Great News For Your Parents; Less So For Trump July 31, 2016August 1, 2016 What a Convention. Before I highlight one piece of it, I want to elaborate on last week’s post because it could have a profound positive impact on your life or the life of a loved one: I occasionally tout Brain HQ, the offering of a private company I have a small interest in. And how — unlike crossword puzzles and such — it really can sharpen older folks’ mental acuity . . . with more than 100 peer-reviewed studies to back up that claim. Now comes a much bigger study, of such import it’s made the NBC Nightly News and much else. Here it is in a 4-minute nutshell, courtesy of the “Today Show.” Yes, it could set you or your grandmama back $14 a month. But you don’t have to do these exercises forever — the study showed improved results 10 years after stopping. And isn’t avoiding dementia worth a few bucks? Anyway (he says, with considerable self-interest): take a look. Did you find time? The 10-year study divided 2,800 participants into four groups. Little benefit was found among the other three groups, but among those who did just 14 hours of Brain HQ training, the incidence of dementia was lower by 48%. Imagine if you did 14 hours each year! We don’t know, but common sense suggests the risk of dementia would decrease further still. Participants reported less depression, greater acuity. Yikes! You don’t even have to sweat to do these exercises. Everyone beyond a certain age (it seems to me), should tone up her or his brain muscles this way, just as they should walk briskly several times a week, eat sensibly, and floss. BrainHQ exercises cut car crashes. Sharper seniors behind the wheel are safer drivers — good for them and those they’d otherwise crash into. I know I have a tendency to get carried away in my enthusiasms, but really! If we could somehow extend the methods of Success Academy’s 41 public schools nationwide, we could largely break the cycle of inner-city poverty, crime and despair over the next generation. And if seniors routinely did their brain exercises, we could greatly reduce the incidence of dementia and depression among the elderly . . . which would lift huge financial and emotional costs from society and loved ones. Not to mention how much more efficient air travel will be once WheelTug deploys. But none of that will matter if we have a trade war that leads to a global depression that leads to a world war as the last depression did. Because although we’d win that war in half an hour, the resulting nuclear winter would wipe out most life on Earth. Not buying it? Fine. (Though: why not?) Then how about just losing the Supreme Court of the next 30 years? However you look at it, this election is somewhere between crucially and existentially important. Which leads me to Khizr Khan’s speech at the Convention that I’m pretty sure you’ve already seen. (But did you see Hillary’s three-minute set-up?). In case you haven’t, watch it here. Trump’s response is definitely worth your time as well. Have a great week. Click here to save mankind.