselves.
41:10 S8: Exactly, exactly.
41:11 MN: So if I go to a car salesman and I say to him “Are you giving me a fair price?” And he says, “Oh I would never do anything but that.”
41:21 LP: That’s right. “I’m an honest guy, why would I tell you something that’s not true”
41:24 MN: Or “I’m you’re good friend.”
41:26 S8: My antenna would go up and I would be very cautious as to what I hear or see throughout the remainder of the conversation.
41:34 MN: Alright, now what about this one ‘Giving overly specific answers.’ What does that mean?
41:39 S8: Answers that are not directly in response to the question but they’re tangential to the issue. For example, I can remember a case where a patient was poisoned at a hospital and the doctor was interviewed. Instead of answering the question directly, he deflected it to a similar issue that happened to the hospital across the street and then he talked about what a tremendous staff he had and nothing like this sort of thing could happen on his floor or on his watch. He never did answer the question directly.
42:16 MN: So, in other words, if someone gives you an anecdote, for example, if you ask someone a question and give you a long-winded anecdote, that’s another trigger?
42:24 S8: Exactly.
42:25 MN: Okay. How about qualified responses, what does that mean?
42:28 S8: Qualified responses, ‘I believe, I think so, perhaps, maybe’. You hear these everyday when you’re talking to people.
42:37 MN: Yeah, we do.
42:39 S8: And you see, so many times and somebody says, “Well, I believe so or I think so,” we mistakenly take that as the truth, as he in fact knows. Well, if he qualified it and said, “I believe” or “I think,” he doesn’t really know.
42:58 LP: Very good point.
42:59 S8: Doesn’t really know. We could use this with our in-laws. I mean this is the kind of thing that is so practical. It makes you listen to things better.
43:09 LP: I’m wondering about you Bill. Because…
[laughter]43:13 MN: Because it’s scary having them on, isn’t it?
43:14 LP: It is. I mean you must be fun at a party because you’re sitting there, listening to people tell you all kinds of stories that you know are absolutely not true.
43:25 MN: Well, I wouldn’t want to be used car salesman with him. Would you?
43:27 LP: No, I would not.
43:29 MN: Sometimes, voice inflection, controlling voice inflection, what does that mean?
43:33 S8: These are the people that often times, they’re faking their voice inflection, they’re talking very, very monotonaly in an effort to lead you to believe that they are very easy-going, soft-spoken…
43:50 MN: Does it match their body language? How do you know that’s not sincere or genuine?
43:57 S8: Sometimes, it just hits you right in the face, when people don’t normally speak that way and sometimes, you’re looking for some non-verbal cues which will get into, it’ll…
44:07 MN: Yeah. I think you’re right.
44:07 LP: I was just thinking that somebody that’s talking kinda in monotones but they’re ringing their hands or tapping their foot or something like that would be a give-away that maybe it’s not so smooth with them.
44:19 S8: Exactly. You’re looking for these clusters of things that happen simultaneously.
44:23 MN: Alright. What about protest statements, what does that mean?
44:26 S8: Protest statement, the person who explains to you how insulted they were that you would confront them on such an issue. If you go back in time, if you remember the Susan Smith affair when the…
44:41 MN: When she killed her children.
44:42 S8: Right.
44:42 LP: Yes.
44:43 S8: You know one of her responses was that “I love my kids. I couldn’t possibly harm them.” I don’t know whether that’s an exact quote but that’s a quote…
44:51 MN: So when you’ve heard that, you right away clued into it?
44:55 LP: Your antenna went up right?
44:56 S8: Your antenna goes up and you’re waiting for more. You’re waiting more. You can’t just hang your hat on that alone.
45:01 LP: Right.
45:03 MN: So, it’s a conglomerate of…
45:04 S8: Right. Exactly. Right.
45:05 MN: Okay. So, if I say, “I would never kill her or I loved her, how dare you say that?” is that what we’re talking about as a protest statement?
45:12 S8: Exactly.
45:14 MN: But it couldn’t possibly be genuine or is it…
45:16 S8: It can be. It can be genuine.
45:18 MN: It’s the whole conglomerate of thinking [45:19] ____.
45:19 S1: Yeah, you’ve got to look at the whole picture. Looking for other clusters of verbal and non-verbal cues.
45:26 LP: Okay. So…
45:27 MN: Alright. Now, this one, I get all the time. I already answered that question. I don’t know how many students say things like that. Now, why is that a verbal cue?
45:35 S8: Well, they simply don’t wanna repeat the lie, oftentimes, and that’s the biggest reason that can be a verbal cue.
45:43 MN: Well, I’m gonna tell you this, this is no lie, I have enjoyed our interview so much.
45:48 LP: Same here. Wonderful.
45:48 MN: It’s such a valuable skill. I don’t know if I’m gonna like myself listening to everybody like this, Lois.
45:54 LP: Well, you made me think about things that people have said to me and now, it’s in a totally different light. So, [46:03] ____ that I have to say. Now, it’s getting scary.
46:05 MN: And I wanna recommend Bill’s book. It’s called ‘Going Knee to Knee: Confessions, Tales and Tribulations from Inside the FBI’s Polygraph Program’. And what will you be talking to us about next, Bill?
46:15 S8: Next time, I’d like to speak a little bit about the non-verbal cues.
46:19 MN: You mean body language, things of that nature?
46:20 S8: Exactly.
46:21 LP: I’m gonna have to sit on my hand.
46:22 MN: I was just gonna say the same exact thing.
[music]46:38 MN: Lois, you got your sweats on?
46:41 LP: Not yet.
46:42 MN: You know Louis, one of the things about becoming a boomer is we don’t wanna lose that flexibility, we don’t wanna lose that strength, that beauty that you have. So, we’ve got a special guest again. And this is a very good friend. This is Peter Shiana. Now, Peter is also a wonderful author. He wrote a book called ‘Imperfect Acts’ which we talked about at our other program called “Author’s Beat”. So, I asked Peter if he would come on and do something special for us today. And Pete, the segments we’re calling, ‘Seize the Day’ or ‘Size the day’?
47:18 Speaker 9: Size the day.
47:20 MN: Okay. Tell us a little bit about ‘Size the Day?’
47:23 S9: Well, ‘Size the Day’ came into being years ago when I was working and living on an airplane every other week. It’s for people who don’t have time to exercise.
47:33 MN: Like Lois and me.
47:35 S9: Like me.
47:35 LP: Oh, Well, excuse me, I exercise five to six times a week.
[overlapping conversation]47:39 MN: Where is the lie detector guy?
47:41 LP: Bring him back. Strap me in.
[laughter]47:45 S?: Alright, Lois. It’ actually true because as we said before, Lois is a perfect size…
47:49 LP: Well, now, I think I’m up to it too. I cannot tell a lie. I think I’m up to the size too.
47:55 S?: She loves shopping for bathing suits.
[laughter]47:59 S?: Alright, that’s a great plug. Why you got a great plug Lois?
48:02 LP: My book is called “Trying on Bathing Suits and Other Horror Stories” because women in particular, of course this happens to men too, we’re never satisfied with the way we look. Now…
48:15 MN: But you know what? Even with me, I was so aware of this business of image that I wrote a book called “The Midnight Dive Club,” and what does it deal with?
48:27 LP: Yes. Of course, the way we look.
48:28 MN: The way we look and also our perception.
48:30 LP: That’s right. And the way other people perceive us, of course.
48:34 MN: But what we’re doing here is a little bit different because, Peter, tell me the purpose of what it is you’re trying to do for us.
48:40 S9: Well, I’ll get into this more later, but as we grow older, we do two things. We tend to pick up weight, we tend to lose energy, our body tone isn’t what it was 30 years ago, and this is the way, I’m gonna put this in perspective, and how we can attack these dangers.
49:00 MN: Okay. Now, the problem I’m finding is that a lot of these programs, you watch this one, what’s her name? Michaels, Jillian Michaels, I think that’s her name.
49:12 LP: Yeah. This is a personal trainer.
49:15 MN: Alright. Now, you look at her and she’s a young person and she’s… I can’t emulate that.
49:22 LP: No, you can’t. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to keep in shape, Mark.
49:27 MN: I think I just got insulted, folks. Well, I’m in pretty good shape. But, okay.
[chuckle]49:31 MN: Peter, so what is it we’re gonna do here?
49:34 S9: Alright. Well, let’s be honest. Our image and energy have diminished. We know we need more exercise. But demands on our time, we scant time and energy for exercise. Our spouse or significant other, kids, grandkids, job, elderly parents, our home, cars, professional organization, our volunteer groups. Whoa! Who has time or energy?
49:59 MN: So in other words, what you’re saying is that because all these other things are priority, what happens to us?
50:07 S9: We don’t have time to do things to keep our bodies in better shape.
50:11 MN: Now, when Peter approached us with this idea, we said, “Well, how much time are we gonna need?”.
50:18 S9: You’re not gonna need any extra time. That’s the key to this.
50:21 MN: Go ahead.
50:22 S9: Okay. Two principles drive the program, Mark. Principle number one, you must derive the most benefit for the least cost. Because time is your most precious asset, the use of your time is the cost, is the cost factor in your cost benefit ratio. Time equals cost. We will spend wisely.
50:47 MN: So when you’re talking about this, you’re saying basically that people who are busy will find your tips something that they can do.
50:56 S9: That’s right.
50:56 MN: Because of the time element.
50:58 S9: That’s right.
50:58 LP: No. It’s better to spend less time doing more strenuous exercise than more time doing something that isn’t…
51:05 S9: Can you say that again so I understand it?
51:07 LP: It’s better to spend less time doing something that you’re really going to sweat at, than let’s say… So, I’m on the treadmill going very fast for half an hour is more value than if I walk slowly for an hour.
51:22 S9: No and no. We’re going to… These exercises are not strenuous, and they’re not time consuming either way.
51:30 MN: Okay. So you’re gonna show us how to tone up and tap into our energy reserves with virtually no extra investment of time, is that it?
51:39 S9: Exactly.
51:40 MN: Okay. And what’s the second principle?
51:43 S9: Number two, cumulative effect powers your physical well being. The impact with the principle of cumulative effect dwarfs diets and rigorous exercise programs. Cumulative effect is like the miracle of compound interest.
51:59 MN: Alright. Explain that to me so that I understand it. When you say cumulative effect, what are we talking about?
52:06 S9: We’re going to do little things everyday in between other activities that are going to add up to our well being.
52:15 MN: So these can be done any time?
52:16 S9: Any time.
52:17 MN: Because, for example, when I do the treadmill. And yes, you can get the lie detector guy here, Lois. I have to set aside a certain amount of time. And if I don’t make it a priority first thing in the morning. It doesn’t happen. Is that your experience too?
52:31 LP: I think that’s true for most people. I think so.
52:34 MN: So, and what Peter is doing that’s different, if I understand correctly, is you’re saying we don’t have to spend a lifetime, but we have to basically… It’s gonna be interspersed in our daily activities.
52:46 S9: Right.
52:47 MN: So, for example, one of the things in rehab for example, they say getting up and out of a chair, getting up and out of a chair. Whenever you can do that, you should do that because that’s exercise. Is that good summary?
52:58 S9: Exactly, exactly.
52:59 MN: Alright. What else?
53:00 S9: Well, let me put it in perspective, if I may.
53:03 MN: Sure.
53:04 S9: Okay. Ageing and the lack of exercise result in, as we said…
[background conversation]53:09 S9: Physical strength and often, of course, finding increase in weight. As a rule of thumb, men and women gain 10 pounds per decade. That’s one pound per year. Gerontologists and many insurance companies accept as statistically normal that a five foot six inch woman who weighs a 118 pounds at age 25 will progress to 148 pounds by age 65.
53:39 MN: So, now when you say that this is something insurance companies know and accept, with the current emphasis on thin as being in, is that still something that is expected, this kind of growth? I mean you’re talking about someone gaining 10 pounds per decade. Lois, you haven’t gained 10 pounds per decade.
54:00 LP: I haven’t gained 10 pounds since…
54:04 MN: Because you work at night.
54:05 LP: You know, that’s very true. People say to me “You’re so lucky you’re thin,” and I really resent that, because I watch what I eat and I exercise. Yeah, but I think that we’ve come to expect that people are going to get heavy. That’s the problem, that we expect that that’s going to happen, and it doesn’t necessarily have to happen.
54:31 MN: Okay.
54:32 LP: It’s harder as we get older, but it doesn’t necessarily have to happen, would you agree?
54:37 S9: I agree, and the rest of this program, Mark, is not for Lois, by the way.
[laughter]54:43 S9: She doesn’t need this.
54:46 LP: Not today.
54:46 MN: I don’t know if [54:46] ____ Lois Lanes of the world.
54:49 LP: Not today.
54:50 MN: But she’s in a constant…
54:53 S1: Battle.
54:55 MN: Battles for it, and in a way, so am I. I also exercise, but I think I have more of your philosophy. I also think I have a very fast metabolism, because I don’t really gain weight. I’ve been the same weight for 30, 40 years. Is that your experience, too?
55:08 S9: Yes.
55:09 MN: But you also…
55:10 S9: And this doesn’t rule out exercise. I love pickleball, I love golf and tennis, and treadmills, all of that is fine. But this is in addition.
55:19 MN: And these are little things that we all can do.
55:22 S9: Absolutely.
55:22 LP: Like you don’t have to go to the gym, and you don’t have to put on sweat pants.
55:25 S9: Not at all.
55:27 LP: And worry about how you look at to other people.
55:29 MN: Okay. Go ahead.
55:30 S9: The problem is, the progression of weight is so gradual, that it’s hard to fight. So we periodically go on a crash program consisting of the latest fad diet and an exercise schedule to kill an Olympian. How about some volcanic ash and papaya juice three times a day? Jogging, swimming, pumping iron, isn’t that great? In a week or two, maybe a month, it all crashes on the rocks of daily routine.
55:59 MN: And then you come back to the same problem.
56:01 S9: Yeah. It’s always…
56:02 MN: So if we can make… What you’re gonna do is try and make exercise as simple enough, time-effective enough, and short enough that we can all do it. Is that basically a summary?
56:12 S9: That’s right.
56:13 MN: Well Peter, I can’t wait to have you on our next program.
56:15 LP: We look forward to hearing about this, definitely.
56:17 MN: Okay. You’ve already given us something to look forward to, so our next segment will be one of these exercises, and we’ll be having these different segments to feature these exercises periodically.
[music]56:43 MN: Well Lois, looks like we’ve wrapped up another program.
56:45 LP: Yes. Another interesting array of authors and experts that, so we can enlighten our lives.
56:54 MN: And you enlightened me about Mahjongg today. I never realized there was so much to learn about Mahjongg.
56:59 LP: Yes. Well, we have to get an expert here, because I am certainly not the expert. That’s what we’re gonna work on, folks, a Mahjongg expert.
57:07 MN: It’s been a lot of fun today. I’ve enjoyed. Some of our guests have been featured on thevillagesactivities.com. If anybody out there has a special event, or a fund raiser that they’d like to promote, it’s a great website for that. So Lois, until our next program, I wanna thank you so much for being here with me.
57:27 LP: Yes, and as usual, an exciting show.
57:31 MN: We hope everybody will come back to see us on Boomers Plus radio adult spoken here.
[music]57:41 S1: Thanks again to today’s guest correspondents. Please join us again for another fascinating addition of Boomers Plus radio, located at www.blogtalkradio.com. And please tell your friends, families, and everyone about this exciting, fast-paced program that’s just for you and everyone who thinks young and wants to stay active. All of our programs are available free, anytime you want, archived at www.boomersplusradio.com. That’s where you can also contact us and let us know what’s on your mind. Our hosts have been Mark H. Newhouse, author of “How to sell your books checklist”, and “The midnight diet club”. And Lois Podoshen, author of “Trying on bathing suits and other horror stories”.
58:34 S1: Boomers plus radio was created and produced by Mark H. Newhouse and Don Canaan, author of “Alzheimer’s: Dutiful Daughter,” all available from Amazon.com, Kindle, and Nook, with audio books on both audio.com, and Amazon. Boomers Plus radio received its event listings from www.thevillagesactivities.com; a great way to promote your business, book or event, as well as finding out what’s happening in The Villages and the surrounding areas for free. We invite you to let us know if you have a special event to promote by contacting us. This is your announcer, Don Howard. Our closing theme music was arranged and performed exclusively for Boomers Plus radio by Reesa, Jim, and Owen Cummins, whose book “Orchard Hell” is available on Amazon.com.