My Ramblings

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I tell you, kids these days don't know how good they've got it. No respect for their elders. *Shakes cane*

^_^ This stereotypical elderly rant brought on by this article Modern Teen's View on Walkman

Happy Canada Day!

Sixteen-year old baby.

A girl in Baltimore is 16 years old, but remains with the appearance and mental development of an 11-month-old baby, various parts of her body, however, are still aging at different rates. Her bones, for example, are at a level of development equivalent to about a 10-year-old's, while her teeth are equivalent to an 8-year-old's.

Another example of the problems of "Zero Tolerance": Arizona teen strip-searched on suspicion of having ibuprofen! Not even a serious drug, but ibuprofen, for crying out loud! As far as I know, that can't possibly be abused. At any rate, even if she was suspected of having something more serious, that would still be excessive.

I'm buying a car!!!!!!!!

It's a 2003 Ford Focus with 73,000 miles. I looked at it myself last Thursday, and then today I went with my uncle Wayne so he could give it a look, make sure everything was good with it. It's $4,600. I put down a $200 deposit today, and will pay the rest tomorrow when I pick up the car. :-) It's in great condition. Pictures will go up soon. ^_^

I just have one word to say about this article. "Duh!" http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/06/citalopram-doesnt-wor.html

SSRI antidepressants are often used to try to treat repetitive behaviours [in autism]. Unfortunately, they don't work, at least according to a new study

and

The main reason why SSRIs are used to try to treat repetitive behaviour is that they also work rather well against obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD have repetitive behaviours, "compulsions". They might wash their hands ten times after going to the toilet. Or check that the fridge door is closed and the oven is switched off every time they leave the kitchen. Or count up to one hundred in their head whenever they see the number 13. And so forth.

SSRIs do work against OCD. Does this mean that they ought to also work against the repetitive behaviors in autism? Only if you think all repetitive behaviours are the same, with the same causes.

People with OCD feel compelled to perform their ritualistic behaviours as a way of coping with their "obsessions" - intrusive, unpleasant thoughts that they can't otherwise get out of their heads. Someone might be obsessed with the thought of germs and disease whenever they go to the toilet, and the only way to feel clean is to wash their hands 10 times. They might be obsessed with the idea that their family will die whenever they see the unlucky number 13, unless they "cancel it out" by counting to 100. The repetitive behaviours, in other words, are a consequence of the obsessions, which are anxiety-provoking thoughts. SSRIs probably work by making the obsessions seem less troubling, so there is less need for the compulsions.

People with autism are often described as having "obsessions", but this means "Things they are very interested in", not "Thoughts they cannot get rid of". Likewise, autistics may show "compulsive behaviours", but not as a way of dealing with obsessions. The words are the same, but the reality is different.

It could well be that autistic people just tend to like sameness and routine. That's part of who they are, and it's not something that can be treated with drugs. People with OCD hate having it - they don't like their obsessions or compulsions, they are stuck with them. But in autism, or at least in most cases, that's not how it works. An autistic child "compulsively" playing with the same toy over and over, or reading yet another book about their "obsession", dinosaurs, may be perfectly happy. So giving them happy pills might not be such a good idea. And this is what the authors of the paper eventually suggest -

It may be that the repetitive behavior in children with ASDs is fundamentally different from what is observed among children with obsessive-compulsive disorder in its behavioral picture and in its biologic underpinnings.

Umm ... yeah. This is a surprise? If they'd actually, you know, sit down to talk with an autistic person, they'd know that we like our "obsessions"!

An autistic child "compulsively" playing with the same toy over and over, or reading yet another book about their "obsession", dinosaurs, may be perfectly happy. Gee, what a concept. Someone being happy with something atypical. Who would've thought?

But, no. If it's something that most kids don't do, it must be a Bad Thing that needs to be cured! Give 'em drugs!

( Previous books )
12. As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl by John Colapinto

As Nature Made Him is about the famous "John/Joan" case. It began in 1967, when a botched circumcision caused an 8-month-old baby boy named Bruce Reimer to lose his penis. At the time, phalloplasties were still very crude, and they were unable to construct a useable penis. Seeking help for their son, his parents met Dr. John Money, who believed, as was commonly held at the time, that gender identity was purely learned, a result of early childhood experiences. He told them that they would be able to perform sex reassignment surgery on their infant son, turning him into a girl, and that, if they raised her as a girl, she would grow up to be a well-adjusted woman. Desperate for help, they agreed, and Bruce became Brenda. As it turned out, Bruce was part of a set of identical twins, with a twin brother named Brian.

Early reports claimed that the operation was a success and that Brenda had taken to a female identity very well. At most, there were admissions of "tomboyish" behavior, but it was claimed that she was happy as a girl.

The truth, however, was that she did not take to the female identity, and from an early age realized that something was wrong. She identified more with boys than with girls, despite her parents' best efforts to encourage femininity. The surgery performed in infancy was only the first phase, and a follow-up would be required later in life, during adolescence. In addition, beginning at 12, she was to be put on hormones to induce feminine puberty. She consistently refused to even discuss the surgery (which was explained to her as simply a need to correct a birth defect; at that point, she had no idea that she'd been born a girl) and initially tried to reject the hormones as well.

Eventually, at age 14, her parents told her the truth. She subsequently rejected a female identity, and began living as male, completely refusing the hormones (and later receiving a masectomy to remove the breasts that had begun to develop, and testosterone injections to remasculinze his body). He didn't like the name he'd been originally given, and chose to go with either Joe or David, letting his parents choose between the two.

The case disappeared from the publicity after that. David just wanted to live his life quietly without publicity, and Dr. Money didn't want to admit that the supposed greatest evidence for his belief in learned gender identity was, in fact, a complete refution of that belief. It wasn't until the 1990s that the story first came out, at the time, using the pseudonyms "Joan" and "John" for Brenda and David. A few years after that, David agreed to come out publically with full details about what he'd gone through, particularly after he'd learned that his case had been use to justify other attempts to feminize boys with damaged genitals, which had also failed to instill a female identity.

It's a fascinating, powerful book. Very sad story.

( Previous books )
11. Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer

Parasite Rex discusses parastism in a wide variety of organisms, both of hosts and of parasites, mostly multicellular, but also some unicellular organisms. The book discusses the various tactics used by parasites to evade their hosts' immune systems and to modify their hosts to fit their needs, including behavioral alterations (such as Toxoplasma making rats less fearful, and thus more easily caught by cats, which are thus themselves infected), as well as adaptations by hosts to attempt to control or evade parasites. It's a fascinating read. Parasites have some of the coolest adaptations in the natural world. In a way, they're really the champions of evolution, displaying far greater sophistication than many free-living creatures. Indeed, species of parasites are believed to outnumber species of free-living organisms by some four to one, there are even parasites that parasitize other parasites!

Woah ... this is unexpected. Dick Cheney may come out in support of same-sex marriage.

Dick Cheney.

Most likely due to his daughter, of course. I doubt he'd be in support of it if his daughter preferred her father's namesakes. Still, quite surprising, if true. Just speculation at the moment. Although, back in '04 he did say "Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue that our family is very familiar with. . . . With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People . . . ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to." in discussin the then-proposed Federal Marriage Amendment.

Following willow_kat's lead

Ask me a question. Anything you'd like to know about me, or my thoughts on a subject.

Comments are screened, so no one has to know who asked the question.

( Previous books )
9. She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
10. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle

I tried reading A Wrinkle in Time once before, in middle school. At the time, I was uninterested. Reading it again, I found it a decent read. It was a bit overly-preachy with the Christian elements at parts, and there was a lot of unanswered questions (like why, if they could go through time, their father had to be left in that prison for so long, and why he couldn't've been returned to the same time he left, not to mention the rather surprising uselessness of allegedly superhuman beings). Still, it was a decent read, and quick. I read about half of it today at work. It was completely dead the first part of the day. ^_^

( Previous books )
8. The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherin A. Liszt

This book was recommended to me by hazumuchan. It's a rather interesting book about polyamory, and making polyamorous relationships work. For whatever reason, polyamorous-type relationships have always attracted me, long before I knew the word. The concept that my being with someone should limit them never made much sense to me. Anyways, while I have no idea whether I'll ever actually be in such a relationship, I did find the book quite an interesting read. ^_^

Ha! http://www95.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+the+meaning+of+life%3F

This article is good.

A groundbreaking study suggests people with autism-spectrum disorders such as Asperger's do not lack empathy – rather, they feel others' emotions too intensely to cope.

People with Asperger's syndrome, a high functioning form of autism, are often stereotyped as distant loners or robotic geeks. But what if what looks like coldness to the outside world is a response to being overwhelmed by emotion – an excess of empathy, not a lack of it?

This idea resonates with many people suffering from autism-spectrum disorders and their families. It also jibes with the "intense world" theory, a new way of thinking about the nature of autism.

As posited by Henry and Kamila Markram of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the theory suggests that the fundamental problem in autism-spectrum disorders is not a social deficiency but, rather, a hypersensitivity to experience, which includes an overwhelming fear response.

YES! Definitely agree with that.

When it comes to not understanding the inner state of minds too different from our own, most people also do a lousy job, Schwarz says. "But the non-autistic majority gets a free pass because, if they assume that the other person's mind works like their own, they have a much better chance of being right."

YES!

Oh, cool! And my bleeding heart came back! I thought it had died last year. ^_^

EDIT: That's "bleeding heart" the flower. :-D Not being emo here ^_^

Yay! First rose of the season! ^_^ My peonies are also blooming.

On AIM just now

Me: Why is it that so many people think simplistic solutions are the key?
gjohnsonkoehn: Because, and this is an observation I've honed over years of careful study, one that I think holds up better than any other theory in terms of explaining the vast majority of human decisions, people are stupid.

( Previous Books )
7. Genes in Conflict: The Biology of Selfish Genetic Elements by Austin Burt and Robert Trivers

An interesting book. It took me a while to read it, as various things kept keeping me from getting a chance to sit down and read. It's also fairly long (475 pages, excluding references) and highly detailed. It describes selfish genetic material (selfish genes, meiotic drive genes, B chromosomes, endosymbiotes, etc.) in a wide range of organisms, mostly eukaryotes (and especially multicellular ones), but also prokaryotes. It's also fairly technical. It's definitely a great book if you're intrested in the topic and know a fair amount about it already.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers on my f'lists! And a bit of trivia snagged from randomposting

The ancient Greeks celebrated their own form of Mother's Day in spring, like we do. They used to honor Rhea, "mother of the gods" with honey-cakes and fine drinks and flowers at dawn. Sounds like the beginnings of the Mother's Day tradition of breakfast in bed!

Happy early birthday to grigori and rainbow_goddess!

Yay! The governor of Maine just signed the same-sex marriage bill!

Five down, forty-five to go! Plus DC's decision to recognize SSM performed in other states.

EDIT: Oh, cool. The formal name of the same-sex marriage bill is An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom I like that name. :-)

Also, this quote from the article

State Rep. Lawrence Sirois, D-Turner, said he was a deacon at a Baptist church. He doesn't agree with the "gay and lesbian lifestyle," he said, and neither does his church.

But, he said, he also believes in the Biblical mandate of "love your neighbor as yourself."

"That's everyone," he said. "This bill, the way I look at it, gives rights that have not been there for some people in this state."

I may not agree with his views, but at least he appears to understand that his religious views don't belong in the law books, so I have to give him credit for that.

Oooh, this is another good one

"The Lighthouse's Tale" by Nickle Creek. I'd never heard this song before. Very sad.