Neocities.org

Got inspired to redesign the front page for the umpteenth time after listening to too many melancholic Sisters of Mercy songs. Hoping to get another Autism-related article up tomorrow but the writing process has been slower than frozen molasses lately. ):

My eyes no longer burn. You have done a good thing.

pinku

Added a new article to the UFO, exploring the metaphor of autism and neurotypicalism being two different operating systems for the brain. Also spiffed up the 404 page so that Macula could have a fairly nice looking home.

A while back, I tried to do a coursea course that required installing an operating system onto my computer in addition to Windows. (It might have been Linux, not sure, because it was a while back, and I've only attempted it once - and I don't know much about operating systems other than Windows.) It was an older one than my current one, and it had less RAM on it. I found that the programs that came with the other

operating system wouldn't run properly and they kept crashing. I think it was the strain of two operating systems attempting to run at the same time on the same computer, and with the RAM on the computer I was using being quite low (not even the half the GB that you get on modern Windows computers). The professor running the course was using an Apple computer and they had no problem with it. The problems the Linux

operating system gets with running programs is probably down to the RAM on a Windows computer being low in the first place.

Added a new page to the UFO debunking the pervasive "Autism Epidemic" myth, and fixed a typo in the Autism-Tinted Glasses article that @bmh pointed out.

my favorite ufo post so far

This has to be my favorite "UFO" post so far, too! That quote by Ted Kaczynski is perfect. Although I don't agree with everything he says, he makes a ton of good points about the modern world and the devastating effects of the Industrial Revolution.

Thank you so much, @holeinmyheart and @cyberwitch!! I admit I have not yet read all of Ted Kaczynski's Manifesto, the parts I did read all make stunningly good points. I suppose that's the reason they locked him up in such a draconic fashion - they don't do that to people who are just ranting and raving about nothing.

I understand what he did was wrong (sending bombs to people), but letting Harvard get away with its experiments on him and other undergraduates at the time was really no better. Yet, people are angrier at him than the society that poisoned him (and continues to poison the rest of us + the environment).

As well as autistic people and introverts, the modern world probably causes problems with those suffering from PTSD and anxiety related illnesses. My partner has PTSD (for various reasons) and he was once in the police, and after that worked quite high up in the marketing department of a company, along with other jobs and I considered him to better at dealing with authorities and such like than I am.

Since he had is last breakdown (which is almost 10 years ago, now), he finds dealing with banks, the council, etc, very difficult and stressful.

@cyberwitch Sadly, that's modern western society in a nutshell. The organised powers-that-be can blatantly get away with anything they want, but any of us regular peons are utterly screwed if we do anything to fight back. It's no wonder the planet is going straight to the dogs, and has been for over 100 years now.

@bright-eyes No doubt about that. The modern world issues that I mentioned (sensory issues brought on by technology, and having to constantly interact with and make positive impressions on complete strangers) are liable to be hellish for anyone who has anxiety and/or PTSD. Autistic people often have at least one of those due to childhood experiences too, so it's a double/triple whammy.

I added some new affiliates (followers.) That is all. Make sure to check out the article about the Double Empathy Problem from yesterday over at the UFO if you haven't seen it yet!

Aaaa, I see me! Thank you! I will be making a button eventually; it’s on the to-dos. My site will also majorly dedicated to my soulbonds (what that is in on my to-dos to write).

I found that the problem for finding websites came when Yahoo got rid of their website directories and became more focused on news and advertising. You could use their directory to find sites relevant to whatever you were looking for. That's not to say that they had everything listed, but it was easier to find interesting sites.

One of the most annoying sites for burying others is pinterest. When you search for images now, a lot of the ones that come up point to their website and it's almost impossible to find the original source because people use it to collect things that they want to refer back to. It would be great if the pages could be set to private so only the user sees what they've collected, but not useful for others.

Thank you for the clarification, @justfluffingaround! I will update the description later today, when I will hopefully be putting up another new article.

Thank you for your comments, @bright-eyes! Those are some excellent points. I actually really adored those old Yahoo! directories and have fond hours of looking through every single website it had for various topics. Yet another wonderous thing killed off by Yahoo! out of sheer greed, along with Geocities. Curlie and Wiby are the closest we have to that tool on the modern Web.

I added a new page to the UFO detailing the Double Empathy Problem, and the inherent issues with the golden rule. I know I've been lagging badly on adding new followers to the Affiliates list and I will hopefully get around to that tomorrow!

Anothing insightful read. I recently read your autismglasses page and could certainly relate to a lot of your experiences (btw, there is a typo in the 'Eye contact' heading) ;-)

Thank you so much for pointing that typo out, @bmh! I have no idea both how that happened, and how I never caught it myself...

I added a new page to the UFO - Life Through Autism-Tinted Glasses, to provide insight on how some everyday events and experiences can feel to an autistic person.

I've not been diagnosed with it, but there are somethings on that list which I understand or can relate to. I've never liked eye contact with people. I don't know why that is. (With cats, if you blink at them a few times while looking them in the eye, they take that as a sign of friendliness and will follow you, etc...) Eye contact in general is just something I don't like doing.

Well written article, as usual. I recognise pretty much all of the things you write about in myself. (I really need to talk to a doctor about that.)

Until recently, I found texting/sending e-mails much more comfortable than using phones. I don't mind speaking to people if I know them, have a scheduled meeting with them, or if there aren't a lot of people around. If I'm not expecting it, I prefer to end the conversation quickly or move on. Noise in crowded places is a big problem for me. At uni, I avoided 'Freshers week because the design of the building amplified

the noise of the crowd. I had to go around to other entrances to avoid the crowds or eat outside. (Lecture theatres could be bad if they were full up and I was always glad when they ended.) Pubs, night clubs - nope. Can't stand being in them. I can tolerate pubs and restaurants if there aren't many people there, but if they are busy, I want to leave as soon as I can, or go really quiet.

I don't like visitors to my home that much, but that's come about having to deal with rude people when my partner's had to go to hospital, or had to deal with 'official' people who judge your home and make comments on it. Some people think they can police what your hobbies and interests are, which I find is just plain obnoxious.

I was diagnosed with autism years ago, but I was skeptical because I have no issues with eye contact or social cues, even though I hate face-to-face social interaction, period. Well, I learned there's more to autism, and most of what you've written is more relatable than anything. I hate it here!

Thank you for your comments, @bright-eyes! You might just be very introverted, and/or sensitive to stimuli and other things. I can totally relate to everything you said however. Judgmental/nosy people are the absolute worst.

Thank you for your kind praise, @nenko! While I obviously don't know you well enough to make any assumption, I have heard that autism in women is under-diagnosed because it's harder to detect. Just a thought. I'm pretty sure at least a number of the things I mentioned can apply to some non-autistic people as well.

Thank you for your perspective, @cyberwitch! I think autistic women are better at "camouflaging" their symptoms and can perhaps have less obvious social issues, which might explain that. Either way, autism is a very diverse spectrum (hence the rainbow infinity symbol) and no two autistic people are exactly alike! (:

I didn't think that I was - there would have been more symptoms and problems. I had a friend with autism at uni who was doing creative writing and I looked it up so I could understand him better and help him. I found it surprising how many of the traits that are present in introverted people are also present in autistic people, but some of the worst ones I don't have.

I replaced the buttons on the sidebar with (hopefully) more easily readable ones. I know I haven't been updating much lately. I had a bad foot injury that made it difficult to even sit for very long, and landed in a rut of depression soon after that which sapped my mental energy. I'm working on several pages at once and hoping to have something new up tomorrow, but the writer's block has been crippling lately.

I hope you start to feel better soon!

Thank you, @nenko!