• Pointed the server at the new cert on the production machine after verifying that the test machine was still happy. 
• Rolled over to the new MySQL bd. A few hiccups getting the new db loaded, but after setting the max_packet_size in the conf file to 512M, everything worked when sourced from within mysql
• Deployed the new FA beta
• Deployed the new VSS. And it would have taken less time, except that winzip kept timing out when accessing a network folder. Copying everything to the local disk and compressing from there worked.
• Back to JUnit
• Review at 2:30, possibly 1:30.
• Updating all the various Novetta and successfactors resumes.

…will NOT be visible from the WREG/Mid-South area. Sorry. Better luck next eclipse. 

I’m on a mission to help as many people as I can, which is why I also help candidates one-on-one, rather than only contacting them when I have a job they might fit. The economy has been in the toilet for a long time and if you have been unemployed or underemployed for the past many months, you are probably not feeling the economic rebound that our economists and strategists feel the need to tout.

So what are you to do?

You need to ‘man up’. This first step is really directed towards the women. Sorry guys, but you seem to have a good handle on this.

When I say ‘man up’, I mean, you need to take a good look in the mirror at the person staring back at you and tell her how good she is. Too many women have a confidence issue. We, and I know I exhibit these issues too, count ourselves out long before anyone else ever has the chance to because we don’t believe we’re good enough. We think we have to get one more degree, learn one more skill or obtain an additional certification before we truly can say we are good at what we do.

Words like “expert,” “authority” or “specialist” scare us even when we are overly qualified for the position. I’m here to tell you to cut it out. Assess your skills or better yet, have someone you trust do this for you. Then believe what they say and move forward with the knowledge that you deserve that new job, promotion and/or raise.

Show Up!

I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it until everyone starts to do it – You need to network, network, network! In order to network you have to show up. Sounds logical enough, right? If you’re looking for a job, if you’re seeking a promotion or if your business is in need of new clients, you have to get out and conduct some old-fashioned face-to-face meetings.

From information interviews to networking events to lunch meetings – depending upon the goal you need to accomplish, the place that you network is different and the type of networking you do is different, but make no mistake, there is no shortcut for this step.

I’ll be giving step-by-step instruction on how to do this over the next few months. If you missed my ice-breakers for the reluctant networker, it’s not too late to catch up!

Speak Up!

If you want that new job, promotion, raise, or new client, you are going to have to ask for it. In the very rare Cinderella-type story, it just gets handed to you. But in the real world, you have to go out and get it. The other thing about the real world is that no one is psychic. People don’t know what you want if you don’t tell them so this step requires a little marketing and some self-promotion. From social media to blogs to good old-fashioned conversations – it’s time to speak up. Stop sitting in the corner tittering at your co-worker who knows less than you that got the promotion you should have received and start taking control of your career.

These steps take practice. Very few people do this easily. But if you really want to obtain whatever it is that you’re looking for right now, you are going to have to put in some hard work.  Start with my ‘Man Up’ Mondays. Beginning in June, I’ll be hosting webinars that provide strategies for you to gain the confidence you need to shift your perspective and change your career. If you would like to be informed of the first topic and time, email me.

Show up at the NAFE Mastermind group on Tuesdays in Torrance and since practice makes perfect, you have the opportunity to speak up at our meetings and online in our LinkedIn group. Join the discussion!

http://www.oyun-play.com/wp-content/uploads/images/Visibility-Comp-Test.jpg

Bulmaca Oyunları

http://bulmaca-oyunlari.oyun-play.com/visibility-comp-test/

Flash oyun oyna oyunlar – Play flash games

• My fresh-out-of-the -shop car stalled three times getting out of the neighborhood this morning. Gave up, got it home and took the other car in. Grrr.
• Backups
• Status report.
• Put the new server cert on the integration machine. Seems to be working.
• In playing around with VSS on the integration server, I think that the SQL editor may be misbehaving…. It’s also doing the same thing on the production machine. Not sure if it matters, but the problem definately shows if I type ‘show tables’ as the first query after the webapp comes up.
• Looks like the problem was a null pointer when no sql source was selected. Which means that the new db is ok. Looks like I can deploy the new certs and the new db tomorrow if the integration machines is still happy.
• Updated my Novetta profile. That is what I’d call a “lowest bidder” interface.

Reblogged from Savvy Writers & e-Books online:

.

Search Engine Optimization Tips

Leverage on words… Writers and publishers who produce content own tremendous marketing assets!  

Writers who create books and articles, already have phrases, ripe for search engine  marketing strategies. Yet most writers and publishers don’t realize the value of their unique and valuable keyword-rich content.

Build an author’s reputation in the market.
Content does more than just sell itself, a book, or an idea: it sells your brand.

Read more… 658 more words

Folks in the Athol/Orange area know River Rat Day, and it’s a pretty big deal. 2013 is the 50^th anniversary of the River Rat Race, which puts kayakers and canoes into the river in early April.

Big Sister Stella and Little Sister Deven decided to create a float as an activity they could do together. Stella took the lead and got us signed up for the River Rat Parade, which was free of charge to join. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin Co. (BBBSFC) staff and board put out the alert to get as many people as we could to come along that day. We had bubbles, candy to toss, and some informational pamphlets. People along the route shouted that they love us, and some folks shouted out for info pamphlets, since they didn’t realize our reach went that far east. It was great for visibility and potentially for recruitment.

The Franklin County Spring Parade is in Turners Falls, and is in its third year. They have a theme each year, and this year’s was Hawaiian Luau. Since Stella and Deven made such beautiful flowers on the float, it fit in with the theme perfectly. We gathered candy, info pamphlets and bubbles, and this time we also got some Hawaiian leis from the dollar store for everyone to wear. We had a few more matches join us, additional supporters, staff, board and children of a board member. Once the parade was over, we were awarded “Great Use of Theme – Big Brother/Big Sisters” and received a blue ribbon.

For both events we announced it to all our community matches, staff, board and on Facebook. We all wore our BBBS t-shirts, and brought extra in case more people showed up.

Some things to consider:

• When you sign up for a parade, you will need to let them know if you have a float or vehicles ahead of time. People just marching is OK, too
• They usually have you line up an hour or more in advance, so be aware of that if you have little ones with you
• Bring snacks and water
• Wear comfortable shoes and bring layers, just like if you were walking a 5k
• Tell everyone who supports your program that you will be there!
• Bring information about your program, even if it doesn’t seem like a good thing to “toss.” People will ask!
• Bring your banner or make a large sign
• Ask board members to attend, too
• Wear matching t-shirts or sweatshirts
• Remember the sunscreen

For more information on Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County, contact Danielle Letourneau-Therrien at director@bbbs-fc.org.

• Backups
• Deployed new FA
• Customer meeting. Dong has the list of bugs. Actually, things went pretty well. I think we’re on track for alpha deployment next week.
• Test of DB upgrade on Integration?
  • Error saving a script. Line 589 in ScriptFacades.
• Status Report for April
• More Junit.

As it opens for its third market season on May 4, one of the local shopper’s favorite haunts for engaging in homegrown commerce is relocating across the street to the grounds of Davinci’s Pub, where it will be empowered by plenty of parking at the adjoining Power House Antique and Flea Market lot.

The market simply outgrew its original space behind the AmeriGreen Gas Station, noted Cathy Kernen, co-chair of the Collegeville Farmers’ Market committee and president of the Collegeville Economic Development Corp.

“We needed more space in order to attract more vendors and grow our market. We were maxed out at 23 vendors at the previous site,” she explained. “We needed more space for customer parking. Lou’s Too, a popular Trappe Restaurant, moved their restaurant adjacent to our market site, and although we had limited parking for handicapped patrons and parents with small children before, we were afraid that operating our market on the same parking lot as that of a popular restaurant would not provide enough parking for both of us.”

Read more:

http://www.timesherald.com/article/20130502/FINANCE01/130509950/collegeville-farmers-market-moves-to-new-and-improved-spot#full_story

• Normal backups
• I tried making a full backup of the system using the following arguments:
  • mysqldump – u root -pxxxx –all-databases –max_allowed_packet=512M –routines > fullbackup.sql
• That appeared to work fine, creating a file 148,338KB big
• I tried to ingest the file in the new instance on the integration machine using:
  • mysql -u root -pxxxx < fullbackup.sql
• That gave the following error:
  • ERROR 2006 (HY000) at line 4729: MySQL server has gone away
• Line 4729 turns out to be “INSERT INTO `query_logs` VALUES(…), which is *huge*. Not sure what to do about that. I did check to see that the line isn’t truncated, so that’s not the problem. Just to make sure, I ran it again with the same message at the same line
• This post at stackOverflow suggests that it’s a max_packet_size problem. Going to try that. Changed from 1M to 12M as per the suggestion.
• Same error, but new line (6367). Going to try 24M
• Same error, but new line (6373). Going to try 512M, same as the mysqldump command..?
• Yay! That did it.
• Finished generating C/C++ and Flex svn statisitics. Interestingly, in the “lines committed” charts, you can see the difference between mature development and ongoing development:
• 

  Mature profile of server codebase

   

• 

  Ongoing rapid development of GUI

   

• Ok, back to unit tests.

   

• Wow. It’s May. AND IT’S NOT RAINING!
• Copied over the new xampp to the integration machine and tried the “copy the  data directory” trick. No good. Tomorrow I’ll try doing it the right way. Need to make sure with Dong that the stored procedures are backed up along with everything else in a database.
• More Junit.
• Since reviews are coming up, I figured that I’d show what we’ve been doing. Using statsSVN, I generated a microsite for Java,  Flex and C/C++ development.
  • Note – currently only the Java folder is up. Everything else is still being processed. Apparently  StatsSVN is much faster with Java…

Consider a claret glass; a transparent container whose spherical surfaces clumsily distort what we see through them. Fill it with water and instantly it becomes a lens in which we can see the world beyond turned upside down. It can even project a relatively focused image.

Think also about conjoining manufactured lens and  human eye; in the eyeglass or spectacle which is the earliest technology that led to the invention of this wonderful medium; photography, and all of its powerful enhancements of vision.

Add to this the remarkable capacity of the human eye to focus by changing the thickness and curvature of its lens, and you have entered the mind of Professor Joshua Silver who by combining these phenomena has conceived of the world’s first universal self-adjustable eyeglasses.

He pumps a high refraction, clear fluid (developed for the physicist by Corning) into the space  between plastic membrane held in a spectacle frame to reproduce the eye’s remarkable focusing mechanism. Both longer focus and shorter are produced in this way.

Adspecs: How it works

There have been numbers of designs for adjustable lenses. In the Polaroid Spectra a pair of  wave-shaped lenses are overlapped eccentrically to alter their focus and zoom, and adjust for various aberrations. Their lateral adjustment and dimensions won’t fit into eyeglasses however. Mobile phone cameras apply electrostatic forces to alter the shape of their tiny liquid oil/water lens (Varioptic, Phillips, Sony), but that is too expensive to make for a device with larger lenses.

Professor Silver’s discovery is revolutionary in being manufactured and fitted cheaply.  Because they are self-fitting they require no specialist optometry.   Through this remarkably simple device the full range of long-sighted and short-sighted people are given 20/20 vision; accommodated by up to +7.00 to −7.00 diopters (as yet the technology does not treat astigmatism, the distortion caused by a misshapen cornea).

Furthermore, the fitting of the glasses is achieved by the wearer themselves. They separately adjust each lenses with syringes supplied fitted to the glasses, which are then removed.

Adspec glasses with syringes temporarily attached. Photograph: Petre Kreji

These attributes have enabled Adspecs to reach sufferers of poor vision in countries in Africa and Asia, with 30,000 of Silver’s lenses being distributed in15 countries.

Vision problems are a significant handicap for learners.  The Centre for Vision in the Developing World estimates that there are over 100 million young people (age 12-18) in the developing world who suffer from myopia, or nearsightedness. Of these, they believe that roughly 60 million (or 60%) lack access to the corrected vision that they need. These school-age children are the most urgent target for the Centre’s Child ViSion campaign. It provides self-adjustable glasses through school-based distribution programmes in the developing world.

The initiative is a nominee for Designs of the Year 2013 at the Design Museum, London.

Professor Silver is the director of the Centre for Vision in the Developing World at the University of Oxford. He is also the founder Adaptive Eyecare, which developed the original Adspecs in partnership with the UK Government’s Department for International Development, for distribution in developing countries.

http://cvdw.org1

The affable Professor Joshua Silver is on TED Talks, demonstrating his invention of the world’s first universal self-adjustable eyeglasses, showing how simply a user can adjust their own Adspecs, or Adjustable Spectacles.

References

1. ^ http://cvdw.org
2. Original URL: http://www.100percentoptical.com/latest-news/56-professor-joshua-silver-to-talk-at-100-optical
3. Professor Joshua Silver to talk at 100% Optical — www.100percentoptical.com

Related articles

• Victoria inventor sets sightson better vision for the poor (timescolonist.com)
• DONG, L., AGARWAL, A.K., BEEBE, D.J. and JIANG, H., 2006. Adaptive liquid microlenses activated by stimuli-responsive hydrogels. Nature, 442(7102), pp. 551-554.
• http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/photolithography/Electrowetting-based%20variable-focus%20lens%20for%20miniature%20systems.pdf
• http://www.eoshd.com/content/287/exclusive-future-iphones-to-feature-global-shutter-liquid-lens-optical-zoom

A rather confronting use of visualisation is the comparison between the amount of weight someone has lost and the image of what that actually looks like in terms of food. Channel Ten’s, The Biggest Loser utilises this technique often because I don’t think many people really know what 50 kilos is equivalent to. This visualisation then makes the contestants and the audience understand the kilograms lost/gained in a way that everyone can understand and relate to.

Visualisations are obviously not limited to tangible items. The infosthetics website archives many computer generated visualisations and is worth exploring. The site’s description is “where form follows data” and it really sums up what visualisation is about. That is, creating a some sort of readable form from raw data. On the website, people have made interesting, albeit slightly strange, data visible (the quality of pavement on LA streets?) in all manner of ways. I think some are more effective than others. I really like the 7 billion people on one page website (found here). The sheer amount of people on Earth is not something I really grasped before but the seemingly never-ending page (as long as it is wide) is just ridiculous and a little overwhelming. All those little figures represents an actual person with their own life somewhere in the world. It’s just crazy! And it’s not something I really thought about or tried to understand previously.

However, I found the visualisation of every known meteorite that has hit Earth (here) a bit less effective in relaying data, although it’s still very visually engaging.

Visualisations can also gain meaning over time. Timo’s ‘The Dashed Line In Use’ article really shows how such a simple image has come to represent so much, from movement to paths to expectation. Again, it makes the invisible, visible. As he writes, the dashed line can show hidden geometry or the boundaries of towns/cities which may otherwise not have a physical marker.

Overall, the visibility of this data via images, interactive websites, videos etc allow people to structure new forms of relationships with the information and as such, can gain new forms of knowledge.

(Note: This is a continuation of the series”The Souls of Black Autistic Folk”. I encourage the reader to read the introduction, part 1, and part 2 of this series.)

When Paul Robeson was alive, autism was not very well known or understood. By the time he was a young man at Rutgers, neither Dr. Leo Kanner nor Dr. Hans Asperger had coined their terms for what we now call autism or Asperger Syndrome – those discoveries would not come until the early 1940’s, when Robeson was well into his theatrical and singing career. The public was not really aware of autism until at least the 1960’s, and unfortunately, awareness and media coverage on the subject came in the form of articles that declared autistic people as “mental cripples” such as this infamous 1965 Time Magazine article documenting Dr. Ivar Lovaas and his research at UCLA which led to the ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) methods of today. (Warning to abuse survivors: this article contains potentially triggering material, as it discusses what would now be considered physical and verbal abuse.) And Robeson lived – and died – before individuals such as Dr. Temple Grandin began to speak public about autism, themselves as an autistic people, and began to allow the public to gain a glimpse into their worlds and realities.

Given all of this, I don’t know if Robeson ever heard of the term “autism” (and I imagine he certainly would not have heard of Asperger Syndrome) or if he even gave any thought to the matter. Until three years ago, before I began to consider that I was an Aspie, I didn’t either. Autism was so far removed from my mental world of possibilities and was so ingrained into my subconscious that it was a “thing that happened to other people” – mostly boys and young men – that when my fiancé suggested five years ago that I might be autistic, I nearly laughed in his face and thought there couldn’t be anything more ridiculous. If I didn’t know much about autism in 2008, it’s safe to assume that Robeson would have known even less in 1918 – or 1938 – or even 1968.

And now over a hundred years later, I find myself beginning to examine Robeson and trying to make sense of my own existence. I wonder how Paul Robeson experienced this world. I also wonder if Paul experienced the gnawing feeling of being “different”. This feeling I speak of might have not just been felt as a result of his awareness of being African-American in the twentieth century and the prejudice dealt to him because of his color. What I mean by “different” is the additional subtle knowledge of relating to and experiencing the world in a drastically different way than most other people.

“Different”

Not too long ago, I began reading W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois was also painfully aware of his difference, as he documents in the first chapter, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”. He speaks of his first awareness of it as a young boy in the following passage:

“I was a little thing, away up in the hills of New England, where the dark Housatonic winds between Hoosac and Taghkanic to the sea. In a wee wooden schoolhouse, something put it into the boys’ and girls’ heads to buy gorgeous visiting-cards—ten cents a package—and exchange. The exchange was merry, till one girl, a tall newcomer, refused my card,—refused it peremptorily, with a glance. Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil.”

In my case, I also grew up knowing I was different — but unlike DuBois, whose difference was apparent, I did not know why. The first knowledge of this came at around age seven when I had trouble interacting with other children at school. I found myself shut out of games and social interactions at school. This pattern continued until I graduated from high school, and the only answers I was ever given for the bullying were short, succinct reasons which focused more on my “defects” than anything else:

“Because you’re a dork.”
“You’re a weirdo.”
“Nobody talks like you.”
“You talk white.”
“You act too smart.”
“You’re a freak.”

I experienced some bullying in college, but for the most part, I went out into the adult world trying to interact with others. But there were times that I stood off at a distance just watching them, trying to figure out what the hell it was that they were doing with such success that I kept either not doing due to lack of knowledge or doing and failing miserably. As I watched them, the gnawing feeling of being “different” lingered in the back of my mind. After a while, I concluded that I was eccentric at best or a misfit at worst. But this conclusion did not help me in the least – I still felt apart from the rest of humanity, still separated by some glass wall that I did not know how to shatter. Before too long, I reveled in being “the freak” and began to think myself as ineffably special because of my unknown, unnamed difference.

Later, I tried to slap a label onto that mysterious, ineffable difference. Had I been bullied – and was I different – because I was “mixed”? In junior high and high school, I was the only multiracial student to my knowledge who refused to identify as only “Black” and I was one of the few I noticed who didn’t adhere to the “little groups [who] have always been and always will until the end”, as Kurt Cobain would put it – yes, ladies and gentlemen, the cliques and social groups – for I would literally talk to anyone, probably whether they wanted me to or not. But for most of my adult life, I concluded that being “mixed” was a giant neon sign affixed to my forehead that both Blacks and Whites could see – and that their conclusions and stereotypes stood between me and interpersonal human connection.

Although I didn’t see it, my logic was flawed. My reasoning may have been partially correct for those years I spent in that little steel mill town – but it was certainly not correct for those years I spent in the large southwestern metropolitan city in the middle of the desert or in the large Midwestern beer-and-cheese city in which I was born. And as my alienation continued into adulthood, and race began to dissolve out of the picture, I encountered other multiracial people that were far from alienated, and far from the “tragic half-breed” stereotype perpetuated by our culture throughout the last few centuries. So what was wrong with me?

 Where Are All the Black Autistic People?
I was self-diagnosed in early 2010 and obtained an official diagnosis later that year. It was not until these events that I understood what was so different about me. My first “A-ha!” moment came when I read a former classmate’s note on Facebook about her own possible Asperger Syndrome – and realized that about two-thirds of the characteristics she listed fit me as well. So that’s why I’ve always felt different. This moment began a journey, which has become a slow unfolding of myself – with all those little things about me that I could not explain before — and an understanding of childhood events and behaviors through the lens of autism.

I began reaching out to the autism community online, which has welcomed me and helped me further understand myself. One question kept lingering: where are the Black people? Save for a few brave visible souls, I didn’t notice many of us flocking to be online and speak of our differences. And I’m not the only one who’s noticed – John Elder Robison blogged about the notable absence of Black Aspergians in the first of his posts on Psychology Today and then offers two possibilities for the absence in a follow-up post. Other have joined in this discussion – like Tales of a Clockwork Pastor and along the way, I have met a few more black autistic souls. Based on my interactions, I am concluding that many of us are here but simply invisible.

From the stories I have read and those who have reached out to me, many tell of their own efforts to fit in. DuBois might say that those of us with certain gifts and talents (academics, art, music, poetry, etc.) have the potential to become part of the “Talented Tenth” – those trained to become leaders within the African-Americans community. It’s not hard to imagine that some of this Talented Tenth might be autistic – Paul Robeson certainly comes to mind, as well as music producer Michael Buckholtz as a more modern example. Our autistic tendencies simply might be branded as eccentricities or perhaps we might make a more concerted effort to be normal – I know I tried to “pass” as normal, or neurotypical (before I even knew the term existed) as an light-skinned multiracial person in earlier eras may have tried to “pass” as white. And it’s not hard to imagine that black autistics as a whole, given the potential dangers and pitfalls of being Black and “different”, might try to “fit in” to avoid being stigmatized.

The Visibility of Black Autistics
So, what is a black autistic soul? I’m certain that there are as many different answers as there are black autistic people. I know my experience as first a multiracial person and then an African-American with Asperger’s has been defined by two things: 1) a sense of “moving” between parts of my identity or membership cultures and 2) a sense of these identities “intersecting”. Generally, I’ve observed that people who are not part of a “dominant culture” already moves between two or more cultures or worlds as part of his or her existence. Some of us have multiple lines of difference intersecting within the same person – ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and so forth. And there are even subtle nuances (and obvious differences) between the uses of broad terms – for example, one might generally call me non-white and disabled – and specific terms: in my case, a different mental picture might be generated by the terms Black and autistic than by multiracial and Aspergian. Welcome to the world of labels, my friends.

Here I borrow again from DuBois’ first chapter of The Souls of Black Folk in which he speaks of a “double-consciousness” or, a “double self”, possessed by African-Americans at that time in history. He illustrates that this was the result of living in two different cultures – one Black, and one American. DuBois described this reality as “two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder”. This is clearly a description of the intersection of two cultures—and it’s not hard for me to believe that other African-American autistics experience the existence of the “double-self”. How does it feel – and what do we experience – as we shift between these realities? What does it mean to be autistic in African-American culture? And what does it mean to be African-American within the autistic community?

These and other questions need to be answered. As autistic self-advocates continue to define the nature of autism within its public discussion, Black autistics need to join the discussion as much as possible. While I am sensitive to the unique problems of those who cannot be “out” as autistic, I firmly believe that there would be much benefit to more of us “coming out” of the closet. We need to step forward and define what our autistic reality is – or it will be defined for us, primarily in terms of our absence.

And this absence of African-American autistic voices presents a major problem: the noticeable lack of our voices in the public discussion of autism will continue to perpetuate the myth that autism is a “white” issue. The existence of this myth has several ramifications, which include the following:

1) Less of us will recognize that the possibility of being autistic even exists – which could mean anything from a lack of diagnoses to continued struggling in school to misunderstandings of autistic “quirks” which could spell social and legal trouble for Black autistics.

2) Professionals and service providers who buy into this myth will not recognize a Black autistic when they see one – and this can have several kinds of outcomes, including misdiagnosis (it would not be surprising to find Black autistics misdiagnosed as having ADHD, schizophrenia, or other conditions) or not providing accommodations, services, and specific care that some of us may need.

3) Lastly, while some of us are attempting to raise autism awareness within the African-American community, a lack of visibility will hinder attempts to raise not only awareness but to create understanding – which can result in some negative outcomes in how African-America autistics are perceived by other African-Americans. An example of this is the bullying of Black autistic children by other Black children: remember when I mentioned being told that I “talked white” earlier in this post? This was due to a tendency to use advanced vocabulary and “low incidence words” which made me the target of taunts and teasing in school.

Conclusion
In the first chapter of The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois proposed that the solution to the problem of the African-American “double-self” at that time was to merge this double-self into a “better and truer self”. DuBois goes on to say:

“In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.”

As we move between the realities of being African-American and autistic, we each need to decide what we do with them. Do we merge them, as DuBois suggests? Do we compartmentalize them? Do we find a way to achieve a healthy synthesis of the two that will promote greater understanding of autism in the Black community as well as of African-American autistics themselves?

I know that I am a Black autistic soul. I happen to be one which whips language and words around her tongue and slides them out through her pen. I happen to be one with a collection of my own narrow/special interests, talents, and philosophies. I happen to be one who is still healing from the effects of childhood bullying. But I know I am not the only one.

So come talk to me. Leave a comment in the box below, talk back to me on Facebook or Twitter, or email me (woman DOT with DOT aspergers AT gmail DOT com). Privacy and confidentiality will be respected. I just want to know that you’re here, too.

• Copied over the new xampp, but the data files didn’t track. It lloks like I need to set the root and user passwords, then restore from backups. There may be a way to do that in one fell swoop, so I’m going to research that a bit. Put the old version back up.
• Got the code written in the junit code that should set up a test db for visibility_dev2 and visibility_scripting. Need to verify that it works and then start building up the tests.
• It didn’t work, but I imported and modified Dong’s ScriptRunner. That works just fine.
• Got completely derailed playing with LightTable (setup?). It is very cool, with the capability to run Java directly where it clojure can’t do the job :

  user=> (javax.swing.JOptionPane/showMessageDialog nil "Hello World")

  It also will act as a server to a web page by loading the following script:

  • <script type=’text/javascript’ id=’lt_ws’ src=’http://localhost:58683/socket.io/lighttable/ws.js’></script&#62;

CLIENTS WANT AUTHENTICITY

A few days ago, I attended National Association of Professional Women’s conference with some prominent guest speakers, all of them highly accomplished, independent and successful women. Each of them had a different story to tell and each one of them walked a different path. However, they all had one thing in common – they were authentic.

It is so easy to get caught up in the moment and to be overwhelmed by all the information, how-tos and must-dos. What works for some, doesn’t mean it will work for all, so you need to keep trying, you need to find your own voice.

To be authentic is especially important when you are a service provider, and when you are your own brand. Well, authenticity is just as important when you are selling a product. People buy you.

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

Keep in mind that before people will buy your service, they first need to know you understand them and then they want to feel connected to you.

One way to build relationships is to create a community of people who are likeminded, who share same values and are looking to solve the same problem – and you have a solution for them. You can create your own community or become a part of one that already exists. It can be a real-life or a virtual one. With the technology available and accessible today, there are no boundaries and great distances.

BE VISIBLE

In order to be able to build a community, you need to be visible. If you want people to trust you, you need to first earn their trust.  Here are just a handful of ways to increase your visibility:

-       Organize seminars and workshops, participate in panels: there’s no need for you to start form the scratch. Simply contact organizations in your area that serve and have an access to your potential clients, and offer to educate and help their members. Empower them, be a source of information.

-       Write blogs and articles: in order to reach a wider population, these two vehicles are ideal to increase your exposure. Know your unique value proposition, your expertise and know what your clients’ pain point are. Then give them the tools, ideas to solve their problems.

-       Send out newsletters: similar than the blogs and articles mentioned above, publishing your newsletter and sending it to your contacts is another way of gaining credibility. Studies show that people need to see your name/brand at least seven times in order to be able to recall it.  No list is too small for you to start. And there are numerous of ways to build your mailing list, which is a topic I’ll discuss at some other time.

-       Be active on the social media: work within your virtual community as well as within others, already existing ones. I can hear many of you murmur that you don’t have the time, interest or knowledge to do that. Well, this is where a Virtual Assistant or a Virtual Business Manager steps in. But if you are managing on your own, there are numerous tools and systems available so you can automatize the vast majority of it.

-       Publish a book: not everybody can (or should) write a book, but if you have something valuable, unique and have the capability to do so, then writing and publishing a book is great.

-       Radio and TV guest: again, not everybody has the opportunity to be interviewed for a radio or TV. Oftentimes, assistance from a Public Relations team is needed to get you through the door.

My community and I would love to hear what’s been your secret recipe, share it in the comment section below of on my Facebook Page. And do the same if you’re looking for some additional advice, let’s start a discussion.

Much has been made of the challenge of actually getting people to vote. The November 2012 Police and Crime Commissioners elections had a pretty dire turnout and there may be some particular issues with regard to that election; but the May 1013 local elections are somewhat different. The three major parties are turning their attention to the next general election and on the back of the Eastleigh By-election the UKIP vote is attracting some attention.

But beneath all of this we need to look more closely at some of the basics of campaigning. Political parties are not swimming with cash at the moment – resources are limited and if the truth be told nearly all parties are short of volunteers to support local campaigns.

Some recent research suggests that over 85% of the UK population have some form of internet connectivity – this of course does mean to say that all are effective users of web based communications. Can the political parties rely more on web based media, social media and electronic campaigning?

In conversations in social settings and when travelling to and from work, it is not that people are wholly disinterested, but rather it is that they say they have few opportunities to actually see the whites of the eyes of the candidates. In more concentrated urban areas it might be possible to do more door to door work but the cost and the time involved to go door knocking in dispersed population areas is a big issue for many candidates – especially as this week’s election is for mainly upper tier councils that cover significant geographical localities. This assumes that all candidates are sound of wind and limb.

A recent conversation with one candidate – a 76 year old widow – revealed that she has little financial support from her party and finds getting about a challenge. Should this in any way detract from her worthiness to stand, her ability to engage in local political and community activity? The answer has to be no, if we believe in local democracy, yet her visibility to those who she is wishing to represent is in marked contrast to the early 40s male candidate who has employer support to stand and whose political career may even enhance his professional career. He also has extensive skills to use web based and social media and can easily find the time to go from door to door in dispersed rural communities to actually talk to local people. He accepts that for many – but not all – it is the policies that he is promoting that are attractive to the electorate and not his shiny German car and sharp cut suit.

If the many who do not have strong political allegiance walk into the polls willing to vote (assuming they have the time and motivation to do so), are they more likely to offer their vote to the individual who has actually taken the time to talk to them on their doorstep? If your telephone has rung and you have been asked if you are going to vote and if so for whom, might it be the one who stood on your doorstep and engaged you in conversation? Do we think enough in the lead up to elections about who are selected to be local candidates and whether there are any inherent inequalities in the way that candidates are selected?

It might just be that sometimes the best candidates, irrespective of their party, might be the better ones to have irrespective of their politics.

Ian Briggs is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Local Government Studies. He has research interests in the development and assessment of leadership, performance coaching, organisational development and change, and the establishment of shared service provision.