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JPG: People: Fabrizio Ricci

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:19:40 -0700

Look at the light...

Backwaters

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Pictured: Incredible watercolour paintings by boy aged just SIX | Mail Online

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:40:03 -0700

Watercolorist -- age 6!

Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For Pain Relief: Scientific American

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:21:34 -0700

I knew there must be a good reason for it -- now there is bleeping proof!

fly your way home by `AutumnsGoddess on deviantART

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:14:25 -0700

Hummingbirds have a special meaning in my family.

Months to Live - With Faith and Friends, Convent Offers Model for End of Life - Series - NYTimes.com

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:00:50 -0700

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Months to Live
Sisters Face Death With Dignity and Reverence

James Estrin/The New York Times
On average, one sister dies each month in the Mother House, not in the hospital,
because few choose aggressive medical intervention at the end-of-life.

From the page: Dr. McCann said that the sisters’ religious faith insulated them from existential suffering — the “Why me?” refrain commonly heard among those without a belief in an afterlife. Absent that anxiety and fear, Dr. McCann said, there is less pain, less depression, and thus the sisters require only one-third the amount of narcotics he uses to manage end-of-life symptoms among hospitalized patients.

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Modern Love - Dealing With Asperger�s Syndrome, With the Help of His Wife - NYTimes.com

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:47:49 -0700

Aspergers -- a mysterious disorder that is more common than you would think....

Somewhere Inside, a Path to Empathy
by David Finch

IT wasn’t working, any of it. Our third year of marriage threatened to be our last. I’d become cynical and withdrawn, obsessive and preoccupied, dismissive and unhelpful.

“I don’t know when things got bad,” Kristen said, wiping away tears. “I feel like I’ve lost you and I don’t know what will bring you back.”

In reality she hadn’t lost me. She’d found me. The facade of semi-normalcy I’d struggled to maintain was falling away, revealing the person I’d been since childhood. I didn’t even know what was wrong with me, though my wife, a speech pathologist who works with autistic children, had her suspicions. Even so, it would be another two years before she would put all the pieces together and attach a name to what was ruining our marriage: Asperger’s syndrome.

During Kristen’s first few years of practice, she worked only with severely autistic children. But as she expanded her clientele to include higher-functioning kids, she started learning more about Asperger’s syndrome, a comparatively mild autism spectrum disorder characterized by egocentricity and impairments in communication and socialization. That’s when she started seeing parallels to my behaviors.

One evening after we put the kids to bed, Kristen approached me with a smile, wrapped me in a hug and asked me to come downstairs to her office. First she allowed me to complete my 8:30 p.m. routine, fully aware of how essential it is to my peace of mind: circle the downstairs, note which lights are on, and stare out the front window, visually lining up the neighbors’ rooftops. I finally joined her at her desk, where she sat at the computer, ready to administer an online Asperger’s evaluation.

Looking somehow clinical in her pajamas, Kristen instructed me to answer the questions honestly. No problem, since I’m honest to a fault when I choose to speak to people. For the next two hours, she led me through questions that at times had us both laughing with recognition:

¶Do you often talk about your special interests whether or not others seem interested? Who’s not interested in cleaning-product slogans?

¶Do you rock back and forth or side to side for comfort, to calm yourself, when excited or overstimulated? Where’s the hidden camera?

¶Do you get frustrated if you can’t sit in your favorite seat? Friendships have ended over this.

And on it went.

more on the page...

aliasinkhorns review - StumbleUpon

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:31:20 -0700

And from the American point of view -- this post from aliasinkhorn captures the inspiration and desperation of those who dared to risk all to sign the Declaration of Independence. Thanks, Ink!

From the page:

THE SPEECH OF THE UNKNOWN
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"Such is the message of that Declaration to Man, to the Kings of the world! And shall we falter now? And shall we start back appalled when our feet press the very threshold of Freedom? Do I see quailing faces around me, when our wives have been butchered-when the hearthstones of our land are red with the blood of little children?

"What are these shrinking hearts and faltering voices here, when the very Dead of our battlefields arise, and call upon us to sign that Parchment, or be accursed forever?

"Sign! if the next moment the gibbet's rope is round your neck! Sign! if the next moment this hall rings with the echo of the falling axe! Sign! By all your hopes in life or death, as husbands-as fathers-as men-sign your names to the Parchment or be accursed forever!

"Sign-and not only for yourselves, but for all ages. For that Parchment will be the Text-book of Freedom-the Bible of the Rights of Man forever!

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Ксения Симонова - Реквием из песка

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:26:34 -0700

Even "Russia Has Talent"! Incredible, and moving, story of WWII done in sand art. Thanks, Byte!

New Brain-Wave Toy Lets You Do Jedi Mind Trick - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News - FOXNews.com

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:37:36 -0700

File under "Bonnie's birthday wish list"...

New Brain-Wave Toy Lets You Do 'Jedi Mind Trick'
Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Uncle Milton Industries

Uncle Milton's 'Star Wars'-themed Force Trainer, which lets you levitate a ball using brain waves.

The Force can be with anyone now.

Later this summer, anybody anywhere will have the ability to physically move stuff with their minds like characters do in "Star Wars." No joke.

A new toy that harnesses the same technology doctors use to monitor brain waves will arrive in stores in August. The toy moves when it senses a change in the user's brain-wave patterns.

"It's pretty cutting-edge," says Frank Adler, executive vice president of Uncle Milton Industries, the toy company that manufactures the "Star Wars"-branded Force Trainer. "It certainly appears to be where things are headed."

It will be if the reaction from 5-year-old "Star Wars" fanatic Ryan Mogg is any indication. Mogg tried out the Force Trainer at a recent "Star Wars" toy fair.

In less than a minute, he was controlling the rise and fall of a pingpong ball in a clear tube — with his brain waves.

"It's like what Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul do!" he said afterward with a big grin.

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G�rb�z Do�an Ek�io�lu

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:14:56 -0700

My Rumtumtuggger could do this. Couldn't yours?

Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu