Archive for the ‘news’ Category

Lots of bad things going on out there… here’s something good. Hope everyone’s doing well.

Z & J

This is a Recent Article about a hacker who was busted for hacking into the US Military computers in the wake of 9/11 to tell them their security was crap. He called himself “Solo”.

When he was busted, part of Solo’s defense was that he was diagnosed with Asperger’s, and therefore in some way not responsible for his actions. He’s not the first hacker to make this claim. “The Geek Defense”, as they refer to it, seems to be a growing excuse for hackers.

On the one hand it seems like it may well be that people with Aspergers are less responsible for what they do than others, since sometimes it’s harder for them to censor their words and even actions. I know we’ve had a few moments I’d rather not talk about that may or may not have occurred had Zev not had Aspergers.

On the other hand, we would hate to see Aspergers being used to excuse obviously criminal behavior. There’s a big difference between not knowing when to censor yourself socially and not knowing when you’re breaking the law.

Where do you come down on this argument? Let us know.

Z & J

This is a pretty odd story, if not a little twisted. A child beauty pageant is taking heat for awarding an autistic girl “Best Personality” – from the mother of the girl.

Child beauty pageants are controversial to begin with, so it really seems like Leonie Myles, the mother of Tahnee, was asking for trouble getting Tahnee involved in something like that… particularly considering the nature of Autism and the fragility that can sometimes come with it as far as self-image is concerned.

Ultimately this may not be that big of a deal, but it’s still an interesting situation… and even though it’s in Australia, it feels like a very American issue.

Here’s the link – let us know what you think.

This is a story from a few years back, but it’s one of our favorites…

Jason “J-Mac” McElwain, an autistic basketball player, got into a high school game in the 4th Quarter and tied a school record with SIX 3-POINTERS IN FOUR MINUTES. An incredible feat for anyone, let alone someone with autism.

We had the pleasure of meeting Jason when we went on CBS’ The Talk a few months ago. Great guy. Zev has a pretty nasty 3-Point stroke also – he’s been known to get on hot streaks of his own in our Men’s Rec League hoops games – so we asked if they could find us a hoop on the lot to conduct a little shoot-out… but there was no hoop to be found. The showdown had to wait.

But whenever J-Mac’s ready, Zev’s ready.

This is out-of-control, off-the-charts amazingness that shows what incredible achievements people on the spectrum are capable of…

‘BRAIN MAN’ Daniel Tammet – A high-functioning autistic savant –  recited a series of 22,514 numbers over a five hour period after seeing them once. His memory skills include learning to speak Icelandic in one week. Click on Brain Man video link to watch a great piece about him…

Brain Man video

Our appearance on The Talk a while back… Zev kept his backpack on, and we announced that we’re looking for some lucky ladies to come on our trips with us.

Still haven’t taken the trips. Just sayin’.

-J