More people who don't believe me...

Okay, honestly. Who here really thinks that drinking milk is natural? Because I mentioned this to somebody and she acted like I'd said it rains pennies.

Yes. Milk. Unnatural. Humans wean by 7 or so (usually earlier, the median weaning age worldwide is 4). After that point, any milk drinking is unnatural. And it is NEVER natural for one species to suckle at the teat of another. It never has been, it never will be, especially not when it comes to adults. There's an exception made for "fostering". We've all heard of baby tigers in a zoo being put with mama dogs because the mama tiger was out of the picture somehow. I've heard of somebody doing the same thing with a squirrel and a cat. That would almost certainly not happen in the wild, but it saves lives. HOWEVER. Pulling the milk from a cow to drink in a cup? That's different, and freakish. I mean, eeeeeeew!

Of course, I eat cheese, which is worse, it's rotten milk solids, but eh. At least I know it's bad.

*sighs* Gimme advice here...

I hate talking for other people, and I suspect I'm getting dangerously close to that line here. I wouldn't have said anything except that her comments were so wrong, mihi. Especially the one about "people who need help seeing". Um, yeah, like all the people who wear glasses? Because if you mean blind people, they don't need help seeing, they can't see.

Anyway, I don't want to piss people off whom I agree with (I don't mind pissing her off, she's irritating anyway), so if anybody who is actually severely disabled (unlike me, at least as far as I can determine) is irritated, speak now or forever hold your peace. Since a number of the people I'm right now about to reference, or have already referenced without their permission are people I respect, I want to make sure I'm not overstepping my bounds or misinterpreting their words.

A more in-depth question...

Why do I see nothing wrong with saying "that's not true" about black/gay/foreign/other stereotypes, but feel bad when it comes to various disabilities, even the one I theoretically have? I'm not just shooting off the top of my head, everything I say is based on my near obsessive perusal of various writings, and unlike black/gay/foreign/other people I actually am mildly disabled*, but when it comes up I feel like I should apologise. Why is this?


*_{So mildly disabled that my parents couldn't get a diagnosis when I was younger. Nobody knew about AS back then, nor (I think) HFA, and as far as anybody was willing to admit I was just a smart girl who didn't talk much. And couldn't speak clearly, but of course I had those very crooked teeth. And couldn't tie my shoes, but of course I was a lefty. That's obviously also why my handwriting was the worst in the class. And I couldn't do my homework, but of course that wasn't a big deal, because I was just so smart! And, oh yeah, there's that thing where my hearing is really good but I still can't always understand what people are saying, yeah, that thing? Oh, that's not a real problem, thanks! Bad sense of direction? Yeah, lefty again? That's why? Gee, who knew? Trouble recognizing people? Everyone does that? Really? Because they all know my name... well, if you say so... And so on.}

Stolen from moggymania

http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2004:04:24:370080:OPINION

I found this link completely on my own.

The use of aversives in my brother's education turned him from a reserved child prone to tantrums, posturing, and noncommunication to a very well behaved, social boy who, granted, is incredibly odd but also quite charming.

Prone to posturing? I don't even know what that means. I do know that she has no idea if it was the aversives which did that or something else, and she almost certainly doesn't know how he feels about that.

BUT I do think that some restraint is, as one other put it, comforting to Autistic children. ( Ahem )

Since I'm already talking about autism and myself...

( I might as well talk about my family. )

And I can personally relate to each of these anecdotes, and then some. *nodnodnod*

No, there wasn't a point to this, sorry guys.

The first world war.

As we all know (or should), understanding what caused the first world war involves the cute acronym MAIN. ( Read more... )

I'm still not sure if this is just my experience, or if every school in the US has this. I certainly don't know why they decided to tell the side they gave us... it's so far in the past, you wouldn't think it would hurt to give both sides. Nowadays, we hear from the settlers and the native americans. We hear from the union and the confederacy. But for something across a damn ocean, they tell us a sappy love story.

The Golden Rule

Do unto others as you would have done unto you ( Read more... )

What's with people talking about "self-proclaimed" feminists?

http://www.livejournal.com/community/feminist/965131.html?replyto=19356683

Not to put too fine a point on it, but aren't we all self proclaimed feminists? Did I miss the class and the fancy graduation? God, was there a PARTY? I didn't miss out on cake, did I?

People don't do this just about feminism, though, I've heard it for other equally silly things, like liberalism or naturalism or whatnot. Dudes. It's not a religion where you need to be baptised. It's really just a state of mind.

And now for something partially different.

Stupidest story... the other day I was waiting for the boat, and it was at least half an hour away. Most of the seats were filled, and I wasn't about to stand, so I approached a woman who had her bags on the seat next to her (the person with her had his bags on another seat, but I didn't realize they were together yet).

Me: Excuse me, can I sit down please? *points*
Her: That's where I have my bags.
Me: *flabbergasted*

Before I could recover, her boyfriend/brother/husband/whatever spoke up and said he'd move his bags to her "bag seat" and I could sit there. Just as well, I can be bitchy to stupid people.

Incidentally, it's now confirmed, backdated entries don't show up on friends pages. The entry above this is one of those, click into my main journal to read it (unless you don't want to listen to my further autism amazement).