Back to writing. Let I talk about Spezify

After some time without writting any word, I'm ready to write down this new post.
The story couldn't be more interesting: A new search engine. I should say that not just new search engine, which is able to break the current web paradigm adopt by any search engine. It's not only how the information is obtained, selected, ordered that matters. What is important too is how it is actually displayed. It has the format of a collage with several videos, images, html pages, where the user experience a very dynamic metaphor. Welcome to S-P-E-Z-I-F-Y. If you are used to search for information about autim on internet, this link show you how spezify shows autism related information. You must agree that it's really a new perspective rather than old fashion way to show a list of links without much meaning, just orded by a crazy rank. What is more, Spezify seems to gives a more close view of autims than google or other search engines do. You know that sentense, a pictures worth a 1000 words. I would say, spezify worth 1000 pictures. It's not a trick with words, but its obvious by just taking a glance on the results you can have a very good broad ideia of the term or keyword that you are looking for.

So, use Spezify, I do!

Barack Obama and Autism Spectrum Disorders

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On Tuesday, Barack Obama will become the nation's 44th president. People are really excited of having him as the new president. After all, people have many reasons to belive on Barack Obama as a new hope. I'm concerned about a particuar issue, which is aspie community. If you read Obama's plan for change
you can imagine what Obama represents in terms of heath improvement for Aspie
community. Here an small extract:

More than one million Americans have Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a complex condition that impacts communication, socialization, and behavior. And more cases of ASD are being recognized across the country at an alarming pace. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that we must do more to help support Americans with ASD, their families, and their communities. Throughout his career, Barack Obama has worked with families affected by ASD to raise awareness and to provide support to parents and families living with ASD. As president, he will build on these many years of advocacy and ensure that his administration prioritizes ASD research, public awareness, and lifelong support services. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will seek to increase federal ASD funding for research, treatment, screenings, public awareness, and support services to $1 billion annually by the end of his first term in office. They will mandate insurance coverage of autism treatment and will also continue to work with parents, physicians, providers, researchers, and schools to create opportunities and effective solutions for people with ASD.

I know there must be other diseases and patologies that also need funding. But, as
ASD is relatively new, its especially important to provide funding for research, treatment, screenings, public awareness, etc. Well, I have to belive on Obama.

Think about: there to litte results in terms of a good treatment for this problem.
doctors just don't have much to do, but prescribe something like Risperdal, Sertralina, etc, which will not overcome any problem at all.

READ Related articles:
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☆ Rain man, autism and tom cruise...
☆Temple Gradin, autistic but PhD!

♭.:*･♪'ﾟ｡.*# How much Geek you really are? ♭.:*･♪'ﾟ｡.*#:･'ﾟ.:*♪

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♭.:*･Did you know you can be color blind text?!!!
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♭.:*･The Tesla COIL effect...
Anyone involved with geeks will know that we share many character traits with those suffering Asperger syndrome: obsessive attention to detail, social awkwardness, and some difficulty relating to other people.
Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at Cambridge's Autism Research Centre have created the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, as a measure of the extent of autistic traits in adults. In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis, however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger's report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.

The test is available on the following sites:

Pie Palace test
wired magazine - Take the AS Test

Avoiding stress

People with Asperger's are usually more mildly affected than those with autism but they can nevertheless experience significant problems coping with daily life.
We have long known that anxiety is one of the key problems, and people use various coping strategies. Richard Mills - Research Autism
Often of average or above intelligence, they may perform well at school but have difficulties with communication and forming social relationships. The team from the universities of Bath and Bristol hope their findings will improve understanding of the symptoms as a response to what the child sees as a stressful situation, rather than a behavioural problem. Writing in Psychoneuroendocrinology, researchers noted children with the autistic condition do not experience the normal morning "surge" of cortisol.

Strategies can then be developed by parents, carers and teachers for avoiding situations which might cause distress.

"We have long known that anxiety is one of the key problems, and people use various coping strategies including cognitive therapy and small doses of anti-anxiety medicine," said Richard Mills, research director of Research Autism.

"We welcome these conclusions because anything that furthers our understanding of the nature of this anxiety is very helpful indeed," he added.

"We would now like to see similar work in adults."

Clay Marzo and Asperger

As a child, Clay collected seashells and played at Puamana beach. By age 2 he could ride a boogie board standing up, and at 3 or 4 switched to a surfboard. Everyone in the family surfed, including his grandmother and older brother, Cheyne Magnusson, also a professional surfer. "Clay was so natural in the water that I didn't even worry," Jill says of those early days. "He was incredibly in tune with it from a young age."

Still, she greeted the movie idea with skepticism. "I was really nervous," she admits. "I didn't want to expose it. I worried that people would treat him differently or that he would be embarrassed by it." Instead, the film and an extensive article in Surfer Magazine yielded e-mails from others inspired by Clay's unique pursuit of his passion. That, she says, made the journey worthwhile.

When asked what makes his surfing remarkable, Clay shrugs. "I don't know. The whole approach I have." The best part? It's definitely all his own.