Population 0

Welcome to Planet Earth: Population 0.
This is what our world would look like without people.
The images were created to illustrate what would happen if human life ceased tomorrow, if, for whatever reason, mankind was obliterated.

Tower Bridge is falling down: A London landmark crumbles.

Fall of Rome: The Colosseum is destroyed as Italy's capital is engulfed in flames.

New York: Once magnificent skyscrapers would rot away.
Rust in peace: Made of steel, the Eiffel Tower, France's monument to the industrial age, teeters.

Last civilisation: The ancient Sphinx and Great Pyramid of Gaza would remain, while modern buildings would crumble.

Buckingham Palace sinks into decay.

Washed away: Harrods, London's premier department store, rots among derelict double-decker buses in flood waters caused by the bursting of the Thames barrier.

Lights out!

Remember to turn those lights out tonight at 8pm for Earth Hour.

When I did this post a week or so ago I mentioned that I did not have a car. This surprised a few people. I do drive but there are a couple of reasons I gave my car up. First because C finds cars very difficult as they go round corners roundabouts, and get stuck in traffic. He came very close a few times to putting his head through the car window, not much fun whilst trying to drive.

The other reason is about 10 years ago I had an accident whilst doing one of those charity hikes in the Himalayas raising money for disabled children. Not the best place to have an accident! I blogged about it sometime ago, here and here.
After 3 failed operations I was left with a drop foot which I cannot move, and in constant pain, hence making driving long distances rather awkward.
It was difficult to get used to not having a car, but as we know you get used to anything. It has also meant I do a lot of walking which for my leg is properly a good thing. However for about a year now the pain in my leg has been getting worse, so last week I actually went to the doctors about it, I was a bit shocked when she said I will have to have a knee replacement. But will have to wait till I a bit more debilitated. Something to look forward to!!

After seeing the look on Cs face (and no fingers in ears) in this photo, when I have my new leg I think I will have to invest in one of these Go kart things rather than a car!! But where would I put the shopping?!

Its those little things...

C has started

walking ROUND puddles!! :)

Have a play with this.

Protect your head

Next week is Action for Brain Injury Week 31st March - 6th April 2008. Thank you Ellee for reminding me.
Every 15 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a traumatic brain injury. Of the 1,000,000 people treated in hospital emergency rooms each year, 50,000 die and 80,000 become permanently disabled.

Some things to remember;
1. Wear your seat belt!
In a car, truck or airplane, your seat belt will help protect your head and brain from injury. Motor vehicle accidents are by far the greatest causes of brain injuries, accounting for 37-50% of all brain injuries.
2. Wear your helmet!
Head injury is the most common cause of death in bicycle crashes accounting for 62% of all bicycle-related deaths
3. Stay away from illegal drugs!
Although damage done by some drugs can be reversed, some drugs may change brain function permanently
4. Know the risks involved with sports!
This applies mainly to boxing, football and the martial arts. However, even football, climbing, horseback riding, diving and skiing have risks. Always wear your safety equipment properly and be in good physical condition for your sport.
5. Look before you leap!
I know it sounds impossible, but people DO dive into swimming pools without water. Dive only in the deep end of the pool and make sure that the water in the lake and at the beach is deep enough to dive in head first. Also, be aware of any objects, such as large rocks, that may be hidden under the water.

There are up to 1,000 spinal cord injuries each year in the United States when people dive into swimming pools or other bodies of water
And, you don't have to be knocked unconscious to sustain a brain injury. Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), also known as concussion , can damage your brain at the cellular level .Worse, repetitive head injuries , even minor ones, can have serious repercussions – including permanent brain damage or death.
This is why my sons head banging is life threatening as he has had multiple concussions.

Protect your head.

On a lighter note whilst googling about protecting your head i found this!

Extraordinary

Out of Africa the creations of the Surma and Mursi tribes of East Africa's Omo Valley

Worried?

Let your worries go....

click here

Wordless Monday!

Eggstravaganza

The Belgian chocolate made the chocolate egg with at least 50.000 bars.The egg measured 8.32m high.Twenty-six craftsman worked altogether 525 hours to build the easter egg. They needed 1950 kg of chocolate.Alderman Urbain Vercauteren of the city of St.Niklaas said the egg wasn't meant to be eaten. He said: "After a week outside

in all weather conditions, I don't think it would be very tasteful."


Happy Easter!

After eating all those Easter eggs, How many cannibals could your body feed?

Sleep well?

Floating bed The Cardboard bed

Magnetic floating bed

Feel Seating System

The really strange bed

The Private Cloud

PS Check out the Flat Stanleys and Downing Street!

Unlawfull wedding

Update
Kory McFarren, whose girlfriend authorities say spent nearly two years in a bathroom in their house, sitting on the toilet so long that the seat adhered to her body, has been charged with mistreatment of a dependent adult.

Full story here, but as yet there isn't a lot.

Another interesting story that caught my eye yesterday;

An autistic man married a Bangladeshi bride over the telephone, a court heard.
The 26-year-old man, described as "highly vulnerable", underwent a Muslim wedding ceremony to a woman he had never met who was found for him by his parents.
But yesterday three of the country's most senior judges ruled that the marriage was not legal in the UK as he was unable to give consent under English law.
The court was asked to rule after Westminster Social and Community Services Department stepped in.
It has provided care for the man, named only as IC in court, since the age of four.
The court was told the wedding was to allow his bride, referred to as NK, to obtain a visa and join him in Britain.
Under sharia law and the law of Bangladesh the marriage, was valid.
Lawyers for the parents, who were originally from Bangladesh but live in England, argued that it should be recognised in English law.
But the Court of Appeal said IC was unable to give valid consent to marriage under English law and said it had been "potentially abusive".

More here


This is totally unrelated, fancy a walk on the beach....click on the sand!


Oh and - Check out Mrs Cs blog to see the Flat Stanleys collecting C from school!

Anekantavada

The Blind Men and the Elephant
It was six men of IndostanTo learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant~(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation~Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side, ~ At once began to bawl:

"God bless me! but the Elephant ~ Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, "Ho! what have we here?

So very round and smooth and sharp?

~ To me 'tis mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant ~ Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,

And happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,

~ Thus boldly up and spake:

"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant ~ Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

And felt about the knee.

"What most this wondrous beast is like ~ Is mighty plain," quoth her;

"'Tis clear enough the Elephant ~ Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: "E'en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most; ~ Deny the fact who can,

This marvel of an Elephant ~ Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope,

Than, seizing on the swinging tail

~ That fell within his scope,

"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant ~ Is very like a rope!

And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion ~ Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right ~ And all were in the wrong!

Moral
So oft in theologic wars,

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance

Of what each other mean,

And prate about an Elephant

Not one of them has seen!
-John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

Anekantavada: The Relativity of Views.

Ill leave you to moralise over this whilst i travel down south and pick C up from boarding school!

Homeschooling

My visitors from the US have arrived and bearing gifts!
Meet the Flat Stanley’s.
They may not be quite what you expected!! But I think they will make excellent house guests! They have been sent to me by Elf and Emperor who live in Missouri, as part of their home schooling project.

The concept of Flat Stanley was started 40 years ago when Jeff Brown wrote a book, since then children around the world have been making and sending their Flat Stanley’s far and wide to learn about different cultures.

So when I saw on Mrs Cs blog Elf and Emperor sending their Flat Stanley’s to Florida to stay with their Grandparents, I offered an invitation for the Stanley’s to come to the UK.

Elf and Emperor have already been learning about British history and food, in preparation for the Stanley’s visit here. C breaks up for Easter on Thursday so it looks as though we are going to be busy as tour guides.
Apparently they would like to meet The Queen and Mr Bean. Can anyone help me out on this one?!
So if you would like to follow the Stanley’s adventures with C and I for the next couple of weeks, pop over to Mrs C!

I'm surprised at the number of homeschoolers i have come across in Blogland with autistic children. It is not something i have heard of here in the UK (however I'm sure there are). There are many reasons for homeschooling. Some families make this choice on religious grounds. Many do it because of a dissatisfaction with the schools in their area or with the institutional effect of school in general. Others do it because their children are being bullied and abused by other children or teachers. It is also an alternative for families living in isolated rural locations and those who choose, for practical or personal reasons, not to have their children attend school.

C and I are looking forward to doing our bit!

Lights out

Earth hour 8pm March 29th. We are all being asked to turn off non-essential lights for one hour. The event is intended to serve as a symbol that each one of us, working together, can make an impact upon global warming (and our own power bills). You can sign up here.

Whats your carbon footprint? Mine is 6.76 tonnes a year. Which apparently is quite low as i don't have a car or pass wind as much as a cow!! (My friends may say otherwise)

Out of the 8,766 hours in a year, let's give one back to the Earth.

Journalists.....

Journalists consult blogs for story ideas, angles and insights:
A new survey by Brodeur and MarketWire, shows that 75% of journalists use blogs to get ideas for stories. Journalists may not comment but they are reading…in fact, four in five say they read blogs at least two to three times a week

A quarter said that blogs made their jobs easier, while 46% got involved by leaving comments on blogs. Over 75% of reporters see blogs as helpful in giving them story ideas, story angles and insight into the tone of an issue.

70% of reporters check a blog list on a regular basis.
21% of reporters spend over an hour per day reading blogs.
57% of reporters read blogs at least two to three times a week.
48% say they are “lurkers” – in that they read but rarely comment on blogs.

I thought this would be useful to know especially as World Autism Day is fast approaching.
Why don’t you beat the journalists to it and write an article for your local paper? I have.

April is also Autism Awareness Month, i found this, and just wondered if anyone knew of anything else going on in blogland?

Time out

When C needs time out from a situation he will go and sit on the toilet. If he needs to distress or unwind that’s where you will find him. No amount of coaxing, or bribing with food will get him off until he is ready. If we are at my brothers house and his 4 children are being particularly over excited with seeing Aunty Casdok, C will hide out in the toilet, I have even given him his lunch there, as I do understand his need for peace. The longest I have left C there is an hour and a half. I certainly wouldn’t leave him much longer than that.

So I was intrigued when I heard this story yesterday;

US authorities are trying to work out why a Kansas woman spent two years on her boyfriend's toilet - so long that by the time he called emergency services her skin had grown around the toilet seat.
When the unnamed 35-year-old Ness City woman's other half finally picked up the phone on 27 February to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend", police found her "sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh". She was, according to Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple, "somewhat disoriented", and apparently suffering from atrophied legs.
While she initially said she "didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave", she was eventually convinced a trip to hospital was in order. Whipple explained: "We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital. The hospital removed it."
Whipple elaborated: "She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body. It is hard to imagine... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."
Investigators were yesterday due to present their report to the county attorney who will decide "whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend", as ABC puts it.
He reportedly told the authorities he'd taken his bog-bound girlfriend food and water every day, and asked her "to come out of the bathroom". Whipple said: "And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow'. According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."
The former privy prisoner is now described as "in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City", but has "refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators".
Police are unsure if the lady has any mental or physical disabilities, but hospital reports claimed she was in a 'fair condition' although she had refused to give medical and law authorities her cooperation.
Neighbour James Ellis said he'd known the woman since she was a child but hadn't seen her for about six years. He explained that she'd "had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up".
He concluded: "It really doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

Many questions spring to mind, so it will be interesting to hear more about this case.

Stressed?

Touch was never meant to be a luxury. It is a basic human need.

We carry far more stress within us than we realize. Stress ages us, stress can be the underlying cause of many illnesses.

Gentle pressure applied to certain points of the feet correspond to the different parts of the body, to detect tiny deposits of tension which block vital energy pathways. So get those pink fluffy slippers off and start massaging!

As C is a high anxious person and not liking to be touched, after months of having in growing toe nails, he became used to his feet being touched. To make this a nicer experience for him I began massaging his feet. This is a wonderful way for him to relax and for us to spend a quality 2 minuets together!!
And for people who spend a lot of time blogging, you can give yourself a hand massage to release tension.

Melt away the tension of everyday life with a deeply relaxing massage. Help restore physical and mental balance. Uplift your senses .
Give your loved one a massage today and see how you both gain from it!! Or give yourself a massage.

And Ian - a great way to help promote a peaceful nights sleep!

Honour your body for it is the dwelling place of your soul.

Bucket List

Yesterday I went to see the film Bucket list with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Basically the film was about composing a "bucket list," a collection of all the things they wanted to do, see and experience in life before they kicked the bucket.

So I started to think what I would put on my bucket list.
My first one being of course to make sure C is ok.
My second is I would love to visit the place where I was born.
I wont bore you with any more as i would like to know yours!

So off the top of your head what would be on your bucket list?

If you would like to take this further there are a couple of websites that might be of interest.

43 things is a social networking site where users create accounts and then share lists of goals and hopes. The most popular goals on there are; lose weight, stop procrastinating, fall in love, write a book, be happy, get a tattoo, drink more water, go on a road trip with no predetermined destination, travel the world, and get married!

Your 100 things One of the best ways to achieve your own goals is to create public accountability and support by sharing them with a wide audience.