There is a fascinating article at wired.com about how scientists are rethinking previously-held beliefs about autism. Previously it was universally held that a large majority of autistic people were mentally deficient: 75% of autistics were expected to show an IQ of 70 or less on a standard intelligence test. Now, led by some maverick neuropsychological …
Category Archive: Reads
Mar
05
Jan
19
David B.’s notes on dog-sitting
Our dog-sitter extraordinaire David B. penned his observations on looking after Photon while we were away, including a nice photo of her nibs at her cuddliest. When we came back Photon was glad to see us, but also very confused as to why her pal David was suddenly gone. For several days afterwards she would …
Jan
17
A literary dilemma
An article in Slate outlines a truly interesting dilemma in literary culture: It’s the question of whether the last unpublished work of Vladimir Nabokov, which is now reposing unread in a Swiss bank vault, should be destroyed—as Nabokov explicitly requested before he died. It’s a decision that has fallen to his sole surviving heir (and …
Dec
01
The Boy in the Moon
Today’s Globe and Mail features the first of the three-part personal story by columnist Ian Brown about his 11-year-old son Walker: The Boy in the Moon. Walker has a rare genetic condition called CFC, which makes our life with Jon looks like a walk in the park. That said, Ian Brown much of the big …
Nov
26
A Tale of Woe and Sweet Potatoes
I saw a truncated version of this blog post circulating the dog boards a while back, but friend Bev directed us to the original article. (Warning: occasional coarse language.) It’s a funny and accurate depiction of dogs, from their perpetual hunger to their noses getting out of joint when one of their people leaves for …
Oct
01
Next for bowdlerizing: Dr. Seuss?
Boingboing points to an interesting series of scans posted by kokogiak, comparing the 1963 and 1991 edition of Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever. The 1991 edition was PC-ized by eliminating dated references to Native Americans, neutralizing gender roles, and replacing out-of-date professions with more culturally relevant ones. These may be worthy goals, but the …
Mar
27
Time/Toles
Interesting comparison of Time Magazine covers for this week [whoops—they’ve changed issues already]—all the international editions feature a cover story on the resurgence of the Taliban; the U.S. cover features a story titled “Why We Should Teach the Bible in Public School”. Reminds me depressingly of a Tom Toles cartoon from two years ago.