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Monthly Archives: November 2011
A closer look at the Euro debt crisis
Giving away the secrets of cancer research
Harvard researcher Jay Bradner discusses his approach to open-source cancer research.
How much is corruption worth?
The corrupt nature of big-time college football and basketball has been a frequent topic on this blog. Entertaining, yes, but corrupt nonetheless.
So, is it really a surprise that one of the flagship programs and legendary coaches in this corrupt system are being implicated in a particularly repulsive web of corruption?
Condemnation of the actors involved has been the almost universal reaction in social media over the weekend, but caution is advised. We have heard only the prosecutors’ story so far and that story may not be true, at least entirely. The reputations and careers of prominent people are at stake here, so restraint at this point is prudent. Hindsight bias and our scapegoat instinct remain strong.
Yet, the allegations remain hugely troubling. A prominent assistant coach was allegedly caught by another coach in a compromising act with a minor. Another employee apparently also testified that he came upon the coach engaging in sex with a minor on school property.
What was done in response? Was it enough? Did it comply with obligations under applicable law? Did university authorities downplay the seriousness of the matter in order to protect a highly popular friend of the football program? Did one of the witnesses not pursue disclosure of the incident further because the football program gave him an assistant coaching position? Were the university’s lawyers advised about the incident at the time” If so, what did they advise?
These are the questions that will be asked in the coming days, weeks and months. And the answers may well be troubling.
Make no mistake about it. Not only are these the type of allegations that can destroy lives, careers and families, they can shake institutions even as wealthy and time-honored as Pennsylvania State University to its core.
And at some point the leaders running such institutions must confront a very basic, but troubling, question:
Is the corruption worth it?
And for honest leaders of other institutions who realize it could just have well been theirs involved in this mess, it’s a question well worth considering.
The Rational Optimist
Conan delivers Chinese food in NYC
“What a Little Bit of Love Can Do”
Jeff Bridges is one of finest actors of our time. He’s also a pretty darn good country music musician (H/T Austin City Limits).
Watch Jeff Bridges “What a Little Bit of Love Can Do” on PBS. See more from Austin City Limits.
Billy Cannon’s Punt Return
As no. 2 LSU prepares to play no. 1 Alabama on Saturday night, this video provides a glimpse at another big LSU game — the 1959 battle between no. 1 LSU and no. 3 Ole Miss that propelled LSU legend Billy Cannon to a Heisman Trophy and a rich professional contract with the Houston Oilers.
Sonia Arrison on the science of living longer
The real lesson about Steve Jobs’ cancer
Since Steve Jobs’ death almost a month ago, much has been written about his approach to dealing with his pancreatic cancer.
However, David Gorski over at Respectful Insolence here and here has provided the most level-headed analysis of Jobs’ ordeal that I’ve read anywhere to date.
The bottom line is that we simply do not know enough about Jobs’ circumstances with this particularly pernicious form of cancer to know whether his nine-month flirtation with quacks before submitting to the Whipple surgical procedure made any difference in his death. The Whipple procedure can save the lives of a very small percentage of pancreatic cancer patients, but we do not know if Jobs’ tumor was of the specific type that can be effectively eradicated through that procedure. About the only sure thing that can be said about Jobs’ foray into the ephemeral field of “alternative medicine” is that it didn’t help his situation.
The optimistic view of therapeutic intervention in medicine that post-World War II doctors embraced has resulted in enormous advances in our understanding on how to cure, or mollify the effects of, disease.
But the real lesson of Steve Jobs’ cancer is that there remains much more that we simply do not know.