Tag Archives: ASD

Greek Feast Friday

This Weekly Wrap-up is on the small side. It has been a very busy week. I tried to get ALL THE THINGS! done, and I did reasonably well. I even managed to stay (moderately) sane. The boy and I hung out with friends, went on hikes, snuggled a lot, and enjoyed our last week home together. It will be odd to only spend full days with him on the weekend, but I’m sure we will both get used to it.

This weekend will also be busy: ’cause I’m buying a car. Crazy! The last time I owned a car was ten years ago. It will take some time for me to be fully comfortable being a driver again. I have to thank my wonderful mother for coming down and helping out, and everyone else who has put up with me for the past week. Super kudos to my long suffering husband, Mr. Portmandia.

Tonight, I have another meeting with a co-Copywriter Conclave member, and we have lots of good stuff to talk about. I have been working on getting our August event for Peter Bowerman up and running. In addition to an Intel employee, I am also the Treasurer for the Conclave. Life is certainly keeping me busy.

Because everything has been so frantic lately, I decided to treat myself and have friends over for a tasty dinner tonight. There will be Greek delights: tabouli, olives, pita, hummus, dolmas, and my Sweet Summer Salad. My lovely friends will be bringing beer and dessert! Just the thing to get the weekend started.

On to the links!

An interesting paper about empathy and cradling bias in Autistic children.
Dwarf foxes have been brought back from the brink of extinction, and are doing really well. Plus, they are very cute. Look at that little guy sleeping in the sun. I have envy.
Here is a really neat map from Growing Blue, showing the world’s water stress levels (water shortage). It is definitely worth a look.
A great post from Scientific American about the rise of energy efficiency firms, and how they are schooling traditional utilities.
And, lastly, for the ten-year-old in all of us, an article about poop transplants. It may be gross, but the process can be amazingly helpful for people with ongoing stomach issues.

I’ll be back on Monday with some writing or grammar advice, and an update on the new job.

As always, thanks for reading, please share.

Human Health

Most of the cool things I found this week were human related. My lovely mother is a nurse, and I grew up talking about health and wellness at the dinner table. Needless to say, I have a strong stomach when it comes to gross dinner conversation. I have a healthy (har har) appreciation for medical news. I love new innovation in medicine. I was excited to see so many good articles in the news this week. Here are a few of the best ones.

I give you some great links to check out:

A interesting post from Double X Science explaining all those statistics in regards to the giant increase in Autism diagnosis. Basically it’s not as bad as it sounds.
From the New York Times Science section, the story of an amazing, groundbreaking surgery for a two year old girl born without a windpipe. Doctors used the girl’s stem cells and plastic fibers to create the new windpipe. This is the sixth surgery of its kind, and the first preformed in the United States.
Cannibalism in the United States! Cosmic Log reports on Jamestown’s lean years, and anthropological evidence that early colonists resorted to cannibalism. Creepy, and fascinating.
In food related news, Discover gives good reason why companies should label their GMO products. An interesting, objective read. I highly recommend it.

Your photo for the week, Eocypselus rowei, possibly the common ancestor for swifts, and hummingbirds. Found in Wyoming, the fossil is around 52 million years old. As you can see, the specimen is incredibly well preserved, so well that microscopic features were visible. This is very cool.

As always, thanks for reading! Please share.

Weekly Wrap-up

As most of you know by now, it has been a hard week for the United States. We have, so far, been safe here in Portland, but my heart goes out to those in Boston, and West, Texas. On the international front, my heart goes out to any citizen hurt by terror campaigns, industrial accidents, and life in general. I am hoping that the world can have a better week as we come to the end(ish) of April.

To retaliate against the scary things going on in the world, I have collected a few fun links, and a great link about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It made so much sense to me when I read it, both in terms of my way of processing the world, and my son’s. I hope it can help some other people too.

On to the links!

From The Daily Beast, A Radical New Autism. This really is a great read.
In the start of the body news, a new vaccine patch could really help distribute life saving vaccines to countries with limited access.
From Pink News UK, (I love them) a 5,000 year old transgendered skeleton (buried as a female, but the skeleton showed male markers) was discovered. The woman was buried facing east, and surrounded with ceremonial jugs.
For the guys, Circumcision Alters Penis Bacteria. The picture that goes with this article is priceless. Thus ends the body news for the week.
And Oregon, you are awesome. Oregon names a State Microbe, one that is essential for making beer, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, otherwise known as yeast.

Your photo of the week comes from the amazing Elena Kalis‘ photography site. She takes underwater photos that will blow your mind. Check her out.

As always, thanks for reading, please share.