text:
A few weeks ago, I quoted the YouTuber ProJared in my Gaming in American Culture essay.
The crux of my research has been the effects of Japanese Role-Playing Games on the West. In his Final Fantasy Mystic Quest video, ProJared argues that Japanese developers questioned the competence of the outside world, which led to fewer localizations.
It was a valuable insight for my piece, and I was proud to include his video alongside The Geek Critique in my research material.
YouTube has been a huge part of my life, and I try to promote creators. They don't have near the notoriety of television and movie stars, yet there is great content worth sharing.
After The Completionist, ProJared has been my favorite part of the "NormalBoots crew" for some time. I enjoyed his style, as well as his opinions on video and tabletop games.
I even recently talked about him pulling me back to the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
It's a parasocial interaction at heart. I wouldn't say I idolized him or any other YouTuber in an unhealthy way, but the respect and support I show toward those pseudo-celebrities help inspire me to create, and keep the often dreary day-to-day bearable.
This is all to say that I started from an inherently biased position in this conversation.
If you've been on Twitter, you already know about how ProJared's life imploded in a matter of hours. It's been the #1 trending topic for almost a full day.
If you're reading this in the future, you can catch up with this Kotaku article.
In spite of how public the issue has become thanks to the people involved, it's a very private affair that I honestly have no right involving myself with.
The only place I can speak from is that of a former fan whose respect for an online figure has evaporated in an unexpected instant.
A philosophical concern has been weighing heavy on me since late last night:
How much joy are you able to retain from a figure you used to respect — and followed for years — in the time before their skeletons were out of the closet?
This issues with parasocial interactions aren't new. Bill Cosby and Michael Jackson are two relatively recent examples of celebrities whose actions have begged the question, "how much we should separate the artist from their art?"
But YouTubers are more prominent for me, and tend to be "famous" in smaller communities that they interact with more to create relationships.
I've grappled with the recent downfalls of a few people I followed actively.
Just a month before ProJared, TheKingNappy (a Pokémon YouTuber of some acclaim) also received accusations that dampened my enthusiastic support and led to his disappearance from the Internet.
In each of those cases, I'm plenty willing to move on and continue supporting other wonderful creators. But that doesn't mean their removal is painless.
My immediate reaction to each scandal was almost exactly the same:
- "What will happen to Nappy's current Soul Link with ShadyPenguinn?"
Followed by…
- "There goes the rest of Jared's Super Metroid/Link to the Past randomizer."
The thoughts of a spurred fan seem uncalled for, even selfish considering the people who have been genuinely hurt in real life.
And I by no means hope to disparage the victims in these stories because "they took my favorite YouTubers away."
Yet I believe the reason these thoughts spring to mind are important.
I have given years to some of these personalities, and their current endeavors thrive because of the respect and trust they've engendered in this parasocial interaction.
ProJared's videos have meant enough to me that I thought to quote him in an academic capacity. Plus, he's also one of the main reasons I started playing Monster Hunter.
TheKingNappy, in a similar vein, introduced me to a community that has foster further love for my favorite series of video games. He's why I've played Pokémon Conquest and the GameBoy TCG title.
All of the times I've enjoyed their work and respected their opinions are still there. But now, they seem tainted — it's hard to come to terms with that.
How much can I still appreciate the time invested in retrospect?
How much can one separate the art from the artist in light of new, changed opinions?
I don't have an answer to this question. But I think it's worth posing, because my mindset has honestly contributed to the stressful situation of my last semester at college.
If anyone out there has any insight into this dilemma, I'd love to field some ideas.


text:
I've added a suggestion on User Voice to consider the possibility of categorizing up to one answer per question as Canonical — i.e. worthy of being considered the consensus complete and accurate answer. A Canonical answer would have to include a link to an authoritative source, and at least 50% of voters would need to approve of it (as opposed to another answer to the same question or a "no possible canonical answer" option).
It's probable that many, if not most, questions would never have a Canonical answer. However, when one is possible and is provided, it should be a little more golden, and making it easier to find would be valuable for searching the site.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
ACParadise Network: American Cosplay Paradise American Cosplay Experience American Cosplay Snapshots
Hi, my name is Dee or Hooded Woman. I have been cosplaying since 2004. It all started with Halloween and just grew from there!
I started by visiting only local conventions here in Florida, but have for the past several years, traveled elsewhere around the US.
I promise I won't bite, so if you have any questions about cosplay, costumes, well...anything send me a message and I'll see what I can do to help!
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- Dokudel says, "Love the group pic, Vile Tribe ftw!"
- For Royce from Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
- Shii Arisugawa says, "MOE~~ nice group!! :D"
- For Cranberry from No More Heroes
- Terranell says, "You guys look like a bunch of amazing, beautiful villain-rockstars! I really adore the shot of the three of you in the fountain. All of my love for the Vile Tribe. <3"
- For Royce from Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
- CeruleanDraco says, "AAAAHHHHH!! LUNAR~ SO GOOD 8D"
- For Royce from Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
- celsius says, "I love Dance Central and this is amazing! "
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Black History Month: Preston Taylor gave black community new options
A successful businessman and minister, Preston Taylor, born in 1849, was responsible for several Nashville institutions serving the black community.
He established Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville's second-oldest cemetery for black residents. He was co-founder of Citizens Bank, which was first launched to serve blacks, and in 1905 he created the now-defunct Greenwood Park, the first amusement park in Nashville accessible to blacks. The park at one point included a merry-go-round, roller coaster, skating rink, theater, zoo, swimming pool and baseball stadium.
During the Civil War, Taylor was a drummer boy for the Union Army at the Battle of Richmond. By the turn of the century, he'd become one of Nashville's most successful black businessmen. He was a mortician and also a minister at Gay Street Colored Christian Church. He helped persuade the state to open Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial Normal College, today known as Tennessee State University in Nashville.
In 1951, the Preston Taylor Homes public housing development in Nashville was named in his honor.


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Report says Iran nuclear weapons work continued til 2009
A new International Atomic Energy Agency report found that Iran's nuclear program included weapons-related work at least until 2009, much more recent than earlier believed.
| Istanbul
Iran has worked for years on activities related to nuclear weapons design, according to a new UN report released today that publicly reveals what it calls "credible" information about Iranian clandestine efforts.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the bulk of the work – on a host of activities that could be weapons-related, and were part of a "structured program" – was halted abruptly in late 2003.
The IAEA said a "particular concern" was information that some modeling and other critical design work continued at least until 2009.
"The application of such studies to anything other than a nuclear explosive is unclear to the Agency," the IAEA said, in a 14-page annex to its usual report on Iran's nuclear progress. "It is therefore essential that Iran engage with the Agency and provide an explanation."
The IAEA conclusions in some ways match those of the two US National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) on Iran in 2007 and earlier this year, which found that Iran had halted a weapons program in late 2003, and had made no decision to go for a bomb.
Iran has consistently rejected accusations that its nuclear power program masks a weapons effort, and has dismissed the intelligence which underlies the IAEA report – much of it first provided to the IAEA by the US six years ago – as "fabricated."
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said the report "is unbalanced, unprofessional and politically motivated."
IAEA conclusions
The IAEA reached a similar conclusion in a previous report, in which it registered "serious concerns" about "possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."
Iran's failure to address outstanding issues presented by the intelligence documents, aside from a 117-page explanation in May 2008, meant that Iran was scolded, as in the past, for "not providing the necessary cooperation."
As a result, the IAEA stated that again it is "unable to provide credible assurance... that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."
Unlike any previous IAEA document, however, the "restricted distribution" report issued today spells out for the first time the precise nature of Iranian activities that have raised such concern in Vienna.
The IAEA report states that the original tranche of more than 1,000 pages of documentation, files, presentations and videos – of a "technically complex and interconnected nature, showing research, development and testing activities over time" – has in recent years been corroborated by data from ten member states and IAEA investigations and interviews.
The initial documentation – which is known to have come largely from a laptop said by the US to have been spirited out of Iran in 2004 – involved studies that focused on a so-called green salt project, high-explosive testing, and re-engineering the warhead of a Shahab-3 missile to fit a specific payload.
In the six years that the IAEA has had access to the original data, the report stated, it has found that the green salt project was part of a larger project "to provide a source of uranium suitable for use in an undisclosed enrichment program," the product of which would be converted into metal "for use in the new warhead" design of the missile re-entry studies.
After 2008, the IAEA said it acquired more documents which established a link "between nuclear material and [the] new payload" development program.
The structured work "was stopped rather abruptly pursuant to a 'halt order' instruction issued in late 2003 by senior Iranian officials," the IAEA reports.
But staff remained in place to document their work and "subsequently, equipment and work places were either cleaned or disposed of so that there would be little to identify the sensitive nature of the work which had been undertaken."
The IAEA also charted the procurement of specialty parts, from high-speed electronic switches and high-speed cameras, to units used to trigger and fire detonators, which all have civilian applications, but "would be useful in the development of a nuclear explosive device."
The IAEA also noted that Iran has received a "similar package of information" from the illegal nuclear network of Pakistani A. Q. Khan that had been given to Libya. That information, seen in Libya by the IAEA in 2004, "included details on the design and construction of, and the manufacture of components for, a nuclear explosive device."
In 2007, the IAEA said it interviewed a member of that "clandestine" network – presumably from Pakistan, though it is not stated – who said that "Iran had been provided with nuclear explosive design information." The IAEA said it believes Iran may have received even more advanced information.
Iran also experimented with fast-acting detonators and far more sophisticated multipoint initiation systems. Iran said in 2008 that "the subject was not understandable to Iran" and no experiments had been carried, the IAEA reported. But then it listed details of just such activities that had been conducted in 2003.
In that test, the IAEA noted, the dimensions of the initiation system and explosives uses "were consistent with the dimensions for the new payload" being engineered for the Shahab-3 missile.
Such a system "can be used in a nuclear explosive device," the IAEA said, but "Iran has not been willing to engage in discussion of this topic with the Agency."
Parchin complex
The IAEA states that Iran also "has manufactured simulated nuclear explosive components using high density materials such as tungsten."
An explosives containment vessel was also created – this information confirmed by commercial satellites, and a foreign scientist reported elsewhere as a Russian – at the Parchin military complex.
Such experiments, the IAEA said, "which involve high explosives in conjunction with nuclear material or nuclear material surrogates, are strong indicators of possible weapon development."
Among other data, the IAEA described preparatory work for testing a nuclear explosive device down a deep shaft, including a document in Farsi "which relates directly to the logistics and safety arrangements that would be necessary for conducting a nuclear test."
Likewise, Iran conducted computer modeling studies of "at least 14 progressive design iterations" of the payload for the missile. Iran "refused the Agency permission to visit" the places of manufacturing the prototype parts.
While the engineering work "may be relevant" to a non-nuclear payload, the IAEA concluded, they are "highly relevant to a nuclear weapon program."


text:
Certified for Skype for Business, MB Pro 1 UC ML and MB Pro 2 UC ML are premium Bluetooth® headsets for UC business professionals who demand wireless communication freedom, brilliant sound quality, and exceptional wearing comfort.
Wearing style Headband
Frequency response (microphone) 150 Hz - 6,800 Hz
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Weight 82g / 2.89 oz
Charging time 2h 30min (50% in 40min)
Technology Bluetooth® Version 4.0 / supported profiles: HSP 1.2, HFP 1.6, A2DP 1.2
Range Up to 25 m / 82 ft
Talk time Up to 15h
Speaker type Dynamic, neodymium magnet
Included in the box:
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text:
Frank Ocean has had quite the week. "Yes," he says, smiling, with a barely perceptible shake of the head, as if in mild disbelief. Then he nods: "Yes. But also awesome." Two things have contributed to making his week awesome. There's the surprise release of his second album Channel Orange, a week before it was officially planned, which met with rabidly enthusiastic reviews comparing his idiosyncratic, narrative-heavy reimagining of soul and R&B to Prince and Stevie Wonder. Then there was the post on Tumblr in which he told, beautifully, the story of falling in love for the first time, with a man. "I don't know what happens now, and that's alrite," he wrote.
You can understand why Ocean might be feeling a little stunned. He's suddenly the most talked-about man in music, though he hasn't yet done much of the talking himself. He shuffles into a dressing room behind Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom nursing a herbal tea, and plays with it nervously, a hoodie wrapped around his neck like a scarf, before politely shaking my hand, all the time avoiding eye contact. He's 24, relatively new to all of this, and suddenly the world wants to know his business.
Right now the old formula holds true: the less you know about him, the more you want to know. He's managed to maintain a rare air of pop star mystery. "It's not formulaic," he says. "It's not me necessarily trying to preserve mystique. It's who I am. It's how I prefer to move. I really don't think that deeply about it at all, I swear I don't. I'm just existing."
'Sure, evil exists, extremism exists. Somebody could commit a hate crime and hurt me … but they could do the same just because I'm black. Do you just not go outside your house?'
There's a sense that impulse has driven Frank Ocean's career so far. He emerged from two worlds: he was a successful songwriter for the likes of Brandy, Justin Bieber and Beyoncé; and he ran with Odd Future, though always seemed more mature than their mouthier shock tactics. It could be argued with conviction that he's already eclipsed them. Packing up, broke, and driving away from his hometown of New Orleans, post-Katrina, to give it a shot as a songwriter in LA was a risk. Giving away his first album Nostalgia, Ultra for free was a risk (he put it online in 2011 without the knowledge of his label, Def Jam). Coming out was a risk.
"I won't touch on risky, because that's subjective," he says. "People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear. Me putting Nostalgia out … what's physically going to happen? Me saying what I said on my Tumblr last week? Sure, evil exists, extremism exists. Somebody could commit a hate crime and hurt me. But they could do the same just because I'm black. They could do the same just because I'm American. Do you just not go outside your house? Do you not drive your car because of the statistics? How else are you limiting your life for fear?"
Though he thinks of himself as existing outside of conventional music genres – and the broad ambition of new album Channel Orange touches on everything from Marvin Gaye to Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix – Ocean's roots are in R&B and hip-hop, neither of which are known for their nurturing attitude towards the rainbow flag. Which makes what he just did seem remarkably courageous. "I don't know," he demurs, looking down. "A lot of people have said that since that news came out. I suppose a percentage of that act was because of altruism; because I was thinking of how I wished at 13 or 14 there was somebody I looked up to who would have said something like that, who would have been transparent in that way. But there's another side of it that's just about my own sanity and my ability to feel like I'm living a life where I'm not just successful on paper, but sure that I'm happy when I wake up in the morning, and not with this freakin' boulder on my chest."
'I could have changed the words. But why? I feel it's another time now. I have no interest in contributing to that, especially with my art – the one thing that I know will outlive me'
Ocean didn't come out spontaneously, though. He wrote his letter in December 2011, to include in the sleevenotes for Channel Orange, pre-empting any potential speculation that might arise from some of its songs obviously addressing men. "I knew that I was writing in a way that people would ask questions," he explains. "I knew that my star was rising, and I knew that if I waited I would always have somebody that I respected be able to encourage me to wait longer, to not say it till who knows when." He's not one for playing the game, clearly. "It was important for me to know that when I go out on the road and I do these things, that I'm looking at people who are applauding because of an appreciation for me," he says. "I don't have many secrets, so if you know that, and you're still applauding … it may be some sort of sick validation but it was important to me. When I heard people talking about certain, you know, 'pronouns' in the writing of the record, I just wanted to – like I said on the post – offer some clarity; clarify, before the fire got too wild and the conversation became too unfocused and murky."
Later that evening, when he performs to a near-hysterical crowd, a line like "You're so buff and so strong, I'm nervous … You run my mind, boy" sounds astonishingly subversive, hammering home how rarely we hear overtly same-sex songs, no matter what the genre. Asked why he didn't fall back on the generic "you", he shrugs: "When you write a song like Forrest Gump, the subject can't be androgynous. It requires an unnecessary amount of effort. I don't fear anybody … " He laughs, making eye contact at last, his face lighting up, " … at all. So, to answer your question, yes, I could have easily changed the words. But for what? I just feel like it's just another time now. I have no interest in contributing to that, especially with my art. It's the one thing that I know will outlive me and outlive my feelings. It will outlive my depressive seasons."
These "depressive seasons", he says, have been erased suddenly by his recent catharsis, but the bleakness of his music has been one of its most notable qualities. Drake and the Weeknd have peddled urban navel-gazing for a year or two, but Frank is on another level, telling dark cinematic stories with a screenwriter's eye for character. Nostalgia, Ultra was full of unhappy souls: songs which initially appear to be sexy slow jams crumble under the weight of despair; take the refrain of Novocaine, "fuck me good, fuck me long, fuck me numb", that final adverb joining grief to lust. Channel Orange has a fascination with decadence in the midst of decline, but its protagonists are equally sad and lost. The album's narratives take in drug addicts, strippers, but also rich kids ruined by consumerism who end up dead or, at the least, on the receiving end of some vicious sarcasm: "Why see the world when you got the beach?" he sings on Sweet Life.
'My grandfather was a mentor for NA and AA groups. I used to go to the meetings and hear the addicts: heroin and crack and alcohol. Stories like that influence a song like Crack Rock'
Ocean is unsure about what draws him to the darker side. "I honestly couldn't tell you," he finally says, after a long silence. "I would say, those were the colours I had to work with on those days." Is it drawn from experience? "Absolutely. I mean, 'experience' is an interesting word. I just bear witness. For a song like Crack Rock, my grandfather, who had struggled to be a father for my mum and my uncle … his second chance at fatherhood was me. In his early-20s, he had a host of problems with addiction and substance abuse. When I knew him, he was a mentor for the NA and the AA groups. I used to go to the meetings and hear these stories from the addicts – heroin and crack and alcohol. So stories like that influence a song like that." Some of his narratives are pure fantasy, he says. In the case of Pyramids' epic first half this isn't too surprising – it takes place in ancient Egypt – but that, too, twists itself into the story of a stripper providing for a pimp, and turns out to be rooted in real life. "I have actual pimps in my family in LA," he chuckles. "It was fantasy built off that dynamic … but you can only write what you know to a point."
The attention to detail that goes into his songs is astonishing. He sings Crack Rock with a hint of fractured breathiness that his sound engineer tried to iron out. "He said, 'Are we really going to let this slide?' And I was like, 'Yes, because that's how a smoker would sing.'" Music, more than any other art form, demands autobiography: we want our singers to be giving us authentic love or pain; we want to believe it's first-hand. Fortunately, Frank Ocean is a natural-born storyteller.
When he talks about his music – how this bit here was influenced by Sly And The Family Stone, why that vocal retake happened, even the dying business model the industry is built on – he looks up, becoming animated, lively, and less shy. It would be easy to think that he's reluctant to be famous – Vancouver tonight marks only his 10th solo gig – but when he left New Orleans in 2005, he changed his name from Lonny Breaux to Frank Ocean because he decided it would look better on magazine covers. (He also cares enough to have personally authorised the cover image for this week's Guardian Guide.)
"I've always wanted to make a career in the arts, and I think that my only hope at doing that is to make it more about the work," he says. But he could have been a successful songwriter anonymously – if it's all about the music, why step out from behind the pen? "I enjoy singing my songs in front of people. I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that. I wouldn't be a part of [it] if I was just writing songs for others. And I said more about the music," he grins, lest there be any doubt that he intends to be a star.
The journalist's flight to Vancouver was paid for by Universal Records


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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/12/22/art.parker.gi.jpg caption="Griffith is switching to the Republican Party."]Washington (CNN) - Sources confirm to CNN that Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith will announce Tuesday that he's switching parties and will run for re-election next year as a Republican.
The freshman lawmaker represents Alabama's 5th Congressional District. Griffith won his seat last year by 3 points over Republican Wayne Parker. But the district went for Republican John McCain over Barack Obama by 23 points in the presidential election.
The Republican source was familiar with the decision but didn't want to preempt the announcement later Tuesday. The story was first reported by Politico. A Democratic aide also tells CNN Griffith is holding a staff meeting Tuesday morning to inform his staff of his decision, and will make a formal announcement at 2 p.m. ET.
Griffith was one of 39 Democrats who voted against the party's health care reform bill last month. His is only one of three Democrats to have voted against the health care bill, the stimulus measure, and the cap-and-trade bill.
Griffith pledged in August he would vote against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Speaker next session.
With Griffith's switch of parties, the Democrats will hold a 257-178 advantage in the House of Representatives.
- CNN's Evan Glass and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this story
Come on Heath. If Alabama can do it, so can North Carolina.
Parker Griffith? With a name like that, I am surpirsed he wasn' t already a Republican!
The PROOF will not be in his label of DEMOcrat or Republican, it will be in ACTIONS. It's never been more true than now that ACTIONS speak louder than words. We've heard the words of Prez ObeyMe, Nutcy Pelosi and Hairless Reid, among others, who have LIED, CHEATED, EXTORTED and BULLIED others into cramming bad legislation down our unwilling throats...We want people in Congress to get back to basics, SMALLer government, LESS taxation, LESS spending and MORE personal freedoms...
Remember, folks, he is running in Alabama. The last time they had a Democrat from that district was when LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with no Southern Democrat and a lot of Republican support. The Republicans then offered the Southern Democrats home in their party. Talk about a three-finger gagger!
What if they manage to unseat Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and replace her with someone who has a clue. Then will Griffith stay with the Democrats? If not, how will it feel to be the most junior member of the minority party?
It is called "Self-Preservation" and doing what ever it takes to stay in office. Congressman Parker Griffith knows that after winning his Republican district by 3-points in the previous race, he can only hope to win his district which is full of Tea-Baggers by putting on a Red Republican coat.
He's a first-term Democrat (in name only) from ALABAMA...what would you expect? The GOP owns the Deep South and visca-versa. They were meant for each other!
I love those "open minded" liberals who chose to respond to this story by showing their bigotry and trashing the state of Alabama and the South in general
The same state that birthed such Americans as Harper Lee, Hank Aaron, and Rosa Parks.
Disgusting. You should be ashamed.
Well, I guess the people who voted him in are not going to vote him back in for re-election right?
Most of the American people will be abandoning the socialist Democrats in 2010 and 2012, and maybe for a long time. They are committing suicide with this bill and others they are supporting. According to Rasmussen Obama's disaproval numbers have shot up to 56% since he BOUGHT the 60 votes and he has an approval index of -21. The mandate last year was to fix the economy, not socialize the country. They've ignored all the polls, the town halls, the tea parties, and the NJ and VA elections. Lets see if they can ignore the election results in 11 months when the Dems are sent packing. The good news is the bill can be undone before it goes into effext in 4 yrs.
Wow...I didn't hear the Dems all whining and complaining when Sen Arlen Specter did the same, except it was to the Democratic party. Will one of you liberal democrats please tell where exactly your hypocrisy ends?
He'll be back. Alabama doesn't rank very high in terms of education, but even ignorant people will eventually understand that paying lower healthcare insurance premiums leaves them with more money to spend on other things like guns, TV's and BBQ. Once this goes into effect, Alabamans will be wondering why they bought in to the GOP's mis-information campaign to protect Big Insurance. Parker – You could have been a hero to the working poor of Alabama. How much did Healthsouth have to contribute to your campaign?
Republicans get over it you have lost! and will not win 2010 With 35 million people uninsured, No !!American should die simply because they don't have health insurance , The 35 millions is not going to volt for you ?
Good Job Mr. Griffith it is much better to be part of the minority than to be part of a party that takes bribes to pass legislation on 1/6th of the nations economy on a striaght party line vote. Goodbye Sen. Nelson from Nebraska your time is almost over in the Senate.
Look at all that hate from the left!
It's in their usernames..
Jim Jeffords anybody? His defection actually cost the Republicans the majority. Libs seemed to approve of that defection.
I love seeing them cry now over a mere single congressman...Keep spouting your sterotypes of the south..The only bigots here are Liberals
He jumped to save his job.
The bashing of the state of Alabama is amazing!!! FYI Madison County has more PHD's per capita then any other county in the U.S. We are educated and sick of liberals telling us what to do with our lives. Sorry that we are hard working, God fearing, family oriented people. Griffith switched parties because liberals stand for nothing but having more government run your life!!!!!


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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Who knew that all this time Ohio used the regular season as a warm-up act?
The Bobcats' time to shine is March.
The MAC Tournament champion Bobcats, who had a losing record in conference play, have found their way in the only month that matters and now boast an NCAA Tournament win for the first time in 27 years.
Georgetown might want to skip the tourney next time it's in Providence.
Armon Bassett scored 32 points to lead the 14th-seeded Bobcats to a convincing 97-83 win over the Hoyas in the Midwest Regional.
How about a standing O for Ohio?
"We may not be a better team, just got to be a better team on a given night," Bassett said.
In early March, no one expected Ohio (22-14) to be in this position. The team had just finished a 7-9 season in Mid-American Conference play and entered the conference tournament as the ninth seed.
Four wins later, Ohio was in the 65-team field.
Forty minutes later, the Bobcats are in the second round.
Coach John Groce wouldn't call it the biggest win in team history.
"I certainly think it's one of them," he said. "What it does more than anything is, I think it gives tremendous belief with our guys in what we're doing, in our system."
Ohio seized the lead early on its 3-point shooting and never had a serious letdown the rest of the way. The Hoyas (23-11) made a small run in the second half that cut a 19-point lead down to seven.
No worries. D.J. Cooper, who scored 23 points, made a 3 to the delight of all those green-clad fans who made the trip and cheered them on the whole way. The Bobcats cruised from there and have won six straight games.
Ohio joined Murray State, which knocked off Vanderbilt, 66-65, at the buzzer, as the two big upset winners Thursday.
"There were some times where the only people that really believed in what we were doing and where we were headed were the guys in our locker room and our administration," Groce said.
Chris Wright led the third-seeded Hoyas (23-11) with 28 points.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III said a day earlier his team was playing their best basketball of the season. It certainly didn't extend into the tournament opener.
The Hoyas looked sensational in winning the first three games of the Big East Tournament, before losing to West Virginia in the championship, and appeared to have positioned themselves as a legitimate Final Four threat.
It wasn't to be.
"We really thought we could make some noise in this tournament," Georgetown guard Austin Freeman said. "We really didn't imagine we would be one-and-done."
The Hoyas had a rough time in Providence back in 1989, too, when they narrowly beat No. 16 seed Princeton, 50-49. At least they won in '89.
This time the Hoyas were flustered and frustrated throughout. When Greg Monroe was on his back after being whistled for an offense foul, he pounded the court in disbelief and anger.
Monroe had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Hollis Thompson scored 16 points.
Monroe, the 6-foot-11 center with NBA prospects, appeared to lean toward returning for his junior season.
"I'm ready to go back and see how I can help my team next year," he said.
The Big East took a beating on Thursday with the Hoyas and sixth-seeded Marquette both losing. Notre Dame also lost to Old Dominion. Second-seeded Villanova needed overtime to eke past Robert Morris earlier in the day in Providence – the Big East's headquarters.
Bassett, the MAC Tournament MVP, made it look easy. After a 3-pointer made it 39-26, he just turned toward the crowd with a shrug and smiled.
Ohio led by 12 at halftime and kept on rolling. Cooper picked Georgetown's Jason Clark clean, sprinted toward the basket and tossed the ball backward high over his head where a streaking DeVaughn Washington slammed home the alley-oop in the play of the game.
The Bobcats have something to show for a turbulent season. They opened conference play with four straight losses, lost one player for the season with a broken hand and Washington was suspended five games for team violations. Groce even kicked a player off the team.
"I'm excited for our guys with everything they've been through," Groce said.


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International Dissemination Conference - Forensic DNA analysis in the light of the new security needs
The European Forensic Genetics Network of Excellence - EUROFORGEN-NoE - held its International Dissemination Conference Forensic DNA analysis in the light of the new security needs on 23rd June 2016 in Venice, in connection with the Intersocietal Symposium of the International Academy of Legal Medicine (IALM).
Experts from various fields joined us to discuss current challenges and chances in forensic genetics.
The EUROFORGEN-NoE Consortium gave a broad overview about the research and networking activities carried out within the EU-funded project and discussed scientific, legal and societal developments in the context of the application of forensic genetics to the administration of justice.
Please find additional details in our latest newsletter (issue 3/2016). More information as well as a conference video will follow!


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Per The Hill, Mueller's Russian novel is taking yet another plot twist: Deripaska is an oligarch who hired, fired and sued Manafort and may be a witness against him.
But now we learn that in 2009 the FBI worked with Deripaska and let him finance an attempt to rescue an FBI agent from Iran. OK, I like where there head was but they liked Deripaska for this becasue he had business in Iran and (probably like a lot of his peers) had underworld connections. Those connections led to State Department travel restrictions and eventual US sanctions, but now he is on Mueller's side against Manafort? I can't tell the colluders without a scorecard.
And a Bonus Baffler - was subcontracting to Deripaska even legal?
Melanie Sloan, a former Clinton Justice Department lawyer and longtime ethics watchdog, told me a "far more significant issue" is whether the earlier FBI operation was even legal: "It's possible the bureau's arrangement with Mr. Deripaska violated the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits the government from accepting voluntary services."
George Washington University constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley agreed: "If the operation with Deripaska contravened federal law, this figure could be viewed as a potential embarrassment for Mueller. The question is whether he could implicate Mueller in an impropriety."
Now that sources have unmasked the Deripaska story, time will tell whether the courts, Justice, Congress or a defendant formally questions if Mueller is conflicted.
Mini-bafflers - was the Antideficiency Act invoked as part of the Iran-Contra debacle, with arms, hostages and cash moving off-book? [Yes, cameo appearances] And why is it always Iran? C'mon, send better baddies!
MORE: The Hill linked to a long Dec 13, 2013 NY Times piece about the FBI agent, Robert Levinson, who had specialized in Russian organized crime. In their telling he retired from the FBI in 1998 in order to make more money in the private investigations sector; he then re-aligned with the CIA as a consultant in 2006.
The Deripaska connection:
By mid-2008, the F.B.I. was fully engaged in the hunt. At that time, two F.B.I. agents met at a Paris hotel with a powerful new player who became secretly involved in the effort: Oleg Deripaska, one of Russia's wealthiest businessmen.Mr. Deripaska's entry into the case held great promise. He headed an international mining and metals empire with business ties to Iran.
His involvement also came with a price. The State Department had refused Mr. Deripaska a visa because of allegations linking him to organized crime — accusations he has denied. But Mr. Birshtein, the Toronto businessman, had approached the F.B.I. with a plan: He would persuade Mr. Deripaska to join the search and, if they succeeded, both would get their entry problems resolved.
Mr. Deripaska said he would put up millions to fund the venture, but he insisted that his role be kept secret. However, word that big money was in play made its way to Iran. Suddenly, a man with family connection
s to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted that he could engineer Mr. Levinson's release for a hefty price. F.B.I. officials were so confident about the plan that they told Mrs. Levinson to stay by the phone for a call from her husband. It never came.
Mr. Deripaska, who was scheduled to meet in 2009 with bankers in the United States, wanted to collect on his end of the deal. The State Department, after two heated meetings with Justice Department officials, refused to issue him a visa, according to government officials. The F.B.I., hoping to keep him in the game, made an end-run around State Department officials and issued him a visa under a special program, allowing him to enter the country twice.
In 2010, during a visit to New York, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then the president of Iran, was asked about Mr. Levinson by reporters. He said his government knew nothing of the former agent's fate but offered to help find him.


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Next: Agent as Cache, Previous: Agent Commands, Up: Gnus Unplugged [Contents][Index]
If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
something like '[Undownloaded article #####]'. These are
placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
placeholders if you care (See
While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another way, "If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a less than satisfying unplugged session". For this reason, the Agent adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display the download status of each article so that you always know which articles will be available when unplugged.
The first visual effect is the '%O' spec. If you customize
gnus-summary-line-format to include this specifier, you will add
a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
will display
gnus-downloaded-mark (defaults to '+'). All
other articles will display
gnus-undownloaded-mark (defaults to
'-'). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
(' ') will be displayed.
The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
face names (See
gnus-summary-highlight). Each condition is
tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
undownloaded faces by setting the
group parameter to
t. This parameter, like all other agent
parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (see Agent Categories),
a Group Topic (see Topic Parameters), or an individual group
(see Group Parameters).
The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
is the '%F' format available in
This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when "agent
expiring" articles.
Next: Agent as Cache, Previous: Agent Commands, Up: Gnus Unplugged [Contents][Index]


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Sep 18, 2013 (SPX)
Cape Canaveral - The third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communication satellite, built by a Lockheed Martin team for the U.S. Air Force, was successfully launched today at 4:10 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. Lockheed Martin confirmed signal acquisition at 51 minutes after launch.
The AEHF system provides vastly improved global, survivable, highly secure, protected communications for strategic command and tactical warfighters operating on ground, sea and air platforms.
The system also serves international partners including Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
"The successful launch of the third AEHF satellite is a significant accomplishment for the nation's protected communications mission," said Mark Calassa, vice president of Protected Communication Systems at Lockheed Martin.
"AEHF is functioning well in tests, and allies are connecting to the system for the first time. It shows that our product is meeting mission needs, and we have room to expand capacity for both tactical and strategic users in the future."
AEHF takes advantage of several Lockheed Martin capabilities to deliver six satellites and a mission control segment. Lockheed Martin contributed payload system engineering, mission control ground software, solar arrays and the A2100 spacecraft bus, which is a dependable and low-risk platform for commercial, civil and military satellites.
Both AEHF-1 and AEHF-2 are on orbit, and AEHF-4 through -6 are progressing on schedule. All satellites are assembled at the company's Sunnyvale, Calif., facility.
A single AEHF satellite provides greater total capacity than the entire legacy five-satellite Milstar constellation. Individual user data rates will increase five-fold, permitting transmission of tactical military communications, such as real-time video, battlefield maps and targeting data.
In addition to its tactical mission, AEHF provides the critical survivable, protected and endurable communications links to national leaders, including presidential conferencing in all levels of conflict.
commenter cet article …


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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/10/art.boehner.gi.jpg caption ="House minority leader John Boehner is stepping up criticism of his Democratic colleagues."]
(Updates with Democratic response)
(CNN) – House Minority Leader John Boehner is stepping up criticism of his Democratic colleagues, telling the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that "they're snuffing out the America that I grew up in."
Boehner's comments are the latest indication the Ohio Republican is aggressively setting his sights on the November elections as it appears increasingly possible his party could take control of the House.
"Right now, we've got more Americans engaged in their government than at any time in our history," he told the paper in comments published Tuesday. "There's a political rebellion brewing, and I don't think we've seen anything like it since 1776."
But Boehner, who most certainly would become speaker next year should the GOP take control of the chamber, stopped short of predicting Republicans will gain the 40 seats necessary to oust Democrats from control.
"The American people have written off the Democrats," he said. "They're willing to look at us again."
The top House Republican also previewed the GOP's top priorities should he take control of the speaker's gavel, including a repeal of the recently passed health care legislation.
"We are going to do everything we can to make sure that this law and this program never really takes effect," Boehner said. "One option would be to repeal the $534 billion in Medicare cuts, which pay for more than half of the law's provisions. "They're going to need money from the Congress to hire these 20,000-plus bureaucrats they need to hire to make this program work. They're not going to get one dime from us."
Boehner also suggested raising the social security retirement age to 70 for those who have at least 20 years left before retirement as a possible way to finance the ongoing wars
"We need to look at the American people and explain to them that we're broke," he said. "If you have substantial non-Social Security income while you're retired, why are we paying you at a time when we're broke? We just need to be honest with people."
In a statement released Tuesday, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen said Boehner's comments are "a wake-up call to the American people about the dangers of turning back the clock to a Republican Congress."
Of course we are snuffing out the racist, misogynistic America that you grew up. We sure don't want that back.
Your just mad because Obama is keeping the public safer than Bush ever did, and the public isn't going to respond to your normal fear mongering tactics.
We've already seen the America you want others to grow up in Senator Boehner....Rising deficits....tax breaks for the rich......higher gas prices as you benefit Oil companies....higher inflation controled by the coporate structure putting the American middle class in your "serf" system.....No thanks...............
The GOP will not gain control of any chamber in 2010. The GOP will not win the Presidential election in 2012......Hell NO !!!! Remember those words Senator ??? Hell NO !!!!


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- What is Autism?
- What is the Autism Spectrum?
- What is Asperger's Syndrome?
- What are sensory issues?
- Do Autistic people have empathy?
- Who discovered Autism?
- What causes Autism?
- Is there a cure for Autism?
- What treatments, therapies, or interventions are available for Autistic children and adults?
- What services or accommodations do Autistic students often need or receive in schools?
- What kind of employment opportunities do Autistic people have?
- What kind of research is being done about Autism?
- What organizations represent people interested in or connected to Autism?
- Who comprises the "Autism" or "Autistic" communities?
- Who are self-advocates?
- How should I refer to people affected by Autism?
- What about all this disagreement/arguing/vitriol/tension/hate I see online?
- Why do you capitalize Autistic and sometimes capitalize Autism?
- What is neurodiversity?
- Are Autistic people more likely to be violent or commit violent crimes than non-Autistic people?
- Where can I learn more?
1. What is Autism?
Autism is a neurological, pervasive developmental condition. It is a disability. It is usually considered a disorder. It is not a disease. It is a lifelong condition that spans from infancy to adulthood. Autistic people usually share a variety of characteristics, including significant differences in information processing, sensory processing, communication abilities or styles, social skills, and learning styles.
Some Autistic people are non-speaking (and may be called nonverbal). These people cannot use typical speech to communicate. They often use Adaptive and Augmentative Communication (AAC) devices, keyboards/typing, picture cards, whiteboards, or American Sign Language to communicate instead. Some Autistic people begin to develop normal speech in childhood and later regress and lose some or all speech. Other Autistic people develop limited speech. Still other Autistic people never develop speech at all. Other Autistic people are highly verbal and able to communicate using speech. Some Autistic people develop precocious vocabularies in early childhood.
Many Autistic people engage in self-stimulating behaviors called "stims" or "stimming." Stimming can take many forms. Stereotyped stims are hand or arm flapping and rocking, although stimming can also include pacing, other body movements, verbal stims (repeating certain phrases, humming, singing certain songs), or tactile stimming (rubbing a piece of cloth.) Stimming is a natural response to cope with overwhelming emotions, such as joy, anxiety, anger, or sadness. It is also a coping mechanism for sensory overload--more on that with question 4.
Autistic people tend to understand language literally and explicitly. Idioms are difficult for us to understand. We tend to be very truthful or honest, sometimes even to the point of extreme bluntness. For those of us who have high levels of verbal abilities, the social or pragmatic aspect of language is extremely difficult for us to learn -- and it has to be taught. It is not intuitive, automatic, or natural for us. We find it an entire foreign culture. We can easily come across as arrogant, rude, self-centered, or mean, and will rarely be aware of this unless informed directly. Autistic people have great difficulties with nonverbal communication such as facial expressions and body language, and have trouble understanding social subtleties and subtext.
Autistic people also rely heavily on routine, sameness, or being able to expect something to be or occur a certain way. When a routine is altered or disrupted, an Autistic person may have a meltdown, experience severe anxiety, and will have extreme difficulty adapting to the change.
Some Autistic people are able to live independently, complete post-secondary education (such as university or technical training), and obtain and keep meaningful, competitive employment. Other Autistic people can only do these things with supported employment or living services, or extensive supports in the educational setting. Still other Autistic people may need to live in a group home setting or with a family member or full-time caregiver for the rest of their lives. Many Autistic adults are underemployed or unemployed because they do not have access to appropriate and necessary supported employment services.
Some Autistic people also have co-occurring conditions of mental illness (such as bipolar disorder), behavioral or mood disorder (such as clinical depression or Tourette's Syndrome), learning disability (such as dyscalcula), or intellectual disability (formerly called mental retardation.) Many Autistic people also have conditions like Executive Function Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder (formerly called Sensory Integration Disorder), prosopagnosia (face blindness), dyspraxia, synesthesia, anxiety disorders, and learning disabilities.
Some Autistic people are misdiagnosed or given simultaneous diagnoses with various conditions like Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or intellectual disability.
The most important thing to remember about Autism is that each individual is truly an individual. No two Autistic people are alike. At best, we share many similar characters, but we have our own personalities, interests, wishes, hopes, dreams, and fears. We also have different neurological and psychological profiles.
2. What is the Autism Spectrum?
The Autism Spectrum, or Autistic Spectrum, is an informal name used both by clinicians and laypeople to describe the variation in phenotype of Autistic children and adults. It is also used to refer to a set of distinct diagnoses used by clinicians that are considered part of the larger Autism umbrella. Some people dislike this terminology and feel that Autism is not a sliding scale or gradient; other people dislike this terminology because they do not consider most highly verbal Autistics to be truly Autistic. Autism Spectrum Disorder is often abbreviated to ASD.
The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes a Diagnostical and Statistical Manual. The current DSM is the DSM-IV, published in 1994. It considers three conditions to be "Autism Spectrum Disorders." Those conditions are Autistic disorder (also called Kanner's Autism or Classic Autism), Asperger disorder (also called Asperger's Syndrome), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not-Otherwise-Specified (PDD-NOS).
Many people consider Rett's Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and Nonverbal Learning Disorder to be Autism Spectrum Disorders or related to Autism.
Some people use terms like "high functioning autism" and "low functioning autism" to differentiate between Autistic people who have higher speaking abilities and Autistic people who have lower speaking abilities; however, some people object to the use of these terms as demeaning and offensive. Others insist that these terms are necessary to understand the full breadth of the spectrum.
3. What is Asperger's Syndrome?
Asperger's Syndrome is one of the three Autism Spectrum Disorders identified in the DSM-IV. It is also called Asperger Disorder or Asperger's Disorder. (Often, people misspell it Aspberger, Aspburger, or Asberger.) Asperger Disorder was added to the DSM-IV in 1994. The only difference in diagnostic criteria between Asperger's and Autistic Disorder is "no clinically significant delay in development of language." This has usually been understood to mean that people who begin to use speech by a normal age would be diagnosed with Asperger's, whereas people who do not use speech by a normal age would receive an Autistic disorder diagnosis.
In practice, the terms "high functioning autism" and "Asperger's" are used interchangeably, and many people receive both labels. Some people take issue with this distinction, and claim that there is no true validity behind it. They point to the extreme delay in acquisition of social or pragmatic use of language in people with Asperger's as a clinically significant delay in language, thus invalidating the criteria of "no clinically significant delay in language."
In the DSM-5 (the APA changed from Roman numerals to Arabic ones), to be released in 2013 (if I'm not mistaken), the separate three diagnoses of Autistic disorder, Asperger disorder, and PDD-NOS will be removed and replaced with the single diagnosis "Autism spectrum disorder." This proposed change has generated a lot of controversy. Some people are afraid that non-speaking Autistics with lower levels of adaptive functioning skills will be overlooked with the more inclusive criteria, whereas others are afraid that highly verbal Autistics who often have higher levels of adaptive functioning skills will be overlooked with the more inclusive criteria. Others support the change.
4. What are sensory issues?
Sensory issues are caused by Sensory Processing Disorder, formerly called Sensory Integration Disorder. Almost all Autistic people have varying degrees of sensory sensitivity. Sensory issues fall into two primary categories: hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity. Hypersensitivity is when a person is extra-sensitive to certain stimuli; hyposensitivity is when a person seems to be much less affected by certain stimuli. SPD affects all five senses, and it affects everyone differently.
Most Autistic people have aversions to light touch, such as patting the back, stroking hair, or poking, and may reflexively lash out at someone or something making such contact. Many Autistic people have light sensitivity -- to the humming or flickering of fluorescent lights, or to too dim or too bright lighting. Other Autistic people have severe olfactory sensitivity -- and will not eat certain foods or will develop headaches or other problems around certain smells, like cleaning products, wipes, or perfumes.
Too much sensory overstimulation can lead to sensory overload -- a debilitating state in which the affected person is unable to process or respond to any sensory stimuli, including social interaction. I always compare sensory overload to having the infamous "blue screen of death" that Windows PCs get but in my brain--my neurological functions. It is a very painful, inhibiting state. Sensory overload often happens at places like concerts, crowded social events (such as parties or dances), schools, hospitals, or police stations. These sensory issues can make it hard for Autistic children and adults to experience meaningful inclusion.
Some people are better at coping with sensory issues than others. Coping skills are learned, often by trial and error, and sometimes with familial or professional assistance. Many Autistics learn coping skills from one another.
5. Do Autistic people have empathy?
Yes, we do. There was a misconception perpetuated for several decades -- and still fueled by some people today -- that Autistic people are not capable of empathy or empathizing with other people. One of the most common characteristics of Autism is a deficit in the ability to understand nonverbal forms of communication -- including tone or pitch of voice, word choice (such as idioms, colloquialisms, and metaphors), facial expressions, body language, and other subtle communications. Because of that, most Autistic people have a hard time accurately expressing their own thoughts, feelings, or opinions using nonverbal forms of communication. We also have trouble identifying the emotions of others based on subtext or body language.
Therefore, while we have empathy (and a 2009 study showed that Autistic people not only have empathy, but in certain cases, had more empathy on average than non-Autistic people), we may not recognize when to express empathy for someone else, nor will we express it in a way that is expected in the rest of society.
Many Autistic people have a very strong sense of justice -- of right and wrong, and of fairness. Many Autistic people deeply experience sadness, tragedy, and anger at events recounted on the news -- famines, war, genocide, terrorist attacks, or other violent crimes.
6. Who discovered Autism?
American psychiatrist Leo Kanner published a paper called Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact in 1943 in the English language. In 1944, Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger published a paper called Die "Autistischen Psychopathen" im Kindesalter (Autistic Psychopathy in Children) in 1944 in the German language. Kanner's research was widely recognized and dominated the field of autism, while Asperger's research, conducted under a Nazi-controlled government during World War II, would not be available in English until the 1980 translation by Lorna Wing.
Later researchers included Bruno Bettelheim, who supported the later disproven theory that mothers caused Autism when they did not love their children, and Bernard Rimland, who railed against Bettelheim and devoted his life to finding a cure for Autism. There was Ivar Lovaas, the clinical psychologist who advocated a behaviorist theory, that would later develop into Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), and Eric Schopler, the psychologist who developed the TEACCH program as an alternative to ABA. (More on those later, on question 9.)
7. What causes Autism?
No one knows with certainty the exact cause of Autism. The generally accepted theory is that the cause is complex genetic factors. Multiple studies on twins and families suggest that Autism is genetic, and that multiple genes and parts of several chromosomes are involved in producing phenotypic traits of Autism in an individual.
There are many less credible theories about environmental causes, such as the vaccine-causation hypothesis, which stems from a 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield. He was a doctor before he was stripped of his license to practice for malpractice. Of the other twelve authors of his paper, eleven recanted their names from the paper claiming a link between the Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR) vaccine and Autism. The Lancet, the journal that originally published the paper, published an official retraction fairly recently -- either in late 2010 or early 2011. Other theories were that thimerosal or mercury in vaccines causes Autism. There is no scientifically valid evidence to support this theory.
8. Is there a cure for Autism?
Some people, mostly the parents of Autistic people, advocate very strongly for a cure for Autism, although this also includes some Autistic people. Other people, mostly (but not entirely) Autistic people, advocate very strongly against a cure for Autism. Nevertheless, despite the merits and faults of both sides of this often heated debate, there is no currently known or available "cure" for Autism. People who claim to be able to "cure" Autism are frauds and quacks. Almost all of us, whether or not we want a cure, agree on that.
Some people do, however, claim that it is possible to "recover" from Autism; these people are usually professionals who work with Autistic children and adults. Other people prefer to discuss "passing," in which an Autistic person has learned how to appear more non-Autistic, thus "passing" for normal. The concept of "recovery" generates more controversy than the concept of "passing."
9. What treatments, therapies, or interventions are available for Autistic children and adults?
Oh boy. There is a long, long list of common treatments, therapies, and interventions people often seek or use. Here is a brief and certainly not exhaustive or complete listing:
- Speech pathology/therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Physical therapy
- Psychotherapy
- Applied Behavioral Analysis
- Floortime
- Social skills classes
- Gluten-free/Casein-free diet
- Medications (usually for co-occurring conditions)
- Mentoring
- Daily Life therapy
10. What services or accommodations do Autistic students often need or receive in schools?
When drafting an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 plan, consider the student's sensory, social, and communication needs in addition to any specific learning disabilities (or giftedness!) that the student may have. Consider both strengths and weaknesses. Encourage and give concrete tools for developing the student's strengths, and mitigate and accommodate the disability wherever possible.
Allow for sensory breaks if necessary. Allow a student to walk around a room during a test or to stim during potentially stressful situations. Give visual aids, both for schedules and for assignments and class material. Establish and keep a strict routine. Give specific, explicit instructions for assignments both in-class and outside of class. Create measures to prevent and address bullying. Implement a strategy for meaningful inclusion and integration of the student with the mainstream.
11. What kind of employment opportunities do Autistic people have?
Commensurate with an individual's actual abilities and skills, it depends on the level of education the person has as well as the types of support needed during the hiring process or during employment, and whether those supports are available. If an individual receives effective job-coaching, interview coaching, and support in navigating the complex social barriers of "office politics," then he or she will probably do far better than an Autistic person who has not received these same supports.
There are a large number of Autistic people who have advanced degrees but who are unable to obtain or keep a job due to severe deficits in social and communication abilities, or, in some cases, discrimination by the employer on the basis of Autism-related difficulties. The majority of Autistic adults are unemployed for a myriad of reasons.
Autistic people do well when working in a field related to an interest of theirs, not required to participate in a lot of inter-personal interactions, and when given specific, explicit goals or instructions. Autistic people have worked in offices, as professors, in the information technology field, as artists, as teachers, as engineers, as lawyers, as authors, as nonprofit managers, as cashiers, as accountants, as linguists... and more.
12. What kind of research is being done about Autism?
There are three primary types of research: biomedical research into the causes and potential cure for autism, psychological research into the characteristics of Autistic people, and social research into social issues facing Autistic people in the real world, such as housing, education, employment, and inclusion. The vast majority of research falls into the first category, with a significant amount of research in the second category. Very little research is done from the third category. You can learn more from the Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership In Research and Education, which is partnered with Autistic adults (most of whom are opposed to curing Autism), and the Autism Research Institute, which seeks to find a cure for Autism.
13. What organizations represent people interested in or connected to Autism?
See question 21, the last two bullet points, for a list with links.
14. Who comprises the "Autism" or "Autistic" communities?
The "Autism community" is usually understood to mean anyone affected by or having a professional interest in Autism. That usually means the parents of Autistic people (and other family members, like siblings, or spouses), lay advocates, special education attorneys, researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and Autistic people. Some people make a differentiation between "Autism community" to mean everyone other than Autistic people, and "Autistic community" to mean exclusively Autistic people. The default is to use "Autism community."
15. Who are self-advocates?
Self-advocates are typically Autistic youth and adults. Some self-advocates are non-speaking and use non-traditional methods to communicate; other self-advocates are highly verbal and articulate using typical speech. Some self-advocates have extensive supportive services, whereas others are nearly entirely self-sufficient. Self-advocates have received the gamut of possible diagnoses and other labels, including low-functioning, high-functioning, Autism, Asperger's, and intellectual disability/mental retardation.
16. How should I refer to people affected by Autism?
Depends on whom you ask! Some of us prefer the terminology Autistic person or Autistic, whereas other people prefer to say person with autism. Still others use the more neutral person on the autism spectrum. The philosophies and beliefs behind the arguments for these terms center around the social and attitudinal implications of the language. People who prefer Autistic tend to see Autism as an important and defining aspect of the person's identity, whereas people who prefer person with autism tend to see autism as something that should be mitigated as much as possible and that does not impact the person's identity on that fundamental level.
The most neutral way to refer to people is to say "on the autism spectrum" or "on the spectrum." This avoids a potential inflammatory response.
17. What about all this disagreement/arguing/vitriol/tension/hate I see online?
Unfortunately, there is a lot of vitriol among the members of the Autism community. The "battle lines" usually center along the following debates or controversies:
- Those who support a cure for Autism, and those who oppose a cure for Autism
- Those who believe vaccines cause Autism, and those who believe vaccines do not cause Autism
- Those who support the work of self-advocates to represent Autistics, and those who believe that parents are the only ones who can speak for their Autistic children
- Many (but not all) parents of Autistic children (usually non-speaking), and many (but not all) self-advocates
- Those who support the use of shock aversives, and those who do not
- Those who believe an individual can "recover" from Autism, and those who do not
- Those who prefer "evidenced-based" interventions or therapies, and those who prefer non-traditional treatments
These disagreements, which are always personal and deeply emotional for all involved, often result in fighting, nasty exchanges of insults, and hurt feelings on internet forums, blogs, and social networking sites, as well as occasionally in person. No one "side" is entirely culpable for all of the hatred. I have seen other Autistics spew hatred as often as I have seen the parents of Autistic children spew hatred (which is, sadly, a lot.) It is very easy for those of us in the Autism community to be upset, personally offended, and enraged enough to want to go on a personal rampage against the other person.
18. Why do you capitalize Autistic and sometimes capitalize Autism?
I capitalize the word "Autistic" as if it were a proper adjective, for the same reason the Deaf and Blind communities capitalize the respective adjectives "Deaf" and "Blind." We do it for the same reason Black people often capitalize that word. We capitalize it as a proper adjective or noun to represent our community and our identity.
I am inconsistent about capitalizing Autism, and do it on occasion, such as on this page.
19. What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity is the idea that certain conditions, including Autism, are natural variations of the human genome, and are not defects that need to be fixed. Neurodiversity says that the ability of an individual should be augmented and supported, and the disability should be mitigated and accommodated. It says that the value or worth of the individual is not less because of Autism, and that Autism is an important and valuable aspect of a person's identity.
Historically speaking, neurodiversity is an extension of the Disability Rights Movement of the 1970s, which advocates the civil rights model of disability -- that the primary and most significant challenges for Autistic or other disabled people are mostly societal problems such as non-inclusion, discrimination, or ableism.
20. Are Autistic people more likely to be violent or commit violent crimes than non-Autistic people?
No. In fact, a recent study showed that not only are Autistic people not more likely to commit a violent crime than non-Autistic people, but that the rate of violence among Autistics is lower than in the general population. Autistic people are also far more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators.
21. Where can I learn more?
- To learn more about the history of Autism research, read A History of Autism: Conversations with the Pioneers by Adam Feinstein.
- To learn more about the massive increase in Autism diagnoses in recent years, read anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker's Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.
- To learn more about the vaccine controversy and autism research, read Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul A. Offit.
- To learn more about twice-exceptionals (dually gifted and disabled people), including Autistic twice-exceptionals, read Different Minds by Deirdre V. Lovecky.
- To learn more about Asperger's Syndrome, read The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood.
- To learn more about concerns about Autistic people and law enforcement, read Autism, Advocates and Law Enforcement Professionals: Recognizing and Reducing Risk Situations for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders by former police officer Dennis Debbaudt.
- To learn more about relationships and Autistic people, read Against the Odds: A Love Story and Autism, Asperger's, and Sexuality: Puberty and Beyond by Jerry and Mary Newport, two Autistics who married each other; Autism Aspergers: Solving the Relationship Puzzle--A New Developmental Program that Opens the Door to Lifelong Social and Emotional Growth by Steven E. Gutstein; and Strategies for Building Successful Relationships with People on the Autism Spectrum: Let's Relate! by Brian R. King.
- To learn more about Autistic girls and women, read Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum: What Parents and Professionals Should Know About the Pre-Teen and Teenage Years by Shana Nichols, Gina Marie Moravcik, and Samara Pulver Tetenbaum, and Aspergirls by Rudy Simone.
- To learn more about bullying, read Perfect Targets: Asperger Syndrome and Bullying--Practical Solutions for Surviving the Social World by Rebekah Heinrichs, Asperger Syndrome and Bullying: Strategies and Solutions by Nick Dubin and Michael John Carle, and Exploring Bullying with Adults with Autism and Asperger Syndrome: A Photocopiable Workbook by Anna Tickle and Bettina Stott.
- To learn more about Autistic people, read the memoirs of Temple Grandin, Daniel Tammet, Donna Williams, or Liane Holiday-Willey. You can also see a list of and links to blogs by Autistic people on the left-hand side of Autistic Hoya.
- To learn more about self-advocacy, read Ask and Tell edited by Autistic special education professor Stephen Mark Shore.
- To learn more about employment options and strategies, read Employment for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning Disability: Stories and Strategies by Yvona Fast.
- To learn more about college options and strategies, read Navigating College: A Handbook on Self Advocacy Written for Autistic Students from Autistic Adults, Students with Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for College Personnel by Lorraine E. Wolf, Ph.D., Jane Thierfeld Brown and Ed.D., Top Tips for Asperger Students: How to Get the Most Out of University and College by Rosemary Martin, Students with High-functioning Autism Going to College: A Guide for Parents by Jane Thierfeld Brown, Lorraine Wolf, Lisa King and Ruth Bork, and Realizing the College Dream With Autism or Asperger Syndrome: A Parent's Guide to Student Success by Ann Palmer.
- To read about organizations run by Autistic people, see the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN), the Autism Women's Network (AWN), and the Autism Network International (ANI).
- To read about organizations run by partnership of Autistic people and families and professionals that promote civil rights, see the Autism National Committee (AutCom) and, for a cross-disability organization, TASH.
- To read about organizations run primarily by families and professionals or sponsored by the government, see the Autism Society of America (ASA), the Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), Autism Speaks (which I do not recommend to anyone), the Autism National Information and Resource Center (Autism NOW Center), and the Asperger's Association of New England (AANE).


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Dozens detained, 3 arrested in Turkish mine disaster
Turkish prosecutors have arrested three people in the wake of the devastating mine disaster that killed 301 miners. Protesters have blamed the mining company for failing to adhere to safety standards.
| Istanbul
In the face of widespread anger over Turkey's worst mining disaster, prosecutors arrested three people, including a company manager, on charges of negligence Sunday.
The three were also accused of causing the death of more than one person, a charge that doesn't imply intent, prosecutor Bekir Sahiner said at a news conference in the western town of Soma, where 301 coal miners were killed in Tuesday's tragedy.
The arrests follow allegations by miners that the company failed to heed safety concerns and that government inspections had been superficial. The disaster has provoked anger at a critical time for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as he mulls running in August's presidential election.
A total of 25 people were initially detained for questioning and six were later released, Sahiner said. Prosecutors will now decide whether to charge or release the remaining 16 people in custody.
Sahiner said one of those arrested was the company's operations manager. The manager is Akin Celik, though Sahiner didn't identify him by name.
The charges can lead to sentences of between three and 15 years in prison, according to the Turkish penal code.
Other company executives were among the detained as Turkish officials investigate the mining disaster. Sahiner said they included the mine's technical supervisor, its head of operations, it safety manager, duty managers and a high ranking company executive. The Dogan news agency reported earlier that Ramazan Dogru, general manager of the mine owned by Soma Holding was detained.
Government and company officials have insisted that the mine was inspected regularly and negligence wasn't a factor in the explosion and fire at the mine. But reacting to anger and sympathy for the miners, government officials promised to investigate and pledged that any mine officials found to be negligent would be punished.
But anger has been mounting in Turkey, leading to protests and clashes in several cities.
About 2,000 people, who were angry at perceived insensitivity on how the disaster and its aftermath were handled by Erdogan and his government, marched in Istanbul chanting "Damn AKP's dictatorship!" referring to the ruling Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials AKP.
Previous protests in Soma and other cities have turned violent as police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse rock-throwing protesters urging Erdogan's government to resign.
The Milliyet newspaper said Saturday that a preliminary report by a mine safety expert who inspected the Soma mine suggested that smoldering coal caused the mine's roof to collapse. The report said the tunnel's support beams were made of wood, not metal, and the mine had too few carbon monoxide sensors. Sahiner said that the authors are continuing their investigation and preparing a final report.
Company officials have described safety standards as high, noting that the mine contained 50 gas sensors and employees were provided with gas masks.
On Saturday, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said rescue workers retrieved the bodies of the last two miners missing in the disaster, putting the death toll at 301. Authorities then sealed the mine entrance with bricks.


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If you've been around any coach with a pulse the past couple of years, you've heard the words "core strength"—referring to the muscles in your abs, sides and back. But the true source of strength starts where the core ends: in the power generators known as the glutes. They support everything you do, from pedaling your bike to standing up. Cycling builds your booty, but even all that pedal pushing does little to strengthen the outer glutes. And weak outer glutes not only make you less solid in the saddle, they can also contribute to knee pain or injury—a potential nightmare for cyclists whose knees need to track about 5,400 times each hour. "Many persistent aches and pains in our knees, ankles and feet begin with weak glutes," says Andrew Pruitt, EdD, director of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, in Colorado. "Building strong buns and stable hips means better knee stability and a stronger, healthier pedal stroke." To tap the full power of your glutes, do two to three sets of 15 reps three times a week for a rock-solid butt that looks better in spandex.
|A. Single Leg Stability Curl Lie faceup on the floor with your shoulders flat, arms at sides and legs extended, ankles resting on a stability ball. Raise your right foot off the ball. Squeeze your glutes and lift your hips off the floor while bending your left knee and pulling the ball toward your butt with your left heel. Return to start. Repeat for a full set, then switch legs.
|B. Speed Skater Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Shift your weight onto your right leg, bending it about 45 degrees while sweeping your left leg behind you. In one smooth motion, sweep your left leg back to the left and jump from your right leg to your left, immediately bending into a half squat with your left leg as you sweep your right behind you. Alternate for a full set on each leg.
|C. Step Dip Holding dumbbells, stand on the edge of a 12-to 18-inch step so your right foot is planted and your left leg hangs free. Pull your navel toward your spine and, keeping your chest lifted and back straight, lower until your right leg is bent 45 to 90 degrees. Return to start, keeping your right foot planted on the step. Repeat for a full set, then switch legs.


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Thousands of people wearing red shirts gathered in this city's downtown Saturday (July 21) to honor an Army solider killed recently in Afghanistan — and to fend off Westboro Baptist Church.
The controversial church, which is based in Topeka, Kan., had posted fliers around Columbia in advance of the funeral of Army Spc. Sterling Wyatt, who was killed July 11 by an improvised explosive device.
"These soldiers are dying for the homosexual and other sins of America. God is now America's enemy, and God Himself is fighting against America," the posters read. "THANK GOD FOR IEDs."
Protesting at military funerals has become a ritual of Westboro Baptist Church's, whose members believe that the service members' deaths are punishment for the country's toleration of homosexuality. Since the early 1990s, the church claims to have held 43,000 demonstrations. They have picketed churches, synagogues, government buildings and funerals of soldiers, celebrities and gay men.
In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the protests — although extremely unpopular — are protected by the Constitution.
But some communities, like Columbia, are responding to Westboro's protests in kind — with counter-protests.
On Sunday, for example, counter-protesters gathered in Aurora, Colo., to form a human wall around the prayer vigil for the families of 12 people who died in Friday's movie theater shooting, after Westboro Baptist Church threatened to appear.
Westboro didn't go to Aurora, but on Saturday they traveled to Columbia, where red-shirted residents also formed a human wall for Wyatt's funeral at First Baptist Church.
The plan was to surround the church, but the group, numbering in the thousands, spilled into the street and spanned several blocks down the sidewalk.
Westboro gathered down the street from the church. To some community members, the protest was hardly noticeable — many didn't even see the protesters, who left around 1 p.m.
"We won," said 9-year-old Taylor Hewlett, watching his dad, Nathan Rascher, help put a flag away.
"We were doing what's right," his dad said, "and the bad guys went away."
Many in the crowd said they were simply there to support Wyatt's family.
Beatrice McKinzie drove about an hour to be there. She didn't know Wyatt or his family, but several members of her family have been in the military.
"I feel really bad that I never served," she said.
Every Memorial Day, she lines her yard with 30 evenly spaced flags. On Saturday, she brought four with her – one for each member of the Wyatt family. She had seen a picture of his parents, Randy and Sherry Wyatt, and his brother, Chandler Wyatt, standing by the hearse that bore Wyatt's body.
"I had to be here," she said.
Megan Miller, a University of Missouri student, went to Rock Bridge High School with Wyatt. They didn't spend a lot of time together, but she remembers eating lunch with him sometimes and going to his house once.
"He loved to talk to people, even if they weren't responsive to him," she said. And he smiled all the time.
Like Miller, Louie Markovitz went to high school with Wyatt. He didn't spend much time with his former classmate, but he remembers Wyatt clearly – especially from yearbook photos of the school's Zombie Defense League, a club Wyatt was part of.
Markovitz, a university student, now works for the local veterans hospital, and he said he has respect for the veterans.
"The military, I don't necessarily agree with what they do, but I think you should support your soldiers," he said.
Just before Wyatt's funeral began, the crowd on the church lawn fell silent — passing cars were the only sound, though people down the street still spoke. As time for the procession drew near, people started spreading out with a goal of lining the route to the cemetery.
The procession fell silent as the hearse passed by, but it ended with applause.
Kellie Moore (formerly Kotraba) serves as the editor and community manager of Columbia Faith & Values. Although she is originally from the West – Nevada and California – she's now proud to call Missouri home.


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Baltimore's 1st casino highlights national trend
BALTIMORE (AP) — At the Horseshoe Casino's grand opening, showgirls adorned in gold glitter, beaded loincloths, feather headdresses and fuchsia false eyelashes stood atop pedestals in the courtyard, while VIP patrons in high heels and higher hemlines downed glass after glass of champagne.
The glitz and glamour Tuesday suggested someplace flashy like Las Vegas or Atlantic City. But the scene beyond the aerial acrobat winding her way up and down a cloth ribbon suspended from a chandelier made of fake diamonds and wine bottles served as a reminder: You're in Baltimore, baby, it says so right there, in big gray block letters on a smokestack at the trash plant just past the entrance.
The Horseshoe, a Caesars Entertainment Corporation venture that cost roughly $442 million to build, reflects a major nationwide shift in the industry: As tourist destinations like Atlantic City, New Jersey, plunge into decline, gambling moguls are eyeing rust belt cities like Philadelphia, Cleveland and now Baltimore, as casino locations.
"For a while the trend was to build casinos in destinations like Las Vegas, Biloxi, Atlantic City. Now, the trend has shifted to be more building casinos in urban areas like Cincinnati, Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and now, Baltimore," said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"There's a growing embrace of gambling. Initially it was something people wanted to keep away from the urban core," he said. "Now, it's a part of American life and if you're going to have it, you should have it in a place where there are a lot of people."
As casinos spread, he said gambling monopolies traditional destinations are crumbling. The Showboat Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, a Caesars property, is slated for closure this weekend. Another casino, Revel, is to close next week, and Trump Plaza will shutter Sept. 16. Thousands of workers in New Jersey are scrambling to find jobs. Some will, or already have, at Horseshoe.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has touted the casino as a boon for the city and a boost to tourism, with 2,400 new employees — more than half from Baltimore.
But Horseshoe is joining an already crowded Maryland casino market. Although Horseshoe is the first casino to open its doors in Baltimore, it's the last of five casinos initially approved to operate in Maryland.
Before visitors to the Baltimore casino exit the highway, they'll see a billboard advertising Maryland Live. And the competition isn't friendly: Maryland Live didn't hesitate to sue a former employee who allegedly stole a list of high-rolling gamblers and used it to recruit clients to Horseshoe, where she now works.
Maryland lawmakers voted to allow slot machine casinos in 2007, and voters approved a constitutional amendment the following year for five casinos. Lawmakers voted in 2012 to allow table games like blackjack and a sixth casino near the nation's capital, and voters passed the expansion in a statewide ballot question that year. The Horseshoe Casino is nestled between a freeway entrance and the Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens stadiums.
"This is an urban casino, meant to meld into the rest of the city," Gary Loveman, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Caesars Entertainment said Tuesday. He predicted it will spur development all the way to Ravens Stadium.
The Horseshoe's opening drew massive crowds of locals and out-of-towners, corralled into neat lines in a nearby lot as they waited for the clock to strike nine. More than 15,000 gamblers cycled through the casino's doors in the first 12 hours, according to Dave Curley of Sandy Hillman Communications, the agency representing the casino.
Clarice Nelson, 67, took public transportation from her West Baltimore home to the Horseshoe at 9 a.m. Tuesday so she could be the first patron to pull the lever on a brand new slot machine.
Nelson said she gambles regularly on monthly trips to out-of-state casinos, but now that there's a place to play black jack just 20 minutes from her home, those trips may dwindle.
"People who could go to Atlantic City or Dover will come here instead," Nelson said. "I just got a feeling about this place."
Nelson wasn't the only one.
Minutes before the clock struck nine, Robert Zeitler, 65, who was six people deep in line, waved a $1 bill at Nelson. He wanted his money to accompany the person at the head of the line, even if it couldn't be him.
"Here, take this!" he said. "Let's make this the first dollar."


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Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time yesterday and saw her husband — and a room full of women who were her friends and mentors. "We saw a little girl power too," said Nancy Pelosi, who was there.
It was no idle reference. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke movingly to reporters afterwards about what they had witnessed, as well as how the three younger women had become friends while serving in the House together.
There in the hospital room, Giffords was able to rub and grip their hands to let them know she understood what they were saying. The women began joking about how she had to wake up because they were going to do so many things together, when Giffords' eyes began flickering for the first time, to the wild excitement of her husband Mark. "Gabby, open your eyes, open your eyes," he urged.
Gillibrand told reporters, "And then she finally opens her eyes and you could she was like desperately trying to focus and it took enormous strength from her. And Mark could just –- can't believe it. I mean, he's so happy. And we're crying because we're witnessing something that we never imagined would happen in front of us."
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Wasserman Schultz said, "The only way I could describe the feeling that we had, that I had, was other than the birth of my kids, this was the most incredible feeling, to see literally your — one of your closest friends just struggle to come back to you, to come back to her family, to come back to her friends. I mean, we know how strong Gabby is and you could see all the strength pouring out of her to touch her husband."
The doctor told them, she said, that he had "discounted emotion... as meaningless out loud. He said, 'I just witnessed the impact of friendship and what you guys—' he said, 'You did this here today.'"
How did they all become close? From the transcript:
REPRESENTATIVE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I think I told you the other day, I mean, there's very few of us –
SENATOR GILLIBRAND: Young women.
REPRESENTATIVE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: — young women who — so we naturally gravitate to each other. And Kirsten and I were — I was assigned as Kirsten's mentor when she –-
SENATOR GILLIBRAND: Before I ran for office in 2006, I called Debbie and she gave me advice about what was it like to have young children and serve in Congress. So Debbie was instrumental in making me feel comfortable before I even ran for office to be able to know that I could be a good mom and a good legislator at the same time.
REPRESENTATIVE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: So literally right from when I was elected, these were my two girlfriends. I mean, I met Gabby before I was elected, Kirsten before she was elected — or Gabby before she — both of them before they were elected.
GILLIBRAND: I always complimented Speaker Pelosi because one way she transformed Congress was she put five women on the Armed Services Committee all at one year. And our nature of our questions were always different.... I'd often bring up [Giffords'] stories as evidence that women in Congress matter because we have a different perspective.
After Gillibrand was appointed to be the Senator from New York, they had a ladies lunch in the Senate dining room, along with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. "I missed them so much," Gillibrand said.
Among all the strands of mourning and inspiration and memory yesterday was that moment to reflect on women's hard-fought, full participation in society, however unfinished. In the Obama speech and the memorial alone, you had Daniel Hernandez — a gay man, a Latino man — who helped save Giffords' life, and Patricia Maisch, who "wrestled away the killer's ammunition." You had couples of fifty years where the husband tried to shield the wife, in one case giving his life for hers, in another losing her.
Then there was Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old girl who, he pointed out, wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues — "and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her." Had her life not been brutally cut short by the gunman, she could have grown up in a world where her aspirations were encouraged by mentorship and pathbreakers — and where she herself could have been one.
"In Christina we see all of our children," the president said. "So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.... She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model."
He continued, "I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us — we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."
GIllibrand On Meeting With Giffords [Capitol Tonight]
Obama's Address In Arizona [NYT Interactive Feature]
Image via Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington Flickr