Library Thing

Around last Christmas, after seeing a couple of comments scattered elsewhere, I decide trying to catalog my personal library using Library Thing. Over half my personal library is still in storage in Nebraska, but I thought I'd try the site out on what I have with me. One of my favorite parts is the recommendations for other books, based on what I have. I've already read enough of those that I like those recommendations. I'm always on the lookout for new books that somewhat fit the taste of the ones I have.

Also, I find that there are some great books that I've read that don't fit in my current preferences, and I'd like to know more like those, so I can broaden my reading. My current library is rather modest (72 not counting the computer and technical works, which I've set aside for now, or the ones I know I left in storage), but there are a great many more that I have and have read, and would perhaps like to get and even reread if I had the room and the money.

I'm getting a bit tired of rereading the same books, and I'd like to branch out and try some more. And maybe I'm showing off a little, and maybe I'm not going to feel guilty about it, since I don't even have to be the greatest reader in the world. One of the top ten thousand in the country will do.

Asperger's thoughts

I was indulging in one of my vices lately, going through and reading some of my favorite web sites. Elizabeth Moon , a prominent author of Science Fiction and Fantasy, whose works include "The Speed of Dark", written from the viewpoint of an autistic man, expressed her opinion of the attitude displayed on the FAAAS web site as not helpful. Since I was diagnosed with Apserger's syndrome about four years ago. I'm naturally interested in learning things about my own condition, so I visited the site. I came away angry and saddened. To quote from it:

Asperger's Syndrome is a neurological disorder on the autism spectrum that has been recognized only since about 1994. It has many features of classical autism, but it lacks the intellectual learning disabilities. Individuals with this syndrome have difficulty with social aspects of intelligence, such as understanding what those around them think and feel. As a result, they often behave inappropriately in social situations or act in ways that appear unkind or callous. Many have difficulty planning and coping with change despite average or even exceptional intelligence in academic or intellectual areas. This manifests itself as a notable lack of "common sense."

Oh yes, do I know that one. I was told that my father once said, (and probably thought, many a time) How can a kid that bright be so stupid? In another conversation I once overheard between former parents-in-law:

She: You should let him use his own judgment.
He: But he doesn't have good judgment.

Ouch. Several years later, I must confess that he was right, but I would still have problems with him leaping in to substitute his good judgment for my poor one. In practical matters like how to complete formal education and get a decent job, mine was nothing to crow about. It still isn't. I don't know how to work around that. But that part doesn't bother me so much anymore. It's the next part that does.

It is the spouses, siblings, children, and co-workers of those
affected with Asperger's Syndrome that experience the emotional pain, especially
when the correct diagnosis has been delayed until relatively late in adulthood.

Don't those who suffer from Asperger's Syndrome suffer emotional pain, too? Of course they do. To have Asperger's is to live in two worlds at once; a private one of your own, which no one else quite understands, and a public one which you do not quite understand. It is to get kicked in the teeth by the rules everyone else lives by. It is to be humiliated and embarrassed when you try to do things everyone else seems to do with ease, and fail. It is living with the consequences of your own ineptitude. It is to be invisibly handicapped in a world where even the visibly handicapped are often ignored, scorned and abused.

These family members are the ones we intend to help. Feelings of rejection and loneliness play a major role in the lives of the family members of an individual with Asperger’s Syndrome. Their feelings are not validated, acknowledged, or even recognized by the afflicted person.

With all due respect to the very real need for someone besides the afflicted to help, there is a snarky response:

"I'm sorry it's so hard to for you live with me. I have to live with myself, and you too. If it's a pity party you want, I bet I can throw a bigger one."
And a more reasonable one: "Yes, sometimes I am oblivious to your feelings. (Those with AS are prone to avoid eye contact, and thus not even see the subtle cues of emotion, and are notoriously prone to mono-focus on one thing and let everything else go hang). Or perhaps, "I do recognize and acknowledge them. I just can't do anything about them. " Those with AS live in an emotional pit; they're in very poor position to help anyone else out.

And still more rationally, since "Aspies" have a hard time with social relationships in the first place, even when they recognize they've hurt someone and try to amend a situation, their attempts to fix it are apt to just muck up their relationships even worse. Once they realize this, there's a tendency to quit trying, or withdraw into the private world instead dealing with the public one. Besides that, if a situation is emotionally charged, an Aspie is likelier than most to either spin out of control or be too busy riding the bronc to deal with the feelings of anyone else.

I've found that the very hardest people for me to deal with are those who view the clinical symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome as acts or failures of will or intent. To that group, there is nothing I can say in my own defense. Anything I do say is taken as self-serving and untrustworthy, and grounds for a further attack.

But Aperger's Syndrome, like the better known classical Autism it is related to, appears to be genetic or at least congenital. Its symptoms are no more a matter of will or intent than having Down syndrome, spina bifida, being left-handed, black-skinned, or female and 6'5", all of which also involve some difficulty to the affected and others around them. It's possible to adapt, it's possible to work around, and it's even possible to learn some of the various social skills that most people use to succeed, but the underlying condition remains.

It would be better if, instead of focusing only on the problems, the site included acknowedgement that AS does have a positive side.

To have Asperger's Syndrome is also to have the ability to think sideways, upside down, and outside the box. It is the ability to ignore distractions and overcome the most formidable obstacles in pursuit of what you love, without external reward. It is the ability to achieve in a short time what others require years to master, by intense, concentrated thought and work. It is to be sensitive to things that others miss. It is the ability to become an expert, and to excel at at something.

For a little more deep philosophy, I found a great truth in a certain remark, "It is nevery easy to have a great gift. Something is always withheld to compensate." And the inverse is also true. I do not believe anyone is born with a handicap without some blessing to go with it. For me, one side of Asperger's Syndrome is indeed a curse, but there's a gift on the other.

Stilll alive

I do have at least one intermittent reader, who observed recently that I haven't updated this blog since November. Really? That long?
Well, I had been been emphasizing political things, and with the election of Barak Obama as President, I got discouraged. There was just too much going on, and too much of it uncertain, at the time. Also, I was getting too incensed at the various forms of stupidity that are becoming predominant in American culture, and lack the tools for effective rational argument.
In essence, I decided that I was going to have to go back to the slow and thorough approach of my knowledge base that I have been describing on the Independent Learning blog, and even that has been going slowly, since I decided that it made more sense if I turned the whole thing upside down. That project has been sort of crawling along. Shortly after making that decision, I decided to switch to what I call a need-driven approach to development. Results of that aren't in yet, but they are starting to look promising.

Today's work touched on the UN, so I think I'll mention something of my opinion of that body. It was created in the aftermath of World War II, and its charter was shaped by the politics of that time. I once encountered an analysis of political power based on the mathematics of voting coalitions, which concluded that most of the power is concentrated in the 5 permanent member of the Security Council, (precisely as intended by its founders). With the changes in in the world during the sixty years since its founding, this is becoming increasingly out of step with current world realities. I am uncomfortable with its clear secularism. Given the vigorous and intense disputes among religions, I can't think of a better alternative, secularism at least gives the pretense of neutrality, although in many ways it gives offense to traditional Christian, Muslim, and Jewish beliefs. The degree of hatred for Zionism in general and Israel in particular that I see in various UN resolutions and proposed resolutions surprises me. Far from being the "last, best hope" for world Peace that John F. Kennedy called it, it has developed a reputation for incompetence, inefficiency, and corruption. While it can claim a few successes, its failures appear to outnumber and outweigh them. In short, I have little trust in or respect for it.

Latest stuff

I thought I was going have more to say on current events, but two items seem to be dominating the news. One is the current worldwide financial crisis that's erupted within the past two and a half months, with banks all over the world having to be bailed out. The other is the increased stridency of the gay rights movement since the approval of Proposition 8 in California.

I really don't have any solid information right now to back up my opinions that isn't available elsewhere, so rather than contribute to the general excess of hot air, I'll wait until I do.

Wait a minute

In my examination of Obama's potential administration, I found myself dealing with a fog of
speculation, pinned to rather few eractual facts. Furthermore, I noted, the groundwork for many of the events that are likely to happen is being laid by events that are happening. I decided that trying to keep up how the policies and personell of the new Administration are likely to shape up was probably not the best use of my limited time, especially as I'm developing the ability to keep and discuss current events from a different perspective. I'll keep watching, but it won't be my principal focus.

Most of my effort has gone to the construction of the knowledge base I describe on my Independent learning blog. After several false starts in the past year, I'm approaching a point where I can keep track of of them. With that as a starting point, I can start discussing events from the broader perspective I've been looking for.

One subect I've found interesting is the discussion of space technology. The recent visible imaging of planets around two fairly nearby stars is something I used to read was probably impossible, and it's quite a feat for the adaptive imaging technology that's been used to locate them. India has launched a , so far, highly successful lunar exploration mission, and China recently had its third manned spaceflight. The launch of endeavor to expand the International Space Station also represents progress. There are moreUS missions in progress and shortly scheduled. It seems to be an optimistic time of progress, but I have some concerns.

One is that the US seems to have lost or to be losing its lead in Space technology. The Space shuttle is scheduled to be retired in 2 years, and the US will be dependent on Russian technology and resources for about a 5 year gap. And that's in the best case, assuming continuing funding for NASA and no huge cost overruns or technacal delays. If Russia continues its show of belligerence, I am not certain this is such a wise strategy for the US. The US went from suborbital projects to a moon landing twelve years, and it seems that NASA has become such an ossified bureacracy that, in spite of nearly 40 years of progress in space flight technology, it could not duplicate the feat.

The private programs that are actually building and testing craft that may, in a couple of generations worth of technology, face a heavy burden of regulations. I hope the US in general and the economy in particular don't crash and take them down with it as I fear they might, but I'm no better at predicting the future than the next man.

Expected Executive Orders

John Podesta was on Fox News Sunday, discussing some of the Executive Orders Barak Obama
is likely to issue, several of which will apparently reverse long-standing policies that outgoing President Bush initiated. He mentioned four of these, specifically, and another advisor mentioned another.

Among the first orders to be reversed may be two that Bush signed shortly
after taking office in 2001. One of those barred the use of U.S. funds by family
planning groups overseas that provide abortion counseling.

Susan F. Wood, co-chairman of Obama's advisory committee for women's health,
said the president-elect also plans on reversing a policy that linked assistance
for combating AIDS in the developing world to requirements that health workers
emphasize monogamy and abstinence from sex over condom use.

Another is the limit on federal funding for embryonic stem- cell research,
a restriction that some scientists say hampers study to combat diseases such as
Parkinson's.

"They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile
lands in Utah that they're going to try to do right as they -- walking out the
door. I think that's a mistake,'' Podesta said.

On climate change and pollution, Obama previously has stated his opposition to
the administration's action that blocked California from regulating carbon
dioxide emissions from vehicles

Apart from the disrepsect for human life in general and children in particular that Obama's positions on abortion represent, there are other questions that arise:
1) Why should overseas family planning groups be receiving US taxpayer funding at all? Or any family planning groups?
2) Who benefits from restrictions on oil and gas drilling in the US? It is certainly not the companies that do it. and it may not be the environment. Might it be foreign suppliers?
3) Allowing California to impose carbon-dioxide emissions will make it harder on all autompbile manufacturers since automakers must in general design their vehicles for the entire country to meet the toughest state standards. This, at the very time when the new administration is proposing an expensive bailout for the US auto industry. Who benefits? I'm not sure I have a good answer for either one.

+++++

San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Duffy, at a rally outside the Oakland Temple earlier today,
November 10:

"The time has come to take it out there to the people who voted for this awful
thing, [Prop. 8]" said San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty. "The Mormon church
has had to rely on our tolerance in the past, to be able to express their
beliefs "... This is a huge mistake for them. It looks like they've forgotten
some lessons."

Am I reading this correctly as a threat to teach the Mormons a lesson? Religious liberty only exists when the GBLT community is willing to tolerate it? So when the Mormons express concern about gay marriage advocates eventually threatening their freedom of religion, it's a lie?

I really don't have the time to waste searching for words to properly express how I feel about this speech. So I'll just say they're rather the opposite of approving and leave it at that.

For the past five years, John Podesta, the former Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton, has been building up the Center for American Progress, a liberal-oriented "think tank", or, as it is sometimes called, a virtual government-in-exile. According to this article,

Mr. Podesta has also poured money into building up liberal political communications. The center schedules events that often end up being shown on C-Span; sponsors about 60 liberal college newspapers; hosts a prominent blog, ThinkProgress.org; and provides a free downloadable daily news package called Mic Check for liberal radio stations to broadcast.

A number of wealthy donors and groups which have given grants to this group have been
identified, and it is heavily staffed by former Clinton administration officials.

+++++

Valerie Jarrett is described as a close family friend, "Obama's big sister" and even "the other side of Barak's brain". Her connections are not so much with Washington, but with the Chicago community of affluent blacks, many of whom have graduated from Ivy league universities.

+++++

Peter Rouse was formerly chief of staff for Senator Tom Daschle. When Daschle failed
re-election, Rouse began working for the newly elected Obama, and is credited with
helping direct his career in the Senate and his rise in the Democratic party and to the nomination.

Andrew Sullivan, writing about Rahm Emmanuel, as already mentioned, confirms his
a reputation as something of a shark. He is known for being in "the face" of opponents,
twisting arms, extracting commitments, and bullying, corralling, and pinioning party
members to get things accomplished.

In 2000, Emanuel was on the board of Freddie Mac, the now disgraced mortgage public-private entity whose overly generous loans helped to bring about the financial meltdown of the past two months. He has received a huge amount of campaign money from hedge funds, private equity firms and the financial industry.

+++++

Although I'm not familiar with the names of Obama's economic advisors or their
qualifications or political orientation, a number of them have been listed.