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Zeusthecat

I Had A Random Thought...

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From what I remember of my time on Reddit, there are quite a lot of people who do things like that. I think it started with users who would write huge, long stories that always ended with a meme. The oldest I remember had a name like "LOVES_RUBBER_DUCKS" and would always end his posts by talking about how much they love rubber ducks? And everyone would reply saying, "well, i should have expected that i guess!" 

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On 8/2/2017 at 6:32 PM, Bjorn said:

 

Our general attitude raising our daughter is that she was always welcome to challenge our rules, but she had to be able to make a convincing argument.  It couldn't just be, "Well I want this thing," she needed to be able to communicate her emotions and experiences better than that.  Although sometimes, "I want to feel like I'm fitting in with my friends" was actually a good enough reason for us, because fitting in with your peers matters sometimes. 

This has been our approach as well. So far it's worked great, but with the eldest at almost 7 I'm anticipating some way tougher calls ahead.

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The assassin from the GTA 2 intro:

 

Looks just like the guy in this music video at 3:51

 

 

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When I was half as old as I am now, I knew a lot of things. I was a font of knowledge. Today I know so much more than I did back then, but now I barely know anything.

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The difference is back then you thought you knew everything but you didn't know that you know nothing.  Now you know that you know nothing even though you know more now then when you knew everything.  You know?

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I saw a kid in his early teens the other day wearing a 'Compton' t-shirt here in Austria the other day. Just had to take a moment to enjoy the ridiculousness of that.

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Not a random thought, but hopefully a random sample of responses/opinions...

 

So, ethical behavior is defined by a society and morals are internalized by experience and observation.  We've defined some activity or responses outside of those two factors as Narcissism and Sociopathy.  The same lack of shame, sympathy, regret is part of what we call autism. (over simplified)

 

     I'm in my 40's and have a family member in the next generation diagnosed with autism, Aspergers syndrome specifically.  The generation before mine is adamant that everything they're observing in the younger leading to that diagnosis is a repeat of what they've seen in me.  I was a loner, reading constantly, absorbed in fantasy worlds.  School was breeze academically but a horror interpersonally.  Bullying was common and from my self-observation minimized through the isolation as well as suppression of opinion and vocal observation.

     My wife and children see me as distant, not talking unless asked something directly and lacking in sympathy.  Professionally, in the pre-hospital medical field or military I affiliate with, the disconnect with emotion or emotive action is accepted to point of admiration.

 

Logic, statistical analysis and risk/benefit thought processes determine what I do in almost every situation.

I can offer examples of situations that have arisen, and will if it helps.  I'm curious if anyone can tell me if this is a common situation.  Have you see similar in yourselves?  Do you pretend to be someone different to make yourself more acceptable in society (common tactic in aspergers counselling) or stand firm on who you are? 

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On 25-10-2017 at 5:27 PM, devildoc said:

Not a random thought, but hopefully a random sample of responses/opinions...

 

So, ethical behavior is defined by a society and morals are internalized by experience and observation.  We've defined some activity or responses outside of those two factors as Narcissism and Sociopathy.  The same lack of shame, sympathy, regret is part of what we call autism. (over simplified)

 

     I'm in my 40's and have a family member in the next generation diagnosed with autism, Aspergers syndrome specifically.  The generation before mine is adamant that everything they're observing in the younger leading to that diagnosis is a repeat of what they've seen in me.  I was a loner, reading constantly, absorbed in fantasy worlds.  School was breeze academically but a horror interpersonally.  Bullying was common and from my self-observation minimized through the isolation as well as suppression of opinion and vocal observation.

     My wife and children see me as distant, not talking unless asked something directly and lacking in sympathy.  Professionally, in the pre-hospital medical field or military I affiliate with, the disconnect with emotion or emotive action is accepted to point of admiration.

 

Logic, statistical analysis and risk/benefit thought processes determine what I do in almost every situation.

I can offer examples of situations that have arisen, and will if it helps.  I'm curious if anyone can tell me if this is a common situation.  Have you see similar in yourselves?  Do you pretend to be someone different to make yourself more acceptable in society (common tactic in aspergers counselling) or stand firm on who you are? 

 

I don't have asperger's or an autism spectrum disorder, but I have many friends who do, and what I can tell you is that, boy, this is such a wide-ranging quality of 'being', that it's hard to pin down any one single experience as 'the' asperger one. Some of my friends have fought to get normal jobs and don't seem to be hindered all too much by their asperger qualities. Others have dropped out of school because they couldn't keep up with the noise and stress. Some have relationships, others don't.

 

Some have resigned themselves to living off meager disability welfare, others have carved out a niche where they make themselves extremely useful despite their limitations. For instance, the lead editor of our Japanese magazine has it, and she is performing excellently at her tasks. For sure, some of the more sensitive writers in the team ocassionally have a beef with her as she doesn't cushion her critique on their work, but otherwise I honestly couldn't be happier with such a dedicated, work-from-home boss. What I admire to a high degree is that I know EXACTLY what I'm gonna get. It may or may not be related to her autism, but she's incredibly dependable.

 

Anyway, shooting off-topic there a little. I would advise against trying to become some other person. If you have autism in any way, that's just who you are. As ugly as it may get, it's as much up to your environment as it is up to you to figure out a stable, sustainable life together. (That's not exclusive to situations where autism is in play, just maybe a little harder.) In everything I have seen in my asperger friends, it is clear that this is by no means an impossible task: most people find great ways to work around it and make it play to their strength. Much like you have done in your choice of career.

 

The good news is that in our current day and age, there is a high acceptance and spreading knowledge of autism (to the point where they are regularly if sometimes too flatteringly depicted in movies and shows are supersmart heroes and wonderpeople), so you're probably much better off than you were twenty, thirty years ago.

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Dead Thread Redemption...

 

Anyone else notice that almost all information out there has become completely unreliable unless you have a super strong bullshit detector? I swear, almost every "fact" I try to research has reams of information that both support and disprove it. Something fun that I've started doing (well, technically not fun, but interesting at least) is to pull up CNN and FoxNews side-by-side and just observe the wildly different universes they are portraying. And each supposedly backed by facts! It's gotten to the point that I eschew any and all group identification and prefer to just make up my own mind about each thing/topic on a case-by-case basis.

 

Also, I think pretty soon I'm going to get to exercise squatters rights on Idle Banter. If nobody else posts within the next 6 months, I'm claiming this section of the forums for myself! (Gormongous, SAM, Ben, Synth, I know one of you is bound to check in here eventually)

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On 3/4/2024 at 6:54 PM, Zeusthecat said:

Dead Thread Redemption...

 

Anyone else notice that almost all information out there has become completely unreliable unless you have a super strong bullshit detector? I swear, almost every "fact" I try to research has reams of information that both support and disprove it. Something fun that I've started doing (well, technically not fun, but interesting at least) is to pull up CNN and FoxNews side-by-side and just observe the wildly different universes they are portraying. And each supposedly backed by facts! It's gotten to the point that I eschew any and all group identification and prefer to just make up my own mind about each thing/topic on a case-by-case basis.

 

Also, I think pretty soon I'm going to get to exercise squatters rights on Idle Banter. If nobody else posts within the next 6 months, I'm claiming this section of the forums for myself! (Gormongous, SAM, Ben, Synth, I know one of you is bound to check in here eventually)

 

WHO HATH SUMMONED ME FROM MY SLUMBER?

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2 hours ago, SecretAsianMan said:

 

WHO HATH SUMMONED ME FROM MY SLUMBER?

 

SAM!!! I missed you buddy! I guess I have to keep sharing Idle Banter after all. I'm a little light on random thoughts right now but I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for the old days on these forums. We had some good debates and discussions and I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw some shit out there and see if anybody's actually checking in on the forums.

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It's funny, in the most cosmic of coincidences I actually came to relive some of our old interactions (specifically discussing Fate of Atlantis).  I noticed that you had recently posted something and on a whim decided to see what it was only to find myself being called out.  I was compelled to respond.  I think you really did summon me out of the ether.

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Haha, that's such a crazy coincidence. It is great to see you respond and I do appreciate it. I hope you're doing well and I think about you and some of the other forum regulars on a fairly frequent basis. We definitely had some good times. To this day I still avoid social media like the plague and this remains the one and only place that I ever engaged in "internet discussions". Crazy to think I was still in my 20's when I joined. I'll be 40 this year. And my daughter's turning 15 next month. I'd like to think life has made me a bit wiser now, but I'm not so sure. Seems that every time I learn something new, it only reveals how ignorant I undoubtedly am about a million other things.

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I feel like you are a parallel universe version of me and wonder if we are in fact two distinct people.  I turned 40 last year and have also not interacted with social media (beyond window shopping) in years if not longer.  My daughter will be 8 this summer and my son just turned 4.  Lately I've been going back over things I'm supposed to know (and in a few cases be the expert on) to obtain a deeper and more nuanced understanding for my job.  I'm now with my third company in the last 5 years even though my job and desk haven't changed in all that time.  The only difference is now I'm the senior engineer.

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(Don't feel pressured to keep responding btw, I'm just feeling chatty today)

 

I'm happy for you SAM, that's so awesome. I remember you posting about your first child being born and all the stresses of your job (which you admittedly had to be somewhat discreet about when sharing details). I didn't realize you had a son now too. And the age difference between your kids is almost exactly the same as mine (my son is 10 and my daughter is 14)! I hope as senior engineer that you have a good team under you that you can delegate work to and that those previous stressful responsibilities don't still fall solely on you, assuming this is the same job you were talking about all those years ago. 

 

Thanks for making my day and for always being cool towards me, even when I was being ridiculous!

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I won't get into too much detail but I'm only senior because everyone else above me has retired.  I don't have any more authority than I did before and in fact I have more work than ever.  But maybe that will change now that a new company has taken over (something that literally happened last week).

 

Enough about me, glad to see you're still kicking around.  I do miss our convos about whatever happened to be on our minds at any given moment.

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