I'm sorry I haven't updated lately. As you know, I've been BUSY busy.

(More or less. I've found time to work on the tags in asperger.)

A few Tuesday's ago I went to a protest against Autism Speaks where I refrained from telling anybody not in the know that they're evil. I mean, it's patently true, but people don't listen when you just come out and say it like that. Due to travel and cooking I was super late, and did my best to ease into this by holding a sign in front of my face so I didn't have to deal with people if I didn't want to (very convenient excuse), but I actually have some thoughts about it that I'm waiting to post as soon as they come out clearly. I'd like to say that all this thinking is making for a great post, but it's probably going to be about average. Sorry.

However, since we're loosely on the subject now, I'll direct you to an article!

Here's an article about the kid (with Asperger's) who ran away and spent 11 days on the subway.

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And here's a video and an article!

( Here's a video about people who use a zipline to, among other things, send their young kids to school every day. )

Just... wow.

And here's an article about a forest kindergarten upstate.
It comes with pictures

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Use of food stamps is soaring lately.

Clicky!

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What really gets me is how some of these people in this article talk. They're all going "Oh, well, a lot of people cheat the system but not me" or "I'm not one of those lazy people" or whatnot.

What do they think, that most people, given half a chance, would willingly choose to live on public assistance and charity rather than work? What nonsense! They can see looking at their own situations that this is not the case, but they cling to their old stories. Unbelievable.

It's harder for black people to get jobs (even with comparable college) than white people

It's the shocker of the century, I tell you.

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Of course, the comments are atrocious. A lot of people there blame affirmative action, citing studies (that they can't name) proving that black people get into college 100, 300, 500, or 800 points lower on the SAT than their white peers. At some number that might be true, I don't know what number that is. Of course, getting into Harvard at 300 points lower than everybody else is still a major accomplishment... especially when, on the other side, "everybody else" includes people who got in because Daddy went to school there and bought them a new building last year.

In the end, though, it doesn't amount to much. "Oh, their diplomas aren't worth as much because they got in at a lower SAT score!!!!" So? Look, it doesn't really matter if you got in because of the color of your skin or the color of your money - or heck, the color of your goddamn panties! What matters is staying in. Unless I'm mistaken, grading isn't typically done with affirmative action in mind (although bribes of cash or sex might be part of the equation, I guess), is it? If anything, I'd assume that the proportion of graders who think "oh, affirmative action!" and grade accordingly is about equal to the proportion of bosses and HR folks who think that and hire accordingly.

And then there are the comments that combine that line about affirmative action with "Well, the black people I've met don't dress right and don't know how to talk and I don't like them". Who the hell are they hiring? I've yet to meet the person (of any race!) who didn't understand that you talk and dress and act one way with your family and friends and another way at the office and at church. (Worst is the person who phrased that exact argument as "Unlike ME, black people insist on clinging to their ethnic identity in clothes and hair and speech". Somehow that contrives to sound even more offensive than "They dress like slobs and can't string one word in front of the other and are all going in to work drugged up and playing loud music at their desks all day".)

Santathing!

I think I've decided one one true-crime book ( spoiler )

And in the spirit of LJ, I'm gonna have a poll! Two polls!

[Poll #1493745]

Please vote! (Unless you think this might be you, of course. Person likes true crime, that's all the details *I* am giving!)