New efforts!

[Biz]

I also think anyone who thinks they are superior enough to someone else to shame their lack of intellectual capacity should step forward and see where they fall on Arcana's scale of one to a hundred, and see if they can crack the mid teens before they think about putting anyone else on the slow bus.

Just out of curiosity, where does Arcana fall on this scale?

[Taceus Jiwede]

Actually, I think everything should be fair game for humor, or nothing should be.  The primary thing to avoid is explicit meanness. 

In any event, I was trying to be a bit educational in my humor.  Dyslexia is often caricaturized simplistically, using things like word reversal games.  In fact, the core problem with dyslexics in terms of the ability to handle written words appears to be an inability to properly sequentialize and hierarchically organize information.  Reading is a more complex activity than most people realize, and eyes and brains do not capture and process information in a simple linear manner.  The problem appears to be that in most people the brain learns to take in the letters on the page and quickly extract hierarchical language processing information: letters get grouped into syllabic sequences, syllables into words, words into phrases, and phrases into sentences, and it happens automatically.  In dyslexics, that automatic processing doesn't happen or doesn't happen efficiently.

Most people joke about dyslexia in terms of word reversal, but in serious cases the problem often manifests as letter scramble.  The eyes see the letters individually but they do not coalesce into words.  Instead as the eye scans back and forth across the word to try to figure out what it is, all the brain sees is a somewhat random set of letters processed out of order.  There are other language processing problems that dyslexics face, but this can be a critical impediment to written language.

I'm someone who's been a teacher literally my entire life.  I was sitting in the back of the class helping the slow and shy kids when I was in kindergarten.  I think learning is pretty much the most important thing you can do outside of becoming Batman, and I think everyone has some potential to learn.  You just have to crack the puzzle of how to get the information to them in a way they can digest.  Conditions like autism and dyslexia are just one end of a long spectrum of capability, and most people have at least some struggle with learning in some areas.  I also think anyone who thinks they are superior enough to someone else to shame their lack of intellectual capacity should step forward and see where they fall on Arcana's scale of one to a hundred, and see if they can crack the mid teens before they think about putting anyone else on the slow bus.

But I also think people with learning difficulties are people just like us, and should be included in everything we find acceptable for the rest of us.  As long as we recognize at the end of the day that the line that gets drawn is also no different than what we would want and expect for any other of us.

I was more so referring to Autism jokes.

I think all comedy is fair games.  But making fun of truly disabled people just feels like a cheap shot.  I'm not saying that you were doing that though.  But you do see a lot of jokes like that around the internet.  And I thought that was what MM3 was referring to so I was mostly just agreeing with his post.

[Felderburg]

Just out of curiosity, where does Arcana fall on this scale?

I want to know how it's measured.

[Arcana]

Just out of curiosity, where does Arcana fall on this scale?

Somewhere in the mid sixties.  The smartest person I ever knew in person and could hazard a guess was somewhere north of eighty-five.  I lost track of him after he triple majored in math, physics, and Russian studies, graduated in three and a half, and was invited to Russia for advanced scholarship.  In the mid eighties.

When I was six I was reading college textbooks.  He was academically smart in a way I couldn't hope to match on my best day.  Although I could parallel park better than him, so there's that.

[MM3squints]

I was more so referring to Autism jokes.

I think all comedy is fair games.  But making fun of truly disabled people just feels like a cheap shot.  I'm not saying that you were doing that though.  But you do see a lot of jokes like that around the internet.  And I thought that was what MM3 was referring to so I was mostly just agreeing with his post.

Let me clarify it. Jokes are fine, with the context of the joke. Good example is a comedian named Chris Titus who actually explain how and why he uses the word "Inner Retard" not as a derogatory term, but the word itself means someone means someone is held back as in they have all the opportunity in life, but not reaching their full potential. An example he used was, "you have everything working perfectly, all your facilities about you, but you end up addicted to crystal meth living under a bridge.. you F'n "Retarded""

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqiGWd0-0Os

Everything in context is fine, but without context and just to say it to put someone or a community down, my option that's not cool. I hate when people get overly PC about life and situation because I strongly believe getting a thick skin dose make you a better individual because you can step back take criticism and you will give you a free pass to be an A-Hole to the offending target without looking like an A-Hole. To me everything is except disability is open season. The reason why I step away from disability (my own opinion) is because why do you need to include a group of people who can't even mentally defend themselves in order to prove a point in mean spirit. I dunno when your job for 4 years is to drop warheads onto foreheads, you kind of take a step back evaluate the value of life. Again, people are entitled to their opinions and if they want to say it, they can.

[Vee]

I'm someone who's been a teacher literally my entire life.

Just imagining Arcana trying to explain particular crying strategies in the neo-natal ward and how the other babies should learn to differentiate their tones based on what exactly their problem is, then frustratedly giving up with the last admonishment that they should at least try to be self-consistent if they refuse to work on and follow a collectively agreed-upon rational crying system.

[Arcana]

I want to know how it's measured.

Dipstick.

My view on intelligence is that there are intellectual skills, and core intelligence.  An intellectual skill is something like being able to do long division.  That's a skill, and it is a mental skill but ultimately doesn't explicitly connote intelligence.  It can be a tool wielded by intelligence, though.

Core intelligence, oversimplifying greatly, is something I think revolves around three abilities: comprehension - the ability to understand and derive information, rationalization - the ability to create mental models and systems, and problem solving - the ability to synthesize algorithmic solutions to goal-seeking situations.

There is, of course, no way to measure such things with precision, but just because I'm unable to determine quantity doesn't mean I don't have a general sense of ordinality.   Also, one of those intellectual skills that doesn't necessarily connote intelligence I happen to possess is a very reliable ability to quantitatively estimate.

[Arcana]

Just imagining Arcana trying to explain particular crying strategies in the neo-natal ward and how the other babies should learn to differentiate their tones based on what exactly their problem is, then frustratedly giving up with the last admonishment that they should at least try to be self-consistent if they refuse to work on and follow a collectively agreed-upon rational crying system.

My parents tell me that up to the age of about two, I was a relatively inquisitive but lazy child who loved to ask my parents to read to me all of my favorite stories, over and over and over and over again.  One day, my dad told me "you know all the words by heart, learn to read it yourself."  In hindsight, that was exactly the right thing to say to exactly the right person.

[Brigadine]

Dipstick.

My view on intelligence is that there are intellectual skills, and core intelligence.  An intellectual skill is something like being able to do long division.  That's a skill, and it is a mental skill but ultimately doesn't explicitly connote intelligence.  It can be a tool wielded by intelligence, though.

Core intelligence, oversimplifying greatly, is something I think revolves around three abilities: comprehension - the ability to understand and derive information, rationalization - the ability to create mental models and systems, and problem solving - the ability to synthesize algorithmic solutions to goal-seeking situations.

There is, of course, no way to measure such things with precision, but just because I'm unable to determine quantity doesn't mean I don't have a general sense of ordinality.   Also, one of those intellectual skills that doesn't necessarily connote intelligence I happen to possess is a very reliable ability to quantitatively estimate.

What does it mean if you dipstick yourself and metal pieces come out?

[Vee]

It means you're a character in some gross anime. Beware mecha-squids.

[Stealth Dart]

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.mwctoys.com%2Fimages%2Freview_sentinel_1.jpg

[Balince]

Basically Vel'koz from League of Legends with a couple more eyes lol.

[Paragon Avenger]

Weekly (sort of) Update:

Talks are still on-going, progress is being made, there is a gag-order by the National Dairty Association in place, we love you, you are the best.

(just because I don't know nothing doesn't preclude me from commenting, after all this IS the internet)

[Suspicious Package]

When I was six I was reading college textbooks.  He was academically smart in a way I couldn't hope to match on my best day.  Although I could parallel park better than him, so there's that.

Holy cow!  I couldn't even drive when I was six!   ;)

[blacksly]

If my body temperature was 97.5 would I round up or down?

Depends on whether you feel colder or warmer than 97.5.

[LaughingAlex]

Let me clarify it. Jokes are fine, with the context of the joke. Good example is a comedian named Chris Titus who actually explain how and why he uses the word "Inner Retard" not as a derogatory term, but the word itself means someone means someone is held back as in they have all the opportunity in life, but not reaching their full potential. An example he used was, "you have everything working perfectly, all your facilities about you, but you end up addicted to crystal meth living under a bridge.. you F'n "Retarded""

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqiGWd0-0Os

Everything in context is fine, but without context and just to say it to put someone or a community down, my option that's not cool. I hate when people get overly PC about life and situation because I strongly believe getting a thick skin dose make you a better individual because you can step back take criticism and you will give you a free pass to be an A-Hole to the offending target without looking like an A-Hole. To me everything is except disability is open season. The reason why I step away from disability (my own opinion) is because why do you need to include a group of people who can't even mentally defend themselves in order to prove a point in mean spirit. I dunno when your job for 4 years is to drop warheads onto foreheads, you kind of take a step back evaluate the value of life. Again, people are entitled to their opinions and if they want to say it, they can.

I don't really consider people with autism to be so much as disabled as just thinking differently.  As for my joke, I never meant to offend anyone, and I thought I was clear when I wrote it.  Maybe leet speak is just bad taste in general, but I figured it'd put some perspective in how someone who's right side of their brain works overtime would see things a little.  But alas, I made the leet speak a bit to hard to read.

I apologize if anyone was offended.

[LaughingAlex]

I also believe that, when people are wholly unable to joke about things, the spectrum for jokes that are considered "bad" get increasingly wider.  I admit to being someone who dislikes social injustices myself, but there are times where now it seems no one can really say anything, at all.  Where is that middle ground of which people can, I dunno, talk?

[Groundbreaker]

Wasn't sure if I wanted to get involved in this discussion. I usually just lurk.

My daughter has Autism. And I want to quickly say that I haven't seen anything in this thread that I would consider insulting or in really bad taste.

I agree with Arcana that everything has to be fair game for humour. With the proviso that if your intention is to offend, then trying to mask it inside a joke doesn't absolve you of the responsibility of your actions.

I regularly refer to my daughter as a whirlwind of destruction, or a little monster. She doesn't talk so we constantly fill in the blanks with amusing quotes to explain her behaviour "I don't want my sandwich mummy I want to eat the sofa instead" etc.

Would I ever try to speak for an adult with Autism? Absolutely not but the idea that disabled people cant take a joke or that they themselves have no humour is completely wrong.

My son has PWS, which is somewhat similar to Autism but has more physical issues, and he is a practical joker at heart. His jokes are usually very easy to spot but he has a lot of fun "tricking" people anyway. :)

[Aggelakis]

Speaking of dyslexia, someone made a site that simulates it: http://geon.github.io/programming/2016/03/03/dsxyliea?utm

I have severe dyslexia that I have literally *forced* myself to overcome over years of practice, but occasionally suffer relapses - mostly when trying to read something quickly (e.g. signs while driving), but occasionally my brain simply goes on strike and says "NOPE. THIS IS NOT A WORD. THIS SENTENCE IS NOT ENGLISH."

This is...remarkably accurate. The first and last letter of each word doesn't change, so it's not perfect, but very well done.

I'll point out that because of my dyslexia, it actually wasn't terribly hard for me to read this page. I am used to trying to find words in the jumble. Context clues are everything. "I figured out the last few words, so this word must be...[word]!"

I also have dyscalculia to a much more mild extent, which doesn't help my dislike of math.

[Brigadine]

Wasn't sure if I wanted to get involved in this discussion. I usually just lurk.

My daughter has Autism. And I want to quickly say that I haven't seen anything in this thread that I would consider insulting or in really bad taste.

I agree with Arcana that everything has to be fair game for humour. With the proviso that if your intention is to offend, then trying to mask it inside a joke doesn't absolve you of the responsibility of your actions.

I regularly refer to my daughter as a whirlwind of destruction, or a little monster. She doesn't talk so we constantly fill in the blanks with amusing quotes to explain her behaviour "I don't want my sandwich mummy I want to eat the sofa instead" etc.

Would I ever try to speak for an adult with Autism? Absolutely not but the idea that disabled people cant take a joke or that they themselves have no humour is completely wrong.

My son has PWS, which is somewhat similar to Autism but has more physical issues, and he is a practical joker at heart. His jokes are usually very easy to spot but he has a lot of fun "tricking" people anyway. :)

hmmm kinda like groot and rocket lol.