From Tequila to Dyslexia
Tequila Prices to Rise: Blame US Gov.: The artificial demand for ethanol driven by the US government's wrong-headed solution to dependence on foreign oil is causing Mexican farmers to burn their agave fields so they can plant corn for ethanol production. The agave plant takes eight years to mature. Say goodbye to bargain prices on Patrón (better stock up now!).
American Traitor Returns: American al-Qaeda member Adam Yehiye Gadahn, the first American to be charged with treason since 1952, appeared in a seven-minute video in which he demanded that we leave all Muslim lands or "experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech."
This is Gadahn's fifth video appearance on behalf of al-Qaeda. He is one of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists and believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
Screw bin Laden, it's time we found this guy home-grown terrorist.
Ecoterrorist Gets 3 Years: Speaking of terrorists, Canadian 'animal rights' activist Darren Thurston, 37, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for helping the Animal Liberation Front set fire to federal wild horse corrals in Northern California. When are we going to quit coddling terrorists? Should've been ten years at a minimum.
Conspiracy Theory: Daniel Pipes reviews a book that offers the intriguing theory that the Six-Day War originated in the Kremlin as a plot to scuttle Israel's nuclear program. The Jews screwed everything up when they whipped the ass of three Arab nations in just six days. Gotta love 'em!
Bush the Neoliberal: WaPo's Richard Cohen obviously has not been paying attention; he is just now waking up to Bush's liberal tendencies.
Global Warming Windfall: A New Zealand farmer has signed a 120-year contract in which he receives $1 million for doing absolutely nothing. He sold his rights to the carbon dioxide on his heavily-vegetated land to a mining company. All he has to do is not cut down trees to run cattle on his land. Anyone want to pay me for not blogging? Anyone?
We are Born to be Generous: Yet another study, this one indicating that being generous "lights up" the same part of the brain that responds to food and sex. That is, we do it because it feels good:
The results are showing many aspects of morality appear to be hard-wired in the brain, opening up a new window on what it means to be good.
'Addictive' Semen: Speaking of studies, there was one that found that women who don't use condoms during sex are less depressed and less likely to attempt suicide than women who have no exposure to semen (either by using condoms or by abstinence). One of the authors of the study also found that women who don't use condoms get increasingly depressed as more time passes since their last sexcapade, leading him to believe that there may be a chemical dependency to semen.
Reminds me of an Alice Cooper tune:
Man's got his woman
To take his seed
He's got the power - oh
She's got the need
Prof. Says No Such Thing as Dyslexia: An educational psychologist says that after 30 years of research, he can find no evidence that dyslexia is a medical condition and believes that those so diagnosed should be re-classified as having reading difficulty. He says that there is a "huge stigma attached to low intelligence" and that this stigma is avoided when parents get their child diagnosed with a medical condition.
Blog post #6648 in category
Miscellaneous
posted 29 May 07
Is dyslexia real? Is that the right question?
There is so much publicity around these days arguing about whether dyslexia is real or not , at Seeing Spells Achieving, we should like to put a quite different frame on the question. Dyslexia is very real for those with it, but it seems to be a learnt behavior (this may be a shock for you, but read on), that we learn by ourselves or by watching our parents/teachers around the age of 3 or 4 years old and by the time we are finishing junior school we are quite proficient at this confusing behavior. The symptoms we have of not being able to "see" words, like all the best spellers can and not being able to keep them still when we do "see" them are 2 behaviors that can be changed in minutes, not months through the NLP techniques described in the book, Seeing Spells Achieving. It is so quick it should be the first place to look for any concerned parent. If you understand the technique and help your child early enough they should never become confused by words. If your child is older, a few hours is all you need to help your child. For more information take a look at www.seeingspellsachieving.com and you are welcome to e-mail the authors for help - this is a real offer of direct assistance. And returning to the origional question, all children who are using their visual capabilities well, are much brighter at school.
Posted by Olive Hickmott on Thursday at 7:19 AM
Is dyslexia real? Is that the right question?
There is so much publicity around these days arguing about whether dyslexia is real or not , at Seeing Spells Achieving, we should like to put a quite different frame on the question. Dyslexia is very real for those with it, but it seems to be a learnt behavior (this may be a shock for you, but read on), that we learn by ourselves or by watching our parents/teachers around the age of 3 or 4 years old and by the time we are finishing junior school we are quite proficient at this confusing behavior. The symptoms we have of not being able to "see" words, like all the best spellers can and not being able to keep them still when we do "see" them are 2 behaviors that can be changed in minutes, not months through the NLP techniques described in the book, Seeing Spells Achieving. It is so quick it should be the first place to look for any concerned parent. If you understand the technique and help your child early enough they should never become confused by words. If your child is older, a few hours is all you need to help your child. For more information take a look at www.seeingspellsachieving.com and you are welcome to e-mail the authors for help - this is a real offer of direct assistance. And returning to the origional question, all children who are using their visual capabilities well, are much brighter at school.
Posted by Olive Hickmott on Thursday at 7:19 AM
you are irrefutably wrong, this is not an opinion. One should have at least a minimal ability to understand basic neurophysiology before they give a theory on such a serious medical condition. I am sure you don t understand brain symmetry , or where or what the lateral geniculate nucleus,thalumus, temporal region, corpus callosum ,angular gyrus , parietal lobe , ,occipital or frontal regions of the cortex are and the differences of these structures in a person with dyslexia. Have you ever heard or an MRI or PET studies or cortical activation differences in people with dyslexia ?.
The evidence is brain based research as opposed to your buttock - based opinion. I would not even bother responding to people who obviously are not reasonable therefore are not going to acknowledge any reason. I am responding in case someone with dyslexia reads your ridiculous report. DYSLEXIA IS A VERY SERIOS MEDICAL CONDITION AND IS NOT A 'LEARNT
behavior ". It causes serious processing deficits ,visual motor integration and perception deficits, sequential memory deficits, orthographic processing dysfunction and the inability
to decode words just to name a few symptoms.
Individuals with dyslexia usually have varying degrees of dysgrahia and dyscalculia.[difficulty with reading and writing] Dyslexics are wired incorrectly on the phonological level of processing so to speak . That is the lowest level of cognitive thinking but they are wired superiorly on the highest level thinking. Dyslexic people are usually gifted in intelligence and are always at least above average. The ability to acquire reading or writing easily or not is not a reflection of intelligence.
Dyslexic people have vision ,they are great scientists, they are morally sensitive people usually and our children with dyslexia would be great leaders and politicians. But people with ignorant views destroy many of them in school early on ,you crush their self esteem with improper teaching methodology. They need a highly specialized reading teacher trained in Orton- Gillingham [ [or similar methodology as Wilson or Linda mood Bell.] It is rocket science how these saviors teach them to read. They tend to have executive function deficits, in addition. Dyslexia affects almost every aspect of their lives.
The above report is likely written by a school psychologist trying to spread this non- brain based absurd rumor about dyslexia, so the school can release it s responsibility and deny these children their right to an appropriate education.
To anyone who is having difficulty learning to read ,if you are an adult and have trouble with reading or writing and to parents with children with these problems [don't always trust the schools opinion]; seek out a Orton- Gillingham reading tutor ,your child may need to learn with a multisensory mehod. They cannot learn with traditional methods of teaching. Dyslexia is serious and requires intervention, if you are having difficulty reading you are probably smarter than the average person.
By the way to the above fiction writers are you in the Florida public school system ?
Susan Matis Cicio
Posted by Susan Cicio on Tuesday at 3:58 AM
Pardon me ,Correction to my above noted comment : Dysgraghia is difficulty with the writing process and Dyscalculia is difficulty with mathematics .Dyslexia can cause difficulty with basic sequencing and memorizing the multiplication table however dyslexics are usually very capable of more difficult math requiring much higher order thinking skills.
susan m. cicio
Posted by Susan Cicio on Tuesday at 4:11 AM
Pardon me ,Correction to my above noted comment : Dysgraghia is difficulty with the writing process and Dyscalculia is difficulty with mathematics .Dyslexia can cause difficulty with basic sequencing and memorizing the multiplication table however dyslexics are usually very capable of more difficult math requiring much higher order thinking skills.
susan m. cicio
Posted by Susan Cicio on Tuesday at 4:11 AM