Shortcuts: Why It’s Not All Bad to Be Bored

I SPENT five unexpected hours in an airport this Thanksgiving holiday when our plane had mechanical difficulties and we had to wait for another plane to arrive. So I had plenty of time to think about the subject of boredom.

I won’t lie to you. Half a day in an airport waiting for a flight is pretty tedious, even with the distractions of books, magazines and iPhones (not to mention duty-free shopping).

But increasingly, some academics and child development experts are coming out in praise of boredom.

It’s all right for us — and our children — to be bored on occasion, they say. It forces the brain to go on interesting tangents, perhaps fostering creativity. And because most of us are almost consistently plugged into one screen or another these days, we don’t experience the benefits of boredom.

So should we embrace boredom?

Yes. And no. But I’ll get back to that.

First of all, like many people, I assumed that boredom was a relatively recent phenomenon, with the advent of more leisure time. Not so, says Peter Toohey, a professor of Greek and Roman history at the University of Calgary in Canada and the author of “Boredom: A Lively History” (Yale University Press, 2011).

“Boredom actually has a very long history,” he said. “There’s Latin graffiti about boredom on the walls of Pompeii dating from the first century.”

Then there’s the question of how we define boredom. The trouble is that it has been defined, and discussed, in many different ways, said John D. Eastwood, an associate professor of psychology at York University in Ontario, Canada.

After looking over the research literature and putting the idea in front of a focus group of about 100 people, Professor Eastwood and his colleagues defined boredom as an experience of “wanting to, but being unable to engage in satisfying activity.”

What separates boredom from apathy, he said, is that the person is not engaged but wants to be. With apathy, he said, there is no urge to do something.

The core experience of boredom, he said, is “disruption of the attention process, associated with a low mood and a sense that time is passing slowly.”

Boredom can sound an awful lot like depression. But Professor Eastwood said that while they can be related, people who are bored tend to see the problem as the environment or the world, while people who are depressed see the problem as themselves.

Sometimes we think we’re bored when we just have difficulty concentrating. In their study, “The Unengaged Mind: Defining Boredom in Terms of Attention,” which appeared in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science in September, Professor Eastwood and his colleagues pointed to an earlier experiment in which participants listened to a tape of a person reading a magazine article.

Some groups heard a loud and unrelated television program in the next room, others heard it at a low level so it was barely noticeable, while the third group didn’t hear the soundtrack at all.

The ones who heard the low-level TV reported more boredom than the other two groups — they had difficulty concentrating but were not sure why, and attributed that difficulty to boredom.

When you’re trying to focus on a difficult or engaging task, disruption of attention can lead to boredom, said Mark J. Fenske, an associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Guelph in Ontario and one of the authors of the study.

On the other hand, when you’re doing something dull, “such as looking for bad widgets on a factory line, distracting music can help you not be bored.”

In fact, he said, we now know that squirming and doodling, often seen as a sign of boredom, can actually help combat it by keeping people more physically alert.

“Research shows that kids who are allowed to fidget learn more and retain more information than those who are forced to sit still,” Professor Fenske said.

We all experience boredom at some points — my flight delay, a droning speaker, a particularly tedious movie. But some individuals are more likely to be bored than others. To help measure this, researchers developed a “Boredom Proneness Scale” in the 1980s.

The scale includes questions like, “Many things I have to do are repetitive and monotonous,” and “I have so many interests, I don’t have time to do everything.”

E-mail: shortcuts@nytimes.com

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General Assembly Grants Palestine Upgraded Status in U.N.

Damon Winter/The New York Times

The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, center, was congratulated by Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. More Photos »

UNITED NATIONS — More than 130 countries voted on Thursday to upgrade Palestine to a nonmember observer state of the United Nations, a triumph for Palestinian diplomacy and a sharp rebuke to the United States and Israel.

But the vote, at least for now, did little to bring either the Palestinians or the Israelis closer to the goal they claim to seek: two states living side by side, or increased Palestinian unity. Israel and the militant group Hamas both responded critically to the day’s events, though for different reasons.

The new status will give the Palestinians more tools to challenge Israel in international legal forums for its occupation activities in the West Bank, including settlement-building, and it helped bolster the Palestinian Authority, weakened after eight days of battle between its rival Hamas and Israel.

But even as a small but determined crowd of 2,000 celebrated in central Ramallah in the West Bank, waving flags and dancing, there was an underlying sense of concerned resignation.

“I hope this is good,” said Munir Shafie, 36, an electrical engineer who was there. “But how are we going to benefit?”

Still, the General Assembly vote — 138 countries in favor, 9 opposed and 41 abstaining — showed impressive backing for the Palestinians at a difficult time. It was taken on the 65th anniversary of the vote to divide the former British mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, a vote Israel considers the international seal of approval for its birth.

The past two years of Arab uprisings have marginalized the Palestinian cause to some extent as nations that focused their political aspirations on the Palestinian struggle have turned inward. The vote on Thursday, coming so soon after the Gaza fighting, put the Palestinians again — if briefly, perhaps — at the center of international discussion.

“The question is, where do we go from here and what does it mean?” Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, who was in New York for the vote, said in an interview. “The sooner the tough rhetoric of this can subside and the more this is viewed as a logical consequence of many years of failure to move the process forward, the better.” He said nothing would change without deep American involvement.

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, speaking to the assembly’s member nations, said, “The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the state of Palestine,” and he condemned what he called Israeli racism and colonialism. His remarks seemed aimed in part at Israel and in part at Hamas. But both quickly attacked him for the parts they found offensive.

“The world watched a defamatory and venomous speech that was full of mendacious propaganda against the Israel Defense Forces and the citizens of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel responded. “Someone who wants peace does not talk in such a manner.”

While Hamas had officially backed the United Nations bid of Mr. Abbas, it quickly criticized his speech because the group does not recognize Israel.

“There are controversial issues in the points that Abbas raised, and Hamas has the right to preserve its position over them,” said Salah al-Bardaweel, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, on Thursday.

“We do not recognize Israel, nor the partition of Palestine, and Israel has no right in Palestine,” he added. “Getting our membership in the U.N. bodies is our natural right, but without giving up any inch of Palestine’s soil.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, spoke after Mr. Abbas and said he was concerned that the Palestinian Authority failed to recognize Israel for what it is.

“Three months ago, Israel’s prime minister stood in this very hall and extended his hand in peace to President Abbas,” Mr. Prosor said. “He reiterated that his goal was to create a solution of two states for two peoples, where a demilitarized Palestinian state will recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

“That’s right. Two states for two peoples. In fact, President Abbas, I did not hear you use the phrase ‘two states for two peoples’ this afternoon. In fact, I have never heard you say the phrase ‘two states for two peoples’ because the Palestinian leadership has never recognized that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people.”

The Israelis also say that the fact that Mr. Abbas is not welcome in Gaza, the Palestinian coastal enclave run by Hamas, from which he was ejected five years ago, shows that there is no viable Palestinian leadership living up to its obligations now.

Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting from Washington, Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem, and Khaled Abu Aker from Ramallah, West Bank.

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Medicare Is Faulted in Electronic Medical Records Conversion

The conversion to electronic medical records — a critical piece of the Obama administration’s plan for health care reform — is “vulnerable” to fraud and abuse because of the failure of Medicare officials to develop appropriate safeguards, according to a sharply critical report to be issued Thursday by federal investigators.

Mike Spencer/Wilmington Star-News, via Associated Press

Celeste Stephens, a nurse, leads a session on electronic records at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Marilyn Tavenner, acting administrator for Medicare.

The use of electronic medical records has been central to the aim of overhauling health care in America. Advocates contend that electronic records systems will improve patient care and lower costs through better coordination of medical services, and the Obama administration is spending billions of dollars to encourage doctors and hospitals to switch to electronic records to track patient care.

But the report says Medicare, which is charged with managing the incentive program that encourages the adoption of electronic records, has failed to put in place adequate safeguards to ensure that information being provided by hospitals and doctors about their electronic records systems is accurate. To qualify for the incentive payments, doctors and hospitals must demonstrate that the systems lead to better patient care, meeting a so-called meaningful use standard by, for example, checking for harmful drug interactions.

Medicare “faces obstacles” in overseeing the electronic records incentive program “that leave the program vulnerable to paying incentives to professionals and hospitals that do not fully meet the meaningful use requirements,” the investigators concluded. The report was prepared by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare.

The investigators contrasted the looser management of the incentive program with the agency’s pledge to more closely monitor Medicare payments of medical claims. Medicare officials have indicated that the agency intends to move away from a “pay and chase” model, in which it tried to get back any money it has paid in error, to one in which it focuses on trying to avoid making unjustified payments in the first place.

Late Wednesday, a Medicare spokesman said in a statement: “Protecting taxpayer dollars is our top priority and we have implemented aggressive procedures to hold providers accountable. Making a false claim is a serious offense with serious consequences and we believe the overwhelming majority of doctors and hospitals take seriously their responsibility to honestly report their performance.”

The government’s investment in electronic records was authorized under the broader stimulus package passed in 2009. Medicare expects to spend nearly $7 billion over five years as a way of inducing doctors and hospitals to adopt and use electronic records. So far, the report said, the agency has paid 74, 317 health professionals and 1,333 hospitals. By attesting that they meet the criteria established under the program, a doctor can receive as much as $44,000 for adopting electronic records, while a hospital could be paid as much as $2 million in the first year of its adoption. The inspector general’s report follows earlier concerns among regulators and others over whether doctors and hospitals are using electronic records inappropriately to charge more for services, as reported by The New York Times last September, and is likely to fuel the debate over the government’s efforts to promote electronic records. Critics say the push for electronic records may be resulting in higher Medicare spending with little in the way of improvement in patients’ health. Thursday’s report did not address patient care.

Even those within the industry say the speed with which systems are being developed and adopted by hospitals and doctors has led to a lack of clarity over how the records should be used and concerns about their overall accuracy.

“We’ve gone from the horse and buggy to the Model T, and we don’t know the rules of the road. Now we’ve had a big car pileup,” said Lynne Thomas Gordon, the chief executive of the American Health Information Management Association, a trade group in Chicago. The association, which contends more study is needed to determine whether hospitals and doctors actually are abusing electronic records to increase their payments, says it supports more clarity.

Although there is little disagreement over the potential benefits of electronic records in reducing duplicative tests and avoiding medical errors, critics increasingly argue that the federal government has not devoted enough time or resources to making certain the money it is investing is being well spent.

House Republicans echoed these concerns in early October in a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services. Citing the Times article, they called for suspending the incentive program until concerns about standardization had been resolved. “The top House policy makers on health care are concerned that H.H.S. is squandering taxpayer dollars by asking little of providers in return for incentive payments,” said a statement issued at the same time by the Republicans, who are likely to seize on the latest inspector general report as further evidence of lax oversight. Republicans have said they will continue to monitor the program.

In her letter in response, which has not been made public, Ms. Sebelius dismissed the idea of suspending the incentive program, arguing that it “would be profoundly unfair to the hospitals and eligible professionals that have invested billions of dollars and devoted countless hours of work to purchase and install systems and educate staff.” She said Medicare was trying to determine whether electronic records had been used in any fraudulent billing but she insisted that the current efforts to certify the systems and address the concerns raised by the Republicans and others were adequate.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 30, 2012

An article on Thursday about a federal report critical of Medicare’s performance in assuring accuracy as doctors and hospitals switch to electronic medical records misstated, in some copies, the timing of a statement from a Medicare spokesman in response to the report. The statement was released late Wednesday, not late Thursday.

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Recipes for Health: Asian Chopped Salad With Seasoned Tofu ‘Fingers’ — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

I like to serve the baked seasoned tofu “fingers” warm on top of the salad. They are delicious cold, too; it is worth making up a separate batch for the refrigerator. If you have an assortment of vegetables leftover from Thanksgiving dinner, throw them in!

For the Tofu:

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

1 pound firm tofu

For the salad:

1 romaine heart, chopped

5 cups mixed chopped or diced vegetables such as:

Green or red cabbage

Celery (from the inner heart)

Red pepper

Radishes, sliced or chopped

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (more to taste)

1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced (optional)

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/4 cup tofu marinade, above

2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil

1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk or plain nonfat yogurt

1. Marinate the tofu: combine the soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, ginger and sugar in a 2-quart bowl. Whisk in the sesame oil and combine well. Drain the tofu and pat dry with paper towels. Slice into 1/3-inch thick slabs and cut the slabs in half lengthwise to get “fingers” approximately 1/3 inch thick by 3/4 inch wide. Blot each finger with paper towels. Add to the bowl with the marinade and gently toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes to an hour, or for up to a day.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. Lift the tofu out of the marinade and arrange the pieces on the parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to color and the marinade sets on the surface of the tofu. Remove from the heat.

3. In a large bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and toss with the salad. If desired, transfer to a platter. Garnish with the tofu strips and serve.

Yield: Serves 4

Advance preparation: The chopped vegetables can be prepared up to a day ahead and refrigerated in a well covered container. The tofu marinade will keep for two days in the refrigerator. The baked seasoned tofu will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per serving: 317 calories; 20 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 milligram cholesterol; 19 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 470 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 16 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

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Recipes for Health: Asian Chopped Salad With Seasoned Tofu ‘Fingers’ — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

I like to serve the baked seasoned tofu “fingers” warm on top of the salad. They are delicious cold, too; it is worth making up a separate batch for the refrigerator. If you have an assortment of vegetables leftover from Thanksgiving dinner, throw them in!

For the Tofu:

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

1 pound firm tofu

For the salad:

1 romaine heart, chopped

5 cups mixed chopped or diced vegetables such as:

Green or red cabbage

Celery (from the inner heart)

Red pepper

Radishes, sliced or chopped

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (more to taste)

1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced (optional)

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/4 cup tofu marinade, above

2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil

1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk or plain nonfat yogurt

1. Marinate the tofu: combine the soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, ginger and sugar in a 2-quart bowl. Whisk in the sesame oil and combine well. Drain the tofu and pat dry with paper towels. Slice into 1/3-inch thick slabs and cut the slabs in half lengthwise to get “fingers” approximately 1/3 inch thick by 3/4 inch wide. Blot each finger with paper towels. Add to the bowl with the marinade and gently toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes to an hour, or for up to a day.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. Lift the tofu out of the marinade and arrange the pieces on the parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to color and the marinade sets on the surface of the tofu. Remove from the heat.

3. In a large bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and toss with the salad. If desired, transfer to a platter. Garnish with the tofu strips and serve.

Yield: Serves 4

Advance preparation: The chopped vegetables can be prepared up to a day ahead and refrigerated in a well covered container. The tofu marinade will keep for two days in the refrigerator. The baked seasoned tofu will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per serving: 317 calories; 20 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 milligram cholesterol; 19 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 470 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 16 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

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U.S. Is Weighing Stronger Action in Syrian Conflict

Francisco Leong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rebels in northern Syria celebrated on Wednesday next to what was reported to be a government fighter jet.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, hoping that the conflict in Syria has reached a turning point, is considering deeper intervention to help push President Bashar al-Assad from power, according to government officials involved in the discussions.

While no decisions have been made, the administration is considering several alternatives, including directly providing arms to some opposition fighters.

The most urgent decision, likely to come next week, is whether NATO should deploy surface-to-air missiles in Turkey, ostensibly to protect that country from Syrian missiles that could carry chemical weapons. The State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said Wednesday that the Patriot missile system would not be “for use beyond the Turkish border.”

But some strategists and administration officials believe that Syrian Air Force pilots might fear how else the missile batteries could be used. If so, they could be intimidated from bombing the northern Syrian border towns where the rebels control considerable territory. A NATO survey team is in Turkey, examining possible sites for the batteries.

Other, more distant options include directly providing arms to opposition fighters rather than only continuing to use other countries, especially Qatar, to do so. A riskier course would be to insert C.I.A. officers or allied intelligence services on the ground in Syria, to work more closely with opposition fighters in areas that they now largely control.

Administration officials discussed all of these steps before the presidential election. But the combination of President Obama’s re-election, which has made the White House more willing to take risks, and a series of recent tactical successes by rebel forces, one senior administration official said, “has given this debate a new urgency, and a new focus.”

The outcome of the broader debate about how heavily America should intervene in another Middle Eastern conflict remains uncertain. Mr. Obama’s record in intervening in the Arab Spring has been cautious: While he joined in what began as a humanitarian effort in Libya, he refused to put American military forces on the ground and, with the exception of a C.I.A. and diplomatic presence, ended the American role as soon as Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was toppled.

In the case of Syria, a far more complex conflict than Libya’s, some officials continue to worry that the risks of intervention — both in American lives and in setting off a broader conflict, potentially involving Turkey — are too great to justify action. Others argue that more aggressive steps are justified in Syria by the loss in life there, the risks that its chemical weapons could get loose, and the opportunity to deal a blow to Iran’s only ally in the region. The debate now coursing through the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and the C.I.A. resembles a similar one among America’s main allies.

“Look, let’s be frank, what we’ve done over the last 18 months hasn’t been enough,” Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, said three weeks ago after visiting a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. “The slaughter continues, the bloodshed is appalling, the bad effects it’s having on the region, the radicalization, but also the humanitarian crisis that is engulfing Syria. So let’s work together on really pushing what more we can do.” Mr. Cameron has discussed those options directly with Mr. Obama, White House officials say.

France and Britain have recognized a newly formed coalition of opposition groups, which the United States helped piece together. So far, Washington has not done so.

American officials and independent specialists on Syria said that the administration was reviewing its Syria policy in part to gain credibility and sway with opposition fighters, who have seized key Syrian military bases in recent weeks.

“The administration has figured out that if they don’t start doing something, the war will be over and they won’t have any influence over the combat forces on the ground,” said Jeffrey White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer and specialist on the Syria military. “They may have some influence with various political groups and factions, but they won’t have influence with the fighters, and the fighters will control the territory.”

Jessica Brandt contributed reporting from Cambridge, Mass.

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Tool Kit: Video Gaming on the Pro Tour, for Glory but Little Gold

When Sean Plott was 15, he and his older brother, Nick, begged their mother to fly them from Kansas to Los Angeles for a video game tournament.

For Cara LaForge, their single mother, who was struggling to start a new business, the expense was steep. Her sons passionately insisted they could win, so she conceded. But there was a catch: “If you don’t win, you’re going to pay me back,” she recalled.

They didn’t win.

Ms. LaForge didn’t make her sons pay her back, but in a way, they have. Eleven years later, she is the business manager at Sean Plott’s company Day[9]TV, which broadcasts daily videos online geared toward gamers. The two brothers are celebrity personalities in the world of StarCraft II, a popular strategic game. Sean Plott was featured on Forbes’s 30 under 30 list in 2011.

Video games have evolved from an eight-bit hobby to a $24 billion industry in 2011, according to the NPD Group, a research firm. As more people play games, more of them compete in structured competitive tournaments, complete with fans, sponsors and lucrative contracts. It’s a long and tough slog, as Ms. LaForge’s story suggests.

But just how crazy is it to encourage your gamers to get off the couch and hit the road to play for money? Maybe a little crazier than encouraging a child to become a professional bowler or chess master. Professional gamers follow a track similar to professional golfers, entering several tournaments a year and collecting prize money, said Brian Balsbaugh, founder of the eSports Management Group, an agency that serves pro gamers. (Yes, professional gaming has already advanced to the point where the top players have agents.) Major League Gaming — the scene’s largest tournament organizer in North America — hosts four major competitions a year. In November, it held the Fall Championship in Dallas.

Although some players are paid handsomely — the top prize in Starcraft II is $25,000, and corporate sponsorships can pull in much more cash — for most, the prospect of making good money as a pro is still doubtful. Professional gaming’s financial structure is top-heavy, so only the best players earn significant incomes of $100,000 to $200,000. “We’re at a point where only about 40 people in the U.S. can make a living playing video games,” said Sundance DiGiovanni, chief executive of Major League Gaming. “I’d like to get it to a hundred. I think we’re a year or two away from that.”

For a beginner, expenses like travel, hotels and registration fees can be costly, especially for a parent picking up the bill for a teenager with little income. Tom Taylor, who goes by Tsquared and is a champion at the shooter game Halo, recalled selling things like PlayStation games or Pokémon cards on eBay to pay his way.

To cover those costs, talented players can sign contracts to play for sponsored teams, like Mr. Taylor’s squad, Str8 Rippin. The average salary for competitive gamers ranges from about $12,000 to $30,000, said Marcus Graham, a former pro and gaming personality who is also known as djWHEAT.

These players make the biggest commitments, playing about eight hours a day. Some sponsors have the players live together to build chemistry with teammates. Mr. Taylor, who ran team houses in Chicago and Orlando, Fla, said the practice time jumps to 10 to 14 hours a day as a tournament approaches.

A well-known team franchise like Evil Geniuses — considered the Yankees of pro gaming — can dole out lucrative contracts, over six figures for superstar players, said Alexander Garfield, the team’s chief executive.

The most marketable stars — those with a mix of talent and charisma like Mr. Taylor and Kelly Kelley, a k a MrsViolence — can attract individual sponsorships independent of a team. SteelSeries, a maker of gaming accessories, signs deals for up to $80,000 that cover major expenses for the most prominent gamers, said Kim Rom, the company’s chief marketing officer. SteelSeries also makes smaller deals with relative unknowns it thinks have potential. The company sponsors up to 200 gamers in the United States, though only about 20 pros get those top-notch deals, Mr. Rom said.

But while professional gaming is increasingly popular, in recent years the gaming world has had to rework its marketing approach. Organizers have sought to rebuild the scene since 2008, when a few leagues, like the Championship Gaming Series, folded. Before 2009, mainstream broadcasters like ESPN2 featured tournaments on television. Since then, the league has turned to the Web, rather than TV, for its lifeblood. This year, Major League Gaming began broadcasting on GameSpot.com, a division of CBS Interactive. That change in direction is an example of altered expectations — at least in the short term — for the kinds of careers professionals will have. It is also a warning that the odds of making it big are slim. Ken Yamauchi, the father of Coby Yamauchi, a 16-year-old professional and one of the scene’s rising stars, said he always reminded young gamers, “Use this as a steppingstone. You expect to support a family, buy a house through gaming? It’s not going to happen.”

The smartest personalities build their brands enough to make the bulk of their money on peripheral jobs. The Plott brothers are popular eSports broadcasters, providing live commentary during matches. Many gamers also have sponsored YouTube channels and sign contracts with services like Twitch.tv, a Web site that streams tournament video. Morgan Romine, a former captain of the all-female team Frag Dolls, now works full time as an eSports liaison for Red 5 Studios, a video game maker based in California.

If the tournaments aren’t a way to make money for college, one’s experiences on the competitive circuit can look good on college applications.

“Colleges want to see kids who are passionate in one area,” said Bev Taylor, founder of the Ivy Coach, a college admissions consultancy. But she suggests framing it in a way that emphasizes the community aspect of gaming. “They won’t accept anyone they think will just sit in their dorm room all day,” she said.

Once a player is accepted into college, gaming can still have its perks. Mona Zhang founded the Collegiate StarLeague while she was a freshman at Princeton, organizing intercollegiate tournaments for StarCraft II players. The league now has over 600 teams from schools like Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The league also gives out two “Excellence in eSports” scholarships, said Ms. Zhang, who has since graduated.

Competitive gaming even has its fingerprints on the corporate world. In 2011, Sean Plott helped start the After Hours Gaming League, a gaming tournament that pits teams from technology companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook against each other.

Mr. Plott describes it as “a modern twist to the corporate softball league.” It’s not going to make anyone rich, but it’s fun. As video games were designed to be.

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Cost of Brand-Name Prescription Medicines Soaring

The price of brand-name prescription medicines is rising far faster than the inflation rate, while the price of generic drugs has plummeted, creating the largest gap so far between the two, according to a report published Wednesday by the pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts.

The report tracked an index of commonly used drugs and found that the price of brand-name medicines increased more than 13 percent from September 2011 to this September, which it said was more than six times the overall price inflation of consumer goods. Generic drug prices dipped by nearly 22 percent.

The drop in the price of generics “represents low-hanging fruit for the country to save money on health care,” said Dr. Steve Miller, the chief medical officer of Express Scripts, which manages the drug benefits for employers and insurers and also runs a mail-order pharmacy.

The report was based on a random sample of six million Express Scripts members with prescription drug coverage.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group representing brand-name manufacturers, criticized the report, saying it was skewed by a handful of high-priced specialty drugs that are used by a small number of patients and overlooked the crucial role of major drug makers.

“Without the development of new medicines by innovator companies, there would be neither the new treatments essential to progress against diseases nor generic copies,” Josephine Martin, executive vice president of the group, said in a statement.

The report cited the growth of specialty drugs, which treat diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis, as a major reason for the increase in spending on branded drugs. Spending on specialty medicines increased nearly 23 percent during the first three quarters of 2012, compared with the same period in 2011. All but one of the new medicines approved in the third quarter of this year were specialty drugs, the report found, and many of them were approved to treat advanced cancers only when other drugs had failed.

Stephen W. Schondelmeyer, a professor of pharmaceutical economics at the University of Minnesota, said the potential benefits of many new drugs did not always match the lofty price tags. “Increasingly it’s going to be difficult for drug-benefit programs to make decisions about coverage and payment and which drugs to include,” said Mr. Schondelmeyer, who conducts a similar price report for AARP. He also helps manage the drug benefit program for the University of Minnesota.

“We’re going to be faced with the issue that any drug at any price will not be sustainable.”

Spending on traditional medicines — which treat common ailments like high cholesterol and blood pressure — actually declined by 0.6 percent during the period, the report found. That decline was mainly because of the patent expiration of several blockbuster drugs, like Lipitor and Plavix, which opened the market for generic competitors. But even as the entry of generic alternatives pushed down spending, drug companies continued to raise prices on their branded products, in part to squeeze as much revenue as possible out of an ever-shrinking portfolio, Dr. Miller said.

Drug makers are also being pushed by from companies like Express Scripts and health insurers, which are increasingly looking for ways to cut costs, said C. Anthony Butler, a pharmaceuticals analyst at Barclays. “I think they’re pricing where they can but what they keep telling me is they’re under significant pressure” to keep prices low, he said.

Express Scripts earns higher profits from greater use of generic medicines than brand name drugs sold through their mail-order pharmacy, Mr. Butler said. “There’s no question that they would love for everybody to be on a generic,” he said.

Dr. Miller acknowledged that was true but said that ultimately, everyone wins. “When we save people money, that’s when we make money,” he said. “We don’t shy away from that.”

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Cost of Brand-Name Prescription Medicines Soaring

The price of brand-name prescription medicines is rising far faster than the inflation rate, while the price of generic drugs has plummeted, creating the largest gap so far between the two, according to a report published Wednesday by the pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts.

The report tracked an index of commonly used drugs and found that the price of brand-name medicines increased more than 13 percent from September 2011 to this September, which it said was more than six times the overall price inflation of consumer goods. Generic drug prices dipped by nearly 22 percent.

The drop in the price of generics “represents low-hanging fruit for the country to save money on health care,” said Dr. Steve Miller, the chief medical officer of Express Scripts, which manages the drug benefits for employers and insurers and also runs a mail-order pharmacy.

The report was based on a random sample of six million Express Scripts members with prescription drug coverage.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group representing brand-name manufacturers, criticized the report, saying it was skewed by a handful of high-priced specialty drugs that are used by a small number of patients and overlooked the crucial role of major drug makers.

“Without the development of new medicines by innovator companies, there would be neither the new treatments essential to progress against diseases nor generic copies,” Josephine Martin, executive vice president of the group, said in a statement.

The report cited the growth of specialty drugs, which treat diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis, as a major reason for the increase in spending on branded drugs. Spending on specialty medicines increased nearly 23 percent during the first three quarters of 2012, compared with the same period in 2011. All but one of the new medicines approved in the third quarter of this year were specialty drugs, the report found, and many of them were approved to treat advanced cancers only when other drugs had failed.

Stephen W. Schondelmeyer, a professor of pharmaceutical economics at the University of Minnesota, said the potential benefits of many new drugs did not always match the lofty price tags. “Increasingly it’s going to be difficult for drug-benefit programs to make decisions about coverage and payment and which drugs to include,” said Mr. Schondelmeyer, who conducts a similar price report for AARP. He also helps manage the drug benefit program for the University of Minnesota.

“We’re going to be faced with the issue that any drug at any price will not be sustainable.”

Spending on traditional medicines — which treat common ailments like high cholesterol and blood pressure — actually declined by 0.6 percent during the period, the report found. That decline was mainly because of the patent expiration of several blockbuster drugs, like Lipitor and Plavix, which opened the market for generic competitors. But even as the entry of generic alternatives pushed down spending, drug companies continued to raise prices on their branded products, in part to squeeze as much revenue as possible out of an ever-shrinking portfolio, Dr. Miller said.

Drug makers are also being pushed by from companies like Express Scripts and health insurers, which are increasingly looking for ways to cut costs, said C. Anthony Butler, a pharmaceuticals analyst at Barclays. “I think they’re pricing where they can but what they keep telling me is they’re under significant pressure” to keep prices low, he said.

Express Scripts earns higher profits from greater use of generic medicines than brand name drugs sold through their mail-order pharmacy, Mr. Butler said. “There’s no question that they would love for everybody to be on a generic,” he said.

Dr. Miller acknowledged that was true but said that ultimately, everyone wins. “When we save people money, that’s when we make money,” he said. “We don’t shy away from that.”

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App Smart: Apps for Home Repairs for the Handy and the Less So

With the holiday season approaching, the last thing you need is to worry about home repairs. And as rain and cold try to penetrate your house, it’s inevitable that something will go awry — a pipe will burst or that warped window frame will let in too much of the cold. That’s my problem right now — a window frame in my bathroom just won’t seal against the breeze (a minor problem, certainly, considering the damage from Hurricane Sandy, but a problem that is crying to be fixed). I could try to repair it myself, but I’m not too confident in working with aluminum windows, so I may end up calling a professional.

Multi Measures HD for iPad can become a spirit level, a surface level, a ruler, a protractor, a plumb bob and more.

The Finding Home & Hardware app locates suppliers.

Tips for fixing frozen pipes on wikiHow.

For issues like this, or even just to while away hours doing some D.I.Y. research, there are many apps to help.

If you find yourself struggling to repair something and really need a handyman, a simple way to find a suitable one nearby is Yelp’s app, free on iOS and Android. Yelp, often a go-to for restaurant advice, works for home repair experts, too. Type “handyman” or “plumber” into the app’s “Filter” boxes, along with location, and it will show a list of people and businesses. The advantage of Yelp is the ability to see how previous clients rated the quality of work. Read several reviews, as people’s experiences and expectations can vary.

For a more controlled experience, try RedBeacon (free on iOS and Android), a popular app with many positive reviews. RedBeacon covers only certain metropolitan areas across the United States, however, and may not help everyone. Unlike Yelp’s more open platform, RedBeacon has a list of approved businesses and tries to match the task at hand with the right worker. The app operates through a “request” system: users enter job details, and can provide photos and video. The system also has reviews, and can help schedule a time for the work.

More confident do-it-yourselfers may tackle a problem on their own. If it’s urgent, like a broken water heater or even water damage after a leak, the WikiHow How To and DIY Survival guide (free on Android and iOS) might be useful. Type in a few key words about the problem into the app’s Search page and the guide will return some advice. Its information pages are clear and well laid-out. They begin with an introductory description, then offer a list of steps to follow. The app displays the necessary tools and items, and includes tips and warnings (like shutting off the electricity before trying to fix a water heater). When you’re done with the home repair tasks, this app can teach self-defense tricks or help you fix your car. But it’s not an exhaustive reference on home upkeep or emergency repairs.

Some apps can turn a smartphone into an actual work tool. One app for iOS devices is Multi Measures ($1, or $2 for an “HD” iPad version). The app’s interfaces are attractive and easy to read, and it offers a long list of measurement options that use the device’s sensors. It can become a spirit level, a surface level, a ruler, a protractor, a plumb bob and more. It even has a decibel meter to measure volume, and a teslameter, which measures magnetic fields. This last option turns the device into a metal detector, which could be useful if you’re trying to find buried treasure, or just nailheads that show where the studs are in your walls.

The Smart Tools app is roughly equivalent to Multi Measures, on Android, for $2.50. And some free apps for iOS and Android promise similar features (sometimes separately — for example, Smart Protractor for angles, free on Android, or Dual Level, free on iOS). The apps’ quality can vary significantly, but they cost nothing to download and test-drive.

Finally, when it comes to buying supplies, an app like Finding HOME & Hardware ($1 on iOS and Android) is invaluable. It shows nearby hardware stores that meet your needs.

Happy D.I.Y.-ing. (Or, at least, I hope your apps find you an efficient and cheap plumber!)

Quick Calls

For smartphone or tablet users who dislike the map services from Apple and Google, Nokia’s Here app is a new, free alternative. It is available on iOS now and will be on Android devices later. You may prefer its clean, elegant design to the alternatives. ... In time for holiday shopping, Amazon now has an Android tablet-optimized version of its free Amazon Mobile shopping app ready, with one-click purchase options.

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