Stay on target...stay on target

Set the WABAC machine to 2012

In college, one of my roommates (B) was very reluctant to get involved in "shenanigans".  Getting this guy to go do stupid stuff was like getting a toddler out of the candy aisle.  One night, after much wheedling and coaxing, he said, "Look, I'll explain it to you...eventually, if humanity doesn't destroy itself, they will invent time travel.  What will people want to do when they have time travel?  They'll want to go back and see what famous people were doing before they were famous.  I plan to be famous, so I have to assume that there are people from the future watching me at all times."

I wouldn't say that my ex-roommate is famous, but he is pretty darned successful.  I'm pretty sure he has a novel and/or screenplay hidden away that may put him on time traveler's radar at some point.  He's got time.

Get this:  when he was in grad school back in the 90's, B met his wife (E) in an internet forum...alt.society.generation-x.  He and his wife spent a good bit of time chatting about deep (and not-so-deep) things before they ever met in real life.  All that stuff is archived -- I just googled it and found some of their posts.  Some day, my friend's kids can look on-line and read their parents' actual courtship.  It'll be kind of like time travel.

My recent posts have exposed me as something of a newbie.  Over the past few days, I have been learning that some adult autistic people don't like Autism Speaks or any attempt to "cure" autism.  They feel that autism is just a new variation of the human genome, and is not a disease to be treated.   They advocate for neurodiversity.

I get neurodiversity and am all for acceptance of peoples' differences.  I'll love both my sons no matter what, but autism is such a huge spectrum.  The difference between being high-functioning and low is immense.  I think it's really, really important to find out how autism comes to be and how to help autists get to the high end of the scale. 

There's quite a bit out there about these topics.  I'm not going to regurgitate it all, but here are some things I've read recently:

• wikipedia on autism rights movement 
• wrongplanet,forums for autistic people 
• interview with temple grandin 
• quiet hands 
• wiki on autism science foundation
• wiki on autism speaks

To Future Ben:

I see you.

You're a pretty awesome kid.  I hope things are working out for you.  We're doing our best to make the right decisions, but nothing's really clear.  Things are pretty primitive here in 2012.  We use something called "gasoline" to power our cars (which do not fly).

To Future Bubba:

You're quite awesome yourself.  You're smart and funny, and you make our lives better every day.  I know you have candy hidden in your room, but I choose to ignore it.

To Future Self:

Quit googling yourself.  Go outside and take a walk.