For Mother’s Day, we went to Michel’s brothers house. Michel’s brother and his wife (Jimmy and Kathleen) host the Mother’s Day BBQ every year. Mikey was actually very good this year. He played hockey and baseball with his cousins, we tossed a Frisbee around, and had a catch with a basketball. He ate a little rice and yogurt but mostly ate junk food. He shared his Doritos with Kathleen’s dad who Mikey seemed to really like. We forgot to bring his Dynavox so he was a little annoyed about not being able to get his point across sometimes. He taught everyone how to say “thank you” in sign language. Mikey kept me running around most of the day so I didn’t get much time to talk to anyone except the kids but overall it was a good day.
I’ll post some pictures later including pictures of Beth’s new hair color.
In case you haven’t heard (is this story getting coverage outside of NY?), Vito Fossella, the Congressman representing the 13th congressional district in NY has been having a little bit of trouble. Fossella was picked up for drunk driving in Virginia and then it was revealed that when he was picked up, he was on his way to see his second family made up of his mistress and a daughter.
Naturally, this story would be of interest to the people of his district in Staten Island but the press coverage here in NY has gone way overboard. This has been a page one story in the NY Daily News five times since it broke last Saturday. The death of 100,000 people in Myanmar ends up on page 27, but a politician cheating on his wife is front page headlines for five days in a little over a week. Today’s front page story was that Fossella and his mistress were spotted kissing in Malta a couple of years ago. That’s what the NY Daily News considers the most important story of the day.
Update: Fossella was on the cover again today. That makes 6 times in the last 10 days. Think they might be over-doing it a little?
It’s hard to believe but the Republicans in Congress have officially come out against motherhood. On Wednesday, in a vote to decide H. Res. 1113, “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother’s Day,” a majority of the Republicans in Congress voted against Mother’s Day. Led by Todd Tiahrt from Kansas and House Minority Leader John Boehner, 178 Republicans rose to voice their opposition to motherhood. Only 13 Republicans loved their mothers enough to vote in favor of Mother’s Day. You may want to run through this list and if your GOP representative is on there call their office and ask why they don’t love their mommy.
Because of Mikey’s autism he has difficulties making friends. Although he can develop relationships, they aren’t friendships in the sense we think of friendship. But Mikey does have one real friend. His name is Joey and he also has Down syndrome. Mikey and Joey attend the same socialization program (this is a program to help children with Down syndrome develop friendships). Every week I hear about how the two of them are always with each other and how well they get along. Today I saw for myself. As Mikey and I were leaving, Joey came out to wait for his mom. Mikey saw Joey and ran over to him to say goodbye. He hugged Joey and then they kissed. In the real world, 11 year old boys don’t kiss. But in the innocent world of true friendship, friends do kiss. I wanted to cry with joy to see my son have such a good friend. I never thought that Mikey could develop the kind of relationship he has with Joey. Today I learned, once again, that I should never underestimate my son.
Today is the 71st anniversary of the destruction of the German zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg. Filled with hydrogen, it burst into flames while landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. Thirty-six people died.
Meanwhile, in more recent news, at least 22,000 people have died in Myanmar (also called Burma) from a cyclone. Apparently the government of Myanmar failed to issue any warnings.
One more item for tonight because it is so insane. Charles Ray Fuller, 21, walked into a bank in Fort Worth, Texas and asked then if they could cash a check for him. The check was indeed from their bank so they asked how much the check was made out for, a perfectly reasonable request. Fuller’s reply was $360 billion. And no, I did not mis-write that and you did not misread that. The check was actually made out for $360 billion although the owner of the account couldn’t quite cover the amount. The owner of the account also denied writing a check for that amount. Mr. Fuller was arrested for fraud, possession of marijuana, and possessing a deadly weapon. I hope he doesn’t try to use a check to pay for his bail.
Albert Hoffman, the man who first synthesized LSD, died Tuesday at the age of 102. Hoffman was still attending conferences and speaking about the potential benefits of LSD right up until his death.
He first synthesized LSD-25 in 1938, but other than some “strange nervousness” in the animals used for testing he saw no effect. He went back to studying it in 1943 and accidentally absorbed some through his skin. The effects were so amazing that he deliberately took a dose of LSD three days later. These were very different times for scientists. Feeling unwell, he took his bicycle home and described feeling like he was riding through molasses. He became convinced that his neighbor was a witch and the furniture was threatening him. Later he noticed that he could see sound and described amazing shapes and colors. He was filled with a feeling of well being for the next day after the effects of the drug wore off.
Hoffman was convinced that LSD could help with many psychiatric illnesses and addictions. Early research found some promising results. The Timothy Leary LSD movement of the 1960′s and early 1970′s helped to end funding for LSD research by turning it into a recreational drug. Further research was only approved by the Swiss government four months ago and will be the first human research in 35 years.
I remember first reading about Hoffman and “bicycle day”, as his day of experimenting with LSD is referred to, in Omni Magazine. Omni was an amazing magazine of science and science fiction that was published from 1978 until 1995 by Bob Guccione of Penthouse Magazine fame. Reading a magazine by Guccione meant you were cool but reading a magazine by Guccione that didn’t have naked women in it meant that you were an ultra-cool uber-geek (often referred to as “loser”). Omni was the truly cool magazine of its day until it’s position as the uber-mag of cool geeks was taken over by Wired Magazine in the early 90′s.
It’s May Day, sometimes referred to as International Workers’ Day which is celebrated around the world for the social and economic achievements of the labor movement. The celebration actually started in the US as a rememberance of the Haymarket riots of 1886. The day was taken over by the communists around the world, and since the USSR was our enemy during the Cold War, in the US in 1958 May Day was changed to Loyalty Day. Today it isn’t celebrated as anything in the US.
But apparently it is still celebrated in Beth’s school because she has the day off. They claim this is an unused snow day but we really know the district is full of commies.
In case you haven’t heard (is this story getting coverage outside of NY?), Vito Fossella, the Congressman representing the 13th congressional district in NY has been having a little bit of trouble. Fossella was picked up for drunk driving in Virginia and then it was revealed that when he was picked up, he was on his way to see his second family made up of his mistress and a daughter.
It’s hard to believe but the Republicans in Congress have officially 
Today is the 71st anniversary of the destruction of the German zeppelin 
Albert Hoffman, the man who first synthesized LSD, died Tuesday at the age of 102. Hoffman was still attending conferences and speaking about the potential benefits of LSD right up until his death.
It’s May Day, sometimes referred to as International Workers’ Day which is celebrated around the world for the social and economic achievements of the labor movement. The celebration actually started in the US as a rememberance of the 
