I Speak of Dreams

March 6: Combining the Sense to Make the World Whole: Multi-Sensory Integration Deficits in ASD--2012-2013 Autism Lecture Series, San Francisco Peninsula and South Bay

The 2012-2013 Lecture Series is presented by Wings Learning Center and hosted by Notre Dame De Namur University Education & Leadership Department

To register:

http://wingslearningcenter.org/lectureseriesregister2012.html

• March 6, 2013 Combining the Sense to Make The World Whole: Multi-Sensory Integration Deficits in ASD Dr. Clifford Saron, Researcher, Scientist, UC David Center for Mind & Brain, M.I.N.D. Instituteh

The balance of the series

• April 24, 2013 UCSF Research on ASD: Combining Clinical Excellence with Innovative Research Dr. Robert Hendren, D.O. / Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco
• May 15, 2013 Sensory Processing in Autism & Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders: From Scanner to Bedside Dr. Elysa Marco, M.D., Director of Research UCSF, Autism & Neurodevelopmental Programs, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry & Pediatrics

You may register for one or more lectures. All lectures are $25 each to attend and occur from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at Wings Learning Center, 411 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA 94063

Contact: Karen Kaplan: email: kaplan@wingslearningcenter.org phone: (650) 365-3250

Registration for lectures: http://wingslearningcenter.org/lectureseriesregister2012.html

Autistic People Should....

Right now (February 23, 2013, 11:52 AM, PST) if you type "autistic people should" into Google's search box, what you get is (warning: hateful speech, possibly triggering)

Click to embiggen

This is wrong.

It's not for me, a neurotypical person, to tell autistic people what they should do.

I can tell you what some autistic people are saying.

Karla Fisher, an autistic woman I admire tremendously, has one suggestion.

Click to embiggen

You can read more of Karla's work at her Facebook page, Karla's ASD Page, or at her web site, ASD as a Culture.

On February 16, 2013, Alyssa (herself autistic) started the blogs, Autistic People Are... and Autistic People Should. Chordates Rock published Autistic People Should Blog.

Alyssa is collating the flash-blogging event at Autistic People Should

I can say, autistic people should be welcomed, accepted, and understood by neurotypical people.

The Facebook Flounce, With Diagrams and Pictures

See updates, bottom of this post

The Facebook flounce is beloved of some Facebook pages and persons.  It works like this:

1. Publish something inflammatory or inaccurate, or better yet, both:
2. Experience correction






3. Respond





4. Flounce, step 1: ban the person who criticized you
5. Flounce, step 2: delete the comments where your errors were pointed out
6. Flounce, step 3: de-publish your entire page
7. Flounce, step 4: ban your criticizer from your personal page as well
8. Flounce, step 5: de-publish your personal page as well

Backstory: The person who runs the Facebook page, " Informed Parents of Vaccinated Children" (IPoVC) claims to be pro-vaccination.  

Personally, I hold pro-vaxxers to very high standards of accuracy.  It is an important point: pro-vaxxers have to provide reliable information. IPoVC has provided inaccurate information in the past, and has been chided for it.   She has reacted in a similar manner in the past, as well. 

Here's the point: effective science communication (and IPoVC claims to be engaged in science communication, specifically the safety and efficacy of vaccines) demands that errors be pointed out publicly, and acknowledged and corrected by the communicator. Read Retraction Watch's first post for a strong statement on this issue.

Not sure what "flounce" means, in the context of the internet?  Here's a great introduction.   Here's a post from a community manager on how best to deal with flouncers.

Edited to add

At the Facebook page Anti-Vaccination Hall of Shame, I added a clarification of my motives.

Here is the text of that statement:

Re the recent postings of screenshots of the Facebook page Informed Parents of Vaccinated Children (IPoVC), which I initiated:

IPoVC claims to be providing factual information for "parents and others interested in the benefits of immunization."

IPoVC made an error in fact, which I corrected. IPoVC reacted in a dramatically negative way, including blocking me from IPoVC and later taking down the IPoVC page.

My values as a lay communicator of science demand accuracy, and transparency in correcting errors. IPoVC violated those values, and I documented the violations.

I am indifferent to the personal values of IPoVC's administrator relative to alternative medicine or parenting. Those are none of my business.

 

It is a pity that the IPoVC administrator chose to interpret the documentation of discourse on the IPoVC page as a personal attack. I acknowledge that her hurt feelings are real.

I would also urge the IPoVC adminstrator to develop an understanding of the normal nature of discourse in scientific settings, if she plans to continue to discuss scientific topics.

At some time during the morning, the IPoVC administrator posted the following (click to embiggen)

I categorically deny the allegations that the IPoVC administrator made relative to me. I do not see her as "the enemy". I don't "make up multiple fake IDs". While I corrected IPoVC in public, I did not treat the IPoVC as a child. I treated her just as I would have any other peer who made a serious and careless mistake. I do not, and did not mock, the IPoVC administrator. I do not perceive the IPoVC page or its administrator as a threat. I do not despise the IPoVC administrator. How could I? In the words of my father, I don't know her from Adam's off ox. As far as the screenshot issue goes: First, if something is posted publicly, it is legal fair use to take a screenshot.  Second, As I am quite visual, this is the most efficient way for me to take notes. And finally, IPoVC's last comment is one of the reasons I take screenshots: to document that words were written and posted, in an environment where comments unpleasant to the page (or blog owner) will be deleted as if never posted.

3:47 pm: the discussion at Informed Parents of Vaccinated Children continues, with specific statements from the IPoVC administrator claiming knowledge of my opinions and emotions, which are false.  I acknowledge that her feelings were hurt, but I stand by what I have written above.  Her presumption of knowledge about my opinions and feelings are false.

And with that: I am done with this discussion.

Autistic Self-Advocacy Network: Day of Morning March 1, 2013

Update: Tomorrow is the day. From ASAN:

The disability community is gathering in memory of disabled people murdered by family members or caregivers, and hosting vigils to honor the lives of those whom we have lost.

We will be holding vigils in cities across the country, including Boston, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC. For a full list of vigils with details on locations and times, click here.

Join us Friday as we mourn for members of our community who were victims of murder. Our voices and the presence of our community are needed now more than ever.

In solidarity,

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

ASAN Day of Mourning on March 1st

February 4, 2013
Dear friends,

Last year, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, along with Not Dead Yet and the National Council on Independent Living, held a Day of Mourning for people with disabilities killed by their relatives and caregivers.

Day of Mourning began as a response to the murder of George Hodgins, a 22-year-old autistic man from California, and to the way people were talking about his death. Far too often, when a disabled person is murdered by a caregiver, journalists write as though it is the disabled victim who has perpetrated a crime simply by existing. In discussing the killing, people say that we should feel sorry for the murderer, because they had to live with a disabled relative. When a disabled person is murdered, many people act as though the murder victim’s life, not their death, was a tragedy.

On March 30th, 2012, we held vigils in 18 cities to remember those we have lost, and to remind the world that their lives had value.

On March 31st, 2012, a 4-year-old autistic boy named Daniel Corby was drowned in a bathtub by his mother.

There is so much work to be done to change public perceptions about the worth and the quality of our lives. That is why the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network will be holding Day of Mourning again this year on Friday, March 1st. And I need your help to organize vigils across the country.

The first time I organized a vigil, I was very scared to do it, but it was not as hard as I feared. If you are interested in leading a vigil in your area, you begin by finding a good spot for it, making sure you can gather a group of people there, and spreading the word to your local community. If you want to organize a vigil, contact me at zgross@autisticadvocacy.org for instructions and support. I will help you find a location and to plan and publicize your event.

On March 1st, we will remember our dead and take a stand against the violence facing our community. I hope to see you there.

In solidarity,
Zoe Gross
Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Vigils are planned for: Chicago San Francisco Portland http://www.meetup.com/ASAN-Sacramento/events/105283032/

New Blog: Autism Experts

A group of autistics have started a new blog, Autism Experts.  The URL is

http://autismexperts.blogspot.com/ 

Autism Experts: Breaking News about Autism!

#AutismExperts.
The real experts about autism are Autistics. What could be more simple? Autistics are the ones “on the ground” when it comes to knowing what Autistic experience is. This blog will feature original posts and re-posts by Autistic researchers, Autistic thinkers, and some posts by allies. All pro-neurodiversity and all geared toward embracing and accepting autism. Follow our tweets on Twitter and our blog. This is a multi-Autistic effort just getting underway.Sign up to follow us anywhere and get the REAL INFORMATION about autism.

(Note: Blogs are up but some content has not been loaded.)

http://autismexperts.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/AutismExpertAUT

http://autismexperts.wordpress.com/

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/autismexperts 

I am following on twitter, you should too. I don't think they have a Facebook page yet. The project is the brainchild of Paula C. Durbin-Westby, who also originated

(The logo has been resized to fit this blog. The logo design is by Amy Gould Caraballo; Steve Summers put her logo on the banner background. See original here )

Natasha Harris: Death by Coca-Cola Consumption, Or Something Else?

First of all, to Natasha Harris's family -- my condolences on your loss -- especially to Natasha's children.  

It's been in the news today.  Natasha Harris, a 30 year old resident of New Zealand, died of a cardiac arrhythmia.  The coroner in the case,  David Crerar, ruled,

"I find that when all the available evidence is considered, were it not for the consumption of very large quantities of Coke by Natasha Harris, it is unlikely that she would have died when she died and how she died," 

Wait, what?  

Question number one: according to the published reports, Harris was consuming remarkable quantities of liquids -- on the order of greater than 2 gallons  (256 fluid ounces, or 32 cups, or 16 pounds of liquid) per day. That's almost 3.5 times the recommended adequate intake  level -- in Coke alone!  Suppose Harris was only drinking plain water at that rate -- what would have that level of consumption have done to her electrolyte levels?

Question number two: the published reports don't indicate which Coca-Cola product Harris was consuming.  Assuming that she was drinking a full-sugar, full-caffeine product,  let's look at the caloric intake first.

Assuming  (based on published reports) that Harris's consumption was in the range of  256 ounces (2 gallons) per day, and that Classic Coke is 12 calories per ounce, Ms. Harris would have been consuming over 3,000 calories per day in Coke alone.  By most accounts,  (assuming she was drinking a full-calorie version of Coke) she was taking in about 130% of her daily energy needs from Coke alone.  

Second, the caffeine intake.  According to the product description,  Classic Coke has about 2.9 mg of caffeine per ounce. At Ms. Harris's reported consumption, that would work out to about 742  mg per day.   At an average level of 10.6 mg/ounce of brewed coffee, that's the equivalent of drinking 70 eight-ounce cups of coffee.

According to Medscape:

When ingested chronically in excessive amounts, caffeine produces a specific toxidrome (caffeinism), which consists of primarily CNS, cardiovascular, and GI hyperstimulation.

 Crerar is quoted: 

Crerar said the family had not considered her Coke habit dangerous because the drink did not carry any health warnings.

He recommended "that Coca-Cola give consideration to the inclusion of advice as to quantity of caffeine on labels (in) its products and... adding appropriate warnings related to the dangers of consuming excessive quantities of the products".

He also said authorities should examine whether health warnings were needed and consider lowering the maximum amount of caffeine allowed in carbonated beverages.

 

The family's response is foolish. Surely even the dimmest person should know that consuming that much sugar --empty calories -- isn't conducive to good health. The coroner's point about adding caffeine quantities has some validity -- putting caffeine as a percent of daily recommendation may help consumers make better choices, along the line of the recommended sodium intake on US labels. The last point is just silly.

Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonné (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 2 Works 2009

[2/12/2012: edited to add: One of my readers suggested that I add the following disclosure, with which I agree. Mr. Crosby and my daughter are four days apart in age.  My daughter identifies as neurodiverse, as a well-remdiated dyslexic.  Her life experiences deeply inform how I veiw Mr. Crosby's writings.]

In the 17 posts to Age of Autism in 2009, Jake Crosby broadens a number of themes and introduces a new element, the "6,000 degrees of separation" ploy to discredit those he disagrees with.

Themes:

• Autism is too caused by vaccines, specifically the ingredient thimerosal 
• Any "health authority" who does not condemn vaccines is corrupt 
• Autism is loathsome and should be prevented and/or cured
• The neurodiversity movement and the autistic-self-advocacy movement are despicable and should be condemned
• Any disagreement with the proceding statements must be caused by corruption or undue influence (usually wielded by the pharmaceutical / vaccine industry), which can be proven by association.

List of Posts

1. January 14, 2009 Discovering I Was Toxic http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/01/discovering-i-was-toxic.html#more. I found this to be the most poignant of Crosby's writings. In this post, Crosby recounts his belief that he was made autistic by a preservative formerly used in vaccines, thimerosal, and the "treatments" his mother subjected him to. He also recounts his shame about being autistic, and expresses his anger at the "health authorities" who "completely betrayed the public trust" -- that is, Crosby's belief that vaccines are "toxic".
2. February 19, 2009 History Suggests HHS Candidate Not Unbiased on Thimerosal-Vaccine Issue http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/history-suggests-hhs-candidate-not-unbiased-on-thimerosal-vaccine-issue.html. This post makes an unsourced, negative assertion about Kathleen Sibelius's position on vaccine safety: "As early as 2003, her staff has ignored warnings of thimerosal dangers, relying on federal and corporate information".
3. March 3, 2009 The Age of Neurodiversity http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/03/the-age-of-neurodiversity.html. In this post, Crosby is responding to a presentation on the Best Resources for Attainment and Intervention re Neurodiversity in Higher Education (BRAIN-HE), Neurodiversity in higher education: Insights from qualitative research by the BRAINHE project.". I am afraid Crosby misread, or mis-represented, the contents of the presentation. Joseph (himself autistic) at Natural Variation goes into Crosby's errors in some detail at AoA's Token Aspie Reacts to BRAINHE Study With Error-Filled Article, and goes on with All Autistics Who Oppose Neurodiversity are High Functioning and Nevertheless, There Are Differences Between Autistics Who Approve of and Disapprove of Neurodiversity
4. March 18, 2009 A Glimpse Inside Asperger's Syndrome http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/03/a-glimpse-inside-aspergers-syndrome.html. Another poignant post, in which Crosby discusses how some of the executive functioning deficits intrinsic to autism hinder his academic success. But he robs the poignancy by setting up "neurodiversity" as a giant straw man in the closing paragraphs. Crosby seems to have isolated himself from autistic peers  -- he might have learned some tools and work-arounds for the problems he described. Here, some other autistic college students comment on Crosby's attitude, and discuss some of the ways they have learned to compensate.
5. May 8, 2009 An Open Letter to Newsweek Magazine on Possible Neurodiversity Coverage http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/05/an-open-letter-to-newsweek-magazine-on-possible-neurodiversity-coverage.html  Background: "Sullivan", writing at LeftBrain/RightBrain, responded with: "... prior to the publication of the Newsweek article, Stephen Shore leaked the information.... Jake Crosby at the Age of Autism decided to blog his own misconceptions about it.... Mr. Crosby’s blog piece had a fairly simple theme: “don’t publish the Ari Ne’eman article; interview me instead”. Or, failing that, “Give me equal time”. We all knew (and I assume Mr. Crosby is intelligent enough to know as well) that his was an empty commentary: the article was already in press."   (I highly recommend that you read the whole LeftBrainRightBrain piece.) While Crosbydefines neurodiversity in such a way that he can deplore it,  this is another of Crosby's essays that I find poignant, particularly the depth of Crosby's dislike for how his mind works. 
6. June 6, 2009 Newsweek’s Newspeak: Pharma’s Weapon Against Oprah http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/06/newsweeks-newspeak-pharmas-weapon-against-oprah.html. This is an attack on Newsweek, the magazine itself. The vehicle is the issue in which Newsweek takes issue with Oprah Winfrey's promotion of pseudoscience and outright quackery, which Crosby defends. I came away with the feeling that the real issue was Crosby was miffed that Newsweek didn't give Crosby equal billing with Ne'eman.
7. June 19, 2009 Autism, Cancer and AIDS http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/06/autism-cancer-and-aids.html. This was a particularly ill-researched, ill-sourced, innuendo-riddled post, in which Mr. Crosby accuses Maurice Hilleman of "importing AIDS" , via monkeys Hilleman had imported from Africa for vaccine research. The facts behind the video Crosby cited was debunked (and the video called "irresponsible") in 2007, by Brandon Keim at Wired. Why would Crosby repeat such a false and baseless accusation? Because it gives Crosby a hook with which to slur another of the scientists that Crosby reviles, Paul Offit MD. Turning from Offit, Crosby promotes the OPV-AIDS hypothesis as fact, even though that hypothesis had been soundly debunked and refuted five whole years before Crosby posted this article. The whole article is a smear attack on a deceased public health hero, Maurice Hilleman, and by extension, a living public health hero, Paul Offit. Mr. Crosby wrote this at (what I believe, based on his graduation date) the end of his sophomore year at Brandeis University. The word "sophomoric" may apply.
8. July 13, 2009 Autism, Asperger's: Who is Truly Disabled? http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/07/who-is-truly-disabled.html This post was prompted by Roger Kulp's letter to Age of Autism. Mr. Kulp is an autistic adult with a complex, and incompletely treated, medical history. In this post, Crosby elaborates one of his enduring themes: the argument against the neurodiversity straw man. In this post, it takes the form that neurodiversity advocates (NDs, in Crosby's usage) want to "prevent people on the spectrum from getting help." And yet -- this is another of Crosby's postings that I find poignant. Remember, my daughter is almost exactly the same age as Crosby. At the time he published the post, he wasn't yet 21, and didn't (at least in writing) appear to have folk --peers and adults--around him who were supportive.
9. July 23, 2009 Why Asperger Syndrome is a Legal Disability http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/07/why-asperger-syndrome-is-a-legal-disability.html In this essay, Mr. Crosby is wrestling with the meaning of "disability" as it pertains to an "invisible" disability such as autism, especially for folk like himself who can "pass" as neurotypical.For me, it is another poignant post, in that Mr. Crosby seems not to have any broader connection to the disability-rights movement as a whole,or had never even been introduced to the social model of disablity. Read, for example, another autistic adult's response to this essay, Cat in a Dog's World: Asperger's is a Disability .
10. August 8, 2009 Jake Crosby Reviews Fox Searchlight's "Adam" Movie with Asperger's http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/08/jake-crosby-reviews-fox-searchlights-adam-movie-with-aspergers.html Another, to me, poignant Crosby post, as he wrote: "The movie “Adam” was billed as a romantic comedy, but to a person with Asperger Syndrome, it might be more of a suspense drama.".
11. August 15, 2009 First Michael Savage, then Denis Leary, now Rex Reed http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/08/first-michael-savage-then-denis-leary-now-rex-reed.html. LeftBrain/RightBrain agreed, with links to other autistic bloggers' responses to Mr. Reed's hurtful, inaccurate words. http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/08/19/rex-reed-is-just-plain-ignorant/
12. September 22, 2009 “Science”Blogs: Seed Media’s Aggressive WeedPart I: Fertilizer From Pharma http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/09/scienceblogs-seed-medias-aggressive-weed.html. This, and the subsequent of Crosby's posts, takes some scene-setting. Seed Media's Science Blogs conglomerated a number of previously self-hosted science blogs. The benefit to the individual bloggers was larger audiences; the benefit to Seed was revenue from embedded advertisements (sometimes embarrassingly inapposite). Some of the bloggers wrote under their real names (cf PZ Myers); others used, for professional reasons, previously-established pseudonyms (cf Orac). Of those blogs that addressed immunization issues, all were deeply pro-vaccination, rejecting the failed theory that vaccines were somehow causal in autism. If my memory serves correctly, Orac's Respectful Insolence was (and is) the most vocal of the pro-vaccination blogs. On April 2009, Orac published The mindset of an antivaccinationist revealed, courtesy of Jake Crosby of The Age of Autism blog. This seems to have been what prompted Crosby to dig into Seed Media. In this essay, he attacks Adam Bly for being unqualified to run a science media empire and for monetizing science reporting; the Seed Media collective for rejecting the "vaccines cause autism" hypothesis, ("the site full of bloggers who relentlessly defend mercury in vaccines and the MMR - even if it means defending sham studies, defending the CDC when it broke the law at Simpsonwood, destroyed data, lied, and did not disclose conflicts of interest "), and Orac for...well, it's hard to say exactly, but mostly for having the temerity to reject Crosby's world view. Along the way, Crosby begins to develop his theme of tenuous relationships among entities "proving" that the pharma industry controls what is written at the Science Blogging collective.
13. September 23, 2009 Part II Seed Media's "Science"Blogs: A 180 Degree Shift in Reporting http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/09/part-ii-seed-medias-scienceblogs-a-180-degree-shift-in-reporting.html. In this essay, Crosby presumes his previous essay had established that Seed Media and its science blogging collective are in fact, "tied to the drug industry". He goes on to ask if Seed Media (the dead-tree magazine and the science blogging collective) had ever represented the "vaccines cause autism" issue in a way that Crosby would find acceptable. A short bit of clarification is needed for those new to the anti-vaccine, "autism is vaccine injury" ideology. The notion that vaccines cause autism had its origins in the late 1990s, and achieved national prominence in the early 2000s. The idea that thimerosal might have something to do with autism was a reasonable and testable hypothesis. One would expect a science magazine to report on this hypothesis in the early 2000s, and Seed Magazine did so, with an article So research was done. By 2001, or at, by the latest, 2005 the evidence was clear: there is no reason to think that thimerosal exposure via vaccines is in any way causal in autism. Mr. Crosby, in this essay, advances the view that as of September 2009, the entire collective of science bloggers should still have had entertained the idea that somehow, vaccines are dangerous, specifically referring to autism. Because Seed Media Science bloggers instead regarded the issue as closed is evidence of "censorship" and that, somehow, Big Pharma controls the opinions and blogging output of all the contributors. I will leave you to decide if Mr. Crosby's opinions are reasonable. You may wish to read Orac's response to Crosby's first article
14. November 1, 2009 Autism Awareness Week at Brandeis http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/11/autism-awareness-week-at-brandeis.html In this essay, Mr. Crosby reports on planning a multi-day conference at his university.
15. November 8, 2009 Brandeis U. Autism Awareness Week Update: Current Schedule http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/11/brandeis-u-autism-awareness-week-update-current-schedule.html The finalized schedule.
16. December 18, 2009 Keeping Autism Neurodiversity Out of the White House http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/12/keeping-autism-neurodiversity-out-of-the-white-house.html. This post starts out with a giant strawman, Crosby's distortion of neurodiversity (here and here for more accurate representations, and keeps going. What raised Mr. Crosby's ire? Ari Ne'eman's nomination to the National Council on Disability -- the first autistic so nominated. Crosby's article has a certain ring of sour grapes about it -- Ne'eman is a year younger than Crosby, but Ne'eman had by then achieved much more national prominence than Crosby, mostly for Ne'eman's achievements in founding and leading the Autism Self-Advocacy Network and for scholarly publications. Crosby stooped so low as to insinuate that Ne'eman's mother had political connections, which allowed her to engineer the nomination. In doing so, Crosby misrepresented Mrs. Ne'eman's employment. Crosby closes by claiming Ne'eman is not representative of the autism community or adult autistics. Crosby implied that the "real" autism community endorsed the "autism is vaccine injury" claim, and denied and abhored Ne'eman's claim that autistics are not inarticulate wretches crying out in hopes of a cure to return us to normalcy. We are human beings, individuals in our own right. We are who we are, not in spite of being autistic but in part because of it.". In other words, in Crosby's view, "real" autistics must be wretched sufferers, seeking a cure. An indication of how popular this view is among the autism community is that a mere 782 people signed the online petition to oppose Ne'eman's nomination.
17. December 22, 2009 Autism Awareness Week at Brandeis: A Great Success! http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/12/autism-awareness-week-at-brandeis-a-great-success.html The 2009 Autism Week committee did a remarkable job of putting together a multi-day, multi-speaker event. While I disagree with many of Mr. Crosby's views, I was then impressed and remain impressed by what the committee accomplished.

The Series

• Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonné (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 1 Introduction and Early Life
• Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonné (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 2 Works 2009
• Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonne (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 3 Works 2010
• Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonne (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 4 Works 2011
• Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonne (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 5 Works 2012
• Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonne (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 6 Works 2013
• Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonne (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 7 Appendices

Autism and anti-vaccination events of note in 2008 and 2009

1. June 2008 "Green our vaccines" march lead by Jenny McCarthy and her then-boyfriend, Jim Carrey. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/jenny-mccarthy-jim-carrey-and-green-our-vaccines-anti-vaccine-not-pro-safe-vaccine/
2. May 26 2008, Ken Reibel is expelled from the AutismOne conference for being "negative". http://autism-news-beat.com/archives/62
3. September 18, 2008: Paul Offit publishes Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure 
4. February 8, 2009 Brian Deer published "MMR doctor fixed data on autism" http://briandeer.com/solved/st-fixed-data.htm
5. Stanford Medicine Magazine publishes a special issue on immunization http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2009spring/index.html
6. May 22, 2009 Chicago Tribune publishes Trine Tsouderos and Patricia Callahan's multi-part story on quackery in autism treatment http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-autism-doctor-eisenstein-may22,0,3826791.story
7. July 6, 2009: Andrew Wakefield gets crosswise with The Times of London http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/07/07/brian-deer-talks-back-to-andrew-wakefield/
8. July 7, 2009: Eric  London resigns from Autism Speaks http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/07/07/eric-london-resigns-from-autism-speaks/
9. July 15, 2009: FBI, IRS shuts down an autism clinic http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/07/16/fbi-and-irs-shut-quack-clinics/
10. July 29, 2009: Hazelhurst petition to the Autism Omnibus Proceedings denied http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/07/29/autism-omnibus-hazelhurst-appeal-denied/
11. August 11, 2009: Cedillo appeal to the Autism Omnibus Proceedings denied http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/08/11/autism-omnibus-cedillo-appeal-denied/
12. August 12, 2009: Snyder appeal to the Autism Omnibus Proceedings denied http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/08/12/autism-omnibus-snyder-appeal-denied/
13. August 30, 2009: Matt Lauer produces an hour-long show, "A Dose of Controversy" http://insidedateline.nbcnews.com/_news/2009/08/25/4374204-sunday-aug-30-a-dose-of-controversy
14. September 22, 2009: The National Health Services releases a report that indicate about 1 in 100 adults in the UK have autism. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6219201/One-in-100-adults-have-autism-research.html
15. September 22, 2009: Autism Speaks Debuts the "I Am Autism" fundraising video. A firestorm of controversy ensues. http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2009/09/i-am-autism-awareness-video-by-alfonso-cuar%C3%B3n-ransom-reprise.html.
16. October 19, 2009: Wired Magazine publishes Amy Wallace's An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience/all/1
17. November 1, Release of 2009 Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the US, 2007 http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1395.full, which estimates US autism prevalence as 1.1%
18. November 2009: Age of Autism publishes the vile "Thanksgiving Nightmare" post http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/12/04/age-of-autism-pull-offensive-blog-post/
19. November 23, 2009: the Chicago Tribune publishes Trine Tsouderos and Patricia Callahan's and multi-part series on quackery in autism treatments, http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-autism-science-nov23,0,240420.story
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20. December 16, 2009: ASAN founder Ari Ne'eman nominated to the Council on Disability http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Ne'eman

Forget Tiny Houses, I Want to Live Here

Where is this, you ask? Well, you will have to ask the artist, Jim Kazanjian:

You can see more and buy prints at the 23 Sandy Gallery, where he writes:

ARTIST STATEMENT Jim Kazanjian’s surreal landscapes offer phantasmagoric visions of a where-is-this world, defined by impossibly complex architecture and M.C.Escher-esque black-and-white graphics. Inspired by the imaginary realms of cult author H.P. Lovecraft—whose wild, cosmic short stories set the mold for much of the 20th century's best science fiction—Kazanjian’s aim is to redress the “misunderstanding that photography has a kind of built-in objectivity…to defamiliarize the familiar.”

More at Kazanjian's Facebook page.

Thanks to Steve Silberman for pointing me to Kazanjian's work.

Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonné (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 1 Introduction and Early Life

[2/12/2012: edited to add: One of my readers suggested that I add the following disclosure, with which I agree. Mr. Crosby and my daughter are four days apart in age.  My daughter identifies as neurodiverse, as a well-remdiated dyslexic.  Her life experiences deeply inform how I veiw Mr. Crosby's writings.]

e Jacob Lawrence Crosby, hereafter Jake Crosby, is a 2007 high school graduate and a 2011 graduate of Brandeis University with a bachelor of arts degree with two major subjects: History and Health: Science Society and Policy. Crosby matriculated in the epidemiology track for Master's Degree in Public Health (MPH) at The George Washington University in the fall of 2011.

Crosby is best known for his writings at the blog, Age of Autism. His published works there began with personal accounts of his experiences with autism, specifically Asperger's Syndrome, and developed into accounts of his confrontations with vaccine advocates and criticisms of reporting on autism causation.

Family, Early Life, and Education
Mr. Crosby was born December 2, 1988 (source) to Frederic G."Giff" Crosby and Nicole Cranberg Crosby.

Mrs. Crosby's father was the highly respected research physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur, Lawrence Cranberg, PhD.

Among Dr.Cranberg's many accomplishments was the invention of the Texas FireFrame, which he built into a thriving business from its invention until his death in late 2012.   The company is located in Austin, Texas.  His daughter Nicole Cranberg Crosby today runs the company.

Nicole Cranberg Crosby was brought up in Texas, and earned a BS in Advertising from the University of Texas.  She then relocated to New York, where worked in advertising from 1978 to 1995. She was named a senior vice president of Doyle Dane Bernback in 1986. In 2010, Mrs. Crosby took over her father's fire grate business.

 Nicole Cranberg Crosby's brother, Jake's uncle, is Alex Cranberg, a highly successful energy industry entrepreneur.  He controls Aspect Energy LLC, and is a controversial recent addition to the board of trustees of the University of Texas (the alma mater for both himself and his sister Nicole).

Jake Crosby's father, Giff Crosby, appears to have spent his entire career in the advertising industry.  According to his LinkedIn profile, Giff Crosby today works for Dentsu America. Previously he was a copywriter for such products as Miracle-Gro (2008).

In 1999, Giff Crosby was employed by DDB (formerly Doyle Dane Bernbach), where he was an Executive Creative Director (ECD) slated to work on such firms as Compaq, Lockheed Martin, and The Bank of New York and new business. That same year, DDB picked up the vaccine maker Merck as a client.

The industry giant Monsanto brought RoundUP, a highly-toxic, carcinogenic weedkiller,to market. Doyle Dane Bernbach, which employed Mr. Crosby, provided advertising services to Monsanto.

 What is known about Jake Crosby's life prior to 2008 is drawn from several of his published posts at Age of Autism.

Crosby's first post for Age of Autism, Living with Asperger's in fact, may have been a sort of coming out, in which he proclaims to the world that he is an autistic student at Brandeis. 

In Discovering I Was Toxic, Crosby discusses how he learned the belief that thimerosal in vaccinations may have caused his autism, and how he hid his autism, in shame,  from his classmates throughout high school and the first year of  college.  

While it’s good to know the cause of my problems, as well as having the freedom to discuss them with others, what has been very disturbing was learning about the tremendous amount of suffering caused by the health authorities. They were given the huge responsibility of protecting people from defective drugs, but instead, completely betrayed the public trust. I am both overjoyed at the explanation I have for my condition and angered at the people who are responsible.

These first posts also establish themes Crosby continues to develop: a deep loathing of autism; contempt for the neurodiversity movement and the allied, but not identical, autistic self-advocacy movement, and rage against the "health authorities" over a non-existent issue (the alleged toxicity of vaccines).

Next: Jacob Lawrence Crosby: A Catalog Raisonne (of sorts), 2008 - 2013 Part 2 Works 2009

Music from Space!

Space, specifically, the International Space Station. 

First, on April 8, 2011, astronaut Col. Cady Coleman and Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson honored Yuri Gagarin with a flute duet 

NASA's press release:

Coleman, an amateur flutist, and Anderson played a portion of the song "Bourree," an arrangement of which Anderson and Jethro Tull performed during their 1969 U.S. tour as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon. Coleman played her part from 220 miles above Earth late last week. Anderson played his part while on tour in Perm, Russia, during the weekend. The two parts were then joined.

(Follow Col. Coleman on Twitter)

Second, this week, astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield and Ed Robertson of the Bare Naked Ladies performing "Is Somebody Singing": 

Follow Col. Hadfield on twitter.  Talk about the collaboration with hashtag #issomebodysinging

Ed's blog post about the collaboration