Three bits of news

[elfs]

All of these come from the New York Times or the Washington Post. Registration required.

The first bit of news is the most horrific. While many people have made much of the lack of body armor on field soldiers is Iraq, the fact is most of the front-line troops are wearing some and have Kevlar helmets as well. But the roadside bombs take advantage of this fact by throwing shrapnel up from ground level, into the face and helmet.

The difference between this war and previous ones is that we can now save more people than we once could. The press focuses on the dead, but the injured are something else-- because of the body armor and changes in insurgency tactics, a frightening number of the men coming home are permanently brain damaged. "We're saving more people than should be saved, probably" said one neurosurgeon.

An average of one soldier a day is sent home with brain damage-- half of whom may live for years as vegetables, the other half of whom will be "functional," but will suffer paralysis, memory dysfunction, and personality disorders for the rest of their lives.

The Lasting Wounds of War

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Often the new diagnoses involve people who for years have been deemed rude, clueless or just plain weird because of their blunt comments or all-too-personal disclosures. They typically have a penchant for accuracy and a hard-wired dislike for the disruption of routine.

Answer, but no cure, for a social disorder that isolates many

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When Internet shopping became a big deal, the idea of a "perfect market" was really interesting to economists. But, as it turns out, it's not the price that makes a really big deal to most people, it's the selection. By having the ability to choose from the most obscure shops around, one can find the best products and those really rare items that one could not normally find. Alternatively, one has the power to locate the prices on a given product and determine if shipping and handling is worth the expense. Almost half of all Amazon sales are of books outside the "top 100,000."

Virginia Postrel tells us What's so great about Internet commerce?

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Hint: Often Google News will get you into NYT articles without a subscription, either directly thru their partner program (I was one of the ones that prodded them about that, and within a few weeks, this happened) or via papers that reprint NYT stories. For example:

The Aspberger's story is in the Wilmington Star (http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040429/ZNYT04/404290417/1002/BUSINESS).

Hum. NYT has changed procedure. If I go to Google and click on the Postrel story, it lets me in (obviously using the referrer, since if I go to a different box and click the naked link, it bitches for registration.) Argh. What a waste.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

As for the content of the articles... (I found a link for the Post article (http://www.magicvalley.com/news/worldnation/index.asp?StoryID=8653), too)

One: Argh. The Nam-sayers can now say "I told you so." If President Puppet had got in, did the deed, and got the hell out, we'd've been fine. But no, he just hadda go in without a well-defined exit strategy - indeed, war with the intent to suppress all violence only has one exit strategy: genocide. Obviously unacceptable - as is the Emperor's conduct.

Two: Cool. Take your weakness, and make a strength of it. Excellent story.

Three: Postrel missed something: Froogle. Amazon may be the Wal-Mart of online retailers, but Google's retail search engine will keep'em from running the other e-stores out of Cyberspace.

I saw this one coming for a while. In the 21st Century, who has the knowledge isn't as important as who knows where it is. This puts Google in a very scary position of power. They're doing okay so far (not great, but okay)... but they should be watched like a hawk. Indeed, I am doing so.

shrapnel

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

Nobody ever said war was pretty. I won't use this to make a case for or against our continued presence there, though.

I find that I am impressed by the insurgents' ingenuity. Yes, it's horrible. Yes, it's inhumane, not that war is a particularly humane business. It's also a sign that the insurgents aren't stupid. I hope that our military are taking that to heart.

Re: shrapnel

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

http://www.ericblumrich.com/year.html

go here. yes its a case to get rid of bush but you can draw your own conclusions from this.please take a peek before shouting at me for acting brash and taking a side and the like. this link is not to peddle my view but only to inform.

Re: shrapnel

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

er.... I hope I wasn't implying that I felt one shouldn't take a side in this. I just meant that I wasn't taking a side in that comment.

Re: shrapnel

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

Yea I know whatcha meant. I was just trying to reamin semi-neutral in my coment as you where. (I bet I did a bad job of that too hehe)

Asperger's

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

There's a problem with this increasing public awareness of the syndrome. It's not going hand-in-hand with awareness of the therapies that are available. Yup, I said therapies! The parents of young Aspergers patients often get them into groups where they can learn to interact with the rest of us. Unfortunately, if a diagnosis isn't made until the patient is in his or her 20s or even later, it's usually too late, at least at present.

As you know, the LJ community has a number of real doozies in its midst who have diagnosed themselves as having Aspergers, and rather than making an attempt to learn to filter the world as the rest of us do, they simply ask us to cut them many reams of slack. They can be as nasty as they like, and then retreat behind the syndrome. Yipe. Not good!

Re: Asperger's

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'm an aspy. I've never been diagnosed with it, and all of the online "personality quizzes" don't mean diddly compared a real physician going through the necessary procedures to make a DSM-3 quality diagnosis. I interact with people well enough, although Omaha might disagree on some respects.

That said, if you're going to interact with the larger world, no matter whom you are you have a responsibility to meet that world on its terms, not your own. Doing the same thing over and over hoping to get a different response is stupidity defined.

DSM

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

The Diagnostic manuals are way past 3 now. When I worked in the Psych Department, we were using 4, and DSM-IV-TR (Text Revision) has been released. Especially compared to three fine examples I can think of from my own experience, Elf, you don't fit the criteria. Admittedly, I had only enough training to use the Diagnostic Interview Schedule in its paper and computerized formats, and they didn't cover Asperger's, but I learned enough to read a list of symptoms!

Re: Asperger's

[(Anonymous)]

I have to say, that given your writing, you don't seem to have any problem whatsoever understanding interpersonal interactions.

It seems to me that a person with Asperger's, who naturally has a problem predicting how people will react, would have difficulty creating realistic characters.

Hence, you're almost certainly not an aspy.

-Malthus

P.S. I recently came across a Fred Perry sketch of a wet Thropan. V.hot. Not sure if it was publicly released or not. I could email it to you?

Re: Asperger's

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno about that. I know one or two well-defined aspy's who get it when they read about it sufficiently that they can write about it, but when it comes to doing the actual social interaction themselves, they don't grok.

Re: Asperger's

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I am. I know I have NEVER understood social interaction. I've eventually learned to stumble through, but, yeah, awkward silences, never being able to tell what the other person's thinking or read body language ...

I've always attributed it to having suck a fucked-up childhood. When all the other kids were learning social skills, I was learning never to show weakness or sit with my back to a door. When you're a little kid covered in burn scars, you learn to build defensive walls so strong not even you can get through them.

[yarnaddict.livejournal.com]

My stepson is an Aspy, as well as having ADD and non-verbal learning disorder - the kid just doesn't interact well at all. Luckily, he was diagnosed early (age 7 or 8). Sadly, while he's being treated pharmacologically, the Ontario health system doesn't easily supply behavioural treatment - psychiatry is provided, by psychology is not, unless you meet certain stringent critera. Even then, you get to wait, sometimes years (their initial estimate was a 3-4 year wait for him) to actually receive the treatment.

We do all we can, as we work with him, to help him learn to interact with his peers, with his teachers, with people in line at the grocery store... he's 10, but in many ways our 5 year old daughter has a better social skills set. Every bit of information we can find is a gemstone. Thanks for pointing out this article.

[shunra.livejournal.com]

A little-known tip: get him involved in a really good drama course, and work with the teacher.

What aspies learn in preparation for stage and acting is how to connect words with feelings, what people do to transmit nonverbal messages (think of the theater - gestures are writ large), and how to have more input into how one comes across.

It's done wonders for my (diagnosed) aspie. That he loves it is an extra bonus.

Another tip, about the fine motor skills: sleight of hand is sufficiently interesting to catch an apsie's attention. The hyperfocus may make it rather difficult to deal with (how many times can a person see one single card trick? thousands of times...) - but it does great things for both the fine motor stuff and the concept of making other people see things in a particular way intorduces the concept of shared consciousness and other consciousness in an effective way. Not a miracle cure, but it helped a LOT.

[yarnaddict.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the suggestions! We're going to look into getting him involved in a drama program.