I Speak of Dreams

Some Things You Should Know

Lots and lots on my plate, so rather random bullet points instead of, you know, actual thought:

• The Lehman collapse comes to my town: The San Mateo County investment pool lost $150 million, or about 5.6% of the total pool.  The loss isn't spread evenly, and lawsuits are being discussed.  San Jose Mercury News; Trading Markets.
• Read Terry Pratchett's new novel, Nation.  It isn't a Discworld novel, but it isn't set in our universe, either.  Trousers of Time and all.  He wrote much of it after his Alzheimer's diagnosis.
• Hannah Poling and the role of mitochondrial disorders in autism: Jon Poling concealed his severe conflict of interest.
• Flu season is nigh.  Prepare at Making Light; a packing list from Misia.
• I've been reading Brown Man Thinking Hard, by Kris Broughton. He works in the financial services sector. Read the series, What Do We Want?
• Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart
• The Mother Warrior is a dangerous, ignorant fool. Iteration #1 Iteration #2.  Steve Novella is uncharacteristically forceful in Iteration #3.  Orac is Respectfully Insolent in Iteration #4.  Squid, who really is an autism advocate, says, "Jenny McCarthy, stop being an ass!"
• A new blog, advancing  the case that Public Education is Failing
• Emily, whose son TH has autism, is going to start the Circle of Friends (link one; link two;  link three)  curriculum at TH's school.
• A possible genetic link to dyslexia was in the news, and the roots of dyscalculia was also discussed.
• The Science Book Club is discussing Autism's False Prophets.  Remarkably, few trolls have shown up.
• The power of blogging:  David Bogner wrote about the miraculous change in his son's behavior and language following surgical treatment of infant apnea in Yonah 2.0.  One of David's readers, A Simple Jew, read the posts, looked with consideration at his own son, and scheduled an appointment with an ENT.  Result: another healthier, happier child.

There's more, but I've run out of tim. And vowels, evidently.

Update Shannon Rosa Autism

For Fun: LOLManuscript

It is danged hot, so early in the day.  Via Household Opera, the blog LOL Manuscripts.  I'm pretty fond of the Complaint of the Soul

Are You Really Dead?

This made me laugh.   the underwear drawer:

The thing about working in an adult ICU is that people die. Like, a lot. And then it is sad. And also you have to sign a lot of papers afterward attesting to the deadness. I would have thought before this that it would be relatively easy to tell when a patient was dead, but let me tell you--not so much all the time.

I don't know why.   I guess I have a taste for morbid humor.

What To Do

"When in danger or in doubt
Run in circles, scream and shout."

It's DT's tagline.

More of Murphy's Law

• Murphy's Tenth Law: Mother Nature is a bitch.
• Murphy's Eleventh Law: It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so very ingenious.
• Murphy's Twelfth Law: Things get worse under pressure.
• Murphy's Thirteenth Laws: 
  
  • To study a subject best, understand it thoroughly before you start.
  • If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
  • If mathematically you end up with the incorrect answer, try multiplying by the page number.

When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!

It has been identified as

"Mongolian General Prudential Rule:
‘When in danger or in doubt,
run in circles, scream and shout!'"

When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.-- Robert A. Heinlein, "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"

Clint's Cure-All:
          When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!

Holiday Greetings Parody

From: Dave Farber Subject: [IP] Merry - uh - somethi

From: Gary Johnston

Hi -

I wanted to send out some sort of holiday greeting to my friends, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my attorney today, and on his advice (and after $299 in attorneys fees) I wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an

Eastland on Abortion

What amusement park ride bounced Larry Eastland's brain loose , and how did he get the folks at the Wall Street Journal to get in with him? (The article alleges that liberals are aborting themselves out of existence.)

BoingBoing pointed it out.

This is high level discussion? Every question possible was begged. [Fowler: Fowler defines "begging the question" as the "fallacy of founding a conclusion on a basis that as much needs to be proved as the conclusion itself.]

I didn't know where to start. Fortunately, I found someone who is a lot better prepared than I am.

Art of Cell Phone Antennas

So here I am in the heart of Silicon Valley--280 and Sand Hill Road being the next exit--and wireless service coverage sucks. Why? Because the good burghers of Portola Valley and Woodside--two of the most self-absorbed, won't put up cell phone towers "because they harm the esthetic ambiance." I kid you not.

Well, thanks to BoingBoing, maybe I can actually get decent cell coverage around here. (Or not, if this guy keeps complaining

Bragging Rights

Whoot! I beat BoingBoing to the punch. (and Backwards City. But Language Log takes the thoughtfulness cake.

Translation

THE RESULTS IN FULL

• THE TEN FOREIGN WORDS THAT WERE VOTED HARDEST TO TRANSLATE

1 ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in south-eastern Congo, and Zaire]

Cool Map: Pop, Coke or Soda

I love regional variations. (That's what I loathe about mass-merchandisers--how do you know where you are if everything is the same). This is a very cool map of words for fizzy sweet drinks.

If you want to add your two cents' worth, go here.

If you want to see the Harvard dialect survey (more complex), go here