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<channel>
	<title>Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die</title>
	<atom:link href="http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman</link>
	<description>Just another Asdfriendly.org weblog</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:49:44 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>High Functioning/Low Functioning</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/09/01/high-functioninglow-functioning/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/09/01/high-functioninglow-functioning/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:49:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/09/01/high-functioninglow-functioning/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[He is very High Functioning with very severe autism. He qualified for Gifted &#038; Talented but needs help asking for food. Have you got a box for that on your fancy form?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>He is very High Functioning with very severe autism. He qualified for Gifted &#038; Talented but needs help asking for food.</p>
<p>Have you got a box for that on your fancy form?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/09/01/high-functioninglow-functioning/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Anonymity + Audience = Idiot</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/10/anonymity-audience-idiot/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/10/anonymity-audience-idiot/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:11:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/10/anonymity-audience-idiot/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every now and then we are privileged to witness an act of incredible stupidity. Today, ASDFriendly provided a first class example.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Every now and then we are privileged to witness an act of incredible stupidity. Today, ASDFriendly provided a first class example. </p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/10/anonymity-audience-idiot/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Emotional Echolalia</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/04/not-biting-the-dentist/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/04/not-biting-the-dentist/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:05:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/04/not-biting-the-dentist/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Little Nutter has left his toy rats at holiday club. He found out this evening when he wanted to watch his DVD of Ratatouille again. He is &#8220;So, so sad!&#8221; And now he is playing his &#8220;sad&#8221; emotional playlist on his DVD ripper software on his computer. Penguin has moved in and made friends with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Little Nutter has left his toy rats at holiday club. He found out this evening when he wanted to watch his DVD of Ratatouille again.</p>
<p>He is &#8220;So, so sad!&#8221;</p>
<p>And now he is playing his &#8220;sad&#8221; emotional playlist on his DVD ripper software on his computer.</p>
<p>Penguin has moved in and made friends with Wallace; Gromit has packed his belongings into a handkerchief on a stick and moved out. Nemo has disappeared and Marlin is looking for his son. Andy has abandoned Woody. The chickens have learned their fate and Rocky, their last hope, has abandoned them.</p>
<p>Every sad scene from every DVD he owns has been ripped and gathered in a folder. He is playing through them all, one after another, and whining to himself: &#8220;You let me down!&#8221; &#8220;I want my rats back!&#8221; and &#8220;I&#8217;m so, so sad.&#8221;</p>
<p>Without it, he doesn&#8217;t know how to be sad.  </p>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The MMR Again</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/03/the-mmr-again/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/03/the-mmr-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:57:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/03/the-mmr-again/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m not sure when the General Medical Council&#8217;s final verdict on Andrew Wakefield is due, but it can&#8217;t be long now. The interim verdict is enough to be going on with, though, having said on 28th January this year that he &#8220;failed in his duties as a responsible consultant,&#8221; and acted with &#8220;callous disregard for [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m not sure when the General Medical Council&#8217;s final verdict on Andrew Wakefield is due, but it can&#8217;t be long now. The interim verdict is enough to be going on with, though, having said on 28th January this year that he &#8220;failed in his duties as a responsible consultant,&#8221; and acted with &#8220;callous disregard for the distress and pain the children might suffer.&#8221;</p>
<p>He still claims that the issue at stake is not whether the MMR causes autism, but whether the GMC can tolerate dissent: &#8220;I scare the establishment because I care and I am diligent.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since Wakefield&#8217;s eruption into public life in February 1998, ten of the twelve co-authors of his study into the MMR have withdrawn and retracted from the paper. The GMC ruled that he had acted &#8220;dishonestly and irresponsibly&#8221; during the affair.</p>
<p>The Lancet has retracted the publication and taken the unusual step of removing it from their archives.</p>
<p>Evidence has been uncovered by Brian Deer and given to the GMC to show that biopsy results of the children at the centre of the study were altered. The Royal Free Hospital pathology service found bowel disease was &#8220;a possibility&#8221; in just one sample; Wakefield&#8217;s paper claimed that eleven out of the twelve had bowel disease.</p>
<p>And evidence that could not be published until 2007 as it was sub judice has shown that the raw data Wakefield used to show the presence of MMR vaccine strain measles virus had crossed the blood-brain barrier in the children in the study was unreliable as the laboratory Wakefield used contaminated the samples.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, study after study has been published, each one adding to the weight of evidence that there is no credible link between the MMR and autism.</p>
<p>Autistic Enterocolitis does not exist.</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/03/the-mmr-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Bullshit</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/02/bullshit/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/02/bullshit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:27:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/?p=648</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve just been told about another autism treatment on sale in the USA: ACE Pathways Investigation Study. Make sure you aren&#8217;t eating or drinking while you read this &#8211; it is absolutely inspired. Apparently it claims that autism is caused by a &#8220;stealth virus&#8221; &#8211; presumably a smaller version of the F117 Nighthawk. This treatment [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve just been told about another autism treatment on sale in the USA: ACE Pathways Investigation Study.</p>
<p>Make sure you aren&#8217;t eating or drinking while you read this &#8211; it is absolutely inspired. Apparently it claims that autism is caused by a &#8220;stealth virus&#8221; &#8211; presumably a smaller version of the F117 Nighthawk.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>This treatment is non-invasive and very effective. It is best done when your child is sleeping. It involves putting a clear film againts the body to protect against the dye that is used. Surgical towels are soaked in a special dye and placed against the film. A special epione spray is then sprayed on the towels and a UV light shone on it for about one hour. We have not started the treatment yet due to some issues with my twins. We are most likely starting in the next few weeks. Here is a link to the study. Read some of the results posted by parents on here. It is amazing how well this is working. I have seen the results myself. NO NOT pass this up, it is the real thing folks!!!!! I believe that this will eventually become stanard treatment for children with autism.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>If anyone is in doubt about the motives and true nature of ACE Pathways Investigation Study, this disclaimer should reassure them:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>NO REFUND POLICY:</p>
<p>Thank you to all who have participated in the study. For those who are still waiting to begin we ask that you remain patient. We have been using smaller control groups as the study moves forward. If you have voluntarily withdrawn from the study early, you will not receive a refund. The NO REFUND policy was clearly stated in several places and ultimately on the invoice to which you agreed to pay. &#8220;NO REFUNDS IN PART OR IN WHOLE&#8221;. These terms were accepted and agreed to once payment was made and is a legally binding agreement. The management of the study is handled by a &#8220;third party&#8221;. Dr. W John Martin is not responsible for any policies set forth by the company nor has any ties to the management company. We will be strictly enforcing the no refund policy. If you wish to continue to wait you will be provided material and we will fulfill our obligation to you. This may take some time. This is a medical study and must move slowly and carefully. We are working hard to ensure the treatment will be effective for both you and your family. Thank you for your understanding and patience.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>So: does it cost money? Yes.</p>
<p>Does it guarantee results? No &#8211; it&#8217;s still only a study.</p>
<p>Is it safe? No &#8211; the Canadian FDA and health Canada are actively monitoring this study, <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s5VbSF9ruiI/SdPCQCi9U8I/AAAAAAAAAFE/qbDs7nszNKo/s1600-h/Health+Canada++Letter.jpg">and it has been officially stopped in Canada.</a></p>
<p>Don&#8217;t you just love it?</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/02/bullshit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Advanced Echolalia for Autistics</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/02/advanced-echolalia-for-autistics/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/02/advanced-echolalia-for-autistics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:17:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/02/advanced-echolalia-for-autistics/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Look,&#8221; said Little Nutter as I gave him a bin bag and told him to tidy his room. &#8220;I&#8217;m not usually a rule guy, but this is a biggy: No Cleaning and Tidying!&#8221; That&#8217;s me told.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Look,&#8221; said Little Nutter as I gave him a bin bag and told him to tidy his room. &#8220;I&#8217;m not usually a rule guy, but this is a biggy: No Cleaning and Tidying!&#8221;</p>
<p>That&#8217;s me told.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/08/02/advanced-echolalia-for-autistics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Peter Harvey</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/05/27/peter-harvey/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/05/27/peter-harvey/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 May 2010 21:35:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Teaching]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/?p=641</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the less well-publicised factors of his case is that his victim was deliberately provoking him while a classmate filmed the incident on a camera phone. He cracked, as any normal human being would under that kind of pressure, and unfortunately attacked the boy with a weight. Now he has lost his job, his [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One of the less well-publicised factors of his case is that his victim was deliberately provoking him while a classmate filmed the incident on a camera phone.</p>
<p>He cracked, as any normal human being would under that kind of pressure, and unfortunately attacked the boy with a weight. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottingham/10176802.stm">Now he has lost his job, his pension and any hope of benefits.</a> I feel deeply for the boy, who was immature, misguided and is now disabled. But that does not excuse the treatment Harvey has received.</p>
<p>In any other aspect of English law provocation is taken into account. For a teacher, however, even when that provocation has been endured for 25 hours per week for 20 years, no amount of provocation is accepted even in mitigation after a plea.</p>
<p>Want my advice? Don&#8217;t teach. Tell your friends and their relatives not to teach. If you&#8217;re already a teacher, get out of the job. Because whatever happens, you will be blamed &#8211; unless the results are good, in which case someone else will steal the credit.</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/05/27/peter-harvey/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Andrew Wakefield</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/05/25/andrew-wakefield/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/05/25/andrew-wakefield/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 May 2010 05:55:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/?p=639</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[He&#8217;s still blustering on, denying this and claiming that, and insisting that he did it all for the children, his patients. That claim, however, is not the ultimate appeal to moral authority. It is a dare, a challenge to present a case whereby you believe a child should be sacrificed for a greater good. And [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>He&#8217;s still blustering on, denying this and claiming that, and insisting that he did it all for the children, his patients.</p>
<p>That claim, however, is not the ultimate appeal to moral authority. It is a dare, a challenge to present a case whereby you believe a child should be sacrificed for a greater good. And it is used by people who use their opinion of a child&#8217;s best interest to justify their own moral failings and abuses.</p>
<p>In Wakefield&#8217;s case, he uses it to justify his invasive procedures that were conducted against the advice of his own ethics committee, justify his own lies that damaged the reputation of the MMR in order to promote the single vaccines he was paid to promote, and justify his support for an anti-vaccine industry that has made him very, very rich.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that the causes of autism are not known, and there is no cure. There are treatments that can help, but I promise you that anyone who charges you for one of these treatments is profiteering. You will get a treatment every bit as good, proven scientifically to be every bit as effective, for free here in the UK.</p>
<p>To me, the crime of Wakefield is nothing to do with him personally, or what he has done as an individual.</p>
<p>The crime is everything he stands for &#8211; the whole parasitical industry of quacks, snake-oil salesmen, bogus cure and treatment centres, that preys on the despair and desperation of families torn apart by this heartbreaking, debilitating and incredibly disabling condition.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not just Wakefield in the dock. It&#8217;s everyone who ever made a promise to a family in exchange for their cash.</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/05/25/andrew-wakefield/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>OK &#8211; So There&#8217;s Going to Be an Election</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/04/06/ok-so-theres-going-to-be-an-election/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/04/06/ok-so-theres-going-to-be-an-election/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:02:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Being Grumpy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/?p=636</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Let&#8217;s not get bogged down with any &#8216;election&#8217; puns&#8230; ASDA has recruited a focus group of &#8220;Mums&#8221; to tell us what is important in this election &#8211; something that has got the broadsheet newspapers very excited. Fuckwits. Even the thickest thickie in Thickieton-on-the-Thicket knows what they want from this election. A group of bored, understimulated, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Let&#8217;s not get bogged down with any &#8216;election&#8217; puns&#8230;</p>
<p>ASDA has recruited <a href="http://your.asda.com/2010/3/29/election-2010-we-re-recruiting-asda-mums-to-keep-video-diaries" target="_blank">a focus group of &#8220;Mums&#8221;</a> to tell us what is important in this election &#8211; something that has got the broadsheet newspapers very excited.</p>
<p>Fuckwits.</p>
<p>Even the thickest thickie in Thickieton-on-the-Thicket knows what they want from this election. A group of bored, understimulated, time-rich yummy-mummies isn&#8217;t going to enlighten them.</p>
<p>Sadly, no political party is going to deliver what they want, either. Whoever is elected, we can look forward to another five years of mendacious expediency instead of honest, humble governance.</p>
<p>No-one expects infallibility from our political leaders. Hell, we don&#8217;t even expect competence these days. But accountability would be nice. And let&#8217;s just talk about evasiveness for a second.</p>
<p>Have you ever been in the headmaster&#8217;s study? Or had to stand in the boss&#8217;s office, without coffee? And had to answer direct, angry questions? And did you try to be evasive? I did &#8211; and bloody hell, I regretted it.</p>
<p>So here&#8217;s my manifesto: I don&#8217;t give a damn about your politics. I don&#8217;t give a flying f^€% about your competence, your track record or your personality. If I hear you being evasive ONCE &#8211; I want you out of office. No arguments, no whining, no excuses. Just leave.</p>
<p>If you aren&#8217;t prepared to endure the conditions the rest of us have to put up with, then you don&#8217;t get my vote.</p>
<p>And don&#8217;t even ask for expenses.</p>
<p>More on the election later.</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/04/06/ok-so-theres-going-to-be-an-election/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Raising Standards in Education: the Political Method</title>
		<link>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/03/10/raising-standards-in-education-the-political-method/</link>
		<comments>http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/2010/03/10/raising-standards-in-education-the-political-method/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:24:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>grumpyoldman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Being Grumpy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teaching]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://asdfriendly.org/blog/grumpyoldman/?p=634</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently, under the new school inspection framework, schools that used to be judged as &#8220;good&#8221; have only rated a &#8220;satisfactory&#8221; rating. This is not because their standards are declining. It is because, as Ofsted confess, they are &#8220;raising the bar&#8221; in order to &#8220;drive standards upwards.&#8221; This is no different to attempting to improve the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Recently, under the new school inspection framework, schools that used to be judged as &#8220;good&#8221; have only rated a &#8220;satisfactory&#8221; rating.</p>
<p>This is not because their standards are declining. It is because, as Ofsted confess, they are &#8220;raising the bar&#8221; in order to &#8220;drive standards upwards.&#8221;</p>
<p>This is no different to attempting to improve the health of the general population by calling everyone &#8220;obese slobs&#8221; if they are more than 10lb overweight and can&#8217;t run a half marathon in less than two hours. It won&#8217;t work. All it does is alienate and upset people &#8211; confirming a few prejudices and reinforcing a few stereotypes along the way.</p>
<p>And worse of all is the Lib Dem spokesman David Law&#8217;s comment: &#8220;<em>the bottom line is that half of schools inspected were not good enough.</em>&#8221; The &#8220;half of schools&#8221; he is referring to are the 10% that failed their inspections and the 40% which gained &#8220;satisfactory&#8221; grades &#8211; which as we remember meant &#8220;good&#8221; just seven months ago and which Law himself was perfectly happy with at that time.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that if you believe the politically motivated spin on any government figures, you are exactly the sort of fool whose vote these morons want.</p>
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