Obama's economic stimulus plan is insane

Throwing "government money" (there really is no such thing) at the slouching economy isn't going to make it better. It's been done before, and it rarely helps. At best, we might get a temporary spike in economic activity as a result of the spending, but like the high from a hit of crack, it will not be sustained, it will not be "real" economic activity, and when the spending stops we'll have a nasty hangover.

This WSJ article explains it nicely.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122938932478509075.html

The best thing government can do to help the situation is to get out of the way, untie the hands of businesses, lower taxes, and allow private companies and individuals to go about the process of creating wealth. Government cannot create wealth, it can only destroy it.

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy

A new article in Nature: "Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy"

Society must respond to the growing demand for cognitive enhancement. That response must start by rejecting the idea that 'enhancement' is a dirty word, argue Henry Greely and colleagues.

Holy cow, a sensible attitude toward drugs from one of the most respected science journals! Dare I hope that this attitude may eventually spread to include other drugs?

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/456702a.html