House of Jorob

Autism ratios reach 1 in 88 children. Is this OMG or WTF?

The CDC is reporting( http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6103a1.htm?s_cid=ss6103a1_w ) a newer, really scary increase in the number of kids affected with Autism. At least, that's what I think the headlines and PSAs are going to start saying sometime soon. (There's a string of television commercials currently running that compares odds of doing certain things vs the odds of a child's autism diagnosis--and these were 1 in 110 ratios.)

Reading the recent report, there's a line that should not be ignored, and I'm afraid it will be, given the way we love a good old-fashioned hysteria. The sentence is presented very early on in the report:

"Because the ADDM Network sites do not make up a nationally representative sample, these combined prevalence estimates should not be generalized to the United States as a whole."

It is echoed deeper in the body copy:

"...the surveillance areas were not selected to be representative of the United States as a whole, nor were they selected to be representative of the states in which they are located."

The report doesn't spend time discussing changes or stretches in the definition of ADS. Simply:

"Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication and by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior."

By that definition, any child who doesn't seem to 'fit in' qualifies.

I'm not kidding. Read Ben Nugent's piece in the NY Times.

We are playing with children's lives here. Such a soft definition risks nurturing an overreaction, a backlash. One that pits people dismissing any proven spike in autism levels as being manufactured against those faced with dealing with ASDs every day, as already seen here:

These are d3ac0n's remarks mid-thread, excerpted to underscore my point:

""Quirky" is when a kid likes to wear silly hats, or insists on wearing tights with everything, or like to dance and sing at not always appropriate times. That's quirky.

"Quirky" is NOT being unable to dress yourself properly or being unable to BATHE yourself, or sitting on your bed making moaning and grunting noises while rocking back and forth and flipping through toy magazines and then stripping your clothes off and shredding your underwear into teeny tiny bits before having a poop accident and then smearing it all over yourself and your walls. At 11 years old. THAT is Autism. Not "Quirky"."

Stretching definitions helps no one.

It only makes fire burn hotter.

Aloha! All the fun of Hawaii, without all that annoying Pacific Ocean

The world's largest indoor flower show kicks off March 4: the Philadelphia International Flower Show, held in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets.

I could write a ton of stuff here, but you know what? See all the cool stuff for yourselves.

Visit:

The Flower Show website: www.theflowershow.com
Everything you wanna know.

The Flower Show Blog: http://theflowershowblog.wordpress.com/
More of everything you wanna know

The Flower Show App: http://www.theflowershow.com/showinfo/mobile.html
Everything You wanna know, and mobile.

Jamming With Edward!

When I was younger--I was something like 12 or 13--I had a cassette copy of "Jamming With Edward!", an album featuring Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, Ry Cooder, Charlie Watts, and Nicky Hopkins.

That cassette had some of the kickingest piano jams on it, and there was one piece at the end of the second half called Highland Fling that just ripped.

I realize now it sounded like the rest of the guys were tossing back a few between songs, and from the few reviews of the album that I can find these days, not many people cared for the resulting tracks.

But to me, and to my young mind just beginning to fight against having to listen to AM radio chosen by my parents (WIP, anybody?), that sloppy album with the Smiling Guy on the cover represented something far more.

It was freedom.

Tebow, Prayer, and Who Is Listening?

"We should set aside the notion that if we pray, we'll get what we want. That is a false notion of religion."

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/01/09/did-praying-to-john-316-really-help-tim-tebow-win/

 

Phillies Wreckage

Ryan Howard crumpled in the base path, 10 feet up the line.

That image will represent the entire season, in my mind.

Cliff Lee blows  4-0 lead in game 2, and the Cardinals never looked back.

<sigh>

For this, I'm also a hockey fan.

There's always the Flyers.

Opportunity Extended

"Mars," said Wallace.

I set my scotch on the endtable. I used a coaster.

"They put a Roomba up there. Named Opportunity..."

I waited.

"...Designed for a three-month look at the rocks."

I eyed my neat scotch. Why the hell did I use a coaster?

"That was in 2004. The thing's still talking."

Wallace crunched a cheese puff.

"Wonder if any of the team ever went, 'Come on, just die already. I have another gig lined up.' "

 

Electricity Choice: I Left PECO For Another

"Hey, have you picked an energy supplier yet?"

"Nope."

After going 11 for 11 with that question this month, it was clear I wasn't going to find a quick answer, one that would solve the problem created not by energy deregulation January 1 of this year, but by PECO's announcement of a rate hike this coming October 1.

For all the noise in the media about the damage deregulation would do to my bill back in January, it didn't happen. My PECO price never went above 9 cents per kilowatt hour. Every other energy supplier was either at that rate, or higher. Why change?

Summer wasn't much worse. The PECO over-500 kilowatts rate wasn't that bad: .10 cents. An extra-hot July produced a brutal bill for that month.....but the difference between it and the bill I would have paid had it been calculated at last year's rates was $6.

But then PECO filed for a new rate hike, one that jacked my lovely 9 cent rate up to 11.14 cents.

And suddenly I was shopping my friends and colleagues for ideas on suppliers.

I thought, given my streak of nobody's-changing-anything-yet mentioned earlier, that I might help out by posting my research....and my final choice.

My choice? 

DirectEnergy.

I'm married to a senior citizen, so we grabbed the senior rate for a year. Next March, we'll see what the market is doing and decide whether to stay or move on.

Second choice is Energetix. The rebate, delivered after two months, covered 70% of the early termination fee if I decided to leave, and the rate is still below 9 cents. A microscopic amount below 9 cents, yes. But still.

 

The Research

Streamenergy.net  --  877-369-8150

Period    rate    Type    Early Term    Green Rates

6 mo     .0909    Fixed      $75            .0979

1 yr       .0959    Fixed      $150          .1029

Var        .0969    Var         $0            .1039

Direct Energy -- Directenergy.com/protection -- 877-627-4675

Period    rate    Type    Early Term    Green Rates

1 yr        .0959   Fixed        $0             n/a

1 yr       .0879    Fixed        $0            Senior Citizen special rate

Energetix.net  --  800-544-0182  --  $25 rebate at the time of this research.

Period    rate    Type    Early Term    Green Rates

1 yr       .0895    Fixed     $35             .0925

 Var        n/a      Var          $0                n/a   

¹ An inquiry about variable rate trends was answered. See below.

Gateway Energy -- www.gesc.com  --  877-296-1645  --  $50 rebate at the time of this research.

Period    rate    Type    Early Term    Green Rates

1 yr        .09590  Fixed     $0                  n/a

Var        .1059     Var       $0                  n/a

North American Power -- napowerperco.com -- 877-572-9444

Period    rate    Type    Early Term    Green Rates

3 mo     .09990  Fixed     $0                n/a

Var       .1199     Var         $0                n/a

North American's power schedule was a problem². See below.

Constellation Energy -- home.constellation.com -- 888-900-7650 --  $50 rebate at the time of this research.

Period    rate    Type    Early Term    Green Rates

1 yr       .989     Fixed      $150            n/a

 

Footnotes:

¹Mr. Robinson,

Unfortunately, since we are new to the PECO territory we do not have any real market rate information at this time.
Thank you,
Kate Brantley
Customer Service
Energetix/NYSEG Solutions

² North American's website described a combination deal--the first 3 months would be fixed. The next 9 months shifted to variable. Variable rates for PECO customers would be recalculated "quarterly, semi-annually, or annually." I called looking for clarification of which one it would be--quarterly, or one of the others. I was on hold for 12 minutes before giving up.

The Rapture, 9 PM EDT.....

The world needs another thought on May 21's Rapture like a baseball needs an air valve.

Half the news agencies on the planet have probably done some kind of lead or another on Harold Camping's prediction not coming true today. Wire services rightly quote believers and non alike; either this strengthened the faithful or it didn't, and everyone else had a good laugh or two at Preacher's expense.

My thought is this: What if Harold Camping was right?

What if the Rapture arrived, and the only people who went were 1,459 homeless living under bridges in 23 countries and the residents of an island somewhere in the Palk Strait?

Who would know? Harold wouldn't--he'd be just like he is now, sitting and pondering things in general.

The only way, as I understand the Rapture mechanisms, is to watch for what happens AFTER the Rapture--when everything's supposed to slide into a long decline called Tribulation.

Well, damn.

I think you could define humanity's entire existence as a Tribulation.

Where's my Mayan calendar?

Delicious has life after Yahoo!

AVOS has acquired Delicious from Yahoo!, removing for the time being the threat of losing hundreds of thousands of bookmarks, for users of the social bookmarking site.

Details in a FAQ here.

For reposting, that  link is http://www.delicious.com/help/transition

 

How to Fix Your Broken Delicious Extension in FireFox 4

I like Firefox 4.

Seems to run cleaner, faster, than previous versions.

But the new release completely busted my Delicious bookmark extension.

No more sidebar.

No more tag button.

Here's how to get it all working again.

You need a new Firefox Add-On, one called Add-On Compatibility-Reporter

Install it.

Restart Firefox 4 TWICE.

Then go to your Bookmarks button that has suddenly reappeared and turn on your sidebar!

Here's the tricky part:

If you now go back into your Add-Ons in Firefox, you will see that the Add-On Compatibility Checker is DISABLED.

DON'T enable it.

As soon as you do, you will DISABLE your Firefox Delicious Extension.

You can fix this, if you've gone ahead and done it already, by restarting Firefox twice again.