Monday Medley II

Some of the best recent autism related finds, a solution, a new problem, some photographs, and an omission rectified.

INTRODUCTION

I have various things that I want to share, and some new photographs, but I start with…

RECTIFYING AN OMISSION

In my earlier post “England Win ODI Series 4-1” I made a brief mention of India’s triumph in Johannesburg. In doing so, and crediting their bowlers for closing it out so effectively, I failed to mention one of the key performers, Jasprit Bumrah. My apologies to those who expected to see him mentioned in that context (as he certainly should have been) and of course to the man himself.

SOME AUTISM RELATED SHARES

Regular readers will be aware that when writing about autism I put the text in #RedInstead. Also, I have made a decision that every time I am going to be sharing new stuff to do with autism I will open the section by reminding people of stimtheline’s Autistic Bill of Rights:

Some of you may recall a post I put up titled “Autism Acceptance Months“, inspired by Jennifer Lisi. Well I have recently received a couple of outstanding comments on that post that I wish to share with you:

From Anna, who just for the record is allistic (portmanteau word for people who are not autistic – not all allistics are neurotypical, though all neurotypicals are allistic), and I ask people reading the comment, which I quote in full, to bear in mind that she is Swedish, writing a comment in English:
“I wait for the lapwings turning up here, but they usually doesn’t show up until Spring. I think you are right about the acceptance and I will add respect too. I haven’t met one autistic or aspie that are no less human than any one else. All humans are equally different 🙂“
And from Rebby, who is autistic, and a newcomer to aspi.blog (very warmly welcomed):
“…Also I agree. I like to ask for acceptance rather than awareness. Awareness is something Autism $peaks kicked up to make the public “aware” of how “monstrous” we are. In truth we are people like everyone else and we deserve to be treated with respect.“

Following on from those comments, and on a similar theme here is a post from Autism Mom, originally from April 2016 which she recently shared on twitter, titled “AUTISM RESPECT – THE BEAUTIFUL OTHERNESS OF THE AUTISTIC MIND“

As many of you already know I was diagnosed as autistic at the relatively advanced age of 31. Thus I recognize a lot of myauthenticmind’s post “(Old post) Growing Up With Undiagnosed Autism.” It is a beautifully written edit of an old post from her other blog and merits close attention.

Another excellent blog is “to aspie or not to aspie“, and I particular recommend a recent offering titled “The Flavour of Autism“.

My last links are to an important petition which I signed a while back and have previously shared, and an accompanying article, both of which were brought back on to my radar by Eve Reiland of International Badass Activists:

The petition, on change.org, is a call to make “autistic cures” illegal in the UK. This is because….
…As the accompanying article makes clear such “cures” include the enforced drinking of bleach.

Also of course, autism does not need to be cured, autistics need to be treated with consideration and respect. I have stated here before, and reiterate it now, that even if 100% guaranteed cure fior autism became available I would not take it – there is no such being as ‘allistic me’.

To end this section with a little snippet of more local news: The National Garden Scheme’s Norfolk Launch for 2018 is taking place at Houghton Hall a week on Wednesday, and since we have an allotment/ sensory garden NAS West Norfolk have been invited to be present. I will be their representative (sadly no one else can make it, but as I have said on other occasions if we are to have only one representative it is least bad that that representative should be me so that there is a genuine autistic presence).

PUZZLES AND SOLUTIONS

Here is the answer to last week’s problem:

Now, again from brilliant, here is another problem:

PHOTOGRAPHS

The English Civil War Novels of Stephen Deas

A joint review of The Royalist and The Protector, both by S J Deas. Please note that I never review or make direct comments about books that I have not actually read.

INTRODUCTION

This is a specialist post about a new literary find for me, courtesy as so often of Norfolk Libraries. There are two novels so far, and I certainly hope there will be more:

FINDING THE BOOKS

I actually came across these books in reverse order, finding and reading The Protector first and then having made a mental note of this author as one to follow up on borrowing The Royalist a few days later. There is a developing trend among authors of historical fiction set in the 16th and 17th centuries using their initials on the front cover rather than a full name (I believe C J Sansom was the first, while S J Parris and S G Maclean are other examples).

THE BACK STORY

These stories are set right at the heart of the English Civil War period, in the 1640s. It is already fairly clear even by the time of the first novel which way the war is going, the question being when the Parlimentarians will win (though the war in question still has over two years to run by the end of the second book, the final outcome is obvious, it is merely Charles I’s stubbornness and arrogance that will prolong the agony).

William Falkland, the character at the heart of both books, is a former Royalist solider who owes his life to Cromwell and therefore cannot refuse when that worthy seeks his assistance. He is also, when not performing dangerous errands at Cromwell’s demand, searching for his wife and family who have disappeared.

THE PROTECTOR

The poet John Milton, a man of great importance to the Parliamentarians, is angry because his sister has been abducted and he wants her returned and her abductors caught and punished. Falkland is tasked with bringing this about. The general view of the others involved in the case is that the abductors must be royalists (Milton, portrayed as bad-tempered and arrogant, is particularly determined on this point), but Falkland does not allow himself to be so blinkered, and his investigations ultimately bring home the crime, as part of a much greater crime that is being planned, to a group of extreme anti-royalists.

THE ROYALIST

In this, the first book in the series, Falkland has the task of unravelling a series of deaths by (non-judicial) hanging in Thomas Fairfax’s New Model Army. There are powerful people who do not want him getting to the truth, and at times his life is in considerable danger, but eventually he is able to provide an explanation as to what has been going on, and at the end of the book he is free to resume his search for his wife and children.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I very much enjoyed both of these books, and look forward to reading more about William Falkland’s adventures. If you see a book with the name of S J Deas on the cover pick it up – it will be worth reading.

England Win ODI Series 4-1

An account of England’s final triumph in the ODI series.

INTRODUCTION

At just after 11AM UK time England sealed victory in the final ODI in Perth and with it a 4-1 series win. This post looks back at the match and the series.

DEFENDING MODEST TOTALS

Australia had gained a consolation win in the fourth match of the series in Adelaide (though they nearly contrived to lose a match that they had commenced by reducing England to 8-5). Thus, dead-rubber though it was this match had a bit of extra significance as another win for the Aussies would give them the undeserved respectability of a 3-2 scoreline. Also, it marked an international debut for the new ground in Perth, which replaces the WACA.

Put in to bat once again, England had a number of useful contributions with no one going on to play a really major innings, which was reflected in a final tally 259. Australia fared well in response for a time, but England bowled well, and after Stoinis (87) was dismissed nobody was able to take command for Australia. At 203-8 with Paine and the tail to score the runs it looked like England were home. Australia fought hard, but a four and then a six late in his innings not withstanding Paine simply could not score quick enough, and when Curran rattled his stumps with a yorker Australia were still 12 runs adrift. Curran, elder son of former Zimbabwe international Kevin Curran (the younger, Sam, is also widely tipped to play for England in the not too distant future), had bowled splendidly and this final wicket gave him figures of 5-35, beating the 5-46 taken by Andrew Tye in the England innings.

I was also glad that the final wicket to fall was that of Paine rather than Hazlewood because Paine’s innings here was the second time in three matches (after his 31 not out off 35 in Sydney) that he had played what appears to have been a useful innings but because of the slow rate at which he scored it was actually better for his batting average than it was for his team’s chances.

THE SERIES AS A WHOLE

England were even more dominant in this series than the 4-1 scoreline suggests. The evidence of Perth is that Australia’s wobble at Adelaide when chasing a total that was simply too low to pose a real threat was no coincidence, and that a tally of 250 in that match would have been ample for England to win. England won both the games in which they chased at the proverbial canter and were never seriously threatened when defending 300 in Sydney (OK, it was not until a mere three deliveries remained that Australia were so far adrift as to need no-balls from England to give them a chance, but the result of that match, in spite of Stoinis’ efforts in the later stages, was obvious from a long way out). The final match was certainly close, and there were times when Australia seemed favourites, but in the closing stages it never really felt like getting away from England.

A SIDELIGHT – INDIA IN SOUTH AFRICA

I congratulate the current Indian Test Match team on pulling off their victory in Johannesburg. The pitch and conditions were exactly the sort in which Indian sides of the past would have crumbled to an ignominious defeat (it was a green ‘un and the ball was getting up to all sorts of mischief for the quicker bowlers – if messrs Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins got a go on a pitch like that New Zealand’s 26 all out in 1954 would be under threat as the all-time lowest ever test match team total!). Commiserations to Dean Elgar who ground his way to an undefeated 86 in the final innings while his team mates surrendered to Bhuvanesh Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma. The final calamity reads like something from 1990s England at their worst – SA subsiding from 124-1 to 177 all out.

PHOTOGRAPHS

As always, I finish with some of my photographs:

Sunset from the flat — The first four pictures were taken on Saturday evening.

HCE — This one was taken on Sunday morning

LumI — These last two were taken on Sunday evening.

En vision blir verklighet – vi flyttar in!

A very interesting post from lagnobo, brought to my attention by Anna. The original post is in Swedish, so here is an English translation courtesy of Google:

A vision becomes reality – we move in!
7 JANUARY 2018LAGNOBO
In autumn 2010, Sörmlands Nyheter had an article with a picture about a house to be built in Nyköping. Very big, not so beautiful but with large conservatory. It sat on the fridge at Lagnö Gård and raised thoughts about a house, but smaller, more beautiful and in the countryside. In December 2010, on a journey to Gothenburg, a vision was formed which later became the basis for a leader application and a preliminary study.

A report on the preliminary study with the whole vision and the work to the association was formed (pdf). ✎ EditSign

Excerpt from Vision:
We thought:
“We like to have close to the neighbor to go in and have a cup of coffee, have a party in the evening or on a walk.” _ _
“We want to grow old with company because we feel better. We think of many dinners with company without having to go somewhere.
We think it will be cheaper to have some things together. Perhaps guest room, dining room, cafe,
car pool or electric car, conservatory, storage room, library, spa.
We think that this accommodation creates jobs for others, like gardeners, housekeepers,
cooking driver, foot care, massage, wellness etc. By coordinating our needs we can get
economic opportunity to utilize these services. “
“We think that if we want our children to be able to live on our soil, we need to develop housing that is scared of the environment, both in the construction process and in the accommodation.
We think of a house with maybe 10-12 apartments, two-three rooms and a kitchen, large garden, please both
inside and out, adapted for building in the countryside.
We think of a house that we own and manage, for example, cooperatively or otherwise in common.
We are thinking of a house for residents, not to make money. “

We who lived at Lagnö Gård invited everyone interested in exploring the possibilities. The architect who helped us when we got started urged us to write a wish list, without limits, before we started. Here is the one we liked wild wish list:

“Our very own wildly wish list!
All this we would wish for in our common, comfortable and sustainable home!
Here is the place for dreams and fantasies! Everything is possible!” _ _
“Winter garden, Spanish bar, party room, dining room, kitchen, kitchen kettle with stove, hot air oven and
sorting space!
Living room, guest room, laundry room with drying room and lack, carpentry, sewer and ironing room, storage room for
the apartments, common storage inside and out, food storage and pantry both for common and
private.
Caretaker / personal butler, sauna, broadband, thrift room, compost, garden land or colony lilac,
pets, reclining room, wellness area, pool, fireplace.
Patio, room with library and computer, film screen and projector, glass door to the greenhouse section,
solar collectors and water tanks, solar cells, car pool with shared car, echo at the pier, electric bicycle,
parking, bicycle storage, electric car with garage to, earth source.
Berry bushes, fruit trees, boulebana, storage room, playroom, tv, indoor and outdoor seating, barbecue area,
music system, bulletin board, speed dial phone …… ..
and in the apartments we wish
bathroom, kitchen / kitchenette, walk-in closet, pantry, open plan living, fireplace, balcony / patio, bay windows. “

Moving in!
After 7 years and an incredible amount of people’s commitment and non-profit work, the first tenants now move! And when we read the vision and wish list that then felt so unattainable, that’s incredibly probably the most. Surely there is a bit left, but we see that everything is possible!

Sure it’s amazing!

Lagnö Bo kooperativ hyresrättsförening

Hösten 2010 hade Sörmlands Nyheter en artikel med bild om ett hus som skulle byggas i Nyköping. Väldigt stort, inte så vackert men med stor vinterträdgård. Den satt uppe på kylskåpet på Lagnö Gård och väckte tankar om ett hus, men mindre, vackrare och på landet. I december 2010 på bilresa till Göteborg formulerades en vision som senare blev grunden för en leader-ansökan och en förstudie.

Rapport om förstudien med hela visionen och arbetet fram till föreningen bildades (pdf).

Utdrag ur Vision:
Vi tänkte oss:
“att vi gärna har nära till grannen för att gå in och ta en kopp kaffe, få sällskap på kvällen eller på en promenad.” _ _
“Vi vill bli gamla med sällskap för att vi mår bättre så. Vi tänker oss många middagar med sällskap utan att behöva åka iväg någonstans.
Vi tänker oss att det blir billigare att ha en del saker tillsammans. Kanske gästrum, matsal…

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Bird Pictures and Other Stuff

Sharing some of the best recent finds from the internet, and also some of my own photographs.

INTRODUCTION

I have some bird pictures to show you from earlier today, and also a lot of fabulous pieces I want to share with you. I will start with the sharing and finish with the pictures.

NET NUGGETS

I start with a gem from whyevolutionistrue, titled “An open letter to Charlotte Allen, an ignorant, evolution-dissing writer“, which takes the person it is addressed to to task for a poorly written, ill-informed (indeed virtually uninformed) article.

All the rest of the pieces I am sharing with you have to do with…

AUTISM

I start with a piece from a blog which is new to me, anotherspectrum, and a piece title “I am atheism“. The piece tackles a particularly vile commercial put out by anti-autistic hate group masquerading as autism charity Autism Speaks, the title of which was “I am Autism”.

Another new find is Discovering My Authentic Self, and I point you to “Autism Resources“, which is precisely what you might expect from the title.

My third autism related share comes with a challenge attached. It is Autism Mom’s piece “THE CONFUSION OVER THE LITTLE WHEELCHAIR” which tackles a problem that the recognised symbol for disability reinforces – the assumption that disability always means physcial disability. The challenge is this: can you come up with a replacement symbol for disability that acknowledges the full range of disabilities? If you create a post about your idea, linking back to this post, and I am impressed by it, I will reblog you.

I end this section with a reference to The Autistic Bill of Rights. The success of the original post on this theme from stimtheline has resulted in a shareable image from the same source (I printed one out at the library today), reproduced below:

Please follow my example in sharing this as widely as you can!

INFOGRAPHICS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

For the first time in its 154 year history Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack has a woman on it’s front cover. Anya Shrubsole who bowled England to victory in the 2017 World Cup is the woman thus honoured:

Identifor produced this gem earlier today

Finally we come to my photographs…

Autistic Bill of Rights Shareable Image

Following on from yesterday’s splendid introduction to the Autistic Bill of Rights, stimtheline has now produced this splendid shareable image…

Stim the Line

The Autistic Bill of Rights post that I made earlier has gone over so well, that I thought making an image of it would be a good idea.

These ten “amendments” cover what I see as the most important issues facing our community right now, although these all come from my experiences, which I recognize are not universal. I’d love to get more voices involved, and to put together a community approved Bill of Rights, so if that’s something you’re interested in. or would like to share with a wider audience, please contact me!

Autistic Bill of Rights.pub

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Monday Medley

Links to some of the best pieces from today, includign several about autism, a solution, a problem and some photographs.

INTRODUCTION

This post is divided into three main sections – a sharing section, because there has been some truly outstanding stuff come to my attention today, a problems and solutions section and some photographs.

THOMAS’ PICKS

To clear the deck for the rest of my shares, which are all around the same theme I start with this little gem from Atheist Republic titled “5 Major Reasons Why Creationists are Dead Wrong“

For the rest of this section we will be using shades of #RedInstead because all these pieces relate to…

AUTISM

I start this section with an old post from Autism Mom titled “10 WAYS YOU CAN DEMONSTRATE AUTISM ACCEPTANCE“

I have already reblogged stimtheline’s magnificent Autistic Bill of Rights, but I take the opportunity to point you all in that direction once again, complete with a jpg of the suggested Bill of Rights…

My remaining shares in this section are all from a new find…

TO ASPIE OR NOT TO ASPIE

Not many people have produced three full-length posts in the space of a day that I am eager to share, but this blogger has managed it with the following:

Think Different, on of the best pieces I have ever seen on the theme of embracing one’s diversity, in this case neurodiversity.
The Nuances of Discrimination, which deals with protecting autistic people from discrimination, and is an absolute must-read.
Is Autism a Disability? A wonderful post which tackles head on some of the ways in which the conversation about autism is currently cooked against us from the start. I quote the closing lines of the post as an appetiser:

It’s a label that holds me down and pushes me into a box I can’t escape from.
Give me some new words to define me.
Or better yet, let me define myself.

A SOLUTION AND A PROBLEM

First, a solution to the problem I posed on Saturday in “Failing to Convert“:

Here is Hamz George’s explanation of why this is so:

Hamz Jeorge
Jan 6, 2018

Relevant wiki: Truth-Tellers and Liars

Since every statement is false, let us convert them into true statements, and number each statement:

Ann: 1) One of us took the painting. 2) The painting was gone when I left.

Bob: 3) I arrived first, third, or fourth. 4) The painting was still here.

Chuck: 5) I arrived first, second, or fourth. 6) The painting was gone when I arrived.

Tom: 7) Whoever stole the painting arrived after me. 8) The painting was still here.

According to statement #7, Tom is not the thief. #8: Since the painting was there when Tom arrived, he could not have been the last to arrive. Tom must have gone there first, second, or third. #6: The painting was gone when Chuck was there, so he didn’t arrive first. #5: So Chuck got there second or fourth. #4 and #8: As two other members (Bob and Tom) arrived to see the painting, Chuck didn’t get there second, either. So Chuck arrived fourth. #3: This means Bob arrived first or third. #2: Since the painting was gone when Ann left, she didn’t arrive first. Otherwise, no member after her would have seen the painting. So Ann went there second or third and Chuck arrived fourth. But since two other members (Bob and Tom) saw the painting when they arrived, Ann didn’t go there second, either. So Ann arrived third. #3: Therefore, Bob arrived first, and Tom arrived second.

In summary, Bob arrived first. Tom got there next and the painting was still there, so Bob was not the thief, and neither was Tom. When Ann arrived, the painting was still there, but it was gone when she left. So Ann was the one who stole the painting. Chuck arrived last and discovered that the painting was gone.

Yes, Charlotte, you were right.

A NEW PROBLEM FOR YOU TO TACKLE

Another one from brilliant…

PHOTOGRAPHS

Although not as dramatic as a few weeks back, The Walks, King’s Lynn’s best known park, is still somewhat lacustrine, which has led to it receiving a most unusual visitor – an Oystercatcher, a wading bird which would normally visit a park and for which King’s Lynn would be the extreme South of its possible living area…

gull and oysercatcher — The oystercatcher in shot with a gull.

Oystercatcher — A close-up of the oystercatcher

Oystercatcher - vignetted — a second close-up of the oystercatcher

Oystercatcher BB — What my bird book has to say about the oystercatcher

Oystercatcher range — The Oystrecatcher’s range

As you will see there were a few other fine birds on show today…

Library display — Close examination of this display of local publicity materials just inside King’s Lynn Library, will make my contribution to it obvious – it has looked like that for some time.

Autistic Bill of Rights

What an excellent idea – this deserves to be shared widely…

Stim the Line

If you’ve been through the American school system, you probably remember learning about the Bill of Rights. If you’re not from the US, or you slept through a decade of history classes, what we call the Bill of rights is just the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. With the exception of the 10^th Amendment, 1-9 cover the guaranteed rights of an individual person.

Now, we all know that when the writers pictured a “person”, they thought of a Christian, white, male who owed property, so clearly, the Bill is not as comprehensive as you’d think.

Some groups have used the official Bill as a template, writing things like The Patients Bill of Rights, and The Students Bill of rights, and I think that it’s about time that we made one for ourselves.

Note: Some of these cannot apply to young children, but they should take effect as soon…

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Musical Keys and a Meme

An account of my Musical Keys session on Saturday and a meme that I created.

INTRODUCTION

Saturday was a Musical Keys day in King’s Lynn. This post shows you what I did during that session.

RETURN TO REAPER

Those who read my post about the session on January 6th will recall that in that session I was on a keyboard, which when you add Christmas in to the equation meant six weeks since I had used Reaper, so I was particularly pleased to get back to using Reaper. Once I had re-acquainted myself with what I had already done I moved on and created another major piece. I will met some photographs of my Reaper screens tell the rest of the tale:

Reaper 1 — The first five pictures are from the first half of the session.

Big piece 1 — These last five shots deal with my new big piece.

THE MEME

A number of recent posts on this site have been about or have touched on the themed of “autism acceptance months” (here, here and here). During the weekend I created an #autismacceptancemonths meme for sharing on social media which has had some success, and for the benefit of those of my readers not on social media I reproduce it below:

England Seal ODI Series Victory

An account of the third ODI between Australia and England, and some of my own photographs.

INTRODUCTION

Just after 11AM yesterday UK time England completed a victory over Australia in the third One Day International that also secured them the series victory with two matches remaining. This post tells the story of that victory

THE MATCH

Steve Smith won the toss for Australia and sent England in to bat, which given that England had won the first two matches batting second was a sensible decision. Moeen Ali’s dismissal to the first ball of the 39th over left England at 181-6, at which point Australia looked favourites, and Smith’s decision to send England in looked to be thoroughly vindicated. Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes then batted so well in the last 11.5 overs, the former reaching his 5th ODI hundred along the way, that England finished their 50 overs with 302-6.

Australia in response were then ahead on comparison for much of the way. In the closing stages Stoinis and Paine batted well up to a point but they were dropping further and further behind the rate. When Stoinis holed out at the death Australia needed 19 off three deliveries which meant that Woakes only had to avoid overstepping or slinging the thing wide – and he very comfortably achieved this, England’s final margin being 16 runs. Stoinis played a quality knock, but Tim Paine’s 31 not out off 35 balls was as clear an example of a match-losing innings as I can recall (though skipper Smith’s 45 off 66, which first put Australia behind the rate merits a dishonourable mention in this category).

A CONTROVERSIAL DISMISSAL

Smith was given out caught by Buttler. The onfield umpires referred with a ‘soft decision’ of out, meaning that to give Smith not out the TV Replay Umpire needed to find incontrovertible evidence that it was not out. The mere fact that even with replays to help them people were not in agreement as to whether it was out or not says that the evidence was not incontrovertible, so the TV Replay Umpire was right to stick with the decision of out. Also, because of camera foreshortening TV replays are notoriously unreliable when it comes to assessing whether catches have carried (and I write this as a fan of technology overall). Finally, the way Smith was batting his dismissal benefitted Australia at least as much as it did England.

A TALE OF TWO 49th OVERS

England went into the 49th over of their innings on 264-6. Pat Cummins not only got smacked around (always likely at that stage of an innings), he also unforgivably bowled a wide, and then with the seventh delivery, which had been necessitated by the earlier misdemeanour, a no-ball. The eight delivery, necessitated by the no-ball, and a free hit for that reason, was walloped for four. The meant that the over cost 25 in total, and Cummins’ indiscipline accounted for eight of those 25 (1 for the original wide, 2 for the no-ball, one taken off the no-ball and the last four).

Australia went into their 49th over at 273-6, needing 30 to win. Mark Wood was disciplined enough to limit his over to the regulation six deliveries, and he managed one dot ball, conceded four singles and only one four – eight off the over – a good fairy offering that outcome at the start of the over would have found herself one-handed! The difference between Cummins’ over and Wood’s was 17 runs (25 minus 8), and England’s winning margin was 16.

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