DiCaprio or DaVinci??

You cannot be looking 50 plus in the eyes without having a great sense of humor and a view to the future. My esteemed colleague, Professor Mark Burgin, a Visiting Scholar at UCLA, and, in my opinion, a brilliant scientist, philosopher and logician, has very sweetly sent me his list of other brilliant minds.

They all made their significant contribution to the world AFTER 50. Here are a few of the great ones: after 50:

• Plato
• Leonardo da Vinci (VERY popular of late due to the DaVinci Code!)
• Leonard Euler
• Johann Sebastian Bach

So for a very special treat, here is Dr. Burgin's synopsis on the life of Leonardi da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

After the invasion by the French and Ludovico Sforza's fall from power in 1499, Leonardo was left to search for a new patron. Over the next 16 years, Leonardo worked and traveled throughout Italy for a number of employers, including the dastardly Cesare Borgia. He traveled for a year with Borgia's army as a military engineer and even met Niccolo Machiavelli, author of "The Prince." Leonardo also designed a bridge to span the "golden horn" in Constantinople during this period and received a commission, with the help of Machiavelli, to paint the "Battle of Anghiari."

About 1503, at the age of 51, Leonardo reportedly began work on the "Mona Lisa." [considered one of the greatest works of art in all of history.]

On July 9, 1504, he received notice of the death of his father, Ser Piero. Through the contrivances of his meddling half brothers and sisters, Leonardo was deprived of any inheritance. The death of a beloved uncle also resulted in a scuffle over inheritance, but this time Leonardo beat out his scheming siblings and wound up with use of the uncle's land and money.

From 1513 to 1516, he worked in Rome, maintaining a workshop and undertaking a variety of projects for the Pope. He continued his studies of human anatomy and physiology, but the Pope forbade him from dissecting cadavers, which truly cramped his style.

Following the death of his patron Giuliano de' Medici in March of 1516, he was offered the title of Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect of the King by Francis I in France. His last and perhaps most generous patron, Francis I provided Leonardo with a cushy job, including a stipend and manor house near the royal chateau at Amboise.

For more in-depth information on this true Renaissance man, here is a great site: http://www.mos.org/leonardo/

Stay tuned for more of Dr. Burgin's top picks (including Genghis Khan!) in the coming days...

From Blog to IPod

When I started Gen Plus, a maverick young web designer started talking to me about Blogs. I was part of the me generation...I bought into the 80's...the triple shoulder pads, leggings AND legwarmers. I was cutting edge. With a background in film and theater, I flitted and floated from wrap party to wrap party at warp speed. I had one of the first Sony Walkman's and, boy, that was sound!

Whether it was ELP (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) for those of you too young or too old to know who they were, on 8-track tape, or trying Sushi for the first time in Montreal in 1989...I was cutting edge and I knew it.

So when Maverick started talking Blog to me...spouting terms like RRS and Atom, static vs. dynamic...well...I was shocked. I had no clue what he was talking about. Had I heard about Blogs? Sure...of course. I followed one of them on a fairly constant basis. But this...this was rocking MY world.

The world of Blog was unlike anything I'd been prepared for. Reality TV in a website. Absolutely fascinating. And then I discovered, that MY target market, my brethren, my sisterhood...those 50 and older...had no CLUE what a blog was. They could not distinguish the difference between the business website, www.genplususa.com which provides the products and services they are looking for AND this blog, which are the behind-the-scenes glimpses into watching a business bloom and grow.

But, proudly, I, on my own, singlehandedly undertook to undestand Blogese, Blog mentality, Blog etiquette...and...I got it.

So with a great feeling of security and trust in technology, I asked my sisters to get me a special present for my birthday. And they did. An IPod.


Forget BLOG!

This is really where it is all at. Of course, I won't bore you with the details of how many hours it took me to figure out how to use the darned thing. But I will tell you that when I went on my walk this morning, listening to the Gipsy Kings, followed by US3, and then Dean Martin...I was in heaven!

Now, my challenge is to get 78 million 50 plussers to understand the value and fun of Blogging AND to learn how to program their IPods! Good night!