Aspergers

My sister has a little girl. She's bright, extremely energetic, and finds it very difficult to deal with disappointment. My sister thinks she may have aspergers.

My brother in law is probably somewhere on the spectrum too.

I reckon I probably am, although I've never been diagnosed as such.

When I was a child, I used to go off into a world of my own. My teachers at primary school were concerned about this, and eventually I was sent for an EEG.

That's an electroencephalograph, by the way. Once the doctor or technician or whatever told me what it was called, and how to spell it, I never forgot. I was about 8 years old, and I don't remember much about the test, other than that they flashed a strobe light in front of me, both with my eyes open, and with them closed. It made me feel good and I wished that they kept them flashing for longer. My older sister (half sister actually) suffers with epilepsy, and has done since infancy, and I suspect they were looking for signs of that in me.

What they found was some "minor non specific abnormalities"

I remember that, too.

I didn't do imaginative play well. My next door neighbours had a couple of children, and one was about my own age. He wanted to do pretending games, and I really couln't do it. Nor with my sister either. It made me feel horribly self conscious somehow.

I was into things. First, dinosaurs, later aeroplanes. I suppose a lot of children are, but I don't think most of them paid the same attention to detail that I did.

Later, in my teens, when I started getting into music, I listened to The Beatles with a rapturous joy. Nothing else. Just The Beatles.If it wasn't The Beatles, it should have been.

Abbey Road can really kill a party. Jus' sayin.

I got bullied at school. I had no idea why or what I could do about it. Girls were a bafflement to me. I'd realise a week late that they'd hit on me, by which time it was far too late. Again.

So I reckon I probably am. I suppose I could go and see the NHS and get tested or diagnosed or something, although what I'd do with such a diagnosis, I have no idea. Nothing at all, probably, although it would be nice to stick a label on it all.

Autistic people are a pain in the arse. Sorry, let me say that again in more technical language. Autistic people often exhibit challenging behaviour, because they're unable to use the rules of social interaction effectively.

Yet social skills can be learned. Hip hip hooray. One side effect of my choice of career is that it's forced me out of my shell. I can do it in my professional role. I'm empathic, highly cognisant of my client's emotional state, and able to interact or intervene effectively.

If I meet them in Tesco's though, I haven't got a clue what to say to them.

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Just a thought...

Those massive wind turbines would make bloody brilliant amusement rides.

Put a gondola on a pivot at the end of each blade, charge a tenner to get whirled around for a while.

Knocks the London Eye into a cocked hat, I reckon.

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Follow me, Friends...

... To the fabulous Farnborough farting festival!

Fans of flatulance from as far afield as France, Finland and Florida will find friends and fellowship as they flow into the fray.

Friday's fete will feature four former finalists - local favourite, Fred Fagan from Frimley; Fiona Fullerton, from Fulham, who as always looks fantastic in fake fur and flippers; foreign affictionado, Federico Fabregas from far flung Flanders and finally, "Ferocious" Felix Flint, fresh from the Felixtowe fiesta, with his famous flute.

The forecast is fair but the function suite of the fitness centre has been fitted out with fans in case of frost or flood.

Free admittance if you flourish this flyer!

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TTIP

The debate concerning Free Trade and Tariffs has been going on for a long time.

Robert Tressell's impoverished workmen discussed it in a shallow way. Some supported one because they thought they were Conservatives. Some supported the other because they thought they were Liberals. Tressel's protagonist, Frank Owen, claimed that neither approach tackled the real causes of poverty, and proclaimed that only the public ownership of the means of production could free ordinary people from their penury. This was back in about 1903, but probably far pre-dates that.

The only person I know of to have correctly called this election, and to offer a detailed and rational reason why, is John Michael Greer. Greer points out that Free Trade acts as a wealth pump, syphoning resources from weaker peripheries into a strong, imperial core. He pointed out that the only way for nations at the sucky end of that pump to get out of their predicament is to introduce some form of protectionism - something that makes trade less free. Tariffs basically. Taxing incoming goods to make them less attractive than locally produced ones.He points out too, that those at the bottom of the pile in the wealthy Imperial nation suffer as well.

If you're a worker, in either the subject or the imperial economy, dismantling the wealth pump benefits you. Your job is less likely to be outsourced. If you're better off, and can afford luxuries, such as mobile phones and tablets, you'll have to pay a lot more for them. If Apple, for example, has to pay $10 an hour to it's employees in the US, rather than $1 a day to workers in Singapore, those costs will ultimately be passed on to the consumer.
Please note, this has everything to do with Class, and nothing to do with Race.

So how do people that have spent the last couple of years campaigning against TTIP, and the last few months campaigning against Trump, deal with the news that the first thing he intends to do is to scrap TTIP?

I'm reminded of the old meme about the cat with the buttered toast strapped to it's back. Since it can neither land on it's feet (the toast always lands buttered side down, according to Murphy's Law) or the toast land butter side down (The cat always lands on it's feet according to folk wisdom) the cat levitates, spinning indefinately slightly above the ground)

Or they could resort to the lazy and disingenuous argument that Trump and his supporters are far right ideologies, with no justification for their beliefs.

Which brings me on to the next bit of my post...

The Forgotten Man.

The first time I saw this was on facebook, I think. The poster of the post that included this image decried it as racist. The guy on the bench that should be evoking the sympathies of the viewer is a white, working class everyman. Therefore this is the work of a white supremacist. Stands to reason, doesn't it? Meanwhile, Prez Obama tramples the Constitution underfoot, while applauded by a whole host of (mainly democratic) presidents.

It is undoubtedly propaganda. This artist's other work is resolutely opposed to The Democrats, and unflinchingly supportive of Republicanism.

And a quick read of Howard Zinn would quickly disavow you of any notion that the original creators of the Constitution were anything other than elitists themselves. Lincoln, Jefferson and... Reagan...(Thatcher in Kecks)  as bastions of the Working Class, confronting the elitism of  the smug, entitled blokes on the right of this picture?

Fuck that.

So this image is opinionated shallow bullshit. But it's not racist. The guy on the bench could just as easily be a Woman, or a Chicano, or a Homosexual. Perhaps he is. Both wrists are a bit limp, don't you think? The main point being made about the guy on the bench is not the colour of his skin, but the colour of his collar.

Meanwhile, ordinary folks that think of themselves as Liberals find themselves backed into a corner by slanders about the "Liberal Elite". If you're Liberal, you must be Elitist.

This too is utter fucking bollocks.








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£10.

I signed up to an online betting website, and put a ten pound bet on Jeremy Corbyn for next PM.

Corbyn is the 9-2 favourite, followed by Boris Johnson at 11-2.

Not totally sure how things work. Do the bookies set the odds based on what bets have come in? or on what they theink the likelihood of something happening is? Presumably they have to at least start with an assumption - opening odds, but then if a lot of money goes to one place, they will lower the odds on that particular thing.

I also get 3 free £10 bets as a sweetener. I suppose I might as well use them. So I've been looking around the politics bit.

The bookies reckon that if there's another Scottish independence vote, it will be in favour. 2/5 for yes. 7/4 for no.

They also reckon the Conservatives will be most likely to get an overall majority at the next election. (8/11) with No overall majority second favourite (6/4) and a Labour Majority as a 5/1 outside chance.

Yet Corbyn is favourite for next pm?

hmmmm....


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