- Jeez……as if life weren’t already bad enough for children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), here comes even more bad news. No, this doesn’t include all of the lazy people out there who claim they have ADHD as a means to excuse their unwillingness to put down the TV remote or Wii controller, get up off the couch and make an effort to do something productive. Those who actually suffer from ADHD are the target audience here for news that people with the disorder may be much more likely to develop substance abuse problems in later years, according a new study published Friday. "This greater risk for children with ADHD applies to boys and girls, it applies across race and ethnicity - the findings were very consistent," said Steve S. Lee, an assistant professor of psychology at UCLA and lead author of the study. "The greater risk for developing significant substance problems in adolescence and adulthood applies across substances, including nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and other drugs.” Lee and his team partnered with researchers at the University of South Carolina for the first large-scale comprehensive analysis on the issue. Their findings were released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For the study, Lee and his colleagues analyzed 27 long-term studies that followed approximately 4,100 children with ADHD and 6,800 children without the disorder into adolescence and young adulthood. By following these individuals for more than 10 years in some cases and then combining all the published studies that met rigorous criteria and analyzing them together, researchers found that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are two to three times more likely than children without the disorder to develop serious substance abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood. Among the problems they may face for higher chance of addiction, higher likelihood for abuse and a more difficult time quitting. “Any single study can be spurious," Lee said, "but our review of more than two dozen carefully designed studies provides a compelling analysis." As for ADHD itself, the disorder affect approximately five percent to 10 percent of children in the U.S., as opposed to the seemingly overwhelming majority of people who claim to suffer from it. Again, being lazy and unmotivated is not the same as being easily distracted, fidgeting, unable to complete a single task and easily bored because of a medical condition. Perhaps this study will motivate people to exercise more discretion in self-diagnosing themselves as having ADHD because by saying that, you may now also be saying that I’m quite possibly a future drug addict as well………
- You just know that all of the world’s dictators grumbled a choice profanity under their breath in their language of choice when Egyptian despot Hosni Mubarak announced his resignation Friday. Now, every disgruntled populace around the world believes that by rising up, speaking out and taking it to the streets, they too can oust their unwanted dictator from power. Nowhere is the more evident that in Algeria, where thousands of protesters took to the streets of the country’s capital and other main cities demanding the government's ouster. Algerians looked around, saw the successful protests in fellow North African countries Egypt and Tunisia and were inspired. Mirroring the efforts of pro-democracy protesters in driving Mubarak from power, Algerians crowded the streets demanding President Abdelaziz Bouteflika leave office. Protesters chanting, "No to the police state!" and "Bouteflika out!" packed the streets and made their voices heard as massive numbers of riot police tried to shut them up. In addition to Algiers, protests broke out in other cities across the country as well, including the Mediterranean hub of Oran. The government feebly attempted to stamp out protests by issuing official orders against them, but of course protestors would have no part of it. The best protestors v. riot police battles were in Algiers, where scenes of hand-to-hand combat and arrests were common. Protestors were near-unanimous in their belief that even if it takes a long time, they will eventually topple the current regime. The protests were organized by a new umbrella group, the National Coalition for Change and Democracy. To expand their scope, however, organizers may need to secure the support of Algeria's main trade unions and banned Islamist groups. The ingredients that led to Egypt’s explosive (and effective) mixture of dissidence - high unemployment, a growing gap between rich and poor and a large and restless youth population – are also present in Algeria, which is good news. There were riots in the country last month as well, leading to five deaths and hundreds of injuries. Now, it’s a matter of whether or not the rage can be channeled effectively enough to make a real impact and cause permanent change…………
- Right now, even a bad movie has an excellent chance of one or more sequels being made. It’s a given because the last thing Hollywood wants to do is expend effort to make money. That made Iron Man 3 a given, but getting the green light to make the third installment of the Robert Downey Jr.-centric, monument-to-excess action series has proven to be easier than figuring out who will write and direct the film. Last year Jon Favreau, director of the first two Iron Man films in the series, announced that he wouldn't be returning to direct the third film. Favreau did not say why he wouldn’t be returning, but that led Disney with a hole to fill. The man in their crosshairs appears to be Shane Black, writer and director of Lethal Weapon. While an agreement is not close, Black has been in talks with Marvel Studios owners Disney about writing and directing the new film. Black’s resume isn't exactly sparkling, with 1991's The Last Boy Scout, 1996's The Long Kiss Goodnight and the first two Lethal Weapon films as his “standout” efforts. Considering that none of those films are considered all-time greats, Black isn't exactly esteemed as one of Hollywood’s best. However, by virtue of being willing to sit down at a computer and do a little bit of writing, whomever takes Favreau’s place could have a big advantage. See, Favreau apparently had a habit of not bothering to finish the script for either of the first two Iron Man movies. Jeff Bridges, who starred in the first movie, admitted that at times the actors were making things up as they went along. "They had no script, man!" he said. "They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn’t know what we were going to say." Wait…….that’s a problem? Expecting actors who are trained to look at a page, memorize their words and then recite them for the camera to suddenly ad lib, get creative and come up with smart, thoughtful dialogue doesn’t work? Could explain why the dialogue for the first two movies in the series was so haphazard and meandering at times………..
- In the search for the “Taxi of Tomorrow,” there will be setbacks. Progress is never made and revolutionary ideas never discovered without the pain of experimenting, trying and sometimes failing. So as the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission leads the way in the search for the “Taxi of Tomorrow,” there will be good ideas and there will be bad ones. TLC Commissioner David Yassky and a significant chunk of passengers exposed to televisions in the back of cabs seem to believe that the oddly placed screens fall into the latter category. Some 31.3 percent of people surveyed called the taxi TVs “annoying,” which was enough to rank them as the second-most disliked feature of a cab ride. Only the famously high cost of a Manhattan taxi ride, disliked by 36.8 percent of those surveyed, was more hated than the screens. The survey included 22,600 respondents and was commissioned by the TLC. How did the commission convince so many people – busy New Yorkers nonetheless – to take part in an unpaid survey? By telling them that if they filled out the form, they had a chance to win a prize, of course. And yes, there was a winner: Abdul Mohammed of the Bronx won the free year of taxi rides for his participation. Sadly, he didn’t win faster taxi cab rides for a year and riding the subway would still get him where he needs to go more quickly, but a prize is a prize. As for the television screens in cabs, Yassky says he’s looking to provide more compelling content for riders. Television screens seemed like a concept worth trying, as giving people something to look at while crammed into the back of a cab on traffic-snarled NYC streets as they tried to go 12 blocks in under an hour seemed like a good diversion. But for whatever reason, the idea that seemed good in theory fell flat in practical application and it’s now back to the drawing board in the search for the “Taxi of Tomorrow.” What’s next? If you said an in-car shower or deodorizing system for taxi drivers……I’m sure you’re not the first to make that suggestion……….
- Wowsers. I knew coaching was a transient profession, especially coaching in the NFL and college football, but is it too much to ask that someone take the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback coaching job and stay for a while? The Jaguars thought they had the position locked up with Mike Shula, but he resigned in January to take the same position with the Carolina Panthers. Moving from a near-playoff team to the team that had the worst record (and quarterback play) in the NFL last season seems odd, but coaches sometimes make these choices based on relationships and connections and Shula’s ties to the new regime in Carolina certainly played into his choice. The Jaguars acted quickly, promoting Todd Monken to QBs coach after Shula’s departure. Less than three weeks later…….Monken decided he’d been an NFL quarterbacks coach long enough and stepped down to return to college football as Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator. Something tells me that Monken is a guy who enjoys college football a little bit more than the pro game. So with a vacancy at the same position for the second time in less than a month, the Jaguars searched long and hard, coming up with….. Cincinnati's Mike Sheppard. Sheppard, who has 17 years of NFL coaching experience, spent the past four seasons coaching receivers for the Bengals and also has college head-coaching stints (Long Beach State and New Mexico) on his resume. However, the question that I would have asked him before delving into any of that experience, or quizzing Sheppard about his philosophy of developing quarterbacks, was whether he planned to stay in his new role for more than a month. If he could provide assurances to that end, then he would become the clear choice for the gig………..
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