Mike_GX101

There is no trouble at all; it's all an illusion. With little effort some of the worlds' finest minds could eradicate the common cold with little effort leaving plenty of time and resources left for the more important viruses/diseases as you say; all it takes is the will and technical know-how to do it. I'm against genetically-modified crops and all, but put to good use in the fight against disease, genetic modification techniques could really make a difference.

You've missed the point entirely - imagine if there were no colds at all because we'd fixed the 'broken' little critters with new DNA which doesn't wreak havoc on our immune systems and bodies. No more de-congestion rubs, no more paracetamol's, no more thousands of lost work days, etc. The benefits of curing the common cold are there if people care to look. Let's not let us get side-tracked by people's spending habits!

That is your opinion of course A-S. It's a bit like saying if we planned a new highway people would ignore it and choose to drive over the fields next to it.

Which came first; the chicken or the egg? Did Hans Asperger 'invent' asperger's syndome in 1944 or did he simply identify a psychological phenomena which has lived with us for as long as humans have lived and maybe even before then in Prehistoric Man?

We all know it's close to winter when the weather gets cooler and the nasty cold critters flood and clog up the air filters in every workplace up and down the lands. You know the efforts you go through to stop yourself getting the cold that's doing the rounds (eating as many oranges as you can, drinking down pints of orange juice and eating as much salad as you can find) only to then find that you still get it and when you then scoff down even more Vitamin C to get rid of it you encounter that undeserved side-effect of making the cold fight back even harder thereby making it worse! I watched the documentary "Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell" last Sunday and have since come down with my cold and I've been thinking about the process involved and how the virus itself attacks individual cells and literally inserts it's own short-sequence of DNA straight into a target tissue cell which then brings down that entire cell while the virus replicates itself. With one cell compromised (and possibly many others too in the same period) it is only a matter of time before many other cells become compromised too. The nose gets blocked when the body (realising it is being compromised) floods the capillaries with white blood cells and begins to fight back. My question is this - rather than trying to come up with some miracle serum that fights the common cold wouldn't it be easier simply to extract it's DNA and re-sequence it so that it is harmless to humans? They say that our cells and viruses are the same age and come from the same source and yet neither has had the advantage particularly of having external technological know-hows that can put the other one out of practice permanently. So what's stopping such invasive cures coming out? Why is this not happening? Why are we continuing to come down with common colds which surely we aught to have cures for by now?

No one really knows the origins of autism any more than anyone really knows the origins of the universe. As per many such debatable topics it is good to have diverse views on the matter at hand to ensure that any outcome conclusion is a solidly balanced one. Otherwise we end up with notions like the idea that something can come from absolutely nothing which we all know contradicts the very principles of cause and effect.

Loneliness sucks but so can being stuck with the wrong person...

Perhaps just over the horizon there exists the Mother of all Autistic's sat under an apple tree nurturing all who come her way. A bite from one of her apples is the bite that promotes true selflessness and leaves the visitor with an everlasting taste of wholesomeness and goodness allowing them to return with a burning passion they never knew they had. Something good is coming soon and Christmas will never be the same again.

When I damaged my knee in a cycling accident I wore a knee support for many months. The pain began to ease and still I wore my support. I became quite good on my bike again and began to perform as I always had. 18 months later a cycling mate told me to remove it. When I did this my knee was weak and I had to regain muscle mass in that leg in order to walk and cycle without the knee support. The moral of this story is that relying on support too much can seriously stymie the individual through the process of 'entropy' where the underlying disorder is propped up increasingly by the support until it can no longer function without the support. Remove the support and the situation is hopeless. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves and become a little too arrogant of achievements etc (good though they are) because one day the support that propagated such success may not suddenly be there. Even the most independent of individuals needed someone to help get them there. Please spare a thought for those other people because they may not always be there and might even need your support one day.

I don't know what underdoggedness has to do with it but yes I see where you're coming from and society in general seems to have this primary belief that the media and the stories they tell are always the truth and nothing but the truth. But I was educated to look beyond what I read and to question things. But if I roll back the clock to the time before my education (which would uncover my natural tendencies) I would say that I often saw a side to a story that no one else saw. I still do this and time and again I am proved right in the long run. I do worry where society is going though and I think we all have just cause to be sceptical about quite a lot of things. For example why is it that inflation has massively increased the cost of goods and services while the National Minimum Wage has only increased by a few pence? Why is it that employers do not seem to have a clear legal obligation to ensure they're paying fair and decent rates of pay to reflect on the work being done and simply default to the NMW rate no matter what? Why is it you see thousands and thousands of truly gifted and talented people not being offered jobs when clearly they have the ability to do them? You see the way I see it is this: unless society wakes up and realises we're all being short changed there won't be a future because no one will be able to afford anything any longer.

I also avidly loved getting Lego for Christmas boxed in the well-arrayed boxes Lego package it in - I suppose this is where my aspie-traits show up because I loved checking all the bits were there and loved the assemble of Lego initially via the instructions before I integrated the bits into my main Lego box afterwards. I still identify with that feeling when I pass the Lego isles in shops like WHSmith's. Sadly I'm much too old for it now though! In fact that was the very reasoning my parents used to stop my obsession with Lego in its tracks - I was too old for it! And with that went a hell of a lot of constructive creativity too that I never did get to develop further.

I also remember enjoying something called "Screw Ball Scramble" - I absolutely loved it and looked forward to getting it one Christmas.

My favourites were: Monsters in my Pocket (whatever became of them?!?) Transformers (1980's style) Micro Machines (used to spend hours playing with this ship which folded out into a Micro City :-) Marbles Matchbox cars - used to love lining them up Lego I used to enjoy building up vast Lego constructs taking several days to do them - I'd then use them in a game with toys like the Monsters in my Pocket, Matchbox cars and marbles bringing the whole lot to a crumbled-up wreck at the end a couple of hours later. Then I'd start to rebuild. Oh such days! Such fun! As I grew older I used bigger (and more powerful) figures in my games leaving my Lego men in ruins much sooner.

There's a really good song that's been playing on the radio recently that I absolutely love but sadly I don't know what the words are - I'll update you when they reveal what the song's actually called and who sings it.

Yes I totally agree with you and from that standpoint I do feel A**merger overstepped the threshold - and no I am not advocating we have an adult sub-form for that kind of talk. The other topics A**merger has posted are another way of doing it but without that original topic that got deleted we would be nonethewiser of the real issues involved which may in fact be far more important in dealing with his self-esteem and loneliness issues.

I seem to recall the frequency of it dissipated when I got myself a girlfriend and the more friends I made at the new school I'd recently started, the less I did it. I guess what happens is that the jinx-myth gets debunked when you realise other people don't do it and aren't having bad things happening to them - the belief wears thin after a bit and you don't do it any more because there is nothing to fear any more. It's like fearing the boogie man's going to get you from under the bed only to realise the boogie man is actually a crumpled-up blanket with glitter stuck to it. Debunk the myth and you debunk the fear which causes the behaviour.

Get him to buy the next bed. If work is an issue then rather than simply buying the bed for him, give the money to him in 'exchange' for a few chores around the house/cleaning the car/etc and with the sense of ownership he will then earn with his reward he may well have more care; he will learn the value of looking after his things. Of course you probably get him to do chores any way and you have no problem getting the bed for him but if you do it in such a way that it makes him 'think' he's earning the money and therefore buying his own bed, you may very well solve the problem.

I went through an episode of this too when I was about 12/13. I had this belief that if I didn't do it I'd be jinxed with something bad. I used to go through rituals where I'd say "If I do this, this and this and I do it by such and such a time then I'll be safe". With the lights it was "I have to turn them on and off 3 times otherwise something bad will happen". Third time lucky, as they say!

It all comes down to what it means by "carer" and unless your neighbour/friend makes all your decisions for you and has a say over whether you're allowed to go dating or not and can pick and choose whether you're allowed a partner, they cannot be classed as a "carer".

Have a look into this eye: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_woman%27s_eye.JPG Behold the intricate beauty of the human eye - see it the way it really is; like a flower that is blooming in the spring. Just consider how special it is to be able to see - what would it be like to a blind person who has always been blind who has never been given the opportunity to see the human eye for all its vibrant colours and intricacies? How special it is to be able to meet the gaze of another and just be awed by such beauty. Now tell us what it is that is so haunting about looking into someone's eyes that makes you feel so uncomfortable? Tell it how it is...

We understand the kind of moderation that happens - it is a point-based system and you have to listen to what your control panel is telling you. But had there been a private adult sub-forum to begin with A**merger would have had an appropriate channel in which to express himself, the point system threshold could have been extended a little, and with a little moderation to some of his posts the discussion could have come to a healthy conclusion as there were some interesting points being raised by some other members.

I think I get cortisol attacks which leave me feeling quite edgy and anxious. At such times it is best to get out and go for a walk/run (even at 3am on a cold winter's night if necessary!) and stave off the caffeine. I have had panic attacks where I have literally run out into the night shivering profusely with a real fear that I might pass out; better to pass out on the street than on your own!!

Cortisol (Wikipedia) The stress hormone Blood tests Generally it seems cortisol is used by the body in fight/flight encounters and is a necessary hormone for making us act - it gives us that extra boost of energy. However if it is high for a long time it can cause cognitive problems. thyroid problems, bone and muscular problems, increased abdominal fat and lowered immunity. So next time you put on weight and think of going on a diet - go and get your cortisol levels and question whether you're under a lot of stress.

I phoned up once and the first thing they asked me was "Are you cared for" to which the answer is "No". The operator became less supportive after that. So through my own experience unless you're being cared for there is little point in applying.