Where the heck have I been

Ok so I haven’t posted here in a while. All I have is excuses. Lack of topics seems to be among the highest. I don’t want to be a one pony show. Beating a dead horse is no fun for me.

So what have I been doing. Mostly listening to podcasts and reading the science news. Nothing much has tickled my fancy to post about. As I said I don’t what to type cast into one topic.

Now that I’m back online I hopre to type about anything that comes to my mind. Apologies for lack of posts and drop me a line if you wish me to talk about anything.

Autism Awareness: A poem

Autism Awareness: A poem by Christie Buchovecky

Part I: Indigo Children

It’s April, and I turn the news on:
There’s an ivory tower in the Amazon.
Those inside have angered the warriors
By concluding their children are not of the stars.
“How dare you?!” the warriors reply.
“My little boy’s perfect in my eyes.”
The tower goes silent. What can it say?
It deals in evidence, not emotion or faith.
So the women disperse, feeling they’d won,
And return home to their daughters and sons.

*****

These children really are different, in fact,
Throwing the families’ lives out of whack.
This one does not speak, another just screams.
When things are changed, they come apart at the seams.
Some don’t like to be touched, others hardly feel pain.
Many can’t stand sounds like a bell, or the rain.
When these troubled parents finally sleep
Dreams of their children’s recovery run deep.
Part II: Awake in a field of lies

The next morning they wake to a man who claims
That those in the tower made their children that way.
And, though he, himself, is ivory-built,
Some parents believe he is free from all guilt.
They rush at the tower again, this time armed,
With the limited study, with which they were charmed
By this man who has made them a part of his game,
For he has much to gain if they bring about change.

Those in the tower took the small study in stride,
But spoke to the fear in these parents’ eyes:
“Although we don’t think there is cause for concern,
We will do our own studies so you may be assured.”
Perform studies, they did, and of a grand scale,
Each refuted the first, but to no avail.
The damage was done; the world had lost trust,
Claiming these findings were clouded by lust
For the money that some thought there was to be gained
By backing the companies that cause children pain.
Talk of conspiracy rang from the tops of the trees:
“It is a conflict of interest to put parents at ease
When companies lobby the state, which provides
Funding to science to feed the public its lies.”

The man was a hero for rousing parents to action.
Then the papers uncovered what had really happened.
Lawyers had funded his research, you see,
In an effort to sue those big companies,
And now the man, of whom everyone spoke,
May be facing having his license revoked.
Yet, somehow, these parent-warriors don’t mind –
Any study is perfect if they like what it finds.

Certitude and Semantics

“Certitude belongs exclusively to those who only own one encyclopedia.”
~Robert Anton Wilson~

I had this argument at work where I pulled this quote out and someone accused me of a logical fallacy. Well I hate to differ but I was right. The underlying premise here is that if you only have one reference then as far as you know the data is absolutely correct. Now as you check more and more references discrepancy and errors creep in to make you doubt the validity of the information.

Actually it was an innocent bystander to the argument that took this quote and wished to argue semantics. They actually pulled out a dictionary and looked up certitude. This proved my point exactly for all I had to do was look at another dictionary to draw their definition into question. Actually I checked 3 and they were all different.

They then tried to contrive an argument on the example of a wikipedia article on someones home address. The assumptions were many and flawed but since it was hypothetical I can shoot it down easier. They assume they got the right person, They assume the person hadn’t moved since the posting and they assumed the person wasn’t lying. These additional points were enough to stop that line of reasoning.

Well I must give my argumentative friend credit because they actually tried to use Occam’s razor to state that we MUST operate under simpler beliefs. To this my argument is that they may have used the razor too liberally to ignore some statistical sample size and over simplified. We only accept a certain amount of information as absolutely valid out of simplicity but we are choosing to ignore the error in this. That doesn’t mean the error doesn’t exist.

I haven’t heard a rebuttal to this yet so maybe the argument is over.

Detecting Autism Early

“The earlier you treat a child for autism, the more of an impact you can have on that child’s future,” Sally Ozonoff

The average age for children to be diagnosed with autism is three. By then language and social delays make the doctors assessment easy but the therapists job is harder. The kids have to break bad habits and re-learn skills that can take an effort. So the earlier we can detect the disorder the better.

Parents of children with autism have long suspected there was a way to know their child was different. Now researchers agree and are developing tests to help these kids. Turns out if you watch closely to how they play there are clues.

Children all play differently but if they have autism they are more likely to spin and rotate items they play with. Seem they also explore objects by looking at them sideways.

These little hints are what parents notice but don’t really give then the credit due. Researchers have found neurotypical children seldom do these things. So it is a major clue to help in detecting autism early.

If you suspect your child has autism try to see if they have these signs then talk to your doctor about it.

Argument From Authority

“Argumentum Ad Verecundiam” Latin for Argument to respect.

I’ve seen this fallacy a bit. This is where a claim is said to be true because a perceived person or group of respect endorses it as true.

Jenny McCarthy says vaccines are bad and since she is a celebrity the statement MUST be true. This couldn’t be more wrong. Many reason have already been stated in my previous blogs so you get the idea.

Here’s another one from 1937 that is still believed today. A Nobel prize winner says Vitamin C slows aging. Well our dear Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi might well have been a very good physiologist but other clinical doctors since have dispelled this myth. Excessive amounts of this vitamin can actually be detrimental.

Pretty much every advertisement you see has this fallacy. “Recommended by 9 our of 10 doctors”. What kind of doctors? Proctologists? Gynecologists? General Practitioners? or just people with the last name of Doctor?

So does this mean you shouldn’t listen to doctors? Not at all. They are very educated people. Just make sure you get the diagnosis from one you trust or get a second opinion. Heck if you can get a team of them to agree then you’re better off. Just make sure they are truly accredited doctors. Not purchased of the net or naturopaths.

Occam’s Razor

“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it’s a duck.”  – Harlan Watson

Simply put this logical concept states that any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible. After you eliminate all assumptions that make no difference to the outcome you have the simplest answer. You’ve probably heard the saying “All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.” This is Occam’s Razor.

If two theories are equal we may be able to eliminate one as being too complex or introducing new phenomenon that are not necessary. Succinctness is what we are looking for here. The razor cuts away the bull or unneeded.

So a light in the sky is better explained as a star, Venus, drunken rednecks, weather balloons, lightening, airplanes, and an infinite number of other things before we get to E.T. See simple.

Now you can do it too.

Autism perception and senses

Again by reader request. Keep the comments coming.

Fair warning that I can only speak of autism and aspergers from the experiences of living with someone effected by this disorder. By no means am I a qualified doctor or researcher in this field. Nor should I be your last resource, but if you have further questions I might be able to help.

First the five sences, Hearing, Sight, Smell, Taste, and Touch. Why don’t I address some of the things I’ve noticed for each of these.

Hearing – I’ve noticed my son has extremely good hearing. Too good it seems. The sound of the wind sometimes overloads him and we have to ‘turn his ear off’. This involves gently cupping his ears to block out all sound until his ears ‘cool off’ as he says. While in the far side of the house he can hear a train a few blocks away my wife can only hear while outside. Crowds are really a hard thing for someone with autism to handle. The noise is generally the thing that gets to them the most.

Sight – I don’t think his vision is any better then average. After all my son wears glasses to read. I do think his perception of objects is unique. Once while touring a university he pointed out a snake. No one else saw it. We wrote it off as his imagination. Then he pointed UP in a window and there was a stuffed snake there. We hadn’t bothered to look there. His eyes dart around so much that he probably sees way more then he comments on or anyone else would see.

Smell – We haven’t really noticed an enhanced sense of smell really. I’m sure some people with autism spectrum disorder have good ability to smell. We just haven’t noticed in our little guy.

Taste – For people with autism this can be a big reason for not liking certain foods. I know certain textures of food are disagreeable with my son. Not sure if that falls under touch or not but since it could be the taste I’ll mention it here.

Touch – This may be another biggie. We have to have cotton shirts washed in certain soap or it’s ‘too scratchy’. Indeed the kid will bloom with a rash if the clothing isn’t handled correctly. We also have tactile stress balls for him to use to help calm him in tense situations. The feel of the stress ball can help him focus on his touch when a crowd is overwhelming his hearing.

So there you have it. A little idea of how someone with autism views the world. Put all these together in one package and its no wonder they sometimes have trouble dealing with all the input. Ifyou were acutely aware of every fold of fabric touching you, All the objects and sounds in the room. Wouldn’t you want a break?

Lost Mars

First my apologies for blogging all over the place in topics. In a way I’m responding to readership. some comments, questions and emails I’ve gotten ask me questions and I’m responding. The topics are determined by my willingness to answer those.

OK so this post I’ll be dealing with the reality of going to Mars and back. Forget money. Forget politics. The real questions are CAN we go and SHOULD we go?

The answer to the question of should we go is easiest. YES! For sure we should go. Why the heck not? Should it be within this generation? maybe not. But that more lay in the realm of CAN we go.

So can we? Well, currently, No. If we put all the money, politics and manpower we needed can we? No. Sorry if that’s bad news. Technologically we just aren’t ready for this challenge. Much as I’d love to see it happen.

THE biggest problem is our sun. The constant bombardment of radiation outside the earth/moon system would subject our travellers to ten times the radiation of a nuclear power plant workers lifetime limit.  Its just not healthy for them. But, there is promise. New materials are being developed and a composite of these materials will help.

The next biggest hurdle is the lack of gravity. Sure we can spin the ship and do some exercise but that may not be enough to keep bones and muscles in healthy working order.

Another stumbling block is the return trip. Even if we get there the road home is way harder then the road there. Basically we’d have to build two ships. One would have to be parked at Mars for the return before the manned ship could even leave our cradle. That first ship would need double the fuel and a supply of food for the return ship. If we sent enough small missions in preparation then we could try to set up a fuel depot on the surface.

Being on the surface of Mars would not shield our astronauts from radiation and in a way it would be worse. The constant dust everywhere clogging up joint and critical life systems is a worry. As well as the occasional wind twirling up the dust to make it more like sandpaper would be a problem even after only a short time on the surface.

Personally I don’t see the psychological effects of months of isolation as a road block but NASA sure does worry about it. I think if we humans have a mission in mind and have training in respecting personal space within a chain of command then these professionals would have no problem. maybe I’m too optimistic on the human condition in this respect.

The track record of accuracy for delivering unmanned probes to the fourth planet isn’t that great. Sure the recent results are awesome. We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the space race. That doesn’t mean we are ready for a manned trip.

Really if we want to do this we need a lot more technology. We need a lot more trips. We need a lot more resources on the planet before we can even think of making the trip. It would be far easier to setup base on the moon.

Autism & Computers

Console games have a place but if you want to lower your childs stress level you may want to turn to a PC. Here you can get more appropriate and much more educational games. Face it, console games are for entertainment.

The computer is a tool not a toy. If your child has any diagnosis in the autism spectrum you will want them to learn to type to communicate. No console has a keyboard they can learn to express themselves with. The earlier they start the better they will be at it. Schools would never use a console as a teaching item.

Many childrens shows have websites and your child will find enjoyment from visiting them with your supervision. My child has Aspergers and loves puzzles. We find many easily printed colouring pages and mazes for off line enjoyment. If the level of frustration gets too high we can switch to something else fairly easy.

Also look for games that offer more open range for them to explore and do small tasks. Not FPS or RPG just they won’t understand them. Things with a fixed story or just idle combat won’t help them or you.

As an aside you should see some of the rollercoasters my kid has designed in Tycoon. Amazing for a 5 year old!

False Dichotomy

Seems I’ve been accused of a fallacy with respect to my view on politics. I must admit that topic is not my forte but the comment I made could be interpreted as a fallacy. I hope to shed some light on another logical fallacy so we can all try to avoid it.

A false dichotomy is when someone tries to reduce an argument of many possibilities down to only two.  This fallacy can also be used to oversimplify a problem of variation to diametrically opposed opposites like black and white.

In my comments I’ve noted there are really only two political parties in the US. The Democrats and the Republican. This gives you only two choices instead of the reality where there are plenty of other parties. In this case they are the two strongest competitors but it is a fallacy to state they are the only choices.

This fallacy is not restricted to just politics so be on the look out. Most famously a false dichotomy is used by creationist in the argument of intelligent design versus Evolution. They say evolution is not possible so life must have been designed. Jumping to that conclusion creates a false dichotomy. There are many other fallacies creationists use as well so there will be more for me to write about.