Stuff to Share

This post is going to be dominated by things to share (I have a lot of them).

LINKS

WALTHAM FOREST DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTRE

Two important developments concerning this project:

1)Council reconsidering their decision to cut all its funding and

2)A chance for you to help them secure funding.

GENERAL POLITICAL STUFF

I will lead into this section with an excellent infographic courtesy of Vox Political...

Turkey

Naturally,our next link is to a post that features the above picture.

Glynis Millward provides a post that full lives up to its title “Read it and Weep”

Press Gang UK offer an excellent post about Catherine Shuttleworth, ‘undecided voter’

Another UKIP candidate makes the news for the wrong reasons – threatening to put a bullet in one of his rivals on this occasion.

THE NHS

First of all, a link to a very important petition from change.org.

Secondly, an excellent piece from someone with very real chance of unseating Jeremy Hunt tomorrow, Dr Louise Irvine of the NHA.

RAMPING UP THE PRESSURE ON KATIE HOPKINS TO APOLOGISE TO THE AUTISTIC COMMUNITY

Three links here, first of all to the petition that is at the heart of this campaign and then two more to articles that have been published in

1) The Mirror.

2)Metro.

VOLCANOES ON EARTH AND OTHER PLANETS

A couple of related posts here, first Faraday’s Candle on vulcanology and second, from space.com a piece about possible volcanic activity on an exoplanet.

STUFF FROM OFFLINE

KING’S LYNN LIGHT SHOWS

Having been very successful at the Custom House, there are now six different light shows available around King’s Lynn at night, and here in the form of four pictures is the official publicity…

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HANSE FESTIVAL

Coming up on the 16th and 17th of May is the Hanse Festival in King’s Lynn, and I will again let a picture (just the one this time) do most of the talking…

A FEW FINAL WORDS

For my British followers don;t forget that tomorrow is the General Election – your chance to kick out the worst government of my lifetime. In King’s Lynn we also have Borough Council elections to vote in. In the nick of time (last day before polling) I picked up a delivery which enabled me to enhance my window display looking out on to the High Street…

I encourage everyone to continue the sharing process.

Borough Council Elections

This post will be in three parts. First of all I have a very important link to share, then I will be writing about the Borough Council elections, and finally I will say something about the Test Match that finished late last night our time with two full days unused.

A HYPER-IMPORTANT HYPERLINK

This link is to a radio interview with leading autism campaigner Kevin Healey. Please listen and share!!

BOROUGH COUNCIL ELECTIONS

In King’s Lynn we have two decisions to make on Thursday, who to vote for in the general election and who to vote for in our borough council election. I have already made clear, both here and on my twitter feed who I will be voting for in the general election, and I will say no more in this post than that it would be folly for anyone in King’s Lynn who considers themselves even remotely progressive to vote for anybody other than Jo Rust. I have not previously mentioned the Borough Council elections, because I had not formed a definite conclusion. The game changer that has prompted this post was the following from our local Green Party…

Look to the central part of this leaflet in particular to see why I am so definite about the decision.

DSCN4885 Green

TEST MATCH HUMILIATION FOR ENGLAND

Not long after 10PM our time last night the final test of the series between England and the West Indies ended (with two days unused) in a defeat by five wickets for the visitors. England’s batting was woefully inadequate with the exceptions in the first innings of Cook who ground out a century and Ali who made 58. 123 all out at the second attempt when seeking to build on a lead of 68 tells its own tale of woe. The other problem for England was lack of a serious spin option (Ali, the ‘front-line spinner’ recorded match figures of 2-110 from 22 overs on a turner). If Adil Rashid was not the right option on this pitch he never will be.

Whoever they go for, and wherever they find them, England need a genuine front-line spinner (and not a batsman who bowls being bigged up) and they need one as soon as possible. A spinner who takes only two wickets in the match and goes for five an over on a turning pitch does not deserve to be described as such. It was not just the number of runs being leaked but the deliveries off which they were being hit – frequently short (including a substantial ration of rank long hops). Wilf Rhodes, a great spinner a century ago, used to say talking about the length he bowled “Ah were nivver hooked and Ah were nivver cut”

Congratulations to the West Indies on being able to take what was handed them on a plate.

Now for a few more pics…

On Saturday there were no fewer the seven boats moored at the new jetty (I am fairly certain that this is a current record)

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I have some important stuff to share with you before getting into the main body of my post, and I can promise you plenty of cool pictures.

LINKS

First up today, courtesy of 38degrees comes this tribute to Ealing Hospital.

Next, from change.org comes an update on the “Justice for Kayleb” petition. Having just mentioned one young boy with autism, I take the opportunity of introducing you to another, via a twitter feed set up to support him.

Tom Pride is on fine form, with two pieces exposing the Tories in different ways:
1)A selection of especially vile opinions expressed by Tories.

2)The story of a supposedly undecided audience member at a recent TV debate who was actually known to be a Tory.

My final link is to a picture that tells more than many words, and segues into the rest of the post.

This is the graphic I have linked to, with grateful acknowledgement to Team4Nature.

ON NATURE

I decided to do a very brief (words wise) post about nature because I received some important information that required sharing from Team4Nature, and having been out for a walk yesterday I have some pictures to share that fit with the topic.

Therefore, on the principle that one picture can speak a thousand words, here are some of the best from yesterday…

This is from Thursday, as is the next pic.

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A white butterfly enjoying itself among some green leaves.

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Yesterdays Auction: A Personal Account

Before getting to the main meat of post I have a few links to share with you.

LINKS

My first link is to a devastating expose of the bogus organisation Autism Speaks, courtesy of The Art of Autism.

My next link, for those of a scientific bent is to an interesting post on Faraday’s Candle.

My last two links are related, in that they refer to the necessity of making sure that on this day next week Downing Street is the scene of an eviction. First of all, a piece focussing on the NHS. Secondly, and accompanied by the picture that is at it’s heart comes this expose of just how vile the Tories are courtesy of Vox Political.

YESTERDAY’S AUCTION

I have already written about the presence of a display for the Great Centenary Charity Auction on their website. Here is a single picture to whet your appetite for that…

GCCA1

A combination of the necessity of being on a bus that was due to leave at 7:00AM and wanting have lots of time to make my preparations before setting off meant that I rose at a ludicrously early hour (suffice to say that even with summer approaching and the cricket season well under way I was up before the sun).

The presence of TV cameras filming Antiques Road Trip meant that I felt obliged to dress for the occasion, wearing a previously unworn shirt, a tie and a smart jacket that I knew would go with the shirt. I knew I would be on camera, because I was going to be on the rostrum next to the auctioneer when the road trip lots were going under the hammer. We were also providing training to a colleague, who did a couple of stints on the rostrum, immediately before the break to set up for the road trip stuff, and taking over after the road trip section had finished to do the final furlong (well we were at a racecourse!).

The two experts, Charlie Ross and James Braxton, both made a point of shaking hands with David and myself before leaving. It will be interesting when it finally goes out on air to see how it all looks.

After a quiet start, with the postcards doing nothing and the banknotes not all that much, things did pick up. I got one set of bookmarks, although not the ones I had really wanted.

The auction finished as expected just before 3:30PM, and then it was just a matter of clearing up. Finally, at 4:50PM the last van load was dealt with, giving me time for a pint at the Bull Inn, Bridge Street before catching the bus home.

I finally got back to my flat almost exactly 12 hours after setting out. A change of clothes, a quick call at my Aunts house to pick up the post and see if the plants needed any watering (they did not – it had evidently rained in King;s Lynn earlier in the day) and I was finally able to switch off.

Here are some pictures from the auction room before things got underway properly…

All the Antiques Road Trip Lots are visible in this shot.

Setting Up One Auction and Imaging for Another

This morning I helped with getting tomorrow’s auction set up at Fakenham Racecourse, and took the opportunity of photographing this display of uniforms, which will be part of a stall advertising the Great Centenary Charity Auction, on whose twitter account I have already posted it…

Uniforms Then, for the afternoon I was engaged in imaging lots for the May sale. There a some interesting items to image, a selection of which I now share with you…

455 455a 455b 457 457a 457b 457c 459 459a 459b 459c 472 472a 472b 620 620a 622 622a 622b 622c 642 642a 642b 642c 464 464a 464b In ascending order the lots featured above are 455 (Nature), 457 (Glastonbury), 459 (Robert Hooke – among many other things author of Micrographia, one of the first books ever written about the use of the microscope), 464 (Edmond Halley, a near contemporary of Hooke, now best known for the comet that bears his name), 472 (Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”), 620 (Alderney “Womble” stamps), 622 (Nassau Postcard with stamp and postmark) and 642 (Nepal postcard, with stamp and postmark).

If you have enjoyed this post please share it.

NHS Action Yesterday

Some very important links, an account of yesterday’s petitioning activity around the NHS and some pictures.

I have a variety of other things to share with you before I get to the main meat of my post…

LINKS

First of all a family of related links. Autism Mom’s latest post “autism-respect-the-beautiful-otherness-of-the-autistic-mind” is the original post that attracted my attention, and it in turn was inspired by two articles:

1)A piece published by the Royal Society and authored by Francesca Happe and Uta Frith.

2)A piece published on medicaldaily and written by Lecia Bushak.

Next, news of a major victory in the battle to save the world’s bees, in pictorial form. While on the subject of conservation, I have a petition to share with you about that horror known as the ivory trade.

My next link is to a piece written by a lawyer who courageously and correctly stood up for his neighbours when they were being bullied by the DWP – it provides insight into just how vicious this department has become since the Idiotic Delusional Sociopath (IDS for short) took control. This post is simultaneously disturbing and inspiring. A natural follow on from that is a link to this post from refuted.org.

Moving on, Tom Pride gives details of some vicious anti-semtism from a Tory candidate.

My next two links are related both referring to matters connected with LGBT rights. The first one was written in response to Nick Clegg publicly ruling out (a rather grandiose thing for soon-to-be ex MP to do in any case) any coalition involving the SNP, and points out just who he might find himself helping if he supports a coalition of the right – the gang of bigots officially known as the DUP. The second concerns the case of an asylum seeker facing deportion back to Jamaica and certain death – anyone actually carrying out this threat will be an accessory to murder and should be punished appropriately.

My penultimate link comes courtesy of julijuxtaposed and is counterblast to the increasingly rabid Scotphobia being shown by the right.

Finally, I include a link to an establishment being run by my latest twitter follower, which seems to be an excellent thing.

A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE

This card was sent to me by Rocio Watkins, an American researcher who I have been of some assistance to - it contained a small cheque for which I have thanked her. — This card was sent to me by Rocio Watkins, an American researcher who I have been of some assistance to – it contained a small cheque for which I have thanked her.

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This is the stamp on the envelope in which the car was sent. Although being current issue it is not yet of interest to philatelists I feel that I may be so eventually as circular stamps are not all that common.

YESTERDAYS NHS ACTION

Between 11AM and 1PM yesterday about 10 of us took to the streets of King’s Lynn to collect signatures for a petition which is at the heart of a campaign to Save Our NHS. Our numbers were a little less than they may have been because of late withdrawals and the fact that some people who would ordinarily have been with us were campaigning in Hunstanton as part of Jo Rust’s election campaign (including Jo herself who would certainly have been with us otherwise).

The weather was decent, and lots of people signed. I, and accosting people I do not know with a petition is something that having Asperger;s definitely does make more difficult, personally got 20 and must have had 10 times that number tell me they had already signed. Given how many others were also collecting signatures and the near certainty that I will have gathered the fewest of any of them we are certainly talking in terms of several hundred new signatures.

Finally, a few more pictures to end the post:

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Look up and across from outside King's Lynn Debenhams and you will see this window display! — Look up and across from outside King’s Lynn Debenhams and you will see this window display!

Details of a post-election public meeting that will very likely be the occasion of my next visit to the fine city of Norwich.

This is my enlarged version of the victory for bees picture.

Two Very Hectic Days

As usual, before getting into the main meat of this post I have some links to share with you.

LINKS

First of all, I urge everyone to sign and/ or share Joanne Fowler’s petition about the treatment of her 93 year old father.

The only other link I am sharing with you today is courtesy of Vox Political and while I would the first to acknowledge that Tory lies are no longer (if they ever were), the stuff of headlines, the scale and extent of the lying that Mike Sivier exposes is even by the standards of the political home of Mr Shapps/Green/Fox scandalous as the full post reveals.

When I wrote my intro to the Mike Sivier piece it was going to be the last link I included, but this story from the Independent about food banks, which I picked up via twitter was too important not to include – it exposes the sheer nastiness of how the DWP conducts itself these days.

TWO HECTIC DAYS

I was aware that Thursday and Friday were going to be hectic, since I had decided to attend an evening meeting in Norwich (of which more in a later post) in between two work days, and on the Friday evening I would be calling in at my parents house to pick up the post since they are currently away in Greece. What I did not factor in was losing half an hour at Castle Meadow, central Norwich not because a bus failed to show, but because the bus did show but failed to stop! This is at a very important stop, and with me approaching the bus with the fare already in my hand ready to hand over. I absolve Norfolk Green as a company of any blame for this incident, especially given the high standards of service I have generally received over a decade of being a regular user of their buses, but they clearly have at least one rogue driver. This meant that instead of arriving at my desk at 9:30 and being able to ease into Friday’s work I arrived on the dot of 10 and had to get stuck in rather quicker. Also, the down-time immediately post work was reduced by the necessity of getting a haircut (being on the rostrum with Antiques Road Trip filming and having a jungle on top of my head would not have been a great idea!).

Thursday was taken up with imaging in the main, although I did get a press release out early in the day, and created a poster near the end of they day. This was to advertise an antique Enfield-Snider percussion cap rifle which will be in the May auction (n.b. it is of a calibre that is no longer manufactured and hence can no longer be used as a firearm)…

Much of the rest of Thursday’s imaging was mundane stuff, but some is worth sharing…

252 252a 253 253a 253b 255 255a 255b 341 719a 719b 721 721a 721b

Friday morning was taken up with imaging lots for a Timed Bid auction, conducted via www.the-saleroom.com, not many of which were of any great interest. In the afternoon, in between starting to load the van ready for going down to the Racecourse on Tuesday, I imaged a handful of lots which needed special attention…

This gold coin, lot 218 in our May auction, was a particular challenge as it had to be imaged through plastic casing.

218a 218b

The only other imaging I got done in the afternoon was of the Soviet Union badges which comprise the last three images of this post.

Save Ashcroft Campaign

An introduction to the Save Ashcroft campaign, with some important links and cool pictures.

This post is going to be in three parts:

1) An Image to introduce you to what it is all about

2) Some links that relate to the topic being covered.

3)The main body of the post

THE SAVE ASHCROFT CAMPAIGN

LINKS

My first offering is a link to a wonderful piece detailing how mental health issues are misrepresented in the media, courtesy of an American health news site. Next comes an article on awareness, acceptance and how one can to lead to the other, posted on ramblingsofaspecialmom. My next link is to an online section of the Labour Party manifesto. Before continuing with my next links i will just say that while I am as mistrustful of manifestos as anyone if it comes to a choice between someone who is offering an improvement and someone who means to make things worse I know who I will be voting for! My penultimate link is to a an open letter that gives the Guardian’s “Secret Teacher” a well deserved telling off. My last link is to the Save Ashcroft Campaign’s facebook page, which I hope everyone will visit and like. Mention of social media brings to me to a landmark – aspitweets has just reached 2,000 followers.

A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE

The Wensum, near the heart of the fine city of Norwich

THE ORGANISING MEETING

Last night there was an organising meeting of the Save Ashcroft Campaign. The meeting was arranged for the Vauxhall Community Centre in Norwich from 7:30 to 9:30 PM. Not wishing to get back to King’s Lynn after midnght, and being even less keen on not being involved at all, I contacted the organisers to find out if I could stay overnight in Norwich. This duly arranged (many thanks to the kind woman who offered me a bed in her house), I arrived at the venue without incident at 7:15PM (precisely the time I would want to arrive for a 7:30 start). The meeting was very constructive, with many excellent suggestions being raised.

The next public activity on behalf of this very worthy cause will be on May 2nd at the Forum in Norwich, where they will have a place a stall being run by a larger campaign concerned with the whole of mental health provision (or rather lack of it) in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Before finishing with some more pictures, I ask you all to share this and to support Save Ashcroft any way you can – every little helps.

My T-shirt for Saturday's activity in King's Lynn — My T-shirt for Saturday’s activity in King’s Lynn

The first fo five pictures to show that my Aunt's pots are prospering. — The first fo five pictures to show that my Aunt’s pots are prospering.

This blackbird is getting bad habits - that is a chip from a mobile stall in its mouth! — This blackbird is getting bad habits – that is a chip from a mobile stall in its mouth!

Just before finishing this post where I started with the leaflet, I urge anyone who is in King’s Lynn on Saturday to come out and help as gather signatures against the creeping privatisation of the NHS.

Yes so good I am using at both ends of the post - and making it the feature image. — Yes so good I am using at both ends of the post – and making it the feature image.

Life with Aspergers

As I often do I will start this post with a links section, before moving on to the main part of the post. I will also be sharing some high quality pictures – enjoy!!

LINKS

Given the title of this post I am in this section dealing only with the non-autism related links that I wish to share – the others will be handled as part of the other section. First of all, courtesy of the Independent, a truly appalling landmark that this government has ‘achieved’ – one million food bank users. Next, through Huffington Post comes a story about Faith Schools. As someone who is a part-time minimum wage worker, I would not necessarily expect the London School of Economics to have much to offer me, but this post from that quarter is a devastating indictment of what this government have done to wages in real terms.

I have a great interest in science, and this article concerning discoveries about the element Lawrencium and its place in the Periodic Table is well worth reading.

All except those who would murder folk whose beliefs differ from their own will find my next offering shocking but sadly unsurprising. It comes courtesy of Padraig Reidy.

A survey boat named the Humber Guardian has been moored in the Great Ouse lately. The boat is owned by Briggs Marine, and I was reasonably encouraged by what I found on their website.

There is a campaign going on at the moment to get the Sun to show Katie Hopkins the door. This is because her latest offering would have made Hitler blench. For more details, here is an article in the Independent.

Tomorrow is the last day on which people who are not already registered to vote in the General Election coming up on May 7th. 38 Degrees are running a campaign to get as many people registered to vote as possible. The process is very straightforward. I provide two options:

38 Degrees

Gov.uk

My final offering comes courtesy of Tom Pride and provides further grist to the mill of those of us who (like your correspondent) reckon that another five years of Cameron and co will be unendurable. Enjoy this catalogue of horrors!

A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE

Before moving on the main part of the post, here are some pictures for you to enjoy…

This picture and the next four are from framed maps that can be seen in The Crown, East Rudham

The first of four shots of Humber Guardian, mentioned in the Links section.

LIFE WITH ASPERGERS

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s at the back end of 2006, by when I was already 31 years old. I got involved with Asperger East Anglia very soon after that, and out of that came what is now the King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society (KLASS). The group was originally established as local support group under the aegis of AEA, but when they lost their funding to run such groups in October 2012 we decided to keep going as an independent group. Since then, we have had no funding at all. In 2013 we were able to use King’s Lynn Town FC‘s community hub as a meeting place, but then they changed the times at which they were available ton the public in January 2014, and since then we have had no formal meeting place.

Perhaps the area in which I have personally been most affected by having Aspergers Syndrome is in the world of work, where I went eight and a half years without having a paid job, until I got my current job at James and Sons in April 2013 (merely by going in to work on Tuesday I will officially make it two years in this job). Initially my job was for 12 hours per week, and I was therefore still on jobseekers allowance (yet another thing the Tories are consistently dishonest about is the number of people who have jobs but still need benefits to get by as the amount of money these jobs bring in is so little).

I have not directly run in to the kind of treatment that has caused Kevin Healey to be in a long-running dispute with twitter. Kevin is still trying to get twitter to protect him properly, and as part of that change.org have a petition running on his behalf – and I urge all of you to sign if you have not already done so, and share as widely as possible, starting now.

My twitter account is growing steadily, helped by the fact that I always have good photos to share, talking of which, here are a few more…

Stonework from King's Lynn Minster — Stonework from King’s Lynn Minster

What can neurotypicals do in the way of autism acceptance? You can find out by reading the wise words of Autism Mom.

I am nearly at the end of this post, but one more thing I wish to do is signpost another blogger with an Autistic Spectrum Condition who has recently signed up to follow this blog, David Snape.

My very final words concern something very important to me: research. Ignorance is so often the father of prejudice, which is why I take part in research projects at every opportunity. I want more people to know about Autistic Spectrum Conditions and to appreciate the abilities that many of us possess. For those who have made it right through to this stage I have two final messages:

1) Please share this widely

The First Butterflies of the Year

First up some important pointers for you…

LINKS

First and most important, I have been helping with a research project by an American. If you have Asperger’s Syndrome and are a social media user (and would be willing to answer some questions about these things), Rocio Watkins would like to hear from you. She can be contacted by email: rwatkins11@apu.edu

For bird fanciers there is an excellent and informative piece about the Himalayan Griffon courtesy of Phuket Birdwatching.

I provided links to several views on the Tory plans to extend Right to Buy to housing association properties, but I think this one is also worth a look on left futures.

The Guardian has an excellent piece about disability rights, focussing on the work of Lee Ridley.

The latest news on activities by the Tory Department of Dirty Tricks comes from Mike Sivier of Vox Political.

On the same theme, a humorous piece from Glynis Millward.

My final offering is an excoriating piece about a horrow show officially known as The “Gay Conversion Therapy” conference. John P Ointon, whose blog Notes from the North is a regular source of good material and who has reblogged me on a few occasions (so he has good taste alround!) provided this savage (but very amusing) account.

Butterflies

I am not suggesting, let alone stating, that these are the first butterflies I have seen in 2015, but they are the first that have been around long enough for me to catch them on camera. I have used one of them as a basis for the very latest version of my twitter thank you message. Most of them are of brightly coloured butterflies, but did also get a pure white one…

The white butterfly - these are almost as numerous as the brightly coloured ones but move much faster. — The white butterfly – these are almost as numerous as the brightly coloured ones but move much faster.

Here specially for you is that thank you message!

Of course, it was not just butterflies in evidence on this walk. There were lots of other photograph worthy sights, some of which I will conclude this post by showing you…

The only picture not from today - this was at the bus station yesterday morning. — The only picture not from today – this was at the bus station yesterday morning.

A sensible sign, sadly being ignored by far too many.

A last butterfly shot, from the end of the walk.

	London Underground t… on Project Piccadilly
	Thomas on All Time XIs – Detective…
	Anna on All Time XIs – Detective…
	amsutcliffebtinterne… on All Time XIs – Detective…
	All Time XIs –… on The Museum Detectives