ndmckinney|net

Et si c’était ennuyeux?

Apparently, drinking beer (or rather, consuming low amounts of alcohol) on a daily basis can be beneficial, if only in lab rats. According to a study from the University of Auckland, lab rats who tested better at “memory tasks” than their sober counterparts. Of course, over-consumption can lead to neurotoxicity (not to mention other social problems). Seems like this is more of a reason to have a glass or two of wine every day with dinner, like the Europeans.

[From Scientific American: Don't Forget: Drink a Beer—Or Two—a Day!]

Metro (WMATA) is proposing another fare increase, although this one is a bit more modest than earlier proposals. According to WMATA, the fare increase is necessary to make up for a projected budget shortfall. It doesn’t matter how much the fares increase on Metro; no fare increase can alter the fundamental fact that Metro is one of the worst designed mass transit systems in the country, if not the world.

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Random sign I saw on the way home today:

Free Stuff For Sale

Saturday only, 9am - 1pm.

According to Friday’s Marketplace [American Public Media], the FDA will be given new powers to monitor pharmaceuticals once they’ve been released onto the market, but the new Senate bill does not go as far as some. According to the report, advertisers claim that marketing of pharmaceuticals is protected by the First Amendment.

How is advertising protected by the First Amendment? Certainly the Constitution looks to protect the individual from oppression by the government by prohibiting the banning of political speech. But how far should that protection go? Even political speech is not absolute, and the Supreme Court has spent generations trying to figure out just how far that protection should go.

It is undisputed that the Congress has the power to regulate business and commerce. But I find it highly suspect that the Congress intended to grant a greater protection to commercial and business speech than to political speech is ludicrous. Whatever the impact on commerce, commercial speech is not and should not be beyond the reach of the government.

[From Marketplace: FDA bill stops short of drug-ad bans]