another cool new yorker piece

This one is called "Brain Gain" and its subject is stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall, prescribed most commonly for ADHD but now commonly co-opted as neuroenhancing 'study aids'. The whole article is interesting, but 2 things of note:

1) What type of students are most likely to use neuroenhancing drugs?
According to McCabe’s research team, white male undergraduates at highly competitive schools—especially in the Northeast—are the most frequent collegiate users of neuroenhancers. Users are also more likely to belong to a fraternity or a sorority, and to have a G.P.A. of 3.0 or lower. They are ten times as likely to report that they have smoked marijuana in the past year, and twenty times as likely to say that they have used cocaine. In other words, they are decent students at schools where, to be a great student, you have to give up a lot more partying than they’re willing to give up.

It's interesting that the highest achievers/'go getters', if you will, are not the ones most likely to use neuroenhancers. Rather its the students who want to maintain a healthy lifestyle and get their work done at the same time.

2) What is the culpability of doctors in this phenomenon?
Anjan Chatterjee, a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania, predicts, some neurologists will refashion themselves as “quality-of-life consultants,” whose role will be “to provide information while abrogating final responsibility for these decisions to patients.” The demand is certainly there: from an aging population that won’t put up with memory loss; from overwrought parents bent on giving their children every possible edge; from anxious employees in an efficiency-obsessed, BlackBerry-equipped office culture, where work never really ends.

This is what is most worrisome - doctors acting in this bogus 'consultant' role, where they can advise on 'proper use' of neurologically active substances, without bearing any responsibility for their side effects. If you want to give perfectly healthy patients elective mind-altering drugs, so be it. But doctors are the gateway to access for these drugs, and they should bear some of the responsibility for the inevitable cases in which people go batshit crazy.

"No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There's nothing to be afraid of. "

John Goodman and Nathan Lane will be playing Pozzo and Estragon, respectively, in a Broadway production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” The material of the enigmatic "tragicomedy in two acts" is plodding (infamously critiqued as "Nothing happens, twice.") and existentially bleak but I think the tyrannical, cruel, farcical and pathetic role of Pozzo will suit John Goodman well as he has shown himself to be adroit at playing the fool and the bully (see O Brother, Where Art Thou?). It has the potential to be excellent and I would go just to hear him say

"...one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? They give birth astride a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more."

Although I do like to point out that, seven years earlier, Vladimir Nabokov opened his autobiography, "Speak, Memory" with the awkwardly (for Beckett) similar words:

"The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. Although the two are identical twins, man, as a rule, views the prenatal abyss with more calm than the one he is heading for (at some forty-five hundred heartbeats an hour)."

Put either way, the effect is chilling.

CoolHandTodd, on racism in soccer

This was a comment, but it deserves its own post.

CoolHandTodd said...
I can't say that I'm surprised. More than diving, silly haircuts or poorly-choreographed goal celebrations, this all too common behavior has really given the sport a black eye. The international governing body, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), has tried to crack down on fan racism as part of their prominently-featured "Say No To Racism" campaign. Regardless, this sort of nonsense continues throughout Europe.

The American winger DaMarcus Beasley, who plays for Rangers of Scotland, was subjected to monkey chants by the home fans after scoring a goal against a team in Montenegro. Luis Aragones, the current manager of the Spanish national team, somehow was able to keep his job after he referred to French striker Thierry Henry as a "negro de mierda." Throughout Europe, there have been reported episodes where black players have had bananas and peanuts thrown at them from the stands.

And the bigotry isn't exclusively targeted towards black players. At Chelsea, after replacing the wildly-popular Jose Morinho, the Israeli manager Avram Grant was bombarded with anti-Semitic chants and Holocaust references. In Israel, the team Beitar Jerusalem, a club with a traditionally right-wing nationalist fan base, have never signed an Arab player. In Mexico, Chivas de Guadalajara have a policy of signing only Mexican-born players.

The interesting thing about Italy is that there are no black players on the Italian national team (mostly because there are very few talented black Italians). Mario Balotelli will begin to change that; he is only 18 and has had a sensational season for Inter Milan (6 goals on the season so far). In 2006, Brazilian-born Marcos Senna (who defended Luis Aragones' remarks towards Henry) became the only black player to join the Spanish national team and was, by many accounts, the key to Spain winning Euro 2008. France and England, though not without their respective share of infractions, have been fielding black players for many years now.

Guys like Balotelli are, unfortunately, reliving the same role that Jackie Robinson was forced to play over 50 years ago. Let's hope that he can go on to achieve a comparable level of success.

rock it scientist officially does not endorse juventus

But only because of their overt racism. I hope my roommate and I kick their ass as Barca in Fifa 2006.

Todd, aren't you jealous that I beat you to making the first soccer-related post?

lady gaga in the house

The New Yorker has a fascinating piece that is somewhat on Lady Gaga, but also on the ephemeral nature of pop music. According to Sasha Frere-Jones, Lady Gaga represents the current return of disco-synth to the pop scene (giving Alex and Annie hope that Metric will finally get their just due). The question is, do artists like Gaga (who claim to be self-aware) bring about the shifts in popular music taste, or are they just a product of intrinsic volatility in what is "in the moment"? It's an interesting question, Lady Gaga is a pretty interesting character, and this is a very interesting piece.

john boehner on this week

I'm sorry, but HORSEFEATHERS. From his mindblowingly stupid battle with climate change (his argument? If cows have been farting for years, how can carbon dioxide be bad?) to his insistence that Americans are being overtaxed (despite salient analyses from Forbes here and here)...

You are an idiot, John Boehner.

EDIT: I'm tired of George Will. Please stop. Stop with this 'unitary executive' malarky. Please. Just stop.

anvil!

According to Alex and Todd, I'm not capable of fully enjoying this movie because of my lack of "This is Spinal Tap" education. Nevertheless, this was a funny, interesting movie (if overdoing the heartstrings-tugging aspect). I loved the aspect where they went into Lips' and Robb's Jewish roots (especially from Lips' perspective, doing something clearly out of sync with both his parents and his siblings and yet ultimately getting their support). Also, it tells us once again that the Japanese are way cooler than us (our 13 year olds love Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, their 13 year olds love metal. You be the judge). Go to www.anvilmovie.com for more info.