News of the week

alternatively, my last post for a while until I'm back from Dallas or in Iowa.

Brown need not binge. I've never been to

Geno's before as this picture was taken from across the street at Pat's. So fortunately, I've never patronized this particular establishment, which posted an English only sign earlier this week. The South Philadephia mainstay claims it will not sell its famous cheesesteaks to anyone who orders without speaking English. The sign reads:

"This is America -- when ordering speak English"

If you're in South Philly, explain to me how you stay in business with this policy? In any case, eat at Pat's. The steaks are better and they aren't racist jackasses.

How many times can you make a sequel to Bring it On? How many times can you believe in yourself?

If you get that joke, you have a good brain (or you saw Calvin Waters or are an avid "Brown" reader). My friend Jamie (the one that looks like Kirsten Dunst--seriously, pay attention!) called me a couple of days ago, which made me think of this:

"Bring It On: All or Nothing" debuts on DVD for the first time ever on August 8th from Universal Studios Home Entertainment with suggested retail price of  $29.98. The premise of this sequal to "Bring it On" and "Bring it On Again" is that a pair of rival squads are competing for a chance to appear in an upcoming Rihanna television special. The movie will star Beyoncé's sister Solange Knowles of the "Johnson Family Vacation" and "The Proud Family" and also Hayden Panettiere of "Ice Princess" and "Raising Helen." Watch here for more information as we get it.

"Bring It On 3" is a sassy and spirited production with new moves, new music and eye-popping dance sequences. Britney Allen (Hayden Panettiere) is living the dream -- the cheerleader's dream. At the elite seaside campus of Pacific Vista High School, Britney is captain of the cheerleading squad and the envy of everyone at school -- including one overly-ambitious teammate. When Britney hears about a forthcoming audition for a top cheer squad to appear in recording star Rihanna's upcoming television special, she is determined that her Pirates cheer squad will capture the coveted spot. But Britney's life turns from cheer-topia to cheer-tastrophe when her father's job takes her family to Crenshaw Heights, a multi-ethnic working-class neighborhood east of Los Angeles. At her new school, Britney is viewed with suspicion by most of the students, especially by Camille (Solange Knowles Smith), the overly confident and acerbic leader of the Crenshaw Heights Warriors cheerleading squad. No one is more surprised than Camille, however, when Britney proves herself and secures a spot on the Warriors' cheer squad. Britney and her new teammates work feverishly to prepare for the audition for Rihanna, incorporating some edgy new moves into their performance. Now the pressure is on, as the Warriors find themselves locked in a high-stakes cheer-off with Pacific Vista, Britney's old school! During the climactic, no-holds-barred fight to the finish, friendships, loyalties and talents are tested -- but only one team can come out on top.

The Hills on MTV

You've seen Laguna Beach and now that Lauren Conrad (LC) has her own spinoff with "The Hills," it's time to get on the bandwagon. Since I won't be able to watch over the summer, someone (Betty?) needs to watch these episodes and let me know what happens. So far, I'm loving that LC is the responsible one to Heidi's wild ways.

Anyway, "The Hills:" Watch it. Love it. Tell me about it.

Just in case you didn't save a copy for yourself

Time Inc sued Hello for these pictures. I'm not exactly sure what the world has come to where someone has enough time on their hands to travel to a Namibian hut to get a few pictures of Brangelina's baby.

In any case, here's an interesting related article on Hollywood names. I'm not sure I understand the name Shiloh but given Moxie Crimefighter and Bluebell Madonna out there, I suppose there's an air of normality to it.

I can't help but wonder if Jen's jealous. Maybe just a little?

Leaving for Dallas in a few days but I have plenty to accomplish in the meantime. If you have designs on seeing me before late August, now's a good time.  Get your tickets now!

Do you ever get the impression that Gary's ignoring you?

Are smarter people better at ignoring things?

People frequently complain that they can't remember things -- and they wish their brains had more storage capacity, like today's ever-expanding computer hard drives and RAM. If we could just improve the sheer size of our memory, we'd be able to retain and manipulate more data, and we'd become smarter and smarter -- right?

Not according to an intriguing new experiment by brain scientists at the University of Oregon. Edward Vogel and a team of students took a handful of volunteers and tested their "visual working memory" -- their ability to maintain awareness of events and objects around them. The test asked them to pay attention to red or blue bricks in a visual picture.

Now, visual working memory is highly correlated to intelligence: People with a bigger VWM tend to score much better on an array of cognitive challenges. For years, scientists have assumed that VWM is roughly analogous to cramming info into your head: The more you can fit in there, the smarter you are.

But when Vogel mapped the brain-wave activity of the volunteers, he noticed something much weirder. The people with the largest capacity in their VWM weren't retaining tons of information. No, they were being quite selective. Their genius lay in being able to strip out inessential information: To pay attention only to the red bricks -- to hold only those "in mind" -- and to ignore the blue ones. The upshot, as the editors at Nature summarize, is that ...

... this also implies that an individual's effective memory capacity may not simply reflect storage space, as it does with a hard disk. It may also reflect how efficiently irrelevant information is excluded from using up vital storage capacity.

That chart above shows this relationship: The more efficiently the subjects' brain worked, the bigger their memory capacity. This is not to say that people who can't screen out stimuli are dumber. As Vogel noted, "Being a bit scattered tends to be a trait of highly imaginative people." The more you rattle the marbles around in your brain, the more creative new connections you make, as it were -- connections that might be lost on those focusing intently on just the red ones.

I should have asked for an autograph in CX

Many know of my crushing defeat at the hands of one Brian Fletcher about 10 years ago in a relatively inconsequential debate round. While I'm loathe to remember that, hearing of his escapades since then makes me feel incredibly unaccomplished!

Harvard Law School just released it's 2006 J.D. Honors List and of course, Brian is graduating magna cum laude a feat that has not been attained in six years. To give you an idea of how absurd this accomplishment is, it requires a 7.2 GPA where a 7 is an A. There are only a few classes that give out an A+ and they limit those to one or two per term. Anjan told me this morning that he was 3rd in his class after his first year at Harvard with all As and one A-, which means that he had just below a 7 GPA.

Prior to Harvard Law, Brian graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. Brian was also the 119th president of Harvard Law Review and will be clerking with Judge Merrick Garland (CADC) after graduation, himself only a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard Law. Brian was also part of the championship Ames Moot Court team, and winner of the Sears Prize.

I agree with Anjan, someday, I'll be able to say that I lost that final round to the President of the United States! Regardless of whether the presidency is in Brian's future, Brian was a great guy and a good friend. I'm really happy for him so congratulations, buddy!