Month: September 2006

Growing Up Different: Temple Grandin’s experiences with autism (and mine)

By tigtog on 2006-09-24 • ( 6 )

The whole article speaks to me about my experiences raising my autistic son, but this section especially:

AUTISTIC TACTILE PROBLEMS

I pulled away when people tried to hug me, because being touched sent an overwhelming tidal wave of stimulation through my body. I wanted to feel the comforting feeling of being held, but then when somebody held me, the effect on my nervous system was overwhelming.

Small itches and scratches that most people ignored were torture. A scratchy petticoat was like sandpaper rubbing my skin raw.

Sat’dy arvo abouttohaveanap-blogging

By tigtog on 2006-09-23 • ( 3 )

White Heather blended Scotch is better balanced than the Black Douglas for a similiar price.

Glenfarclas 15yo single malt is a superior mid-palate and lingering mouthfeel to the Macallan’s 18yo for 2/3 the price.

That is all

Tutu on Darfur

By tigtog on 2006-09-23 • ( 1 )

Last week Desmond Tutu wrote a piece for the The Sunday Times to mark the International Day of Action for Darfur on the 17th September. I didn’t know about that Day of Action, despite our fundraising for MSF in Darfur on Larvatus Prodeo not long ago: how many of us did?

Tutu’s article, A blind eye to genocide, makes for uncomfortable reading:

In Darfur 2m people have been ethnically cleansed since 2003, women and girls are systematically raped and tortured daily, there is cholera in the refugee camps and the violence is spilling into next door Chad, and all without the attention, or response, it deserves.

Opinions from strangers

By tigtog on 2006-09-22 • ( 3 )

I’m finding the various drive-by parenting “concerns” about Bindi Irwin interesting following her speech at her father’s memorial service. Oh, the pressure’s too much, she’s too poised (must be in denial, how sad), blah blah blah.

None of us know her, or the family, just because they’re on TV. Her upbringing has been entirely different from the way any of us are bringing up our kids because of the wildlife warrior

Unca Tim, what’s a dystopia?

By tigtog on 2006-09-22 • ( 2 )

Has this Melburnian dilettante read Huxley’s novel and resents the quoted phrase below as a slur on hir beloved reality TV? Or does sie, as I suspect, hate reality TV and inadvertently revealed that sie hasn’t read the novel and doesn’t recognise the contextual meaning of the title phrase? Can anyone untangle these antecedents at all?

“the brave new world of reality TV”?!?

lordy”¦ someone get me a bucket, i think i’m going to hurl.

80’s music is one thing, i’m quite fond of a lot of it even when it’s second time round & really not quite as good as it was first time around. calling reality TV a “brave new world” is”¦ well”¦ words fail me.
Posted by pache on 2006 09 20 at 06:19 PM “¢ permalink

Yes Horowitz, this is exactly what the eevil libruls are up to

By tigtog on 2006-09-20 • ( 2 )

David Horowitz regularly gets shrill about liberal academic bias on American college campuses. Rosa Brooks in the LATimes takes him to task for this.

Michael Bérubé is one of the lecturers on Horowitz’s list of dangerous ideologues who are polluting the minds of innocent young Americans. He’s recently written a book called “What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts?”. Horowitz, predictably, hates it without having read it.