Know anyone over 55? A national, nonprofit group, The National Council on Aging, provides a valuable service they call the BenefitsCheckUp, an on-line database for federal, state and some local private and public benefits for adults over 55. This is the nation's most comprehensive on-line service to screen for federal, state and some local private and public benefits. It contains over 1,200 different programs from all fifty states.

There is no cost for this neat service that identifies the programs a person may be eligible to receive, with a detailed description and contacts for additional information.

What is your real age?

The folks at Medizine.com tell us that “lifestyle choices, not heredity, are mostly responsible for how you age. While just 30 percent of aging is tied to genetics, 70 percent is lifestyle-related.” They have designed a quiz to show you if the way you live is making you younger or older than your calendar age.

They call it the “RealAge” test. There is no cost and it calculates your biological age, or "Real Age," based on science and your personal health history. They say that knowing your Real Age enables you to make the best choices for your health and lifestyle, allowing you to stay young and live a longer, fuller life.

That sounds like a worthy goal to us -- and the price is right!

Turn error messages into solutions!

Let’s say you have been having a big problem with an application on your computer and an error message keeps showing up on your screen while the application grinds to a halt. You shudder at the thought of spending time (and often money) to call support for help to fix it. Why not take advantage of the trick many support services use and get the solution quickly, directly and at no cost.

Just copy a couple of lines from the error message, go to good old Google and paste the lines into the Google search bar and press “Search.” More often than not you will find the solution to your dilemma amongst the articles found in the search.

This works. Honest!

The doctor is in!

Need to find a doctor? The American Medical Association (AMA) has created AMA Physician Select. Just enter your area information and the type of doctor you need and Shazam -- up pops a list of doctors who meet your criteria.

This valuable site provides basic professional information on virtually every licensed physician in the United States and includes more than 690,000 doctors of medicine (MD) and doctors of osteopathy or osteopathic medicine (DO). AMA member physician listings contain considerable information including office hours, practice philosophy, physician achievements, and other helpful information for visiting consumers.

To your good health!

Published: July 1, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

John M. "Jack" Peckham is the Executive Director of REcyber.com (the Real Estate CyberSpace Society). In that capacity he oversees the development and delivery of the latest up to the minute Real Estate Cyberspace tools, strategies, networking structures and services that the Society provides its members to leverage their effectiveness, visibility, professionalism and earnings. As host of Real Estate CyberSpace Radio, he provides over 40 hours of programming to help listeners integrate the power of the Internet into their daily business lives. He is the author of several real estate books published by Prentice Hall and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich including his latest Master Guide to Income Property Brokerage from Wiley Publishing. A columnist for the Boston Herald for nine years, his syndicated columns have appeared in over 100 papers nationwide. Jack loves to sell real estate has been involved directly in the sale of over one billion dollars in Real Estate. Today he sells in his jeans and fuzzy slippers as a one-man shop and has closed over $40,000,000 in sales on the Internet recently in 20% of his working time. The balance he spends directing the affairs of the 10,000 member Real Estate CyberSpace Society. The Society awards the RECS (Real Estate CyberSpace Specialist) Designation to members based on the current criteria. He served as Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is a Past President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and has been honored as the Massachusetts State Realtor of the Year. You can reach Jack at or by calling 617-523-4441.