Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
Social Security Announces 8.7 Percent Benefit Increase for 2023; On average, Social Security benefits will increase by more than $140 per month starting in January.
“Medicare premiums are going down and Social Security benefits are going up in 2023, which will give seniors more peace of mind and breathing room. This year’s substantial Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is the first time in over a decade that Medicare premiums are not rising and shows that we can provide more support to older Americans who count on the benefits they have earned,” Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi said. To view a COLA message from Acting Commissioner Kijakazi, please visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgm5q4YT1AM. The Social Security Act provides for how the COLA is calculated. To read more, please visit www.ssa.gov/cola. more »
Impaired Driving and Excessive Speeding: The National Transportation Safety Board and Alcohol Impairment Detection Systems
“Technology could’ve prevented this heartbreaking crash — just as it can prevent the tens of thousands of fatalities from impaired-driving and speeding-related crashes we see in the U.S. annually,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “We need to implement the technologies we have right here, right now to save lives.” Requiring passive vehicle-integrated alcohol impairment detection systems, advanced driver monitoring systems or a combination of the two that would be capable of preventing or limiting vehicle operation if it detects driver impairment by alcohol. The NTSB recommends that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration require all new vehicles to be equipped with such systems. Incentivizing vehicle manufacturers and consumers to adopt intelligent speed adaptation systems that would prevent speed-related crashes. This is a reiteration of a previous NTSB recommendation to NHTSA." more »
Findings Suggest COVID-19 Rebound Not Caused by Impaired Immune Response: Robust Cellular Immune Response to Residual Viral RNA?
"Larger, more detailed epidemiologic studies are needed to further understand the clinical importance and epidemiologic consequences of COVID-19 rebound, the authors write. The authors note that the current data support the need for isolation in symptomatic rebound persons and the need to evaluate, in a clinical trial, longer courses of Paxlovid in immunocompromised individuals where the immune response may be ineffective." more »
Gender and Labor Markets by Diego Mendez-Carbajo* : "Sure [Fred Astaire] was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did…backwards and in high heels." — Robert Thaves1
"...Recent research suggests that the key to understanding at least part of the unexplained portion of the gender wage gap might have to do with marriage. Although the gender wage gap between never-married men and never-married women is small, married men earn much higher wages than everybody else in the labor force. It is not immediately clear why married men earn more than single men, but the fact that they do earn so much more than other workers helps explain, at least in part, the presence of a wage and earnings gap between genders..." more »
