As poetry does, dementia demands that its audience, skittering along impatiently in daily life, pause and be — another loathsome word — present; alert to new associations, resistant to old grievances. It is a mystery, and a saga, a tragedy with glimmers of comedy that has inspired at least one great modern play: Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery,” which in its 2018 revival showcased the great Elaine May.
Until there’s a pill to definitively forestall the fog, what can one say but let there be literature?
Walk, Jog or Dance: It’s All Good for the Aging Brain
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
New evidence that physical activity can forestall the mental decline in aging brains.
'Let's try common sense," President Obama said in the State of the Union address, provoking a spontaneous burst of laughter in the House of Representatives chamber. The unintended humor exposes an important truth about Washington: Everyone knows that won't happen.
More troubling, however, was that the president's speech revealed why common sense is nonexistent. Mr. Obama wants new laws to tell us how to do things better—when the need is to overhaul old laws to restore freedom of choice and individual responsibility. Up and down the chain of authority, the accumulation of law and entitlements precludes sensible decisions.
[ WITH OBJECT]
prevent
v., -vent·ed, -vent·ing, -vents. v.tr.
To present an obstacle: There will be a picnic if nothing prevents.
preventable pre·vent'a·ble or pre·vent'i·ble adj.
preventer pre·vent'er n.
Palestinians gathered leaflets dropped from an Israeli plane. The leaflets urged residents to stay away from Hamas militants.Hatem Moussa/Associated Press
'Let's try common sense," President Obama said in the State of the Union address, provoking a spontaneous burst of laughter in the House of Representatives chamber. The unintended humor exposes an important truth about Washington: Everyone knows that won't happen. More troubling, however, was that the president's speech revealed why common sense is nonexistent. Mr. Obama wants new laws to tell us how to do things better—when the need is to overhaul old laws to restore freedom of choice and individual responsibility. Up and down the chain of authority, the accumulation of law and entitlements precludes sensible decisions.
Inside Europe | 09.05.2009 | 07:05
Prevention better than cure for swine flu
forestall
VERB
Derivatives
prevent
v., -vent·ed, -vent·ing, -vents. v.tr.
- To keep from happening: took steps to prevent the strike.
- To keep (someone) from doing something; impede: prevented us from winning.
- Archaic. To anticipate or counter in advance.
- Archaic. To come before; precede.
To present an obstacle: There will be a picnic if nothing prevents.
[Middle English preventen, to anticipate, from Latin praevenīre, praevent- : prae-, pre- + venīre, to come.]
preventability pre·vent'a·bil'i·ty or pre·vent'i·bil'i·ty n.preventable pre·vent'a·ble or pre·vent'i·ble adj.
preventer pre·vent'er n.
SYNONYMS prevent, preclude, avert, obviate, forestall. These verbs mean to stop or hinder something from happening, especially by advance planning or action. Prevent implies anticipatory counteraction: “The surest way to prevent war is not to fear it” (John Randolph). To preclude is to exclude the possibility of an event or action: “a tranquillity which . . . his wife's presence would have precluded” (John Henry Newman). To avert is to ward off something about to happen: The pilot's quick thinking averted an accident. Obviate implies that something, such as a difficulty, has been anticipated and disposed of effectively: “the objections . . . having . . . been obviated in the preceding chapter” (Joseph Butler). Forestall usually suggests anticipatory measures taken to counteract, neutralize, or nullify the effects of something: We installed an alarm system to forestall break-ins.
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