Two free events February 3 & 4 feature collections and mystery writers
On Wednesday, February 3 you’ll see classic cars you remember from your youth parked outside the Tuscany Falls Clubhouse. What’s it all about?
The cars are but one of many collections treasured by PebbleCreek residents that they are sharing with the community from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Tuscany Ballroom at a free event sponsored by LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek.
Teddy bears and watches, baseball cards and golf and military memorabilia, knives and antique kitchen gadgets, Russian lacquer boxes and Matroshka dolls, sheet music and Christmas ornaments. Which will be your favorite? And how about all the ShowTime posters and playbills, Hummel’s, paperweights, egg scales, flashlights, Navajo rugs and piano rolls? Jerry Layne will be there to demonstrate how he works his dummies and collectors will share with you how they began collecting and when they realized the collection had become the focus of travels and antique store searches.
Start the day by seeing the cars you remember from your teens parked outside the Tuscany Clubhouse, then join your neighbors and visit with these collectors. You’ll hear how they got started collecting and when they realized that they had a collection that had become the focus of travels and antique store searches.
The next day, LifeLong Learning invites you to return to the Tuscany Falls Ballroom from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. for Coffee, Cookies and Crime.
Barbara Peters, owner of the Scottsdale based Poisoned Pen Book Store and the Poisoned Pen Press, will introduce five successful mystery writers and interview them briefly. Authors are Donis Casey, Alafair Tucker series; Fred Ramsey, the Ike Schwartz and Jerusalem Mysteries; Leslie Dana Kirby, The Perfect Game (centers around a Diamondback pitcher); Betty Webb, the Lena Jones and Gunn Zoo mysteries and Eileen Brady winner of a 2014 award and author of the DVM Mysteries.
You’ll have time to visit the authors at their displays – to ask questions, purchase books and get autographs. Several book groups have reserved tables to assure that their groups will have up-front seating for this literary event. There is still time to reserve your table or just come and join others while you enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and a cookie and learn about these special authors. For more information call Hermine Sulzberg at 623-535-5145.
TED Talks gets residents talking
Shannon Tyree
On January 21, PebbleCreekers came together for the first of LifeLong Learning’s newest program: TED Talks.
TED Talks for the unfamiliar are short talks, captured on video, on almost any topic possible. The acronym TED stand for Technology, Entertainment and Design and since 1984 when the first TED conference was held, more than 2,100 talks have been presented.
LIfeLong Learning is using the videos to generate thoughtful, intellectual conversation on a wide variety of topics. In the first session attendees watched TED Talks videos, followed by discussion in small groups of eight people.
“Having the TED Talks available is a valuable addition to our existing programs,” said Phyllis Minsuk, co-chair of LifeLong Learning. “Everyone had an opportunity to participate in the lively discussions in which each person brings a unique perspective which is vital for the session’s interactions.”
LifeLong Learning will be offering TED Talks February 18, March 17 and April 21. The events are free but registration is required. Seats are still available for the discussions and we urge you to sign up for the individual sessions. Visit the LifeLong Learning website, www.lifelonglearningatpc.org and locate the TED Talks page under the Special Events tab.
Those who attended the first session know why these two words are fun and important: “shake” and “fold.” If you weren’t with us, please join us and we’ll share the information. Because after all, the mission of TED Talks is “ideas worth spreading.”
What’s happening in February?
Monday Morning Lectures begin at 10:00 a.m. and are $4 at the door. Premier Lectures are $15 at the door or in advance online. Please note: Registration is required for all classes and trips. If an event is sold out, please join the wait list as openings often become available and will be filled in order of registration. Great Decision sessions continue on the schedule set in January.
For more information about these events, please visit www.lifelonglearningatpc.org.
February 1: Monday Morning Lecture with Dr. Sue Sisley, Treating Veterans with PTSD with Marijuana
February 2: Gluten Free Nutrition class, 9:30 a.m.
February 3: Collections and Collectibles, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Video Training class, 1:00 p.m.
February 4: Poisoned Pen mystery writers, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
February 5: Armchair Travel 1 class, The Waterways of the Tsars, 1:00 p.m.
February 6: Nutrition and Physical Fitness class, 9:30 a.m.
February 7: Trip to the Arizona Opera; sold out
February 8: Monday Morning Lecture with Dr. Michael Reichgott, Medical Education and the Patient-Doctor Relationship
February 9: Ancient Maps class, 9:30 a.m.
February 10: Appetizers at The Tree of Oil, 7:00 p.m.; sold out
February 11: Cinema Society of PebbleCreek; membership required. 10:00 a.m.
Social Media Class; sold out
February 12: Armchair Travel 2 class, Northern Italy, 1:00 p.m.
February 15: Monday Morning Lecture with Dr. Kristen Nelson, Small Friends Improve Your Life
February 17: Trip to the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show; sold out
February 18: Using Your E-reader class, 1:00 p.m.; sold out
TED Talk 2, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
February 19: Armchair Travel 3 class, California and the Coastal Cities, 1:00 p.m.
Premier Lecture with Stan Freeman, UFOS: What Really Happened at Roswell?
February 22: Monday Morning Lecture with Bob Young, The Energizer Bunny
February 24: The Brooklyn Sound, 1:00 p.m.
February 26: Armchair Travel 4 class, Finland, 1:00 p.m.
February 29: Monday Morning Lecture: Medicare Fraud
Bob Young
Important medical issues explored in Monday morning lectures
February is an unusual month for LifeLong Learning in several ways: the shortest month has five Mondays and four of them feature medical issues of importance to most of us. Please mark your calendars for these lectures that begin at 10:00 a.m. Tickets are $4 per person and will go on sale at 9:00 a.m.
February 1: Using Marijuana to Treat PTSD in Veterans
In June 2014, the University of Arizona abruptly ended its support of a researcher who was leading a controversial and first of its kind study on medical marijuana use for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, despite the FDA’s approval of the study. Many people already choose to buy edible cannabis online to help treat other mental ailments. Dr. Sue Sisley, the principal investigator, has now won the support of researchers from three other universities that are joining in the study. We’ll learn about the current state of her research. Many experts have previously thought that PTSD can be effectively treated if you buy weed online instead of leaving its effects to cause serious pain to people. The drug’s effects on general health and wellness have also been reported by recreational smokers using bubblers to consume marijuana.
Michael Reichgott
February 8: Medical Education: Do You Want a Smart Doctor or a Nice One?
Medical education has changed drastically in the past two decades, particularly as it affects the patient-doctor relationship. Michael Reichgott, MD, PhD, who has spent much of his career focused on improving the education medical students and residents receive, will explore these changes, particularly as it affects older patients.
A professor of internal medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Reichgott chaired the Association of American Medical Colleges group on educational affairs, participating in the investigation and accreditation of medical schools both in the United States and offshore.
Dr. Kristen Nelson
February 15: Small Friends Improve Your Life
Everyone who has ever owned a dog knows the meaning of unconditional love. But did you know that owning a dog or cat is good for your health?
Dr. Kristen Nelson, a Scottsdale veterinarian, says people who live with animals enjoy lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and report fewer feelings of isolation and loneliness – and that some animals can diagnose physical illness.
Her central message – Animals Transform Us! – is both insightful and entertaining.
February 22: Why Do We Buy More Stuff Than We Need?
PebbleCreek’s Bob Young spent 34 years marketing Eveready© batteries and flashlights. Working his way up the ladder, he became a brilliant marketeer, developing those unforgettable slogans that, once you hear them, are hard to get out of your head.
Bob’s funny and informative presentation will be both a trip down memory lane and a lesson in marketing. Be ready to spend some time with the Energizer Bunny.
Dr. Sue Sisley
February 29: Medicare Fraud
When you receive a statement from Medicare, do you carefully review it to make sure the charges are correct or do you just toss it aside, assuming all’s okay?
Those forms are perhaps the first defense against Medicare fraud – and when a health care provider bills Medicare for practices or procedures that are false, we all pay. An inspector general from the Department of Health and Human Services will talk about Medicare fraud and the billions of dollars of fraudulent bills that put a strain on the Medicare Trust Fund.
What really happened at Roswell?
Stan Friedman
February 19 speaker an expert on UFOs
Nancy Love
February 19 will feature an expert on UFOs.
What really happened in July 1947 near the Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico? Newspapers across the country splashed headlines saying a flying saucer had been captured on a ranch near there and thus began speculation on the first and most enduring of the UFO controversies. Are we being visited by aliens? Is our government telling us the truth?
Stan Friedman, a nuclear physicist and lecturer on UFOlogy, first became interested in UFOs in 1958 after he’d earned his degree in physics from the University of Chicago. Friedman worked as an industrial nuclear physicist for 14 years for GE, GM, Westinghouse, TRW Systems, General Nucleonics and McDonnell Douglas, working on a wide variety of classified, highly advanced nuclear systems.
Since 1967 he has lectured at more than 600 colleges and published more than 90 UFO papers. He is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell Incident and co-authored Crash at Corona: the Definitive Study of the Roswell Incident. His latest book, Science Was Wrong, was released in 2010.
Mr. Friedman has provided written testimony to Congressional hearings, appeared twice at the United Nations and has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and television programs. He holds dual U.S./Canadian citizenship.