Showing posts with label sense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sense. Show all posts
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Does this Quesada point make sense
Does this Quesada point make sense
In the continuing drama of the Spider-Man marriage, Joe Quesada (in his always interesting, at the very least, weekly column, Joe Fridays) wondered why people werent discussing a point of his, which he seems to think is a big winner. Says Joe,
What I found interesting is that no one seemed to address a very important point I made last week. Knowing that having a child or getting divorce, annulled, separated, or widowed and all those sorts of things aren’t an option, there is not a single story of a married Peter Parker that can’t be told with a single Peter Parker. On the other hand, the exact opposite isn’t true.I dont get it.
Does that make sense? Does he have some big winner here? It doesnt seem to make sense to me, as I dont see how that is that strong of a point. I mean, PICK a Spider-Man change. Like the organic webspinners. Is there a story out there with organic webspinner Peter Parker that cant be told with webshooters Peter Parker?
In the alternative, does the fact that you can tell stories with Spider-Man living in Avengers Tower that you cant tell if Spider-Man lives in a shitty apartment make the Avengers Tower thing a better plot device? I dont see how it does.
If its just "The marriage is constraining," then fine, I think people get that - they acknowledge it.
But otherwise, what am I missing here that makes this an awesome point?
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Do Your Family a Favor and Talk Some Sense Into Them
Do Your Family a Favor and Talk Some Sense Into Them
My sister wrote and illustrated a short picture book for my mother as a Christmas present. Now my parents want me to bring the book to my editor and see what she thinks. I know exactly what shed think: "No. Thank you, but no." Oh, the story and the drawings are cute and fun, but I dont think the story can be stretched out to fill 32 pages (or whatever the length of a picture book is). However... I am not an editor. Is it possible that Im the short-sighted one?Well... you never know. Ive said hell no to manuscripts that went on to thrill the socks off of another editor and were published very nicely. (I still say hell no, but clearly some people love that stuff.)
I dont think my editor needs another picture book submission from a) someone who thinks their relative is brilliant, or b) someone who thinks they have an in because they know someone at the publishing house.Thats true.
Then again, it would take 30 seconds to read.But how long to say no to it, and graciously? Thats the time-suck.
Am I refusing my sister a fair chance? Or, should I just tell her to re-write the story until its good enough? Also, is there a way to let parents down gently, without making it sound like the gift was terrible?I dont know your family members, so I dont know what will make sense to them. You should at least try to bring across to them that editors field a LOT of friends-and-family manuscripts and they dont appreciate it. So while (of course) you are willing to do your sister as many special favors as there are stars in the sky, your editor isnt.
Editors are often sympathetic, patient people at heart (though overworked), but I know they all wish that more people understood that when one asks ones author friend to do a favor and send a manuscript to their editor, one is not asking the author to do you a favor-- emailing something takes very little time, and no energy. What one is really doing is asking the editor to do you a favor, and you dont get to ask strangers for favors.
Still, your editor likes you and wants to be kind, so sending your editor one manuscript from your family is probably ok with her. You may want to let your sister know that this is the only special favor youll be able to ask of your editor-- so is this the manuscript she wants to use her golden ticket on?
And as far as your parents: I dont understand why, but its clear that many people cant believe something is wonderful unless everyone else agrees. Which, in case anyone reading is feeling low on logic, MAKES NO SENSE. Publishing a manuscript is about appealing to thousands of people. There are lots of wonderful manuscripts that would make dozens, or scores, or even hundreds of people happy. They cant be published. They would be cherished, and they would sell, but they would not sell enough.
Publishing is about appealing to people who spend money on books. Publishing is about appealing to strangers. In terms of the story that a daughter writes for her parents, there is simply no excuse for any conclusion besides this one: if the parents think the story is wonderful, then it has appealed to the only important people in the world.
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Sunday, March 19, 2017
Does ADHD improve your sense of smell
Does ADHD improve your sense of smell
Due to a high degree of overlap in symptoms with other disorders, finding accurate ways of differentiating ADHD is of utmost importance. Based on a recent study by Romanos and coworkers, it appears that individuals with ADHD may be able to "sniff out" their disorder. In a publication on Improved Odor Sensitivity in ADHD, Romanos and others found that children with ADHD had significantly better sensitivity for particular odors when compared to their non-ADHD peers. In other words, children with ADHD may be able to better detect minute or trace levels of certain smells when compared to other children. As an interesting aside, the study noted that boys actually had a slight advantage as far as odor detection when compared to girls (which goes against many other study findings which indicate that females have better senses of smell).
However, when these children were investigated in two other "smell" categories, which included discrimination between different smells, and the actual identification of particular agents causing the smell, they should no advantages over their non-ADHD peers. Similar studies have also been done on adults with ADHD, and have shown little to no effect between ADHD and sense of smell. These findings seem to agree with another recent report on olfactory impairments in children with ADHD. This study found that children with ADHD were worse at identifying the nature of particular odors than non-ADHD children. It appears that these deficits are tied to a specific brain region called the orbitofrontal region, the outer section which is approximated by the green region in the diagram below (original file source can be found here). Note that this region has numerous implications with regards to the disorder of ADHD.
To throw another wrinkle into the mix, it appears that stimulant medication treatments for ADHD may negate these olfactory advantages (with regards to the increased ability of ADHD children to detect minute levels of odors better than their peers). The Romanos study also investigated another group of similar age and gendered individuals with ADHD who were on the medication methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, Daytrana, etc.). Like the non-medicated ADHD children, this group all had the combined subtype of ADHD (meaning that both hyperactive/impulsive as well as inattentive symptoms were present to a large extent). They found that the medicated children did not have the improved smell sensitivity that their non-medicated ADHD peers did, but rather had an odor detectability level similar to that of the non-ADHD group. In other words, it appeared that methylphenidate (as well as other ADHD stimulant medications, potentially), may offset any improvements in smell detection in ADHD individuals.
It is believed that the dopamine system and pathways play a critical role in smell differences between ADHD children and their peers. Keep in mind that methylphenidate and most other stimulants for ADHD work by increasing the concentration of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the areas between neuronal cells, by reducing the transport of this important brain chemical into the cells themselves (individuals with ADHD often have an imbalance between the dopamine levels inside and outside of these neurons, and often have insufficient dopamine levels in the surrounding areas outside the neuron cells). Dopamine levels have been shown to have a protective effect on olfactory neurons (neurons related to smell). Chemical alterations of dopamine levels, such as those introduced by methylphenidate or other ADHD stimulants may therefore interfere with odor sensitivities in key regions of smell such as the olfactory bulb region of the brain.
On a final note, the findings by Romanos and coworkers are of potential interest because of the fact that many neuropsychiatric disorders are accompanied by a sharp decrease in odor detection and sense of smell. These include Parkinsons Disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, autism, and depression. Because of this, it may be possible to use odor sensitivity tests to help differentiate between ADHD and other neuropsychiatric disorders, at least in children. Although we have seen that there is some conflicting evidence surrounding studies, it appears that we could, at least in theory, administer some type of smell test of trace levels of specific odorous chemical agents that are undetectable to the majority of the child population and see whether the potential ADHD candidate could detect these minute traces. Furthermore, it would be interesting to see whether other stimulant medications besides methylphenidate have the same effects on curbing the increased odor sensitivities exhibited in ADHD children.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Does Hosting the Olympics Make Economic Sense
Does Hosting the Olympics Make Economic Sense
Each year, we hear about the amazing construction programs embarked upon by countries and cities hosting the Olympic Games. The cost of hosting the Olympics has skyrocketed. The Beijing Olympics reportedly cost more than $40 billion! No worries, claim the host cities... The economic benefits will be tremendous and long-lasting to boot! Is that actually true? Does hosting the Olympic Games make economic sense? Is there a positive return on investment for host cities? Most academics argue that hosting the Olympic is a losing proposition, from a purely financial perspective. One or two cities have seen a positive return on investment, but most have not. The research is abundant and quite clear. Heres an excerpt from an NPR article describing one such study:
Allen Sanderson, senior lecturer at the University of Chicago who specializes in sports economics, investigated that question. He and a student, Samantha Edds, compared cities that hosted the Olympics with similar cities in the same country or region that did not. The cities were also comparable in other ways — size, population and tourist appeal.
They compared Atlanta, which hosted the Olympics, to Charlotte, which did not. They pitted Olympic city Barcelona against Madrid, and matched up Sydney, Australia, against Melbourne. They checked for marked growth in construction, tourism and the financial-services sector over a nine-year period — four years before the games, and five years after.
"We couldnt find any difference in terms of building permits, tourism, anything before or after," Sanderson says. "If you masked the name of the cities, you would not be able to tell which of these two cities had the Olympics and which did not."
According to Sanderson, this doesnt mean cities should stop competing to host the Olympics; it just means they should stop claiming that the games make economic sense. "We do lots of things that dont turn a profit," he says. "We own dogs. We have boats. Those things lose lots of money, but we know it." So cities, go ahead and host the Olympics. Its a great party. Its just a terrible investment.
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