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| 20th January 2011: Bad Science Is Not Fact So, the sun has risen a couple of days early in Greenland. Of course, this is down to global warming. Or so the papers speculate. The thing is, this sounds like dodgy science at best. They claim that the sun has melted the horizon, leading to the sun rising two days earlier. I don't get it. The horizon is a subjective distance away. There is even a mathmatical formula for it: d2=h(D+h), where d is the distance to the horizon, h is the height of the observer above sea level and D is the diameter of the Earth. So if you're one of my co-workers (5'3") then the horizon is going to be in a different place than if you are The Great Khali who is (7'1"). No melting occurs, just perspective. It reminds me of two comedy situations. Those who know me will tell you that comedy is my obsession, and I relate to life through comedy. There was an episode of Father Ted where he's sat with Father Dougal and a little toy cow, and he says "For the last time Dougal, this cow is very small, but those cows are far away". Then there is Dara O'Briain, a very smart and sharp comedian. He makes the point that in the movie 2012, a scientist claims that the devestation is caused by Neutrinos mutating - something that fundemental particles cannot do. He says the guy may as well have said "The electrons...are angry" or "The sunlight <sniffing the air>...has gone off". The horizon hasn't melted. Now, the article in The First Post did say that there has been no tilt in the Earth's axis or rotation. Which apparently are the only ways this could have happened unless you take into account a melty horizon. Unless of course you realise that our entire concept of time is flawed. The Earth doesn't revolve around the Sun in a nice, clean 365 days. Not even a nice, less tidy but equally predictable 365 and a quarter. 365.256363 days. Of course you are going to get irregularities every now and again. Now, I am not a climate change skeptic, there is undoubtable proof that the world is warming up. What I hate is bad science being held up as proof of climate change. I like the argument in Freakonomics that coincidence doesn't prove causality. For example I could argue that since the 1980s, Internet speeds have been getting faster and faster. Since the 1980s, the planet has slowly been warming up. Therefore the speed of the Internet is causing the planet to warm up. Ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than a melty horizon! Permalink Tags: Greenland, Climate Change, Bad Science, Comedy 18th January 2011: The Boy With No Tattoos This is an irregular blog. I don't post every day, mostly because stuff which strikes me as Autistic or Aspergers "situations" don't crop up too much. I've got my own routines which protect me from people laughing or staring too much. But CrashOverride in the comments of the last post asked if I've read the Steig Larson books, otherwise known as The Millenium Trilogy. Actually, when they were "hot" I avoided them like the plague, and even mocked the titles. But then I read on the back page that they were about a hacker girl. That piqued my interest. Computers have always been my first love, and I relate to them so much better than humans. If a computer tells you No, it's for a reason. A logical reason. And you can fix it. A human will tell you No because they don't feel like it right now. And then I started reading the books and was astounded. Lisbeth Salander is a lot like me. Her history is like an extreme version of mine. Don't worry, there won't be spoilers! I was bullied from 4 to 18. Daily and relentlessly. And I don't mean just name calling. I was thrown through holly bushes pretty much from 11 to 16 every day on the way to school. I was chained to railing and beaten. And the highlight of this "education" - I was thrown into a skip full of broken glass. For these reasons and far more, I am very much pro home schooling. But that is a whole other post! I also had teachers accuse me of stealing school equipment, teachers asking if I was thick or an idiot, and being given detention for giving the class spoilers on the book we were studying in English. I was supposed to read it over 4 weeks. I read it in a night. The book in question was "Who's Life Is It Anyway?" - a stunning and very funny book by the way. I also had a stint in a "special school". I put this in brackets because of my experience. I'm even more anti these places than mainstream education. I was delighed that they let me do what I pleased on computers, and they were delighted that I could program. But then I got bored of "safe" programming and wanted to push the limits of what machines could do. So I went back to handwriting classes. Not stimulating. So I decided I would expand my horizons into science, and took cheese from my lunch, asked a fellow student if I could grow mould with it in his locker, and he agreed. Long story short, the school found out and I was put back into mainstream education. I was given a laptop (later withdrawn because I dared to program on it, and that wasn't in the cirriculum) and a shared classroom assistant who I met my best (and only) friend through. And now I work in a menial job (much like Lisbeth did) and in my spare time I do research work for various agencies. And I also work on a Linux distribution of my own design, which I get recognition for when I go to Berlin once a year for Linuxtag. My boss has even admitted that he's going to lose me to an IT job within the next 2 years, and says it will be a shame. I think the latter is humouring me, but the former is true. I've actually written a script in the last few days which goes job hunting for me. So far it's turned up nothing (1 perfect job but only a 3 month contract), but I have time on my side! I also wish I shared Lisbeth's personality. She doesn't care what people think of her, or what people make of her. I try to do that, but people poke holes in my defences and it makes me back off. I also share her flair for the dramatic when it comes to revenge. A kid I went to school with used to love throwing me down the stairs because I have a phobia of stairs. So in my last year at school I saw him coming up behind me, and I knew what he was going to do. The same as every day, so I prepared myself. He pushed me and I grabbed his arm and gripped the vertical railings hard. We span around, and was being held by me over the middle of the stairs. He then begged me not to let him go, and not to let him fall. I calmly just said "No" and let him go and let him fall down half a flight of stairs. Some may judge that as cruel, or unnessesarily violent, but tell me, would you honestly not hit back after 2 years of being pushed down a flight of stairs at least once a day and with the "responsible adults" in the building acknowledging it happens and promising it won't happen again? (it did, it always did) Oh, and on sexuality, I am straight, and engaged, but I have kissed a guy in the past (didn't like it) and I've found men attractive. A prime example is George Clooney. I know a lot of women find him very attractive, and I can see why. I also get the Brad Pitt thing. And a female co-worker and I recently discussed guys at work we wouldn't "kick out of bed". Not naming names, I know there is the potential for people at work to read this blog! Ok, so, feel free to comment! But please, don't spoil the books for people who may not have read them. Whilst I loathe deleting comments (I'm a freedom of speech activist) I will delete comments which contain spoilers for the books because I know at least one visitor who is currently reading the series. Permalink Tags: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander, Steig Larson, Bullying, The Millenium Trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest 13th January 2011: Hypocracy In Action Ok, so I can't name who I work for, or the people involved in this story (grrr) because I'd risk getting fired. But I want to talk about the hypocracy that Autistic and people with learning disabilities in general face. So, a severely Autistic guy came into where I work and began throwing items around. Very breakable, mess causing items. This was while I was at the Christmas party. So our self appointed security officer (He's actually just a cashier) grabbed the guy, dragged him into the office and held him down whilst the police arrived. The police let him go as soon as his carer arrived. Then the following day he allegedly came in again, did the same, and was forceably removed by two members of staff who refused to let him back in. Apparently he's been back since and been warned to behave by a member of staff. Wow. Just wow. I will explain my reaction. You see, the company I work for nominates a charity of the year. This year it's Mencap. They do excellent work by the way and should be applauded. One of the few organisations in the UK actually proactively trying to help Neurodiverse people get into employment. The way I see it, there is a hugely conflict of interests here. You see, if it was a "normal" guy coming in and doing this shit, I would understand. But it wasn't. And they knew this. Now, as I argued with a supervisor, Autistic people, regardless of how severe do things according to reason, logic, and a number of other things. None of which are "Breakable things! Let's make a mess!" No-one, even once, asked the guy why he was doing what he was doing. No. They just manhandled the distressed person. It could have been the lights were too harsh (they are very bright) or it could have been the music was too loud. It could have even been that we were busy and the kid got sensory overload and simply hasn't been shown coping strategies. And here is where I lost my temper. My supervisor informed me that you cannot reason with or talk to Autistic people. I snapped and said "You're talking to me! You reason with me!" To which he replied "Yeah, but you're normal". I snarled that maybe I should be unreasonable, and put my size 13 boot through the guy who restrained the Autistic guy's face. I then took him into our staff room and showed him the poster of Mencap events - pointing out there was a Learning Disabilities Awareness Week in July. I offered to "educate" the Neurotypical people in the store about how life is on our side of the fence so that perhaps manhandling of Autistic people melting down might not happen anymore. As my Mother commented, if this is how they treat an Autistic guy in distress, what would they do with an epileptic person? Or someone having a panic attack? Would they grab them and hold them down? Or offer genuine help? Permalink Tags: Autism, Meltdowns, Sensory Overload, Distress, Mencap 13th January 2011; Christmas Party Aftermath! Ok, so, I've decided to blog about the aftermath of the Christmas party! Quite difficult without giving away precisely who I work for. So, I set out a list of "Christmas Party Bingo" items in the last post: 1: My boss will ask why something happens on my shift, insinuating it was me 2: More than one person will comment on my recent engagement 3: I will get asked how my girlfriend found England. I will try not to reply with "The pilot on the plane was very good" 4: There will be an awkward silence at some point 5: I will be hassled into being social 6: A drunk person will ask why my shift can't get along with each other 7: Mr R, Mr K or Miss C will be mentioned in a negative way 8: Someone will get outrageously drunk (not me) 9: Someone will look at me because I don't understand some social convention 10: At the end of the night, someone will wail "Can I get a lift with you?" Well, my boss asked me whether a specific member of staff talks to me, someone not on my shift but someone who used to be. And we had a little chat about what a pain in the arse that guy is. And my boss also mentioned my engagement, as did a few other people. But only my boss asked if he could come to the wedding! Several times. And almost everyone asked how my girlfriend found England, whether she had a good time etc. I'm not sure if there was any awkward silences, none that I can remember. I was hassled into being social, by being forced to join a circle of chairs of people despite my repeated protests that I was fine sitting just on the outside. My boss also told me to stop playing with my mobile phone a couple of times, until I told him I was IMing my fiancee. No-one mentioned why my shift don't get along, and infact, someone mentioned how well we get on these days! Mr R was mentioned in a negative way. Someone who wasn't me did get outrageously drunk. Two people actually. A bouncer at a nightclub looked at me oddly because I didn't realise he had change on him for a £10 note, so headed for his colleague who appeared to when I paid the £5 entrance fee. And since I walked home, no-one wailed "Can I get a lift with you?" There were one or two things that niggled me. Like how one person at the party insisted on telling other people how to behave, despite coming out with a fair few inappropriate comments herself. I mean, she left the party early after telling everyone she was leaving to have sex. Too much information! And someone's partner yelled at me because I told her I was more nervous than excited about getting married. For me, the service is going to be very nervewracking - it's the ultimate social thing, and I am not social. But I am going to post about this too today. I have lots of posts for today! Permalink Tags: Social Awkwardness, Christmas Parties, Engagement, Wedding, Autism 7th January 2011: Christmas Parties So, tonight is my works Christmas Party. Yes, I know it isn't Christmas. Apparently so does the company, since the funds for Christmas partying were only released on Christmas Eve. By the way, that isn't "ethical". Those who know who I work for will get what I am getting at there, those who don't know...well...it isn't worth the shit (again) spelling out who I work for. But we're good with stuff. Now, I am going to play a game of Christmas Party Bingo! I'll put a list of stuff that I think will happen tonight, and we'll see how far we get with crossing those bad boys off. 1: My boss will ask why something happens on my shift, insinuating it was me 2: More than one person will comment on my recent engagement 3: I will get asked how my girlfriend found England. I will try not to reply with "The pilot on the plane was very good" 4: There will be an awkward silence at some point 5: I will be hassled into being social 6: A drunk person will ask why my shift can't get along with each other 7: Mr R, Mr K or Miss C will be mentioned in a negative way 8: Someone will get outrageously drunk (not me) 9: Someone will look at me because I don't understand some social convention 10: At the end of the night, someone will wail "Can I get a lift with you?" This is all based on past experience. Now, I love Christmas Parties. Even if they're not at Christmas. I still love them. I hang out with people I like, and people I don't like, and people I tolerate. I see management get drunk. I see how fragile people's relationships are. And people watching is something I adore, even if through a Jack Daniels And Coke haze. I used to do it to mimic "normal" behaviour, but that wasn't working for me, so I stopped it. Now I do it and wonder. I mean - take my skills with computers. People come up to me and flatter me, say things like "Ah, you're the man with the genius mind for computers aren't you?" or "You are the go to guy here for computers, shame we don't have an IT department, you would be running it!" Just ask me to fix your computer. Don't praise me, don't fawn over me, just ask me. But then I get called blunt when I ask outright for stuff. And small talk has always intruiged me. I mean, at the end of the day, it's pointless. People do it so there isn't silence. But what is wrong with silence? I don't really want to talk when I am eating anyway... And I know at the party someone I don't know, or barely know will say at dinner "So, Dave, you got engaged..." And I will have to try hard not to just nod and say "Yes." Because apparently that is rude. I don't see how, but apparently it is... Oh, and my fiancee did point something out. When I rant about "normal" people, I am technically ranting about her too. I should clarify. I don't hate "normal" people. I hate "normal" people who would pat me on the head and say "Well done". People who treat me 90% of the time like I am "normal" but accept that some stuff is going to be different are fine. My parents are "normal", my fiancee is "normal" but outside of that, all my other friends are Autistic. I don't hate normal people - I hate condesending people. I've just yet to run into an Autist who is condesending. I'm sure they exist (I know I am at times towards non neurodiverse people) because it's nature. Ok, I am done ranting. Comment please! I really like comments! Permalink Tags: Christmas Parties, Social, Life, Normal, Neurodiversity | Previous
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