Pages

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Parade of the Species

A great event with Yahara-Starkweather-Atwood neighbors and friends!

E-Cycling at the Alliant Center

Drop off your old electonics at the back lot of the Alliant Center today
8a-2p. No lines right now (biking is super fast and they love it).

Friday, June 24, 2011

NSF Under the Microscope

The grant that I work on is still being held up by the congressional budget process.  It's not just the debt cap and taxes that are at issue.  It's also waste and mismanagement at the National Science Foundation that are being held under scrutiny by some on Capitol Hill.  U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has recently published a report called NSF: Under the Microscope calling the agency out on some of the issues that he sees are bogging it down and hurting its credibility.  I definitely don't have the time or ability to provide an analysis of this report, but I just want to share it in case anyone wants to read it for themselves.  It has some good points, but the main thing that I think needs to be understood in research, human resources, and education in science and technology fields as well as any other is that as educators and student support and development professionals is that we are not creating widgets or machine parts.  We're in the process of helping individuals find their way into a very complex economy and of course the job market.  Everyone can agree that the United States needs to increase graduation rates of scientists, engineers, etc.  But we are trying to do that in a way that is based on sound research, best practices, and distinctly American attitudes about fairness and equal opportunity.  I would love it if politics would keep its distance from education, although I know it can't.  I hope that as discussions and negotiations go forward we remember that the NSF is an important tool in not only supporting scientific research, but it is also helping individuals - particularly women, minorities, and persons with disabilities - have the same opportunities to pursue careers in fields where they are so underrepresented.  Diversity, in the end, has always been a great asset to countries as well as the world itself.  I hope that the NSF can continue to do good work in this area.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

U.S. to Issue New Tobacco Warnings

The Food and Drug Administration has selected 9 new graphics which will be appearing on tobacco products beginning in September, 2012, to replace the previous text-only warnings.  Here is one:


More than 1,200 people a day are killed by cigarettes in the United States alone, and 50 percent of all long-term smokers are killed by smoking-related diseases. Tobacco use is the cause of death for nearly one out of every five people in the United States, which adds up to about 443,000 deaths annually. (Source: FDA)

Smoking remains the top cause of preventable death in the U.S., followed closely by high blood pressure, according to a new study that shows each accounted for about one in five adult deaths in 2005. (Source: WebMD)

If you or someone you know smokes and is interested in learning about how to quit, please call 1-800-Quit-Now or visit http://www.smokefree.gov/.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

New Research Shows Psilocybin Can Have Same Benefit at Small Doses

Psilocybin, the psychoactive part of magic mushrooms, is being studied at Johns Hopkins University as well as other places for its potential uses in the treatment of depression, PTSD, and addictions.  I've written about some of those studies here on my blog.  The most recent information to come out in a very small clinical experiment at Johns Hopkins shows that the benefits that participants experienced in previous studies can still be gained with smaller doses, and that there is less anxiety experienced at the new doses.  Also, experiment participants show gains to their physical and mental well-being long after the experiment concludes.  The drug is still under investigation and it is not recommended to take it for recreational purposes.  In fact, researchers note that it can be dangerous to use the drug in uncontrolled environments or by individuals who have a psychotic disorder.

Source:  http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20110616/magic-mushrooms-drug-shows-promise-therapeutic-tool

Friday, June 17, 2011

Article: Is there a place for Atheists in Alcoholics Anonymous?

My opinion is:  it depends.  Many atheists and agnostics, as well as people from all faiths benefit from taking part in Alcoholics Anonymous.  For people who live in rural areas or in small towns there may be no other alternative in terms of finding a peer support group.  AA is open to all and groups may be more or less dogmatic about spirituality depending on the members of the particular group.  That being said, AA is certainly committed (organizationally and programatically) to empowering individuals to overcome addictions through a spiritual journey.  Atheists may find that this presents them with a challenge.  Spirituality, as practiced by most people, involving the concepts of an omnipresent, omnibenevolent, omnipotent, or omniscient 'presence,' runs pretty much counter the foundation of atheism.  Lots of alternatives to AA have sprouted up, such as SMART Recovery, where I am a volunteer facilitator.  Some SMART participants also attend AA meetings, and the programs are definitely not mutually exclusive.  But many folks who come to SMART say that AA just didn't fit well with their secular or atheist views.  Here's a much longer article about AA and atheism.  Check it out and see what you think!

http://www.alternet.org/story/151294/is_there_a_place_for_atheists_in_alcoholics_anonymous?akid=7112.278496.v__9IZ&rd=1&t=5

Thursday, June 9, 2011

New Study on Rewards and Attention

A study at Johns Hopkins University points to a correlation between items (I assume this would apply to events and activities as well as objects) that are unimportant are still able to capture our attention if they were associated with some kind of reward in the past.

Link: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-attention-rewarding.html

Report: The War on Drugs Has Failed

An international body which includes well-respected policy makers including former chair of the Federal Reserve Paul Volker, former Secretary of State George Schultz, and former Secretary General of the U.N. Kofi Annan  has issued a strong condemnation of the so-called 'War on Drugs' that started in 1970 in a recently released report.

Because the findings and call to action are so important, I have copied the entire exectutive summary below.  To read the entire report, or learn more about the Global Commision on Drug Policy, visit www.globalcommissionondrugs.org.

The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.
Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption. Apparent victories in eliminating one source or trafficking organization are negated almost instantly by the emergence of other sources and traffickers. Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/AIDS, overdose fatalities and other harmful consequences of drug use. Government expenditures on futile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments in demand and harm reduction.
Our principles and recommendations can be summarized as follows:
End the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others. Challenge rather than reinforce common misconceptions about drug markets, drug use and drug dependence. 
Encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens. This recommendation applies especially to cannabis, but we also encourage other experiments in decriminalization and legal regulation that can accomplish these objectives and provide models for others. 
Offer health and treatment services to those in need. Ensure that a variety of treatment modalities are available, including not just methadone and buprenorphine treatment but also the heroin-assisted treatment programs that have proven successful in many European countries and Canada. Implement syringe access and other harm reduction measures that have proven effective in reducing transmission of HIV and other blood-borne infections as well as fatal overdoses. Respect the human rights of people who use drugs. Abolish abusive practices carried out in the name of treatment – such as forced detention, forced labor, and physical or psychological abuse – that contravene human rights standards and norms or that remove the right to self-determination. 
Apply much the same principles and policies stated above to people involved in the lower ends of illegal drug markets, such as farmers, couriers and petty sellers. Many are themselves victims of violence and intimidation or are drug dependent. Arresting and incarcerating tens of millions of these people in recent decades has filled prisons and destroyed lives and families without reducing the availability of illicit drugs or the power of criminal organizations. There appears to be almost no limit to the number of people willing to engage in such activities to better their lives, provide for their families, or otherwise escape poverty. Drug control resources are better directed elsewhere. 
Invest in activities that can both prevent young people from taking drugs in the first place and also prevent those who do use drugs from developing more serious problems. Eschew simplistic ‘just say no’ messages and ‘zero tolerance’ policies in favor of educational efforts grounded in credible information and prevention programs that focus on social skills and peer influences. The most successful prevention efforts may be those targeted at specificat-risk groups. 
Focus repressive actions on violent criminal organizations, but do so in ways that undermine their power and reach while prioritizing the reduction of violence and intimidation. Law enforcement efforts should focus not on reducing drug markets per se but rather on reducing their harms to individuals, communities and national security. 
Begin the transformation of the global drug prohibition regime. Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights – and adopt appropriate criteria for their evaluation. Review the scheduling of drugs that has resulted in obvious anomalies like the flawed categorization of cannabis, coca leaf and MDMA. Ensure that the international conventions are interpreted and/or revised to accommodate robust experimentation with harm reduction, decriminalization and legal regulatory policies. 
Break the taboo on debate and reform. The time for action is now.