Daily Archives: August 5, 2010

Live Chat: How Do You Disconnect?

Published August 5, 2010

Wouldn’t it be nice to unplug? Can you?

William Powers, author of the New York Times bestseller, “Hamlet’s BlackBerry,” think it’s possible, even necessary. In fact, he does it every weekend. Powers joined Radio Boston to share what he has learned — and then Hubbub immediately afterward for a live chat.

I live-blogged the radio conversation before Powers joined in online. You can scroll down to 3:38 for his part.

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Readers, how do you disconnect? Do you create boundaries between you and your mobile gadgets? Would you be able to handle an “Internet sabbath?” Share in the comments.

Brown Won't Vote For Kagan

Published August 5, 2010

This just in.

Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court confirmation vote is today.

Update: Excerpt of a statement from Sen. Brown:

First, let me say that I have a great deal of respect for Elena Kagan. She has an impressive resume, and in my private meeting with her I found her to be brilliant, as you might expect from a former dean of Harvard Law School. However, I cannot vote to confirm Elena Kagan. The reason is simple. I believe nominees to the Supreme Court should have previously served on the bench. Lacking that, I look for many years of practical courtroom experience to compensate for the absence of prior judicial experience. In Elena Kagan’s case, she is missing both. When it comes to the Supreme Court, experience matters.

It’s an easy vote for Brown to make. He appeases conservatives — but does not endanger Kagan’s nomination, which is a sure bet.

More On Diagnosing Alzheimer's Earlier

Published August 5, 2010

PET scan of an Alzheimer's patient's brain (Susan NYC/Flickr)

PET scan of an Alzheimer's patient's brain (Susan NYC/Flickr)

Every one of us knows someone — or knows someone who knows someone — with Alzheimer’s. The disease can lie in wait for a decade before devastating the brain.

On Radio Boston recently, we brought on a leading Alzheimer’s researcher from Boston, Dr. Brad Hyman, to talk about new ways of diagnosing earlier — followed by a fascinating live chat with Hyman here on Hubbub. The question is, Would you want to take the test? And are we investing too much into diagnosis, not enough into the cure? The medical community is divided.

The New York Times today brings these questions into focus:

Why suggest ways of diagnosing the disease before a person even has symptoms? Why tell people they are doomed?

And are those early diagnosis guidelines just a sop to pharmaceutical companies so they can start marketing expensive, and perhaps not very effective, new drugs?

So the Alzheimer’s Association, with participation from the National Institute on Aging, held a conference call on Wednesday to clarify their position.

They wanted, in particular, to explain why they advocated using so-called biomarkers, like scans for amyloid plaque in the brain, a unique feature of Alzheimer’s, and tests of cerebrospinal fluid. Such brain scans are still experimental.

The groups said biomarkers would be used, at this stage, only for research, with some patients in studies having tests to see how well such brain changes predict disease.

In my brief television career at KPBS San Diego, I reported an Alzheimer’s explainer to get at the science of this disease, which took my great grandfather’s life. I will surely regret bringing this back from the archives, but here it is.

I can’t bear to watch the video with the sound on, but I recall that it’s very informative.

Texting While Enraged

Published August 5, 2010

One of @WBUR’s most retweeted tweets yesterday was my warning to “avoid, avoid, avoid I-93 North.”

WBUR’s Fred Thys was stuck in the jam for two-and-a-half hours. He channeled his rage into a hilarious chronicle of his journey. The Boston Globe tried something novel for a conventional newspaper — reporter Eric Moskowitz quoted tweets from drivers on location:

“Omg late to work bc been sitting in traffic for 50 min & counting on I93, what is going on?!’’ @LiLiii89 wrote on Twitter, part of a string of posts that chronicled the unfolding jam.

“Passed the hole going S on I93,’’ @intertwinemedia advised. “DO NOT get on N I93 Boston!!’’

Talk about texting while driving. It’s now illegal in Massachusetts, by the way, even if you’re stopped. But I surely would have tweeted my rage, too.

Thursday In The Hub: 5 Stories

Published August 5, 2010

Stories of note around the Hub on a hot and misty Thursday morning:

  1. Pothole Fixed, But Long Road Ahead For Bridge Repairs

    The morning commute is looking clear. All lanes on I-93 North, near Medford, are open again after workers successfully closed a gaping pothole on a bridge that snarled traffic Wednesday. With the state spending billions of dollars on road and bridge repairs, WBUR’s Fred Thys went in search of the giant hole in the road late Wednesday morning. (WBUR)

  2. Brown Votes Against Medicare, Education Funding

    Massachusetts stands to receive $655 million in federal Medicaid and education money under an aid package that narrowly cleared a key congressional hurdle yesterday despite opposition from the Bay State’s Republican senator, Scott Brown. (Globe)

  3. Shaq Will Make $2.8 Million Over 2 Years

    The Celtics will enter the upcoming season with nearly as much sizzle as their counterparts in Miami, as NBA icon, all-time great center, and Hall of Fame personality Shaquille O’Neal signed a two-year, $2.8 million contract with Boston, his fifth team in an illustrious but rocky career. (Globe)

  4. NPR Intern From BU Is Stabbed In D.C.

    An NPR intern was stabbed by another woman Wednesday morning in DC’s Chinatown neighborhood, in an incident witnesses described as a random attack. Witnesses say the victim, Annie Ropeick, a rising junior at Boston University, was walking down the street when the woman ran up and stabbed her in the neck for no apparent reason. (WJLA)

  5. CIA Quietly Invests In Cambridge Company

    Few people know that In-Q-Tel, the nonprofit investment arm of the U.S. intelligence community, has a stake in the Cambridge, MA-based startup Seventh Sense Biosystems. Neither In-Q-Tel nor Seventh Sense has ever publicized their relationship, which came to Xconomy’s attention recently. (Xconomy)