Is She Right?

 The Times had a researcher from Oxford talk about teenaged anxiety and depression among teens. As someone who has seen in very many forms this phenomenon - including serious clinical cases - I think she's hit on something.

As she very careful explains (but what will probably be ignored in the coming backlash), there really is anxiety and depression, and it does seem to be growing among young people. I will say that I definitely suffered from depression in my teens and twenties, and every now and again, I have a bout of mild depression. What I did not have is much framework or license to "be depressed." It was stigmatized and that's bad. What's more, I never had suicidal ideation or impulses to self-harm. I was angry - typical of depression in men - and drank. I played relatively violent sports.

In the end, mild depression and anxiety are likely simply part of being human. And in my experience, having free time was like throwing fuel on the fire. Once I really had a full time job, once I had a job that gave me purpose, those episodes got further and further apart and shorter and shorter. Some of it is that I know I will come out the other side; it's not forever. 

Kids don't know that. They can see transient episodes of anxiety and depression for being transient. Are you anxious meeting new people? No kidding. Are you sometimes really sad? Yeah, that happens.

The question the woman in the video above raises is how much have we created a system where we rush to diagnose and pathologize what is really part of the human experience? And - this is important - when we do that, we bleed the urgency from those with more significant mental health issues. As she puts it, "If everything is an illness, then nothing is."

It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and she had to know this would be a controversial thing to say. I do think that this is an underrated way that social media is making our kids mentally unwell. 

Welcome South Brother

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/28/7931959/google-fiber-cable-terrified

Google Fiber is expanding from three cities (Kansas City, Austin and Provo) to four more (Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham).  Timothy Lee suggests that this is good news for everyone, because other cable providers will feel the need to keep up.  Fiber optic internet is 10-50 times faster than other forms of internet, and America's internet infrastructure is a joke compared to other comparable economies.

It is interesting to me that Google has picked Southern cities (KC and Utah are close enough) to pilot Google Fiber.  Is this because those cities have poor internet and therefore the improvement will be most profound?  Is this because those states have lax regulatory oversight, which makes Google's task easier?  Is this a cost issue or a benefit issue?

The four Southern cities are all pretty well integrated into the global economy, so maybe they feel the benefit will be higher.

If this works, they will expand next in Portland, San Jose, Salt Lake City and Phoenix.  Curious that they don't want to hit New York, Boston or Chicago.

And of course, the really underserved areas are rural.  As always.

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!

This is what we came home to.

When Frost wrote:

Good fences make good neighbors

Apparently few people realized he was being ironic.

Two Health Stories

For a relative pittance, the Carter Center has come close to eradicating guinea worm.  By improving education, digging wells and providing treatment, they have managed to dramatically reduce a truly horrific parasitic infection.

Meanwhile, there is a new drug to combat HIV.  It is incredibly expensive - up to $14,000 a year - and has to be taken every day.  It can help at-risk people avoid infection, but again it has to be taken every day.  It has already started to create resistant strains, despite being on the market for only two years.  The people who probably need it most - sex workers and the population of sub-Saharan Africa - can't afford it.

Roughly speaking, you're looking at two ways of treating illness.  One is focused on public health and prevention.  The other is "there's a pill for that (if you have insurance)."

Obviously, drugs have made tremendous improvements in people's lives.  But the way in which we treat illnesses could be made more comprehensive.  It will be interesting - for instance - to see a longitudinal study of preventable deaths from cigarette smoking and see if high taxes have an effect.  It's only been about 15 years since the tobacco industry finally cried uncle about their product.  Has there been an effect?

Or is there now a pill for that, too?

Fer Fun...

http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/new-york-city-subway-construction/1-310157

Pretty cool pics.

Apropos Of Nothing

This is cool:

http://fakeisthenewreal.org/reform/

Nothing New Under The Sun

The GOP continues to convince itself that, by golly, they just weren't conservative enough to win in 2012.

The fiscal cliff austerity bomb lingers on the edge of the event horizon.

It continues to suck to work retail in America.

Someone without blinkers on notes that Fox News is a GOP shill.

Oh, one thing is new.  France is apparently going to recognize the Palestinian state.  Expect the more rabid neo-cons to bring up the Dreyfuss Affair in 3...2...1....

This Is Cool

Hey, Obama! I Built This!

It's a retaining wall with a firepit!  Come on by.

But bring some of that White House beer.




And so ends the Summer of Projects....

Sports Suck

As an Atlanta sports fan, I can honestly say there is more pleasure in getting kicked in the nuts by an angry mule.

2011 Top Ten List

Everyone is doing it so....

1) The King Is Dead - The Decemberists
2) The Walking Dead, season 2
3) The Phillies losing in October
4) Justified, season 2
5) Drinking Guiness in Ireland
6) Modern Family, especially the Valentine's Day episode
7) Community, especially the season finale
8) 127 Hours (came out last year, but shut up it's my list)
9) Archer
10) Ashes and Fire - Ryan Adams

College Football Is Broken

I like college football well enough.  Love the SEC.

But it's New Year's Weekend and the bowl games last night and today have like two ranked teams.  It's worse than a regular Saturday in October.

The Long Drive

Dorothy goes through a TSA check before boarding the 7:37 tornado to Oz.

We made the Long Drive - 16 hours from Connecticut to Georgia.  Things One and Two were very well behaved/stunned into submission by videos and iPad games.

A few Friedmanesque notes on America from the drive.

I've gotten away from fast food   But we ate at a DQ and a Wendy's and it was just awful.  I remember eating fast food and thinking, "This is tasty, but unhealthy."  Now I had to choke it down in order to maintain enough sustenance for the drive.  Sadly, we were unable to time our drive in such a way to reach a Chic-Fil-A in time for a meal.

Traffic was unbelievably bad on I-81 through Virginia.  Part of it may be that all the snowbirds were headed south and - like us - avoiding I-95.  Coupled with that is the annoying habit of people to drive slowly in the left lane.  There should be some special form of shunning for the old codgers driving 60 in the fast lane of a 65 MPH zone.  Everyone knows that you get +10 MPH on the speed limit.  Maybe +5 in a 70 MPH zone.  High volumes of traffic need people to abide by basic roadway courtesy.

We left about two hours before the Most Spendiferous and Wonderful of Santa's Elves and My Wife's sister headed to JFK to fly to San Francisco.  We reached our destination at about the same time.

Obama and the other "socialists" get slagged for proposing high speed rail for the US.  But honestly, your options are either having a body cavity search, spend hours crammed into a plane on the runway before your cattle-like flight or spend far too long in your car.

Modern America was built in the late 19th century by trains.  They provided industrial demand for steel and knit the nation together.  We could use some more of that.

This might be my lamest post of the year...

Jesus Loves Tom Brady More

"I feel reasonably certain I'm not your dad.  But I can circumcise you if you want."

So, the Patriots showed that they hate America by beating Tim Tebow, er... the Denver Broncos.

Of course, we knew God preferred Brady already...

How's Your NFL Team Of Choice Doing?

The NFL is a remarkable going concern.

Right now, I'm basking in the glow of my team, the Falcons, making a dramatic comeback against a team they should not have been trailing.  The "Any Given Sunday" phenomenon works really well.

Certainly in the NBA or the majors, no team is expected to win everyday.  No problem, get'em tomorrow.  There are 162 games in a major league season.  Unless your Boston or Atlanta *sigh* any one game doesn't matter.  But with only 16 games, every NFL game is potentially huge.  Denver is riding a QB who throws like a cricket bowler because he has a great defense Jesus loves him.  But every game of the Tebow era was one play from disaster.  The Patriots won be a touchdown against the hapless Redskins.  New Orleans and Houston barely survived their games.  OK, the Packers are beating the snot out of the Raiders, but for the most part, it really is any given Sunday out there.

Fun stuff.

Republicans Are Worried About Their Penis Size

Cowboys.  You know, like the one on the far left.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/25/cowboy-crisis-male-anxiety

This op-ed piece is - I would guess - written by a British writer.  In it, she notes the need for American men to feel manly.  And manly - in the American cultural - means cowboy.  Reagan had his cowboy style.  Bush cleared brush on his "ranch".  Bush Pere liked pork rinds.  Perry runs around in a cowboy hat.

The statistics are clear - as the piece notes - that men are feeling a bit squeezed.  While they continue to run most everything, men are now outnumbered in college by women.  As the father of two boys, it certainly seems like the skills necessary for school seem tilted towards girls.  We are somewhat dismayed that our son routinely seems to miss recess time to do more work.  The kid needs to run around.  Boys are kinetic.  School is static.

In a post-industrial world what do the less verbal and more physical boys bring to the table?

Time will tell.

What it means right now is that the GOP is increasingly the political outlet for the "aggrieved male" demographic.  You can see it in the famous Herman Cain Smoking Man Ad.

You can feel the seething discontent of this middle aged white dude who has to stand outside to smoke because of those namby-pamby nanny state rules.

There are two questions, I guess that I have.  One, what will be the male role in the future and two, is this a change for the better.

As far as the future, I don't think much changes in a lot of ways.  Kinetic impulsiveness in a fourth grade boy can become decisiveness in a 34 year old man.  Male and female styles of leadership vary, but there will always be a need for someone who says, "OK, let's stop talking and make a decision."  And we will always need plumbers and electricians, skilled positions that require spatial and manual skills that men excel at.

Is it a good thing?  I think it is.  Obviously, I'm worried about my sons, especially Thing One. (Thing Two has NO problems with verbosity.)  But one of the underreported stories of the past 20 years has been the consistent and persistent decline in violent crime.  Even in the midst of the Great Recession, crime - inexplicably - has not risen.

Since most violent crime is committed by men, this insistence on self-control, the zero-tolerance of bullying, may have helped reduce the male propensity towards violent behavior.  It's not gone, but like saying "n****r", it's driven from polite company.

Sure, locking up millions of people has had an effect on crime rates.  But we've also changed the definition of being a man.

Of course, conservatives - who want to repeal the 20th century - are not OK with this.  They applaud it when men shoot abortion doctors or invade other countries.

But eventual Paleo-Man will shuffle off to his great reward.

It's yet another demographic trend that works against the GOP.

Hi, I'm 3.474,757,784

That is apparently my birth number or something.

I think it means I'm old.

Check it out.

Well, That's Nice

The Yankees?  Gone home for the winter.

The Phillies?  Right behind them.

It doesn't take the sting off of the Braves epic collapse, but it makes it manageable.

And while we're at it:

Pictures of Kim Jong Il looking at things.

Sports

It's taken over 40 years, but I think I have reached a point of sanity about sports.

Today, my beloved Braves got shut out by... actually, I have no idea who the opposing pitcher was.  Never heard of him.  They have a one game lead with three to play against the best team in the NL, whereas the Cards play the worst team in the NL.  I doubt they make the playoffs.

My beloved Falcons played like a beer league flag football team AFTER the beer has started flowing.  I think they go 9-7 if Matt Ryan doesn't get killed first.  They were a trendy pick to win the Super Bowl.

And I'm more or less OK with it.  I haven't thrown anything, although it helps that I can't actually SEE the games.

There's a line in one of my favorite movies, Groundhog Day, where Phil says, "Maybe God's not omniscient. Maybe he's just been around so long, nothing surprises him anymore."

I've reached that point, maybe, and that's nice.  I don't need my kids to see me having a heart attack because Roddy White dropped the go ahead touchdown or Martin Prado couldn't get a runner in from third with one outs.

God Save Us All

We are bearing up well under the tremendous onslaught of Irene.  It almost rained here a little bit.  And the winds can only be described as stiff.

It is apparently raining in some places a whole bunch.  And people may go HOURS without electricity.

Frankly, I'm disappointed.  I was hoping to do some looting, if only so that the punditry wouldn't be able to say that in New Orleans they scavenged for food and water looted, but in Nantucket there was surprisingly no looting.  Amazing.

But since Irene has turned out to be just a really windy day with intermittent sunshine, I am unable to make my socio-economic-political statement about the redistribution of wealth.

UPDATE: I went to the ferry to see when I could get off the island tomorrow and the strong winds literally blew SAND INTO MY EYE.  Who's laughing now?

At least out here, Irene has been similar to the Great Virginia Quake of 2011: