Winter in Northeast PA:

 

Reflections on December 21, 2012 silliness:

       Oh no! 12-21-12 has long passed and no Aliens from other galaxies came to attack us...too bad. Given how divided and intolerant the world can be there is one thing that can unite us all instantly; an alien attack. We would have a new and convenient scapegoat, a new enemy and forget our differences at least temporarily...until the space creatures prove that not all of them are evil either then things might get complicated again.

Happy 2013!

       It was a rather busy Christmas season so I didn't get to my blog but I do have a lot to say. For now I will share things I posted on Facebook- Things that get lost on there anyway. Above is a photo I took on December 28.

America moves on...

       I just took the dog for a walk. One thing I like about nature is it's neutrality. No matter what politics goes on between the people nature just goes on. (Yes there are environmental issues but that's beside the point) Overall, the morning after elections everything looks the same.
       I have lived through six presidencies both R and D (I was too young to remember Carter) and who knows how many balance of power combinations. I mean there are wars and economic ups and downs so I'm not implying there are not differences in candidates or that the differences are not important, but from a world and historical perspective they are not as major as political pundits want us to think. The US has a decent system of checks and balances and while the pendulum can swing back and forth things seem to even out in the long run. Sure I'd like my preferred candidate to win(sometimes they do sometimes they don't), but I try not to either lose sleep or become smug whatever the result. Whoever gets in power the other party will predict the apocalypse, totalitarianism, conspiracy theories, and use them as scapegoats. I think every American president was speculated as being the Antichrist or part of some "New World Order" but we all survive. Also people on their side like to think that we will wake up and they will solve every problem, end our problems from war and poverty to acne to constipation yet a president is not an omnipotent monarch and even monarchs aren't omnipotent. Barring the end of the world which no one can stop, life will go on. Now if Stalin or Hitler were running and had a good chance then we can be nervous but still... Ask many Pennsylvanians if their life was better under Casey or Ridge and they'd be like (When were they governor?) My point is that there are many things that affect our daily lives besides which politicians are in power.

OK here's the banana tree:

     This is from a few weeks ago. It is now a little taller, but disheveled from high winds.

Bananas in Pennsylvania?

Not quite, but you can grow the plant and after dying back in the winter, this particular variety will come back. The one in my yard is a Japanese Fiber Banana. It is native to China actually. You can also grow some varieties of cactus, yucca, citrus, and more in our cold USDA Zone 6b climate. Here is a native cactus growing for about 4 or 5 years in this small hanging basket. I love the silhouette that it makes.

I'm back...

In case there is a soul out there still following my blog... I'm still here. I've used this blog in doing presentations and found a few mistakes and broken links. If anyone notices any please let me know somehow. This summer has been busy. My only vacation was a one night day trip to a BBQ in Jersey. I have a large yard and a lot of work to keep up with it. Summer here in northeast PA tends to be pleasant but brief. As much as I despise the winter I do tend to be more contemplative during foul weather. I still have a lot to say but just need the time to get my thoughts together.

Dusting off the cobwebs...

       I think in a previous post I warned this would happen. It is almost two months since my last post and more like three since my last regular postings. Back in the winter I'd have several posts a day but now the weather is nice and I can't get myself away from the back yard. Some of this inconsistency is actually appropriate for a blog like this. This is a blog mainly on Autism/Aspergers and narrow, intense yet sometimes inconsistent interests can be part of it. Feel free to look at my past posts which have dates and maybe times on them. Many of them such as this post are from late night or the wee hours of the morning. Actually on some tasks that require thinking, creativity or concentration I do best at this time of day. And yes... I do love to garden. I will try to post some photos in time. I have some unusual stuff including citrus and banana trees growing in Pennsylvania... sort of... More on that later.

"Shocking" news on the Autism front...

       Surprise! It is now in the news that the Autism rate is skyrocketing. I guess the new and stricter DSM criteria are not in effect yet. People are reacting already. I was in a big box store the other day and it was being discussed on the loudspeaker. They said how this is the fastest growing developmental disability. At the register I was asked if I would donate a dollar for children with Autism. I tend to be rather sceptical of charities until I get to know them better but I figured it was only a dollar. It seems coincidental that this news came out of the research pipeline just in time for Autism Awareness Month (and April Fools' Day). Is this all connected to global warming- I mean climate change?       Now seriously... I'm not saying that the Autism rate is not growing as I don't have concrete evidence to the contrary but there are many ways to look at statistics. First the world's population is steadily increasing. This means more people with a lot of things. Second is we have increased awareness, increased services available, and more children being tested for Autism than the "rate" will soar. Diabetes is on the increase also and there are many factors which could be involved. However, if the mass media launched a huge campaign to raise awareness while getting people to rush to the doctor to get tested and catch it in the early stages, there will be a major "diabetes epidemic". It will be an even more dramatic increase if they develop a better testing method and included "pre-diabetics" in the statistics. There are also many in the world with undiagnosed HIV. If the government decided that every citizen was going to get an HIV test and the undiagnosed were all of a sudden diagnosed then one can then say that the HIV infection rate has skyrocketed overnight. People would then wonder what has caused this and propaganda from all sides of the aisle would be running rampant.
       I don't doubt that awareness of everything is a virtue and that we should work towards educating the public on a lot of issues, but I do think people need to also have "propaganda awareness" and learn how to unbiasedly interpret statistics. People is the mass media usually have degrees and have probably taken statistics and maybe even critical thinking classes. That said, they should know better but they also know how to manipulate statistics. They have a responsibility to help the general public put things in proper perspective. An example of what I'm talking about not necessarily relating to Autism is this: Do a web search on "fastest growing fallacy" and see what comes up.

I'm back...

       Happy April, I know I haven't posted much in the past month as I have been busy. Also there was some unusually mild weather for this time of year and I had to go outside to take advantage of it. Also, there are times when I just don't feel as inspired to blog. I feel it's better to give the blog a rest than to write just for the sake of writing and clutter things up. Anyway here are some photos of our early Spring that I took:

On the photo above is a peach tree (pink) and the forsythia (yellow). The forsythia is blooming at normal time but the peach tree is a whole month ahead. It's rare to see these two plants blooming simultaneously. I wish I could sharpen these photos more but I can't figure out how to do it on this computer since it doesn't have the best photo editor. (These are from my 2 year old camera phone.)