Autism // Early signs or just acting different?

Do you think you can predict a child has autism when they are still a baby? Or is that just ridiculous?

These are the early symptoms of autism:
~does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by one year of age
~does not speak one word by sixteen months
~does not combine two words by two years of age
~does not respond to his or her name
~loses language or social skills
~avoids eye contact
~doesn't seem to know how to play with toys
~excessively lines up toys or other objects
~is attached to one particular toy or object
~doesn't smile
~at times seems to be hearing impaired


Read More http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bhealth/0,,8gjjkbws,00.html#ixzz0koDh2jfN


My cousin, Michelle, was just told that her son, Adam, is showing signs of autism. Adam likes to line blocks up in a row and this is apparently a sign of autism. the people that work for the day care that Adam is in told her this. Now this may be just to warn her but it actually made her worried. The people at the daycare don't like her that much because she is picky about the food Adam eats so they probably told her in a way that didn't sound like a warning, which is messed up.

Also one of my close friend's nephew lines up his toy cars all the time. But he doesn't isolate himself from everyone and he talks all the time. I informed my friend about the sign just so they can watch out for it.


Elijah lining up his cars. :D


I don't think a mother should get worked up if they see that their child is lining up their toys. My brother, who is now 19, lined up his toys when he was a baby too. He is very private and keeps to himself but he is also very sociable when he wants to be. I think everyone is private for their own reasons so it's normal. He was never diagnosed with autism.

Also in my opinion, I don't see a child lining up his/her toys a bad thing. To me it looks like that child is going to be very neat and organized when they get older.

I guess it is just a warning that they should watch out for it and try to prevent it.

Saving Private Ryan

This movie is basically about a group of soldiers that were sent out on a mission to find Private James Francis Ryan and bring him home. The movie begins with the D-Day Invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France. After Captain Miller (played by Tom Hanks) receives a mission from the top General to get hold of Private Ryan and make sure he gets home. This is because Private Ryan's three other brothers all died in combat. So Captain Miller and seven other soldiers go on this mission to save Private Ryan.


Captain Miller: Keep the sand out of your weapons. Keep those actions clear. I'll see you on the beach.

The scene of the D-Day invasion alone showed all the horrors that can come out of war. Our soldiers were better off being blindfolded. Even before they had a chance to get off the boats the were shot. Explosions went off left and right. If you didn't get shot you were probably blown up. There was this one part when a medic was helping this one wounded soldier and once he finally stopped the bleeding the patient was shot in the head. It was like they didn't have a chance to even pick up their weapons. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed in such little time.


Captain Miller: It's like finding a needle in a stack of needles.

Their journey to find Private Ryan was not a walk in the park. Every minute they had to be alert for an attack. The only clue they could got was that Ryan's unit was an element of the 101st Airborne Division. In search of this unit one of the soldiers die. When Private Adrian Caparzo (played by Vin Diesel)dies only a couple of minutes of grief are allowed before they move one. it is amazing how they can just move alone without looking back on a friend that just died. At a rally point they find out from a man in the same unit that Private Ryan was in Ramelle.


Sergeant Horvath: I don't know. Part of me thinks the kid's right. He asks what he's done to deserve this. He wants to stay here, fine. Let's leave him and go home. But then another part of me thinks, what if by some miracle we stay, then actually make it out of here. Someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful, shitty mess. Like you said, Captain, maybe we do that, we all earn the right to go home.

By the time they find Private Ryan two of the eight soldiers have died. After receiving news about his brothers death Private Ryan refuses to take the easy way out and go home. He believed that all of the men he fought with fought as hard as he did. He didn't understand why he ,out of all of them, was going home. So General Miller decides they will stay to see that Private Ryan carries out his mission and survives so he can go home. In this battle to protect the bridge in Ramelle you can see how with little artillery available they were able to put up a fight. They had to think quick to make plans that could take out more than one tank and three times more men then they had. Before the fight you can see how open and peaceful people are to each other. Also during the battle one man ,who was detailed from the 29th Infantry Division (played by Jeremy Davies), was in charge of carrying the ammo and distributing it. Out of his fear to fight and death he fails to give ammo to two of his fellow soldiers and is the reason for their deaths. I wonder how much guilt that can put on a man. His fear made him weak and caused two of his men to die. Fighting a war is not just physically hard, like getting shot, but mentally too because every second there is a possibility that you will die and you have to fight long battles with this thought in the back of your mind. At the end of the movie only two of the eight men survived alone with Private Ryan. Their mission was accomplished.


Gen. George C. Marshall: My dear Mrs Ryan: It's with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and, at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication, even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppression. I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War, the men and women of the U.S. Army, and the citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you, or the thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote: "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom." -Abraham Lincoln. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, George C. Marshall, General, Chief of Staff.

A Right-To-Die

A psychologist named Dr. Eustace Chesser wrote in his book "The right to choose one's time and manner of death seems to me unassailable. ... In my opinion the right to die is the last and greatest human freedom"

More quotes from psychologists similar to this decision can be found here:
Suicide: A Civil Right
http://www.antipsychiatry.org/suicide.htm

In some places, attempt of suicide is against the law and you can get in a lot of trouble for trying to end your life. In my opinion,if someone doesn't want to live anymore what gives anyone else the right to prevent them from dieing? There are different scenarios that may lead people to this decision and you may have different opinions on each one.

One is if someone is physically in pain. If someone is hospitalized and there is a small possibility that they can recover they might want to put an end to their suffering and just die. Another scenario is when people are in mental pain, like depression. Sometimes people feel like they are trapped and the only escape is death.

My Opinion: For physical pain I do believe that if someone is in so much pain and there is a large possibility that they will die in the end anyway; if they want to end their life sooner then they should be aloud to. For mental pain I do believe that these people should be helped. to like talk to a therapist and such, but if they try to end their life they should not be punished for it. If someone attempts a suicide and fails they should only go back to visiting a therapist.

Crazy Jungle Pets

Do you know whats crazy that I hear a lot of stories about? People having crazy jungle pets! What makes someone think that having a jaguar as a pet is normal!? This isn't no cartoon world like Aladdin! You can't be Princess Jasmine and have a pet tiger! Wild animals can't be tamed. Wild animals are dangerous even though they might be cute.

Cartoon Princess Jasmine

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Reality Princess Jasmine

Look how scary the tiger looks and Jasmine is all scratched up.


A lot of tiger owners were malled by their "pets". Most of the times the animal doesn't mean to hurt their owner, they just want to roughly play. They may act like a pet but deep down inside they are still and animal. They still have animal instincts. These creatures haven't evolved to be household pets. they live in the wild and freely.

Some animals that have been taken in as pets are:
Chimps
Tigers
Alligators
Bears
Snakes
Phytons
Wolves
and
Jaguars

This link shows a list of the 25 worst animal attacks by exotic pets:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/recycling-design-technology/exotic-pets-attacks-460209

What i want to know is, is it against the law to own exotic animals as pets? If not should it be?

I think people are stupid for owning exotic animals. Whats wrong with a dog or cat? There are zoos that were made so you can visit these wild animals. Become a zookeeper if you want to be with these animals so much! You would rather get malled in the face!?

Extraterrestrial Colonization

Just like how the Europeans colonized the Americas, is new colonization reaching into outer space?

My mother, sister and I were talking about this the other day. There are pictures of astronauts on the moon with the American flag. (shown above) Does this mean America owns the moon? It's such a silly suggestion. How can a country be in control of something that effects everyone? If America controlled the moon then they basically controlled the world. The moon has a huge effect on how the earth works. Without the moon we wouldn't be able to exist. This also means that in the future our world will be in a race to control or take over other worlds. Sounds really imposable to me.

One realistic discussion that connects to this is the suggestion of sending human life to other planets.
Here's a link to a view on this topic:
Is It Arrogant to Seed Other Planets With Our Form of Life?
http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2010/02/26/is-it-arrogant-to-seed-other-planets-with-our-form-of-life-michael-mautner-answers/

I think it is a cool thought but I don't think people will actually do it. Not in my life time at least. I think we have enough problems in our world. We should start thinking of moving to other world yet. I do think that in the future we will move into space. Maybe what happened in the movie "WALL-E" (2008) will happen to us. In the movie the humans had to create a world (more like a resort) on a space ship because the Earth became unhealthy to live on.



When the Earth is in risk of becoming incapable for life, that is when people will probably think about extraterrestrial colonization. Its either for our safety or out of greed.

Does music bring us together or separate us?

It is a world wide fact that people connect to music. There is a song for every situation in a person's life, even for riding a bicycle! (I want to Ride my Bicycle: Queen)It's impossible to not connect to music. Music also has different genres. Some include:
Rock 'n' roll
Rock
Emo
Country
Jazz
Classical
Rap
Blues
Reggae
Soul
R&B
Pop
Techno
Swing
Punk
Hip-hop
Metal
AND MORE!!!!

Different people are interested in different types of music. There is some types of music you love and some that you hate. They type of music that you like shows others a little bit about the type of person you are.
But are genres in music just like "clicks" in school? People tend to hang out with the people who they can relate with. One way is through music. Music can help you make friends but sometimes people get carried away and judge others on the music that they listen too. Sometime people will only hang out with others who are like them, Music wise, like clicks.
The different genres of music also promote different trends that people follow. There are good trends like inspiring you to make a band or group and be a performer and bad trends like taking drugs, going gangs or suicide. One big trend is clothing trends. Here are some examples:
Emo


Rap


Punk



There are many, many more. Aren't these genres that cause trends what make the "clicks" in schools? Are different types of music separating people apart?

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Even though different types of music attract different types of people there are ways where music brings people closer together. There are some people that like a lot of different types of music and not just one or two. These people become friends with people that like all the different forms of music. They are like bridges of the music genres.
Another way is through Disk Jockeys. A DJ's job is to mix different music together and connecting then whether its through the beat, sound, or just timing. They fuse different forms of music together into one amazing mix.

Here's a video of a DJ explaining how to mix different genres of music:

The songs were:
1. "Get ready for this" 2 unlimited, 1991
2. " A little respect" Erasure 1988
3. " Stay" Sash 1997

One more way different genres intertwine is through the artists themselves. Some artists like Timbaland, make a lot of music with other artists that work in a different genre "fields". Timbaland has made music with Madonna, Pussycat Dolls, Justin Timberlake, One Republic and more. Another example is the song "Two is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls ft. Taylor Swift. This song mixes a rock band with a country/pop singer.

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So what do you think? Do you think music is bringing us together or separating us?
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"Love is the only shocking act on the planet."

"Valentine's Day is the day when your love life is put on display", as quoted from the movie Valentine's Day. In my opinion that movie was great. It captured all aspects of love. Both the benefits and consequences. What causes the beauty of it and what causes the disasters. What stuck with me the most from this movie is how much the meaning of love changed between generations and also how naive young love can be.

These are two trailers of Valentine's Day so you can get an understanding of what I'm talking about. That's if you haven't seen the movie or any of the trailers:






When you're a teenager there are a lot of stressful things that go through your mind and the big "L" word is one of them. Most teenagers don't really understand love or how to express it. I believe everyone has their own meaning of love. A lot of teenagers think that to really be in love is to have sex with that other person. In the movie the character played by Emma Roberts believed that having sex would create a bond between her and her boyfriend so that when they go to collage they wouldn't break up. What do you think about this? I think just being in love is the bond that keeps you and your partner together. Sex is nothing but another expression of it, just like kissing. There is just more consequences to it.
Her character also says "It's not like I'm guna sleep with one person for the rest of my life right? I mean, who does that?" and Hector Elizondo's character says "Crazy people like us." Also in the movie he says that times have changed and love is different. I guess back in his days love and sex were intertwined. Love used to be strong and unbreakable so having sex with one person wasn't "crazy". Nowadays sex and love are two similar but very different things. You can have sex without love and love without sex. One doesn't complete the other. Maybe what changed is that these days it is openly permissible to be promiscuous. How do you feel about this change? I kinda like the idea that sex is something special for only the person you love.
The Taylors' parts also stuck out to me(Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner). Their characters are basically the stereotypical high school couple. All goo-goo gaa-gaa over each other and very public about their relationship. As the reporter in the movie says, they represent "young love. Full of promise. Full of hope. Ignorance and reality." Their characters are an extreme example of how naive young love can be. There are actually young people who believe they're in love after two weeks of being in a relationship. (This also goes along with how people have different opinions on what love is.) Some people call it "puppy love". What do you think about love?
I talked about it with one of my friends and we came to the conclusion that love has different sizes. You know how in friendship you can have acquaintances, friends, and best friends? Well love is like that. You can have little love, medium love or big, deep, passionate love. And it's not just narrowed down to three sizes. I believe there is an infinite amount of sizes. Love is unique for each person. Your size is your love. <3

P.S. Jenny, I like Taylor Swift's character. It was funny and dumb and she played it well. She didn't dumb herself down she just played a really good cute dumb character. xD