Where can I find geeks?

Doesn't seem to match up in my case. My daughter IS a chemist, but she's hardly anything near a geek or a nerd. Her husband is a bean counter but, likewise, is not at all nerdy... if anything he's more toward "jock".

...Jim Thompson

There was a big spalsh about the geek gene four years ago in Time and Wired magazines:

You won't find much about it since then. Here's a more recent publication:

-- Joe Legris

The two might be related indirectly through later childbearing. People with more education tend to have their kids later in life than those with less education.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I've heard those theories.

In my daughter's case, she was born when I was 24, and "N" was 23. My daughter had her children when she was 27 & 30... autistic son at age

2. The son-in-law was second oldest in his family & was 32 when the autistic son was born.

My inclination is that there was serious breathing issues after vaccination requiring hospitalization. Since then I am adamant against any mercury-stabilized medications.

...Jim Thompson

Go to a 2600 meeting. "Hackers" and phone phreakers, etc.

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Too bad about the Republicans letting the drug companies off the hook over that then.

But the mercury-autism thing has been refuted in a number of studies.

John

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before; But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, Lenore?, This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" Merely this, and nothing more.

"Perhaps the most refreshing section of this cerebral volume is devoted to what he calls "extreme" examples of the male brain-autism and its cousin, Asperger's syndrome. The author of previous autism books, including Mindblindness, Baron-Cohen offers curious lay readers a provocative discussion of male-female differences."

By the same sort of purchased "scientists" as those who are proponents of global warming ;-)

...Jim Thompson

I give it little credence, however it was better tested in the courts than with an underhanded payoff to the worst congress ever.

Yesterday, upon the stair I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish that he would go away.

I should have added... the drug companies have quietly taken mercury-based stabilizers out of their products. Wonder why?

...Jim Thompson

They were losing lawsuits from parents who needed somebody to blame. Like the silicone breast implants, taken off the market after massive legal settlements but no statistical proof of harm.

Mo claims the pattern she sees is an intelligent woman married to an older (40+), very geeky, socially inept guy.

John

The availability of vaccines is a fundamental public-health issue. When plaintff's lawyers make a feeding frenzy out of unproven harm, it makes sense for government to do something. It's getting so that nobody wants to develop or manufacture vaccines any more; the lawyers bleed them dry.

John

Doesn't fit.

Phoenix is heavily into Autism research...

...Jim Thompson

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Episode 111

Science Fiction

When scientific studies are released, most laypeople take the word of the "experts" for granted and assume that the supporting data is legitimate. But one science reporter discovered evidence that suggests there is an entire industry built around spinning science for the purpose of confusing the public while benefiting Big Business.

Paul Thacker was not hired to do investigative reporting, but rather general news reporting for ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, a peer-reviewed scientific journal serving environmental scientists worldwide. But then, he says, he came across junkscience.com, a Web site claiming to be dedicated to "All the junk that's fit to debunk." The site challenges scientific findings on hotbed issues such as global warming. Thacker looked into the background of "the Junkman" -- site publisher Steven J. Milloy -- and discovered ties to both the oil and tobacco industries. A further search, this time through the archives of tobacco-related lawsuits, revealed that Milloy was on the Philip Morris payroll as a science consultant at the same he was discrediting studies on the dangers of second-hand smoke in his role as a columnist for foxnews.com.

After publishing his findings on Milloy, Thacker investigated cases in which seemingly grassroots organizations promoted industry arguments on environmental issues. In an article called "Hidden Ties", he wrote about a group called Project Protect, which appeared to be made up simply of concerned Oregon citizens. Project Protect advocated legislation promoting the cutting of trees to prevent forest fires -- a position also promoted by the timber industry. As Thacker discovered through IRS documents, however, Project Protect was really a $2.9 million media campaign. He wrote, "this 'grassroots' organization has clear ties to timber corporations -- an industry likely to benefit financially from legislative reforms."

Thacker's investigative reporting, he says, didn't please some of the people he worked for, and he soon found his career on the line. He says a board member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), which publishes ES&T, objected to a story he wrote about the Weinberg Group, an international scientific and regulatory consulting firm which specializes in, among other things, "product defense." Thacker's story examined a proposal made by The Weinberg Group to chemical giant DuPont. The document outlined a detailed product-defense strategy regarding PFOA, a chemical DuPont uses in the production of Teflon. The letter arrived as DuPont was facing pressure from the EPA and a civil-action lawsuit by West Virginia residents who claimed to suffer serious health effects from exposure to PFOA. Thacker says the ACS board member suggested he was focused on "muckraking rather than reporting news." He further claims that he was told to stop his investigative reporting.

He didn't. Several months later, Thacker unearthed evidence that the White House had tried to prevent scientists from speaking out about the link between climate change and the increasing strength of hurricanes. He says ES&T refused to allow him to follow the story, so he found a home for it at salon.com. Then, he says, he was fired from ES&T. In a written statement, an ACS representative told AIR, "...it is not the policy of the American Chemical Society to comment on conditions of individual's employment or departure."

Makes a case for adultery with the pool man then?