Tonight my dinner consisted of smoked salmon which I ate out of a plastic cup. I knicked it at a Yom Kippur dinner I attended last night at the school. I polished it down with some delicious lemon cookies, also from the dinner (separate cup).
Also, this comic accurately and sadly portrays my life. Literally on Monday I had business pants on, heels, make-up, and straightened hair. Today I am wearing old jeans, a hoodie, minimal make-up, and yesterday hair pulled in a pony tail. I somehow went from Monday to Friday overnight though...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Psychology Moment - Vaccines and Autism
A professor of mine described a disorder that she thinks may explain why some children appear to develop autism after getting vaccinated. I think her argument is very interesting.
Generally speaking, children who develop "autism" after vaccination were developmentally normal prior to that point. When the child shows regression of cognitive and social skills, parents think back to all the things that could have happened to their child and attribute this regression to the vaccine.
My professor thinks these children don't even have autism. In autism, the sympoms are relatively obvious or at least present from birth. Autism doesn't suddenly appear at the age of 3, although that is the age when parents usually bring their child's symptoms to the attention of a doctor.
Another disorder may account for some of these children who appear to get sick after vaccination. It is called Child Disintegrative Disorder. Children who have this disorder develop normally until about the age of 2 or 3. At that point, there is a noticeable loss of social skills, bodily functions, delay of language, and other cognitive abilities. Sound familiar? This is also around the time many children receive the vaccinations that some believe causes autism.
I have never heard of this disorder until last night, much less in the debate about vaccinations and autism. I find it compelling although I'm sure it doesn't explain all of these cases. Some children may actually have autism which WAS present at birth but the parents were in denial and didn't bring their child to a doctor sooner (I've seen this happen, it's very sad). But this is a fresh argument in a stale debate and thought I would share it with you.
Generally speaking, children who develop "autism" after vaccination were developmentally normal prior to that point. When the child shows regression of cognitive and social skills, parents think back to all the things that could have happened to their child and attribute this regression to the vaccine.
My professor thinks these children don't even have autism. In autism, the sympoms are relatively obvious or at least present from birth. Autism doesn't suddenly appear at the age of 3, although that is the age when parents usually bring their child's symptoms to the attention of a doctor.
Another disorder may account for some of these children who appear to get sick after vaccination. It is called Child Disintegrative Disorder. Children who have this disorder develop normally until about the age of 2 or 3. At that point, there is a noticeable loss of social skills, bodily functions, delay of language, and other cognitive abilities. Sound familiar? This is also around the time many children receive the vaccinations that some believe causes autism.
I have never heard of this disorder until last night, much less in the debate about vaccinations and autism. I find it compelling although I'm sure it doesn't explain all of these cases. Some children may actually have autism which WAS present at birth but the parents were in denial and didn't bring their child to a doctor sooner (I've seen this happen, it's very sad). But this is a fresh argument in a stale debate and thought I would share it with you.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
I'm All Grown Up
I am being audited. Only for tuition-related expenses so it's more of a mini-audit. The government wants proof of my outrageous tuition claims. But really, who could really blame them? Sometimes *I* don't believe it. I feel so grown up now...but not in a good way.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
People of Walmart
I've always maintained that the majority of people who shop at Walmart do so while wearing jogging pants and other trashy atire. Apparently the creators of http://peopleofwalmart.com/ noticed too. This site is incredible, check it out.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Housematey Reunion
I'm too lazy to update the rest of my trip home but it involved congratulating Dr. Eric on successfully defending his thesis, waiting to be blown away by a tornado with Marc while sipping wine, and playing Nintendo with Gino.
When I got back to Chi-town the housemateys invaded for a 5-day whirlwind adventure. One of the many highlights was our visit to American Girl. This store is beyond creepy. Children pick out a doll that is dressed according to some time period. For example, there is a black doll from 1814 who comes with costumes and accessories from the time period including an information card. That particular one made no mention of slavery FYI, just that "the north and south were divided."
We were total assholes in this store, taking photos of the ridiculousness including Rachel posing infront of a gigantic star holding a book called, "Am I Normal?"
This card says "Dark skin, textured black hair boy." Even though the light-skinned dolls got 4 pages in the catalogue, dark skinned dolls only get one:
Matching clothes for you and your doll!
Tell your story! With a doll that looks like you! Your moment is now! Vague meaningless catch phrase!
Professional photo studio for you and your doll:
Randomly crippled doll:
Doll *hospital* where staff are actually wearing scrubs:
Hair dressers to style your doll's hair:
It's way too easy to make fun of this. It was a sign infront of a church:
When I got back to Chi-town the housemateys invaded for a 5-day whirlwind adventure. One of the many highlights was our visit to American Girl. This store is beyond creepy. Children pick out a doll that is dressed according to some time period. For example, there is a black doll from 1814 who comes with costumes and accessories from the time period including an information card. That particular one made no mention of slavery FYI, just that "the north and south were divided."
We were total assholes in this store, taking photos of the ridiculousness including Rachel posing infront of a gigantic star holding a book called, "Am I Normal?"
This card says "Dark skin, textured black hair boy." Even though the light-skinned dolls got 4 pages in the catalogue, dark skinned dolls only get one:
Matching clothes for you and your doll!
Tell your story! With a doll that looks like you! Your moment is now! Vague meaningless catch phrase!
Professional photo studio for you and your doll:
Randomly crippled doll:
Doll *hospital* where staff are actually wearing scrubs:
Hair dressers to style your doll's hair:
It's way too easy to make fun of this. It was a sign infront of a church:
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