Olmstead Speculates Coincidence

An interesting article written by Dan Olmstead called "The Age of Autism: Quite the Coincidence" points out that Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger both wrote about autism around the same time.   Olmstead also talks about the connection that the fathers of the autistic children have with ethyl mercury via their professions.  This type of mercury was used on plants.

Happy Birthday, Dirty Harry!

Happy Birthday,
Clint Eastwood!

My favorite actor!  Make my day!

Back in March, I went to the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to see a double feature: "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection."  At the end of "Dirty Harry," everyone in the audience applauded.  I was thrilled to see "Dirty Harry" once again.  What made it special this time around was that I saw it in an actual movie theatre, not on a TV set.  "Dirty Harry" is a classic.

The Famous "Do You Feel Lucky?" Scene from "Dirty Harry"

Remember the Military Today!

Happy
Memorial
Day

Belated Centennial Birthday Greeting to the Duke!

Happy 100th Birthday, John Wayne!

(May 26, 1907 - June 11, 1979)

I grew up watching his movies.  Loved "True Grit" with Glenn Campbell.

Scene from "True Grit"

Charles Nelson Reilly ________ at 76!

I just got back from my vacation from Houston (and I had a great time!).  As soon as I got online to check my e-mail, I saw the sad news that Charles Nelson Reilly of "Match Game" had passed away at the age of 76 last Friday.  I grew up during the 70s and watched him, Gene Rayburn, Brett Somers, Richard Dawson and Fannie Flagg.  They were funny!

RIP, Charles!

From "Match Game" Gene Separates Charles and Brett!

Outside In Song of the Week

Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan!

"Things Have Changed"

Heading to Houston Today!

I'm off to visit relatives in Houston today.  I am flying down later this morning and changing planes in North Carolina before I arrive in Houston.

I am almost packed and excited to go down there.  The last time I was there was in 1999 when my former radio mentor, Joe Martelle, was working as a morning DJ in Houston.  I got to listen to him.

Be back on Memorial Day in the evening!

Happy 100th, Sir Laurence!

Happy Birthday,
Laurence Olivier!
(May 22, 1907 - July 11, 1989)

Very famous actor who starred in tons of classic movies.  He would have been 100 today.

Marathon Man Trailer

Happy Birthday, Jimmy!

Happy Birthday,
Jimmy Stewart!
(May 20, 1908 - July 2, 1997)

Jimmy reads his "Bo" Poem to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" (1981).  I love this poem!  I saw this when it originally aired in the basement of my parents' house with my cat Smokey.

Raising Autism Awareness in Nigeria

A workshop in Nigeria called "Educational Opportunities for the Learning Disability" featured a presentation about understanding autism.  Teachers, caregivers and administrators of Special Educational Needs (SEN) were the audience for this workshop.

Mrs. Khadeejah Ronke-Katagum, Executive Director and Founder of The Zamarr Institute, a non governmental organization, presented her paper called "Understanding the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (Autism).  Many parts of Nigeria are not familiar with autism at all.

Thanks, Mrs. Ronke-Katagum, for your paper about raising awareness of autism in your country.

Kylie The Cheerleader

Here's a great positive story about a teen-aged girl named Kylie McKee who recently made the cheerleading squad at her high school.  She also happens to have Asperger's Syndrome.  

Three cheers to you, Kylie, on your success!

Turning her life at high school into a good experience is great.  I never had that chance because everyone was picking on me relentlessly while others pretended to be my friend and ridiculed me a lot.  I was never interested in joining the cheerleading squad at my high school, even though others wanted me to try out.  I wanted to drop out of school, but I stayed on until graduation day.  My guidance counselor talked me out of dropping out.

Belated Batgirl Birthday

I didn't have time on Wednesday (5/16) to do this, but better late than never.  I met this Yvonne once at a convention outside of Boston back in 2002.  She was a role model for me when I was little.

Happy 70th Birthday,
Yvonne Craig!


Yvonne and Yvonne Together!

The unaired Batgirl pilot (Warning: Different Batgirl mask and motorcycle appear in this)

Outside In Song of the Week (5/17-5/24)

The Mighty Quinn by Manfred Mann

Great classic.  It was requested often on Joe Martelle's show, "Saturday Night Live at the Oldies," during the 1980s.  Written by Bob Dylan.  The title of this song was used as a title for a Denzel Washington movie.  The song can be heard in the movie, although it's not Manfred Mann singing it.

RhIg Discounted!

A recent study declared that there is no link between the thimerosal in Rh Immungobulin (RhIg) and autism when it comes to increasing a child's risk for autism.  Thimerosal contains 49.6% of ethyl mercury.

It 's an interesting read.  Check it out.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I haven't had time to make entries in here this week.  I have so many things that are distracting me.  Right now, I am getting ready to go on a trip next week to Houston to visit relatives for the Memorial Day weekend.  I bought a brand new suitcase to replace the one that was ruined during my Las Vegas vacation.  At least, the airline reimbursed me with a check before I went shopping for a new one.  It's really nice.  I just hope that it doesn't get ripped and loses its wheels.

The other thing that has been bothering me for the last few weeks is work.  It is nice workplace and the people are good, but the salary sucks.  My therapist said that I should go out there and find a job that's worthy of my skills. 

Of course, job searching will make it hard for me to work on my blog and my memoir.

I just hate being underemployed.  At least, it's better than unemployed, but not much.

Mom's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Cousin Brucie's Still Cruisin'

I was listening to "Beatle Brunch" this morning on WODS-FM in Boston.  This week's show was about 4 Beatle Disc Jockeys who called themselves "The 5th Beatle" during Beatlemania.  The episode is called "4 Beatle Boss Jocks: Where Are They Now?"

One of them is Bruce Morrow aka "Cousin Brucie" who was with WABC back in 1964 when he met the Beatles during their first visit to America.  He is the DJ who helped in returning Ringo Starr's St. Christopher medal.

Cousin Brucie hosted a radio show called "Cruisin' America" in the late 1980s.  I listened to it on WROR-FM.  He sometimes was on Joe Martelle's "Saturday Night Live at the Oldies" show as a guest during that time.

Today, Cousin Brucie has a radio show on Sirrus radio on Wednesday and Saturday nights.  Check out his own web page at Sirrus.

The three other Beatle Boss Jocks are Rick Shaw, Larry Kane and Chuck Brinkman.

My Turn To Shine!

SHINE! Showcase has done a Bio about me, Yvonne Christian, over at the Gather.com writers forum.  Please, check it out and comment.

The Link to SHINE!

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976960925

Thanks, Pamela!

U2 B-Day!

Happy Birthday,
Bono!
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2

The Outside In Song of the Week*

The Hollies - Air That I Breathe (1974)

I remember this song fondly.  When I was a kid back in '74, I thought I was listening to a Beatles song.  It ain't the Beatles; it's the Hollies.  Allan Clarke is singing lead on this one.





*Not to be confused with The Big Mattress Song of the Week

A Shot at Being Normal?

A article called "A Shot Against Autism: Autistic Kids are Normal" declares that in a research study 49 autistic children did not suffer from autism when they were in a setting where that did not allow any environmental contaminants to affect them.  They were also on a special diet.

In this controlled environment, the children started to behave normal physically and in temperment.  Also, they showed an awareness of emotion and empathy.  The result of the study believes that autism is apparently caused by chronic exposure to volatile organic compounds and appears to be fully reversible in the proper environment.

Another interesting thing to read about.

Study Finds Regions of DNA Linked to ASDs

A recent press release regarding a recent study from The Washington University School  of Medicine in St. Louis and The University of California in Los Angeles mentions finding two regions of DNA linked to autism.   According to Dr. John Consstantion, a co-principal investigator, there's "a continuous distribution of autism symptoms from very mild to very severe."  In other words, whereas a child is diagnosed as autistic, other members in the family can have very subtle communication impairments or behavioral tendencies.

It's interesting.

The Common Story about Jaeger

The North Shore Newspaper did a story in their Sunday edition about Kimberley Jaeger, the host of Common Ground, a Sunday morning public affairs show on WZLX-FM in Boston.  Very insightful information about her and her long career in radio.  Kimberley is from Hamilton, Massachusetts, and went to the University of Miami to work at their radio station.

I am an avid listener of the show and once heard Kimberley interview Temple Grandin once.

Women are Starved for Sleep

Interesting article from The Savannah Morning News about women who have Sleep Apnea and other related sleep disorders.  Apparently, women don't have enough time for sleep because of career and personal commitments.

I am always saying that there's not enough hours in the day to everything done and that's including sleep.  I currently use a CPAP machine because I have Sleep Apnea.  I have been excersizing and dieting to lose weight for the last several months.  I like the results.  I look good now.

Happy Birthday to The Lumberjack!

Happy Birthday,
Michael Palin!
(Monty Phyton's Flying Circus)

The Lumberjack Song!




The Upperclass Twit of the Year Race

Meanwhile Back at Marengo Ranch...

The Communicative Special Needs Program at the Marengo Ranch Elementary School is a success with Branden Hughes, a boy with Asperger's Syndrome.  He is learning social skills and understanding feelings with the help of his mother, Jamie, who is also a teacher in the program.  He also gets help from another teacher called, Colleen Hurley, on the playground.

With this program, Branden is able to socialize more with his fellow students.

Forget Spider-Man! Move Over, Captain Underpants! Here's Super Botley!

Super Botley is a robot who fights monsters.  His creator is sixth grader, Nick Drennan, who has Asperger's Syndrome.  His passion is writing and drawing.  The result of those two hobbies is a book called Super Botley and the 100 Little Monsters Made Out of Ink.

Nick's special education teacher, Michael Kolbinsky, helped him make this book a reality with adding the book project as part of his class work.  Nick attends the Freedom Elementary School in Middletown, Ohio.

Nick's mother believes that this will lead to Super Botley toy figures and video games in the future.

Is Super Botley tough enough to beat up both Spider-Man and Captain Underpants?

Some Things To Gather

Just a reminder to everyone that I happen to belong to a writers forum called Gather.

I have written a couple of essays in recent months.

One is called "Kurt Vonnegut  RIP.  God Bless You For The Inspiration!"

The other one is called "How Tough It Was For me Before I Was Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome."

Please, check these two out and feel free to comment about them at Gather.

Enjoy!

Another TV Legend Lost

I was sad to hear the news today on the TV that Tom Poston of "Mork & Mindy," "Newhart," "Bob," and "The Steve Allen Show" has passed away.  He was 85 years old.  He had been in show business since the 1950s and had a successful career.

In recent years, he married another TV Legend, Suzanne Pleshette.

RIP, Tom!

Tom Poston Meets The Unidentified Flying Objects on "The Steve Allen Show"



More of Tom Poston and the UFO's