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…

ABR

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“:

Logic Solution

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

GCDs

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.

lacustrine walksmudlump Imudlump IImudlump IIIBlack muscovyGullsMixed muscoviesMoorhenMoorhensmuscovies x 3Muscovy ducks x 4Muscovy ducksMusocyv ducks x 2Swan 1Swan abd drakeSwans and muscoviesSwans IISwans IIISwans IVSwans VSwanstwo muscovy ducksWater birds

 

The Cosmic Skeptic Debunks Pascal’s Wager

Introducing the Cosmic Skeptic, who I came across by way of twitter.

INTRODUCTION

The debunking takes place in a seven minute video that was drawn to my attention by twitter, but there is also a cosmicskeptic website, which I recommend to your attention.

PASCAL’S WAGER DEBUNKED

A SECOND VIDEO FROM COSMIC SKEPTIC

Here is a second video from the Cosmic Skeptic (real name Alex O’Connor).

A Music Workshop for Autistic People

An account of attending a music workshop organised by NAS West Norfolk, with plenty of photos, also some important links.

INTRODUCTION

This afternoon I attended a music workshop organised by NAS West Norfolk. The title of piece of this post, acompanied by many photographs, is about this workshop.

OUTWARD BOUND

Having established to my own satisfaction the location of Scout Hut 12, Beulah Street I walked out of town along Bawsey Drain as far as Lynn Sport before heading across the open grassland to the scout hut (my direction finding was up to its usual standard, so no hiccups). Although I was under some time constraint I got a few photos on the way…

St Nicholas Chapel looking splendid.
St Nicholas Chapel looking splendid.

DSCN4458 DSCN4459 DSCN4460 DSCN4462

AT THE SCOUT HUT

First up, “hut” is something of a misnomer – it is quite a substantial building. There were many things worthy of photographing there…

DSCN4464 DSCN4465 DSCN4466 DSCN4467 DSCN4468 DSCN4469 DSCN4470

After a brief meet and greet upstairs it was downstairs again to the room where the action was taking place. Fortunately, the music making was being done largely by computer – I would not have inflicted myself playing an actual instrument on anyone (there were some real instruments there but I was careful not to be assigned any of them). In the first session which was group playing I had first stringed instruments and then a couple of keyboard instruments (in computer program form)…

The computer I used to make music.
The computer I used to make music.

The second session involved recording ourselves making percussion type sounds from non-instruments – the results were not nearly as appalling as you might expect.

DSCN4486
These were the twelve things I used to extract percussion type sounds.

I have a few more pics from the building to display…

DSCN4472 DSCN4473 DSCN4474 DSCN4475 DSCN4476 DSCN4477 DSCN4478 DSCN4479 DSCN4481 DSCN4483 DSCN4484 DSCN4485

HOMEWARD BOUND

For the walk home I headed down to King Edward the Seventh Academy, along to Tennyson Road and through to Seven Sisters, finishing up by heading along the riverbank. Here are the pics from that section of the day…

DSCN4488 DSCN4490 DSCN4491 DSCN4492 DSCN4494 DSCN4495 DSCN4496 DSCN4499 DSCN4501

LINKS

Not so many links as as I sometimes have, but still enough to split into sections.

THE LABOUR LEADERSHIP ELECTION

Two links in this section:

  1. Mark Steel has produced a typically amusing ironic piece in the Independent by way of responding to the decision to refuse his application to register as a supporter.
  2. Vox Political on another Blairite grandee who has proven unable to resist sticking his oar in, on this occasion the ignoble Lord Mandelson

MAINLY AUTISM

I am including in this section a petition calling on the government for a full assessment of the impact of welfare cuts on disabled people. My other two links are to an online publication called The ASD Times. They have been kind enough to include some of my stuff, so here a couple of links the other way:

CONSERVATION

Two links in this section…

  1. A call to keep the pressure on South African Airlines to do the right thing and refuse to carry hunting “trophies”.
  2. Mark Avery tackles a by-product of driven grouse shooting – traps.

ATHEISM

Two links and an infographic here…

Imaging and Other Stuff

An account of a day at James and Sons, with lots of lovely images, and a selection of quality links to round things off.

INTRODUCTION

The body of this post features today at James and Sons, but also I have plenty of other stuff for you…

BACK TO WORK WITH A BANG

Today was devoted to catching up on imaging for our August sale (two weeks tomorrow, Fakenham Racecourse). The day started with some coin lots done with the aid of the scanner…

72a 72b 73 73a 73b 75 75a 75b 82 82a 82b 84 84a 84b 87 87a 87b 89 89a 89b 93 93a 93b

After the coind there were some general lots done with the camera…

40 40a 296 296a 296b 359 547

My final items of the day were militaria, and involved both scanner and camera…

The next six pics relate to lot 22, which I scanned first and than also did with the camera to see if I could improvee the images.
The next six pics relate to lot 22, which I scanned first and than also did with the camera to see if I could improvee the images.

22a 22b 22P 22Pa 22Pb

Lot 160, done exclusively with the camera.
Lot 160, done exclusively with the camera.

160a 160b

Lot 187 was a scan job.
Lot 187 was a scan job.

187a 187b

Lot 199, back to the camera.
Lot 199, back to the camera.

199a 199b

LINKS

I start this final short-ish section with two pieces that refer to…

ATHEISM

First, a real life horror story concerning the fundamentalist Pat Robertson – I was sickened to read about him advocating that a grandmother take her grandchild away from its atheist father.

My second, at the opposite end of the spectrum is a really wonderful collection of thoughts from atheists on how they find fulfillment in life.

OTHER LINKS

Vox Political feature with this excellent piece about welfare benefit cuts.

This piece is from primepolitics is about something we desperately need – electoral reform.

A good news story from Sweets Way Resists, about bailiffs being sent away empty handed – yes!!!

For the finale, what looks like being a magnificent resource for anyone interested in autism.

Auction and a Response to ClivveW

The catalogue for James and Sons sale this coming Saturday at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich is available for viewing at http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/james-and-son-auctioneers/catalogue-id-2901714

Today I have both managed to complete the information gathering for our last sale on 29/11/2014 and get the database ready for our next sale this coming Saturday. As part of this I am able to share with you descriptions and images of the lots that did best in relative terms at our last auction. Some of the images included as part of this are not my work. I will mention in the captions I provide when images are not mine.

The second part of this post is a response to the following tweet (I did not think I could do it in 140 characters):

Clivve@ClivveW 4h4 hours ago

The killing fields in Cambodia is why I have no time for atheism.

As briefly as possible: this was an atrocity committed by an atheist not an atrocity committed in the name of atheism. This is in direct contrast to the almost innumerable list of atrocities carried out not merely by religious people but in the name of religion.

Now for those images (and a PDF file – I have taken care that no personal details of anyone are included)

This is lot 13 - the first item to do significantly better than expected
This is lot 13 – the first item to do significantly better than expected

347a 347 ???????????????????????? 344a 344

This is the last image that is not my work.
This is the last image that is not my work.

295

Again, not imaged by me.
Again, not imaged by me.
Another of the ones I did not image.
Another of the ones I did not image.

40 ?????????? 37a

The next three images are of the sewing machine which astonished us all be reaching £140
The next three images are of the sewing machine which astonished us all be reaching £140

Bragging Rights

This item is another not imaged by me.
This item is another not imaged by me.

?????????? 754 ?????????? 753 725b ????????????????????????

In going above estimate this item also went out of my reach.
In going above estimate this item also went out of my reach.

592 581

This was one of the items I did not image .
This was one of the items I did not image .

352

We were delighted when this sold - and it going for above estimate was a bonus. The weight of this item meant that we had specified that the buyer had to collect.
We were delighted when this sold – and it going for above estimate was a bonus. The weight of this item meant that we had specified that the buyer had to collect.