Monday 27 December 2010

Human Intelligence

For me, a persons intelligence is defined by how they learn from a mistake they have made. For example, if somebody makes a mistake, never repeats it again and learns from it, or can figure or analyse where and how they are going wrong, I would argue that they are intelligent. Likewise, if a person makes mistakes and never learns from the mistakes, or keeps on making them, I would argue that they are a very stupid and unintelligent person.

Tuesday 21 December 2010

People who Aspies get on with

I wonder why it seems to be the case that people with Asperger's Syndrome get on with people younger or older than themselves better than their peers or those their own age? It is a problem or issue I have experienced throughout my life, in varying degrees. This factor was more noticeable, and obvious when I was at Secondary School and in my late teens, but still is present with myself, even today, approaching the 11th anniversary of my AS diagnosis, at the end of 2010.

It could arise because in the Secondary School years, people are perhaps more self-obsessed, and obsessed with conformity, image and fitting in, and don't like anything or anybody which is not "cool" or doesn't fit in with what they deem to be the "Norm". In fact, at that age, some people are so far up their own backside they would form a circle. However, people can become more tolerant and accepting of differences in individuals as they get older, work, meet different kinds of people and generally and mix more. School is a rather narrow world and has narrow confines. Once they leave, many people develop on a mental, emotional and social level.

Perhaps it arises because older people are, as a rule, more tolerant and more accepting, and younger people don't judge as much. Another theory I have is that the special interests those with AS have are shared by those who are older, as they can be on obscure or specialist subjects. Topics or subjects which their peers engage in can bore them, so there is little, if anything in common between them. I remember my late Grandfather's 70th birthday in January 1991, and I engaged in a conversation about World War II with an Uncle of mine, who was 10 when the war ended. Everybody else was talking about fashion or other family members or just general bullshit that people talk about.

Sunday 12 December 2010

Sharing a famous birthday is meaningless

Knowing which famous people share their birthday with me is ok out of curiousity, but I don't think it means that much. Jim Bowen, Joe Pasquale, Benjamin Harrison and Steve McMahon have the same birthday as me, 20th August, but I am not a Liverpool soccer player, I am not an American President, I don't have a squeaky voice and I don't wear a wig and tell people "Smashing, great, super" repeatedly! For me, knowing which famous people share the birthday as you is a matter of curiousity.

Stephen Hawking, was born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death. Galileo, as we know, was imprisoned by the Catholic Church for saying that the earth orbited around the Sun, as opposed to vice versa, which many believed at the time. However, Hawking said that 2,000 other people were born on that day across the world, (Thursday 8th January 1942). Indeed, some of them may have been Dustbinmen, or Accountants, or Roadsweepers, or Electricians, or Joiners, or Mechanics, or Labourers, or Lorry Drivers.

So no, sharing your birthday with a famous person doesn't means that much, as far as I am concerned. For me, a person is shaped by four things. Your genes which you inherit at birth, your upbringing, the environment in which you grew up in, and your experiences in life.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Snow and how we handle it

Usually, in the UK, we get heavy snowfalls after Christmas. White Christmases are very rare. I have known it snow after Christmas and on or around New Year's Eve on several occasions in my lifetime, notably in 1995, 1996 (When it snowed heavily on New Year's Eve), 2000 (When it melted on New Years's Eve), 2001 and 2003 (When it snowed heavily on New Year's Eve). It also snowed heavily just before Christmas last year, 2009, but thawed. More heavy snow fell early in the new year of 2010 though.

However, this year, heavy snowfalls have come early. The cold weather started last Thursday, 25th November. The areas which got it worst at the beginning were Scotland and North-Eastern England. I thought that where I live would escape but after going to bed at 12.40am last Saturday, I looked out of the window and saw that it was white over. Silent snowflakes were falling from the sky. By the time I got up thought it had stopped, but an inch and a half had fallen overnight.

Saturday was a bitterly cold day, and the mercury fell to -10 on Saturday evening/Sunday morning. Further snow fell Sunday, and it snowed Monday evening from 8.30pm onwards. Last night and today has seen the worst snowfalls. It started snowing from 7.30pm to 10pm, and from 10.45pm to 1pm today non-stop. It was heavy at times. More Snow is forecast for tonight and tomorrow and it will be a bone-chillingly cold night on Thursday. I have known snow like this before. Of course I have. I have known snowfall in November before, in 1993 and 1996, but it has usually been January and February when it has been this severe. In fact, 2010 has been the earliest for heavy snowfall since 1981.

My feelings towards Snow are that it is like Christmas, you love it when you are young. I liked it at that age, but as you get older you grow indifferent to it, or even dislike it. Snow and Christmas are synonymous with each other. For me, it is disruptive and gets in the way. I don't think the UK is equipped for the amounts of snowfall which most of us are getting at the moment. I hope what we have now is melted away with sunshine when the thaw comes because if rain melts it away, there will be a lot of flooding.

When we get heatwaves in Summer, we get sharks and tropical fish in the English Channel, but for some reason, Polar Bears and Penguins aren't making their way to the UK at the moment. It does make me wonder how they manage in Siberia and Russia with constant heavy and deep snow, but I suppose if it is all you have ever known, you get used to it and find ways to adapt.

One solution I have for football matches, is say Manchester United have a fixture against Birmingham City at Old Trafford, and they haven't played them away yet, what should be done, if no snow has fallen in the Birmingham area, is play the return match at St Andrews, and then play the match against Birmingham that was due to take place in, say, March at St Andrews at Old Trafford. That would save clogged up fixture lists at the end of the season.